SDN User Reviews of Med-Peds Programs

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Anonymous Posters:

Pitt - Great peds program, strong but not stellar medicine program. I like all of the program directors a lot. Lots of research opportunities all around. Lots of academic generalists on adult and peds sides, which is great if you're interested in primary care or academic general med-peds. No required VA time, still floor and ICU months at Shadyside (less academic hospital within the UPMC system). Turtle Creek (combined clinic, about a 25-min drive from the hospitals) is currently running around 50/50 adults/kids.




U Chicago - Good balance of medicine and peds, lots of research opportunities but about half of med-peds residents go into (often academic) generalist positions, on-site integrated clinic that residents like a lot. Residents are able to do ethics or medical education fellowships during PGY4. Administrative/financial difficulties of a couple of years ago seem to have been resolved.


U Michigan - strong categorical programs (though med > peds), super nice program director, big med-peds presence (8 residents/yr, lots of med-peds attendings), three different combined clinics that residents can be assigned to. Internal medicine residents are very sub-specialty oriented, med-peds alumni are overall about 50/50 generalist/sub-specialist. A little unclear how much bread and butter hospitalist stuff they see, although residents cover the VA, which probably helps with that. New children's hospital scheduled to open this fall. Ann Arbor itself is charming but sort of isolated, quite small and definitely dominated by the university.

More from anonymous posters

Penn - Amazing resources at HUP, CHOP, various other people floating around the university (Wharton, epidemiology, etc). Also some time at a community hospital in the neighborhood, which the residents seem to like - more bread & butter pathology, but attendings are all Penn faculty. Well-organized global health track, working on creating more formal primary care and transitional care tracks (basically clusters of recommended 2nd-4th year electives). Separate medicine and peds clinics. Feels discombobulated - different benefits, email addresses, letter head depending on whether you're paid by HUP or CHOP; schedule we were given in the morning at CHOP had lots of detail for peds side but nothing about the afternoon at HUP other than that it started at 12:15. In the process of hiring a med-peds trained PD, and will have a dedicated med-peds 5th year chief next year, both of which should help with organization.

Case Western/University Hospitals/Rainbow Babies - Very nice categorical programs, weak med-peds presence. Separate medicine and peds clinics, separate program directors. I don't think I met any of the categorical residents on either side on interview day, which seemed a little odd. Adult and peds hospitals are adjacent, VA is a 10-min walk away.

Johns Hopkins Urban Health - They really do want to train urban (with urban meaning not just 'in a city' but 'patients who are poor and likely non-white and in a city') primary care providers, or people interested in doing research or policy work related to urban primary care. It sounds like they really screened out people with a professed interest in sub-specializing at the interview stage. Clearly the people involved in the program are super-smart, and Hopkins has amazing resources, and its exciting to see them putting some of those resources into the surrounding community. On the other hand, it feels like a strange sort of tokenism given that the department of medicine has traditionally pushed everyone to sub-specialize.

More from posters

Christiana - Pluses: well-organized program with great PD and combined clinic, DuPont seems like a totally nice place to do a peds residency. Minus: medicine residency at Christiana was underwhelming. It's a huge hospital, 900 beds, huge volume of bread-and-butter plus its the only tertiary referral center in Delaware. But it's staffed almost entirely by private hospitalists, and residents actually seem to have a relatively minor role in running the hospital and a questionable degree of autonomy. Research opportunities exist, and plenty of people go on to fellowships, but it's definitely not nearly as academic of an institution as the first three places I interviewed. Location's a bit meh - it sounds like lots of DuPont people commute from Philly, but Christiana's just enough farther south that most residents opt to live in the Wilmington/Newark areas.

Brown - Feels like a well-integrated program: fantastic program director, lots of med-peds faculty, well-established on-site community clinic, adult and peds hospitals are adjacent. Residents seem really happy. Big international health and ID emphases. Not clear how much tertiary care is lost to Boston, especially on the peds side. Providence is really charming and affordable by east coast standards, but not the best job market for a partner - lots of people make the commute to Boston or live in-between.

