Ohio State University (OSU) Hospital Residency Reviews

[JkGrocerz]

I will chime in as well..

OSU....i interviewed there...its a freakin huge place...very nice ED, great fun group of residents. Attendings seem very laid back. Tons of Pathology since they are the biggest system in the area. residents rotate have a strong peds experience at the nation's largest children's hospital about 10 miles away...they do more than the usual amount of peds exposure. U/S is up and coming. Faculty are like any other place. nurses are solid, no scut. the place is located next to OSU undergrad which can be good and bad. good in that you have access to all the facilities (like the nation's larges sports complex), its filled with people. negatives is that you will run into a lot of undergrads...which depends on ur personality. the town and program is very into college football, so if u werent into it now you will be a part of it if you match there. Also there is a 1 month rotation in hawaii offered there. they pay for your housing car and ticket and all you do is work some shifts ina community er. very nice additioin I think. Overall a great place to train and will be ranked highly!

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[corpsmanUP]

I will chime in as well..

OSU....i interviewed there...its a freakin huge place...very nice ED, great fun group of residents. Attendings seem very laid back. Tons of Pathology since they are the biggest system in the area. residents rotate have a strong peds experience at the nation's largest children's hospital about 10 miles away...they do more than the usual amount of peds exposure. U/S is up and coming. Faculty are like any other place. nurses are solid, no scut. the place is located next to OSU undergrad which can be good and bad. good in that you have access to all the facilities (like the nation's larges sports complex), its filled with people. negatives is that you will run into a lot of undergrads...which depends on ur personality. the town and program is very into college football, so if u werent into it now you will be a part of it if you match there. Also there is a 1 month rotation in hawaii offered there. they pay for your housing car and ticket and all you do is work some shifts ina community er. very nice additioin I think. Overall a great place to train and will be ranked highly!

What was your overall impression of Columbus, Oh in general? Is it clean, livable, affordable, or is it more like some of the other midwest cities that seem to have become the typical urban sprawl and depressed ecomomy? Was there much traffic for instance, and how is the parking situation as a resident near the OSU undergrad?

 

[anonymousEM]

I'm not on the residency interview trail but as a native Buckeye, I can attest to the liveability of Columbus. It has the typical urban sprawl in every direction from downtown, but it is one of the biggest and nicest cities in Ohio. I've been back home to visit friends in Cleveland and Columbus who are residents and the ones in Columbus have great places that are affordable. The parking situation seems pretty reasonable on campus...I know they use their hospital parking on game days with no problem working or going to the game. I do think they pay a little bit for it though, can't remember. I ranked the program at OSU very highly and while there was no one from my class in med school that matched there other alum from my school were 2,3rd yrs when I interviewed and had been very happy there Ohio natives or not. Ohio has great parks and in Columbus the sun seems to shine a little more than the northeastern part of the state and it seems to snow a little less. It's also situated on the interchange of major highways with the rest of the state acessible easily by car but the traffic is not unbearable. Typical rush hour for a decent sized city but it'll never be Boston, NY or Chicago and in EM often you miss the real rush hours anyway around our shift schedules...Best of luck.

 

[corpsmanUP]

I never really posted anything on my OSU interview and I should. This place felt like a much smaller family than a huge institution. Their hospital was on the campus of the very impressive Ohio State University, about 5 minutes from downtown Columbus. I loved the city because it had a small cultural area as well as a great sports base with OSU there. Its a great place if you want to buy a cheap house, put your kids in good suburban schools, and have no traffic coming to work. You also have the option to buy home tickets for the Buckeyes, which normally takes getting on a long waiting list. Its a gorgeous campus, and a pretty part of Ohio. The drive from Cleveland to Columbus was pleasantly full of rolling hills and snow covered fields. It was much prettier than my Indiana to Illinois drive. Ohio is not the armpit of America like some have said. I think that is located up somewhere between Baltimore and Phili!!

OSU has facilities that rival Case as the nicest I have seen since Mayo. They work 10 hour shifts, and about 20 a month or so. They all seemed very laid back and I could definitely see that most anyone could fit in with them. They also had a great pediatric experience with all their pedi shifts being done logitudinally down the street at Columbus Children's hospital. Quite frankly, if you are really wanting to get the best peds experience possible, I think this place can offer it. Some would argue that separating kid shifts from adult shifts is not realistic for the real world, but I think it can be a benefit because you are working around all pedi-EM docs when you are there. I would vote for this system if it were practical for all programs.

