[2016-2017] Emergency Medicine Rank Order List Thread

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Members don't see this ad.
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 245+, Step 2: 260+
EM rotations: P (pass/fail) / H / H / H
Medical school region: Southeast
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Nontraditional applicant w/ education background, Toxicology rotation

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
4 > 3 year (want to end up in academics), great residents, COL, climate

1) Cincinnati:
Pros - Well regarded program w/ fantastic residents, experience in pre-hospital medicine, faculty w/ Critical care training, increasing levels of responsibility, as a 4th year you take check-out from interns, PD is leaving but new PD is amazing and previous PD is staying on in faculty, longitudinal Peds, Low COL city w/ numerous up and coming areas, flight program

Cons - Weather can be cold

2) Yale:
Pros - Well funded program, lots of money for research, strong educational focus, structured learning w/ oral boards practice every year, supportive PD, beautiful hospital, community site, longitudinal peds, low COL w/ train to NYC

Cons - Smaller city, weather is generally cold

3) LSU NOLA:
Pros - Fantastic program w/ a fantastic PD, serves largely underserved patients, possibility of new helicopter program, PD fantastic, strong 4th year residents, great climate, moderate COL, brand new hospital that is gorgeous, multiple community sites

Cons - no longitudinal peds, hospital is unlike most others (although rotate at multiple community sites)

4) Northwestern:
Pros - Fantastic program w/ a great PD (who is leaving), serves more underserved patients than one would think for location (mix of underserved and very wealthy patients), great academic curriculum, community site, lots of ICU rotations, great COL for big city

Cons - Chicago is cold, celebrity patients

5) Maine Medical:
Pros - 3 year program but great reputation, wilderness nearby, only Level 1 Trauma in Maine, helicopter experience, relatively good COL

Cons - Climate, less penetrating trauma, not diverse

6) Cook County:
Pros - Fantastic program w/ great reputation, PD is awesome and plays jazz (although leaving soon), best trauma in Chicago, relatively broad experience

Cons - Low pay for city, lots of off-service non-ICU rotations

7) Texas Scott & White:
Pros - Fantastic program in a rural area, lots of blunt trauma, longitudinal peds w/o fellowship, hospital is center of town, incredibly low COL, good weather, relatively close to Austin, TX

Cons - Very rural, not sure about other services in hospitals

8) Louisville:
Pros - Great program, lots of trauma (only one ED), autonomous work, low COL w/ great city

Cons - lack of faculty direction, seems like mostly resident directed learning

9) UMass:
Pros - Great program, nice ED, great PD (supports resident wellness and interests), low COL, new ED

Cons - no flight program anymore, climate

10) MUSC:
Pros - Fantastic program, Great PD, great location (beaches, historical sites), relatively low COL

Cons - I've lived here before and am hoping to see a different part of the county, otherwise this is a fantastic place to train

11) UT Houston:
Pros - Great program, nice PD from Cincinnati, most residents seemed nice

Cons - some residents seemed like they didn't care about patients, seemed like an attitude of meet em --> street em, flight program w/ only a couple flights during residency

Other:
Didn't receive interviews at: Emory, Vanderbilt, UNC, Carolinas, Wake Forest, NYU, Utah, N. Mexico, Denver, Washington, USCF-Main, LAC, OHSC, Arizona

Received but didn't interview: University of Rochester, University of Wisconsin Madison, UCSF-Fresno, LSU-Baton Rouge, Eastern North Carolina
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 201-210, Step 2: 241-250
EM rotations: No rotation grades at my institution
Medical school region: Midwest
Anything else that made you more competitive:
I was consistently told I had strong SLOEs

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Fit with faculty/residents, access to sick medical patients, spouse is uninterested in living in a huge city

1) University of Kentucky -
Very laid back residents who seemed to be having a lot of fun in Lexington. Sick Appalachian patients. Dr. Doty's educational philosophy clicked with me. World class ultrasound with Matt from the Ultrasound Podcast. A lot of energetic young faculty that are making a FOAMed presence too. Spouse likes the area. I like bourbon.

2) Virginia Tech Carilion Clinic -
Dr. Kuehl had probably the best sales pitch I heard on the trail. I really like his data driven approach to resident education. More sick Appalachian patients. Roanoke is absolutely beautiful. I'd be very happy to end up here.

3) University of Tennessee at Chattanooga -
Sick Appalachian patients (notice a theme at the top of my list?). Chattanooga might be our favorite pure location we went to on the interview trail. I like the idea of being in a small residency class in a very busy ED, so you can cherrypick the best cases. Phenomenal ultrasound with Ben and Jacob from Ultrasound of the Week. Didn't click with the PD as much during my interview, however.

4) DMC Sinai Grace -
Penetrating trauma out the wazoo. Marc Anthony gave what I thought was a pretty good presentation showing pictures of only EM faculty/residents at the bedside for trauma. I also like the idea of taking care of my own ortho. Residents seemed very high on their experience running the ICU as a PGY2. Faculty admitted nursing support needs to be improved. Spouse isn't very keen on living in Detroit. I doubt I will have a career that utilizes all the penetrating trauma training.

5) Eastern Virginia -
Really positive interview experiences with the PD, Chair, and other faculty. Residents seemed very happy with close proximity to Virginia Beach and the quality of their community rotation there. Norfolk is kind of meh, but it's not too big for us. Probably ranking this so high because it's on the coast, honestly lol.

6) Eastern Carolina/Vidant Medical Center -
Huge volume and catchment area. Every one of the residents told me they were surprised at all the penetrating trauma they receive. They should probably call themselves Pitt County again because that's the "feel" they want to capture. Greenville is small but the bigger problem is how far you are from a decent airport. PD was almost confrontational in my interview, but I think that's just his style.

7) Mercy St. Vincent -
Old, established program. Good rapport with my faculty interviewers and the PD, Dr. King, was very gracious. Toledo is Toledo.

8) Aventura -
For being one of a few brand new programs that I interviewed at, this one was the highest mostly because Dr. Seldinger was my favorite of the group. His first class of residents seem to be very well supported by him. I'm just not a hundred percent sure what the patient population is like at Aventura. Miami is really big and far from home. But we like to dream about living in a tropical paradise...

9) Southern Illinois -
Good encounters with residents and faculty. Seems to have very strong simulation, though I'm not sure how much value I put in that. EM does not have departmental status which is something that needs to change soon. Again, I like the idea of a small residency class. Springfield is a bit small.

10) University of Illinois Peoria -
Didn't seem to connect really well with the residents for whatever reason. PD was very nice, however. Reputation seems to be strong. Peoria is alright.

11) William Beaumont Hospital -
Happy residents. Big hospital though I'm not exactly sure how sick their patient population is. Royal Oak seems like a nice area. Had a couple weird interviews and the PD rubbed me the wrong way too.

12) Mount Sinai Miami -
Former AOA program that just joined the ACGME. PD seemed very calm and respectful, which played the perfect foil to his very boisterous APD. The residents seemed very "Miami" for lack of a better word and I didn't feel like I fit in very well.

13) Kendall -
My least favorite of the new Miami programs. Seemed like not knowing Spanish wasn't going to be an option by the time I was finished. PD is very business minded and didn't feel very approachable.

Other:
Ended up with 20 interview offers most in the midwest and central U.S. Don't let a low step 1 score be the only thing that keeps you from looking into EM!
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 240s, Step 2: 260s
EM rotations: H/H/H
Medical school region: Left blank
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Strong SLOEs (per interviewers), lots of leadership positions and prior work experience was cited often

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
South >>>>> Everywhere else
3>>>4
8>9>10>>>>>>12
Gut feeling mostly, rearranged my list until I felt at peace with it.

1) UTSW
Pro: Gut feeling, clicked with the residents, strong curriculum, variety of community experience, high volume and county will see everything, great peds exposures, new Parkland is amazing, lots of opportunity for event medicine, variety of faculty from any training background you can imagine, large group of residents so you won't be off alone on Wednesday morning, Dallas is a nice city, New Zealand.

Cons: Overspecialized (separate ObGyn pod seems overkill), tendency to consult out a lot of what we should be taking care of (residents say this was balanced with the high number of community months), relatively long shifts

2) JPS
Pro: High volume, county, strong residents, respected in the hospital, great benefits, nice facilities for a county program. This rank is more of a gestalt feeling than any concrete factors.

Con: Peds is all the way in Dallas

3) Austin
Pro: Gut Feeling, friendly residents and faculty (I was impressed with how outgoing ED staff was toward the residents during our tour), Austin is fun, all 8 hour shifts x 18, best resident salary, based on the location the trajectory for this place is straight up as they will attract better faculty and residents as they become more established

Con: Newer program, less established, recent transition from a private ED group to academic ED group seems odd (If these physicians wanted to teach they would have sought that out initially rather than falling into it)

4) Temple (Baylor Scott and White)
Pro: Loved this program, Dr. Drigalla was awesome, hospital was nice, program is well established and known to produce great residents, curriculum seems strong and well thought out, very affordable COL (could easily buy a nice house close to the hospital), safe city, great for starting a family.

Con: Residents didn't seem enthusiastic about having interviewees around (I attributed this to the fact that most of them have families they would rather be with but still a red flag that dropped them from #1), 12 hour shifts as intern (though well justified by Dr. Drigalla)

5) Vanderbilt
Pro: Amazing program (if they were in Texas clear #1), clicked with all the residents I met (really felt like I fit in well), Dr. McCoin is the most outgoing person I met on the interview trail (and I met a lot of great people), Dr. Slovis and Dr. Wrenn are well known in the EM community, great reputation, I had the warm and fuzzies all throughout my stay in Nashville, the dedication to teaching and Dr. Slovis's teaching theory really resonated with me.

Con: Distance from home, otherwise none to speak of

6) UTHSCSA
Pro: Dr. Muck, the facilities are nice, the curriculum is good, I really like San Antonio, I think this program has a bright future

Con: One resident spoke negatively about working with another resident upon checking her schedule for the following day during the pre-interview dinner. This was a nail in the coffin of sorts, otherwise would have been top 3 for me. Newer program, less established within the hospital, seems somewhat dominated by surgery still.

7) UAB
Pro: Dr. Edwards and the rest of the faculty are amazing, the residents (particularly this intern class) are really fun to be around (really friendly and smart people), interns are given a ton of responsibility early on, they get procedures left and right, the pathology is fantastic, the hospital is nice, Birmingham growing at the speed of light. Of all the places I interviewed at they might provide the best overall training in my opinion.

Con: Distance from home

8) Corpus Christi
Pro: Unopposed program, residents really get to learn hands on and dirty, I also got the warm and fuzzies here,

Con: Reputation outside of Texas is probably non existent, transitioning to a new hospital in 2019 so everything currently seems very messy, weak didactic lectures

9) UT Houston
Pro: Residents were all great, hospital is busy (busiest trauma center I believe), patient are sick, life flight

Con: Houston, parking is horrible

10) Emory
Pro: Favorite interview day, loved the residents, both hospitals we visited were really nice, great reputation, I liked that you got to train both at county and at academic hospitals.

Con: Hated Atlanta (Could not, would not live there)
 
@doggydog note: wtf, this is inspired work.
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 260s, Step 2: 270s
EM rotations: H/H/H
AOA
Medical school region: The Shire
Anything else that made you more competitive:
SLOEs, extracurriculars, research in EM

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
'Fit', want to work with underserved patients, my SO had a significant voice in this. In terms of location, I'm the typical EM applicant, I want access to skiing, hiking, rock climbing, etc.

1) Minas Tirith College of Medicine
Pros: great program, academic core faculty and site, but you spend about 1/3 of your time rotating at Osgiliath for that true county experience. Really like the city, nice cosmopolitan city with awesome access to mountains and other outdoor activities. Really feel like it’s a city on the upswing. Fit well with the residents, my kind of people, and I feel like they sold the 4th year really well.

Cons: Unfortunately, the PD is leaving for a job at the Grey Havens, but I feel like everything he built is still here, and I really liked the new PD, they’re using an internal candidate so I don’t really have any concerns.

2) Rivendell Health
Pros: Well known, old program with a reputation for being a great place to train. I love how you rotate at the county hospital in Bree, but you still get to train with the resources and facilities at Rivendell. The chair is well known but still works shifts with the residents. Awesome city, it’s a great place in it’s own right, and you get incredible skiing and rock climbing in the Misty Mountains.

Cons: Not as good as my #1 for my SO’s career. Similarly, they work a ton of shifts every month, and the cost of living here is ridiculous.

3) Umbar County - University of Southern Gondor
Pros: Incredible patient pathology and diversity. Incredibly high volume and lots of resident autonomy, really there seemed like no other place like UC-USG to train. Brand new amazing facilities. Great relationship with trauma surgery.

Cons: Not sold on living in Southern Gondor, although it is right next to the ocean. Plus, I feel like not speaking Haradrim would be a serious detriment. Also not sure I fit as well with the intensity here.

4) Erebor County Medical Center
Pros: Awesome county program. Lots of resident autonomy, and the PD was very cool. Great location too, Iron hills mountain biking, and from what I hear, Lonely Mountain is a great place to live, and Esgaroth is really up and coming.

Cons: Only one rotation site, and very county, although still a well known academic name. Also, there is nothing out here for my SO to do, and she finds it a little too far north, not sure we could handle the winters.

5) Riddermark University
Pros: An academic powerhouse. The chair was so cool, and the PD was great to interview with. Also, I love how unique of an experience riding with the Rohirrim would be. An amazing opportunity for some serious autonomy.

Cons: I’m just not sure I see myself and the SO happy in Edoras. Which is painful, because this is such an awesome program with an amazing reputation.

6) Moria Medical Center
Pros: Lesser known program, off the beaten track, but I was really surprised by how much I liked this place. With no specialty residencies (no optho, ortho, ent, etc.) residents here have the opportunity to do tons of their own eye exams, reductions, etc. Moria is not for everyone, but I could see myself happy living in such an awesome mountain town.

Cons: Absolutely nothing for the SO here. Apparently they also have a boarding problem, apparently nobody ever leaves. Also, the relationship with trauma surgery is apparently testy. The trauma division chief apparently had a fiery temper, but supposedly he’s leaving, so who knows.

7) University of Mirkwood
Pros: Old, well known program, with a great academic reputation. Also, trauma training at the famous Dol Guldur would be incredible. One resident said he did like 5 thoracotomies in his first week there.

Cons: I really expected to like it better here than I did. I can’t pinpoint one thing in particular, but I really just can’t imagine myself happy living in Mirkwood. Also, I don’t like how your trauma months are isolated to your time at Dol Guldur. I want a little more integration.

8) Shire State University
Pros: Home program, it would be an awesome place to stay. I know the residents and attendings well, and would be excited to not have to move. Good mix of patients, and the residents seem really happy here.

Cons: Sometimes I feel like it’s best to leave home and experience something new.

9) University of Angmar
Pros: U of A is a great medical school and center. Has the most months of critical care training. I really liked my interview day here, and felt like I clicked well with the residents and PD.

Cons: This honestly makes me sad to bump this one so far down, I just don’t see myself happy this far north. 


10) Lothlorien Clinic
Pros: Really a wonderful place, such a unique environment. I think you have to drink the Lothlorien kool aid though, and really buy in. Well funded, seemed like lots of academic opportunities. Other specialties there are world class.

Cons: Biggest concern is that I just wouldn’t be seeing the bread and butter EM. Everyone here has such specific needs and needs such specific care that I dunno about trauma and regular complaints.

Not Ranking:
Orthanc Health
Really sad about this one, loved my interview day here, gelled with the residents. However, recently lost accreditation, and went through some changes. Not sure exactly what happened, but can’t help but be concerned by the rumors of palantirs, Uruk-Hais and collaboration with the dark lord. Would rather SOAP into gen surg than match here.
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 200-210, Step 2: 220-230
EM rotations: H/H/? (HP or H? no idea about the last one)
Medical school region: Midwest
Anything else that made you more competitive:
EMS/ED experience before medical school. EM leadership. Apparently good SLOEs. Also a DO.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
3>4. Location. EMS exposure. Highest amount of ICU/trauma exposure. Least amount of floor/BS months. Opportunities to teach as a resident. 8s>10s>12s.

1) Rush -
I've been following this program pretty much since they hired their PD and indicated they were attempting to participate in this match. I was very excited that they got accreditation, and that I was given the opportunity to interview. Even though there weren't any residents to talk to, I got a very good feel from the faculty on my interview day. Unfortunately for him, the last interviewee got screwed. While the PD was doing the final interview with him, the rest of the faculty was just hanging out in the conference room with the rest of the applicants just shooting the ****. Talking about Chicago breweries, restaurants, places to live and how one of them will be serving her home brew during journal club. They all seemed really great. It was my last interview of the season, and my last interviewer asked me to pick a song the second I walked in the door. Thunderstruck really got me pumped for my last residency interview ever.

Pros: Chicago. 3 years. Vast majority of their rotations are in house. They only send you away for trauma (3 months at Cook County which is right next door) and community (2 months in the suburbs at Rush Copley). Even though its a brand new program, they have the resources of a powerhouse tertiary care center. I think I would be interested in academics and I would hope that they might be more likely to take on residents from their first class. Being the first class, there would only be 6(+2 county) EM residents in the ED on any given month. Hopefully meaning that I could have more opportunities to get more procedures/sick patients. They already have established fellowships in simulation and ultrasound.

Cons: Brand new program. Uncharted waters. No one knows how the off service rotations will be. I did trauma at Cook County the month before my interview and asked all the County EM residents I met what they thought of their rotation at Rush (they do 2 months there currently). A consensus I got was that the ED is very metrics based and they liked to move the meat as opposed to stay and play. Also that they liked to consult a lot. I understand why they would do this now. When you're an attending and don't have residents the majority of the time, but you have a hospital chock full of residents in every specialty, its certainly more efficient to call Ortho to come down and do the reduction while you move the rest of the room. That being said, the PD brought this up at my interview to the group before I even had the chance to ask. He said that with the addition of home residents, they would be making a big change in their practice there to make sure that their residents got their procedures, lines and reductions. And I believed him.

2) Resurrection -
Did an audition here at their other ED, St. Francis. A level 1 trauma center just north of Chicago proper. Saw a lot of diverse patients and a decent amount of trauma. No surgical team. The trauma surgeon comes down and the EM resident does all the procedures. Got a great feel from the PD on my interview. We talked about Chicago style hot dogs, Chicago style pizza and getting out of speeding tickets. Even though its number 2, I would still be very, very happy here. I flipped back and forth between the two every day for a month.

Pros: Chicago-ish. 3 years. They see really sick patients at Res. A lot of septic nursing home patients. Longitudinal trauma exposure at St. Francis, but they still send you to Mt. Sinai and Cook County for trauma on top of that. A lot of ICU time. ED residents run the ICU. Opportunities to moonlight in the ICU as a senior in kind of a Crit care fellow role. You only serve as back up if the residents on really need help. A lot of great rotations at hospitals around Chicago (Tox at county, PICU at Rush, PedEM at U of C, the trauma rotations I already mentioned). Ultrasound fellowship. Its a community hospital, so you're consulting actual attendings. No other residents coming down and taking your procedures. This place in my opinion will set you up to be an absolutely fantastic community doc (which is what the majority of us will be anyways). They will train you to handle anything that comes through the door without having to consult. Plus you can moonlight at Lollapalooza. You work one day and they give you tickets to the other two days. Residents were all very down to earth and seemed like they like to have a good time.

Cons: A lot of driving around the city for different rotations. The EDs seemed kind of small and cramped. Not really feeling the ID rotation for a month, but I get it. Being so close to O'hare airport, they are the hospital that gets anyone sick from there (or sick on a flight that lands there). PD says they get a lot of crazy international pathology as a result of that. Sim isn't really all that great. It was like two rooms in the basement of one of the hospitals with a mannequin and a zoll monitor that was controlled with an ipad. But when you're getting to do so much while on shift, who needs crazy fancy sim?