UMDNJ-NJMS - The residents' time is divided between University Hospital (basically, public hospital for central Newark), Hackensack (large suburban referral center), and the VA. UH has a small pediatrics volume, and Hackensack seems to have a medium-sized and growing peds program. Pluses: well-established combined med-peds clinic, very enthusiastic program director, high volume of really sick patients at UH with lots of resident autonomy, Hackensack is gorgeous. What I found sort of appalling about the program is the enormous and obvious differences between the hospitals: UH is much older and uglier, has worse and fewer ancillary staff, even worse cafeteria food - as well as poorer, sicker, blacker patients. I'm afraid that the residents fall into viewing the two hospitals as "the jungle" vs. "nice environment where we take care of people like us." I think the training is probably excellent overall, and hopefully the experience can contribute to one's desire to change the system rather than one's tendency to dehumanize the poor.



U Maryland - Good facilities, lots of research going on (especially strong in ID and HIV, clinically and research-wise), energetic program director who emphasizes mentoring and making sure that people leave residency with the CVs they need to get wherever they want to go. Over 15 years, just over half have gone into primary care, others have done a range of fellowships or taken hospitalist positions. Residents divide their clinic time between the university medicine and peds clinics. Starting pgy2, they also spend an additional half-day/wk during electives and ambulatory blocks at a community med-peds practice - can be urban, suburban, or rural, and primary care or specialized if it exists. There are a couple of rotations at a Catholic community hospital less than a mile away; the associate PD is actually the head of peds urgent care at Mercy. Drawbacks: smallish peds program (about to increase from 13 to 15 categorical residents/yr, plus 4 med-peds/yr and 2 EM/peds/yr) - sizable NICU, 10 bed PICU can be expanded to 24 beds if needed, but only about 40 total gen peds beds; unclear how being second fiddle to Hopkins effects them (my sense is that Hopkins gets more of the super-bizarre international referral stuff, but that there's plenty of interesting tertiary care in the Baltimore area to keep both systems busy).

Christiana
Happy residents, looks like reasonable work/life balance, great PD who has been there a while and seems to take care of his residents – I think he can get you where you want to go. Peds was maybe a little more impressive than medicine (maybe I'm just biased by facilities, Dupont is on a beautiful piece of land). Christiana is a HUGE private hospital, big catchment area. Dupont Children's hospital is about 20-25min away in another city (DE is small) if that matters to you. Looks like a humane place to train overall, location is kinda “meh” but Philly is 45min away. Worth checking out! I would be happy here.


Miami
Disclaimer: I personally am a little uncomfortable with glamor/glitz, so maybe I'm biased against Miami. I still ranked it high but you might rank it higher if you can tolerate beautiful pretentious people better than I can Anyway, Jackson Mem is a beat-down I hear from a friend who is there It's a big county hospital and features all the social/logistical issues that you'd expect. But the patient population is definitely the compelling reason to train here. You'd learn spanish, if you know french you could use it (big Haitian pop). Crazy pathology, underserved population, opportunities for international work – lots of latin American co-residents too. Probably a similar experience to USC.


Rochester
I loved it here. Def a mid-west vibe, no stuck up yanks Very old/established program, on the larger side (8 residents/class). The PD was my favorite that I met in all my interviews – very chill, been there a while. Residents seem happy. They seem big on teaching and work/life balance. ICU rotations are 2 weeks so you don't get worn out. One IM intern I met who came from a typical East coast school said people in the program were a little too nice Rochester is a cheap place to live, doesn't seem like a bad place to spend a few years – I'll let you Wiki it and figure that out for yourself.


Baystate
My other love. Established program, fantastic PD who has been there a while and I think will get you where you want to go. The M-P program is definitely the “family jewel” at Baystate compared to relatively small/little-known categorical programs. Very happy residents, stress work/life balance. Big 650 bed hospital with large catchment area, pretty much the only game around. Northampton is a very cool small town and pretty impressive culturally given the size, it's about 20min away if you want to commute. Springfield is cheaper/less exciting.
I think Northampton might be little cooler place to live if you're young/single than Rochester, and Bradley is a large airport so access is easier here than Rochester (in case you're not from the area it might be easier getting in/out easily at all hours). On the other hand, I think Rochester has a stronger reputation especially in terms of the categorical programs. I could flip a coin between the two and be happy.


