MSOE is a good school. I interviewed there last cycle. The curriculum set up and day-to-day operations of when you have classes/are in the OR is a little different than other schools. They start OR observation and clinical work within the first few weeks. Not necessarily better or worse, just depends on your preference. They claim that they do not give preference towards applicants with previous clinical experience, but they mentioned that the last few classes had only a couple students either straight out of undergrad or without clinical experience.

I interviewed at Rush too, and their previous director was still there then. At that point it seemed they had already made a lot of changes to improve their program. The hospitals cardiac team changed and was a better fit to work with students, and they had cut off a number of their clinical rotation sites. And generally they mentioned improving courses and simulation. It does seem like they are improving.