Infectious disease Application Thread - 2010-2011

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Wash U Invite. Multiple dates in February and March offered. 😀
 
FYI - the Sloan Kettering program is different from the Cornell program. I didn't apply to Cornell so have no idea if they've offered invites.

Still awaiting NYU and Mt Sinai in NYC.
 
For those of you who are blazing the interview trail, please post your experiences! It would be great to hear what you thought of the programs, area, etc and give some feedback on what your interview was like.
 
Hi Guys, here's a quick overview of my interview:
1) Accommodations: They provide housing overnight with complementary breakfast. There is a shuttle that can pick you up from the airport but you have to schedule 1 week in advance. Otherwise, they have contracted a transportation service that costs about $45. There is a shuttle to and from the med center free of charge.

2) Interview day:
830-945: Overview of program with PD: nice guy, very down-to-earth.
10-1020: Interview 1
1020-1040: Interview 2
1040-1100: Interview 3
11-12: Tour of med center/meet fellows
12-1: Case conference
1-230: Lunch with fellows
230-3: Wrap-up with PD

3) Thoughts:
-Program: seems like a well-balanced program. 3 fellows per year; 60/40% of grads go into clinical medicine/academia. They encourage research but you don't necessarily need to have a particular focus going into the interview/match. They do require a research project before graduation and want you to have an idea within the first 6mos of training.

-Clinical activities: shared between both F1 and F2 (30wks/22wks). Two consult services A/B, with B "sicker pts;" also have VAH rotation. Fellows rotate on 2 week blocks.

-Call: Home call average q6.

-Facilities: ~850 bed hospital with 150 ICU beds. Lots of walking but at least within same building.

-EMR: generally, the fellows don't like the EMR system, which will soon be replaced by the time we start (likely ?EPIC)

-Clinic: 1/2 day continuity clinic while on consult service. Additionally, Travel and STD clinics rotations while off service.

-Staff: Good support staff; 3 triage nurses to help in clinic

-Attendings: well-respected and published; all seemed down-to-earth and approachable. Fellows generally liked all attendings and said they were supportive and good mentors.

-Fellows: 5/6 females. Incoming class, 2M/1F. Good camaraderie. They generally seemed happy without major complaints. I tried to ask about the work-load; the most they've seen was 8consults/day. ~2-5(A) 3-10(B) with census 8-25. (Side note: B team fellow gets all pages for consults and triages based on acuity). Good variety of cases.

-Teaching opportunities: ID generally a well-desired rotation by residents and med students. Will usually have at least one resident and one med student. Good didactic sessions for fellows.

-Research: Need to have basic/clinical research project before graduation; and 1 article published or present at meetings or participate in clinical trial. Many research opportunities available.

-Location: Winston-Salem smaller city but close proximity to others like Charlotte ~1hr; Greensboro 30mins. Quaint town; friendly people; relatively safe.

-Perks: Free parking; Free food on call; shared cost with insurance; salary ~46K but supposedly ok given low cost of living.

4) Summary: this program seems to work for me. I'm open to research but don't have a particular focus. Fellows seem to have good clinical training and enough exposure to research activities. Supportive staff and fellows. This was my first interview but can kinda tell that I might rank them pretty high.

Sorry for such a long post...
 
DrIggy said:
Haven't heard from many of mine including umich, mgh/bwh, hopkins or ucla 🙁
Click to expand...

No worries...I'm not sure how the process works and if they have rollling interviews, etc...it looks like you have quite a few good ones lined up.

Best of luck on the trail.
 
via email today
 
Just got the email.

Dates:
Friday, March 11
Monday, March 14
Friday, March 25
Friday, April 1
Tuesday, April 5
Tuesday, April 12
 
Rejection from Columbia.

Not that surprised. Don't really have the pedigree to be considered there.
 
I'm having a hard time deciding which interviews to cancel.

How many interviews are most people gonna do ?

I was thinking 8-10 but it becomes so cumbersome to schedule over 6 interview days it seems for me.
 