3) Western Michigan Kalamazoo -
One of the best experiences I had as a student. The two hospitals are both trauma centers (levels 1 and 2) and they have a big catchment area. The PD is a really cool guy, dont let the interview fool you. He puts on an show to make his interviews very objective. All the residents warn you about this. Out of the interview, hes a really funny and down to earth guy. Would do anything for his residents. They all love and speak very highly of him. This was my number one for months. Rotating here made me want to go there even more. However after my Res interview, I realized that I really wanted to stay in Chicago. Both sides of my family and all of my friends are here. If it wasnt for that, they would still be number 1 in a heartbeat. I loved it here.

Pros: EMS exposure. They have MSU-1 which is an SUV that the residents do shifts on during their ER months. You respond to all EMS codes and however many other calls you want. Most residents take call on this from home if you live in Kalamazoo county. A lot of residents use this day to catch up on errands and then go to codes. One resident got a cric in the field while I was there that month. They also do shifts flying a helicopter every ED month. You also have an ultrasound shift each ED month. These 3 things greatly reduce their total amount of ED shifts a month, which I'm OK with. ICU heavy and the residents run the ICU. 20 residents per class, so there is always something to do when you're not on shift. I was weary about this when I went to work there. However, between the 2 sites there is no shortage of patients to see. I saw plenty on my own as a student. Kalamazoo is a college town and with that they have a lot of breweries. I think something like 12 in town. Its a really great town. I've heard residents tell me that its got enough for people who like big cities, but still isnt big enough for people who hate cities. Its a happy medium. I think a huge pro for them is the old PD Dr. Overton. Hes very well known in EM. He used to be on the RRC. Hes an editor for Annals. Hes able to bring in a lot of great speakers for didactics and knows a lot of people when youre looking to get a job.

Cons: It is a nicer area, so not a lot of penetrating trauma. I really dont have any bad places to say about this place. Like I said, Its just further away from my family and friends.

4) Mercy St. Vincent - Toledo -
This one really surprised me during my interview. Got a great vibe from the APD and the residents who interviewed me. Looking back, It's probably the one I felt I interviewed the best at. All my interviews here felt like they went consistently well. The PD was out sick during my interview day, which I heard he has almost never done in like 30 years. This one moved up a few spots on my rank list last minute just because I had a great vibe here.

Pros: Old and established program. 3 years. They know what they're doing here. Residents get to fly as early as 18 months if you put in the work to "get your wings" that early. Seems like they get along well with the attendings outside of the ED.

Cons: Toledo. Neuro heavy, which I wasnt really feeling. Big ED, but felt like it was awkwardly designed. That being said, theyre in the process of building a new one.

5) Central Michigan University
Rotated here early. They interview auditioners while you're there, so It was my first interview. That being said, I thought it still went well. It definitely made me feel a lot better about my other interviews after having this one first. There are a lot of strong female attendings here, including the PD Dr. Cowling and the old PD Dr. Wagner who are both well known in EM. I heard a lot of the current residents say thats what attracted them to the program. I personally didn't get much exposure to them while I was there. That being said, their new APD Dr. Schaller is the man. He's a great guy and he really enjoys teaching. He makes it a priority when you work with him to make sure you get the most out of you shift with him. The residents were all really great to work with. With it being such a small town, they are all close and get together a lot. I got the feeling that this was a work hard, play harder kind of program, which I dont think is necessarily a bad thing.

Pros: One of the biggest things that stuck in my mind after I had left here was the pathology. I saw some crazy stuff while I was there. The town itself wasn't that great, but they have a huge catchment area in northern michigan. The two hospitals are trauma centers and each have a helicopter based there. They pull a lot from northern michigan and bring it back to themselves that way. Their main hospital had the biggest, most beautiful, and well designed ED I have ever seen. I loved the set up of that ED. One large, shared area of about ~40 beds for higher acuity and psych. Two smaller pods with ~ 10 beds each for medium acuity. ~ 10 bed pod for peds, and ~10 bed fast track run only by midlevels (no residents). ED residents respond to codes in the hospital here which I actually like. The ultrasound machines were fantastic. Sim is a HUGE pro for this place. They just built a brand new sim center which is next to the hospital which is pretty much owned by the department of emergency medicine. It was really nice and well run. The residents are very well trained, and capable here. Didactics were well run

Cons: Saginaw. This place is an absolutely great program. However, theres not much to do in Saginaw.

6) Southern Illinois University -
I really had a great vibe here. The PD is very enthusiastic about the program and really goes to bat to tailor each residents experience to their individual interests. Felt like my interview here was average. Some really good interviews, one that was kind of rough and a few OK ones.

Pros: Big catchment area all around Southern Illinois. Absolute ridiculous Sim center that is brand new. This thing has an actual ambulance that was crane lifted to like the 3rd floor. Diverse patient population. Residents see two very different patient populations between the two sites, which are really only a few miles apart. Two level 1 trauma centers. One hospital is more academic, so it has the big trauma team that comes down and takes control of everything but the airway. The other just has a private trauma group come down, so the ED resident does everything. And thats the hospital with more penetrating trauma. I talked to a 2nd year who already had 3-4 thoracotamies himself. As I said before, the PD makes a point to get you what you want out of your residency. not to mention help you tailor your curriculum to your interests. Interested in EMS? He helped one of the residents become EMS director of some local services. Interested in SIM? He'll put you to work in the Sim center (which by the way he is the director of).

Cons: Small class size of 6 per year. Id much rather prefer a larger class so that I can get to know my co-residents better. Especially if I'm going to be moving to a new place where I dont know anybody. I got the feel that the other programs come down to the ED a lot and take their procedures. Theres even a month built into the curriculum as a "Procedures month" to help combat that. The fact that that month is even there kind of makes me weary.

7) Lakeland St. Joseph Michigan -
This is a newly accredited, previously AOA program. They were a part of the first 5 DO programs to get ACGME accreditation which is reassuring that they had their **** together early. Participating in both the DO and MD matches, but taking mostly from the DO. 4 year program which is a big con for me. If they were 3 years, they would actually be higher on my list. Residents are all a great bunch here. Really down to earth and fantastic to work with. Attendings for the vast majority are all great to work with as well. They all like to teach and challenge you. Surprisingly diverse patient population. Not a trauma center, but its the only hospital in the area. They still get a decent amount of blunt from the highway and occasionally some penetrating from one of the not-so-nice towns next door. The hospital is beautiful. Its a moderately sized hospital that has money and is doing beautiful things with it. Their secondary ED site is a little more rural. Kind of feels more like a fast track. However on overnights, you and the ED attending are basically the only physicians in the hospital. About an hour and 45min drive from Chicago. I believe that their absolute biggest asset is their PD Dr. Kellar. This guy is just so enthusiastic. Hes got so much energy that it just rubs off on you. He has a weird way of making you feel great and confident in yourself, while also challenging you to consistently be better. If I had participated in the DO match, this would have been my number 1 by a landslide.

8) Conemaugh-Johnstown, PA -
Another historically AOA program that was part of the first group to receive ACGME accreditation. Only participating in the MD match. 3 year program, which is a plus. Everyone was very friendly during my interview. The APD is super enthusiastic, really great guy. I also got the feel here that the faculty would help you tailor your education to your interests. The hospital and the ED facilities are really nice. Level 1 trauma center. Decent Sim center. Residents are able to fly if they want to, but its not necessarily built into the curriculum. The biggest drawback would definitely be the location. I know that Im going to spend the majority of my next 3 years working, and in that regard, I think I would be very happy here. However being single, I feel it would be hard to meet anyone here. The upside about the location is that there's a very low cost of living.

9) Henry Ford Allegiance-Jackson, MI
Another historically AOA program that very quickly received ACGME accreditation. 4 year program. Taking from both matches this year, but mostly the DO match. No pod system, you see patients in every part of the ED. The layout is such that it actually works well. Its a very open, large rectangle. A decent amount blunt trauma being off the highway. Not the nicest of towns. A lot of the residents live 45 minutes away in Ann Arbor. Sim wasn't really there, but they're building a brand new sim center. Recently became part of the Henry Ford system. A busy ED that saw a lot.

10) Genesys- Grand Blanc, MI (not very far from Flint)
Historically dual accredited program. Has had both accreditations and has taken from both matches for years. 4 year program. The hospital itself is absolutely gorgeous. The lobby looks like you're walking into a hotel. The hospital fitness center is just ridiculous. I felt like I was in the fitness center of a very large country club. Wasn't the biggest fan of the ED. Didn't really like how it was set up. You see patients everywhere in the ED, but its not as easy to maneuver through it. The ED was crazy busy. Felt like one of those places that never clears the waiting room. That being said, they have a doc in triage often who puts in orders while theyre waiting to get back to you. Not a fan of getting half worked-up patients. Not to mention I saw some unsafe things here due to the high wait times. Seniors do all their overnight shifts. Thats cause theyre single attending coverage overnight. That being said, I guess running an entire department(not pod) your senior year would prepare you for anything. I've actually worked with some of their grads as attendings and they've all been solid.

Other:
I had two other DO interviews but I did not participate in that match. I know that my board scores and the fact that I'm a DO doesn't make me the most competitive of applicants. I'm very grateful to have received the interviews I did. That being said, I busted my ass to get all the interviews I could. Of the 10 ACGME rankable programs I interviewed at, I either rotated or spent shadowing shifts at 8 of them. Even if it was just one shift. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have gotten some of the interviews I did had I not done that. I was told by one PD that I got honors at Kalamazoo, which he said they didnt give often. I busted my ass studying for the EM shelf there and scored in the 90th percentile. If you read all this, you can probably tell that I really didn't have many negative things to say. Honestly thats because I would just be absolutely thrilled to match anywhere. All I've wanted for the past 6-8 years or so was to be an Emergency Physician and any of these 10 places could fulfill that dream. If you can take anything away from this, don't stop busting your ass. If you're not getting as many interviews as you'd like, cold call, email, network at conferences, set up shadowing shifts. Bust your ass studying for the shelf. Be enthusiastic and engaged. Above all else, be humble and grateful that we get to be a part of this awesome profession. Lets hope this all pays off on the 17th! ::fingerscrossed::
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: low 250s, Step 2: high 250s, Step 2 CS: Pass
EM rotations: First one was HP. Next two rotations were Pass/Fail - I passed. Honors on my last. Was told I had very good comments on all of them.
Medical school region: IMG (non Caribbean school)
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Atypical applicant with tons of leadership, international, and diverse work experiences.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Best training I can get while living in a place my wife will be happy.

Also worth noting - I don't care about the differences curriculum. My take is that these PDs know what they're doing, and if you work your ass off you will be a great attending regardless of where you go to residency. That being said, certain programs open doors easier than others.

1) CMC -
Unbelievable training. PD, APD, and chair spoke really well. Residents all very nice - I emailed some afterward and they responded warmly and sincerely. no cons for me

2) Duke -
Pros: PD one of the coolest I met. Program is up and coming with great faculty and nice residents. The weight of Duke Hospital behind you means that if you want to do something that has not already been done, Dr. Broder will have a great shot at being able to help you accomplish it.

Cons: Not yet considered one of the "big names"

3) Maryland -
Pros: World famous attendings and the training is great. Residents were very nice. PD rubbed me wrong way at first but he redeemed himself. Have also heard from friends of friends that he is a great teacher and leader. When I told him my dream job he said something to the effect of "we can arrange that."

Cons: Baltimore not the most desirable place to live according to my wife.

4) USF in Tampa -
Pros: County program in an awesome hospital. PD and APDs pledge to set anything up they can for you that is not already there - for instance said they could find funding for international experience despite their current residents not taking advantage of it. Loved the vibe of Tampa and surrounding beaches.

Cons: Less of a reputation, and although I believe them about being able to hook me up with opportunities suiting my interests I would rather go somewhere that has a track record of doing it already.

5) VCU -
Pros: As others have said, the PD is amazing. Him and Broder at Duke were my favorite. Beautiful ED, and you will get great training.

Cons: Didn't click with the residents that much (despite them being extremely nice), and the ones that I did were third years that will be gone when I get there.

6) Temple -
Pros: See lots of sick people and the hands on training is amazing. Chairmen is a hard ass but very likable and up front. PD and APD are gems as well.

Cons: Wife never wants to see snow again, and Philly was the farthest north I interviewed.

7) Loma Linda -
Pros: Great international and peds experience. New PD was great and a no BS type of guy. Residents were very nice and actually outnumbered the interviewees at the dinner.

Cons: I prefer doing residency on the East coast closer to family

8) LSU Nola -
Pros: PD is a great guy, and is the type of person that makes you excited to work with. Other faculty is great. Loved the patient population. Wish it was 3 years really badly.

Cons: New Orleans is just too hot for me. New hospital looks pretty but has a lot of empty parts. Only 4 year program I interviewed at, much prefer a 3.

9) San Antonio -
Pros: Loved the faculty and PD. You get an international med experience while you're there with a large population of refugees in San Antonio. PD seems hell bent on making the residency he wished he had - meaning he puts a lot of time in making sure everything they do will benefit you as an EM physician.

Cons: Don't want to live there as it's a long drive home and flights aren't cheap from there. 


10) UNC -
Pros: Has a great name in international EM. The residents were stand offish at first, but ended up having great conversations with them after we all ordered a beer. PD cool. Easy to get your Tintinalli autographed.

Cons: Wake Med hospital in Raleigh and UNC hospital are far away from each other. 40 minutes on a good day, but traffic can make that worse. I wouldn't mind driving for a month on off service, but to do it on all your EM blocks would suck.

11) LSU Baton Rouge -
Pros: Amazing training experience. They facilitate a lot of busy work in the ED for you, so that most of your energy can be spent on seeing patients. Similar to New Orleans, you're seeing a lot. PD and faculty are great. Would get such great hands on training.

Cons: BR isn't the best city for our interests.

12) ECU/Vidant -
Pros: Pretty much the same as LSU BR. Great hands on training.

Cons: Wife randomly decided Greenville, NC would be hell on earth. I don't agree with her, but what can I do? Having her miserable for three years doesn't sound ideal.

13) UC Davis -
Very good program but just didn't click with any of the faculty, bar one interviewer. Nice people and all though. Very far from home and not a major airport.

14) Aventura -
Pros: New program and the positives would be you would have a hand in shaping a residency from the ground floor. PD is the man, and the residents are tight knit and easy going.

Cons: Want something more established, and Miami on a residents salary doesn't sound too appealing, especially when you're trying to procreate.

15) Kendall -
The only program I didn't like. The PD talked the entire time, and seemed like he wasn't too interested in what I had to say, but would rather continue to talk himself. My other interviewers were awesome though. Still, I don't want to have a PD that I think is unapproachable, which is the vibe I got. Not because he was an A-hole or anything, but because every conversation would be 1.5 hours.

Other:
turned down some other interviews in TN, GA, FL (2), AK bc wife didn't want to live in those places, and I felt interviewing at more than 15 was not in my best interest.

Was rejected (outright or silently) from many Cali schools, Emory, JHopkins, Vanderbilt, Christiana, AUB, most Texas schools, most SC schools, most Philadelphia schools, most NJ schools.


Waitlisted at Kaiser San Diego and LAC/USC.
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 250+, Step 2: 270+
EM rotations: H/H
Medical school region: Mountain West
Anything else that made you more competitive:
5+ EM pubs in top tier journals
High level athlete
Non-trad; extensive work history with at-risk/underserved populations

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Married with school aged kids, Strength of training (county>academic, crit care exposure, relationship w/ surgery, volume, ED autonomy, etc), 3yr>4 yr, mountain west, job placement of grads in mountain west, COL (With kids I have a more specific criteria for a home: <$315k, 1800+ sq ft with a backyard for the kids, good school district, <35minutes from hospital. This has proven a difficult criteria to satisfy). Outdoor access to ski resorts, biking trails, climbing. Would prefer cities of less than 1 million, big cities aren’t my style and I loathe bad traffic.

Application Strategy
My advisor told me to apply to 50, I knew I was competitive and this was overkill but frankly I’m not going to be a martyr to a system I didn't create.

Applied 40, offered 30+, interviewed 13+1 home interview and 1 interview on an away for 15 total on my list. Applied to the whole mountain west and the Southeast.

1) New Mexico:
(+) Rotated here, loved it. County population with academic style faculty, fantastic PD, super happy residents, great COL, smaller city so traffic isn’t bad, super sick patients, IHS population really cool, ICUs basically run by EM-CCM attendings so your ICU months aren’t really off service, great schedule (17,20,17 x8+1). Abq doesn't have great schools but COL is so low you can live on the good side of town and have a reasonable drive. Great outdoor access. Great mtn west alumni network, pgy3’s all had jobs lined up in competitive CO markets if they wanted them.

(-) ED does board patients though I never noticed a clogged ED affecting the total volume of patients the residents saw and these were always floor patients never ICU patients. Abq may not be for everyone as the town has a rough side and may not have a great economy for non healthcare jobs or a great night life. Not really a negative for me but interns don’t see resus patients until December of intern year. I’ll agree with previous posters that the program’s interview day isn’t as flashy as other programs, but this is an absolutely fantastic program with amazing people, amazing training, and amazing job placement in the mountain west.

2) Maricopa:
(+) County, awesome PD with great curriculum, electives every year where you can go literally anywhere in the world and they will let you, super fun happy residents. Apparently their interview day has a annual budget that they notoriously blow through in like 2 weeks, so if you interview there late you may be less impressed. However, I was one of their first interview days and it was hands down the funnest and rowdiest interview dinner I went to. Strongest program in the hospital, great alumni network, probably better outdoor access than UNM, Burn ICU and ICU experience overall is very strong

(-) lots of sites, though they are near each other, Phoenix heat, Hospital is in a rough area and affordable family housing in a good school district is 30+ minute drive. City is huge which means huge sprawl and bad traffic.

(+/-) main site not a stroke center.

3) Utah:
(+) Rotated here. Really struggled with where to rank this program and it has been as low as #8 on my list. In the end, despite my misgivings the SO and I just couldn’t stomach being out of the mountain west any longer, would be very happy to match here just felt like my #1 and #2 were better fits. Really wanted to love this program, this was my pre season #1 or #2 as SLC is just an awesome area to live. Fantastic outdoor access that no other program can match. Trails literally right behind the hospital, world class skiing up the canyon. (+) Very academic program with great didactics, I felt like I learned more about bread and butter emergency medicine on this rotation than other rotations as they see a lot of level 3 and 4 acuity patients and the attendings are very sharp, residents seemed to really know the EM literature very well. Residents had no trouble staying in competitive SLC area, dual site exposure at a level 1 community hospital that is staffed by a private group, you also do a lot of ICU and trauma months at the community site

(-) program seems to be very disorganized from an administrative standpoint and didn’t seem to have a true mission, I felt like this would affect you as a resident, very low acuity (the few times a critical patient came in it was clear the residents knew what to do but weren’t entirely comfortable going through the motions, did not see a single tube or line my whole month here even though you work 18 shifts as a student, had a pgy2 tell me they had never managed a STEMI), surgery ran both level 1 and 2 trauma alerts. Program says you work 8s but you pick up patients all 8 hours and sign NOTHING out, I literally never saw a resident leave within 2 hours of their shift ending and usually they were there 3+ hours later. No role progression through the years, pgy3s really only differed from interns in that they could handle a few more patients at a time but they didn’t really manage a pod or have a role that was substantially different than an interns. Because the hospital is between downtown and the mountains you have to commute through the downtown area, this really limits housing options if you want to keep your commute reasonable. COL in the immediate salt lake area in a good district is getting expensive and most of the houses were built before 1950. I thought it was weird that there were almost no grads anywhere in the mtn west outside of Utah. Numerous SICU months but no other ICU experience was weird, this plus being a surgery division made me suspicious that these months were just for cheap labor.

