Peds Interview Impression 2010-2011

[Salsa Girl]

Hi everyone!!!

I figured it was time to get the interview impression thread started since most of us have allready started interviewing.

Feel free to post your impressions (or post an anonymous review for somebody else).

Please post the name of the program in the title of your post for easy searching.

Thanks!

Best of luck to everybody!!! We are almost there....

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[oldbearprofessor]

Hi everyone!!!

I figured it was time to get the interview impression thread started since most of us have allready started interviewing.

Feel free to post your impressions (or post an anonymous review for somebody else).

Please post the name of the program in the title of your post for easy searching.

Thanks!

Best of luck to everybody!!! We are almost there....

You may also PM your review(s) to any of the forum mods and we will post it without your username.

 

[Eat Oatmeal]

Just interviewed. Things to point out:

Pros:
-nice hotel (in a casino), put you in executive suite, day at the spa, etc.
-Really busy hospital. Serves metro detroit which means underserved population. Resident said they see a lot of child abuse. Every pathology is seen.
-Lots of subspecialty fellowships. I think the one they are missing is endocrine.
-Interview was laid back. They even do a behavioral interview which puts you in ethical dillemas.
-Have an international training track
-Addressed resident hour changes 1 year ago.
-Really nice residents

Cons:
-Decent board pass rates but the last class had issues
-3 program directors due to large class size. I dont know how to feel about this.
-Does not pay for food (only for on call)
-It is in detroit
-Really busy hours. I also had the feeling that some of the residents may go over.

The biggest thing for me was to gain an understanding of how a residency with 30 per class functions. I got the impression that they do a decent job but that there are some points where they still appear to be disorganized. I am impressed with the patient population and they pathology they see. It reminds me of ER (the TV show).

Hope this helps.

 

[guacamoley]

Structure: The day consisted of meeting with chief residents, rounds with floor/subspecialty team, meeting with Dr. Hicks (PD), two 30 minute interviews, hospital tour, and lunch with residents.

Faculty: Very impressive, as expected. The attending on rounds was exceptionally sharp. Did not get the sense that there was a malignant relationship between faculty and housestaff. Make no mistake, these are experts in their fields that wake up each day to kick a little bit of ass. Something is accomplished each day, whether it is in their research lab or in the care of very complicated patients. Not a place for the faint of heart.

Housestaff: The party line was "work hard, play hard" and "tight-knit group," but out of 120 or so residents, around 12 showed up to happy hour. The same number showed up to free lunch with applicants that day, so it was hard to get a sense of how the residents interact with each other. Did not feel as tight-knit as claimed, but like I said, it was hard to get a feel because of small sample size.

Program: Dr. Hicks is in her second year as PD at CHOP. From all reports, she takes care of the residents. A plan has not yet been set in stone to deal with the new ACGME guidelines. Not sure if there will be pure night float vs. modified Q4.

Facilities: Very large children's hospital. McDonald's and cafeteria not very impressive. Call rooms ok.

Misc: Clearly, CHOP will take your career anywhere you want to go in pediatrics. It is the biggest name in peds right now. Philadelphia is not exactly the most exciting place to live, but you are unlikely to have much free time outside of the hospital anyway.

In sum:

Pros:
- #1 pediatrics program in the country, any fellowship you want
- High volume, high acuity
- Research intensive
- Amazing ED
- Large resident class will make it somewhat easier to implement new ACGME guidelines

Cons:
- Very light on bread-and-butter outpatient pediatrics
- About to make a painful transition to EMR
- Large resident class may be more impersonal
- Location less than ideal
- No idea what schedule will look like

 

[manouchka]

Any one interviewed at Miami children's hospital? How do you like the program?

 

[natashana]

I hope all you guys interviews are going well. Anyone else get really nervous at times? I recently interviewed at my top choice (for many reasons including personal) and I got SO nervous during one of the interviews. I hope I'm not one of those "weird" interviewees now. Sigh. Maybe you guys haven't had that experience yet, or won't. Maybe I'm being hard on myself.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Posted anonymously

CHOP
(+) Surprisingly great balance between academics and PC/advocacy. Place an emphasis on making their residents into leaders in the field, but definitely not just in research - you could take this in any direction you'd like - international health, health policy, advocacy etc. All residents do a 3rd year advocacy project. Established international rotations in Botswana and Dominican Republic, though you are free to set things up elsewhere, too. Happy residents - good camraderie, get together regularly, buy each other post call breakfast! Approachable attendings. In my opinion, great location - essentially part of UPenn campus, so a very vibrant, safe area with lots to do. Most residents don't have a car - they walk or take public transport - but some definitely do ($480/yr to park at hospital). Good salary ~$51,000. Elective time starting first year (1mo). Huge ED (80+ beds) - this is many resident's favorite rotation.

(+/-) Free-standing children's hospital. Haven't decided how I feel about this yet - nice to have everything structured with a focus on kids, but perhaps with fewer resources than an intergrated children's hospital?

(-) Not much. I wasn't as wowed by the facilities as I was expecting to be, and I come from an old hospital - certainly very nice, but not sparkly brand new. Have to pay for parking. Cafeteria closes at 7:30pm (and all cafeteria food - no chain restaurants) but 24h McDonald's. Were sensitive about changes 2/2 new duty hour rules - talked about it in a broad sense, but didn't give any specifics or possibilities.


Hopkins
(+) PD's close to and supportive of residents. Won't have to make many changes to call schedule given that they have had day/night teams Sun-Thurs since 2003. The changes will come on the weekends, where the day people now do 24-28hour shifts. Good balance between support and independence - seniors start out the year by seeing admissions with interns, but do less and less as the year. Seniors runs the morning rounds entirely - attendings only come once a week, but are always available for questions. So, you get more practice than a lot of places with being "the final word" before becoming an attending. Good international opportunities, and 1 resident/month can go to work with the Indian Health Service in Tuba, AZ - a few have gone to work their permanently after residency. Happy residents, get along very well, social outside of the hospital though not in any structured way. Baltimore is a very "easy" place to live - you have a pretty vibrant restaurant, sports, theater, music etc. scene without the hassles of a big city. Moderate cost of living (not as cheap as Midwest or South, but much much cheaper than NYC or SF/LA).

(+/-) Integrated children's hospital. Again, not sure what I think of this yet. Floors are by age - was told this was for nurses who tend to work with a particular age, but it does mean more work for the teams which have to run between 3 different floors. New hospital set to open Jan 2012 - we only got to see it from the outside. Who knows when it will actually open.