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Heard today via email:

February 9, 2011
February 16, 2011
February 23, 2011
March 9, 2011
March 16, 2011
March 23, 2011
March 30, 2011
April 6, 2011

Rejection from UCSD
 
IDratherTravel said:
Heard today via email:

February 9, 2011
February 16, 2011
February 23, 2011
March 9, 2011
March 16, 2011
March 23, 2011
March 30, 2011
April 6, 2011

Rejection from UCSD
Click to expand...


I got UCI as well today.

What is the reputation of UCI among California schools?
 
ForeignBody said:
I got UCI as well today.

What is the reputation of UCI among California schools?
Click to expand...

UCI is pretty well regarded among California schools and well-ranked in several disciplines. Although, to be honest, I don't know much about their ID program other than what's on their website.
 
Hello all,
So I am on day 3 of interviews ! And got a rejection from Columbia today and an invite from Brown. I got a "we are processing" email from Hopkins and Mayo.

Interviews at MCV in Virginia for med-peds ID: Very impressed with the faculty, there are 7 + docs there doing hospital epi work and I get the feeling that the research and program will be focused on that work. The chairman is an Epie/SHEA guy. For med-peds, they have you do adult for 2 yrs then 2 yrs of peds. Met with 2 fellows, one looked very very tired and harried due to the 24/7 call covering MCV for one month ! Consults ranged from 5 to 18 not including all the follow-up patients. They have a pretty sophisticated VA hospital that you spend a lot of time at where they have spinal cord rehab and heart/kidney/liver transplants. They have a seperate month where you just do ortho infections. Also have a cancer center. They have an abroad program called "Hombre" in Honduras but not a whole lot from a tropical ID perspective.

Heard from another applicant applying to MCV that his first interview was in South Carolina where he was asked the night before to prepare and present a case at their conference !

Currently interviewing at LA State U and Tulane:
For med-peds they have a joint peds program between LSU and Tulane that is pretty wondeful with a great children's hospital, excellent faculty and oodles of opportunities for research in TB, dengue/Lassa, HIV, malaria for the peds research part.
The adult is a little bit more tricky- For combined they prefer you do adult thru LSU which covers 4 hospitals- Ochner, University (former Charity), Kenner, and Touro. There is some basic research but LSU is just starting their public health school so that is still in progress. The have very well qualified faculty and really a sister relationship with Tulane (fellows peds/adult from Tulane and LSU attend conferences together and are friends outside the hospital). Got the impression that adult ID at LSU was pretty laid back and very family friendly. Will learn more about Tulane soon.

Heard that Ochner, takes one fellow a year and works them to tears- sort of simulating a private practice experience and that fellow appears to get burned out quickly due to volume. Incidently heard that Shrevport was "not the place to be."

Questions so far:
Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
What kind of practice/clinical setting?
Asked infrequently about specific items on my CV, abroad experiences or publications
Do you have a research topic yet?
If you could go to a dinner party, who would you invite, dead or alive, no one you worked with/family/friends?
Why ID? When did you know you were interested in it?
General: tell me about yourself....

SO there are some thoughts... will be working on arranging the Chicago interviews soon !

Good luck to all and please share your experiences !
 
Will post a more organzied wrap-up after California for everyone !
 
Thank you very much!!!
Keep us updated! Best luck on your other interviews!

DrIggy said:
Hello all,
So I am on day 3 of interviews ! And got a rejection from Columbia today and an invite from Brown. I got a "we are processing" email from Hopkins and Mayo.

Interviews at MCV in Virginia for med-peds ID: Very impressed with the faculty, there are 7 + docs there doing hospital epi work and I get the feeling that the research and program will be focused on that work. The chairman is an Epie/SHEA guy. For med-peds, they have you do adult for 2 yrs then 2 yrs of peds. Met with 2 fellows, one looked very very tired and harried due to the 24/7 call covering MCV for one month ! Consults ranged from 5 to 18 not including all the follow-up patients. They have a pretty sophisticated VA hospital that you spend a lot of time at where they have spinal cord rehab and heart/kidney/liver transplants. They have a seperate month where you just do ortho infections. Also have a cancer center. They have an abroad program called "Hombre" in Honduras but not a whole lot from a tropical ID perspective.

Heard from another applicant applying to MCV that his first interview was in South Carolina where he was asked the night before to prepare and present a case at their conference !