4) Vanderbilt:
(+) Super surprised by this one as I had not been planning on ranking anything east very high but the program is awesome, on program alone this should be my #1 or #2. Super strong trauma exposure with great surgery relationship, very well thought out approach to graduated autonomy with interns working a lower acuity pod but running it on overnights. Very strong off services. Great alumni network though it seemed more concentrated on the east coast. Residents were super cool and down to earth. Very strong peds exposure.

(-) COL reasonable though higher than other places I’m looking, fast growing city and it seems like traffic is getting worse, outdoor access decent but no skiing.

5) UNC:
(+) another pleasant surprise, awesome residents in an awesome college town with lots to do. Chapel Hill felt a lot like Boulder or Austin but with cheaper COL. Dual site program gives great community exposure. Wakemed has the best peds exposure I saw on the trail. Great ICU exposure at wakemed with no other residents so you’re 1:1 with an attending. 2nd year internal moonlighting running triage and 3rd year externally (~$200/hr). Great COL in a very livable college town.

(-) Alumni network mostly on the east coast. UNC hospital seemed more academic for my taste but they did see a lot of bizarre pathology because of that. This was minor for me but a serious lack of hospital perks (pay for parking pretty far from hospital, family health insurance was pretty pricey)

6) Mayo:
(+) Absolutely the most impressive medical center I saw on the trail, the entrance to the hospital is like floor to ceiling marble with fine art and statues everywhere. This program is loaded with cash and it’s clear they throw a lot of it at the residents with cool perks and fancy gadgets. Super strong pathology coming through the department, young program but well established name, Rochester is a great city for families with great COL and good schools, 2nd year moonlighting helpful with kids who never stop eating, strong ICU exposure, super efficient ED with lots of cool things to improve patient care (GPS like thing on ultrasound/attending/patient etc so you never have to look for things lol)

(-) cold winters, residents were talking about -30 at times in the winter with this network of tunnels through city so you never had to go outside, having patients with such good access to care seemed like it could spoil you, ED seemed relatively low volume. Residents were very nice but didn't click with them as much.

7) Wake Forest:
(+) very well established program in a great part of North Carolina near mountains, curriculum very efficient, intelligent approach to graduated autonomy, great COL, good outdoor access nearby.

(-) to far east, winston salem seemed pretty dead without much to do, had some weird interactions with the residents and wasn’t sure I would fit in here.

8) Scott and White:
(+)Honestly if I were interested in living in Texas this would be my #1. Very strong, very well established Texas program. PD is a total Texan and a truly nice guy, I questioned the volume in such a small town but the catchment area is large so it seemed sufficient, great peds exposure. Great schedule, fantastic COL, 2nd year moonlighting doing 24hr shifts for like $150/hr at rural EDs then $250/hr in College Station as a pgy3

(-) Temple has everything you would need, but lacks outdoor access. You are an hour from Austin but that isnt my style. Medicine wards month at the VA is just the worst, at least it’s only a month.

9) Arizona South:
(+) great people with great residents and a super nice PD, kids and families are welcome at all residency events which was super nice, standard curriculum, huge emphasis on underserved. Tucson surprised me, great outdoor access, great COL. You split shifts (60/40, I think) between main and south campus

(-) South campus is a Level 4 community hospital, the PD assured us that since there were no surgery residents at south you actually got more chest tubes at south and I believe her. However, it did seem like you would miss out on some of the sicker pts who get their care at the main campus. Program seemed to spend most of the day trying to step out of the main campuses shadow, met a few to many residents who said they ranked main campus higher but just ended up at south campus, SO vetoed living in Tucson

(+/-) U of A has an unreal alumni network in the mountain west and it seemed like you had access to this as a south resident but I couldn't get any examples.

10) Denver:
(+) not much to add here that have already been said, very strong program, was very impressed by the quality of their residents, their services, and the training and autonomy they provide

(-) The 6 of 8 day schedule (2 swings, 24 off, 2 nights, 24 hrs off, 2 days, 48hrs off) sounds rough. They try and tell you they only work 42 hours per week but just work super hard on shift, 4th year seemed like cheap attending coverage, Denver housing prices have exploded in recent years. 4th year moonlighting (lol’d at this one) only in Wyoming for like $150/hr, but I have no idea when you would find time for this.

11) Nevada:
(+) strong county exposure in a hospital with fewer services, COL reasonable, decent outdoor access

(-) had a weird interaction with the PD. Program run by a private CMG which after the whole Summa thing made me wary of private groups. Residents liked to party a little too much and didn’t seem as outdoorsy as I would have expected, Vegas isn't my style.

12) JPS:
(+) very strong county exposure with awesome residents in a hospital where you are basically unopposed in the hospital. Second year SICU month sounds insane, you’re basically running the ICU with an attending at home trying not to kill people, one of the resident commented that he was basically running the ICU with essentially no attending coverage. Really liked the program, fort worth isnt my style but I thought the training was strong I just don't want to live in Texas.

13) UT Murfreesboro:
(+) great family friendly location in a college town with great COL, leadership was nice and residents happy

(-) hospital has no trauma designation, many sites some 45 minutes away in Nashville, I didn’t realize this program only had pgy1 and 2’s, new program without established grads, program still seemed to be sorting out where their ICU sites would be and what the direction of the program was going to be

14) San Antonio:
(+) super sick pts in a great new ED, one of the best PDs in the nation Dr. Muck is awesome and I have no doubt this will be an awesome program in 5-10 years after he has fought and won some political battles within the hospital

(-) Sunrise EMR, was warned by several San Antonio students that Surgery runs the whole hospital and trauma is run in a separate ED that is run by surgery who runs both airway and primary survey, you work a few shifts a month over there on ED months but you are on their turf and surgery makes that known, many things that end up in the separate trauma pit shouldn’t be there (snake bites, nontraumatic SAHs, etc) but surgery gets the pick of cases as EMS rolls them through so it seemed like the ED just got the scraps that surgery didn’t want or won’t admit. pgy3s didn't impress me as much and several attendings commented to me that their pgy3s weren’t ready for practice.

15) Baylor:
(+) super county, like C booth. Liked the program and felt like the residents were very strong and all cool. Very resident run program where pgy3s essentially run the dept. One attending even said that she liked to sit in her office outside the dept and just keep an eye on epic.

(-) This program really deserves to be ranked higher than it is as the training seemed to be outstanding, but living in Houston was a huge no for me.
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: low 230s, Step 2: low 250s, COMLEX 600s/600s
EM rotations: HP/H/H (I think, not entirely sure about the grade of 1 of my aways)
Medical school region: Northeast
Anything else that made you more competitive:
The SLOE from one of my away's was apparently super strong and was mentioned at half of my interviews. Non-traditional applicant. Some interesting experiences before medical school that interviewers seemed to love asking about. Married with kids - also came up a bunch.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
1. Location - immediate and extended family mostly in New England.
2. Program strength and reputation.
3. 3>4. Cliche, but true: I feel like I would get good training at any of the programs on my list. I would be pumped to match anywhere in my top 10.

1) Maine Med. Portland, ME
Pro: super friendly. Chill PD. strong, motivated, but relaxed, co-residents. Good interactions w/ nursing. Pretty busy despite relatively lower volume (70k/yr). Only game in Maine, so everything funnels through there. Seasonal variation in volume -> they schedule their electives during their lower months. Portland is a great little city. Good, longitudinal peds.

Con: slightly less busy than some of the other places on my list, however the pgy3’s said they averaged 15-18 patients per shift.

2) BMC. Boston, MA
Pro: super busy = 140k visits. strong co-residents. Engaged faculty. Lots of resources and great mission. Lots of elective time to figure out niche/interests.

Con: progressive responsibility. Boston cost of living. 4 yrs.

3) Christiana. Newark, DE
Pro: Busy. Strong co-residents. Faculty seemed engaged in both the residency, the hospital, and nationally. The PD is awesome. I would love working for him. Responsive to resident input. Lots of ICU time and still have 2 electives. Integrated peds in main ED. Work 20/19/18, mix of 8&9’s. Night block makes your schedule the rest of the year more manageable. Teaching month sounds like a good experience.

Con: area is so-so, lots of strip malls, but it is close to Philly and reasonable distance to DC.

4) UMass. Worcester, MA
Pro: strong co-residents. Lots of research. Cheaper CoL than Boston area.

Con: no more flight. Weird interaction w/ one of the interviewers. Worcester is not a great city, but it’s close to Boston.

5) Baystate. Springfield, MA
Pro: awesome PD - 2nd favorite on trail. Busy w/ 115k visits. Lost of ICU and focus on critical care u/s. Great pay for less expensive area.

Con: Can't quite figure it out, but I just didn't get a great vibe from here. Don’t love western MA.

6) MetroHealth. Cleveland, OH
Pro: busy = 105k visits. Monthly cadaver lab. Peds integrated (25% of visits). Cheap to live. Cleveland is a fun town, with lots to do.

Con: residents seemed a bit overworked and not as happy as at some of the other programs.

7) Dartmouth. Hanover, NH
Pro: very friendly faculty and co-residents. Hanover seemed like a cool little town. Strong off-service rotations.

Con: Super slow (32k visits).

+/- Multiple away rotations, but a month at Shock Trauma would be a good educational experience. I've already spent enough time away from home to have to spend multiple months away during residency.

8) Loma Linda
Pro: strong international, great peds experience. Engaged faculty. Fun program overall, w/ Loma Linda being the academic center, and San Bernadino being the county experience. Lots of resources.

Con: cramped, old ED. location is east of LA near the mountains, but lots of smog and surrounding towns are not all that great.

9) Indiana
Pro: Has to be the best overall training in 3 years. It’s incredible how many patients they see. The pgy2’s said they were averaging 20 patients a shift! Super busy. Large program but somehow still very close-knit. Lots of resources. Strong peds.

Con: really none, except the location. Indy wasn’t a bad city, just not close to any friends/family, and the outdoor activities seemed kind of limited.

10) UMD. Baltimore, MD
Pro: inspiring program. Their stated goal is to train leaders in the field, and the program seems set up to do just that. 5 rotations at Shock Trauma would be such a great experience. Strong co-residents. Amazing faculty that are true leaders in the field.

Con: the main ED seemed kind of slow (60k visits). 12 hour shifts. Baltimore isn't our ideal East coast city.

11) Wright State. Dayton, OH
Pro: friendly faculty. Lots of different hospitals to get a varied experience. Close to friends. Cheap cost of living. Integrated military residents. Peds integrated in years 2 & 3.

Con: program seemed like it was still a bit of a work in progress. Building an u/s program. IM hospitalist month.

12) York, PA
Pro: best physical ED I saw on the trail. They thought of everything in that design.

Con: location.

13) Kaweah Delta. Visalia, CA
Pro: busy, autonomous training. CEP (large CA group) staff ED, so good contacts for future job opportunities.

Con: area is truly +/-. The mountains and everything outdoors is awesome, the city is kind of blah.

Other:
Interviewed, did not rank: Summa Akron

Invited, but declined or canceled: Emory, UT Houston, Hopkins, Kern Bakersfield, EVMS Rejected: Denver, USC, Carolinas, UNM, Orlando, USF, MGH/BWH, BIDMC, UConn (that one stung), Brown, Temple, GW, UW, OHSU. I shouldn't have even wasted my money applying to some of these top programs. I just added to them to get to the # it was recommended I apply to.
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 210s, Step 2: 240s
EM rotations: P/H
Medical school region: Northeast
Anything else that made you more competitive:
I was told my personal statement and SLOEs were very strong. Global health experience, highly ranked med school, fluent in Spanish

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Location, overall fit, large Spanish-speaking patient population, diverse faculty/residents, emphasis on med ed, international opportunities, reputation, job prospects for SO

1) Yale -
Pros: I was blown away by the program's commitment to diversity and working with underserved communities. PD and chair are top notch and want to produce leaders in the field. Tons of resources to pursue any interest especially international opportunities through the Johnson & Johnson Global Health Scholars Program. Nationally renowned faculty and strong off-service rotations. New Haven is very diverse - large Spanish speaking community, migrant/refugee population. Ivy League reputation. Excellent job prospects. Ultrasound experience is very strong. Bridgeport rotations are highly rated by residents.

Cons: Regimented lectures, research project required

Award: Best pre-interview dinner

2) UConn -
Pros: Biggest surprise of the interview trail. Residents were smart, down to earth, and fun. Leadership (especially PD) is amazing - highly invested in resident wellness and professional development. Very diverse population (lots of Spanish speakers in Hartford), strong ultrasound and peds experience, 8-9 hour shifts, no floor months. Nice mix of clinical experiences - county, community, and university based hospitals. I really see myself fitting nicely in this program and would be very happy to match there.

Cons: limited international opportunities?? Hartford not the best place to live, but decent COL and close to NYC/Boston.

Award: Favorite group of residents

3) Icahn Mount Sinai -
Pros: Academic powerhouse. Loved loved loved the PD - residents and faculty rave about him. Elmhurst experience really sold me on this program - most diverse zip code in the country, offers robust trauma experience that other NYC programs lack. Lots of resources to pursue any interest, strong med ed presence, mini-fellowship allows residents to find their niche. Residents seemed like a solid group. Subsidized housing in the Upper East Side next to Central Park.

Cons: New York City COL is ridiculous (even with subsidized housing), commute between two campuses, 12-hour shifts as intern and Elmhurst shifts throughout.

Award: Best program director

4) Einstein - Jacobi/Montefiore -
Pros: Outstanding clinical training. Very diverse patient population in the North Bronx - large Latino and immigrant communities. Diverse pathology (snakebite center) and best trauma experience in NYC. Subsidized housing in a very nice neighborhood with reasonable COL. Tons of bedside teaching, huge alumni network, excellent job prospects. Residents come out of residency ready to take care of anything. New PD is great – young, vibrant, committed to his residents, trained at Jacobi. All training sites are close by.

Cons: 12 hour shifts - residents seemed tired. Less academic than other programs on my list.

Award: Best Program Coordinator

5) GW -
Pros: DC seems like a fun place to live – lots of young professionals, trendy restaurants/bars. One of the oldest EM programs in the country with an extensive alumni network. Tons of resources for residents, plenty of international opportunities. PD was nice and wants to see her residents excel and find their niche. GW's patient population is diverse - large homeless population plus tourists, students, federal employees, foreign diplomats. INOVA – more of an indigent population, immigrants, more trauma. Very strong peds experience. 9-10 hour shifts (12s on weekends).

Cons: COL is high but not as bad as NYC, commute to Fairfax, rush hour traffic in downtown DC is crazy!

Award: Best tour - trauma code while on tour at the GW ED

6) NY Presbyterian -
Pros: I really liked the program's emphasis on developing its residents into strong educators. Underserved patient population at Columbia, older and very sick crowd at Cornell. Associated with two Ivy Leagues with tons of resources and opportunities. Brand new ED at Columbia. Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital - best peds experience in NYC. Strong off service rotations. Subsidized housing available.

Cons: 12 hour shifts, residents seemed overworked, interaction with PD was awkward, COL, commute between two sites

Award: Best interview day lunch - Dominican!

7) Maimonides -
Pros: Great program but less known and limited opportunities. Residents are given a great deal of independence from the get-go. Great pediatric exposure (only Level 1 Trauma in Brooklyn). Very diverse population. Dedicated critical care shifts. Heavy involvement in event medicine. Nice area of Brooklyn. PD was great. Medical education fellowship available.

Cons: 12 hour critical care bay shifts, trauma rotation at Shock Trauma, only one training site, COL very high in Brooklyn

Award: Trendiest neighborhood - Borough Park in Brooklyn

8) SUNY Upstate -
Pros: Awesome residents - people I can see myself working with. PD was one of my favorites – incredibly smart, committed to improving the program, big name in EM. Huge catchment area – refugee, indigent population. Burn center. No overnight shifts as an intern. Plenty of event medicine (SU basketball, NY State Fair) 8-9 hour shifts. "Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach" Block as an intern sounds awesome.

Cons: Syracuse weather is horrible, SO not a fan of the area, few Spanish-speakers.

Award: Best interviewer - sports, tv shows, and fun ED cases

9) Hofstra Northshore/LIJ -
Pros: Established international electives in Africa and Asia. A lot of money available for residents to pursue interests. I believe they offer the highest resident salary in the nation. Reasonably priced subsidized housing within walking distance to Northshore. Solid clinical experience at both sites.

Cons: Unfortunately, I wasn't sold on this program. Some of the residents were awkward and I didn't quite click with them. Lots of changes within the program since LIJ and Northshore merger. I don't know how I feel about the 3+1 curriculum.

Award: Best salary/benefits

10) Lincoln -
Pros: Excellent clinical training. Tons of penetrating trauma. Large Latino population (South Bronx). Residents come out prepared to take on anything.

Cons: ED volume is ridiculous - less time for formal teaching. Less academic. Did not click with PD, less resources available for residents

Award: Best Interview day Breakfast - french toast, pancakes, eggs, bacon, hash browns...

Other:
Declined interview from Drexel

Waitlist at BMC and Maryland
 
doggydog said:
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 250+, Step 2: 270+
EM rotations: H/H
Medical school region: Mountain West
Anything else that made you more competitive:
5+ EM pubs in top tier journals
High level athlete
Non-trad; extensive work history with at-risk/underserved populations

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Married with school aged kids, Strength of training (county>academic, crit care exposure, relationship w/ surgery, volume, ED autonomy, etc), 3yr>4 yr, mountain west, job placement of grads in mountain west, COL (With kids I have a more specific criteria for a home: <$315k, 1800+ sq ft with a backyard for the kids, good school district, <35minutes from hospital. This has proven a difficult criteria to satisfy). Outdoor access to ski resorts, biking trails, climbing. Would prefer cities of less than 1 million, big cities aren’t my style and I loathe bad traffic.

Application Strategy
My advisor told me to apply to 50, I knew I was competitive and this was overkill but frankly I’m not going to be a martyr to a system I didn't create.

Applied 40, offered 30+, interviewed 13+1 home interview and 1 interview on an away for 15 total on my list. Applied to the whole mountain west and the Southeast.

1) New Mexico:
(+) Rotated here, loved it. County population with academic style faculty, fantastic PD, super happy residents, great COL, smaller city so traffic isn’t bad, super sick patients, IHS population really cool, ICUs basically run by EM-CCM attendings so your ICU months aren’t really off service, great schedule (17,20,17 x8+1). Abq doesn't have great schools but COL is so low you can live on the good side of town and have a reasonable drive. Great outdoor access. Great mtn west alumni network, pgy3’s all had jobs lined up in competitive CO markets if they wanted them.

(-) ED does board patients though I never noticed a clogged ED affecting the total volume of patients the residents saw and these were always floor patients never ICU patients. Abq may not be for everyone as the town has a rough side and may not have a great economy for non healthcare jobs or a great night life. Not really a negative for me but interns don’t see resus patients until December of intern year. I’ll agree with previous posters that the program’s interview day isn’t as flashy as other programs, but this is an absolutely fantastic program with amazing people, amazing training, and amazing job placement in the mountain west.

2) Maricopa:
(+) County, awesome PD with great curriculum, electives every year where you can go literally anywhere in the world and they will let you, super fun happy residents. Apparently their interview day has a annual budget that they notoriously blow through in like 2 weeks, so if you interview there late you may be less impressed. However, I was one of their first interview days and it was hands down the funnest and rowdiest interview dinner I went to. Strongest program in the hospital, great alumni network, probably better outdoor access than UNM, Burn ICU and ICU experience overall is very strong

(-) lots of sites, though they are near each other, Phoenix heat, Hospital is in a rough area and affordable family housing in a good school district is 30+ minute drive. City is huge which means huge sprawl and bad traffic.

(+/-) main site not a stroke center.