(-) Underwhelming interview day - they just don't work all that hard to sell the program or woo you - residents definitely ask if you have questions, but aren't as effusive as other places with what makes the program so wonderful. They were all very friendly and willing to talk, but I ended up just chatting with them about random stuff more so than the program.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Posted anonymously

Phoenix Children's

Structure: Meet & greet at the chief resident's house the night before. Very friendly group of residents. Started interview day meeting with PD briefly who answered a few group questions. Then 2 interviews with faculty members (1 at Phoenix Children's and 1 at Maricopa, their county hospital parter). Lunch at a nice restaurant, tour of both hospitals, and then 15 minutes to meet with the PD individually.

Faculty: The PD spent time at Boston Children's and CHOP and has extremely impressive credentials. She's been in Phoenix for over 10 years and seems to really be in tune with the residents needs. Faculty was also well-qualified and friendly. Residents and faculty seemed to have a great relationship and residents were on a first name basis with the PD.

Housestaff: Seemed like a diverse group of residents from all over the country. Appeared to get along really well and extremely friendly. They def acknowledged working VERY hard, but found time for social/family lives.

Program: They have started shift work in the PICU if I remember correctly and will be transitioning over to other rotations to accommodate the work hour rules. Not positive how that will all work out. PD also mentioned an intensive reading course that residents can take part in which has a proven track record of improving performance on board exams. Sounded interesting.

Facilities: Currently in a 5-6 story, well constructed children's hospital. Moving into a brand-new $550 million 14-story children's hospital in early 2011. VERY IMPRESSIVE facility.

Misc: Seems like a well-respected program in the southwest and should be moving up nationally in terms of reputation sooner than later. Was impressed with the effort they put into interview day and were the program is going.

In sum:

Pros:
- Phoenix is a great city, if you can handle the heat.
- Brand new hospital about to open
- PD was extremely in tune with residents
- Happy residents that get along with each other
- High board pass rate, with curriculum that has a proven track record of help with board prep
- Very high fellowship placement... PD mentioned that 97% of residents who apply have gotten their top 1-2 choices.
- 2 hospital system allows for complex cases at Phoenix Children's and bread-and-butter experience at Maricopa County
- Faculty seems extremely supportive and approachable
- supposedly fantastic hospital cafeteria (heard that from multiple sources)

Cons:
- Did not have a set schedule on the new work hour rules and how that would affect interns
- Still mainly paper charting, EMR in 1-2 locations I believe
- location if you are not a southwest person

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Posted anonymously

Univ. of Miami / Jackson-Memorial

Structure: Free hotel stay in a very nice area by Biscayne Bay. Meet and greet held there the night before. Day starts by meeting chief residents, then heading to a case conference and/or morning report. Then 3 interviews (faculty member, chief resident, PD). Then lunch, tours, and a farewell message from PD.

Faculty: Did not get a chance to meet with any faculty outside of my interviewer and the PD, but from talking to residents and Miami students who rotated there and were interviewing on the same day, seemed like residents and faculty have a great relationship. They are approachable and look forward to teaching.

Housestaff: Large contingent of extremely bright and qualified foreign grads (Jamaica, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, India... to name a few countries). Was very impressed at how great they all got along. A large number of residents made time to come say hi to us in between interviews and answer questions if only for 5-10 minutes. Appreciated their effort. They seemed to work VERY HARD, as it is a "resident-run" hospital. They are able to have a lot of autonomy right when they start residency and the 3rd years and chiefs seemed extremely well-trained to go off on their own.

Program: Dr. Gelman, a critical care specialist, took the time to meet with all of us individually. Very cool guy, who spent most of the interview asking about family life and where I was from, more so than typical interview questions. At the end of the day promised us three things that he felt strongly about: 1) we will be excellently trained, 2) the program is a great stepping stone for future endeavors (their fellowship match list was one of the most impressive I've seen), and 3) he prides himself on a great group of residents each year that get along extraordinarily well.

Facilities: Holtz Children's is a hospital within the larger Jackson-Memorial hospital. Def not the nicest facilities I have seen and was probably the biggest drawback of my interview experience. Although, the NICU is top notch and I believe ranked in the top 25 by US News and World Report. The med school and hospital campus as a whole is quite beautiful though. Parking seems to be a hassle, however.

Misc: Competes for residents with Miami Children's (the more suburban, ritzier hospital), but seems to have a better reputation in the community as a training program... at least that was the opinion of the Univ. of Miami students I spoke to who had rotated & interviewed at both places.

In sum:

Pros:
- in MIAMI... residents seem to be able to find very affordable housing near the beach and in very nice areas.
- Dr. Gelman was great and very in tune with helping residents and the program.
- Fellowship match list was fantastic (on their website).
- great camaraderie between residents... while working really hard, they all seemed genuinely happy and no one regretted their decision.
- lots of autonomy... resident-run, where many of the patients consider you their primary doctor.
- unbelievable pathology... cases coming in from all over the world. They gave us a sheet with interesting cases on the wards in just the past week... crazy stuff.
- you start 1 week earlier than most programs, but they then give you 1 week off after intern year on top of your 4 vacation weeks.

Cons:
- Was not very impressed with the facilities... supposedly the hospital system has also hit some financial struggles, but the residency had not seemed to be affected.
- not a con, but you should feel comfortable dealing with interpreters if you are not a spanish-speaker... large spanish and creole-speaking population.
- did not seem to have a set schedule with regards to the new work hours, just yet
- instead of four 1-week vacations intern year... all the residents get 1 whole month at a time as vacation. Not sure how I feel about that. 2nd and 3rd years get two 2-week vacation blocks.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Posted anonymously

Structure: Free stay in nice hotel. Pre-interview dinner the night before. Overview in the morning, then some interviews, tour of inpatient facility including a sneak peak at rounds, noon conference, then I think a tour of the outpatient facility, then met as a group with the chair of peds who answered questions.

Faculty: Leaders in their respective specialties, very very nice and soft-spoken.

Housestaff: Very friendly, nice. Also soft-spoken (but I am coming from a noisier city). Most of the residents were married, and many had kids (usually during residency).

Program: Tons of formal didactics, relatively light work-load.

Facilities: Outpatient building is very glitzy, like a hotel. Inpatient is plenty nice. Not free-standing.

Misc: Mayo includes a snow scraper in their gift bag for applicants. I thought that was a very nice touch.

In sum:

Pros:
--100% board pass rate for several years, residents do great on inservice exams, tons and tons of teaching on rounds
--Family friendly
--Plenty of zebras, and apparently a fair amount of primary care for the region (the only game in town for a while)
--Nice mix of residents doing fellowship vs being the only pediatrician in a 100 mile radius after residency....
--Really nice faculty
--Residents all hang out, tight-knit
--plenty of opportunities for research
--Cheap city, no traffic, can buy nice house with yard very close to the hospital
--Amazing gym (cheap and costs less the more frequently you go) with free personal training, classes, etc.