Currently interviewing at LA State U and Tulane:
For med-peds they have a joint peds program between LSU and Tulane that is pretty wondeful with a great children's hospital, excellent faculty and oodles of opportunities for research in TB, dengue/Lassa, HIV, malaria for the peds research part.
The adult is a little bit more tricky- For combined they prefer you do adult thru LSU which covers 4 hospitals- Ochner, University (former Charity), Kenner, and Touro. There is some basic research but LSU is just starting their public health school so that is still in progress. The have very well qualified faculty and really a sister relationship with Tulane (fellows peds/adult from Tulane and LSU attend conferences together and are friends outside the hospital). Got the impression that adult ID at LSU was pretty laid back and very family friendly. Will learn more about Tulane soon.

Heard that Ochner, takes one fellow a year and works them to tears- sort of simulating a private practice experience and that fellow appears to get burned out quickly due to volume. Incidently heard that Shrevport was "not the place to be."

Questions so far:
Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
What kind of practice/clinical setting?
Asked infrequently about specific items on my CV, abroad experiences or publications
Do you have a research topic yet?
If you could go to a dinner party, who would you invite, dead or alive, no one you worked with/family/friends?
Why ID? When did you know you were interested in it?
General: tell me about yourself....

SO there are some thoughts... will be working on arranging the Chicago interviews soon !

Good luck to all and please share your experiences !
Click to expand...
 
Sorry for jumping in late. Just got an invite from George Washington- dates were Feb 10, 17, March 10, 31, April 21st, May 12th. Also got the "still thinking about it" message from Hopkins on Wed.

Mostly only applying to DC area- anyone else doing something similar?
 
Anyone have an opinion on how the D.C. places compare? Like Georgetown, GW?
 
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Has anyone heard either way from UPenn?
 
I haven't heard anything from them.
 
I haven't heard from them either. Does anyone have any idea what the "turnaround time" is for most places once they review an application?
 
Seems difficult to predict what the turnaround time might be since they all probably have a different selections process. I got interviews to some programs back in the first week of December so there is no way they had any sort of 'comittee meeting' I would think. More like the PD or some designated screener decided and that was that. There are other places though that do seem to have rolling interviews as they review applications.
 
That's helpful. Thanks FB!
 
Email today.

Dates:
March 8
March 22
April 12
April 26
May 3
 
I have been invited to interviews to UCLA, USC, and UCSF-Fresno. Anyone heard from UCSF?
I was talking to a friend from Michigan who seems to be pretty happy at WSU-Detroit's program. She's gotten great cases and published like crazy during her time there. Just FYI.
Anyone know anything about USC's program?
 
Looks like it's the Boston area's turn to respond. I got an invite from BU
Dates:Feb 18, 25
March 4, 11, 18, 25
April 1, 8
 
Sorry I'm joining the conversation late!

Here's my list of interview invites so far: Cornell/NYPH, U Penn, UCSF, Stanford, U Washington, UCLA, Tufts, Yale, Emory, Duke, Vanderbilt

Still waiting on Harvard and JHU, has anyone heard from them yet?
 
Heard from Hopkins, University of Maryland, University South Florida, University of Florida. Hopkins only offered one day for interview.
 
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Anyone heard from OHSU (Oregon)?
 
iamcatwoman said:
Heard from Hopkins, University of Maryland, University South Florida, University of Florida. Hopkins only offered one day for interview.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the interviews. Hopkins has a really nice webcast of their ID grand rounds. I like to listen to that at times when I'm not busy with inpatient rotations.

http://cases.hopkinsidrounds.org/
 
Last edited:
Got an email this morning. Dates they gave me were 03/25 or 04/08.
 
Heard from UMich and Mount Sinai.
 
ForeignBody said:
Congrats on the interviews. Hopkins has a really nice webcast of their ID grand rounds. I like to listen to that at times when I'm not busy with inpatient rotations.

http://cases.hopkinsidrounds.org/
Click to expand...

Thanks ForeignBody. And thanks for the great link. I'll be sure to post reviews on the programs that I interview at. Flight's are already getting expensive!
 
i hope all interviews are going well.