Case Western U/Rainbow
I personally think Cleveland is a pretty cool city, that's up to you though. Progressive, decent public transportation, cheap. I got a weird feeling that I can't explain from the residents here. Also, there doesn't seem to be a very strong M-P identity, just 2 strong categorical programs. I did really like the categorical faculty I met, their PD's seemed great.


Case/Metro
Again, depends on what you think of Cleveland. I actually got a better vibe from the residents here than at U, seemed happier. However, search this forum for Metrohealth some concerning stuff pops up, not Med-Peds specifically but still. Certainly less impressive on paper, more IMG's and the “reputation” isn't quite as good. This is the county hospital, if that's what you want.


UAB
I liked this program a lot. Awesome PD, a super impressive bunch of residents, some of the smartest I've seen. Definitely a strong academic culture, lots of teaching, waxing poetic about the latest EBM and all that jazz. I think they work hard but everyone is very, very nice – definitely oozes Southern charm. No combined clinic, not so sure about the M-P “identity” when it's stuck between two big, impressive categorical programs and only 4 residents/class. I ranked them high. Birmingham...well...you figure that one out Worth checking out, for sure. Standalone children's if that matters to you BUT everything is in the same few blocks downtown including VA, county, University, easy to go between.


UIC
Really liked all the residents I met, they seemed happy. I also met an applicant on the trail from UIC who reinforced my impression of the friendly culture there. Medicine seems stronger than Peds. The PD is new and she seems very nice/enthusiastic. 4 residents/class so smallish program. Opportunities for MPH classes/degree for free. The hospital is downtown, near Rush and Cook. At UIC the majority of the patient population is Medicare/Medicaid (whereas Cook is for people with no insurance and Rush is private). I think it's a great patient population and the pathology seems impressive – IM morning report was TB pericarditis. Chicago is IMO an awesome city. But it's rather expensive, certainly not NYC/Cali/Boston but it might get a little tight on a resident's salary depending on your loan payments and living expectations. UIC doesn't have the cachet of UofC but personally I didn't apply there – being on the South side and having a reputation for “high walls” and not taking care of your neighborhood didn't appeal to me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the Tribune's sensationalism though


LSU Shreveport
This is a less competitive program, lots of IMGs (I personally don't have a problem with IMGs, they know their ****) and Shreveport isn't a very desirable place to live. I think the training is good, they are the only game around, they have a VA and a U, no standalone children's. Combined clinic, cool PD who has been around. If you are a less competitive applicant and want to do M-P I think this is a good place to shoot for, and honestly if you can get over Shreveport I think it's solid.


LSU New Orleans
Great PD, happy residents. Medicine does not seem as strong as Peds (standalone children's). New Orleans is a special place and the poverty there is such that you will probably see it all in terms of pathology. Cost of living is reasonable, great food/culture.


Tulane
Great medicine program with a very well known PD, Peds just got a new PD who seems awesome. There is no standalone children's and you rotate in different hospitals (not Children's NOLA – that's LSU). Medicine has private/VA/county. Residents and New Orleanians in general seem like a cool bunch – laid back. On medicine they have a 4+1 system which is 4 weeks of wards (no clinic), then 1 week of 9-5 clinic. Also, no morning report – it's after lunch instead (easier to get work done in AM). It's pretty unique and everyone seems to like it. Also, didactics here are squeezed into Friday school. So no noon conference during the week, but Friday afternoons you go to school for a few hours – I think it's great. Smallish program 4 residents.


USC/LA county
This is a county, and they make it no secret from the start of the interview that the goal of the program is to serve the underserved. This may not appeal to you, I personally think it attracts an awesome bunch of residents, who seemed very happy. PD was very cool as well. I have no doubt you will work hard here, and you'll probably be very competent and have seen it all when you leave. You do get to spend some time at Children's LA. City is expensive, salary sucks as much as everywhere else, and LA is a love/hate thing – up to you I think it's a great program and I ranked them high.


