About Me: Midwest DO student, Step 1 - high 230’s, COMLEX 1 - mid 600’s, COMLEX 2 - high 500’s. Didn’t take Step 2. 2nd quartile class rank. Mostly honors-pass with a few honors sprinkled in for 3rd year clerkships. Solid leadership experiences. Some self-directed research but no publications. 4 PM&R rotations, 3 auditions, 1 home PM&R letter, 1 away PM&R letter, 1 FM, 1 Psych
Applied to 40 PM&R programs, 18 invites, went on 13 interviews, ranked all 13.
Applied to 80 prelim/TY’s total (40 each), went on 10 interviews (6 TY, 4 prelim)
Invited but did not attend: Schwab, Virginia, Baylor, Louisville, Temple
Have a family, originally from the west coast so I didn’t apply to many programs on the East Coast/South. My interests have been all over the place over the past few years, especially throughout my auditions. Realized I could be happy doing mostly anything in PM&R as long as the practice setup flows efficiently. As I submitted my rank list I gave preference to programs that had strong MSK training, were closer to home, and were as well-rounded as possible to provide the most exposure. I know I want to have the option of pursuing a pain fellowship so this factored in as well.
Personal Top Tier (alphabetical order)
Mayo
Utah
Washington
Personal 2nd Tier (alphabetical order)
Loma Linda
San Antonio
UC Davis
UPMC
WashU (Barnes-Jewish)
Personal 3rd Tier (alphabetical order)
Carolinas
Georgetown-MedStar
Marianjoy
Rush
UT-Austin
Reviews:
Mayo: most impressive program I interviewed at by far. Felt top-tier in every way, except maybe in the strength of their inpatient exposures but not necessarily weak either. EMG and MSK/Ultrasound training was light years beyond every other program I saw. Very enjoyable interviews with all the top leadership (PD, associate PD, 2 faculty). Everything here just seems to run so efficiently with a TON of support from faculty and consultants in other medical specialties and that would be such a great environment to learn in. Location was sort of a negative given my desire to be in a warmer climate, but my SO would be happy to come here so we shall see...
Utah: I feel this program is rapidly improving, but still feels a touch behind some of the bigger name places. Having said that, the PD is incredibly kind and supportive of her residents. I had my most enjoyable interview of the season with her. Heavy VA exposure (almost 50%). Very well-rounded program with solid exposure to everything with great cost of living in a very desirable location for outdoor activities. Beautiful location of the hospital at the foot of the mountains in SLC. The “balanced” nature put this one in my top 3 even though I think there are objectively “stronger” programs in my list. I think this is true for many other applicants as well so I sense this being a tough one to match to.
Washington: the didactics are top notch tailored to each year and with a strong US curriculum. They hold arguably the most popular board review course for PGY-4's in which they just do a fast-paced rush through their own didactic schedule (all the Mayo residents said they come here for it haha). Strong training in both inpatient and MSK is very evident here. Probably work their residents a little harder than most. New outpatient/sports clinic at Husky stadium seems like great opportunity. 4 mixed sites for inpatient (Harborview trauma, UWMC for medically complex, VA for SCI, and then Children's hospital) so you definitely cover it all. Call is tough and multiple sites to drive to without paid parking and a high cost of living are the major downsides. Other than that it is a juggernaut of a program in a beautiful city. The alumni network and name recognition for jobs and fellowships on the west coast coming from UW is a HUGE plus. New PD is very motivated (she trained and has worked there as a TBI specialist for years so knows the program well) and involved in national leadership and research. I can tell she will push her residents to be the best.
Loma Linda: This is my dark horse. A relatively unknown program on SDN, but for me it had the best mix of location, curriculum, call/resident lifestyle, and a rapidly improving strength of resident fellowship placement. 2 residents going into ACGME pain (one at Mayo Scottsdale), and another in ACGME Sports. Relatively new PD from RIC has really developed the curriculum into something great. Awesome categorical intern year, tons of VA inpatient & outpatient exposure (50%), solid EMG/MSK/US training, laid back atmosphere, relaxed call schedule, and solid inpatient training. Only weakness might be in SCI if that’s your interest. Had almost zero expectations going into this interview besides it being in Southern California. Never see anything about LL on here other than getting a negative rep for its religious affiliations (which matter a lot more for their med school rather than their residency programs IMO). Some residents were religious, but at least half weren’t and said it didn’t bother them or affect their training. I'm not religious at all and honestly I found this just made everyone seem very kind and focused on healthy lifestyle habits. Would be very happy here.
