Brigham & Women's versus NYP-Columbia Univ.

[Airway81]

Hey Everyone:

I cannot decide which program I should rank higher: BWH or Columbia.

I loved both, but I'm wondering which has a better--

(1) Reputation in anesth
(2) Reputation (in general)
(3) Work Environment (faculty, people, attitudes)
(4) Work Schedule and Hours (seems BWH has longer work hours, but I may be wrong...)


thank you!

-AW81

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[randomq]

Reputation in anesth - both are probably equal in this regard. You will get excellent jobs or fellowships from both.

Reputation (in general) - Harvard is Harvard, wherever you go. I think if you want to stay in NY, then Columbia is comparable, but anywhere else, in the world, Harvard's name carries people.

Work Environment (faculty, people, attitudes) - similar, although BWH seems like a more resident friendly place. Not being a resident at both places, I cant say for sure, but from talking to various residents, they have excellent faculty, people that care more for residents at Brigham, a more cohesive group of residents who are friends outside of work as well. Also staff and hospital atmosphere at BWH is wonderful, which cannot be said of any program necessarily in NY, includinig columbia

Work Schedule and Hours (seems BWH has longer work hours, but I may be wrong...) - similar, I think with columbia's late call system, brigham might woork out nicer on the whole in this area.

so overall, I would say Brigham is the nicer, and more well known place, especially with the harvard name. Unless you for sure want to be in NYC when you are done and for your career, BWH may be the way to go, because for training, both will be fine.

 

[RockLee]

I think once you've entered the category of Top 10 programs, there's really little for decisions based on the program. Both will give you great training regardless.

If I was in your position, I would be asking myself, New York or Boston? Which city do you like more? At which program did you get the better vibe from the residents?

Good luck with your decision and with the match.

 

[powermd]

My sense from rotations and interviews was that the medical community as a whole is more dedicated to medicine in Boston than New York. Here (NYC) everyone is so stressed out about $$ it leads to something of a 'working stiff' mentality. Not just among doctors, but med students, and ancillary staff too. This may be a major intangible benefit of doing residency in Boston. If you just *have* to live in NYC, Columbia or Sinai are the way to go.

 

[chicamedica]

In terms of research/academics though, hands down Columbia. Brigham is pretty weak that way i thought. Sure, you can go do research at MGH or MIT but it's not the same as working on anesthesiology-related research with your own attendings. Plus the mentorship wont really be built into the program like it seems to be at columbia if that's what you're interested in (I am). I also thought the BWH program seemed to steer residents away from an academic career, or in any case, didn't really seem to encourage them to do academics. I thought Columbia was much stronger that way. In terms of a supportive environment by the PD, assistant PD, and chair, though, Brigham wins--i dont think any other program comes close to the quality of that team and the care they have for their residents. I cant really comment on hospital environment. I did a 2nd look at brigham, didn't get a chance to do so at Columbia. The ORs at the brigham are very new and nice looking. The impression i got re: the faculty from the very limited exposure i got at each place, I actually thought in general the faculty at columbia tend to have more confidence in each resident's talent. At brigham i sensed a bit of a vibe that certain residents get "demoted" while others get "promoted" so to speak, based largely on first impressions. Maybe it was just the particular attendings I happened to come across at each place. It was a gut feeling, and could very well be inaccurate.

I was actually REALLY impressed by the resident camaraderie at Columbia. the brigham residents were really great, but the residents at columbia seemed extremely down to earth, sincere, collegial, and pretty darn cohesive i thought. Maybe i just felt like i fit in slightly more with the personalities at columbia, dont know.

I did overall like both programs very much. My family is in boston but i actually ranked columbia higher because there I felt a lot more reassured about opportunities and mentorship towards the type of anesthesiology career I envision for myself.

sorry i know this didn't really address your specific criteria, but differences in those particular areas are really gonna be nitpicking. The 2 places definitely seemd to have different overall focuses. Brigham seems to aim to train very excellent private practicioners (even those that do fellowships--pretty high powered ones--seem to end up in private practice in the end). columbia seems to make a large effort to attract candidates who want to be anesthesiologists-scientists (many do go on to private practice, but there is a lot of support and encouragement for those interested in scientist training.) Honestly i dont know that the brigham-harvard name carries that much more weight than the columbia name. Mass general maybe, just cause that's where it all started (in some ways). Columbia has tons of history and ground-breaking too.

As someone already alluded to, the decision all comes down to your own individual preferences and what kind of career you want, where you feel you fit in best, which city you prefer, etc. Both are top notch programs. No two (even great) programs are alike though. On interviews i recommend instead of comparing the "work hours," etc, get a feel for what unique qualities each program has and make your decision based on that. Of course that means you should kind of have a general idea of what kind of a career you envision for yourself ahead of time.

 

[m3unsure]

Hey Everyone:

I cannot decide which program I should rank higher: BWH or Columbia.

I loved both, but I'm wondering which has a better--

(1) Reputation in anesth
(2) Reputation (in general)
(3) Work Environment (faculty, people, attitudes)
(4) Work Schedule and Hours (seems BWH has longer work hours, but I may be wrong...)


thank you!

-AW81

Not necessarily the two schools in the OP, but what about BIDMC? Where would you rank this program? It seems that they are the friendliest in Boston compared to Brigham and MGH.

This program definitely seems like a top 20 program and seems like finding jobs everywhere private or academic wouldn't be a problem. I'm thinking that I'd probably come back to the Midwest so the networking/alumni factor is kind of important for me.