I was wanting to know people's oppinions on Duke. I've noticed that other people that interviewed at the top tier places do not have Duke on their list at all. I was wondering if I am missing some inside info on the program that lead people away from Duke. I personally really like it on the interview day. Any info or even hear say would help. Good luck everyone.

Hey, I PMed you my take on why I ranked it where I did.

I was wanting to know people's oppinions on Duke. I've noticed that other people that interviewed at the top tier places do not have Duke on their list at all. I was wondering if I am missing some inside info on the program that lead people away from Duke. I personally really like it on the interview day. Any info or even hear say would help. Good luck everyone.

Programs like Duke and Hopkins have a harder time than programs like MGH, BWH, and UCSF in attracting the cream of the crop simply by dint of their location: Baltimore and Durham are not Boston and San Francisco. From their perspective, that may not matter, because they believe that they mold their residents into the cream of the crop (irrespective of the initial substrate).

-AT.

Programs like Duke and Hopkins have a harder time than programs like MGH, BWH, and UCSF in attracting the cream of the crop simply by dint of their location: Baltimore and Durham are not Boston and San Francisco. From their perspective, that may not matter, because they believe that they mold their residents into the cream of the crop (irrespective of the initial substrate).

-AT.

I don't know dude. I'm not sure about duke....but i disagree with your statement regarding hopkins. Granted baltimore may not be as glamorous as Boston or SF, but I cannot believe they have a difficult time attracting cream of the crop. out of all the people I spoke to, if i get a good vibe from them i'll ask them if they had actually ranked that program #1. On my hopkins dinner, I asked 4 intern and each said yes. Furthermore, after rounding with one of the teams, I gotta say that they probably have some of the most smartest interns I have met. These guys are the cream of the crop and MANY are coming from places like new york, boston, and cali.

thats just teh impression i got.

I don't know dude. I'm not sure about duke....but i disagree with your statement regarding hopkins. Granted baltimore may not be as glamorous as Boston or SF, but I cannot believe they have a difficult time attracting cream of the crop. out of all the people I spoke to, if i get a good vibe from them i'll ask them if they had actually ranked that program #1. On my hopkins dinner, I asked 4 intern and each said yes. Furthermore, after rounding with one of the teams, I gotta say that they probably have some of the most smartest interns I have met. These guys are the cream of the crop and MANY are coming from places like new york, boston, and cali.

thats just teh impression i got.

Oops, I didn't mean to imply that the candidates who matriculate to Hopkins didn't rank it #1. I'm sure most, if not all, of them did. And I have no doubt that the interns there are bad-***, because solo call forces you to take ownership of your decisions and strikes the fear of God into you like no team-call arrangement can. But neither of those observations would be inconsistent with the fact that Hopkins needs to reach a little lower into its rank list than, say MGH or UCSF.

-AT.

I don't know dude. I'm not sure about duke....but i disagree with your statement regarding hopkins. Granted baltimore may not be as glamorous as Boston or SF, but I cannot believe they have a difficult time attracting cream of the crop. out of all the people I spoke to, if i get a good vibe from them i'll ask them if they had actually ranked that program #1. On my hopkins dinner, I asked 4 intern and each said yes. Furthermore, after rounding with one of the teams, I gotta say that they probably have some of the most smartest interns I have met. These guys are the cream of the crop and MANY are coming from places like new york, boston, and cali.

thats just teh impression i got.

Im sure people at JHU ranked it #1, its a very competitive program and a great medicine training program. But I think a lot of very competitive applicants select themselves out because of the location and dont apply there. One does get the feeling that programs in NYC, Chicago, and Cali are more competitive than their "rank" because of location.

Hey Calitransplant. I really liked the Duke program too but noticed the same thing you did about people who interviewed at top places not having Duke on their list. If you don't mind, I'm curious to know why you liked Duke. Thanks!

I too noticed that Duke is conspicuously absent from the discussion of top IM programs, and I can't give you a good reason as to why that is short of to suggest a bias against the south?

I interviewed at Duke and I couldn't find anything objectively wrong with it. I thought it ranked among the top programs with regard to quality of residents, faculty, teaching, research, and fellowship placement; and as someone interested in clinical research in cards I thought the cards faculty was very impressive and loved the option for formal teaching in clinical research and the access that residents have to a very impressive cardiology clinical database. Someone brought up the location, but I thought the area was quite beautiful and housing was very affordable. Most residents were able to own.

The reason I didn't end up ranking it very highly was totally subjective. I have no idea why, but Duke gave me one of the worst gut feelings of the entire interview trail. Maybe it was a little formal, a little traditional, a little southern...maybe I was just in a bad mood? Or maybe it was that a lot of the residents were lifetime east-coasters or southerners, which was foreign to me, or that some struck me as slightly intense and were choosing between Duke and JHU (another school that gave me a bad gut reaction). But whatever the reason I couldn't escape the fact that I just had a bad feeling about me, personally, being there and had a great gut feeling about other programs.

Still, I think more people should consider Duke and that it should be in our discussions of the top IM programs.

I too noticed that Duke is conspicuously absent from the discussion of top IM programs, and I can't give you a good reason as to why that is short of to suggest a bias against the south?

I'm really surprised to hear this...I was applying just 2 years ago, and I recall Duke typically being mentioned among the "top tier" programs like MGH, BWH, UCSF, and JHU, both among applicants on the interview trail and on this board. It's true that some people exclude Duke from their search for geographical reasons, but I recall there being lots of people on the interview trail at big name programs who were also looking at Duke and would ask me detailed questions about it. Having grown up in New England but also having been in Durham for over 5 years, I can't say enough about how wonderful it is to live and work around here, on top of the greatness of the program and institution. But I guess I'm a little biased ;)

I'm really surprised to hear this...I was applying just 2 years ago, and I recall Duke typically being mentioned among the "top tier" programs like MGH, BWH, UCSF, and JHU, both among applicants on the interview trail and on this board. It's true that some people exclude Duke from their search for geographical reasons, but I recall there being lots of people on the interview trail at big name programs who were also looking at Duke and would ask me detailed questions about it. Having grown up in New England but also having been in Durham for over 5 years, I can't say enough about how wonderful it is to live and work around here, on top of the greatness of the program and institution. But I guess I'm a little biased ;)

When I was discussing programs with faculty it was definitely mentioned among the top programs, but on the interview trail and on this board I felt like I wasn't hearing it mentioned alongside MGH/BWH/UCSF/JHU and I found that odd. I thought it was just me until I saw this thread. I agree with you that it was of the same caliber as the aforementioned programs, and based on their fellowship match lists it seems to be regarded just as highly by fellowship PDs.

Thanks for all the posts and private messages. I really appreciate it. Good luck with the match and party hard before internship!

So did you end up choosing Duke for residency?

I did end up going to Durham. I am loving it too. No mistake made here. Hope everyone else is enjoying intern year. Peace!