Interview Impressions for GI

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Use this thread to post interview impressions of programs after you have interviewed. State the strengths, weaknesses, faculty and fellow impressions and anything else you can think of (i.e. what questions they asked on your interview).

thanks for starting this.

As you all probably already know from residency interviews, the questions the interviewers ask are usually:

1. Tell me about yourself (you know they didn't read your application)

2. Tell me about your research (make sure you know this!!)

3. Why do you want to come to our program (I guess they don't know that it is so competitive these days that we will go to any program that offers us interviews).

4. Where else are you looking (this is an unfair question, because if you answer only in there state, they will think you have not received other interviews and are not competitive, on the other hand, if you say you are looking at X, Y, Z states, they will think you really don't want to be at their institution).

Difference between GI interviews is that you usually interview with 6-10 faculty members as opposed to 1-3 Internal Medicine faculty members during residency...can get really tired by the end of the day, so drink coffee

hey buddy, thanks for the response. are you a 2nd year or 3rd year? also have you heard of programs doing interviews where its not just 1-1..like 3 faculty members per applicant or a panel style interview or 3-3 or something like that.

Originally Posted by poo2009

hey buddy, thanks for the response. are you a 2nd year or 3rd year? also have you heard of programs doing interviews where its not just 1-1..like 3 faculty members per applicant or a panel style interview or 3-3 or something like that.

I am an AMG, R2 from a big name Univ Program. I don't know of any panel interviews, but there might be some out there. I will let you know when I go on more interviews, but usually the whole faculty or most of the faculty want to interview each candidate, since it is such a tight nitched field and they want to be sure they can all get along with you, so you need to be on top of your game towards all the interviewers.

Good luck!!

Just finished my interview at UF Gainsville: here are the highlights

Positives:
-Very strong academic program with great clinical training and with young faculty on there way to making it big.
-Great weather all year round.
-College town (might be a negative for some).
-Will finish ~1000 procedures by end of 3 years (~500 EGD's and 500 colons).
-Building a new endoscopy sweet with state of the art equipment across the street. T
-hey have NIH funding to receive a Master's degree in research within the 3 years of fellowship (they pay for it, so you get 18 months clnical, 18 months classes/research). Even if not in this specific track, if you want, you can dedicate from 6 -18 months of research (you decide).
-Fellows are really nice and seem happy.
-PD is a great guy, and wants the best training for fellows (very receptive to change things in the program that fellows want to change)
-Conferences are great (they see great cases).
-Has 4th year Transplant Hepatology and ERCP/EUS fellowship, which they almost always take a fellow within the program.
- q12 call and the more senior you become, still do q12, but do only 1 or 2 weekends and get holidays off
-Residents place all orders (I think this is standard across the board)

Negatives:
- Small city/college town, but can be postive if want to raise a family (can purchase a home ~150-250K)
- Doesn't have great shopping (as it is a small city)
- Slightly older looking hospital (needs to be updated)
- VA across the street, which you rotate through (as you can tell, I don't particularly like VA's...even though you have a lot of autonomy)
- Small airport with limited flights to other states (plus you have to connect to another city usually, making for longer travel times)

Overall:
If you are married and want to live in an affordable small city where UF/Shand's runs the city, and you want great clinical training with a possibility of matching in a 4th year ERCP or Hepatology fellowship without having to relocate, and like sunny days year round (with 3 months of humid summers), this is the program for you.

If you are single, like shopping and the big city life, this might not be the program for you.

Thank you for sharing your experience, GIJOES.



Gastro7980.

SUNY downstate:
Interviewed this week: a middle tier NY program. Interviwed with 4 faculty.All appeared friendly. Interview questions focussed on research that I had done. Fellows were nice, though we got to meet them at the end of the day. Some disorganization was apparent in coordinating all the interviews, but all in all evryone was friendly. It is a busy program, in Brooklyn, so if you have children, you might want to live a little further away. The fellows don't have to be in hospital for nigth calls, but get called in 25% of the time during one of their four rotations.You have to pay for parking too...

Good thing is they are into research and teaching seems to be good. NO ERCP experience, so if you are looking into it, consider a fourth year elsewhere. Most fellows go into private practice. The faculty at VA rotate there too...

