Comment on my rank list please

[anbuitachi]

I been trying to find a decent balance between gut feeling and OKness. However i forgot a lot about the programs since the interviews. I used to think I should just rank the programs based on how I felt during the itnerview day, however now i'm having doubts. Should a community program that made me feel like its a good place, be placed above an OK/somewhat positive place with possibly stronger training or better name? Should the list be based on 1 day and meeting/talking to a couple of residents? So I need your opinion!

So here's my list in order, please comment.. thanks!

Virginia mason
UPMC - odd interviews
UPenn - odd interviews
St Lukes Roosevelt
NYU
Penn state - program sounds good on paper and on interview day. but fellowship match isn't strong.. and i dont think they have a easy time finding jobs..?

Stony Brook - not sure about this one. they didn't reveal this years fellowship list, and interviewer dodged the question and talked about previous match lists..

Dartmouth - not the best location
Yale - works long hours (?), not best location
North shore LIJ - New program... NAPA
SUNY Downstate - old facilities, awful nursing union.. recognized chair, excellent fellowship list..
Medical college of wisconsin - not best location

Maimonides - thought highly of program, but it's community. fellowship placement not bad including MGH, my attendings are telling me since its community.. rank it low..

NYMC - Not best location.. advanced only

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[MikeMerk-MtS]

What is the reasoning for community programs being bad? Just curious

 

[anbuitachi]

What is the reasoning for community programs being bad? Just curious

they didn't say. just said university program > community
now tha ti think about it. i proabbly should have asked

 

[Biochemist21]

What is the reasoning for community programs being bad? Just curious

There's nothing inherently "bad" about community programs. What you really want is to train at a tertiary/quaternary care center. Those programs are typically (but not always) university affiliates.

I'm guessing they are trying to steer you towards university programs because in general you'll see a wider range of cases, bigger cases, and sicker pts at the universities. Frequently these pts are referred out of the community hospitals to larger tertiary care university programs.

 

[Hoya11]

I been trying to find a decent balance between gut feeling and OKness. However i forgot a lot about the programs since the interviews. I used to think I should just rank the programs based on how I felt during the itnerview day, however now i'm having doubts. Should a community program that made me feel like its a good place, be placed above an OK/somewhat positive place with possibly stronger training or better name? Should the list be based on 1 day and meeting/talking to a couple of residents? So I need your opinion!

So here's my list in order, please comment.. thanks!

Virginia mason
UPMC - odd interviews
UPenn - odd interviews
St Lukes Roosevelt
NYU
Penn state - program sounds good on paper and on interview day. but fellowship match isn't strong.. and i dont think they have a easy time finding jobs..?

Stony Brook - not sure about this one. they didn't reveal this years fellowship list, and interviewer dodged the question and talked about previous match lists..

Dartmouth - not the best location
Yale - works long hours (?), not best location
North shore LIJ - New program... NAPA
SUNY Downstate - old facilities, awful nursing union.. recognized chair, excellent fellowship list..
Medical college of wisconsin - not best location

Maimonides - thought highly of program, but it's community. fellowship placement not bad including MGH, my attendings are telling me since its community.. rank it low..

NYMC - Not best location.. advanced only

it should be:

Yale/UPMC/Upenn/NYU/Dartmouth/Penn state
DOwnstate/SLR/Stonybrook
North shore LIJ/NYMC as safeties

eliminate the rest. It seems like your current lists puts VM, SLR above some giants

 

[Orin]

Like it. Go with your gut.

What do you mean by odd interviews though? Some of the big dogs have 'challenging' or 'provocative' interview styles to push you beyond your comfort zone.

 

[phentanyl]

I been trying to find a decent balance between gut feeling and OKness. However i forgot a lot about the programs since the interviews. I used to think I should just rank the programs based on how I felt during the itnerview day, however now i'm having doubts. Should a community program that made me feel like its a good place, be placed above an OK/somewhat positive place with possibly stronger training or better name? Should the list be based on 1 day and meeting/talking to a couple of residents? So I need your opinion!

So here's my list in order, please comment.. thanks!

Virginia mason
UPMC - odd interviews
UPenn - odd interviews
St Lukes Roosevelt
NYU
Penn state - program sounds good on paper and on interview day. but fellowship match isn't strong.. and i dont think they have a easy time finding jobs..?