3) Utah:
(+) Rotated here. Really struggled with where to rank this program and it has been as low as #8 on my list. In the end, despite my misgivings the SO and I just couldn’t stomach being out of the mountain west any longer, would be very happy to match here just felt like my #1 and #2 were better fits. Really wanted to love this program, this was my pre season #1 or #2 as SLC is just an awesome area to live. Fantastic outdoor access that no other program can match. Trails literally right behind the hospital, world class skiing up the canyon. (+) Very academic program with great didactics, I felt like I learned more about bread and butter emergency medicine on this rotation than other rotations as they see a lot of level 3 and 4 acuity patients and the attendings are very sharp, residents seemed to really know the EM literature very well. Residents had no trouble staying in competitive SLC area, dual site exposure at a level 1 community hospital that is staffed by a private group, you also do a lot of ICU and trauma months at the community site

(-) program seems to be very disorganized from an administrative standpoint and didn’t seem to have a true mission, I felt like this would affect you as a resident, very low acuity (the few times a critical patient came in it was clear the residents knew what to do but weren’t entirely comfortable going through the motions, did not see a single tube or line my whole month here even though you work 18 shifts as a student, had a pgy2 tell me they had never managed a STEMI), surgery ran both level 1 and 2 trauma alerts. Program says you work 8s but you pick up patients all 8 hours and sign NOTHING out, I literally never saw a resident leave within 2 hours of their shift ending and usually they were there 3+ hours later. No role progression through the years, pgy3s really only differed from interns in that they could handle a few more patients at a time but they didn’t really manage a pod or have a role that was substantially different than an interns. Because the hospital is between downtown and the mountains you have to commute through the downtown area, this really limits housing options if you want to keep your commute reasonable. COL in the immediate salt lake area in a good district is getting expensive and most of the houses were built before 1950. I thought it was weird that there were almost no grads anywhere in the mtn west outside of Utah. Numerous SICU months but no other ICU experience was weird, this plus being a surgery division made me suspicious that these months were just for cheap labor.

4) Vanderbilt:
(+) Super surprised by this one as I had not been planning on ranking anything east very high but the program is awesome, on program alone this should be my #1 or #2. Super strong trauma exposure with great surgery relationship, very well thought out approach to graduated autonomy with interns working a lower acuity pod but running it on overnights. Very strong off services. Great alumni network though it seemed more concentrated on the east coast. Residents were super cool and down to earth. Very strong peds exposure.

(-) COL reasonable though higher than other places I’m looking, fast growing city and it seems like traffic is getting worse, outdoor access decent but no skiing.

5) UNC:
(+) another pleasant surprise, awesome residents in an awesome college town with lots to do. Chapel Hill felt a lot like Boulder or Austin but with cheaper COL. Dual site program gives great community exposure. Wakemed has the best peds exposure I saw on the trail. Great ICU exposure at wakemed with no other residents so you’re 1:1 with an attending. 2nd year internal moonlighting running triage and 3rd year externally (~$200/hr). Great COL in a very livable college town.

(-) Alumni network mostly on the east coast. UNC hospital seemed more academic for my taste but they did see a lot of bizarre pathology because of that. This was minor for me but a serious lack of hospital perks (pay for parking pretty far from hospital, family health insurance was pretty pricey)

6) Mayo:
(+) Absolutely the most impressive medical center I saw on the trail, the entrance to the hospital is like floor to ceiling marble with fine art and statues everywhere. This program is loaded with cash and it’s clear they throw a lot of it at the residents with cool perks and fancy gadgets. Super strong pathology coming through the department, young program but well established name, Rochester is a great city for families with great COL and good schools, 2nd year moonlighting helpful with kids who never stop eating, strong ICU exposure, super efficient ED with lots of cool things to improve patient care (GPS like thing on ultrasound/attending/patient etc so you never have to look for things lol)

(-) cold winters, residents were talking about -30 at times in the winter with this network of tunnels through city so you never had to go outside, having patients with such good access to care seemed like it could spoil you, ED seemed relatively low volume. Residents were very nice but didn't click with them as much.

7) Wake Forest:
(+) very well established program in a great part of North Carolina near mountains, curriculum very efficient, intelligent approach to graduated autonomy, great COL, good outdoor access nearby.

(-) to far east, winston salem seemed pretty dead without much to do, had some weird interactions with the residents and wasn’t sure I would fit in here.

8) Scott and White:
(+)Honestly if I were interested in living in Texas this would be my #1. Very strong, very well established Texas program. PD is a total Texan and a truly nice guy, I questioned the volume in such a small town but the catchment area is large so it seemed sufficient, great peds exposure. Great schedule, fantastic COL, 2nd year moonlighting doing 24hr shifts for like $150/hr at rural EDs then $250/hr in College Station as a pgy3

(-) Temple has everything you would need, but lacks outdoor access. You are an hour from Austin but that isnt my style. Medicine wards month at the VA is just the worst, at least it’s only a month.

9) Arizona South:
(+) great people with great residents and a super nice PD, kids and families are welcome at all residency events which was super nice, standard curriculum, huge emphasis on underserved. Tucson surprised me, great outdoor access, great COL. You split shifts (60/40, I think) between main and south campus

(-) South campus is a Level 4 community hospital, the PD assured us that since there were no surgery residents at south you actually got more chest tubes at south and I believe her. However, it did seem like you would miss out on some of the sicker pts who get their care at the main campus. Program seemed to spend most of the day trying to step out of the main campuses shadow, met a few to many residents who said they ranked main campus higher but just ended up at south campus, SO vetoed living in Tucson

(+/-) U of A has an unreal alumni network in the mountain west and it seemed like you had access to this as a south resident but I couldn't get any examples.

10) Denver:
(+) not much to add here that have already been said, very strong program, was very impressed by the quality of their residents, their services, and the training and autonomy they provide

(-) The 6 of 8 day schedule (2 swings, 24 off, 2 nights, 24 hrs off, 2 days, 48hrs off) sounds rough. They try and tell you they only work 42 hours per week but just work super hard on shift, 4th year seemed like cheap attending coverage, Denver housing prices have exploded in recent years. 4th year moonlighting (lol’d at this one) only in Wyoming for like $150/hr, but I have no idea when you would find time for this.

11) Nevada:
(+) strong county exposure in a hospital with fewer services, COL reasonable, decent outdoor access

(-) had a weird interaction with the PD. Program run by a private CMG which after the whole Summa thing made me wary of private groups. Residents liked to party a little too much and didn’t seem as outdoorsy as I would have expected, Vegas isn't my style.

12) JPS:
(+) very strong county exposure with awesome residents in a hospital where you are basically unopposed in the hospital. Second year SICU month sounds insane, you’re basically running the ICU with an attending at home trying not to kill people, one of the resident commented that he was basically running the ICU with essentially no attending coverage. Really liked the program, fort worth isnt my style but I thought the training was strong I just don't want to live in Texas.

13) UT Murfreesboro:
(+) great family friendly location in a college town with great COL, leadership was nice and residents happy

(-) hospital has no trauma designation, many sites some 45 minutes away in Nashville, I didn’t realize this program only had pgy1 and 2’s, new program without established grads, program still seemed to be sorting out where their ICU sites would be and what the direction of the program was going to be

14) San Antonio:
(+) super sick pts in a great new ED, one of the best PDs in the nation Dr. Muck is awesome and I have no doubt this will be an awesome program in 5-10 years after he has fought and won some political battles within the hospital

(-) Sunrise EMR, was warned by several San Antonio students that Surgery runs the whole hospital and trauma is run in a separate ED that is run by surgery who runs both airway and primary survey, you work a few shifts a month over there on ED months but you are on their turf and surgery makes that known, many things that end up in the separate trauma pit shouldn’t be there (snake bites, nontraumatic SAHs, etc) but surgery gets the pick of cases as EMS rolls them through so it seemed like the ED just got the scraps that surgery didn’t want or won’t admit. pgy3s didn't impress me as much and several attendings commented to me that their pgy3s weren’t ready for practice.

15) Baylor:
(+) super county, like C booth. Liked the program and felt like the residents were very strong and all cool. Very resident run program where pgy3s essentially run the dept. One attending even said that she liked to sit in her office outside the dept and just keep an eye on epic.

(-) This program really deserves to be ranked higher than it is as the training seemed to be outstanding, but living in Houston was a huge no for me.
Click to expand...

Great list with explanations.

As I've said before all programs are not created equally and there are some programs out there where graduates just aren't comfortable taking care of sick patients.
 
doggydog said:
8) Conemaugh-Johnstown, PA -
Another historically AOA program that was part of the first group to receive ACGME accreditation. Only participating in the MD match. 3 year program, which is a plus. Everyone was very friendly during my interview. The APD is super enthusiastic, really great guy. I also got the feel here that the faculty would help you tailor your education to your interests. The hospital and the ED facilities are really nice. Level 1 trauma center. Decent Sim center. Residents are able to fly if they want to, but its not necessarily built into the curriculum. The biggest drawback would definitely be the location. I know that Im going to spend the majority of my next 3 years working, and in that regard, I think I would be very happy here. However being single, I feel it would be hard to meet anyone here. The upside about the location is that there's a very low cost of living.
Click to expand...

And you win the internet today in my eyes! 🙂
 
doggydog said:
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: low 250s, Step 2: high 250s, Step 2 CS: Pass
EM rotations: First one was HP. Next two rotations were Pass/Fail - I passed. Honors on my last. Was told I had very good comments on all of them.
Medical school region: IMG (non Caribbean school)
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Atypical applicant with tons of leadership, international, and diverse work experiences.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Best training I can get while living in a place my wife will be happy.

Also worth noting - I don't care about the differences curriculum. My take is that these PDs know what they're doing, and if you work your ass off you will be a great attending regardless of where you go to residency. That being said, certain programs open doors easier than others.

1) CMC -
Unbelievable training. PD, APD, and chair spoke really well. Residents all very nice - I emailed some afterward and they responded warmly and sincerely. no cons for me

2) Duke -
Pros: PD one of the coolest I met. Program is up and coming with great faculty and nice residents. The weight of Duke Hospital behind you means that if you want to do something that has not already been done, Dr. Broder will have a great shot at being able to help you accomplish it.

Cons: Not yet considered one of the "big names"

3) Maryland -
Pros: World famous attendings and the training is great. Residents were very nice. PD rubbed me wrong way at first but he redeemed himself. Have also heard from friends of friends that he is a great teacher and leader. When I told him my dream job he said something to the effect of "we can arrange that."

Cons: Baltimore not the most desirable place to live according to my wife.

4) USF in Tampa -
Pros: County program in an awesome hospital. PD and APDs pledge to set anything up they can for you that is not already there - for instance said they could find funding for international experience despite their current residents not taking advantage of it. Loved the vibe of Tampa and surrounding beaches.

Cons: Less of a reputation, and although I believe them about being able to hook me up with opportunities suiting my interests I would rather go somewhere that has a track record of doing it already.

5) VCU -
Pros: As others have said, the PD is amazing. Him and Broder at Duke were my favorite. Beautiful ED, and you will get great training.

Cons: Didn't click with the residents that much (despite them being extremely nice), and the ones that I did were third years that will be gone when I get there.

6) Temple -
Pros: See lots of sick people and the hands on training is amazing. Chairmen is a hard ass but very likable and up front. PD and APD are gems as well.

Cons: Wife never wants to see snow again, and Philly was the farthest north I interviewed.

7) Loma Linda -
Pros: Great international and peds experience. New PD was great and a no BS type of guy. Residents were very nice and actually outnumbered the interviewees at the dinner.

Cons: I prefer doing residency on the East coast closer to family

8) LSU Nola -
Pros: PD is a great guy, and is the type of person that makes you excited to work with. Other faculty is great. Loved the patient population. Wish it was 3 years really badly.

Cons: New Orleans is just too hot for me. New hospital looks pretty but has a lot of empty parts. Only 4 year program I interviewed at, much prefer a 3.

9) San Antonio -
Pros: Loved the faculty and PD. You get an international med experience while you're there with a large population of refugees in San Antonio. PD seems hell bent on making the residency he wished he had - meaning he puts a lot of time in making sure everything they do will benefit you as an EM physician.

Cons: Don't want to live there as it's a long drive home and flights aren't cheap from there. 


10) UNC -
Pros: Has a great name in international EM. The residents were stand offish at first, but ended up having great conversations with them after we all ordered a beer. PD cool. Easy to get your Tintinalli autographed.

Cons: Wake Med hospital in Raleigh and UNC hospital are far away from each other. 40 minutes on a good day, but traffic can make that worse. I wouldn't mind driving for a month on off service, but to do it on all your EM blocks would suck.

11) LSU Baton Rouge -
Pros: Amazing training experience. They facilitate a lot of busy work in the ED for you, so that most of your energy can be spent on seeing patients. Similar to New Orleans, you're seeing a lot. PD and faculty are great. Would get such great hands on training.

Cons: BR isn't the best city for our interests.

12) ECU/Vidant -
Pros: Pretty much the same as LSU BR. Great hands on training.

Cons: Wife randomly decided Greenville, NC would be hell on earth. I don't agree with her, but what can I do? Having her miserable for three years doesn't sound ideal.

13) UC Davis -
Very good program but just didn't click with any of the faculty, bar one interviewer. Nice people and all though. Very far from home and not a major airport.

14) Aventura -
Pros: New program and the positives would be you would have a hand in shaping a residency from the ground floor. PD is the man, and the residents are tight knit and easy going.

Cons: Want something more established, and Miami on a residents salary doesn't sound too appealing, especially when you're trying to procreate.

15) Kendall -
The only program I didn't like. The PD talked the entire time, and seemed like he wasn't too interested in what I had to say, but would rather continue to talk himself. My other interviewers were awesome though. Still, I don't want to have a PD that I think is unapproachable, which is the vibe I got. Not because he was an A-hole or anything, but because every conversation would be 1.5 hours.

Other:
turned down some other interviews in TN, GA, FL (2), AK bc wife didn't want to live in those places, and I felt interviewing at more than 15 was not in my best interest.

Was rejected (outright or silently) from many Cali schools, Emory, JHopkins, Vanderbilt, Christiana, AUB, most Texas schools, most SC schools, most Philadelphia schools, most NJ schools.


Waitlisted at Kaiser San Diego and LAC/USC.
Click to expand...


Not really believing this list/sure how realistic it is. Multiple programs on this list are not DO- friendly (Carolinas, Temple to name a few-- they have zero DOs in all classes), let alone have any IMGs. If this is truly a legit list, I would love to hear more from the OP, because these are highly unusual circumstances (and they crushed it!)
 
Last edited:
18 days till match day, 60 days till graduation... anyone else have a countdown timer?
 
I met several folks on the trail at those programs from a particular IMG program, and they're awesome applicants. Also what the heck would be gained by lying on a voluntary survey, especially now?

[
em_2017 said:
Not really believing this list/sure how realistic it is. Multiple programs on this list are not DO- friendly (Carolinas, Temple to name a few-- they have zero DOs in all classes), let alone have any IMGs. If this is truly a legit list, I would love to hear more from the OP, because these are highly unusual circumstances (and they crushed it!)
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
doggydog said:
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 210s, Step 2: 240s
EM rotations: P/H
Medical school region: Northeast
Anything else that made you more competitive:
I was told my personal statement and SLOEs were very strong. Global health experience, highly ranked med school, fluent in Spanish

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Location, overall fit, large Spanish-speaking patient population, diverse faculty/residents, emphasis on med ed, international opportunities, reputation, job prospects for SO

1) Yale -
Pros: I was blown away by the program's commitment to diversity and working with underserved communities. PD and chair are top notch and want to produce leaders in the field. Tons of resources to pursue any interest especially international opportunities through the Johnson & Johnson Global Health Scholars Program. Nationally renowned faculty and strong off-service rotations. New Haven is very diverse - large Spanish speaking community, migrant/refugee population. Ivy League reputation. Excellent job prospects. Ultrasound experience is very strong. Bridgeport rotations are highly rated by residents.

Cons: Regimented lectures, research project required

Award: Best pre-interview dinner
Click to expand...

Isn't it a requirement everywhere that residents participate in a research project?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
tux4 said:
Isn't it a requirement everywhere that residents participate in a research project?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Click to expand...

Yes, but the guidelines allow for "schollarly activity" which can be broadly defined beyond traditional IRB type, heavy journal stuff. Quality projects, case reports, etc can count. At the end it has to be "of publishable quality"
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 210s, Step 2: 220s
EM rotations: H/H/HP
Medical school region: Southeast
Anything else that made you more competitive:
SLOEs, personal statement, non-traditional, research, very involved, GHHS

I thought I was a pretty weak candidate considering my scores and mixed recommendations from advisors, so I applied to way too many programs--BUT the interviews I received vs the ones I didn't still baffle me, so I'm glad I did. So much for helping future applicants narrow their lists...

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
reputation, location (I have a family), COL, work with underserved, vibe, hybrid>county>academic>community, focus on med ed and administrative training

I thought really hard about the cons of my top choices, so there's more detail there. I also shadowed at a bunch of them, which I would highly recommend. My top 6 would definitely get me where I want to be in my career, but I think I'd come out with excellent training from all of them.

1) Denver -
Pros: The residents here were hands down the most impressive I've seen. This is a legendary county/academic hybrid with an amazing reputation for both clinical training and academics. While many programs said their training will take you anywhere, Denver's history, reputation, and job/fellowship placement proves it. They've done a decent job increasing resident diversity over the past few years; the residents are from all over, have different backgrounds and interests, and are super intelligent but down to earth. A lot of are outdoorsy types, as expected, but many are not. They are a fun group, and from what I saw, they get along really well with the admin and faculty. High volume and autonomy. Shifts are 8hrs + ~1.5hrs for charting (on average). Great reputation for creating leaders. Have robust programs for the underserved. Global health. Program pays for travel if presenting research. Reportedly great insurance and benefits. Average to good community and peds exposure for a hybrid program. Reasonable COL. SWEET LOCATION!

Cons: 4yrs. Regarding malignancy -- residents strongly disagreed that the program was malignant; they all said that they work very hard on shift and are (purposely) pushed out of their comfort zone, but that they feel VERY supported by their attendings/admin. This learning style is a pro/con depending on the person. Intern year starts mid-Jun. Only class-wide conference is ACEP as a 4th yr. 3wks vacay/yr. No moonlighting until 4th yr. No shift-number decrease across the years = potential for burnout. Schedule (6 days on, 2 days off: 2 morning, 2 afternoon, 2 overnight, "2" off, repeat). Denver is not the most diverse city (but certainly not the least). This is a true "work hard, play hard" program.

2) Highland -
Pros: The most diverse, intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, and tight-knit group of residents and attendings, bar none. Both the residents and attendings go out of their way for each other, and they are flexible with scheduling (within reason). Superb reputation; renowned county hospital; one of the most diverse patient populations in the US. Hands down the best training in the bay area. EXCELLENT fellowship placement. Global health. As close to unopposed as you can get = few consults; get some OR time as first assist on OB and surgery rotations. Huge focus on social emergency medicine and ultrasound. Pretty high pay and great benefits (insurance, food, etc). Schools in the east bay are excellent in several of the neighborhoods surrounding Oakland. It was really difficult not to rank this place number one, especially because I have a huge soft spot for the bay, but...

Cons: 4yrs, COL in the bay is horrendous, although the East Bay is generally better than SF; Oakland is not the safest place to raise a family, and most of the safer neighborhoods are either prohibitively expensive or pretty far. They're not as academically inclined as my #1. +/- very small group of faculty. This is definitely a quirky, drink-the-kool-aid-or-not type of place with respect to vibe (I gladly partook)

3) Emory -
Pros: Possibly my favorite residents--very diverse, intellectual yet easy to talk to. AMAZING county training with good academic training and a great reputation. Grady and the underserved population. Residents are really happy. Autonomy. Great med ed and admin training. If I were dead set on 3yrs, this would easily be number one.