They interviwed 30 people for 5 spots, of which 3 will be going through the match.

Thank you GIJOES and www for your contributions to this thread. Have either of you or anyone else interviewed at Ohio State Univ (my first interview coming up, have others after that, but am a bit nervous though)? If so, please share with us how that went. If not, I'll share my impressions of that interview and the others as they proceed.

Originally Posted by treitzdr

Thank you GIJOES and www for your contributions to this thread. Have either of you or anyone else interviewed at Ohio State Univ (my first interview coming up, have others after that, but am a bit nervous though)? If so, please share with us how that went. If not, I'll share my impressions of that interview and the others as they proceed.

Didn't apply there, but I am sure you will be fine. Make sure you know your research well and just be yourself.

Originally Posted by GIJOES

Didn't apply there, but I am sure you will be fine. Make sure you know your research well and just be yourself.

I didn't apply there as well.

Interviewed at the program this weekend. Was impressed by their GI department. Apparently they are the oldest of the Missouri State Universities. Interviewing 24 aplpicants for one 2008 and two 2009 positions [they recently received the go-ahead from ACGME to expand the program].

Strengths:

1. Nice faculty- have 11 faculty members as of now- looking to expand to 18 in the near future.
2. Lots of scopy experience- according to their fellows, they notch up 1000 each EGD and colonoscopies by the middle of their third year.
3. State of the art scopy center with all the latest equipment. They do a lot of cutting edge scopy procedures [endoscopic necrosectomy, and a lot of other things which I haven't even heard of]
4. All fellows seemed very happy- very friendly faculty and staff
5. Purely consult and ambulatory oriented service
6. Light calls- calls are a week at a time- they get called into the hospital maybe once or twice a week
7. Very good opportunities for advanced fellowships- they have 2 ERCP/EUS fellows. One of their fellows just matched into MGH for advanced endoscopy fellowship
8. Nice small town- no crime- low cost of living- no traffic blocks
9. they don't expect everyone to go into academics otr research- looking to incorporate a private service rotation to give their fellows a taste of what provate practice is like.
10. 4 weeks of vacation a year with additional educational leave and financial support for conferences if you have an accepted presentation
11. Only program in Missouri to receive a continuous 5-yr accreditation [this includes Wash U]

Weaknesses:

1. Few ERCPs- probably 50 by the end of fellowship
2. No liver transplant experience
3. Fledgling basic science research [if you are interested in this], although they are looking to expand this
4. small town- nearest majot airports are Kansas City and St. Louis, both of which are 2 hrs drive.

Interview Questions:

1. What will you do if you don't match this year?
2. What are your weaknesses
3. Tell me something about yourself which is not apparent from your CV
4. What are you extra-curricular interests

Overall. a very nice GI program which should be near the top of anyone's ranklist.

A REQUEST TO EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS. THIS FORUM WILL NOT WORK WITH JUST 2-3 GUYS POSTING THEIR IMPRESSIONS. EVERYONE SHOULD CONTRIBUTE, INSTEAD OF JUST READING AND MOVING ON. I'M NOT CRAZY TO BE SITTING HERE AFTER NIGHT-FLOAT AND TAKING TIME TO TYPE THIS HUGE MESSAGE. HOPE THIS WIL SPUR MORE IMPRESSIONS FROM OTHERS.

I would really appreciate if anyone would share their interview experience at SUNY Buffalo. I have an interview coming up there. I will post my experience as soon as Iam done with it.

very broad attending expertise....i think 16 faculty (for 6 fellows). motility, IBD, capsule, ERCP, EUS, esophagus, liver, transplant hepatology (although surgeons have yet to start transplants--soon). very aggressive endoscopy with a couple NOTES cowboys and a second EUS/ERCP guy coming in.

inpt c/s months 4 first year, 1.5 second year, and 3rd year is pretty much yours to design. more ambulatory than other programs. cover dartmouth - hitchcock and VA in vt . home hospital very modern, did not see VA but hear it's one of the better ones.

extremely cohesive department. you have to want to make a career in this rural a setting. very collegial. fellows are quite nice and helpful.

interviews with one or both program directors, and about 5 other faculty. relaxed, no checklist of q's, no hammering you on the details of your research methods etc.