Cons:
--The topography is a little bit flat, and it is cold.
--Twin cities are 60-90 min away
--Not super high volume
--Not as diverse as...say, NYC.
--Residents wear a suit everyday (some women didn't) and overall the atmosphere is a little on the reserved side....BUT, people are very warm and collaborative. It's just different from what I'm used to, but not necessarily bad.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

posted anonymously

Loma Linda

Structure: There was no meet & greet scheduled prior to the interview date, which I found a little strange. They did provide hotel stay however. The morning started with a case presentation/morning report (very friendly atmosphere to brain storm and not at all intimidating). We then had 2 interviews... one with a faculty member and one with the PD. This was followed by a of the hospital, lunch, and then finished with a tour of their gym (fantastic and free for residents), their sim center, and their outpatient clinic.

Faculty: The PD is a former resident from Loma Linda and there appeared to be a lot of former residents that stayed or returned to the residency. The chair of the department was also a previous PD, which tells you that the hierarchy in the department seems to value the residency quite a bit. We did not have much further interaction with faculty. They do have national leaders in fields such as peds cards and peds neuro.

Housestaff: Seemed like a diverse group of residents from all over the country. We did not get to interact with many of them since there was no meet and greet. The few that we did interact with were very helpful and inviting.

Program: They have started working on different ways to accommodate the new work hour rules. They emphasize that their religious affiliation (7th Day Adventist) promotes a whole-body healing/holistic approach. This does not mean that the entire staff is affiliated with the church (only 30% of faculty is Adventist). They lean towards producing general pediatricians (70% of graduates), but stated that most people have not have any issues securing fellowships.

Facilities: The children's hospital looks very nice. I really did not notice anything too distinctive about it compared to others I've seen. Serves over 4 million population and is the only children's hospital in the area (between Phoenix and LA), which proves to make the residency extremely busy.

Misc: The PD emphasized that she is looking for "whole" applicants and not just board scores. They do have a board prep series in place to improve their pass rate, which is approx. 70% currently. They have a clinic called the "Pediatric Teaching Office", which is a resident-run clinic. Residents become the primary care doctor for these patients and book their appointments, allowing for great autonomy. There is also a 3rd year elective that allows you to work at a Kaiser location (good way to get your foot in the door if you plan on staying in California and want a job there after graduation). Also, after your PICU rotation, you can spend time on the transport team that travels on helicopters with patients.

In sum:

Pros:
- PD seems very in tune to resident concerns (multiple committees exist for residency improvement).
- Board prep series
- Resident-run clinic
- friendly, non-intimidating atmosphere
- very busy hospital with lots of pathology, Level 1 Trauma Center
- Drayson Center (the campus gym) is fantastic and free to residents
- very nice simulation center
- Faculty sounds supportive and approachable
- quite possibly the most affordable cost of living in southern California

Cons:
- I personally was not too impressed with Loma Linda as a city itself... did not really seem like there was much to do outside of the hospital. The residents mentioned having to drive to LA and other places that are a decent drive away for extracurricular activities.
- Vegetarian cafeteria (going along with the Adventist roots)
- lack of fellowships on site (ER, PICU, and NICU only)... although some might see that as a positive.

 

[Lizzy Wurtzel]

I interviewed at Cincinnati. I actually really liked the program and right now it is in my top 5. They didn't have a clear ACGME goal, but they have over 150 residents once you count peds neuro and med peds people, so i doubt it'll be too much of an issue. All their residency director staff had or was getting masters in education, which to me signified they cared about education. During one of my interviews, I asked if their were any downsides to the area or program, and my interviewer, a 60 yo woman, replied "well, we are technologically behind most other cities... we are about 15 years behind the New York/Boston/etc. Also, we are really conservative here... we dont have ANY x-rated theatres." So, ladies and gentlemen, if that is an important part of your selection process, you may want to keep that tidbit in your back pocket.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Emory

Emory University

Structure: I was unable to attend the meet & greet the night before my interview, but I was told that there was an extremely large number of residents that attended, which other applicants were pleased with. Very friendly group of residents, including the 3rd year chiefs, as well as the 4th year Asst. Program Directors. Started interview day with morning report, which was followed by a humorous resident-made video about the program. The chair of the dept., as well as the PD, were both kind enough to speak with us for 10-15 minutes before half of us were taking to our interviews and the other half were taken on tours. Then 2 interviews with faculty members. After interviews, there was a catered lunch with a lot more residents in attendance to answer questions. We then took vans to tour Grady Memorial and Hugh-Spaulding hospitals.

Faculty: The PD has been with the program for 15 years and is known to be extremely in tune with resident needs and concerns. She was very nice and took time to sit with different groups of applicants to just say hi and introduce herself, as well to answer questions. The faculty that we met at morning report, as well as on interviews, seemed very friendly and unintimidating. They seemed to be great teachers and did not come across as too stern.

Housestaff: Seemed like a diverse group of residents from all over the country. Appeared to get along really well and extremely friendly. Took time at lunch to randomly sit down with groups of applicants to just talk.

Program: Most of the ACGME duty hour guidelines were taken into account last year, so the transition will produce minimal stress here. Board pass rates are said to be between 85-90%. The fellowship match almost always gets the resident their first choice in programs as well.

Facilities: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Egleston) is a beautiful hospital. I was very impressed with the facilities. Grady Memorial was a typical large hospital for more of the bread and butter learning. Hugh-Spaulding is distinguished for being the smallest free-standing children’s hospital in the country with only 18 beds.

Misc: One of the interesting facets on their general pediatrics wards was the implementation of an overflow system. A private hospitalist service (with no residents) is employed to take on redundant cases of bread and butter cases (RSV, asthma, etc.) to allow residents more time to study complex patients and learning issues. A really cool aspect to the Egleston location was also that the hospital had many personal amenities for families of chronically sick patients, such as a gym, kitchens, library, and teaching services so the kids would not fall behind in school (all free).

In sum:

Pros:
- Atlanta is a wonderful city… nice weather, great restaurants, big sports town
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Egleston) is a great hospital.
- PD was extremely in tune with residents
- Happy residents that get along with each other and are very positive about their program
- High board pass rate, with curriculum ready for residents that don’t do as well on in-service exams
- Very good fellowship placement... PD mentioned that almost all residents who apply have gotten their top 1-2 choices. Emory also has nearly every fellowship in house… will also be applying for Child Abuse and Rheumatology in the next year or so.
- 3 hospital system allows for more complex cases at CHOA-Egleston and bread-and-butter experience at Grady & Hugh-Spaulding.
- Faculty seems extremely supportive and approachable… they also seemed to all have great credentials from training at top tier programs (CHOP, Duke, etc.)
- Egleston is completely EMR-based.
- housing around Atlanta sounded very affordable

Cons:
- I really did not see anything I did not like.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Structure: Morning report followed by 30mins casual conversation with CHOC residents. 1hr Q&A with PD, 2 assistant PDs, 3 chiefs. Travel to long beach for noon conference, 30 mins with UCI residents, and tour of Miller Children's (about 20-25 mins from CHOC, traditionally the UC Irvine training site but now part of the combined program). Half of the applicants interviewed at Miller. Trip back to CHOC for tour/other half of applicants interview. Just 1 interview.