Stony Brook - not sure about this one. they didn't reveal this years fellowship list, and interviewer dodged the question and talked about previous match lists..

Dartmouth - not the best location
Yale - works long hours (?), not best location
North shore LIJ - New program... NAPA
SUNY Downstate - old facilities, awful nursing union.. recognized chair, excellent fellowship list..
Medical college of wisconsin - not best location

Maimonides - thought highly of program, but it's community. fellowship placement not bad including MGH, my attendings are telling me since its community.. rank it low..

NYMC - Not best location.. advanced only

Make your list based on where you would feel most comfortable. Whether this is based on location, name recognition, opportunities in particular subspecialties, etc....you need to figure out what is more important to you. There really isn't anything wrong with what you have so far. Virginia Mason is well known and provides very good training, and Seattle is a great city. Pitt is Pitt....enough said. SLR is also very good, though I don't know how recent changes have affected the programme, if at all. By all means, you can place the big name university programmes at the top, but you should do so for the right reasons. Don't choose any programme based solely on name. I do agree with Biochemist21 in that it is probably best for your training to attend a residency at a tertiary care centre, regardless of weather it is a university or community programme. Best of luck to you...less than 1 month to go.

 

[ProEra]

Outside of VM and MCW, every program on your list is in the northeast. If you want to practice in the northeast in the future, I can only imagine that training at UPMC, Penn, NYU, etc... would allow for easier connections and better job opps in the region.

As for training at university vs community programs, I think the big distinction is that for many community programs you have to do outside rotations at other hospitals to meet numbers. Some places will have you do outside rotations for peds, cardiac, thoracic. You may only gets peds exposure when you're on the peds rotations for 2 months as opposed to having some peds cases interspersed throughout your CA 1-3 years in addition to your dedicated peds months.

 

[anbuitachi]

it should be:

Yale/UPMC/Upenn/NYU/Dartmouth/Penn state
DOwnstate/SLR/Stonybrook
North shore LIJ/NYMC as safeties

eliminate the rest. It seems like your current lists puts VM, SLR above some giants

isn't VM a 'giant' lol.. I imagine VM has a better rep than NYU/penn state at least and comparable to the others?

Like it. Go with your gut.

What do you mean by odd interviews though? Some of the big dogs have 'challenging' or 'provocative' interview styles to push you beyond your comfort zone.

Oh I'm ok with challenging interviews but some were weird. At one of those places, the interviewer didn't really ask me anything, he just complained about how awful medical training is. Like that type of weird

 

[MikeMerk-MtS]

As I tell everyone, go with where you'll be happy. That's where you'll thrive.

 

[Ezekiel2517]

Don't lose sight of the fact that residency is a temporary state of being. I trained at a "workhorse" type program where residents prolly weren't the happiest but now I'm glad I did.
Personally, I'd choose the place that would provide excellent training, has a track record of high first-time board pass rates, and one that would open up the best doors for me in the future.

 

[koan]

I know a resident at UCSF who ranked VM #1 and was very disappointed that he didn't match there. You have a lot of great programs on your list, and if you have no strong geographic preferences then the order seems solid to me. Although it kinda sounds from your comments that Downstate and Stonybrook could move around a bit.

 

[courtnes]

FWIW, I didn't get the impression that fellowship or job placement was weak at Penn State.

 

[anbuitachi]

FWIW, I didn't get the impression that fellowship or job placement was weak at Penn State.

oh really? I didn't write them down and i can't find them anywhere. But i remember leaving there not being impressed by their fellowship matching this year. do you remember some?

 

[courtnes]

oh really? I didn't write them down and i can't find them anywhere. But i remember leaving there not being impressed by their fellowship matching this year. do you remember some?

I can't remember specific examples, but talked to a few CA-3s and they said people matched where they wanted the past few years.

 

[Biochemist21]

As I tell everyone, go with where you'll be happy. That's where you'll thrive.

Yes! This is exactly what I tell every MS3/4 that I work with, regardless of what field they're going into.

 

[camedstudent23]

oh really? I didn't write them down and i can't find them anywhere. But i remember leaving there not being impressed by their fellowship matching this year. do you remember some?

Would you mind sharing/PM'ing your stats? I'm interested in several of these programs for next year and want an idea of who gets interviews. You can fudge the numbers a bit too if you want.