Quick question: I am a 1st year IM resident who is very interested in CCM and ID. I have heard of several physicians getting board cert. in ID and CCM. I was wondering what type of work schedule do these docs have ( do they work 1 week in the closed ICU (shift work)+ night call and then do ID for 2+ weeks)? As well, I know of several fellowships that offer 1 year CCM fellowships after you complete another medicine fellowship, but is there a list of the programs that offer these 1 year fellowships? Thanks for your help
 
Are people writing thank-you notes to every interviewer or just the program director?
 
MGH / BWH invite via email today.
 
Just got back from my inteview at Wash U. Very long day. Interviewed with 9 people for around 45 minutes each. Very supportive faculty. Fellows seem happy. Meeting with so many people was rather daunting, but the time flew by.

Overall, it's an excellent program. Their strength has always been basic science research, until about the past 10 years when clinical research has become a new focus. They are very strong in Hospital Epi in particular.

Barnes Jewish hospital is huge. It seems to tower over its part of the city. I didn't get a tour, just spent the day in the faculty office building.

Off to Brown in 2 weeks!
 
So here are the places I have been so far:
UC-Davis-med
U Hospital Case -med
Cleveland Clinic-medpeds
LSU-medpeds
Tulane-medpeds
MCV-medpeds

And the these dates are the last leg of my interview saga:

NorthWestern-med
March 16th

Rush/Cook County-med
March 17th

Brown-med
March 8

U of Alabama-medped
March 10th

I would have to say so far, the places I have been most impressed with is Case Western and Tulane mostly because of their outstanding faculty, international opportunities and overall happiness of the fellows. I have excluded some places from my list after I found out they aren't able to do combined programs for one reason or another.

Will write more soon....Anyone know what their number one is ?
 
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DrIggy said:
So here are the places I have been so far:
UC-Davis-med
U Hospital Case -med
Cleveland Clinic-medpeds
LSU-medpeds
Tulane-medpeds
MCV-medpeds

And the these dates are the last leg of my interview saga:

NorthWestern-med
March 16th

Rush/Cook County-med
March 17th

Brown-med
March 8

U of Alabama-medped
March 10th

I would have to say so far, the places I have been most impressed with is Case Western and Tulane mostly because of their outstanding faculty, international opportunities and overall happiness of the fellows. I have excluded some places from my list after I found out they aren't able to do combined programs for one reason or another.

Will write more soon....Anyone know what their number one is ?
Click to expand...
Just started the interview trail at Cleveland Clinic on Monday...heading to Mt Sinai and NYU the week of March 21, so too early to pick a favourite. CCF I found was pretty comprehensive in what it was offering...mainly a heavy, but quite varied clinical program with a lot of "depth" in pathology.
I have a completely "off the wall" question: does anyone know how one might request deferal of fellowship training for one year? I'm not particularly keen on defering, but I might have an opportunity for an international health job in HIV, which would be great experience/exposure prior to ID fellowship. Obviously ROL and match date are "fixed" for 2012, and that's what programs are planing for, so asking individual PDs at the interview whether there might be flexibility around this seems to be my only option. On the other hand, I am concerned about potentially "rocking the boat with such a request". Any other suggestions?
 
Coming in late on this thread... just getting going on interviews - pretty long days! Though, from my friends applying in cards, we've got the better end of the deal.

Was canceling some interviews but now am a little worried b/c the programs I've liked the most aren't the ones I expected... anyone else finding the same?

So far I loved Stanford and UVA (especially the UVA structure of starting w a research year), neither of which I knew much about before. I expected to love UCSF and Columbia more than I did... both incredible programs obviously, but it seemed like it might be tough for an outsider to break in.

also, I saw one MGH/BWH invite - has anyone else heard? Seems on paper like a good fit and also like they take 9 fellows (!)...

hope everyone is hanging in there and having some fun - one thing I have noticed is that most everyone on the trail seems pretty awesome - score one for ID!
 
Can anyone comment on Harbor, USC, UCLA, Cedars-Sinai/VA, or San Diego?
 
greenandwhite said:
Can anyone comment on Harbor, USC, UCLA, Cedars-Sinai/VA, or San Diego?
Click to expand...