Faculty: PD did all of his training at UCLA, was assistant PD there before coming to CHOC about 8 years ago. He oversaw the merger of the two programs and was very involved in the new curriculum. All residents say he is very approachable and knows all of them quite well.

Housestaff: Diverse group from all over. They seem to have some time to enjoy the stellar OC weather. All seemed really happy and feel the combined program is pulling together the best of the two programs.

Program: 70% of time at CHOC, 25% at Miller Children's, 5% at UCI (nursery, NICU). Miller already uses a shift work setup on the wards that will only need slight tweaking to comply with new hours. CHOC is working on a modified Q4, they are trying to avoid intern night-float.

Facilities: 2 stand-alone Children's hospitals, both quite nice. CHOC is building a new tower that will be open in 2-3 years and will add about 200 beds, brining the total over 400. Both look very kid-friendly with lots of child life involvement.

Misc: Very well organized interview day. Addressed all applicant concerns in a very straightforward manner.

In sum: Very pleased with the program and how they presented themselves. My concerns going in were the merger of the two programs and working at 2 hospitals, but these issues seem very well worked out.

Pros:
- Weather (70 degrees in December) with nearby beaches and lots of choices as to where to live.
- 95% of training at stand-alone children's hospitals
- broad population base, including a large hispanic population in OC
- Residents very enthused, chiefs and PDs obviously put a lot of work into maximizing the training expererience
- residents seem to have good work/life balance
- seem to be quite close on having new work-hours in place and are heavily weighing how any changes will affect resident (especially intern) education.
- Strong record of fellowship placement
- PD very involved in resident life

Cons:
- Salary significantly lower than NorCal programs despite nearly identical cost of living
- Too close to Dodger fans
- Still paper progress notes at CHOC.

The Dodger fans (and Trojans/Bruins/Lakers) would be an issue.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

I'm pretty sure the author of this review will not be invited to be a spokesperson for the chamber of commerce of Baltimore.

Posted anonymously

Hopkins: As mentioned in an earlier post, ward teams only round with the attending 1x/wk which seems a bit odd to me still, but was great in practice when we observed it. The only issue is that your team then hinges on how strong your 3rd year resident is, which can probably vary. Negatives included the vitals still being at the bedside and handwritten progress notes, the city which I will get to below, and the lack of benefits aside from meal credit for overnight calls. I.e. no free parking, no AAP membership, no educational stipend, no PDA, no books, no travel funds, no board prep materials, no money for step 3 or pediatric boards. A resident mentioned that the money for these things was incorporated into salary, but it is the lowest salary of all the programs I’m applying to. Yeah these things probably don’t matter that much, but I worry that it might reflect a more general lack of consideration for resident happiness.

Baltimore: I want to preface this by saying I grew up in a town where people are very friendly and smiley, it is safe to walk at any hour, and there is a lot of natural beauty. I am not a fan of big cities in general, but I feel I need to post about my experience in Baltimore in particular because the assistant PD and residents went on and on and on defending Baltimore. One of the residents even said her mother worried she would get shot when she told her she was moving to Baltimore, and then the resident laughed and went on to talk about how she feels safe. Kind of ironic in my opinion since a doctor just got shot while inside the hospital?? Anyway just wanted to post my experience for contrast.

My pre-interview dinner was at a resident’s apartment. Outside it was poorly lit, there were only a few shifty looking characters and a stray cat hanging out on the street, and there was trash strewn about. The adjacent row-homes were in disrepair and some looked vacant. During cab ride from the Hopkins undergrad area to dinner I passed tons and tons of boarded up row-homes and my cab driver explained the women on the corners were actually transvestites. During interview day had a walk from hospital to the outpatient clinic during the tour. Area was similarly in disrepair with seemingly abandoned homes, trash, and no trees, grass, or flowers to be seen amongst the chain link fences, empty lots, and concrete. People in and around the hospital (not the residents or residency staff, but patients, locals, and some of the nurses even) seemed very rude. There was a lot of eye-rolling when we tried to fit in an elevator, and rude comments from people stuck behind us for a minute on our tour route. No one smiled. Clerk at the coffee shop was loud and rude and acted as if she was doing me a huge favor by taking my order and money. After my interview I took the metro, got off at Lexington Market, and walked to catch the lightrail in order to get to the airport. I was nearly spit on several times by locals spitting on the sidewalk and was stared at like an alien because I clearly did not fit in racially or socioeconomically. Within 2 blocks I was asked for money 2 times, and passed several people slumped over on the sidewalk, and some nodding off while standing in the middle of the sidewalk. On the lightrail one woman spent the entire ride yelling at her kid threatening to smack him if he didn’t shut up. I’m sure there are these nice vibrant neighborhoods and great restaurants like they say, but you can’t avoid the areas in between, and these loud, rude, seemingly unhappy people in the area are going to be your support staff and patients… Just my thoughts, but I’m sure someone will quickly jump to the city’s defense here soon. Some people seem really passionate about the city. I guess if you’re into advocacy and treating substance abuse and HIV pts this is a great place for you!

A friend from undergrad who is at med school at University of Maryland told me about several incidents that have occurred over the years to classmates (one of whom was car-jacked at gunpoint). He also forwarded me an email about 3 assault/robberies that just happened last night at 7 PM right around the hospital which prompted me to write all this...

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Posted anonymously

Children's Hospital Oakland

Relaxed, short interview day. Had breakfast with a brief program introduction from one of the chiefs, attended grand rounds, did a tour, 2 interviews, Q&A with PD and assistant PD, lunch with residents, then Q&A with two chiefs. Done by 2pm. Interviews were quite conversational.

Pros: Residents really like it there. Stand-alone children's hospital. Research opportunities available at the nearby CHO research institute. A nice mix of primary care in a very underserved community allows residents to see a mix of bread and butter peds and lots of rare, more zebra-ish diagnoses. Also a tertiary referral center so see lots of very sick kids as well in just about all specialties. Hospital very well-ingrained and well-respected in the community. They use Alta Bates medical center (huge birth center in Oakland) for NICU experience. Busiest peds ED in NorCal staffed exclusively with peds-ED attendings. Not a lot of fellows, so tons of interaction with attendings (experienced this first hand during a sub-I). Pay is higher than other programs.

Cons: Old charting system, but residents say it's fast once you get used to it. Lose out on a few things (especially solid organ transplant, if that's your thing) to UCSF and Stanford. Seem to still be quite a ways from determining how call schedule will work next year (currently Q4 system everywhere).

Overall impression: Awesome program with a great mix of community and specialty peds. Good fellowship placement. Tough to keep this program away from the top of a rank list.