UCSD
This institution has a good rep and the residents were all very nice and seemed happy, but I couldn't shake the feeling that they were selling the location more than anything else. To be clear, the residents seemed sharp, and the pathology is probably as good as anywhere given the proximity to Mexico, but I just left underwhelmed for some reason. San Diego is what you dream of when you think of SoCal – 360+ days of sun between 50-80 degrees. You'd be silly not to go have a look.

Indiana University
The biggest M-P program in the country, they're at 12 per class and I think they're expanding. Obviously strong M-P identity. PD is well known and can get you where you need to go, seems very nice. Five hospitals quite close to each other, you'll get a taste of everything from a big county hospital to private and everything in between. They have a huge catchment area. Good international rotations. Personally got a weird feeling from the residents, could be a fluke. I think they might get beat down a bit there too. Indianapolis isn't a cultural mecca but it's not that bad, definitely cheap. Worth going to check out for anyone, strong program.


Baylor
Good reputation especially peds, residents looked super-sharp and pretty happy, get the feeling they work hard though. Lots showed up for preinterview dinner which is always encouraging. On the larger side with 8 residents per class. PD is very cool, she's been around a while too. Good international opportunities and great pathology in Houston. They have a county/VA/private and Texas children's, and a good combined clinic. Houston is cheap and has great food. This is a really good program and worth your time if you can stand Texas (it's not that bad!)


Yale
Great program director, good M-P clinic though it was in another town. Smallish program. A little of that yankee ivy-league feel but I'm a redneck wtf do I know. The residents were really nice. New Haven is a college town, not a bad place to live and not far from bigger cities. Cost of living not terrible and pay is a little higher than average. Training is strong, academic environment, I'm pretty sure you'll get where you want to go coming out of “Yale”

Disclaimer: I’m looking to practice primary care after residency, so I may value different qualities in a program than someone who is more subspecialty oriented. Anyway, here are my top three that didn’t make it on the list yet. Feel free to PM if you want my perspective on any programs around the southeast.

ECU (Brody)
Fantastic PD and faculty. Brand new combined Med-Peds clinic. Large public hospital with children’s expansion (and peds ER) due for completion in 2013. Only hospital in town and only trauma center in a large area surrounding Greenville, so huge variety of patients. No VA. The town is probably the smallest of those in which I interviewed, but also the lowest COL. Lots of good restaurants and decent shopping. Large Med-Peds to categorical resident ratio, so good presence. I got the impression that Med-Peds residents were well-regarded. Residents seemed friendly and well-rested. Definitely worth a look.

Memphis
Facilities seemed on par with Birmingham and Indy (that is to say impressively large). Huge new peds hospital. Several adult hospitals to choose from including VA. Large Med-Peds program, but so are the categorical programs. PD and faculty seemed very friendly, and the residents were great. Got lost in Memphis on my way in, and parts seemed a little dicey, but was impressed with the quality of living offered to the east of the hospital area.

Mobile (USA)
Small program split between two hospitals. I wasn’t impressed much by the facilities when compared with some of the larger centers (though lots of construction), but the PD, faculty, and residents were really great and down to earth. I got the impression that teaching is a priority of the attendings. The town seems pretty nice, with good seafood and lots of rec opportunities along the gulf coast. Laid back atmosphere. I was definitely unexpectedly impressed by this program.

from an anonymous poster (feel free to PM me if you want your reviews of various Med-Peds programs posted but want to remain anonymous)

From anonymous poster:

USC- One of the best PDs I've met, residents are super close and fun-loving. They work REALLY hard apparently, esp on the IM side.. Majority county experience, so there is diversity in patient population but not in hospital setting. Everyone seems to have a "work hard but it's worth it" mentality

Georgetown- Nice, supportive PDs. Lots of clinical sites to rotate through all over DC, so that has its pros and cons. There seems to be an ambulatory emphasis, which is great because clinic is the home-base for them, but I think you can still make room for electives easily.

Miami- Super close group of residents, definitely with the feeling of a "med peds family" with a strong PD who wears many hats in the hospital so m/p is very well known. County seems a bit worn down. Diverse population, esp Spanish speaking. Seems like there is great pathology. Not sure if there are financial concerns with the hospital? All residents live a baller lifestyle with beaches within short walk.