The PD and assistant PD were both two of the nicest people I have met on the trail. Their interviews were laid back, and felt like a chat. The airport in Columbus is great because it is a stop for Southwest airlines, meaning if you are from the south, you have very cheap options for visiting friends and family. Overall I felt this was a very strong program. The only thing that some people might find as negatives is that the flight experience is weak at best, and the Buckeye environment can be overwhelming for someone who has never had the experience of watching half a million people worship two colors for 6 months a year. I actually like that part of it!! Hope this helps.

 

[AR1776]

Anyone from OSU EM or interviewed there? I really interested in the program. I'm a 3rd year now, so I am going to call to see if I can set up an away rotation for next year. Any info would be appreciated. How DO friendly are they?

 

[AlienHand]

I interviewed at OSU for EM. It's a strong program with excellent training in peds (6 months at one of the busiest children's hospitals in the country), critical care (OSU even has a critical care fellowship that takes EM grads - one of only a handful in the country), and ortho. There's also a month in Hawaii during the third year.

If you want to do an away rotation during your fourth year, start applying early; an FBI background check requiring up to 4 months' lead time is required.

 

[ElZorro]

Again, Corpsman review is at the top of this page, so I will try not to repeat. The night before we had an appetizer dinner at a wine bar near downtown Columbus, which was great because it gave us a chance to check out whats going on in Cbus. Overall, the town seemed pretty live, there was a hockey game going on at the same time, and people were out walking around (it was about 40 degrees). Also, I think they have some college football around Columbus somewhere The ED is very nice from a physical perspective. I think all the rooms were monitored, the trauma bays were in a seperate little area, there were only 2 but they were very very nice and spacious. Two Level I's rolled in while we were touring. They have a large jail area in the back to see jail patients in. Although I have never been a huge fan of seeing inmates, their set-up was one of the safest and most controlled I have seen, with full time guards and actual lock up facility. Computer system seemed pretty nice, nothing real unique but certainly the ED was up to date in terms of technology. Something worth mentioning is that they have like 8 ultrasound machines and focus very heavily on the use of sonography. In fact almost all residents have done enough scans and keep enough documentation to gain certification in sonography and bill when they graduate. Many residents had done in the 1000s of scans. This is a very strong point of their program.

The interviews gave us a chance to meet a few attendings, who to a man seemed excited by what they had to offer at Ohio State. They seemed to all believe that giving residents enough time off to be happy and stay enthusiastic is important to maintaining learning. This is good... There off service rotations were spoken of highly by their residents, except their 3rd year rotation in hand, which although was not fantastic per residents, it was an easy month that they can use to interview for jobs and do graduation type paperwork. They will advertise that they go to Hawaii their 3rd year, which they should because it appears to be an awesome experience. Every resident who went loved it, with some opting for getting a full time job on the island once they graduate. Many residents brought their family.

Pros: Good environment, happy residents who seem to have enough time off. Seemed like cool guys that would be fun to work with. Peds experience is fantastic per all the residents. U/S is incredibly strong, perhaps the best I have ever seen. Attendings seemed very personable. The city is good, affordable, and fun.

Cons: There are very few true cons to this program in my opinion. One may be the trauma experience on a day to day basis in the ED. Most of the big trauma goes to Grant hospital (a mega trauma center in Columbus) and thus while you see trauma, it is perhaps not of the volume that you would expect at a big tertiatry center. However, as you will be told time and time again, trauma is overrated. You do rotate through Grant on your trauma months, so you do get good exposure for those months in penetrating stuff.

I will add on anything I remember later....good luck

 

[quinsy]

Hope this is helpful, and I would like to hear about UPenn and Univ. of Utah/Kentucky if folks have been there.


OHIO STATE
Beautiful facilities, which I did not expect. A large, very nice hospital. Columbus looks like a pretty cool place, which is what I've heard about it. No traffic, very affordable houses (yes, you could totally buy a freestanding house, not a condo/townhome for whatever your price range is). A cool trendy restaurant area called the Short North where we went to a wine/tapas bar the night before. I liked it!