I have written my thoughts on USC and UCSD. I haven't been to Harbor yet. I'll post everything whenever I'm done.
 
So I interviewed at Brown and U of Alabama and then have northwestern and Rush March 16/17th.

I actually got to meet EMT Lizzy !

Per the other posting, I have found that I am very interested in programs I didn't think I would be orginally.

So that means: LSU/Tulane, Case, Brown and U of Alabama. All of which have incredibly strong global health and HIV. I think they will form my top rank choices. So far it is hard to distinguish between Case and UAB because they both have great faculty, amazing international experiences and a program I would be happy at- the one key thing is I could very likely do my dual fellowship at UAB whereas case I would need to apply again after a year of adult. Brown was also pretty impressive the only downside is traveling between the hospitals. I think one would have a great experience there ! They do have an abroad program in Kenya. UAB has programs in Zambia and Peru with the Gorgas course. Case is maninly in Africa and S. America. Tulane/LSU need not look beyond LA.

So will try to wrap up some comments after I am done in Chicago. One last interview at Rochester then I am DONE !

Decision time !

Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on Brown, UAB, Tulane/LSU and Case !
 
OH one other thing- in research peds ID fellowships- Partners in Health has one that you have to apply outside ERAS. They split the time between Boston and Haiti. Just google PIH if you are interested. I just submitted my stuff to them too !
 
.University of California, San Diego.
.Interview day is basically on your own. You get a schedule of places to be and you ‘find them’ yourself. You do see the program secretary (who is quite nice and prompt with emails) but they don’t lead you around and have a clearly structured interview day (in the sense that most of us are used to from residency interviews). I think this basically represents the program as well. I had 2 fellows say that you are pretty much on your own when it comes to finding a lab/mentor and then the subsequent monitoring of your progress in the research years. No structured committees to make sure you are hitting the appropriate milestones. Research is 50% HIV and the other 50% in various other things. 1 year clinical and then 2 years research with a majority of fellows getting a K award to further their training. Big question as to how good the clinical training is compared to other programs of similar caliber. Saw the case conference (ok, more didactic and basic science presented than I would have liked at a clinical case conference, also no ‘differential diagnosis’ discussion provided by the fellows or the faculty) and AIDS conference (pretty good). .
. .
.Program director: Noticeably absent on my interview day. No idea where she was. Did meet with the division chief who was awesome. Very friendly, nice guy who seemed to clearly have an idea of where the program should be heading and how to fix its weaknesses..

..

..

.University of Southern California.
.Interview day is more structured here like a traditional interview day I am used to from residency interviews. Program secretary is very nice. Went to AIDS conference, fellows got pimped a lot by division chief. Mostly pretty collegial. Diversity of cases seen at the hospitals is pretty amazing. Definitely probably the strongest point of the program would be the stuff you get to see here. Majority of fellows seem to probably go into private practice. Research is less emphasized here based on my impression. Although the fellows do some research (clinical). Opportunities for basic science research are better at other programs. Overall I’d say you get great clinical training here but would have to work a little harder to develop your research. .
. .
.Program director: Fairly nice but seemed a little pretentious to me. Not sure what kind of relationship the fellows have with him..

..

..
.Harbor-UCLA.
.I think they see a wide variety of cases. Similar to USC but maybe less transplant. They go off-site to get more transplant experience. Interview day is all in one building essentially. More emphasis on clinical training rather than research. Although research is expected, it is much different than UCSD for example. The two are on opposite sides of the spectrum. The location of Harbor-UCLA is pretty good from my standpoint. The fellows were collegial and seemed happy. Not overworked but when you are on inpatient months it can be fairly brutal. Other rotations are more relaxed. Decent HIV population if that is your thing. Better than UCSD, but prob not quite the same as USC. .

..
. .
 
I am curious what people know or have heard about the program at the University of Utah?
 
Hi its good to see people discussing ID... its not one of the most desired fellowships but am glad,,, we are a great lot 😀
I am going to apply next year, and i was seeing people getting interviews from great places. I wanted to know how your CVs are like, what research experience, and how many publications it take to be invited from top programs
 
Anyone out there have positive/negative impressions of BU as compared to any of the other Boston (or other east coast) programs?
 
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