U of Colorado

[raspberry009]

First of all I think CU is a wonderful school. Several of my collegues interviewed there in other departments (internal and pedi) and they were VERY impressed.

Several people have private messaged me considering the program. I interviewed there just recently. I just thought that I would share what I found with everyone and allow for outside imput.

First of all. CU has just built a brand spanking new campus. Wonderful facilities. The CP labs are gorgeous. The move is scheduled to be completed by Jan. This is a sour spot for most of the upper level residents because they had to spend most of their time running between campuses which took a LOT of time over the past two years. But everything should be complete by the time the 2008 incoming residents begin. (let me stress....GORGEOUS campus). Side note: although this maybe temporary (not sure yet) the Chiefs have each been given their own very spaceous offices.

Second. They have a new chair. She is very optimistic about the program. The previous chair was very research oriented and negleted a lot of learning opportunities for the residents. When new chair came on board there were a lot of changes that she wanted done. One of those was that the conferences and time at the scope with the residents needed to improve in quality and quantity... which all the residents were very happy about. ... however ... a lot of the faculty have quit over the last 2 years. An interesting side note is that their last CP faculty (who was recently named pathologist of the year) has quit and is planning on relocating to Cornell. So ...as of now, there are no CP faculty. They are also short staffed in the Childrens hospital. However... the chair has been approved the get a larger budget to help modivate potential future faculty to come to CU. Even with all of these issues the chair is very optimistic that eventually she will be able to build a very strong department.

Third. The residents are very nice. They work well together. They have kept the general mood of the department very positive. The faculty say that they couldn't ask for better residents. Nothing but complements in this area.

Fourth. I get a feeling that the faculty are competetive with each other. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

Fifth. They have a brand new coordinator who is working very hard to get up to speed.

and last. The program director just got back from 6 mo. sabbatical at Vanderbilt doing research in proteomics. This may have something to do with the dely in interview offers? (that and the new coordinator). - just a guess

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[mlw03]

thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with the rest of us. from my perspective as an applicant, there are a lot of red flags in what you posted above. especially the "no CP faculty" part - how the heck do the residents learn CP? and how do heme cases get signed out? who runs the micro lab?

that alone would be a dealbreaker for me, and there's other stuff in there that makes me nervous as well. i hope the new chair's optimism turns out well, but i'm not willing to be a guinea pig while they figure out how exactly the new and improved residency program will turn out. i have no doubt that in the near future this could be a solid program, as Denver surely has the case load and money to build a strong training program. but for me, stability is what i'm looking for at this point.

 

[cluecells]

Fourth. I get a feeling that the faculty are competetive with each other. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

How did you get this feeling ? It sounds a little bit concerning to me.

 

[raspberry009]

It was just some comments that were said during the interview. But it wasn't anything really obvious.

 

[gungho]

It was just some comments that were said during the interview. But it wasn't anything really obvious.

had the same gestalt when i interviewed there for a fellowship.

 

[pathstudent]

No offense to those that go there, but this program sounds like a bit of a disaster. Of course they can probably turn it around quickly, but having no CP faculty? THat's absurd. That's also worrisome if many of their AP faculty quit in the last couple years. I had heard that their GI pathologist quit to go be an employee pathologist for a group of GIs. That's kinda lame too as that is a rather lame job to take for an academic attending and suggests things might not have been going well in the department.

I would only consider this program if I was dead set on living in Colorado. If that's the case, you can make the most of your training, and still come out fine.

 

[waterdog]

There is another path residency in Colorado called Penrose. It is in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. I've heard nothing but positive things about the program. I interviewed there a couple of years ago and was very impressed. I got the feeling it was a very high-yield program with an attending:resident ratio of 2:1. All of the teaching was one-on-one. If someone was dead set on moving to Colorado, I would suggest they check out the Penrose program in addition to CU.

 

[pathforlife]

I interviewed at the University of Colorado program as well as the Penrose program. I'm from Washington and I think Penrose is definitely overlooked- it has a great feel with faculty that know the residents personally and take a very active role in resident education. The case load is big enough to get a very solid education. The pathologists and the department also get along well with other attendings in the hospital and the department functions as a team- it has a good standing in the hospital.

The University of Colorado program is definitely another story. I have friends in the medicine and OB/GYN programs at CU and they tell me that pathology is looked at very poorly by ALL of the clinical departments at the university. This is a big RED FLAG. When clinicians don't have any faith in the pathologists/department it sounds like the program has big issues regarding how it is run and the quality of education. I also heard from residents that a lot of good teaching faculty have left the department and some were forced out. This includes people on the AP and CP side. Apparently a lot of faculty are going to other institutions or private practice. This was the second red flag. Although the facilities are new/shiny it doesn't mean much if the clinical faculty don't have any respect in your department/attendings and if good pathology faculty are leaving in huge numbers.

I think there are a lot of good programs in neighboring states- Utah and New Mexico specifically. I also think Penrose is a very solid community program. I'm not ranking Colorado. These are my two cents. Good luck to everyone on the trail.