The staff at Ohio State was so welcoming and so nice... probably the nicest of any program I've been to, and I've been to like 10 programs. I really liked the program directors and the coordinating staff, and the residents too. Best lunch for interviewees, the lunch was unbelievable, at this fancy place called the Faculty Club. I like programs that have money to spend, it is a good sign. Oh, and I liked the department chair too very much.

There was also a highly electronic ED, which is one thing I'm looking for. The children's hospital seemed like a nice place to work too, though it wasn't that close to the main hospital and I would rather see peds integrated into your regular shifts (though I noticed that others don't feel the same way). The faculty seemed to be responsive to resident feedback and were changing the curriculum as a result, trying to make everything a good learning experience for them, which I also definitely appreciate.

Overall really liked this program and would rank it highly aside from personal reasons I have to be elsewhere.


GAINESVILLE
Gainesville is just a big college town in central Florida, a weird place because it's got plenty of people but no large buildings due to some sort of zoning restrictions that keep it looking like a smaller town than it is. The residency program is really new, I knew it was relatively recent but didn't realize that the interns had only started this year. So they currently have 8 residents. The hospital is not a huge hospital and it is on the college campus. The staff seemed to have quite a jovial relationship, everyone was laughing it up half the time. They said it was a great place for singles, too, all the college kids and grad students everywhere and of course southern girls at college, well you know what I mean.

The ED was fairly nice, fairly electronically up to date, but the really great thing is that they are building a new ED across the street to be part of a 'critical care tower' which will be awesome. I think that their ED then will certainly rival if not best UMass' ED (which is gorgeous and amazing as noted by other reviewers). It is aimed to be completed sometime like mid-2008 so we'd get a chance to work there.

Liked the program adminstrators, they were very casual and easy to talk to. This program seemed pretty laid back but I feel the educational experience would be good. Was impressed by the simulation experience because they use sim pretty frequently and they have the whole Sim family, not just one Sim man, though currently the stuff is squeezed into the conference room they will be changing their conference room soon and I assume then it will be just a devoted sim lab. Oh yeah, and the conference room had this ridiculous interactive presentation screen that you could 'touch-click' on. Biggest flat-screen I have ever seen. Finally you got plenty of food money and could use it at all the food places in the hospital which included Wendy's, ChickFilA, a coffee cart, etc.

UCONN

Moving on finally to UConn... sadly, I wasn't that into this program, but I think it was a result of partially being tired and partially it just wasn't the program for me, so I want to try to present an objective picture for others who might be into this program.

The program is located at Hartford Hospital, only maybe 3 months of time in the residency are spent at the UConn Health Center which is lovely and in Farmington. HH is not nearly as nice, the neighborhood is OK, it's not bad like coming into Hopkins or something. The children's hospital is pretty cool though, I did like it over there.

The simulation center was fairly advanced, it did span multiple rooms with a very high-tech looking control room, though it wasn't new and shiny it did look like a good solid setup. Most programs just have one room with the sim man and maybe a control room of some sort. This one also had a debriefing room with lecture space and all that.

The cafeteria did not look good and the residents said they had gotten it so that their food money would just be added on to their paycheck, which is probably a better arrangement even though it was only like $150 per year. What else... the didactics seemed OK, they have great 5 star reviews on scutwork so I think the residents are quite happy with it, think they just hired a new ultrasound fellowship trained guy and so improved that aspect of the program quite a bit. They have a flight program and you can go with the helicopter but I don't think it's required. Notably, at Yale you don't do helicopter stuff, you have to get farmed out for it to Pennsylvania because the UConn service is too busy to take them.

I am sure the trauma experience is excellent at UConn. The other thing I did not like was as I mentioned in another post, they had trouble with the administration and doing away rotations because of Medicare dollars. That bugged me. I'd say the international experience is not that strong here but you could probably go anywhere in the USA, where of course there are plenty of places to go and things to do, if you don't care much about going abroad.

 

[ED crazy]

Interviewed at Resurrection: pretty decent program. Seems like the residents get a lot of procedures. The program directory is a funny guy, though pretty goofy. The residents looked laid back and seemed to be getting along pretty well. Chicago is awesome.

