Just based on competitiveness for Cards fellowship, which one is better? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

I think Mayo is slightly better than Baylor in terms of cards placements. It seems that their residents are not ablet to get enough research under their belt to match in to great cards spots.. But I have reasons to believe that their residents are more strong clinically. I am not sure how much cards PDs value strenght of clinical training at institutions. The program was in a state of flux till recently. But I am sure things have improved at Baylor since then.

I think Mayo is slightly better than Baylor in terms of cards placements. It seems that their residents are not ablet to get enough research under their belt to match in to great cards spots.. But I have reasons to believe that their residents are more strong clinically. I am not sure how much cards PDs value strenght of clinical training at institutions. The program was in a state of flux till recently. But I am sure things have improved at Baylor since then.


Hi docrocmayo,

Thanks for your comment. I guess my real question is that if I go to Mayo for residency, what is the chance that I will get a Cardiology spot of Mayo caliber in the geographical location of my choice, as opposed to Baylor? I know that Mayo tends to take their own for cards, and I liked Mayo a lot, but I don't think that I can do Minnesota for that long.

Hi docrocmayo,

Thanks for your comment. I guess my real question is that if I go to Mayo for residency, what is the chance that I will get a Cardiology spot of Mayo caliber in the geographical location of my choice, as opposed to Baylor? I know that Mayo tends to take their own for cards, and I liked Mayo a lot, but I don't think that I can do Minnesota for that long.

I graduated from mayo several years ago and there were about 8 going to cardiology. Mayo's cardiology program has about 8 per year (depending on how many research track fellows they get) and they take about 1/2 from their own. The others went to UChicago, Arizona, Cleveland Clinic, UPittsburgh, and Yale. Not bad I would say.

I'd stay away from baylor unless you really like Houston. Then again, I interviewed there when Robert Roberts was the head of cards and he was a nonethical jerk (read on the theheart.org for more info).

Hi docrocmayo,

Thanks for your comment. I guess my real question is that if I go to Mayo for residency, what is the chance that I will get a Cardiology spot of Mayo caliber in the geographical location of my choice, as opposed to Baylor? I know that Mayo tends to take their own for cards, and I liked Mayo a lot, but I don't think that I can do Minnesota for that long.


I am not saying that you will not get a cards spot of Baylor's calliber if you do your residency at Baylor. I think Baylor's residency program is so busy that you may not get the time and motivation to do research to match in to a great cards spot. Having said that, I shd also point out that your comment on minnesota winters is very true.

If you turn out to be a great resident and can manage to get some research under your belt during the first 19 months of residency, I am sure you will manage to get in to a good cards spot, irrespective of whether you graduate from Baylor or Mayo.
Good luck!

I have a friend who went to Baylor who does say it's really busy there, so I'd suspect that the comment about lack of time to do research is true. I can't comment as well on Mayo-Rochester but I would debate that Cleveland is probably the only one in the above list where people matched that is at Mayo's caliber for cards.

I don't think I've seen any Mayo residents at Mayo-level programs (Brigham, MGH, Penn, ...) in the Northeast when I was looking at lists of fellows they have on their websites. However, these are some of the most competitive places in the country due to a combination of location and quality so not seeing people matching there needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Research helps but so does strong clinical training for cards. I would think most programs do recognize that somebody trained at Baylor probably had less time for research but is probably stronger clinically than somebody trained at Mayo and would give consideration to this (at least this would be my hope).

I am not saying that you will not get a cards spot of Baylor's calliber if you do your residency at Baylor. I think Baylor's residency program is so busy that you may not get the time and motivation to do research to match in to a great cards spot. Having said that, I shd also point out that your comment on minnesota winters is very true.

If you turn out to be a great resident and can manage to get some research under your belt during the first 19 months of residency, I am sure you will manage to get in to a good cards spot, irrespective of whether you graduate from Baylor or Mayo.
Good luck!

Winters in Minnesota are bad? Not sure if you're comparing them to summers in Houston.

Everybody says this all over the board about winter at Mayo ... I figure lots of snow should be okay as long as the roads are cleared efficiently and often?

It is *extremely* cold and windy. It is not just the snow factor which btw, the roads are cleared asap. Mayo is a phenomenal place so small price to pay (weather wise) IMHO