Cons: Grady is very underserved but not diverse. Atlanta is a +/- city. A few of the interviewers, and one in particular, really rubbed me the wrong way--acting as if it were a chore to speak with me and/or grilling me. That was really disappointing considering how awesome the interim PD and almost all the residents were. Little elective time. EM not as well respected by other departments.

4) Northwestern
Pros: Read every other Northwestern review--my thoughts are exactly the same.

Cons: 4yrs, Chicago is freaking cold; Lack of diversity among residents and faculty; slight air of superiority among a few faculty, but exact opposite with residents. Very academic with relatively little county exposure (in comparison to most of my list).

5) UCSF-SF -
Pros: Awesome, diverse group of well-rounded individuals. Great hybrid program (50/50 county/academic) with a strong reputation. Crazy good academic hospital, and beautiful county hospital. Focus on the underserved. Willingness to throw money at whatever you can come up with that seems educational. Global health. Superb off service rotations. Bay area = dream location

Cons: 4yrs. Relatively low pt volume at both sites. I was disappointed that I didn't like this program more. On paper it was exactly what I wanted. However, the interview day just didn't feel right, and I can't quite put my finger on it. It might be that the clinical training seemed like an afterthought compared to the more academic stuff, and EM seems to be overshadowed by the other specialties. In sum, it was underwhelming for what I expected (but not necessarily bad), and most of the people I spoke to on the trail felt similarly. Don't forget *COL*. They attempt to remedy this by giving a housing stipend that brings the salary to ~$64k, but SF is brutal, yo. Is it doable? Yes. Will it be painful with a family and a spouse that will probably earn less than you do? Definitely.

6) UChicago -
Pros: Amazingly diverse and down-to-earth residents. ED will be expanding soon and taking over a good chunk of trauma on the south side of Chicago from other shops. The PD was good people. Really vibed with residents and faculty. Global and community health

Cons: Chicago=cold. Not as strong of a sell with respect to academic niche and reputation as Northwestern, but still very respectable. Heard through the grapevine that their training is slightly weaker than the other Chicago programs (grain of salt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). +/- Mandatory flight program

7) Baylor -
Pros: Good academic reputation. Great residents. Lots of graduates go on to do fellowships and seek work in academics. The PD is really trying to expand the reach of the program, and the APD has a great vision for medical education. Pay to COL ratio is the best on my list. Houston is a great place to raise a family (others will say Houston is a con)

Cons: Still has some growing pains (anesthesia is right behind them for airways, surgery runs traumas, do not seem to be well respected by other departments).

8) Orlando -
Pros: Great people. Possibly the most cohesive resident group out of all of my interviews. There were MANY more residents than interviewees at the dinner and they were a ton of fun. Has more peds exposure and autonomy in peds than any program on my list. Very diverse/international patient population. COL

Cons: Most seeking fellowship stay (unclear whether or not by choice). Community program that produces community docs.

9) UF-Jacksonville -
Pros: The people here are AWESOME and they get AWESOME training. Well respected in EM. Lots of early autonomy (prob too much for some). They are by far the most respected department in the hospital, and it shows. Cover codes for the entire hospital.

Cons: Not enough exposure to academics for me. Mostly produces community docs. Almost exclusively county w/ a sprinkle of community 3rd year. Little emphasis on creating your own niche or supporting co-curricular endeavors.

10) UT Houston -
Pros: 60/40 academic/county; well-respected clinical reputation, especially in Texas; Extremely high trauma volume. Houston

Cons: Focus on training great clinicians but not much more. Little emphasis on creating your own niche or supporting co-curricular endeavors. The residents didn't seem to be very cohesive--very few showed up to the dinner and most of the ones that showed for lunch didn't seem very interested in speaking with applicants.

11) UIC -
Pros: Amazing mix of sites. Great PD and APD. Fun and laid-back residents. Most impressive community-focused research I saw.

Cons: Too much travel between too many sites; Cold; Honestly, I just wasn't feeling it, but it seems like a great program with a strong reputation.

12) LSU-New Orleans -
Pros: Really impressive program that would have at least been in my top 5, especially for their work with the underserved, acuity, reputation, focus on med ed innovation, and their PD, but...

Cons: New Orleans is a tough city to live in, especially with a family (safety, traffic, poor public works, schooling, etc)...I'm still mad that I didn't like this city...

13) Jackson Memorial -
I think this program will be excellent in 10 years, but it's too new.

Other:
Wait list: Stanford, Brown

Declined: Penn, ECU, UF-Gainesville, UTHSCSA, others

Rejected/silent: Cook, Montefiore, UPMC, Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, UVA, Maryland, UNC, Duke, Carolinas, Palmetto, MUSC, UAB, Vandy, USF, UTSW, UT Austin, Maricopa, Arizona, UCSD, OHSU, others
 
doggydog said:
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 210s, Step 2: 220s
EM rotations: H/H/HP
Medical school region: Southeast
Anything else that made you more competitive:
SLOEs, personal statement, non-traditional, research, very involved, GHHS

I thought I was a pretty weak candidate considering my scores and mixed recommendations from advisors, so I applied to way too many programs--BUT the interviews I received vs the ones I didn't still baffle me, so I'm glad I did. So much for helping future applicants narrow their lists...

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
reputation, location (I have a family), COL, work with underserved, vibe, hybrid>county>academic>community, focus on med ed and administrative training

I thought really hard about the cons of my top choices, so there's more detail there. I also shadowed at a bunch of them, which I would highly recommend. My top 6 would definitely get me where I want to be in my career, but I think I'd come out with excellent training from all of them.

1) Denver -
Pros: The residents here were hands down the most impressive I've seen. This is a legendary county/academic hybrid with an amazing reputation for both clinical training and academics. While many programs said their training will take you anywhere, Denver's history, reputation, and job/fellowship placement proves it. They've done a decent job increasing resident diversity over the past few years; the residents are from all over, have different backgrounds and interests, and are super intelligent but down to earth. A lot of are outdoorsy types, as expected, but many are not. They are a fun group, and from what I saw, they get along really well with the admin and faculty. High volume and autonomy. Shifts are 8hrs + ~1.5hrs for charting (on average). Great reputation for creating leaders. Have robust programs for the underserved. Global health. Program pays for travel if presenting research. Reportedly great insurance and benefits. Average to good community and peds exposure for a hybrid program. Reasonable COL. SWEET LOCATION!

Cons: 4yrs. Regarding malignancy -- residents strongly disagreed that the program was malignant; they all said that they work very hard on shift and are (purposely) pushed out of their comfort zone, but that they feel VERY supported by their attendings/admin. This learning style is a pro/con depending on the person. Intern year starts mid-Jun. Only class-wide conference is ACEP as a 4th yr. 3wks vacay/yr. No moonlighting until 4th yr. No shift-number decrease across the years = potential for burnout. Schedule (6 days on, 2 days off: 2 morning, 2 afternoon, 2 overnight, "2" off, repeat). Denver is not the most diverse city (but certainly not the least). This is a true "work hard, play hard" program.

2) Highland -
Pros: The most diverse, intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, and tight-knit group of residents and attendings, bar none. Both the residents and attendings go out of their way for each other, and they are flexible with scheduling (within reason). Superb reputation; renowned county hospital; one of the most diverse patient populations in the US. Hands down the best training in the bay area. EXCELLENT fellowship placement. Global health. As close to unopposed as you can get = few consults; get some OR time as first assist on OB and surgery rotations. Huge focus on social emergency medicine and ultrasound. Pretty high pay and great benefits (insurance, food, etc). Schools in the east bay are excellent in several of the neighborhoods surrounding Oakland. It was really difficult not to rank this place number one, especially because I have a huge soft spot for the bay, but...

Cons: 4yrs, COL in the bay is horrendous, although the East Bay is generally better than SF; Oakland is not the safest place to raise a family, and most of the safer neighborhoods are either prohibitively expensive or pretty far. They're not as academically inclined as my #1. +/- very small group of faculty. This is definitely a quirky, drink-the-kool-aid-or-not type of place with respect to vibe (I gladly partook)

3) Emory -
Pros: Possibly my favorite residents--very diverse, intellectual yet easy to talk to. AMAZING county training with good academic training and a great reputation. Grady and the underserved population. Residents are really happy. Autonomy. Great med ed and admin training. If I were dead set on 3yrs, this would easily be number one.

Cons: Grady is very underserved but not diverse. Atlanta is a +/- city. A few of the interviewers, and one in particular, really rubbed me the wrong way--acting as if it were a chore to speak with me and/or grilling me. That was really disappointing considering how awesome the interim PD and almost all the residents were. Little elective time. EM not as well respected by other departments.

4) Northwestern
Pros: Read every other Northwestern review--my thoughts are exactly the same.

Cons: 4yrs, Chicago is freaking cold; Lack of diversity among residents and faculty; slight air of superiority among a few faculty, but exact opposite with residents. Very academic with relatively little county exposure (in comparison to most of my list).

5) UCSF-SF -
Pros: Awesome, diverse group of well-rounded individuals. Great hybrid program (50/50 county/academic) with a strong reputation. Crazy good academic hospital, and beautiful county hospital. Focus on the underserved. Willingness to throw money at whatever you can come up with that seems educational. Global health. Superb off service rotations. Bay area = dream location

Cons: 4yrs. Relatively low pt volume at both sites. I was disappointed that I didn't like this program more. On paper it was exactly what I wanted. However, the interview day just didn't feel right, and I can't quite put my finger on it. It might be that the clinical training seemed like an afterthought compared to the more academic stuff, and EM seems to be overshadowed by the other specialties. In sum, it was underwhelming for what I expected (but not necessarily bad), and most of the people I spoke to on the trail felt similarly. Don't forget *COL*. They attempt to remedy this by giving a housing stipend that brings the salary to ~$64k, but SF is brutal, yo. Is it doable? Yes. Will it be painful with a family and a spouse that will probably earn less than you do? Definitely.

6) UChicago -
Pros: Amazingly diverse and down-to-earth residents. ED will be expanding soon and taking over a good chunk of trauma on the south side of Chicago from other shops. The PD was good people. Really vibed with residents and faculty. Global and community health

Cons: Chicago=cold. Not as strong of a sell with respect to academic niche and reputation as Northwestern, but still very respectable. Heard through the grapevine that their training is slightly weaker than the other Chicago programs (grain of salt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). +/- Mandatory flight program

7) Baylor -
Pros: Good academic reputation. Great residents. Lots of graduates go on to do fellowships and seek work in academics. The PD is really trying to expand the reach of the program, and the APD has a great vision for medical education. Pay to COL ratio is the best on my list. Houston is a great place to raise a family (others will say Houston is a con)

Cons: Still has some growing pains (anesthesia is right behind them for airways, surgery runs traumas, do not seem to be well respected by other departments).

8) Orlando -
Pros: Great people. Possibly the most cohesive resident group out of all of my interviews. There were MANY more residents than interviewees at the dinner and they were a ton of fun. Has more peds exposure and autonomy in peds than any program on my list. Very diverse/international patient population. COL

Cons: Most seeking fellowship stay (unclear whether or not by choice). Community program that produces community docs.

9) UF-Jacksonville -
Pros: The people here are AWESOME and they get AWESOME training. Well respected in EM. Lots of early autonomy (prob too much for some). They are by far the most respected department in the hospital, and it shows. Cover codes for the entire hospital.

Cons: Not enough exposure to academics for me. Mostly produces community docs. Almost exclusively county w/ a sprinkle of community 3rd year. Little emphasis on creating your own niche or supporting co-curricular endeavors.

10) UT Houston -
Pros: 60/40 academic/county; well-respected clinical reputation, especially in Texas; Extremely high trauma volume. Houston

Cons: Focus on training great clinicians but not much more. Little emphasis on creating your own niche or supporting co-curricular endeavors. The residents didn't seem to be very cohesive--very few showed up to the dinner and most of the ones that showed for lunch didn't seem very interested in speaking with applicants.

11) UIC -
Pros: Amazing mix of sites. Great PD and APD. Fun and laid-back residents. Most impressive community-focused research I saw.

Cons: Too much travel between too many sites; Cold; Honestly, I just wasn't feeling it, but it seems like a great program with a strong reputation.

12) LSU-New Orleans -
Pros: Really impressive program that would have at least been in my top 5, especially for their work with the underserved, acuity, reputation, focus on med ed innovation, and their PD, but...

Cons: New Orleans is a tough city to live in, especially with a family (safety, traffic, poor public works, schooling, etc)...I'm still mad that I didn't like this city...

13) Jackson Memorial -
I think this program will be excellent in 10 years, but it's too new.

Other:
Wait list: Stanford, Brown

Declined: Penn, ECU, UF-Gainesville, UTHSCSA, others

Rejected/silent: Cook, Montefiore, UPMC, Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, UVA, Maryland, UNC, Duke, Carolinas, Palmetto, MUSC, UAB, Vandy, USF, UTSW, UT Austin, Maricopa, Arizona, UCSD, OHSU, others
Click to expand...

Descriptions sound pretty legit, so it would be nice to hear from OP to see what he thinks made him so successful with below average step exams at these top-tier places.
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: >230, Step 2: >240
EM rotations: HP/H
Medical school region: Redacted
Anything else that made you more competitive:
My personal statement was brought up at almost every interview day by at least one of my interviewers. I was told that I had strong SLOES. Previous work experience that came up in almost every single interview. I have a masters degree. I also have a significant amount of research, no crazy pub numbers or anything though.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
1) Opportunities to get creative with my learning experience, whether that is opportunities in engineering, education, etc.
2) Location/partner's view of that location...how bike friendly and how easy it is to own dogs were major factors in my view of locations
3) Prestige, basically I want to leave my options open to work anywhere in the future
4) PD and resident interactions
5) Didactics - goes along with my future interests in EM education
6) Ability to work in many different EM settings

This is not my actual list, as my couples match list has significant changes.

1) BUMC -
Pros: Really is the whole ‘county with resources’ thing that you see said about this program so often. They rotate through multiple hospitals, which allows you to gain experiences in different types of practice settings. Treats a very diverse patient population with plenty of options to get them the care that they need. They argued that the fourth year of their curriculum allows them the opportunity to do electives in just about any area that they wanted, which is appealing to me. I would have the opportunity to do engineering work, also unique. You declare a ‘college’ as a PGY2, which allows you to develop an expertise in education, EMS, global health, etc. Unique didactic curriculum that incorporates the most important things in the world of FOAMed. ‘Learning Moment’ seems like a useful tool and an interesting concept. They are in the process of building a brand new ED in order to accommodate an increase in patient volume. It seems like a great place to train that would allow you access to the large alumni network in many leadership positions all around the country. Beautiful city with tons to do without being overwhelming like NYC or Chicago. Great public transit. An hour or two from the city leads you to mountains/beaches/biking/hiking/etc.. Fit in best with these residents when compared to the other groups I interviewed with. They get cool perks like lyft credit to get home if they finish a shift after midnight and money for the shared bike system within the city. One of my favorite PDs that I met, she really cares about every resident and helps them find what they want out of their careers. Fuzzies.

Cons: They do have a floor month, which is a con to some. Boston has a high COL and I’m not sure that the salary makes up for it compared to other places I interviewed at. Was unsure about the moonlighting situation – I have written down ‘no moonlighting, well, semi-moonlighting within the department’. So whatever that means. Building the new ED while we are there seems mildly annoying.

2) University of Michigan -
Pros: Really had trouble deciding between here and BUMC, they are so close. Three unique training sites where you are able to get a full academic/university experience, a private/community experience, and the full county experience. You get plenty of trauma at Flint, the bread and butter at St. Joseph, and the weird stuff at UofM. Big focus on learning how to be a resident as R1, starting to find your own niche as R2 and R3, and running the department as an R4. Standard ICU rotations, 4+ months of electives (wide array of elective choices). The EC3 unit seems like a unique learning experience. Really argued well for the fourth year of the curriculum, which allows you to develop your own niche in EM. Innovative didactic curriculum that incorporates asynchronous learning. This program offers the ability to do just about anything with this hospital from engineering to analytics. They also have professional development tracks in education, wilderness medicine, admin, etc. Impressive faculty dedicated to teaching. Alumni spread across the country in many leadership positions. Felt like I really fit in with the residents here. They have a residents union that has resulted in a high salary and perks like having the day off on your birthday. Ann Arbor is beautiful, plenty of hiking/trails/water stuff to do in the area. The city is tremendously bikeable. 45 minutes from Detroit, with more of a big city feel. Fuzzies.

Cons: The drive to Flint is my only complaint. The weather is an issue, but I could use a change from where I’m at currently.

3) Christiana -
Pros: Huge, beautiful hospital in a great area of the country. The residents work in the main private hospital (Christiana), the more county shop in downtown Wilmington, and a peds hospital in Wilmington. It seems like rotating in these three places gives the residents a good balance of all of the different types of career paths (academics/county/community). Plus these hospitals are very close to each other so you don’t have to drive a large distance to get the different experiences like other programs I interviewed at. The I-TRAC system seems amazing and exactly what I’m looking for in education. The education fellow seems great and I would love to work with him. Great salary for a place with a good COL. Seems like there is tons to do in the area in your free time. I really enjoyed my conversation with the PD and the aPD and it seems like they are great at determining who fits in well at their program. This is weird, but it seems like they have a heavy dog emphasis in the program meaning many residents had dogs and spoke about how easy it was to have a dog in this program…which is clearly important to me.

Cons: Met very few residents during the interview day, so I’m not really sure how I fit in there. Most of the residents live in suburbia, which isn’t everyone’s favorite thing. Would have to commute if I matched here.

4) UNC -
Pros – Prestigious program in which you spend 60% of your time at UNC and 40% at WakeMed. WakeMed is a private hospital that serves as the safety net hospital of Wake County. Rotating at both hospitals allows for the academic/university experience and the county feel of Wake. 1 to 1 attending to resident ratio during ICU rotations at WakeMed. Heavy emphasis on peds at WakeMed with a large amount of shifts being in the Peds ED, which is seemingly good as most EM residents I’ve met this year seem generally terrified by tiny humans. You choose a concentration during your second year where you are mentored toward a final project. This program had a great group of residents and probably my favorite group of faculty that I met in my interviews. They have a widespread faculty network that would allow me to work in academics/community just about anywhere in the country. I really loved the Durham/Chapel Hill area and found that it was my ideal place to live. Plenty of things to do in the area where you are a couple of hours from mountains/beaches/etc.

Cons: Maybe this was just a result of interviewing here immediately after a string of 4 year programs but it didn’t seem like the curriculum left a lot of time to pursue outside interests. The drive to WakeMed isn’t my favorite thing. As has been mentioned previously in this thread, there were some odd interactions with residents.

5) Duke -
Pros: Newer program in a well-established academic center. Durham has a more heterogeneous population than the neighboring Chapel Hill, which leads to a more diverse patient population. They have a lot of opportunities to get involved with engineering research and education, which is exciting. In fact, they are already partnering with the Duke engineering department to get stuff done. The Duke academic center allows for an abundance of resources to get involved with just about anything you want. The facilities are beautiful and training on a campus that looks like a castle is definitely something that has no actual impact on my life but castles are dope, man. Really liked the ED set up/the hospital in general. PD was one of my favorite PDs of the season and really enjoyed my conversations with faculty. The ED resuscitation rotations seem like a good way to get involved in acute care as an intern and then learn how to delegate as an upper level. As mentioned previously, Chapel Hill/Durham area would be a fantastic place to live. Baby fuzzies.

Cons: Pre-interview dinner was at a journal club, so didn’t have much time to interact with residents there. Not sure if Durham has the patient population needed in order to see everything as a resident, but I don’t think this is as huge of a factor it is made out to be.

