Impressions of these programs

[NeuroAP86]

After completing my interviews, I have narrowed my list down to the following programs:

Loyola
Ohio State
Medical College of Wisconsin
University of South Florida
Henry Ford

Loyola is in the list because of location (I'm from Chicago) but I don't feel as if it the best program even though I was impressed at the interview after reading a lot of negative things about it. The two that impressed me the most was Ohio State and MCW. Any input would be much appreciated, I am open to moving to any of these places.

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[neurovice1]

I interviewed at Loyola, Ohio State, USF, and Henry Ford this year. I've heard good things about MCW but I'm not really too familiar. Didn't apply there.
Loyola- I too was impressed with the interview day but I went for a second look because I was so impressed with the program on interview day and one of the residents told me "Why did you come back? Do you ever go to a restaurant that looks nice but when you get the food its terrible? Thats this program". I also remember seeing a resident get yelled at. It seemed malignant to me because of their chair. Mostly FMG.

Ohio State: Solid program, no FMGs, good atmosphere. Really no negatives that stood out.

USF: They seemed extremely busy but the best facilities of the bunch, good if you want to go into pain. I have a buddy who is in PMR there who didn't say the strongest things about the neuro department though....

Henry Ford: Seems like their PGY-2 Year is really busy but then after that some residents were saying its awesome which is like most neuro programs. used to have a ton of FMGs but looks like its changing. New program director seems awesome and approachable. Most of the new recent classes are American grads which for me is important only because I think Id fit in better. I interviewed at DMC too and I think most Wayne State students that want to stick around choose Henry Ford over DMC for whatever thats worth. Detroit's....meh but it doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as people say it is.

I'd probably do:
Ohio State
Henry Ford
USF
Loyola

For me, its important to be a big fish of the region so that you are at the program of regional authority. Ohio State is THE program in ohio's largest city (columbus) so that's beneficial in terms of exposure although its probably #3 in the state after the Case and The Clinic. Also zero FMG. FMGs are really smart and tend to have a ton of prior experience but I think its better to start on an even playing field with the rest of your co residents.

USF is probably that of West Florida and its hard to beat the weather. I just have inside info I suppose that dampens my opinion of the place.

Henry Ford is in Detroit so the pathology I'm sure is amazing and it seems like in general its a stronger program and first choice for Wayne Students as opposed to DMC. U-Michigan is nearby but Ann Arbor is much smaller of a city. I feel like itd be more of a purely academic program. I didn't interview at UMich and if I had gotten one maybe my opinion would be totally different.

Loyola is the worst of the Chicago programs. I don't like the idea of that knowing that there are more highly respected neurology centers in the same city.

Can't comment about MCW....


Hope this helps.

 

[NeuroAP86]

I interviewed at Loyola, Ohio State, USF, and Henry Ford this year. I've heard good things about MCW but I'm not really too familiar. Didn't apply there.
Loyola- I too was impressed with the interview day but I went for a second look because I was so impressed with the program on interview day and one of the residents told me "Why did you come back? Do you ever go to a restaurant that looks nice but when you get the food its terrible? Thats this program". I also remember seeing a resident get yelled at. It seemed malignant to me because of their chair. Mostly FMG.

Ohio State: Solid program, no FMGs, good atmosphere. Really no negatives that stood out.

USF: They seemed extremely busy but the best facilities of the bunch, good if you want to go into pain. I have a buddy who is in PMR there who didn't say the strongest things about the neuro department though....

Henry Ford: Seems like their PGY-2 Year is really busy but then after that some residents were saying its awesome which is like most neuro programs. used to have a ton of FMGs but looks like its changing. New program director seems awesome and approachable. Most of the new recent classes are American grads which for me is important only because I think Id fit in better. I interviewed at DMC too and I think most Wayne State students that want to stick around choose Henry Ford over DMC for whatever thats worth. Detroit's....meh but it doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as people say it is.

I'd probably do:
Ohio State
Henry Ford
USF
Loyola

For me, its important to be a big fish of the region so that you are at the program of regional authority. Ohio State is THE program in ohio's largest city (columbus) so that's beneficial in terms of exposure although its probably #3 in the state after the Case and The Clinic. Also zero FMG. FMGs are really smart and tend to have a ton of prior experience but I think its better to start on an even playing field with the rest of your co residents.

USF is probably that of West Florida and its hard to beat the weather. I just have inside info I suppose that dampens my opinion of the place.

Henry Ford is in Detroit so the pathology I'm sure is amazing and it seems like in general its a stronger program and first choice for Wayne Students as opposed to DMC. U-Michigan is nearby but Ann Arbor is much smaller of a city. I feel like itd be more of a purely academic program. I didn't interview at UMich and if I had gotten one maybe my opinion would be totally different.

Loyola is the worst of the Chicago programs. I don't like the idea of that knowing that there are more highly respected neurology centers in the same city.

Can't comment about MCW....


Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input, very much appreciated!

Loyola - I also went for a second look at Loyola and was not blown away by any means but I did not encounter the experience you did. Throughout the process I always had that impression of it being a malignant program because of the chair and I still think that holds true at this moment. The other thing that concerns me is the lack of faculty in some of the sub-specialty departments.

Out of those 5 programs, the two that seemed at the absolute top of my list was Ohio State and MCW although MCW had a decent amount of FMG in the senior classes but only 1 in the PGY1 class so things seem to be changing there. I got a great overall impression from the residents and faculty at both of those places. I cannot comment much on Henry Ford as I am scheduled to interview there this week but I also interviewed at DMC and got same impression that Henry Ford is regarded as the better of the two programs in Detroit. I am biased toward USF as I have lived in Tampa for a year for rotations and worked with an attending who was a graduate of the program so I knew everything about the program, it is also higher up than loyola at this point.