Penn- Strong categoricals! Still no M/P PD or combined clinic, but there is a dedicated 5th year chief which is promising. Anyone have opinions on the vibe of the residents? Had trouble feeling it.

OSU- great PD, i think he is PD president this year. seems like they get great training and their hospitals are nice. clinic seems very well run and serves an underserved population. It's in columbus though.. so that may be the trade-off depending on what location you're looking for

Another poster (who wish to remain anonymous):


Here are my impressions of a couple of programs I don't often hear much about...Will try to add more later if I have time
Would love to hear other impressions as well - so difficult to rank, allof the programs seemed great!

Baystate - spent some time here, & loved the program! The residents were strong, hard working, seemed confident and very capable. They had a lot of autonomy, and they as a group seemed to thrive on that. Lots of interesting cases came through - peds side is smallish, med side is defintely larger, but not necessarily stronger (ie well balanced program). the med-peds clinic was top-notch, well run, awesome facilities (~10-15 min away), lots of diversity. Liked this program a lot. PD was alright, but everyone else I met was great! The residents really are a strength of this program.

MMC - really great location, some excellent teaching, nice group of residents, but not a lot of diversity in Portland. I think this is a very solid program. The residents here worked really hard, but seemed well supported and happy. As with any program, some of the attendings were less pleasant than others, but not a huge drawback. I really liked this program overall. Had a laid back feel to it that I liked. Most of the residents are married +/- kids.

IU - Great program!! I loved this one. The facilities are pretty nice (lots of building and construction going on though..), but the opportunities for global health are fantastic here, and the teaching seemed excellent. Huge catchment area, they do just about everything. Really got a good impression overall. Indianapolis was pretty nice, affordable COL...it's just soooo flat there!!! But still, lots of great restaurants, shopping, etc. Large program, MP seemed very well respected here.
Louisville - Seemed like a really strong program with attendings who are excited about their work and love to teach. Facilities were standard, but NO EMR!!!! Agh. Otherwise, I would say this is a pretty attractive program. Lots of research opportinuties if you want that. Diversity seemed limited to me, but they mentioned a large Amish population, as well as a smaller refugee population. Some of the clinics were kind of far away (45 min for one if I remember correctly), and were all private practices. I liked the PD, the residents seemed like a nice group, all seemed happy, all said they didn't mind not having EMR, that it gave them more opportunities to discuss plans with attendings... Louisville itself was a really cute city! I was surprised by how much I liked it! Very little traffic for its size, awesome restaurants, farmers markets, etc. Very nice.

USC- did a month here, was very impressed with the pathology, the quality of the teaching, the attendings were uniformly awesome, all loved to teach. The residents I worked with were less impressive (I only worked with a handful- take with a grain of salt), more about hanging out and dodging work. Overall a great program, huge county hospital so you'll see everything. Note ~60% of the patients only speak spanish, so knowing or being willing to pick up a second language is really almost a must at this site.

anyone have any thoughts on Loyola, Rush, SLU, or MCW (Milwaukee)?

Bumping up this thread because we are in the middle of interview season and I want to remind SDN members of this thread. You may post your own review, or if you want, send me a PM and I can post on your behalf.

from an anonymous poster

UCLA – Extremely strong categorical programs. Lots of different hospitals to rotate at (5, which sounds terrible in LA traffic, but on the other hand gives for a nice rounded experience). Lots of research on both sides. Technically, peds hospital within a hospital, but it’s nice and they see a lot as well as get a lot of referred cases Front loaded intern year like most big academic programs, but after that, it’s one month inpatient then one month outpatient from there on out, with your weekends protected on outpatient! Off-site combined clinic in Santa Monica that we didn't get to see -- apparently well-run we were told. Really “cool” residents here – almost thought I wasn’t “cool” enough! Extremely impressive noon report. Facilities are outstandingly beautiful in beautiful Westwood. Los Angeles is a draw for most – but I got sick of the weather being sold to me, I could look out the window and know that it’s beautiful and read that there’s sunshine 330 days of the year. The diversity and amenities are hard to beat (though did I mention traffic?).