6) Regions -
Pros: One of the best groups of residents that I met on the interview trail, incredibly friendly and fun to be around. PD was definitely the nicest PD I met on the trail. Great ICU rotations where the EM residents are the primary residents on the team. Big focus on getting R1 and R2s intubations and procedures, which allows for the R3s to have more time to run the department/teach. The curriculum doesn’t have a high shift burden with plenty of opportunities to pursue a niche. They track hospital data that can be shown to employers. You can do event medicine for the Vikings and Wild. The Twin Cities seems like a great place to live with great biking trails and plenty to do outdoors.

Cons: Not a huge nationwide alumni network with 105/157 (67%, math!) graduates staying in Minnesota, only 26 in true academics (18 hybrid? Not sure what that means.). I know the program has had some issues in the past with only matching people who rotated with them, which makes sense as people from Minneapolis love Minneapolis and seem to want to stay there.

7) UTSW -
Pros: The new Parkland seems like a fantastic place to train. They work in a giant ED with plenty of resources to treat a sick, county population. Two-month elective in New Zealand, which seemed like the coolest global health experience that I heard of on the interview trail. They get two months of electives here, which is more than the one elective month that other 3-year programs tend to give. These elective months are almost universally used by the residents to go to New Zealand. The residents have the opportunity to get involved in many different committees (curriculum, recruitment, ultrasound, Epic, etc.). Would be able to use this to forge somewhat of a unique niche in EM. I really liked the resident group here and felt like I was a good fit. This program is a very solid program in which I would be trained to be a fantastic EM physician and would not limit me in my future career choices. Texas is a great place to be an EM physician.

Cons: The curriculum seemed pretty unexciting, which isn’t the worst thing but I found that I liked options to get creative with my learning experience. They do have three blocks of community EM as a PGY3, not sure if this is a pro/con at this point but may be necessary so that they can get out of the consult-heavy bubble that Parkland tends to be. Apparently the most fun thing to do in the city is eat. Don’t get me wrong, I love eating, but I like there to at least be the prospect of more exciting things to do in my off time. Huge residency classes (22 residents/class), not sure if pro/con.

8) WashU -
Pros: Big, beautiful hospital that has a high-volume ED and treats a very sick patient population. They have an impressive education curriculum with a heavy emphasis on education theory and innovative didactics, which is appealing to me. Seemed like a great curriculum with plenty of ICU and elective time. They send the residents for their OB rotation to Maricopa and they have an elective in Hawaii that seems like a good gig. They have a longitudinal research component to their curriculum instead of a one-month block, haven’t decided if this is a pro or con. The PD seems to have a clear vision of where he wants the program to go.

Cons: They didn’t really explain their 4th year very well and didn’t go into what people used their elective time on. They have a floor month. Didn’t mesh with the residents but they seemed very, uh, passionate about the program (really all that they talked about). Didn’t mesh with the PD or with any of the faculty that I met. Seems like the prestige of many of the other residency programs at WashU makes things difficult in the ED at times and leads to EM residents being pushed aside on off-service months. I'm iffy on St. Louis as a place to live but hey, 538 told me that they had the most rapid increase in start ups in the past few years so who knows what that means.

9) Henry Ford -
Pros: The main hospital in a city with a very sick and diverse population. This program produces fantastic EM docs that are spread throughout the entire country. The curriculum is interesting in that you spend almost as many months as an intern in off-service rotations as your ED months, then you work mostly in the ED as an upper level. 3 elective months with a lot of opportunities to get involved in education. The Hawaii elective seems really dope, too. Innovative didactic curriculum where only about 10% of the lectures are an hour with the rest being shorter/sim/small groups. I was initially hesitant on Detroit as a place to live but really fell in love with the city on my three trips up there this season. Really liked the group of residents, they all seem very happy and fun to be around. Have heard comments from people at other programs that this program produces badass EM docs.

Cons: They work 21 shifts/month during all three years of the residency, which doesn’t seem ideal – the residents didn’t seem overworked at all though. The interns do all of their shifts in the general EM pods, which might limit some of the stuff that they see. Didn’t have great conversations with faculty when I was there, PD seemed kind of indifferent to my answers to his questions.

10) Tennessee – Murfreesboro -
Pros: Second-year program in a decently high-volume hospital (93,000 ED visits/year) in a city that is about 30 miles south of Nashville. This program probably treats their residents the best out of any of the programs that I interviewed at and all of the residents seemed tremendously happy. The residents are also impressive as their first class scored >1 SD over the national mean on the inservice exam. The PD is a big name in EM and has a clear vision for the program. My conversation with the aPD was probably my favorite interview of the season. Plenty of opportunities to help develop the didactics and really have an impact on this program as it is so new. They have a resident:attending ratio of 1:1 or 1:2. The ED is fully functional without the residents being there which allows for them to have protected time for didactics and other events (they also get off the 10 hours preceding conference). Super EM heavy curriculum with 2 elective months. Focus on career development and leadership development in didactic curriculum, which is pretty unique. They do a PICU month in Chattanooga and an ICU month in Nashville. The city seemed like a cool college town that is a short drive away from Nashville.

Cons: Brand new program recruiting for their third class so I really have no idea how that will impact my career options in the future. The trauma rotation still seems up in the air. ICU rotations seem iffy. They have no peds ED, which they brush off by saying they still see super sick kids. I’m skeptical. Would have to commute from Nashville.

11) JPS -
Pros: Great community program in a mid-sized city. They work in a nice community hospital with plenty of resources. They keep track of resident #s (# of patients you see, how long to put in orders, etc.) in a concerted focus on metrics. They recently brought in an education fellow that is overhauling the didactic curriculum, would allow for opportunities to contribute to that. They treat the residents very well here, among the best at any of the places I interviewed at. Most of the residents were adamant that they ranked JPS #1 and it was evident that they really loved it there. They have a new PD that is extremely focused on making the program into the best program into the state.

Cons: PICU rotation in Temple, TX. Newerish program and I’m slightly worried that it would limit my career options in the future outside of the South. Curriculum that is highly focused on ED time without as many unique opportunities for added learning. Not sure how I feel about Fort Worth – it was alright but seemed like it had the same problems as Dallas.

12) William Beaumont -
Pros: Well established 3-year program in a suburb of Detroit. They work in a high-volume hospital is absurdly nice and they are in the process of finishing a brand new ED (set to open in July). This program has been around for a long time with graduates all around the country. They are very impressive with their research output, which I wasn’t expecting. They have multiple huge, beautiful SIM centers that are heavily utilized in conference.

Cons: Residents seem to work a lot. Was told Royal Oak was a cool spot but I'm not completely convinced. Weird conversations with residents and faculty. I would be happy to train here but it reminded me of my home program in a different location.

13) UNM -
Pros: Well-regarded program in a unique city. The hospital serves as the main hospital for the entire state and sees some serious pathology. Huge focus on CC with a large amount of EM/CC boarded attendings. Odds are your ICU attending will be EM trained. Impressive EMS focus in the residency. The city has plenty of outdoorsy stuff to do and it seems like the residents take full advantage of that.

Cons: The residents are a unique bunch, bouldering might be a pre-req for the program. This program definitely attracts a certain breed. Didn’t really mesh with the residents all that well. It also really doesn’t seem like the residents care all that much about medical students. I think two of them showed up to the pre-interview dinner and I only saw three residents in the entirety of the interview day. Wasn’t a fan of how the PD approached the interview day where she just made us ask her questions for an hour. Her line of questioning also seemed a little too probing. Wait times are absurd in an ED that tends to board patients; the hospital just doesn’t have enough beds. Shifts get crazy when they don’t have the EDRU specific team as residents are running from the pods to the EDRU seemingly once an hour, which really slows down patient care in the pods.

14) UTH -
Pros: A standard three-year program that works in both a private, academic setting (Memorial Hermann) and a county shop (LBJ) that sees extremely sick patients. They see a sick and diverse population. Curriculum was standard, nothing exciting there. I enjoyed my conversations with the PD, he has been there for a while and seems to produce pretty impressive residents that work across the country. Liked how they have a medicine and trauma side of their ED where the residents spend equal time.

Cons: Non-exciting didactic curriculum. Didn’t really mesh with the residents at the dinner or lunch, especially the interns. The residents also didn’t seem particularly interested in speaking with the applicants. It was hard to get them to talk to us. Residents were openly complaining about many of the attendings. Didactics seem to be from the old-school hour-long lecture format, which doesn’t work for me at all. Don’t love the city of Houston, could live here and be happy but don’t really want to.

15) NYPQ -
Pros: Community hospital in a location that really leans on the hospital for all of their medical care. The have an incredibly diverse patient population with many different cultures that walk through the doors of the hospital. New PD that is really focused on resident wellness and seems universally loved by every resident that I interacted with. Got a party program vibe when I was there, which was an extremely odd feeling to get during an interview but these residents really love the program/location. Have different residency tracks – education, ultrasound, etc. Doesn’t seem like residents work all that much (albeit in a relative sort of way). Get sent to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami for trauma, seems like a fun experience. Get to have scribes.

Cons: NYC just isn’t for me. There just isn’t enough space, that paired with an incredibly high COL and the fact that I couldn’t have a dog actually led me to cancel my remaining NYC area interviews after this one and withdraw my remaining open applications. The ED was incredibly rundown and looked like a warzone. Simulation center was pretty much a closet. 12 hour shifts. One of the residents spent an extended period of time telling a group of us how little work he did on off-service rotations. Have to go to the bedside to present patients as an intern, which seems not great.

16) Allegheny -
Pros: Pittsburgh is a wonderful city with plenty of do in the city and the surrounding area. COL is low and I would enjoy any amount of time spent in this city. I really liked my conversation with the PD and felt that she was really open to improvement within the program – she is constantly tweaking things and really trying to create a curriculum that is most beneficial for her residents.

Cons: I didn’t really gel with the residents or my interviewers and I didn’t really feel like I fit in on my interview day. The residents openly said that they didn’t rank the program at the top of their rank lists, which I really appreciate the honesty but geez. A lot of the interviewers seemed indifferent to whether they want us to come there at not. The ED/resident areas are incredibly run down with random stuff stacked everywhere. The didactics curriculum wasn’t innovative and didn’t seem like the best way to learn. OR time during plastic surgery months (what??). Basically, if I went here I feel that it would limit my career options when I graduated. Which is not great for me, personally, as I don’t know exactly what I want to do with my life at this point.

Other:
Declined interviews: UMKC, Crozer-Chester, Hackensack, NY Methodist, Detroit Receiving, Sinai Grace, St. John, Baylor

Waitlist: UC San Diego, NY Presbyterian

Rejected: Every single Chicago program (all of them), every single Philadelphia program, Brown, Utah, Denver, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Pittsburgh, UT-Austin, SLU, OHSU, UWashington, Hennepin, BIDMC, MGH, Emory, Georgetown, George Washington, Yale, Baystate, UMass, Maine, Uconn, Wake Forest, others.

As exhausting as this process was, I really enjoyed interviewing at the programs I did. I was able to meet some great future colleagues. I do feel that all of them would allow me to become a great EM physician and am excited for match day.
 
Last edited:
doggydog said:
Okay, so this is my list.

This is not my actual list, as my real couples match list has significant changes.
Click to expand...
Then which is it, dude? If it ISN'T your list, is it just random? Since no one releases rank lists (programs/administration), a couple's match is only revealed if you do.

come at me on this thread.
Click to expand...
5907c88df2965e500c98e948dfae20c0.jpg
 
Apollyon said:
Then which is it, dude? If it ISN'T your list, is it just random? Since no one releases rank lists (programs/administration), a couple's match is only revealed if you do.
Click to expand...
I didn't post my couples order either. I posted in the order I would want to go to them which I think is more helpful to future applicants.
 
doggydog said:
9) Henry Ford -
Pros: The main hospital in a city with a very sick and diverse population. This program produces fantastic EM docs that are spread throughout the entire country. The curriculum is interesting in that you spend almost as many months as an intern in off-service rotations as your ED months, then you work mostly in the ED as an upper level. 3 elective months with a lot of opportunities to get involved in education. The Hawaii elective seems really dope, too. Innovative didactic curriculum where only about 10% of the lectures are an hour with the rest being shorter/sim/small groups. I was initially hesitant on Detroit as a place to live but really fell in love with the city on my three trips up there this season. Really liked the group of residents, they all seem very happy and fun to be around. Have heard comments from people at other programs that this program produces badass EM docs.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call Henry Ford the main hospital in Detroit.
 
joker2400 said:
Hard to say that there is a main hospital. The Harper-Hutzel/DRH/CHM complex and HF are both big players.
Click to expand...

HF has a volume of 100k+ per year...more than Receiving or Hutzel by themselves, but probably not more than them combined. Doesn't really matter the distinction in real world, though.
 
RainbowOtterz said:
I have a fairly strange question (maybe). Is Trump and what is happening in America factoring into anyone else's ranklists?

Edit: This is not meant to cause another fight or anything. Honestly. Just as a gay member of society from the south I feel that I am ranking programs in more Liberal cities and states higher than I think I would have previously. I just want to see if anyone feels the same way or I am taking crazy pills.
Click to expand...

My SO and I had a long heart to heart after the election and agreed that we need to shift my rank list out of the SE and either into the NE or out West... it took two of my fav programs and pushed them way down my list, which was a bummer, but I refuse to live worrying if I'll become a second class citizen (looking at you NC)...
 
RainbowOtterz said:
I have a fairly strange question (maybe). Is Trump and what is happening in America factoring into anyone else's ranklists?

Edit: This is not meant to cause another fight or anything. Honestly. Just as a gay member of society from the south I feel that I am ranking programs in more Liberal cities and states higher than I think I would have previously. I just want to see if anyone feels the same way or I am taking crazy pills.
Click to expand...

icehockychick said:
My SO and I had a long heart to heart after the election and agreed that we need to shift my rank list out of the SE and either into the NE or out West... it took two of my fav programs and pushed them way down my list, which was a bummer, but I refuse to live worrying if I'll become a second class citizen (looking at you NC)...
Click to expand...

I'm a gay man in a red state, and every program I ranked is in a red state. I didn't rank red states because I long to be surrounded by conservatives; I did it because I like the programs, and I like the geography. It's nice to be around people who share my views, but that's a luxury I can't appreciate while others suffer.

Victims of discrimination often don't have the resources to move to blue states. Those gay kids contemplating suicide, those trans kids feeling alone: they need neighbors who stand with them and fight for them. I'm entering this field because we're the ones who fight for them.
 
YoEMraps said:
I'm a gay man in a red state, and every program I ranked is in a red state. I didn't rank red states because I long to be surrounded by conservatives; I did it because I like the programs, and I like the geography. It's nice to be around people who share my views, but that's a luxury I can't appreciate while others suffer.

Victims of discrimination often don't have the resources to move to blue states. Those gay kids contemplating suicide, those trans kids feeling alone: they need neighbors who stand with them and fight for them. I'm entering this field because we're the ones who fight for them.
Click to expand...
So because they have the option to move their family to a place where they don't have to feel discriminated against, they are abandoning other LGBT people? I don't think that is fair at all. You can be an advocate anywhere in the country and the southeast lost out on another doc because it was less welcoming than elsewhere.

We didn't enter medicine to be martyrs at work; at home; at the grocery store, etc.; it is perfectly reasonable to consider how communities treat you and your family (likely not in medicine) in the assessment of geography/fit. It is similar to ranking programs lower because the schools are not as good and you have kids. Could you move to a place with a great program and poor schools with the goal of getting involved in the school board? Sure, but if you don't have to, why would you risk your family unless that is your passion?
 
clibby said:
So because they have the option to move their family to a place where they don't have to feel discriminated against, they are abandoning other LGBT people? I don't think that is fair at all. You can be an advocate anywhere in the country and the southeast lost out on another doc because it was less welcoming than elsewhere.

We didn't enter medicine to be martyrs at work; at home; at the grocery store, etc.; it is perfectly reasonable to consider how communities treat you and your family (likely not in medicine) in the assessment of geography/fit. It is similar to ranking programs lower because the schools are not as good and you have kids. Could you move to a place with a great program and poor schools with the goal of getting involved in the school board? Sure, but if you don't have to, why would you risk your family unless that is your passion?
Click to expand...

I described factors for my own rank list reasoning, as RainbowOtterz requested. I value the reasoning that guides the formation of personal opinions in this thread, and I hope others do too. I carefully avoided prescribing how others should rank, and there's no question the LGBT community needs advocates in every corner. Glad to have you as an advocate.
 
YoEMraps said:
I described factors for my own rank list reasoning, as RainbowOtterz requested. I value the reasoning that guides the formation of personal opinions in this thread, and I hope others do too. I carefully avoided prescribing how others should rank, and there's no question the LGBT community needs advocates in every corner. Glad to have you as an advocate.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your input and offering a different view point. It is much appreciated.
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 250s, Step 2: 250s
EM rotations: H/HP/H
AOA
Medical school region: South
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Overall I had a well-rounded app with a decent mix of research, volunteering, and leadership involvement in EM.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Fit. Reputation. Location (want to leave South). Couples matching with SO going into different competitive specialty. No preference on 3v4. Strong fellowship opportunities. County > community.

1) Denver Health/University of Colorado -
Pros: Top of the top reputation and training. Residents work hard but seem happy and able to enjoy the many outdoor options available. 4th year you a assume a "super attending role" in which you oversee the ENTIRE department (60-80 patients); regular attendings usually staff 12-16 patients at a time. Sounds insane, but they come out of that program as rockstar attendings (I have personal experience working with fresh DH grads; by far the most impressive clinicians I've met). No reduction in shifts as you progress through each year, but they do get more and more elective time and chill rotations in between, so I think it all balances out. Great fellowship opportunities at University, with the Tox and EM/CC ones being some of the strongest in the country. Their off-service rotations (ortho, trauma, even medicine) are all apparently very strong. Multidisciplinary M&M was fantastic. Sick patients and tons of trauma. My SO also liked the city and the UC program in her respective field, so placing DH as my #1 was an easy choice.

Cons: Lack of strong simulation curriculum. Apparently they are working on it, but felt unimpressed by what they have so far. Moonlighting only during 4th year; they have opportunities to do so at the University ED and surrounding states. Denver as a city is becoming more expensive.

2) UCLA Harbor -
Pros: Strong, top county program with amazing pathology as with my #1 choice. Would be thrilled to match here. The faculty seemed great and the residents were a happy bunch, really the type of people I would want to hang out with after shifts. One of my EM faculty mentors graduated from this program and he is such a smart, talented physician. He really set a standard for the type of EM doc I want to be when I grow up. SO would be happy with location and local program(s) in her specialty.

Cons: Not entirely sold on their 4th year. Location is expensive. Some of my interviews were a bit awkward.

3) Johns Hopkins -
Pros: Was really shocked to have liked this program as much as I did. I only went to this interview because of my SO wanting to interview there. Really liked their 3+1 curriculum. Was impressed by the diversity of their residents and faculty. Faculty are all very accomplished. Strong trauma exposure with strong academic component too. Lots of married residents, which is a plus for me and my SO. Great benefits. Strong off service rotations. Excellent conference.

Cons: EM as a department at JH does not get the recognition or respect that the other (older) departments/specialties get. Location is... Not the best to say the least. Some personalities I encountered there seemed a bit elitist.

4) UNC -
Pros: Was really impressed by this program. Faculty and residents seemed really fun and smart. They have Tintinalli working there which is kind of cool. Location ain't to bad, either. Lots of emphasis on resident wellness. Liked the split UNC/Wake Med set up.

Cons: Lots of commute time. Didn't click with most of my interviewers. Overall didn't feel like I would fit in as well with the residents here as with the residents in the programs above.

5) USC-LA County:
It is at this point that I decided to watch Netflix instead of continuing to expand on my rank list. This is a really dope program though. Wouldn't be mad to end up here. SO would, however. See rest of the list below.