 

[UndecidedDoc]

Posted anonymously

Just a question. What are considered competetive STEP 1/2 scores to get interviews at Phoenix Children's?

 

[BabyBear2]

Wasn't there an Interview feedback data form? Where did that go? Anyone have a link to that? It listed a ton of programs people have rated and added their comments about each program....

 

[PedsDr2012]

Wasn't there an Interview feedback data form? Where did that go? Anyone have a link to that? It listed a ton of programs people have rated and added their comments about each program....

This may be what you're looking for:
http://studentdoctor.net/schools/programs

I only looked at a few programs in the southeast region. I saw a few from 2010 but more from 2008 interviews.

 

[michigangirl]

Would like to address the post below about an interview impression at Hopkins. I'm sorry that this medical student came away with such a negative impression of the city and some aspects of the program. I am not here to "defend" the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Residency Program-- I am simply here to state the facts as I see them from someone who has lived in Baltimore for 9 years now and will soon be joining the faculty.

My pediatric residency experience at Johns Hopkins was incredible. I interviewed at multiple prestigous programs and it was clear for me that Johns Hopkins was the right fit. I am also from a very small, friendly town. And yes, I wasn't impressed by the inner-city areas of Baltimore. Maybe it was because I had the good fortune of doing a sub-I for one month each at multiple said prestigious pediatric programs and had the insight to know this-- the residents and residency leadership are some of the most amazing people I know- AND RESIDENT HAPPINESS is THE goal of the program. I've completed two residencies now, and two fellowships, and I will always say that my pediatric residency experience is what made me who I am today. Also, I would like to address that comparisons have made between salaries and Hopkins peds resident salary is comparable to similar programs in the country, so I'm not sure the other poster is correct.

Below I present a list of the reasons one would be a great fit at Johns Hopkins:

1. You enjoy having down-to-earth resident colleagues who are passionate about being advocates for children's health-- you will take care of inner-city Baltimore kids, international patients who come just for Hopkins care, and children from all over the country. My residency colleagues were the most vibrant, diverse and incredible people I've ever worked with and they are all off doing a huge variety of amazing things in pediatrics.

2. You want to take care of a perfect mix of healthy children, bread and butter diseases, and the rarest diseases in the world-- not a day goes by that our most senior faculty don't cease to be amazed by some particular case-- it's never boring!

3. You want to interact daily with approachable world-class faculty and have the opportunity to be mentored by them- if you want NIH funding, the opportunities abound. If you want to be an awesome general pediatrician, the training is second to none.

4. You are someone who relishes independence when you are ready to have it-- with someone to rely on when you need help. Our third year leading the ward services with attending back-up is one of the most important elements of our residency training and gets every resident ready for practicing independently in the real world.

5. You want the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of underserved children

6. A dynamic and interesting city that doesn't take itself too seriously, with multiple fun and safe neighborhoods and suburbs within a short, convenient distance of the hospital.

7. You want to be a part of the transition to a brand-new, state of the art Children's Hospital (which WILL open in 2012)- the actual structure that is already up, the interior plans and pictures I've seen are incredible.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me. I may be a little biased, but I needed to say this. Thanks for reading, and good luck with your residency search!

I'm pretty sure the author of this review will not be invited to be a spokesperson for the chamber of commerce of Baltimore.

Posted anonymously

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Go Buckeyes, beat Arkansas and get the SEC monkey off your back...

Oh, here's an anonymous review of the program

Dinner was very awkward and residents were in a hurry to get the heck out of there. Interview day was a much better experience. The PD is SUPER nice and I liked him a lot. The Chairman seems genuinely interested in students. The residents were very friendly and open and seemed very normal. They have a phenomenal facility and I would get a world class education all around. Really really really enjoyed all the faculty that I interviewed with. The secretary is very organized and very nice.
Conferences/Rounds: 2 1/2 hr core lectures once a week, morning report, problem conference, community practicing pediatricians conference, grand rounds, subspecialty conferences, visiting professor series, journal club, morbidity and mortality conference, ethics conference, acute care series in July and August for new interns, family centered rounds; Faculty teaching: faculty all very open to questions and like to teach residents, fellows are also very willing to help residents, faculty receives training on giving constructive evaluations, subspecialists very open to mentoring students interested in their field; Post residency plans of graduates: Graduates get their top choices for fellowships and practices; Research/teaching opportunities: Have elective specific to training in teaching others, during second year retreat residents are instructed on how to teach students and give them good feedback, ranked as a top 10 NIH funded research facilities.
Patient Population/load: NCH serves the largest portion of the state of Ohio, they are the only children's hospital in the area, large Somalian and Hispanic population, even have clinics that extended into rural Ohio/Kentucky, large enough program that interns usually do not have more than 10 patients at a time; Patient responsibilities: Residents write more than 90% of orders; Ancillary support: Watch out for Heme/Onc nurses they are mean, nursing staff often give interns a hard time.
Lots of fellowship opportunities, lots of socializing among classes , has a fabulous Cardiology fellowship, city seems interesting, free standing hospital, huge focus on advocacy and community involvement, opportunity 2nd and 3rd year to be in private offices OR to be in a subspecialty clinic, low cost of living

 

[lioness5]

anyone interviewed at rainbow babies, case western univ?

 

[melovet]

Does anyone have more feedback from their interview day at CHOP? Any indication during the day about the residents' opportunities to do procedures and such?

Thanks!

 

[Vandydoc]

Any more impressions? UCSF and BCRP in particular...?

 

[pedsdudette]

Anyone have thoughts on CHLA or other SoCal programs?

 

[oldbearprofessor]

more!

So, before I get into individual reviews of programs, I just want to share a few observations about residency in general that I think applies to all general pediatric programs.