San Antonio: Another extremely strong and well-rounded program. PD and Chair are fairly intense, but are really dedicated to training their residents well. PD wrote the book on EMG’s and the Chair does interventional pain so you will get plenty of procedural experience. Intern year is awesome with 3 months in ortho clinic practicing MSK and joint injections and a mix of rheum, neuro, and geriatrics rotations. Super strong rotations at the VA with dedicated SCI unit. Main hospital, Reeves rehab, and VA all connected, so you only have to go off-site for community rehab and peds I believe. If I were from the Texas area this would be in my top 3. Negatives might be that they seem like a more intense program with a unique night-float system for call schedule which may not appeal to some.
UC Davis: close to home for me so its higher than it otherwise might have been. I really wanted to like them more, but the size of the program (3 per class) and relatively weak inpatient training just stuck with me when making my rank list. Have excellent exposure to dedicated sports/spine outpatient clinics. Although they have a unique exposure to neuromuscular disease and peds patients that I didn’t see anywhere else, that just isn’t my main interest so it doesn’t make sense to spend the extra time on those rotations. Strong support from the PD and faculty here though, everyone seems like 1 big family, and they get solid fellowships, a few doing Pain and their ACGME Sports fellowship with Dr. Davis is supposedly the best if you want to work for a sports team or do coverage. Definitely a solid program but has to be a good fit for you.
UPMC: honestly this is, IMO, a top 5 national program. Their interview day was truly impressive with endless presentations of the cutting-edge research their doing here. Strong in all outpatient/inpatient (dedicated services). Awesome TY-style intern year for 7/9 residents. Sports exposure at the Penguins training facility if that’s your thing. Pittsburgh is definitely getting a makeover as a city but the bottom line for me was that my SO and I have no desire to live in Pittsburgh. Other than that I don’t see many weaknesses with this program.
WashU (Barnes-Jewish): interesting program here. Also had minimal expectations going into my interview day but ended up enjoying myself the whole time. Really like the small city/big town vibe of St. Louis. No dedicated PM&R department (mixed Neuro and Ortho I think) but the new PD and the sports fellowship director (Metzler and Prather) have doubled down to try to make this a top 10 program. Huge emphasis on MSK training to their philosophy. I think this is going to be a vastly different experience (for the better) for incoming residents than those from years past. Negatives would be that although there is a lot of promise with new leadership and new direction, they don’t have the best history for previous residents and it's hard to make the jump and go with a program like that.
Carolinas: solid program with arguably the best moonlighting opportunity of any residency. Essentially you can stay late to admit patients to the rehab unit from 5-10pm and make $150 per admission without the need for a separate license. PD is very proud of the program’s accomplishments and places a lot of importance in national leadership. Strong variety of exposure to both inpatient and peds. MSK sounds solid, but they haven’t fully integrated Ultrasound into their curriculum as much as a lot of other programs. Don't want to live this far east, but Charlotte seems like a really nice city.
Georgetown-MedStar: very unique program. PD integrates novel technologies and learning assessments to gear residents for boards. Developed options for Research track or Ultrasound training which encompasses 6 months of rotations out of your 3 rehab years there. Probably the next best place besides Mayo if you want great training in Ultrasound during residency. Great name and solid leadership, but I really don’t want to live in DC. Other than that, seems like a great place.
Marianjoy: community-based rehab program in Chicago suburbs. PD is very nice and intelligent, RIC graduate. Basically we just talked about life during my whole interview. Seems like a very comfortable environment to train, especially if you have a family and want to live in the suburbs. At the end of the day though I felt like I wanted a program with more resources and more opportunities.
Rush: probably my favorite residents of any program. Everyone just seemed in such a good mood and got along so well. You get 6 months elective time 4th year to tailor your training. Mixed inpatient service. Cool integrative medicine/MSK experience for a few months at Cook County hospital. Solid place that will get you great training. Not sure that I want to live in Chicago though.
UT-Austin: fun, young hipster city. PD has a very interesting and inspirational philosophy about resident education. Goes to great lengths to show the interviewees around the city and all the training sites himself. Very balanced curriculum with even amounts inpatient/outpatient/consult experiences each year. Newer program with only 2 residents per class. Would enjoy being here but there are just other programs I liked more and would rather be.
Overall I (mostly) loved all the places I interviewed at. Ranking programs is a very personal decision and will vary with everyone’s unique circumstances. With PM&R I honestly feel like you’d be hard set to find a program that will not be able to give you what you need to succeed and achieve your career goals. As many residents have told me it is faaaar more dependent on the individual resident and how much of a 'go-getter' they are rather than riding the coattails of a prestigious school (although that can certainly help). So for me I used location + strength of training to organize my list into tiers, and then relied on my gut feeling from personal interactions and how I fit in to order them after that. I’ve learned a lot from the info on previous years threads here and would be happy to chat more about any program, just PM me. Good luck everyone! I'll post my ordered list after match.