6) UCSD
7) Cook County
8) Carolinas Medical Center
9) Palmetto Health
10) Orlando Health
11) Brown
12) Christiana
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 250s, Step 2: 260s
EM rotations: H/H
AOA
Medical school region: My neuroses do not allow me to answer this question
Anything else that made you more competitive:
SLOEs, my vibrant and undeniable shiny personality

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Fit with the residents and program leadership, as others have said before I honestly came away from the interview process with the impression that no, not all residency programs are created equal in terms of the acuity and volume of patients you see, I would like to be at a place that sees a high volume of sick patients and pushes me to be autonomous and develop my own practice patterns, that being said, my rankings are very subjective, and I've tried to give my reasoning for each program as best as I can to help others out.

1) Denver -
Pros: I really like the city, I think that the program is a very well respected and intense program. I like the structure of the progressive responsibility here, interns develop EM basics, 2nd years run the medicine side, 3rd years run trauma side, 4th years oversee the department. Shifts are 8 hours. The off service rotations sound really top notch.

Cons: Work a lot of shifts per month (the tradeoff for the 8 hour shifts), Denver is expensive, I read in a previous post somewhere that people here are 'proud to be worked to the bone', but I think that's true of any resident in an intense 4 year program. Didn't seem like it during my interactions with people there, but unsure if it's malignant or not (sure hope not if I match here lol).

2) Cincinnati -
Pros: I felt like the curriculum was very thoughtfully structured, heavy on ICU time, includes rotations with hand surgery, etc. I also really like the flight experience, although it may not be for everyone. I liked my interviewers, and it's hard not to come away from Stettler's act impressed. Similarly, I thought it was darn impressive how the chair sat down and conversed with the applicants. Great progressive responsibility, 4th years don't have as much responsibility as at Denver, but on the flip side, they have more free and elective time, so I think it's a worthwhile trade-off.

Cons: Really the biggest con is the city. It's hard to convince a non-midwesterner that Cincinnati is a city worth living in. However, I think there are really nice parts to it and the cost of living is awesome.

3) LAC-USC -
Pros: Famous, incredibly intense program. I believe that this program is definitely not for the faint of heart. Standing in C-booth was incredible, and I really dig the mission here (provide the best darn emergency care for patients who have no other option). Another shining example of awesome progressive responsibility. Really, a top notch program, and the trauma-EM relationship seems to be collegial and very respectful. Fourth years got some serious swagger. Also, this is a pro and a con, but LA is a great city.

Cons: LA is expensive, and this sounds really petty (I realize it, and I know others will strongly disagree) but I don't really want to learn how to dive and sit in the decompression chamber. Also, 12 hour shifts are quite long, but on the flip side, you get more days off.

4) Carolinas -
Pros: charlotte seems like a great place to live, program leadership is really down to earth and human, seems like they place a lot of emphasis on resident wellness. Lots of cool disaster response stuff going on, and it seems like you'll get lots of exposure to patient pathology as the safety net hospital of Charlotte.

Cons: 3 year program, I really would like to have that extra year. Not as much progressive responsibility as my top 3. That being said, I've heard that Carolinas graduates baller EM docs, and I'd be pumped to end up here.

5) UCLA Harbor -
Pros: Awesome county program, cool mission (serve the underserved), I really liked the PD and the APDs. Residents seemed really happy and like they really enjoyed their lives. As a county hospital in LA, I'm sure you get incredible exposure to a wide variety of pathology.

Cons: The 4th year is still relatively new here, and I feel like it would be better justified if you took on a different role rather than just a continuation of your role as a 3rd year (like it is now). However, the thing for me that bumped this program down (i was all set to rank it 4) was the hour long sign out before and after each shift. I get that it's probably really nice prime learning, but with my attention span, sitting through at least 2 hours of 'rounding' (or whatever you want to call it) every shift could become a chore. But if you dig it, this is an awesome chance to learn a ton from great faculty. I don't mean to criticize this program, it's awesome and I would love to be there, I'm just picking at threads to differentiate the places I ranked.

6) Vanderbilt -
Pros: Who wouldn't want to live in Nashville? I also really liked the commitment to education, and it seemed like the graduates were getting great jobs. The unique thing here I really loved was the opportunity to do chief year as a 4th year, effectively giving you the option to do a 4 year residency if you want, but with an attending's salary. PD is stepping down and transitioning to a different role, but the person taking his place seemed like she really knew the program and had a solid vision.

Cons: I just didn't 'feel it' as much as I did the places ranked above it. Objectively this is an awesome program in a great place, but for some reason my heart said 'put it 6th below the places above it'.

7) Northwestern -
Pros: Great talk from the chair, and Gisondi really sells the heck out of this program and 4 year programs as a whole. I walked out of Gisondi's speech ready to rank this place #1. NW offers a lot to the residents, it has great rotation sites, great off service rotations, happy residents, supportive leadership, a well thought out curriculum, etc. I truly think that (regardless of what Doximity says) this is one of the top EM programs in the country. Plus, the job/fellowship placements for the graduating 4th years are incredible.

Cons: Gisondi is leaving to Stanford, and it's a bummer because I really would have liked to work with him. Chicago also may not be my kind of city, despite how awesome it is, I just didn't feel as much at home here as other places. Minor petty complaint: the interview day was the most exhausting of all the interview days I attending, rushing between 6 formal interviews back to the resident lounge where the residents were interviewing you really drained me for some reason. And make no mistake, 'casually' interacting with any resident at any point in the interview process is an interview. The formal interviews each seemed like they were structured to have a specific portion of your personality they're assessing. While I get that from a program standpoint this is very informative and probably has less bias, as an applicant it felt a little too much like an MMI. These kind of interactions with the program leadership feel adversarial rather than like a two way dialogue (which I think the interview process should be).

8) Maryland -
Pros: Amal Mattu is here, and the PD here is a great guy and seemed like a leader with a vision for the program. Lots of sick patients to see, and this seems like a program with great academic opportunities. Plus the opportunity to rotate at 'The SHOCK TRAUMA CENTER' is incredible. The airway month there seems like the best traumatic airway curriculum in the nation if not the world. Similarly great critical care opportunities. In my very limited opinion, a great program to attend if you're interested in critical care (Sorry Michigan, but I think 3 years is the way to go if you want to subject yourself to a critical care fellowship). I actually like Baltimore, as a fan of the wire and seafood I enjoyed my time there.

Cons: After some thought, I dislike the idea of having my trauma months separate from my ED months. Also I don't like that trauma is so heavily surgical here, I like places where the ED runs the trauma bay. Plus, there's a million people that come rotate at STC for their trauma experience, so I feel like my experience would be diluted. Awesome program, though, top notch training.

9) Pittsburgh -
Pros: The multiple rotation sites (Presby, Mercy, etc.) seem like a great idea. See lots of the medically complex crashing patients with LVADs at one place, and a ton of knife and gun trauma and 'county' patients at the other place. I loved the program leadership, really felt like I gelled with them. The jeep is a great, unique experience. Very academic, well regarded program, with a huge catchment area. Great moonlighting opportunities.

Cons: Anesthesia does the airway at night at one of the main sites (HUGE CON for me). SO and I don't see ourselves as happy in Pittsburgh as other places.

10) Cook County -
Pros: Very county, great patient pathology, The program leadership was very cool and seemed motivated to teach and train great EPs. Well known program.

Cons: See NW, but I didn't adore Chicago, and that, coupled with the 3 months of IM floor in a very off-service heavy intern year, and the separate trauma months sort of knocked this program down to the bottom.

Other thoughts and tips for future applicants:

The pre-interview dinners are very important, go to them and treat them as part of the interview day. If you have an annoying or grating personality, obviously don't be yourself, otherwise try and relax and let the residents see a little bit of who you are.

Thoughts on second looks: I didn't do any, and I hope it's not held against me (as the APD who commented a couple of pages ago seemed to imply).

EM is getting more and more competitive, so don't be a d**k and hold onto interview spots that you know you're going to cancel or going to be ranking 16. Statistically there's no difference in terms of match success between 12 and 15+ programs, so c'mon dude, let someone who's actually gonna go there interview there.

For the most part, interviews are a negotiation between you and the program, they want to decide 1. are you a good fit/good candidate and 2. are you going to come here if they rank you highly. You want to decide 1. will I be happy here and 2. will there be opportunities for the career I want. Obviously if you have red flags and few interviews, they are going to be more one sided (you begging for a spot), but for the most part, be confident in yourself and have an honest discussion about your career goals and what you like. I believe that a program you really liked ranking you lower based on them feeling you are not a good fit may truly be doing you a favor. It's like a gorgeous guy/girl that you really want to be with dumping you because they know you'll be miserable with them; sucks right now, but ultimately for the best.
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 260s, Step 2: 260s
EM rotations: HP/H
AOA
Medical school region: Midwest
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Mostly Honors for 3rd year clerkships, otherwise no. No research, been told good SLOEs. EC involvement in non EM interest group.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Fit/gut first, where would I be the happiest. Reputation within EM and future job prospects. Family feel/how happy residents were. Looking for excellent hands on clinical training. Looking for a place that didn't feel too "academic". Good city to live in. Work life balance. Strong preference against 12 hour shifts. Ok w/ 3 or 4 years as long as 4th year really adds something. No geographic limitations.

1) Vanderbilt -
Pros: This one really gave me the warm fuzzies. Incredible vibe the whole time there. Really fun and welcoming group of residents, everyone excited to be there. The interview day itself really sold me on their passion for teaching, epitome of residents here to learn vs. here to work. Concise curriculum with lots of ICU time. Good support for pretty much anything you want to do. The energy from Dr. Slovis. Had some of my best faculty interviews here, just felt like my kind of people. 10 hour shifts, w/ great work life balance. Most ED time as an intern I saw. Work Titans games

Cons: only 2 months electives, +/- almost all ED at main site limited community time. not a lot to say here

2) Carolinas -
Pros: This was the one I felt were the most "my people" residents incredibly laid back, social group, but also super smart and hard working. Great reputation and well established program with huge alumni network. Nicest hospital and the best free food setup on the trail. Charlotte looks like a great place to live. Conference every year. Huge volume w/ in house peds ED. +/- single site for everything, would be super convenient. Good sim. Work Panthers games.

Cons: lots of floor months: peds and cards, this has been reviewed and discussed and grads say its worth it.

3) Cincy -
Pros: Probably the program that wowed me the most on curriculum. The most well designed graduated responsibility: work with R4 as an intern, run your own pod w/ attending R2, R3 in the recuss area, R4 as pre-tending supervising interns. Amazing flight program starting R2, lots of scene runs and autonomous critical care time. No floor months and tons of ICU time. 6 months of electives, most I saw. First program and incredible name and alumni network. Great resources and really take care of their residents, universally positive interactions w/ faculty and residents on interview day. Most rotations at single hospital. Great childrens hospital in town too. Nicest interview day, pay for hotel and nice dinner. Also close to home, have friends and family there

Cons: Not quite moving away to a cool new city like I want to. A little skeptical of 2nd year leaving ED shifts for flight if needed. Still working on developing an US program, although seems like they are making huge strides this year.

4) Brown -
Pros: This one was my number 1 for quite a while. Very similar curriculum model to Cincinatti, but not pulled out for flight, and get to be a little more involved in procedures/recuss as an intern which I liked. Best PD on the trail, so much energy and enthusiasm, would love to work with her for 4 years. Most rotations at 1 site, great resources there (windows in the ED). Good resources. Great name outside of EM and up and coming within the field. Residents were cool and all seemed very happy. Liked the city a lot and lots to do just a short drive away. They have people plugged into national organizations and leadership everywhere, would be super easy to establish myself in something like that here. Teaching as 4th year. Lots of elective time.

Cons: Had a couple interviews that just seemed a bit stiff and didn't flow very well. Still a little concern it might be too "academic"

5) Michigan -
Pros: Probably the program for critical care w/ the most ICU rotations of anyone at like 11, including time in the EC3 their in the ED 24 hour critical care unit. Really excellent training. Truely split program w/ significant time @ the U and at St. Joe a community hospital also right in Ann Arbor. Then get some "county" time at Hurley in Flint. Do get to jump right in and take care of really sick people as intern w/ less formal graduated responsibility. Cool group of residents w/ really diverse interests. Seniors seemed like they got great job offeres anywhere they wanted to go. Great US and sim programs. +/- elective time in longitudinal tracks w/ shift reduction in years 2-4. Really like college towns and Ann Arbor seems like a great place to live. Conference starts @ 10 a.m.

Cons: 3 or 4 months driving to Flint, although they do really like the experience. Not anything I can list just didn't grab me enough to contend for #1 like the others, but always in my top 5.

6) Highland -
Pros: This was my pre-interview #1 and was up there until I really started finalizing my rank list. It just has a feel about it. All the attendings were super laid back, but loved what they did: teaching, community outreach, caring for underserved population and just being incredible docs in a county hospital. Residents all totally bought in as well and were incredibly welcoming fun group. At Highland get to see and do so much w/o many other residents at all and being the strongest in the hospital. Pioneers of bedside US. Great childrens hospital. plenty of exposure to community @ kaiser and academic at UCSF. Incredible area to live w/ so much to do, amazing weather and landscape. Big name, great alumni base, go anywhere do anything after training here. Free food and GI rounds.

Cons: COL is outrageous, coming from the midwest I just don't know if I can stomach it even w/ the best pay I saw on the trail. 4 months of commuting to UCSF, I don't want to be on the bay bridge twice a day pulling 80 hours a week in the ICU. These seem kind of weak and it was a very hard decision figuring out where to put this program. I'd still be ecstatic to match here.

7) Maine Medical Center -
Pros: Rotated here, absolutely loved it. Did fall behind a few of the bigger names above. Smaller program 3x10 per year, at a hospital that is both community and tertiary care + safety net for city of portland. Great group of residents and attendings, excellent commitment to education. Some of the strongest residents in the hospital, and not a ton of services come down to the ED so they do all their own ortho/optho/ENT. Only show in town and for a huge surrounding area. Portland is a super fun city.

Cons: not as big of a name, no orientation month here. only 2 elective months. A very married resident group, not sure how well that would fit me. No orientation month.

8) University of Utah -
Pros: Huge system w/ University and Intermountain. Very laid back group of residents and attendings. Attendings and leadership at interview dinner and it felt absolutely normal. Lots of ICU time. Good lifestyle balance w/ 8 hour shifts + live close to hospital and recreational things. Really got the teaching as central focus vibe. Very open to change. Salt lake would be an incredible place to live, so much great outdoor stuff.

Cons: newish program, still division of surgery and lots of surg/SICU off service time. Still sometimes anasthesia doing airways in the ED. Got a vibe of people being here more for location than actual program sometimes.

9) Indiana -
Pros: Great program, big name, well oiled machine, concise curriculum. Split time between two huge busy ED's one county and one more tertiary/academic. Great peds program w/ longitudinal peds ED time. Off service ICU heavy. 3 elective months. Big name and great alumni base, can go anywhere. Love the program leadership group. Simulation is incredible here, huge sim center EM heavily involved in for the entire school.

Cons: not at the top of my list for cities.

10) Harbor UCLA -
Pros: Busy county hospital, small faculty group incredibly passionate about teaching. sign out teaching rounds 2x daily. Good graduated responsibility curve, start teaching students end of 2nd year, run the whole department R4. Good work life balance w/ 3 and 4 being more laid back years w/ moonlighting time. Free food. Well known program. Really got the family feel here, very collegial and everyone very happy to be there. Well known faculty, run wikiEM. Live on the beach, great weather.

Cons: lowest pay of all my programs. Intern year more like traditional internship, but still seemed integrated into the program on a personal level. Not much elective time or international support. Reportedly sometimes difficult to get all necessary deliveries on OB. In the end just don't think I'm a county hospital guy, otherwise highland and harbor could easily be 1 & 2.

11) Baystate -
Pros: This is absolutely a hidden gem of a program out in Springfield, Mass. Incredible volume, like 115k. But only 30 or 33 residents so faculty and mid-levels take some of the lower acuity or poor educational value cases and residents just see a ton of sick people. No rigid graduated responsibility to jump right in from the start. Really nice ED and good resources. Very sick population and surprising amount of trauma (Springfield not the nicest area). Most focused on resident wellness of anywhere I looked 9 hour shifts w/ 1 hour overlap, leave on time can always do something outside the hospital even days you work. Very close resident group, very affordable living in some nice towns 10-15 minutes away.

Cons: the name doesn't stack up to some of the others. not quite the alumni network or job placement cache. A bit of an older and married resident group. Still put this ahead of some big names and would be happy and a great doc after going here.

12) Denver -
Pros: has its reputation for a reason and I have no doubt I would be a phenomenal EM physician coming out of here. End up supervising the whole place at university as a 3 and Denver General as R4. Malignant rep is overblown, work hard on offservice especially as intern, and there is no shift reduction as you move up in years, still only about 52 hours a week in the ED. Great faculty and rockstar resident group, know their **** and love to teach. Sign out rounds running the board. Denver is a great city, awesome weather, love the mountains, Napa Valley of beer. Can absolutely write your ticket anywhere after training at Denver

Cons: The being proud of how hard you work thing does just rub me the wrong way, sure it needs to be done, but to me it's a con not a pro. Even if hours are decent it sounds like the never eat, drink, or pee and stay 2 hours after to chart kind of deal. Very minimal elective time.

13) Pitt -
Pros: Great reputation, very efficient 3 year curriculum, lots of ED time. 3rd year pit boss so get teaching time. Really liked the PD here as well. Pittsburgh really surprised me as a city, looks like a lot going on and a nice place to live.

Cons: Another proud of how hard they work place, peds in blocks and not longitudinal, very EMS focused (just not my thing), minimal elective time. ED time split at 4 different sites. Worst interview day experience spent 2+ hours in between interviews just waiting in the conference room for the next one to start.

14) Northwestern -
Pros: This is a great program, best sell on the trail. Really got me fired up and convinced on value of 4th year. Tons of ICU time, every rotation super well thought out. ED chair is CMO of the NW system, and looks out for the residents. Tons of admin opportunities. Get multiple types of health systems with NW downtown, a community hospital in the suburbs and a county hospital in Gary IN. Supervising as an R3 and R4 so tons of teaching time.

Cons: Chicago is just not my city otherwise could be a lot higher. Maybe too resident run, would like more time presenting to attendings. Commuting.

15) UCSF-Fresno -
Pros: Classic county hospital super busy, super sick patients, see and do a ton here everyday. Still good attending support though and commitment to education. Strong US. Close to incredible outdoor stuff. Great free food all the time.

Cons: Boarding is terrible here. Not sold on living in Fresno. ? about strength of off service rotations. 4th year is not pre-tending not sure what it adds.

16) Advocate Christ -
Hands on from the beginning 1:1 with attending and just see however many patients you can, has it's pros and cons and honestly seems pretty overwhelming. Really cool residents and attendings though. Again just don't see myself in Chicago

17) UCLA Olive View -
Wanted to like this more, like the curriculum set up and time split academic and county, lots of elective time and can explore your niche. Great didactics, incredible collegial and family vibe from faculty and residents. Best interview dinner on the trail at former PD's house. This one came down to is location and lifestyle for me. LA super expensive, bad traffic and the commute to Olive view county site is over an hour. Plus 12 hours shifts all 4 years a deal breaker for me.

Other:
Final stats. Applied 32. Withdrew 4 before hearing back. 1 true rejection (MGH). 2 silent rejections OHSU, Penn. Offered 25. Declined 8. 17 is a lot of interviews, but it took me until mid January to really feel confident in what I was looking for in a program. I had the time, got to take some fun trips and think a long list was good for me in the end. I would be ecstatic for my top 6. Very happy through 10. Ok through 14. Probably a little dissapointed 15-17. Just lots of great programs out there
 
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: high 240s, Step 2: low 250s
EM rotations: H/H/H
Medical school region: Midwest
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Strong leadership roles in med school

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Geography, couples match(SOs programs), fit with residents, pathology

1) UT-SW:
Huge ED with a lot of resources, county population, low acuity triaged away from resident areas, lots of community experience 3rd year. Great group of residents that I fit in really well with. Lots of opportunities for residents to take leadership roles. EM in Texas.