Maryland – Energetic, dynamic program director. Smallish peds. (smallish peds hospital with medium sized residency program) – no ECMO, send-out CT surgeries, etc. Residents do very well (eg, med-peds 4th year chief matched in peds cards at Boston Children’s). Some previous faculty were muckity-mucks on the AAP. Very nice facilities. VA. Medicine program is strong. Still separate clinics. Can also add a second half day of clinic elsewhere of your choosing (subspecialty, community, etc.). Baltimore isn’t that terrible of a place to do a residency, but have to decide for yourself.


UNC – oldest med-peds program in the country. Perfectly wonderful place to do a med-peds residency. Well-established with strong, balanced categorical programs. Medium-sized categorical programs. Great, friendly people and wonderful location (Chapel Hill, the Triangle -- draws talented transplants from all over the country, lots to do). Off-site combined clinic that's minutes from the hospital is currently unbalanced, but is doing more to attract pediatric patients. Some rotations that are 40 and 50 minute drive away to augment the academic tertiary care experience (but the one at Moses Cone you are reimbursed for gas and rounds start later). Southern charm. 6 residents a year. Just hired a new PD. The aPD is a former NMPRA president and is very active in NMPRA. just became the #1 med school for primary care – whatever that means, and it’s always in the top 3 for public health – so lots of public health research going on.


Rochester - 2nd oldest med-peds program in the country (some say the 1st). Great med-peds reputation. Well-established – program runs like clockwork, but is still dynamic and responsive to resident feedback and has proactive leadership. Larger class size and big med-peds presence. Balanced programs. Peds is fairly strong – many academic leaders in peds trained here. New children's hospital being built. Off-site combined clinic is well-run, well-established. Academic, but very much a personal feel. It was a beautiful sunny day on my interview, but the weather is mentioned as a usual downside.


UMass – Medicine is stronger than peds (smallish peds hospital with smallish peds residency -- no ECMO, CT surgery, etc.). Nicest combined clinic in another town that I’ve seen on the trail. PD is a bundle of energy. 16 month intern year -- intuitively it should probably be that way, but have yet to meet applicants who like this option. Med-peds get priority scheduling -- no set 3 month/4 month block switching. Good vibes, and other applicants and residents have spoken highly of this program. Worcester is meh.


Pittsburgh – strong, balanced categorical programs. Off-site clinic 20 minutes away that we didn’t get to see. Children’s hospital is in a different part of town, but is a beautiful, free-standing facility with a broad referral base and plenty of resources. Friendly program leadership – including the categorical PDs. Pitt is a leader in ICU, but med-peds folks do ICU at the community hospital (Shadyside), but probably better because of no fellows to turf with. Med-peds does NOT rotate at the VA. Yes, Pitt is a leader in medical education (very impressive medicine morning report), but for all its vaunted self-proclaimed greatness in medical education, I just couldn’t get over how there was a lack of daily attending teaching rounds on the medicine side (to be fair, there is a daily afternoon attending teaching session, but I just value daily attending bedside teaching rounds too much; however, residents seem to love that it’s done this way for efficiency, maybe my opinion will change as a resident). Otherwise, great overall program in a wonderful, beautiful city with a lot of hip things going on! (though the clouds are a bummer).


Case Western University Hospitals/Rainbow Babies – Strong peds and medicine. I liked it here, just thought that it was strong medicine and strong peds, not very strong med-peds. Med-peds just not as well established. Med-peds presence isn’t very strong – separate clinics.Very strong NICU. VA. Cleveland is better than I thought it would be.


New Jersey Medical School (now under UMDNJ, will be under Rutgers in July) – Time split between University Hospital in Newark, NJ and a private hospital in Hackensack. Also VA. Does not get more urban than Newark, and a hospital doesn't get that much mroe posh than Hackensack. Hackensack has a surprisingly large children’s hospital that’s nice. On-site combined clinic. The PD's patients really, really are fond of her. I think this program is best for those who have a passion for urban health care. It's gritty, doesn't have the glitz and glamor. Learn by doing. There is something to be said about serving patients who really need not just the care of health care professionals, but the care of people in general.