.1) .There is no one “best” program in the country. Residency programs come in all shapes and sizes, each with their own set of pro’s and con’s. The key is to find the residency program that best fits you and your goals. Also, I think there is definitely something to finding a program whose personality matches yours and just “feels right”. However, by way of disclaimer, my personal interests are more in academia and I have a particular interest in subspecializing, so most of my comments will probably be more oriented towards that end.
.2) .I’ve heard many times on the interview trail that some of the big academic centers have too much “ego”, or that they’re “malignant”, or that there are programs that are “east coast” in feel vs “west coast”. For the most part I don’t believe any of it. Let me tell you why:
People in pediatrics at these large academic centers are there because they want to be there. Most of them were likely very competitive medical students that could have had their pick of residencies. But instead of choosing the big bucks or choosing a specialty that might garner more respect from others, they chose pediatrics. Why? Because they love it and didn’t want to do anything else even if something else paid more or got them more respect. Interestingly enough, while I feel like this phenomenon exists throughout the field of pediatrics at all institutions, I think it can particularly exists at some of these highly competitive residency programs because nowhere else is it more true. However, there are always exceptions to the rule, and it should be noted that as the program gets bigger, the infrastructure of the program does too as it has to. But I do not think that should be interpreted as “ego”.
Also, as far as east coast versus west coast, the thing that I have found is that every institution is trying to diversify by taking residents and faculty from EVERYWHERE. Don’t limit yourself to a single coast because you don’t think you would not fit in there. There are people of all types in every program.
.3) .If you’re interested in specializing, be aware that where you do residency is the most likely place you will do fellowship. And, if you’re at a major academic center (like CHOP, BCRP, Hopkins, Stanford…), it’s also the most likely place where you will be an attending. I think this is because most programs only take a few fellows (or attendings), and for the most part they’re not willing to gamble on an unknown outside person as much as they are willing to take somebody they already know well and like (ie, one of their own residents or fellows). However, when it comes to residency selection, I think most programs are willing to “gamble” a little bit on unknown people, so don’t let that stop you.
.4) .Residency is hard. I’ve had several people at several programs tell me that they feel like they work harder than the average program. And while I’m sure there’s some truth to it, after you hear it from residents at 5 different programs, for me I just took that as more of: residency is hard, accept it. (But hard work can still be enjoyable if done right…)
.5) . My personal bias is that medium sized programs (around 25 residents) bring the best balance to a residency. If you have only a few residents, it’s likely to be too small of a hospital to adequately expose you to everything you’ll need to see as a resident. But if you have 40+ residents, you can easily get lost and you really have to be proactive in your training or somebody else will do it.
So here are my impressions of programs (listed from East to West):

Boston Combined Residency Program (BCRP) – If your dream is to someday work at Boston Children’s now is the time to make the jump. The easiest time to break into the Boston Children’s system is through residency. (Fellowship would definitely be harder to make the jump into the system, and I’m not sure about attendings but I’m assuming the same is true). They told us at the interview that they look at their residents as their “future colleagues”, because in fact over 60% of the faculty is made up of previous residents.


The catch is, if you’re not thinking about staying in Boston long term, I would definitely have some hesitation about going here for residency. Because the kids they are taking care of have such specialized medical needs, it seems like it is easy to lose autonomy / confidence as a resident because as a resident you really don’t know enough to take care of these really complicated kids. Moreover, a lot of these kids don’t exist (ie would not be alive) outside of Boston Children’s. Hence, you spend a lot of time learning to take care of these kids as a resident, but if you then go somewhere else afterwards, all that training would have probably been better spent learning more common things that you will actually see in the future. Two other telling signs that this was the case were: 1) The fact that over 70% of their residents go into subspecialty. (Partly because that’s the personality drawn to Boston, but I think it’s also because people don’t feel qualified to be a general pediatrician right after residency.) And 2) Several residents / former residents told me that their favorite part of the program was at Boston Medical (the community hospital) which is where they only spend 30% of their time.


That said, BCRP residents go on to do amazing things mostly because I believe the faculty invests so much time and effort into making you great. Any and every opportunity you want will be yours. There are numerous world class pediatricians investing all their efforts into making you great. But, the caveat is, as they are working hard to make you great they expect you to work hard to make you great too.


As a side note, Boston is a really pretty city and is really nice as far as cities go. But, of all my programs I would say that it is the most expensive (yes, even more expensive than the New York Programs, Stanford, or UCSF). And, it is definitely cold in Boston.


And for future applicants, even if you think you don’t have the scores to go here, if you want to be here you should apply. The intern selection chair told us he purposefully is willing to gamble a little bit on applicants even if their scores are not top notch. (He said he had one resident who has failed their pediatric boards 7 times, but, he still thinks that that resident is an amazing person who will still yet do amazing things…)

Yale: Yale surprised me with how much I liked it. I honestly didn’t expect much, but the program director there does an awesome job of selling the program. (Next year, all the residents will be given iPads from which they can do all of their work like writing notes and what not.) Moreover, I had numerous classmates interview there, and they all said the same thing about how surprised they were with how much they liked it too. (Maybe it was because everyone was just so likeable there?) Residents were all very friendly and the faculty were very funny and personable with the residents. It seems like it would be a perfect fit for somebody who wants to be located on the east coast in a medium size program near (but not in) a big city.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

even more

New York City Programs: Columbia, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (Monte), Cornell, Long Island Jewish (LIJ):

For the people who want to be in New York City, you probably know who you are. It is an awesome city for a lot of things, however, it is expensive and is not the cleanest of cities (it’s “gritty”). Moreover, by having so many people crammed into one location, even close things can take a while to get to. But that said, if you are a city person, having so many people so close together is part of what makes it cool.

As far as academics goes, Columbia is assumed to be the top dawg of New York City, with Monte coming in second. However, Monte seems to be gaining on Columbia and in fact a number of attendings (particularly peds cardiology) have left Columbia for Monte because of the “politics” at Columbia. Also, Cornell still has “brand name” appeal if you’re into that. LIJ isn’t much of an academic powerhouse in what I’ve seen and heard, but that said, LIJ is part of an extremely profitable health care system and it sounds like a lot of money is already coming LIJ’s way to make it a more competitive program. As far as the other New York City programs, I really haven’t heard that many good things about NYU or Mount Sinai. I don’t know specifics, but I was just told by a couple of different people to not bother with them. Additionally, for what it’s worth, the nursing can be hit or miss in New York City (although I can only say that based on experience for Monte). In my opinion it’s due to the large Nursing unions that make it really hard to fire crappy nurses. While there are some awesome nurses in NYC, there’s also some that make going to work like death.
Here’s some more specifics for each one:

Columbia: Extremely high volume patient load (you will learn by doing, not by reading). Described by the program director as the “quintessential urban program” (which I agree with). I was told by the chief resident in my interview that if you come here you should expect to deal with a lot of social problems for your patients. You will have a largely Hispanic population. There are rumors that Columbia is “malignant”, but, as stated in my intro, I’m slow to believe that it actually is. However, there did seem to be some discontent among faculty and they were very interestingly focusing on a lot of negative things in the interview (ie, you shouldn’t come here if you want yadda yadda yadda). But that might be them just being smart / honest about the application process and their program? Seems like the teaching is very good and the residents were really nice.

Monte: It’s a great program with a very congenial atmosphere and fun residents / attendings. (I really had a lot of fun on my rotations here.) They see a lot of patients with all sorts of crazy different pathology (the Bronx gets people of all kinds from everywhere) and the teaching is pretty darn good. Like Columbia, you will deal with some crappy social situations and the ancillary staff (like nurses) can be hit or miss. When you are on the floors, only one of the three floors you might be stationed on has a call room, which means 2/3rds of the time you are sleeping on the lounge chairs in the resident workroom (which sucks). But, you’re pretty busy and don’t sleep too much, and with the new work rules I don’t know how much of an issue this will be in the future. They feed you a ton (you get $15 for food every day), they have a pretty decent cafeteria, and every Friday they have a housestaff pizza party. The one thing Monte has that I’ve never heard of anywhere else is that the Peds residents have their own FREE personal masseuse. She’s there 2-3 days out of the week (all day), and any of the residents can sign up for a 15 minute massage whenever they have a quick break in their schedule. I have a pretty high opinion of the program and it will probably be my top choice of the New York schools. The only drawback for the city people is that it’s not in Manhattan, but, there are several residents who still live in Manhattan and make the reverse commute.