Some comments about the programs quoted above ( I am interested in GI and my relatives are in academic GI )

1. University of Missouri: A weak program. They lost very good faculty over the last couple of years. EUS/ERCP person is gone. No strong research ( clinical or basic science). Faculty are nice folks. They do not have 11 faculty as listed above. Some of the listed faculty are adjunct faculty ( a JD, a NP, a PhD and a hepatologist clinical instructor waiting to start a fellowship).

2. Dartmoth: A very strong GI program

3. University of Florida: Strong clinical program. Not much of prominent GI research. Faculty are young and nice. Great EUS/ERCP program. Have a transplant program.

4. Univ of Alabama: Strong program. No sure how much reserach training fellows can get. They do have a Master in clinical reasearch program( mainly cost-effectiveness stuff).

5. Wake Forest Univ: Very nice faculty. Strong in motility and EUS/ERCP.
Some basic science research. Has some clinical reserach

6.

Once ranking is closed, will try to put some reviews from interviews. Hopefully we can get this started for people to use next year...

Can we get this started for this interview season? I am wondering what people thought of University of Rochester, Jefferson, and UMass.

Congratulations for everyone had interviews and Matched!
Welcome the interview experiences!

I'll post my interview experiences along with my classmates' experiences. We both matched.

UMDNJ Newark - Has 3 spots. Takes 2 internal and 1 external yearly. Interviews 15 applicants. Overall mediocre program. GI and hepatology are actually separate divisions. There are 3-4 hepatology fellows that are separate from the GI program. Very clinical program with little or no research.

U. Cincinnati - Recently expanded to 4 spots. Generally takes externally. Mediocre clinical program with little research. Most research seems to be basic science-oriented. Area was not very safe.

Penn State - Has 2 spots. Usually takes 1 internally. Interviews 10-15 applicants. Medical center is expanding with a new heme/onc building. Mediocre clinical program. Not much to do in Hershey if you're single. Clinical program.

Penn - Has 5 spots. Completely varies yearly on how many internal candidates you take. Research heavy with focus on academic medicine. Less clinical program, but still good training. Has 3 tracks. Most fellow are either from top notch residency programs.

NYU - Has 4 spots with some preference for internals. Strong clinical program in Manhattan. Definitely top 5 in NY behind Columbia, Cornell, and Mt Sinai. Rotations are through multiple hospitals.

Temple - Has 4 spots, but 1 is guaranteed for their motility fellow. Takes 1 internally. Strong clinical program that is becoming more academic and actually considered to be the 2nd most academic in Philadelphia behind Penn. Known for their motility.

U. Maryland - Has 4 spots, but 2 are clinical and 2 are in the NIH scholars program. Do not believe there is a preference for internals. Strong clinical program. Good in IBD and transplant hepatology.

Robert Wood Johnson - Has 2 spots, takes 1 internally. Clinical program with not a lot of research. Felt like a better program than UMDNJ in Newark. Fellows seemed busy.

Jefferson - Has 3 spots and takes 2 internally. Clinical program with research. Recognized on US News, but after interviewing throughout the entire NJ/PA/NYC region, many considered Jefferson to be 3rd most academic program in Philly. Good in transplant hepatology.

UPMC - Has 5 spots? Mostly takes internals, but varies on the year. Does take exceptional externals. Very large hospitals Presby and Montefiore that are attached to each other. Clinical program with research. Very safe and in college area of Pittsburgh. Good in everything.

Allegheny General - Has 4 spots, takes 2 internals. UPMC's only competitor in Pittsburgh, but is losing the battle. Having financial problems. Otherwise decent clinical program. No transplant hepatology.

Cornell - Has 2 spots, takes 1 internal. Don't forget about Memorial Sloan Kettering which is a separate program but is tied to Cornell. Strong clinical program with some research. Surprised it was a small program compared to other Manhattan powerhouse fellowships. Strong in IBD.

Excellent post, Bile Duct, thank you for your experience!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Good luck to everyone!