2) Northwestern:
Sicker pt population than one might imagine. As we have seen a number of times on this thread Dr. Gisondi and Dr. Adams provide great leadership and give a great sell on interview day. Huge emphasis on what great jobs grads get.

Cons: 4yr with very strong push towards academics

3) Advocate Christ:
Very cool residents, very sick pt. population. Great teaching and great reputation. Big name in the EM world.

Cons: commute, but I could definitely deal

4) St. Luke's-Roosevelt:
Biggest surprise of the trail. Program is fantastic. They have EM only MICU team where the 3rd year serves as a senior as well as a team in the ED that is run by a third year who also has an intern on his/her team. Scheduling is very fair. As far as living in NYC, they provide subsidized housing across from one hospital with free transportation to the other and have a salary that is significantly higher than other non-NYC programs.

Cons: some concern that the patients they see aren't sick enough due to location in upper west side, but residents seemed to refute this.

5) Ohio State:
Highlights include robust ultrasound program(23 residents have gone directly into ultrasound director roles without fellowship) will get more scans as a resident than many fellows have. Leadership committed to resident wellness and a friendly group of residents. New, beautiful ED.

6) UT-Houston:
Large urban sick population. Well run program with good diversity of community experience. Had some concern about fit with residents and their overall happinessons

7) Henry Ford:
Great pathology and reputation. Phenomenal critical care experience for a 3 yr program. Residents seem to mostly be from detroit area or have some connection there. Detroit is definitely on the up, but still a net negative for me

8) JPS:
New program with ambitious leadership. Sick county population. Cool system that tracks resident metrics and encourages friendly competition. Got the impression this place would be a great jumping point into community medicine in Texas(department chair is CEO of large EM group and has great connections)

9) Metrohealth/Cleveland Clinic:
The pathology and standing of the department within the hospital are both positives. Residents were great as well. I loved Cleveland, but couples matching brought this program down the list.

10) U of Michigan:
Great reputation in EM. Great residents.

Cons: 4yrs, I was not a fan of Ann Arbor

11) Pitt:
Primarily this low 2/2 couples matching issues. I loved the program and Pittsburgh.

12) Rochester:
Very friendly group of residents and supportive program leadership. I wanted to live in a bigger city and have a more urban/county ED environment

13) UH/Case:
Program just changed leadership. New leaders seem great and will have the program on track and in great standing in the EM world within a few years, but residency is only 3 years so I'd probably be gone by then
 
doggydog said:
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 250s, Step 2: 250s
EM rotations: H/HP/H
AOA
Medical school region: South
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Overall I had a well-rounded app with a decent mix of research, volunteering, and leadership involvement in EM.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Fit. Reputation. Location (want to leave South). Couples matching with SO going into different competitive specialty. No preference on 3v4. Strong fellowship opportunities. County > community.

1) Denver Health/University of Colorado -
Pros: Top of the top reputation and training. Residents work hard but seem happy and able to enjoy the many outdoor options available. 4th year you a assume a "super attending role" in which you oversee the ENTIRE department (60-80 patients); regular attendings usually staff 12-16 patients at a time. Sounds insane, but they come out of that program as rockstar attendings (I have personal experience working with fresh DH grads; by far the most impressive clinicians I've met). No reduction in shifts as you progress through each year, but they do get more and more elective time and chill rotations in between, so I think it all balances out. Great fellowship opportunities at University, with the Tox and EM/CC ones being some of the strongest in the country. Their off-service rotations (ortho, trauma, even medicine) are all apparently very strong. Multidisciplinary M&M was fantastic. Sick patients and tons of trauma. My SO also liked the city and the UC program in her respective field, so placing DH as my #1 was an easy choice.

Cons: Lack of strong simulation curriculum. Apparently they are working on it, but felt unimpressed by what they have so far. Moonlighting only during 4th year; they have opportunities to do so at the University ED and surrounding states. Denver as a city is becoming more expensive.

2) UCLA Harbor -
Pros: Strong, top county program with amazing pathology as with my #1 choice. Would be thrilled to match here. The faculty seemed great and the residents were a happy bunch, really the type of people I would want to hang out with after shifts. One of my EM faculty mentors graduated from this program and he is such a smart, talented physician. He really set a standard for the type of EM doc I want to be when I grow up. SO would be happy with location and local program(s) in her specialty.

Cons: Not entirely sold on their 4th year. Location is expensive. Some of my interviews were a bit awkward.

3) Johns Hopkins -
Pros: Was really shocked to have liked this program as much as I did. I only went to this interview because of my SO wanting to interview there. Really liked their 3+1 curriculum. Was impressed by the diversity of their residents and faculty. Faculty are all very accomplished. Strong trauma exposure with strong academic component too. Lots of married residents, which is a plus for me and my SO. Great benefits. Strong off service rotations. Excellent conference.

Cons: EM as a department at JH does not get the recognition or respect that the other (older) departments/specialties get. Location is... Not the best to say the least. Some personalities I encountered there seemed a bit elitist.

4) UNC -
Pros: Was really impressed by this program. Faculty and residents seemed really fun and smart. They have Tintinalli working there which is kind of cool. Location ain't to bad, either. Lots of emphasis on resident wellness. Liked the split UNC/Wake Med set up.

Cons: Lots of commute time. Didn't click with most of my interviewers. Overall didn't feel like I would fit in as well with the residents here as with the residents in the programs above.

5) USC-LA County:
It is at this point that I decided to watch Netflix instead of continuing to expand on my rank list. This is a really dope program though. Wouldn't be mad to end up here. SO would, however. See rest of the list below.

6) UCSD
7) Cook County
8) Carolinas Medical Center
9) Palmetto Health
10) Orlando Health
11) Brown
12) Christiana
Click to expand...
See, this is what I mean. Further down the list doesn't need such detailed explanations, but it's the most reasonable.

And, if anyone does the "in no particular order" or "alphabetically", don't bother. That's not a rank list. And I will mock you!
 
clibby said:
So because they have the option to move their family to a place where they don't have to feel discriminated against, they are abandoning other LGBT people? I don't think that is fair at all. You can be an advocate anywhere in the country and the southeast lost out on another doc because it was less welcoming than elsewhere.

We didn't enter medicine to be martyrs at work; at home; at the grocery store, etc.; it is perfectly reasonable to consider how communities treat you and your family (likely not in medicine) in the assessment of geography/fit. It is similar to ranking programs lower because the schools are not as good and you have kids. Could you move to a place with a great program and poor schools with the goal of getting involved in the school board? Sure, but if you don't have to, why would you risk your family unless that is your passion?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the love clibby... in my family's defense, we are both from the North and that's where our families still live... But yes, sociopolitical factors did influence my rank list along with a host of other considerations... YoEMrap, I appreciate your passion for advocacy. Cheers for a fantastic match! RainbowOtterz... I hope all this helps!
 
Everyone, we need to have a serious discussion.

Why is the Pittsburgh 'jeep' still called a 'jeep' when it's apparently not even a jeep anymore?
 
doggydog said:
Everyone, we need to have a serious discussion.

Why is the Pittsburgh 'jeep' still called a 'jeep' when it's apparently not even a jeep anymore?
Click to expand...
The same reason the first utility vehicle was called a jeep even when it wasn't.
(Nobody actually knows)
 
doggydog said:
Submitted anonymously, via Google Form.

Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 260s, Step 2: 260s
EM rotations: HP/H
AOA
Medical school region: Midwest
Anything else that made you more competitive:
Mostly Honors for 3rd year clerkships, otherwise no. No research, been told good SLOEs. EC involvement in non EM interest group.

Main Considerations in Creating this ROL:
Fit/gut first, where would I be the happiest. Reputation within EM and future job prospects. Family feel/how happy residents were. Looking for excellent hands on clinical training. Looking for a place that didn't feel too "academic". Good city to live in. Work life balance. Strong preference against 12 hour shifts. Ok w/ 3 or 4 years as long as 4th year really adds something. No geographic limitations.

1) Vanderbilt -
Pros: This one really gave me the warm fuzzies. Incredible vibe the whole time there. Really fun and welcoming group of residents, everyone excited to be there. The interview day itself really sold me on their passion for teaching, epitome of residents here to learn vs. here to work. Concise curriculum with lots of ICU time. Good support for pretty much anything you want to do. The energy from Dr. Slovis. Had some of my best faculty interviews here, just felt like my kind of people. 10 hour shifts, w/ great work life balance. Most ED time as an intern I saw. Work Titans games

Cons: only 2 months electives, +/- almost all ED at main site limited community time. not a lot to say here

2) Carolinas -
Pros: This was the one I felt were the most "my people" residents incredibly laid back, social group, but also super smart and hard working. Great reputation and well established program with huge alumni network. Nicest hospital and the best free food setup on the trail. Charlotte looks like a great place to live. Conference every year. Huge volume w/ in house peds ED. +/- single site for everything, would be super convenient. Good sim. Work Panthers games.

Cons: lots of floor months: peds and cards, this has been reviewed and discussed and grads say its worth it.

3) Cincy -
Pros: Probably the program that wowed me the most on curriculum. The most well designed graduated responsibility: work with R4 as an intern, run your own pod w/ attending R2, R3 in the recuss area, R4 as pre-tending supervising interns. Amazing flight program starting R2, lots of scene runs and autonomous critical care time. No floor months and tons of ICU time. 6 months of electives, most I saw. First program and incredible name and alumni network. Great resources and really take care of their residents, universally positive interactions w/ faculty and residents on interview day. Most rotations at single hospital. Great childrens hospital in town too. Nicest interview day, pay for hotel and nice dinner. Also close to home, have friends and family there

Cons: Not quite moving away to a cool new city like I want to. A little skeptical of 2nd year leaving ED shifts for flight if needed. Still working on developing an US program, although seems like they are making huge strides this year.

4) Brown -
Pros: This one was my number 1 for quite a while. Very similar curriculum model to Cincinatti, but not pulled out for flight, and get to be a little more involved in procedures/recuss as an intern which I liked. Best PD on the trail, so much energy and enthusiasm, would love to work with her for 4 years. Most rotations at 1 site, great resources there (windows in the ED). Good resources. Great name outside of EM and up and coming within the field. Residents were cool and all seemed very happy. Liked the city a lot and lots to do just a short drive away. They have people plugged into national organizations and leadership everywhere, would be super easy to establish myself in something like that here. Teaching as 4th year. Lots of elective time.

Cons: Had a couple interviews that just seemed a bit stiff and didn't flow very well. Still a little concern it might be too "academic"

5) Michigan -
Pros: Probably the program for critical care w/ the most ICU rotations of anyone at like 11, including time in the EC3 their in the ED 24 hour critical care unit. Really excellent training. Truely split program w/ significant time @ the U and at St. Joe a community hospital also right in Ann Arbor. Then get some "county" time at Hurley in Flint. Do get to jump right in and take care of really sick people as intern w/ less formal graduated responsibility. Cool group of residents w/ really diverse interests. Seniors seemed like they got great job offeres anywhere they wanted to go. Great US and sim programs. +/- elective time in longitudinal tracks w/ shift reduction in years 2-4. Really like college towns and Ann Arbor seems like a great place to live. Conference starts @ 10 a.m.

Cons: 3 or 4 months driving to Flint, although they do really like the experience. Not anything I can list just didn't grab me enough to contend for #1 like the others, but always in my top 5.

6) Highland -
Pros: This was my pre-interview #1 and was up there until I really started finalizing my rank list. It just has a feel about it. All the attendings were super laid back, but loved what they did: teaching, community outreach, caring for underserved population and just being incredible docs in a county hospital. Residents all totally bought in as well and were incredibly welcoming fun group. At Highland get to see and do so much w/o many other residents at all and being the strongest in the hospital. Pioneers of bedside US. Great childrens hospital. plenty of exposure to community @ kaiser and academic at UCSF. Incredible area to live w/ so much to do, amazing weather and landscape. Big name, great alumni base, go anywhere do anything after training here. Free food and GI rounds.

Cons: COL is outrageous, coming from the midwest I just don't know if I can stomach it even w/ the best pay I saw on the trail. 4 months of commuting to UCSF, I don't want to be on the bay bridge twice a day pulling 80 hours a week in the ICU. These seem kind of weak and it was a very hard decision figuring out where to put this program. I'd still be ecstatic to match here.

7) Maine Medical Center -
Pros: Rotated here, absolutely loved it. Did fall behind a few of the bigger names above. Smaller program 3x10 per year, at a hospital that is both community and tertiary care + safety net for city of portland. Great group of residents and attendings, excellent commitment to education. Some of the strongest residents in the hospital, and not a ton of services come down to the ED so they do all their own ortho/optho/ENT. Only show in town and for a huge surrounding area. Portland is a super fun city.

Cons: not as big of a name, no orientation month here. only 2 elective months. A very married resident group, not sure how well that would fit me. No orientation month.

8) University of Utah -
Pros: Huge system w/ University and Intermountain. Very laid back group of residents and attendings. Attendings and leadership at interview dinner and it felt absolutely normal. Lots of ICU time. Good lifestyle balance w/ 8 hour shifts + live close to hospital and recreational things. Really got the teaching as central focus vibe. Very open to change. Salt lake would be an incredible place to live, so much great outdoor stuff.

Cons: newish program, still division of surgery and lots of surg/SICU off service time. Still sometimes anasthesia doing airways in the ED. Got a vibe of people being here more for location than actual program sometimes.

9) Indiana -
Pros: Great program, big name, well oiled machine, concise curriculum. Split time between two huge busy ED's one county and one more tertiary/academic. Great peds program w/ longitudinal peds ED time. Off service ICU heavy. 3 elective months. Big name and great alumni base, can go anywhere. Love the program leadership group. Simulation is incredible here, huge sim center EM heavily involved in for the entire school.

Cons: not at the top of my list for cities.

10) Harbor UCLA -
Pros: Busy county hospital, small faculty group incredibly passionate about teaching. sign out teaching rounds 2x daily. Good graduated responsibility curve, start teaching students end of 2nd year, run the whole department R4. Good work life balance w/ 3 and 4 being more laid back years w/ moonlighting time. Free food. Well known program. Really got the family feel here, very collegial and everyone very happy to be there. Well known faculty, run wikiEM. Live on the beach, great weather.

Cons: lowest pay of all my programs. Intern year more like traditional internship, but still seemed integrated into the program on a personal level. Not much elective time or international support. Reportedly sometimes difficult to get all necessary deliveries on OB. In the end just don't think I'm a county hospital guy, otherwise highland and harbor could easily be 1 & 2.

11) Baystate -
Pros: This is absolutely a hidden gem of a program out in Springfield, Mass. Incredible volume, like 115k. But only 30 or 33 residents so faculty and mid-levels take some of the lower acuity or poor educational value cases and residents just see a ton of sick people. No rigid graduated responsibility to jump right in from the start. Really nice ED and good resources. Very sick population and surprising amount of trauma (Springfield not the nicest area). Most focused on resident wellness of anywhere I looked 9 hour shifts w/ 1 hour overlap, leave on time can always do something outside the hospital even days you work. Very close resident group, very affordable living in some nice towns 10-15 minutes away.

Cons: the name doesn't stack up to some of the others. not quite the alumni network or job placement cache. A bit of an older and married resident group. Still put this ahead of some big names and would be happy and a great doc after going here.

12) Denver -
Pros: has its reputation for a reason and I have no doubt I would be a phenomenal EM physician coming out of here. End up supervising the whole place at university as a 3 and Denver General as R4. Malignant rep is overblown, work hard on offservice especially as intern, and there is no shift reduction as you move up in years, still only about 52 hours a week in the ED. Great faculty and rockstar resident group, know their **** and love to teach. Sign out rounds running the board. Denver is a great city, awesome weather, love the mountains, Napa Valley of beer. Can absolutely write your ticket anywhere after training at Denver

Cons: The being proud of how hard you work thing does just rub me the wrong way, sure it needs to be done, but to me it's a con not a pro. Even if hours are decent it sounds like the never eat, drink, or pee and stay 2 hours after to chart kind of deal. Very minimal elective time.

13) Pitt -
Pros: Great reputation, very efficient 3 year curriculum, lots of ED time. 3rd year pit boss so get teaching time. Really liked the PD here as well. Pittsburgh really surprised me as a city, looks like a lot going on and a nice place to live.

Cons: Another proud of how hard they work place, peds in blocks and not longitudinal, very EMS focused (just not my thing), minimal elective time. ED time split at 4 different sites. Worst interview day experience spent 2+ hours in between interviews just waiting in the conference room for the next one to start.

14) Northwestern -
Pros: This is a great program, best sell on the trail. Really got me fired up and convinced on value of 4th year. Tons of ICU time, every rotation super well thought out. ED chair is CMO of the NW system, and looks out for the residents. Tons of admin opportunities. Get multiple types of health systems with NW downtown, a community hospital in the suburbs and a county hospital in Gary IN. Supervising as an R3 and R4 so tons of teaching time.

Cons: Chicago is just not my city otherwise could be a lot higher. Maybe too resident run, would like more time presenting to attendings. Commuting.

15) UCSF-Fresno -
Pros: Classic county hospital super busy, super sick patients, see and do a ton here everyday. Still good attending support though and commitment to education. Strong US. Close to incredible outdoor stuff. Great free food all the time.

Cons: Boarding is terrible here. Not sold on living in Fresno. ? about strength of off service rotations. 4th year is not pre-tending not sure what it adds.

16) Advocate Christ -
Hands on from the beginning 1:1 with attending and just see however many patients you can, has it's pros and cons and honestly seems pretty overwhelming. Really cool residents and attendings though. Again just don't see myself in Chicago

17) UCLA Olive View -
Wanted to like this more, like the curriculum set up and time split academic and county, lots of elective time and can explore your niche. Great didactics, incredible collegial and family vibe from faculty and residents. Best interview dinner on the trail at former PD's house. This one came down to is location and lifestyle for me. LA super expensive, bad traffic and the commute to Olive view county site is over an hour. Plus 12 hours shifts all 4 years a deal breaker for me.

Other:
Final stats. Applied 32. Withdrew 4 before hearing back. 1 true rejection (MGH). 2 silent rejections OHSU, Penn. Offered 25. Declined 8. 17 is a lot of interviews, but it took me until mid January to really feel confident in what I was looking for in a program. I had the time, got to take some fun trips and think a long list was good for me in the end. I would be ecstatic for my top 6. Very happy through 10. Ok through 14. Probably a little dissapointed 15-17. Just lots of great programs out there
Click to expand...
People like you broke this whole system. It does not take visiting 5 amazing county hospitals to realize you are not a county type of guy. It also does not take visiting 8-9 states to figure out where you want to live or what the COL is like. You my friend are selfish and must be swimming in a pool of money.
 
bananasinpijamas said:
People like you broke this whole system. It does not take visiting 5 amazing county hospitals to realize you are not a county type of guy. It also does not take visiting 8-9 states to figure out where you want to live or what the COL is like. You my friend are selfish and must be swimming in a pool of money.
Click to expand...
This post is bad and you should feel bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

YeeHawWooHoo
Emergency Medicine Schedule
2
Replies
58
Views
2K
Apollyon
A
H
VA emergency medicine
Replies
10
Views
3K
Old_Mil
Old_Mil
WildWing
FAQ - Emergency Medicine
Replies
15
Views
3K
The Knife & Gun Club
The Knife & Gun Club
E
Advice for EM residencies
Replies
27
Views
1K
EctopicFetus
EctopicFetus
I
  • Locked
New ACGME Accredited Emergency Medicine Residency
Replies
19
Views
5K
JacobMcCandles
J
Top