Cornell: Lower patient volume so you’ll probably learn more by reading. Good teaching and nice residents. The main reason why I think people come to Cornell is because they get subsidized housing (although subsidized does not equal cheap) on the upper east side of Manhattan (which is a very desirable place to live), AND, you’ll have time enough to enjoy living there as a resident. (ie, I don’t think the residents there are as busy as other places.)

LIJ: Not necessarily an academic powerhouse, but it could be a program on the rise. And for what it’s worth, they have the highest paid residents in the country ($65,000). I think you would chose to come here if you want to be right next to Manhattan, but still be able to live in at least a semblance of suburban living. (Further out on Long Island it actually becomes very suburban.)

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP):
So this program is obviously an academic powerhouse where “you can go anywhere, do anything” after residency. And as it was my last interview, I somewhat expected it to be similar to BCRP in that it would cater to subspecialties primarily. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how well rounded the program was. They place a lot of emphasis on making you a good GENERAL pediatrician first and actually have the patient’s to pull it off (ie, although they have the sickest of the sick at this hospital, they also still see a lot of bread and butter patients). It was explained to me like this in my interview: Every resource a residency could potentially have is at CHOP, and thus, they had the liberty of making the program into anything they wanted. And they chose to make it about providing a great general pediatrics education, while allowing those with subspecialty interests to be able to delve as deeply into whatever they want. So in sum, they are able to provide both great depth and breadth for all aspects of pediatrics. And moreover, in their acceptance criteria, they aren’t just looking for people with specific interests (like research). They want a good mix of every kind of pediatrician, including those who want to do primary care, advocacy, etc. I specifically asked one of the residents if they had any problems with getting patients to do procedures on (because there are so many fellows that need procedure experience too), and he told me that he’s never had a problem with that and felt like there were plenty of patients to go around. All the residents and attending seemed really nice. As a con it is a big program where you potentially could get lost, but they put some effort into countering that with opportunities to get together with each other.

As far as living in Philadelphia goes, I’ve heard Philly referred to as having “all the filthiness and crime of New York City, but none it’s ritz and glamour” (which seems somewhat true). However, it didn’t seem too bad to me and I’m told some residents live in the suburbs and commute in. Also as a big plus, Philadelphia is actually affordable.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

moving around a bit...

Johns Hopkins: I had a great time at this interview and also thought everyone was really likeable. As a plus for this program, it’s a big name program with great opportunities for their residents, yet, it’s still only a medium sized program at around 25 residents per year compared to the 40-50 for BCRP and CHOP. (In my opinion, 25 residents is the “sweet spot” for program size. Not too big, not too small.) Also, they will have to make zero changes when the new regulations come around because they already have a system in place that everyone loves and complies with the new rules. Additionally, during this next year they will be moving into a brand spanking new Childrens Hospital that will no doubt be amazing / state of the art. However, that’s both a pro and a con because I’m sure it will be a crazy transition for whoever is an intern next year. Also, they offer awesome great breadth and depth and give tons of autonomy to their third year resident. (They normally run rounds without an attending.) And interestingly, it seems like they have more people going into gen peds than the national average, but their graduates have little problems with obtaining fellowships if that’s where they want to go. In comparing residents to other major academic centers, it seems like they are pretty darn happy.

Baltimore itself has some pretty ghetto parts (to quote my wife, “Baltimore is a scary place”), but, it also has some nicer revitalized parts within the city and some pretty good suburbs that are very accessible to the hospital. Also as a plus, Baltimore is affordable too. So I wouldn’t count Baltimore (as a city) out just because it has some ghetto parts to it.

Cincinnatti Children’s: Very strong program that also has lots of breadth and depth. (Not that rankings matter, but being ranked 3rd in the nation only behind BCRP and CHOP sure doesn’t hurt.) I think their main selling point is that everyone there is extremely happy (which seemed pretty true to me on my interview day). Cincinnati is the most affordable place to live that I interviewed at, which is good because it means you can actually live nicely as a resident. If you don’t care about living in a big city, you should really consider this program strongly. As a con, they are a big program too (40+ residents) but they seem to manage it well.

University of Utah (Primary Children’s):

I am extremely impressed with this program. It’s a medium sized program (25 residents) and has the largest catchment area of any Children’s Hospital in the USA (It covers 5 states: Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana), which means they see plenty of patients (it’s more of a high volume program where you’ll learn more by doing than by reading, but I don’t think it’s an overly high volume). It seems like they also actually achieve a pretty good diversity of patients too. (There seems to be a number of refugees from all over the world in Salt Lake City for whatever reason, and they also have a pretty decent pacific islander population too. Not to mention the diversity that comes with having such a large catchment area.)

Another nice thing about having such a large catchment area is that it means you’re pretty much the only game in town. So if there is something that needs to be done, it’s going to be done here and not referred to somewhere else. (Although, I don’t think they do some of the really specialized stuff like small bowel transplant.)

Everyone there is very nice and seems pretty darn happy. Of all the programs I saw, this one seemed the most intent on having a diverse resident class (diversity as in where people were from). So it’s a good mix of a lot of different residents.

I’ve gotten to know a good number of the heme/onc doc’s, and I’ve been extremely impressed. They all seem to come from pretty respected institutions (CHOP, BCRP, St. Judes, Vandy, etc.) and are all just very cool people. It seems like Utah is where people at top institutions go when they realize that yes, they do want to also have a personal life outside of medicine and want a cool place to go to enjoy that life. That said, the type of people they tend to attract are people who enjoy outdoor activities. Just as Columbia (New York Presbyterian) is the “quintessential urban” program, I would say Utah is the “quintessential outdoors” program. The hospital is literally right up against the mountains of Salt Lake Valley. There are 7 top notch ski resorts within about 30 minutes of Salt Lake (two of which resorts are routinely mentioned as being the best in America), and residents can buy season passes at most of those resorts for about half price. There’s tons of hiking / camping / fishing / mountain biking / rock climbing in the mountains just adjacent to the valley. And if you’re willing to go a few hours south, there is some of the best mountain biking in the United States (Slickrock and Porcupine Trail in Moab), not to mention some pretty incredible national parks (Zions, Bryce Canyon, Arches) for hiking, camping, rock climbing, etc.

