advice

You can't go wrong with a program that is solid in your estimation, regardless of whether or not it has a big name. Big names are definately advantageous but you can get very good training at non-big-name places as well. I would go with where you feel the best about in terms of the quality of the staff, facilities and residents. If that happens to be a big name place, it's just icing on the cake.

A program I am intimately familiar with had a cyto program that *refused* to interview folks from its own middle-of-the-road-name institution because there were so many "better" candidates out there than its own. (no this is NOT mgh.)

Un-freaking-believable, probably unique...but undeniably true.

Mindy

There are programs that will never take their own residents because they believe that a fellowship is where you go somewhere else to get a broader experience. This used to be the case in my program, but has changed as the generation of pathologists changed. Now I would say we favor our own residents over others.


I would certainly put my program as a non-big name University based program and recently we have had our residents go to fellowships at Stanford(surgical path) and AFIP(derm path).

I've always heard that you have a better chance of getting a fellowship at a particular place if you're from that institution. Duke's website flat-out states that their own residents are given preference, and I know there was another one that said something similar, but I can't think of which school it was right now. I know at my program, which is a good university program, the current cyto and heme fellows were both residents here, and the derm fellow did research here before her residency at another program in the city.
I spoke to an alum at MGH who said many of their fellowships, particularly the extremely competitive Partners derm fellowship, go to MGH/BWH residents (and he will be a fellow at MGH when he finishes in a year). I also talked to an attending here who did a fellowship at Hopkins, and he said the only reason he got into it was that he did a 2-month rotation in that department at Hopkins during his residency.

Programs like to take their own because they know they can get along with that person and there won't be any suprises. I think it definitely makes sense to go somewhere that has a fellowship in the area you're interested in, and that's one of my main factors in choosing a program. One program is at the top of my list, but is probably ranked below the others by any outside standards, just because they have a fellowship I'm interested in and according to residents there, you could be almost guaranteed of getting the position if you did residency there.

personally, i think that programs with a name will obviously be solid programs to launch a candidate into a fellowship....but again it depends on what your goals truly are.

i would love to go to a "top institution"....BUT if i didn't work well at this place and didn't learn all that I could and If i wasn't compatible there....then I think that it would be a waste of my years.

I think there must be a meeting point for Quality of institution and Quality of compatibility. Some things just feel right...i think if you can find that point in a program, you will be set.

as for me...i hope I have the luxury of having a decision.

cheers!