Interviewed at Case western-Metrohealth. Ok program. The residents seemed overworked and grumpy. The Chairman and program director from reports from local students and general impression is that they have a dictatorial style of running the program. One student mentioned that resident concerns during resident-faculty forums are shot down by the PD and chairman very quickly. Somebody mentioned that it's a penny pinching program.

Interviewed at Ohio state U. decent program. Residents love football (maybe because it's football season), some of the residents are over the top about OSU football and that's all they talk about; may not be a fun place if you are not an OSU alum. No other major issues. The PD seems pretty nice guy.

 

[Chartres]

Getting caught up now that my SICU month is over...

Emory
[+] Residents were really friendly and nice at the night before dinner; training at both community and county hospitals; Grady seems like an awesome place to train with a lot of trauma and pathology(added bonus: there's a small gym in the hospital for residents); lots of ED time in the first year (6months); administration responsive to resident complaints (recently changed their ortho month to an ortho-ED month because the residents didn't feel like the ortho service month was beneficial) Great diversity among residents. The program goes beyond simply providing care to the indigent by offering multiple opportunities to get involved in community service. The residents have programs that collect clothes for trauma victims and there are multiple free clinics to volunteer in.

[-] Surgery does all the trauma team activation FAST scans, which I feel like is an important thing for an ED resident to become comfortable with. They say that there are enough traumas where the trauma team isn't activated that the ED residents get enough FAST experience. Grady's financial situation is shaky...supposedly being resolved and everyone says it can't close, but I remember hearing the same thing about MLK.

Cook County
[+] Couldn't make it to their happy hour, but really liked the residents I met during the day. The ancillary staff seemed nice and helpful too. The faculty appears to be very supportive of the residents. Their ultrasound program was really well-developed (they beta test machines for GE). They have a cool MICU month where the ED resident acts like the fellow and doesn't have to write notes; just does procedures and codes. The residents get TONS of procedures overall.

[-] The responsibility level is very sharply graded. The progam seems to be structured more toward immersion in a single area, rather than spread out over four years. (For example, trauma is done as an off-service rotation. The volume is high enough that the residents get lots of exposure during this time, but are not otherwise part of the trauma team)

LSU-NO
[+] Really liked the faculty here. They seemed very open and honest about the program's strengths as well as the drawbacks. The residents seem happy. The ED is new and fully functional. The pictures they showed of working immediately post-katrina were intense and made me feel like this is a program that would really prepare you for anything. They alternate trauma responsibility with surgery. You can moonlight and there are a lot of well-paying opportunities. They have some really interesting research going on.

[-] The residents told me that as an intern you are primarily responsible for running codes at one of the community hospitals. While I love autonomy, I'd also like to have someone more senior standing behind me in case I got into trouble. New Olreans as a city lost a lot with Katrina and it hasn't all come back.

Ohio State
[+] LOVE the faculty here. They are totally supportive, intelligent and dedicated to the residents. The ultrasound program is a real strength. This program also has incredible peds exposure. The ED is very nice and charting is done on computers. The residents are very friendly.
[-] The patient population isn't as diverse as some other hospitals.

 

[Schnoffle]

Anyone here have any experience with OSU's EM program? I plan on applying there next year and was curious what people thought.

 

[Chartres]

Great faculty, amazing peds exposure, very strong ultrasound program, no scut.

 

[bulgethetwine]

Great faculty, amazing peds exposure, very strong ultrasound program, no scut.

Underrated program, one of the "gems", great physical plant, multiple hospitals to get lots of variety in training. Good to sometimes great city if you don't mind the weather. PD a little "stiff" and Asst PD a bit of a ball buster, but rest of faculty good. US a strength.

 

[Koko]

Great faculty, amazing peds exposure, very strong ultrasound program, no scut.

Agree completely. Excellent pgm. Mark Angelos is one of their big research guys -- could not ask for a nicer person.

 

[lazy77]

Am a current resident at Ohio State and I love it here. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

 

[FleurTheAnon]

In No particular Order

1. Scott and White - Excellent overall, best fit if you're married, wonderful people. Well-established program in a small town with a huge catchment area. Hospital is a "Texas Mayo Clinic" and very well respected both in the community and the state. The ED is new (finished <2 years ago IIRC) with all private rooms, excellent nursing staff, and lots of space. You don't feel crowded like many EDs that I've seen. The place sees a lot of different things on each shift (peds/adult/trauma, etc). Don't send a ton of people to fellowship though there is talk that this is changing - one recent grad is going to Peds-EM. Faculty are pretty well published, which surprised me, especially in sepsis. My vote for best overall program in the state.