Yale – well-established program with an incredibly dynamic program director with the most energy and passion that I’ve seen on the trail. Residents seemed really interesting with diverse interests. Well-established combined clinic that serves an underserved population. Medium-sized categorical programs which I liked. Peds program is more resident-driven than other larger programs. Residents who I emailed gave me very thoughtful, helpful responses. Med-peds residents do not rotate at the VA. Just acquired a nearby community hospital, making Yale-New Haven the 4th largest health system in the country. Established J&J Yale/Stanford Global Health Program. Creators of the “Yale Curriculum” (outpatient curriculum that is the standard for many IM residencies, and peds residencies,too). Largest educational stipend I’ve seen ($1500!). Resident stipends are substantially high which will get you farther with the relatively lower cost of living in New Haven. Didn’t think New Haven was that terrible of a place to do a residency, but you have to decide for yourself.

Cons: Peds hospital within a hospital (though still 201 beds?) which is the biggest complaint I’ve heard from other applicants – still have to send out super specialized cases like some transplants and CT surgeries (I still don’t know if that really matters for your peds training). The combined continuity clinic, though amazing, is 45 minutes away – and that’s once a week. Christmas/New Year holiday is not necessarily protected if on medicine.



University of Illinois at Chicago – Good option if one needs to be in Chicago, and cities don’t get much better than Chicago. Medicine > peds. Smallish peds (and no ECMO, CT surgeries, etc.). Population is mainly underserved – again, something to be said about serving those who need care. Can get MPH for free here, do-able, but still would be difficult nonetheless. Medicine PD ran a good report, but would have rather seen a resident run it. Interesting units like a stem-cell unit. On-site combined clinic. VA. When I interviewed and looked at their resident roster, only one guy, and he was graduating!

more from anonymous posters

Brown – lovely PD. Well-established program with lots of opportunity. 16 month intern year. Very solid program all around. Historically, lots of people who like ID. Hasbro seems like a perfectly nice place to do a peds residency – very nice residents and faculty. Also 16 month intern year. On-site combined clinic. I actually like Providence – Johnson & Wales is located here, so all the graduated culinary students stick around and open ridiculously awesome restaurants here. Not as much research going as other name-brand programs, but you can still projects off the ground.


UAB – Extremely impressive, large, free-standing children’s hospital with large referral base. Seems like wonderful, robust, well-rounded pediatric training. Also had a very thoughtful program director, as well as aPD. Extremely strong internal medicine as well (Harrison was the longtime chair of the medicine department), with lots of research. VA. Still separate, but on-site clinics -- but PD defended the rationale well. To remedy this, residents can rotate in a combined clinic with UAB faculty in another town. Lots of research dollars, though big education focus as well. Birmingham isn’t necessarily what you think of Alabama, it’s fairly cosmopolitan drawing lots of transplants, but it’s still the South.

UMich – Well-established program with perhaps the most thoughtful program director I’ve seen on the trail. Well-balanced, extremely strong categorical programs. Larger med-peds presence with 8 residents a year. Medium-sized categorical peds program in a large children’s hospital – leaders in peds cardiology (I believe they invented ECMO). I think the only thing the peds side doesn't do is small-bowel transplants? Large medicine program. Lots of research on both sides. Three off-site combined clinics (I believe 20 minutes away) that each have a different feel with different preceptors. VA. Ann Arbor is a great town if you can stand the cold. Also really interesting and fun residents – biggest turnout for the pre-interview dinner I’ve seen. Only program that served me steak twice!


UChicago – very academic with great teaching. Most impressive morning reports on both sides, and impressive rounds on both sides (only program that made us go to all 4 which I thought was valuable and a strength of theirs). Well-established med-peds program with balanced categorical programs. Nice facilities -- and new hospital being built where some services will be moved there, including the ICU. Medium-sized categorical programs. On-site combined clinic, but was underwhelmed for some reason. Strong all-around.



