Okay, seeing as there is a high view to post ratio, and I'm not really doing anything, here goes:
UAB
Solid large academic medical center with good fellowship placement. Most residents stay at UAB for fellowship, but others go on to top tier or second tier fellowships nationally. Most of the residents come from the Southeast. The hospital facilities were very impressive. The place is huge! 1100 beds! Very well maintained. The residents were friendly and say they are definitely work hours compliant. Program is largely front-loaded, with 10 months of inpatient care and no electives first year. There are three hospitals in the system- UAB, the VA, and Cooper Green, which is a county hospital. I went on the bus tour, but didn't get a good sense for Birmingham. They took us mostly through the surrounding areas where many residents live. I didn't see downtown Birmingham except for the hospital. The Five Points area, which is supposedly a great place for going out, was underwhelming.
Arizona
Good second tier program. The U of A was alot smaller than I thought it would be, as was Tucson. Graduates have decent fellowship placement, and many choose to stay at Arizona. The residents seemed laid-back and pretty happy. Residents rotate at the University Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center, and the VA. Tucson Medical Center is a private hospital where you only see the patients on the teaching service. However, residents go to all of the codes at TMC. Reportedly the TMC didactics are improving.
Things are kind of spread out in Tucson, and downtown Tucson isn't that great for shopping or going out. It was beautiful, warm, and sunny for my visit, and I hear it's that way all year!
Cedars-Sinai/VA Greater Los Angeles
Our incoming class will be the first class with the combined Cedars/VA program. They will be taking 41 categorical and 13 prelim residents, making it quite a large program. The Cedars residents I talked to weren't too enthusiastic about the merger, and aren't looking forward to scut at the VA. The program emphasized the increased diversity of the patient population, and increased fellowship connections. Cedars presents itself as an academic community program. The entire interview day was conducted at Cedars. I wasn't too impressed with the Cedars residents that I met. They seemed primarily focused on working the least number of hours, getting out early, and talking about their excellent ancillary staff and the fact that they can get a stat MRI done in the middle of the night. With Cedars being in Beverly Hills, I thought their facilities would be alot nicer than they were. Noon conference was pretty bad. Participation from the residents was like pulling teeth. I don't know if I just caught a bad day. There was no fellowship match list available at the time of my interview.
University of Colorado
I was very impressed with my visit to Colorado. I agree with most of the things the other posters have said. It's a large university program with great fellowship placement. Denver has great outdoor activities. The program has a five hospital system, with the University, VA, Denver Health (county), Rose, and St. Lukes- Presbyterian (Rose and St. Lukes are private.) They are changing the curriculum so that interns won't rotate at Rose, but seniors will. The University of Colorado plans to move to the new Fitzsimons Hospital in Aurora in 4/07. We drove by the campus on the bus tour, and it looks beautiful. There did seem to be alot of uncertainty in the program, for example, what is going to happen to the old hospital after the move, and how having a new PD will affect the program. Residents I met seemed smart and friendly, and quite outdoorsy. Apparently one intern spent a record 41 days on the slopes a couple of years ago. One thing I didn't like about the program was that the residents, although friendly, didn't seem to know each other very well. A couple of interns I was talking to had met each other only three times before, in six months! You meet someone three times on a night on call together! I'm guessing it has alot to do with the residents being spread out at the five hospitals.
Harbor-UCLA
I was very impressed by Harbor. I didn't think I would like a county hospital program this much. I walked out of Harbor with a smile on my face. The residents work hard (interns with a census of 5-12), but there is minimal scutwork. You don't draw blood, do EKG's, or transport patients (except for unit patients). All rotations are at Harbor except for an optional 2nd year rotation at UCLA and a month at Kaiser. The residents seemed like a very cohesive group. Also, the place seems to attract idealists- people who want to work hard, and serve everyone. Morning report was impressive. The residents were very involved in the discussion. Learning by doing seems to be key at Harbor. Interns admitted that they don't really have time to read. The physical facilities were adequate. It was definitely different to walk through a metal detector to get into the hospital. Something else that is different- the barracks. Harbor used to be a military hospital in the 1940's, and many of the research labs are in the barracks, which basically look like trailers. As a county hospital, Harbor lacks tertiary care. Residents don't see many transpant patients. However, they do see cases of advanced disease where people have let things go way too long before seeking care. Graduates have good fellowship placement, mostly in the LA area, but also nationally. About 25% of the patient population speaks Spanish, so knowing some medical Spanish is helpful but not required. Harbor will be high on my rank list.
University of Maryland
Good 2nd tier program. The residents were friendly and smart. Morning report was good- Wegener's granulomatosis presenting as hemoptysis- with good resident participation, and great attendance. I have never seen that many people attend morning report. It seems like they make teaching a priority. Graduates get the fellowships they want, mostly at Maryland or 2nd/3rd tier programs. As far as the physical plant goes, the new Weinberg building is beautiful, and supposedly some medicine floors will be moving in there. The rest of the hospital and the VA is kind of old and ragged. Not run-down, though. All of the residents seemed truly happy with the program. There is some new construction, and it looks like Maryland is trying to increase its focus on research. See lots of HIV patients at Maryland.
University of Washington
Top-notch university program. I was very impressed by the interview day. There are four hospitals in the system- the University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center (county), the VA, and Providence (private). I toured the UWMC, which was beautiful. Residents admit there is less autonomy at Providence, but that it's good to see how private hospitals are run, and they only spend a couple of months there in the entire residency. Great mix of tertiary care from throughout the WWAMI region, and bread and butter medicine. The program is on probation, and they gave us a detailed written response to the ACGME citations. The main violation was work hours, particularly the 24+6 rule. There have been several changes made in response to this. They will post any updates as to the accredidation status on their website. I did notice a relative paucity of interns at the social and recruitment functions- I met mostly 2nd and 3rd years, who seemed happy. Graduates match into top fellowships at UW and throughout the country. Seattle is awesome. UW will be high on my list.
Virginia Mason Medical Center
I liked this community program alot more than I thought I would. It's a small program, with 10 (categorical + primary care track) and 5 prelim residents per year. Their residents were friendly and seem very happy. They take minimal overnight call, about twice per month on inpatient. Overnight admissions are handled by the night float, who hands the patients off in the morning. One downside to this is that you are admitting every other day. However, this is just during the day. The physical facilities are beautiful. Records are completely computerized, and there is computerized order entry. Ancillary staff are excellent. The hospital is also just a short walk to downtown Seattle. Interns cap at three admissions per call, and 8 total patient interactions (census). Most residents rent unless their s.o. has a large income. 80% of graduates go on to do general internal medicine. Graduates reportedly don't have a hard time matching for fellowships, but they do go to 2nd tier programs. My concern with the program is that it seems a little "too cush" for me. I'm sure the current interns would disagree, and I do realize they are working long and hard days. However, I learn so much on call that I can't imagine not taking overnight call as a resident. I just don't think I would learn as much.