A lot of people worry about Utah being too Mormon, but for what it’s worth, it seems like very few of the residents and other faculty are actually Mormon. And in Salt Lake City, Mormons are actually the minority when compared to everyone else. (I think it’s 60% non-Mormon, 40% Mormon). Although, I have heard Utah does have some quirky liquor laws which is no doubt related to having so many Mormons who don’t drink and therefore don’t care what the liquor laws are. But I feel like it's pretty safe to say that Mormons are just regular people like anyone else and I don't think it really affects the program in any significant way.

But all in all, I think this is a great program and it seems like the residents get really great training. And if you like outdoor activities, there is really no excuse to not apply here.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

last ones for this AM..

Stanford and UCSF: I thought I would first talk about these two programs together first as it seems to be somewhat common where people are interested in Northern Cali, but aren’t sure which to pick. I think historically UCSF has been regarded as the more competitive / respected program of the two, however in talking to people close to both programs it sounds like nowadays they are pretty equal in competition and respect. The big distinguisher between the two seems to be whether you want: 1) suburbia (Stanford) or city (UCSF), 2) Phenomenal weather (Stanford is sunny and 70 degrees all year long) or weather is not a concern (UCSF is foggy and on the colder side year long), and 3) where you did medical school (both institutions seem to keep a lot of their own students for residency with very little cross over between the two.) Another big thing is that Stanford has a stand alone children’s hospital and you also spend a little time at a community hospital to broaden your experience. Whereas at UCSF you are all over the place at 4-5 places I believe throughout your residency. Some see this as an advantage because you get to learn a lot of different styles of practice, however, from my experience in medical school where I spent a lot of time in numerous different hospitals, learning so many new systems would personally drive me nuts. (I want to spend residency learning medicine, not learning where everything is kept in 5 different hospitals and how to use each of their 5 different computer systems.)

And just to throw into the mix, if you’re interested in more of community based pediatrics and want to be in Northern Cali, I’ve heard really good things about the program at Oakland.

Stanford: This place has the most beautiful hospital / campus and weather of anywhere I interviewed. I interviewed in January, and it was beautiful, warm and sunny (and yes, the sunlight gets into the hospital too). While I realize there’s more to residency than fabulous weather and a beautiful setting to practice in, it sure is a big plus. Moreover, all the surrounding neighborhoods were all really nice too. While this niceness does come at a cost (Palo Alto is a very expensive place to live), Stanford is very good about paying you more to cover the difference of cost of living. And for whatever the reason the rent is not too outrageously high despite the high cost of buying a home. And the apartment you get for the money seems significantly nicer. (It’s a cheaper / better value than Boston, Manhattan and San Francisco.) So I would definitely not exclude this place based on how expensive Palo Alto is. The only real drawback I can see to this program is that perhaps the residents spend a little too much time with too specialized of patients (despite spending time at a community hospital). One of the residents told me that she had taken care of the same number kidney transplants as she had asthma patients. And to bust the myth that the only patients you will see at Stanford are super rich white kids, I’m pretty sure the majority of patients they see are super poor Hispanic patients. (Speaking Spanish is definitely a plus at any California program).

UCSF: If you want to live in San Francisco, well, then this is the residency for you. It seems like a good program where the residents get good training. But, as I stated earlier I was not so interested in having so many different sites that you would have to rotate through. And, having just interviewed at beautiful sunny Stanford the day before, it was a little bit of a letdown to get down into the cold / foggy weather of San Francisco. (I know that they are only about 30 minutes apart, but there really is a HUGE difference in weather between the two.) While San Francisco is also an expensive place to live, they also definitely make an effort to pay you more too to make up the difference. The bottom line for UCSF, if you want to live in San Francisco (which is a pretty cool city) then you can’t go wrong by going to UCSF. It’s a strong program with lots of opportunities for their residents.

 

[Goran]

Thanks for the thoughts on the NYC programs. Can someone please elaborate on NYU and Mount Sinai? Why are these programs not as well thought of?

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Glad we beat them in the Sugar Bowl

Arkansas:

This program has been described as a diamond in the rough (if it was not for its location, it would likely be A LOT more popular among applicants).

Arkansas Children's is the only pediatric hospital in the state, meaning that not only would you see the bread and butter conditions in the local community, but the hospital also serves as a tertiary center for the rest of the state. As a second year, after completing the PICU rotation, you would be able to do some internal moonlighting with the transport service; basically this involves going to smaller communities around the state via helicopter (not sure if there is also opportunity to do ground transport) to pick up those kids. This sounds like a really great opportunity to get more experience making decisions (all while getting paid and riding on a helicopter). From their website, ACH is one of only 3 centers in the nation that performs mobile ECMO! Also there is a new section of the hospital being built, and it may be completed by 2012, opening up even more inpatient beds.

The program is known to be "resident-focused." While there are enough patients to allow for fellowship programs, the culture is such that residents really have to own their patients. They seem to get ample opportunity for doing procedures, especially in the ED. The only area I heard where there may be some difficulty with getting experience with procedures is the PICU, but that may be more true earlier in the year than towards the end of the year. They already have a night float system in place (which the residents really like) that only requires a few mods in anticipation of the new work hour rules

Faculty here seem to be approachable on a whole. There seemed to be a good turnout of attendings during morning report.

The continuity clinic is in a new building and looks really nice.

The size of the most recent residency class is around 30 (including peds/Neuro and Med-Peds). Residents I have talked to had a lot of positive things to say about their program. The house staff office is amazing in terms of taking care of residents and helping make their lives easier. The benefits are probably the best of the programs I have applied to: free parking close to the hospital, membership to AAP, catered lunch conferences Wednesday through Friday, iPod Touch with software to all residents, meal money, education funds (more during 2nd and 3rd year if you meet certain qualifications like being AOA, scoring a certain percentile on USMLE, etc), free membership to the on-campus fitness center, and a few others that are more standard among other programs.

Little Rock is okay. The biggest pro of living here would be the low cost of living.

It seems like if you do residency here, you will be prepared to either go into general peds or a fellowship. The program has a pretty impressive listing of fellowships residents enter on its fellowship page (multiple entrants into Allergy and Immunology, which I heard can be competitive; last year one of the graduates is at Children's Hospital Boston for Critical Care). One drawback may be that the program is not as academic as the bigger children's hospitals. There seem to be some faculty here who are actively doing research, but on a whole, research does not seem to be as big here compared to other places.

 

[member19454]

Posted anonymously

Univ. of Miami / Jackson-Memorial

I was wondering where you found the fellowship information? I am applying to pediatric residencies and I want to know how each school matches for fellowships, but I cannot seem to find the results. Help please!!!!

 

[Slade]

I was wondering where you found the fellowship information? I am applying to pediatric residencies and I want to know how each school matches for fellowships, but I cannot seem to find the results. Help please!!!!

Most of them actually give you a hard copy of the fellowship matches on the day you interview. It's almost impossible to find that information online.