Penn/CHOP – Categorical programs speak for themselves -- resources pouring out up the wazoo. The med-peds program has lots of momentum and energy, including new, dynamic program leadership (new med-peds director and 5th year med-peds chief) and a new off-site combined clinic, so there’s lots of opportunity to help shape the program and contribute. I expect there to be a lot of innovation. Established Penn Botswana Global Health Program. Philly is cool.

Cons: LARGE categorical programs – I had a fear that I could easily get lost or be reduced to a number among resident colleagues and faculty, especially having to go back and forth between each side. I’ve been told it takes longer to get to know your colleagues and even longer for faculty to know you. CHOP is fellow-driven and some would say senior residents have questionable autonomy, though you will get many different opinions on this. The med-peds program is still newish program at 10 years old, though I think it has arrived.


Christiana – I recommend this program highly. Great option to be near Philly. Rotate at Christina Hospital (Newark, DE), Wilmington Hospital (Wilmington), and AI DuPont Hospital for Children (different part of Wilmington). I ranked this program ahead of other academic programs because I felt DuPont’s peds training was superiorly excellent and just too good to pass up. DuPont’s getting a new, beautiful, spanking new hospital. Medium-sized peds program and very resident-education oriented. As far as the medicine at Christiana Hospital -- the medicine program has a very good educational program, and it’s so darn large and has a vast referral base that it gets done of great pathology. However, it’s so darn large that it doesn’t feel like this community-based hospital is driven by residents (to clarify, hospitalists play a large role in caring for patients, the educational program is resident-driven, not fellow-driven; and that goes for all residency programs not just med, peds, med-peds). Residents on medicine are all getting a portable pocket ultrasound and will be trained to use at the bedside. Surprisingly a growing research infrastructure, including a Value Institute to look at cost-effective medicine. As far as med-peds, hard to find a better PD than Allen Friedland – he’ll make sure you’re building your CV to get you to where you want to go. Med-peds program is well-established, well-respected, and tight knit, well-oiled, that provides a variety of experiences. On-site resident clinic at Wilmington Hospital that is well-established and will be moving to a new space within the Wilmington Hospital expansion in a few years. Philly is about 50 minutes from Newark. Area is nice, suburban. Wilmington has some nice development around the waterfront.


Vanderbilt – extremely strong categorical programs. Vandy is the only children’s hospital in Middle Tennessee and fairly large at 271 beds, and Vandy as a whole is really the leading major academic medical center in Middle Tennessee -- so vast referral base. Wonderful PD. Already strong and well-established med-peds program that is still growing (now recruiting 6 interns/year). Daily bedside attending rounds are the standard on medicine side (I value this). Best bioinformatics in the country – all residents get iPads that are linked to their amazing electronic health record. They have something called the “synthetic derivative” where all patient records in the Vandy system get deidentified and placed in a large database – makes it easy to do clinical research with vast numbers of subjects very easily – and it’s IRB approved before you even begin your project! Lots of research opportunity to go around, from basic to clinical to health services. Well-established on-site clinic. Created the Vanderbilt med-peds outpatient curriculum – the only combined outpatient curriculum that exists. Residents can add a second half day of clinic starting in PGY-2 – the second clinic can be anything you want (underserved, subspecialty, more continuity clinic time, protected research time, etc.) Renowned critical care programs, namely their adult pulm/ critical care (all the ICU delirium research is driven by Vandy, eg, CAM-ICU). Felt I would be well-mentored and well-taken care of here. Large, but not humongous medicine class size, medium-sized peds classes. VA.

Great,friendly residents. Southern charm. Nashville-Music City is a great, medium sized city that has a lot going for it currently and drawing a lot of transplants from across the country.

Cons: No educational stipend.





Didn’t interview at, but would also recommend checking out: Baylor (Texas Children’s is the largest children’s hospital in the country), Minnesota (huge program), Indiana (huge program, and I hear Riley is an incredible free-standing children’s hospital, lots of children’s health research), UCSD, Ohio State (Nationwide is a large free-standing children’s hospital), Cincinnati (I think most people know about Cinci’s peds program), Baystate (similar to Christiana in being a very well-established academic community program), Brigham and Women’s/Boston Children’s, MGH, and Duke.