I already posted a couple of long ones about life at MGH when I was a CA1 last year, here:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=478943
In all honesty, in terms of hours and call, when I read the Hopkins and Duke descriptions in this discussion, resident life and the work hours sounds similar across all three. In the OR we work 60-65 hours a week. Sounds like it's less than coprolalia. There is a good explanation for this. We are a large department (75 residents, 20 CRNAs, I don't know how many attendings -- maybe 100?) so because of the manpower it is not surprising that we have to work less than many smaller departments, reputation notwithstanding. A smaller program means fewer people have to shoulder the brunt of the work. I walk by the OR desk and I seem to overhear every day that one or two people (whether attending, or CRNA, or resident) have called in sick. There are enough people to pick up the slack. I know people who went to residency programs that really don't have the same reputation as the three you're asking about, and hands down they worked harder than we do. Why? Because we have so many bodies, and they didn't.
Residents do the brunt of the work (75 residents, 20 CRNAs), so yes, in addition to good juicy cases we also cover the I&Ds, lap choles, vac dressing changes etc. There's a generous sprinkling of these types of cases all across our 50-something ORs and on the waitlist when you're on call. Since residents are the biggest part of the work force, residents also get these cases. But I think in addition to Whipples, esophagectomies, AAAs, liver resections, intracranial aneurysm clippings etc you really need to do the more "boring" cases (I&D, trach-peg, lap appy etc) also in order to get good. You become experienced just as much by dealing with sick patients and unexpected intraoperative events during these cases as you do by staffing "big" cases.
Main OR call: 7am - 7am (a 24 hour day). Occurs 4-5 times a month. Some nights I've slept from 8pm to 6am. A few others, I barely touched the call room bed. But you do get some some sleep a lot of the time unless you're the senior resident on call (in which case you "run the board" for all the ORs and you stick around while any case is still going).
OB: Is done in shifts (7am-3pm, 3pm-11pm, 7pm-7am).
Getting out early: Happens occasionally, maybe 3:30pm if it's your lucky day. Cases don't get added onto a room generally if it runs past 3pm. Most rooms end 4-5pm. If they do not, we are supposed to get relieved at 5pm (after which we preop the next day's cases before going home, so typically means leaving between 5:30pm and 6:30pm). The reality is that at MGH, like everywhere else, sometimes a surgeon tells you they'll finish at 4:45pm but in reality they take until 5:30pm so you end up not getting relieved and finish the case at 5:30pm. If your attending has only one room they usually send you home at 5pm anyway,.
If you are on certain rotations (thoracic and vascular) you do not get relieved but must finish your case, and you must come in to do your inpatient preops even if you are post call. You don't have to do this for any other rotations.
Personal life: Maybe 1/3 have children. Maybe 2/3 are part of a couple. Maybe 1/3 are single. Since all three of these programs apparently work 60-65 hours a week I'm not sure what makes one of them more "family friendly" than another. I will tell you though, that at our residency when we hang out we usually go to a bar, not a pot luck.
Downsides: The pediatric surgery service has really dried up over the last few years so the experience is mostly bread and butter (but that is exactly what you need for your training). Regional numbers during required rotations is pretty thin since MGH built a new fast-track facility offsite a few years ago and the blocks all migrated there (but you can definitely get comfortable by doing a CA3 elective there or at another site where there's lots more regional). Cardiac has personality issues. Boston is expensive and also unique in that there are 5 large medical centers in the city of Boston alone -- which I think probably means as a resident you will be less overloaded but we also share the more unusual surgical cases with all the other hospitals.
I think we get solid training. It doesn't mean we necessarily get better training than a smaller, less well known program where fewer residents have to take more call and do more work. You will get a better education at MGH than you will at a small community-based program that struggles to meet ACGME case numbers. You will not get a better education at MGH than you will at a less well known program that has lots of call and enough cases. Apart from that, you learn the same set of clinical skills anywhere, with a strength here and a weakness there. The real "investment" in your career that you get from MGH is not the basic clinical training (which is the same as any place that has enough cases). The value added is the culture of the work environment (people are enthusiastic, work hard, love anesthesiology, have fun, and can learn something from every case), the name on your CV and the occasional academic opportunity that you may be able to dabble in as a resident. That goes not just for MGH but for all the programs you asked about -- apart from having a generous number of cases of all types, you are still a new grad with a basic education when you get out and the real benefits are in how happy you were at your program, and what it does for your job prospects when you graduate.
I would definitely do it again. PM me if you have any more personal questions about the program.
