Does anyone have any thoughts on ranking these programs for internal medicine? Which is the best program in terms of repuation? How good are Columbia and Cornell nationally? What about Montefiore?

Yeah, I know that this is a redundant topic that has been hashed and rehashed about 2034 times on this site, but since I'm doing the same hashing and rehashing in my mind 2034 times per day, I'd also love to hear anybodies thoughts/considerations/rants...

Based on what I've seen/heard on the interview trail, a ranking based solely on overall academic reputation would look something like:

Columbia > Cornell > Sinai/NYU >> Monte

Columbia has the best name nationally, considered equal to or just slightly below the MGH/BWH/UCSF/Hopkins group depending on who you ask.

Cornell also has a strong rep and I'd say it falls along the lines of that nebulous "Top 15" group with places like Penn, Michigan, UW, UCLA, etc.

NYU and Sinai are solid, but aren't respected quite as highly as Columbia/Cornell in academic circles (though they are generally acknowledged to have stronger hands-on clinical training than Cornell, so it depends what you value most).

Montefiore has the weakest reputation of the five you've mentioned, but I don't know much about the quality of the training there.

Just my $0.02.

-BBB

I agree with everything Bix said, though some people would place Penn in the same category (or higher) as Columbia and put them very close to the top 4 (maybe leading out the rest of the top 15)...I only say this because I think most people wouldnt put penn down at the 10-15 range, it usually stays closer to the 5-8 from the posts I have been scanning over the past few years...interesting comparison that I heard from a resident at a top program...he said MGH: Brigham as JHU: Penn...only one opinion but found it interesting he places penn along this grouping too...I otherwise second what the bix said...