2. Duke - Newish program (I would be in their sixth intern class) but it seems to have most of the kinks worked out. LOVED the PD Sarah Stahmer. Top-notch facilities, smart and personable faculty, and residents that I would most definitely enjoy being friends with. Very livable city. Curriculum suits me: they try and launch their grads into the world with awesome CVs. In short, I *heart* Duke. Currently my personal #1 but will have to convince the wife that it's okay to move there.

3. U Cincinnati - My other EM crush. Take what Duke has in terms of academics and square it. Highest quality EM program, possibly the funniest PD in the business (imagine Kevin Spacey doing standup), and the fact that I know the folks more than from an interview and they rock. However, Cincinnati is, well, Cincinnati. Which means that it isn't a bad school, per se, but it's in the middle of the Midwest. There's no family in the area, it's a four year program (not necessarily a deal breaker for me), and it would be hard for the wife to find a job there as Ohio is pretty much shedding jobs left and right. Would be a hard sell.

4. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH - solid, friendly, and comfortable PGY1-3 program. Has just about anything that you'd want in a program but lacks a bit in the academic grooming department that other programs put front and center on interview day. Faculty were nice as were the residents. ED is good looking if not flashy (contrast to UCSF's Moffett-Long which was one of the prettiest out there). Program is on/near the campus of the undergrad campus and there is a lot to be said for having a University's resources available. Columbus seems like a really neat city to live in and the people that I met out and about were really nice. The airport is one of the more convenient, easy to maneuver, and nicest airports that I've ever experienced (free wi-fi too). The town is growing and adding jobs which is no mean feat in Ohio these days. Encouraged moonlighting, and you can do it in one of several OSU-affiliated hospitals (you won't have to get your OH license). Would be a tough sell for the wife but vastly easier than Cincinnati would be.

2. Eastern Carolina University, Greenville, NC - man, where to start about this program? I had a bad vibe from the beginning: the coordinator didn't provide the physical address of the hospital so it was hard to find the place as I'd never been to G'Vegas before and was driving in the morning of the interview. It was a painful, awkward day.

It was a foggy day outside and the grayness seemed to be unrelieved by the program offices (in stark contrast to Duke, which was all light, smiles, and holiday cheer). The presentation from the PD seemed a bit half-hearted compared to others that I've seen (for example, Cincinnati put some effort into spicing up the program overview, doing a "morning report" bit that was far more instructive in obvious and subtle ways than anything else). The faculty didn't really seem to do more than ask a few pro-forma questions and then ask if we had any questions. Now, I'm not saying that everyone has to ask me things, certainly not. But I've had really thoughtful questions and discussions at other places that made it clear that the interviewer had thoroughly reviewed my application....or at least followed up on things I had mentioned which indicated that they were interested. Maybe it was just me....

So anyway, the resident's didn't really impress me all that much. The pgy3 was aggressive in a weird way, and the two interns were a disaster. One was saying how happy she was that no one cared if they asked stupid questions and then told us what the dumb question was....The old saying "Better to to be suspected of stupidity than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" was definitely applicable. The other intern barely spoke and appeared catatonic, and when asked why he chose ECU, gave me the weirdest look that I've ever seen. And didn't answer the question. To be fair, we ran across another intern from CA who was working in the ED who seemed really excited and enthused about the program. Perhaps he should have been the one to come to lunch, eh?

Anyway, the ED is gorgeous, no doubt, and they have possibly one of the best designed layouts that I've yet seen. Very nice. The rescucitation bays are the best yet. I think that they are a solid clinical program that for some reason didn't put their best foot forward that day. It was kind of sad.

 

[medic502]

I too am a resident at OSU and could not be happier with the program. We have PDs that listen to us and make changes based on what is and isnt working for us.
We have a very strong US program, lots of autonomy, ton of exposure to procedures.
We work hard and learn a lot by doing so.
Willing to answer any questions?

 

[EvoDevo]

I originally posted this in the Unofficial 2009 ROL thread but I'm posting here so that folks down the line can get more hits when they search for various programs.

