I would wait for people from Baylor or SA to comment on their programs.
As for UTSW, I can tell you that the three years I have spent here turned me from a moody, pessimistic internist into a confident, energized physician who is ready to tackle private practice.
Pros:
1. Faculty. They are intelligent, hard working, and friendly. We do have a couple whose anxiety level are the equivalent of ten people each, but they are the exception, not the rule.
2. Case variety. We do it all and by adding another hospital for experience (St. Paul University Hospital), we will expand our transplant and major vascular numbers which are already high to begin with.
3. Work hours. We NEVER approach the 80 hour work week, except on the ICU rotations. All other rotations rarely take you past 60 hours per week.
4. Chairman & PD & RD. These three guys work hard to find as many ways to reward your hard work as possible. They have made it easy to pick this place by LISTENING to the residents' requests.
5. Only program in the entire DFW metroplex. You have no competition for cases from other programs. In fact we take military residents on board to fulfill their major neuro, neurovascular, major vascular, & OB requirements.
6. Moonlighting opportunities. The chairman, PD, and RD heard our requests and expanded the in house moonlighting opportunities to now include OB and general. $50/hour plus a flat fee just for being on call.
7. Great fellow residents. We have a few ecclectics, but the majority are very laid back, will cover your back, and are very cool.
8. TIME TO READ. After talking to a couple of friends of mine I went to medical school with, I see the difference like night and day. You do a lot of cases, but we have expanded our residency program classes to help ease the workload and this year, that has resulted in the majority of residents being done by 3 or 4 pm on the major service rotations.
9. Didactics. We removed the break of dawn morning lectures and replaced them with a single Wednesday morning multipurpose conference and Monday afternoon PBLD's and Q&A sessions, along with mock oral examinations throughout the year. You can always get teaching from attendings in the OR. Some need to be coaxed, but the key is that they are available to teach and most do so without prompting.
10. Dallas. Live cheap but still comfortable, live in the burbs, live in a high rise, live downtown/uptown/midtown, etc. Dallas has every conceivable living situation covered. If you have a family, you will have more difficulty sorting out the options, rather than trying to find them.
11. Job opportunities. Jobs continue to be PLENTIFUL and HIGH PAYING in this city. Only Las Vegas has more jobs and a higher median income for anesthesiology. Our faculty obviously has many inroads into the good private practices here.
12. Good relationships with other services (yes, even surgery). In the past, that wasn't the case, but the emphasis on education and the presence of strong faculty and a strong chairman has enhanced our visibility and appeal to the different services to meet their needs as well as ours.
13. NO OUTSOURCING OF RESIDENTS. I don't know about most people, but I DON'T want to have to spend multiple months away from my home just to fill my numbers quotas. You don't have to worry about that here. Whatever you want, we can give you to not only meet your numbers, but make a minifellowship out of it as well (I will get at or more than 120 CPB cases by the end of my residency, by choice).
14. Exposure to both private and academic practice. We give you opportunities to see both at Parkland (academic), Zale (private), Baylor Dallas (private), Methodist (private), St. Paul (academic), Children's MC (both), Texas Scottish Rite (private), VA (academic), etc.
15. Flexibility of the program. Do you think something different will help you learn or help the program in general? Let the faculty know. It will get looked at and most will be tried except for the unreasonable suggestions (i.e. please double our salaries, etc.).
16. All fellowships available here.
Cons:
1. Antiquity of Parkland. It is old. We have replaced 95% of the old anesthesia machines, but I'd like to replace the hospital. It will be done, but the timetable had to be pushed back for a new Parkland. Fortunately, that is the only facility that is old and, hey, it's county.
2. Would like to have more social events. We are working on that, but we have a ton of residents and faculty. Everyone is very personable, but we are a little spread out.