1. Texas A&M-Scott & White - Loved the facilities, great reputation in Texas and surrounding regions, LOVED the residents and faculty. Feels like home. Brought my wife back for a second look and it was a giant love-fest. Training is extremely good, great location, and extremely family friendly.

2. Duke Univ Med Ctr-NC - I loved the PD (Sarah Stahmer), the faculty, and the residents. I definitely felt as if I could spend three years with these guys. The feel-goodness started at the resident social and continued on. I was also impressed by the group of applicants who were there with me (one of my hidden indicators). Excellent training, though a bit too university hospital biased. Duke name and reputation, facilities, and Raleigh-Durham is gorgeous. Family in the area. Would be excited to end up here.

3. UC San Francisco-CA - One of those programs with that "X-factor" that's hard to describe; yet you know it when you see it. Really liked the PD and Assistant PD. Fantastic facilities, really top-notch faculty, residents were nice and very welcoming. New program and that brings with it problems; however, I've made something of a habit of helping to establish new organizations and I love a challenge. Though SF is hideously expensive, we think that we can make it happen. Plus it's SF! Gorgeous city and TONS to do when we're not working. Family (a well-traveled bunch) would be thrilled too and have already promised to visit all the time if we end up there.

4. University Hosp-Cincinnati-OH - My favorite program by far when considered in and of itself. However, when those "other factors" get thrown in, it was hard to rank them higher. Spent a month there, absolutely LOVED the program. Seriously. This is truly one of those X-factor places and watching their fourth years was insanely impressive. Wish that I could have ranked them higher. But if by some ridiculous longshot we end up there, then I will probably be their most enthusiastic resident EVER.

5. U Texas Med Sch-Houston - solid program in a city that I love, close to family and friends, good research available, extremely familiar with the medical center and area.

6. University of Virginia - Very good program that a friend rotated with, so I know it's dirt to a degree. Gorgeous town, decently close to family. Kind of isolated and would be harder for my wife to find a job since it's primarily a college town.

7. Ohio State Univ Med Ctr-OH - Heard great things about the program, really enjoyed my interview, residents at my med school rave about the city. Would be very happy to end up there.

8. Christiana Care-DE - One of those programs that I wish that I'd been able to rotate with because I hear so many great things. Really clicked with the faculty, kind so-so with the residents. Newark didn't really impress me much as it reminded me of the concrete suburbia that I wouldn't mind leaving behind. Nonetheless, would be happy to match there.

9. U Michigan Hosps-Ann Arbor - Fantastic program, not really thrilled about the amount of snow/winter/winter schmutz we'd have to deal with. Not looking forward to buying a light box and possibly dealing with SAD.

10. U Arkansas-Little Rock - One of the most relaxed and enjoyable interview days I had on the trail. Brand-spanking new ED which is gorgeous and well thought out. A little concerned about the volume and pathology that they see there. Good faculty and the residents seem like people I'd want to be friends with outside of work. Little Rock seems like a very pleasant place to live, and quite affordable.

11. Christus Spohn Mem Hosp-TX - I think that this program is going to be really outstanding in a couple of years. I had a great interview and with the relative lack of other residencies, you get treated like royalty by the hospital - Close, free parking, free food in the Dr.'s Lounge, relatively few low-yield rotations. However, the wife and I weren't too thrilled at the prospect of living in Corpus for three years, and their are still some rough edges to the program. Nonetheless, I believe that you'd come out of this program a very well trained EP.

12. Pitt County Mem Hosp/Brody SOM-NC - Solid program, had a so-so interview day. Location was a bit of a negative for me as Greenville is so small. On the other hand, it is only about forty minutes from family and it's insanely cheap to live in. I've known some folks from the school and they had very good things to say about the program. Would be okay with matching here.

Bottom line is that I didn't interview at a single place that I wouldn't mind training at. I do think that there is a nearly intangible but real difference (for me) between the top-tier and other programs. Having said that though, the one thing that I've learned from this interview season is that the saying "You get a solid education at any of these places because of the RRC," is probably pretty close to the mark.

 

[psmith]

I used past posts about people's thought on the programs on their rank order list to help formulate my own preferences in the programs I interviewed at so I thought I would pass my thoughts along about the programs on my ROL, now that all interviews are said and done. Be forewarned: I'm not very picky about where I do my training, so I ended up making a lot of decisions based on gut feeling and eccentric preferences.

1. JPS, Ft Worth: Really clicked with the faculty and residents. Hospital and program is very well funded and the EM program has a lot of pull and respect within the hospital. Really like the city for its size, low cost of living, and reasonable traffic volume. Almost all the training (except three months) is at their hospital.
2. Christiana, Delaware: Very well respected program that's been around a long time. I did a rotation there and its clear that many of their residents are very strong. Has many of the same qualities I liked about JPS (strong and respected program within the hospital), but I grew up in the area and am hesitant to move back. Has two training sites that are 20 minutes apart.
3. Ohio State, Columbus, OH: Really liked a lot of the residents I met. Had trouble clicking with some of the faculty, but did get to sit in on a small group session with one of their younger faculty members leading who was a phenomenal educator. Columbus seems like an awesome town. Just a little hesitant about the separate training sites.
4. Summa, Akron, OH: The nicest cafeteria I've ever been to. New YMCA connected to the hospital. Maybe that shouldn't have influenced me so much, but it did.
5. York, PA: I was really into the program director's pride in having a strong sense of community in the program. I also thought their simulation and other educational programs sounded really engaging.
6. Baylor, Houston, TX: Assistant residency director (Tyson Pillow) was the most personable, fun, and candid person I met the entire interview trail. Would love to work under him.
7. Jefferson, Philadelphia, PA: Three different training sites, some of which appeared to be long commutes. Really cool neighborhood for the university hospital, but pricey. Awesome airway course included with the education.
8. Little Rock, Arkansas
9. CHRISTUS Spohn, Corpus Christi, TX: Program director seemed a bit awkward and not very personable, but the assistant program director and a lot of the other faculty seemed cool. Didn't really click with any of the residents. Seemed like they have a cool simulation experience.
10. St. John's, Detroit, MI
11. UTSW: Very cool residents. Did get the impression that their training experience was a bit skewed to free labor taking priority over education side of things. Clerkship director was very arrogant. Very insistent on his excellent clinical and educational abilities.
12. Metro/Clevland Clinic: Great reputation, but many of their residents seemed burnt out and dissatisfied. They were also the only place where the residents didn't seem to hold their program director in especially high regard.
13. New York Hospital Queens: The fact that this is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the US makes me think I'm going to have to use a translator way too much.

 

[rustycabin]

Is OSU DO friendly?

 

[dav86]

I interviewed there last year. I was of course told that if you get an interview they are seriously considering you, but I looked at previous classes and I think I saw one DO in the past six years and I think that resident was from the Ohio school. I matched into a place I ranked higher this past year, so no idea if I would have had a chance there. I really enjoyed the interview. Really good Peds experience, tons of fellowships, an U/S guru. Lots of eight hour shifts throughout your three years (R1-22/month, I think maybe 19/month for R3s), so they work a lot. Also super sweet Hawaii rotation where you pretty much chill (they pay for living, food, and car). Worked with a graduate on another audition rotation and she couldn't say anything bad about the program, she loved it. I recommend giving it a look, but know that they have not had many DOs in the past decade, though there could be many reasons for this.

 

[imddr16]

Long time lurker, posting on alternate account in order to remain anonymous. These threads greatly helped me and as such I am paying it forward. Good luck for future medical students. I won't go into the curriculum details or specifics since those are mostly readily available on their websites, but rather I made a long pro/con detail list along my interview trail and I will highlight my thoughts from that list.

Pro: established program, great COL, family friendly, happy faculty and residents, chill interview day, good work/life balance, gorgeous facilities, research opportunities, surprisingly good fellowships, close proximity of sites, happy faculty, Hawaii 3rd year elective,

Con: Columbus (go PSU!) jk, lack of trauma, tons of hands in the cookie jar for procedures, weird "diversity the college" feel, crappy dinner before, new dean was replaced after 2 years of being recruited (felt like intradepartmental drama)

Overall impressions
Gut feeling:7/10
Facilities/resources: 10/10
Location: 7/10
Didactics: can't comment
Prestige: 6/10
Research: 7/10
Shift/hours/wellness: 8/10