Academic Internship Program Reviews

[space whale]

Hello everyone, like many of you out there I am currently getting my application all ready for a rotating internship! My goal is to stay in an academic environment and go for a surgery residency in the future, so I'm limiting my application to a variety of different university rotating internship programs. I haven't found a thread with reviews on the different programs available yet, so I thought I might start a thread where everyone can post thoughts on the different programs.

Bonus points if you know which schools let interns and residents brings pets to work with them - I have an aging pup I'd love to take with me to work everyday since she's a bit of a medical mess and needs supervision.

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[ukrainiandude]

I have heard that in academic internship you won’t get any hands on surgical experience, only observation.
Don’t know if it’s true.

 

[SocialStigma]

If the only reason that you're limiting yourself to academic internships is because you want to pursue surgery, I just wanted to say that I'm a surgery resident and matched to my current program straight out of a private practice rotating internship. My residentmate in the same year as me also matched out of a private practice internship. There are advantages and disadvantages to academic and private practice internships, but I don't think it's true that it's much harder to match to a residency if you went the private practice route.

Good luck with the match!

 

[space whale]

If the only reason that you're limiting yourself to academic internships is because you want to pursue surgery, I just wanted to say that I'm a surgery resident and matched to my current program straight out of a private practice rotating internship. My residentmate in the same year as me also matched out of a private practice internship. There are advantages and disadvantages to academic and private practice internships, but I don't think it's true that it's much harder to match to a residency if you went the private practice route.

Good luck with the match!

Thanks so much for the advice! There's actually a number of reasons why I want to stay in academia for my internship, primarily the reason being that I want to have opportunities for intern-level research. Plus I'm a lot more comfortable with the internship programs offered through the universities in terms of the program infrastructure and student support. But I"m glad to know that private internships are a good option for would-be surgical residents!

 

[SocialStigma]

Thanks so much for the advice! There's actually a number of reasons why I want to stay in academia for my internship, primarily the reason being that I want to have opportunities for intern-level research. Plus I'm a lot more comfortable with the internship programs offered through the universities in terms of the program infrastructure and student support. But I"m glad to know that private internships are a good option for would-be surgical residents!

Gotcha, it definitely is much easier to get involved with research as an intern in academia!

 

[Lab Vet]

Hi OP,

I attended NC State for vet school, and can vouch that a limited (but generous) quantity of on-site boarding exists for faculty, staff, students, and house officers. I took advantage of this multiple times with my own dog throughout vet school, but mostly during clinical year during time-intensive rotations. There is no charge, and the only stipulation is that owners clean up after their own pets. I was really grateful that NCSU provided this option for its people. It was super helpful, and much appreciated.

Good luck with the match (and beyond) this year. It's a brutal process. Even thinking about it for folks going through it this year makes me depressed.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

I attend U of I. Interns are definitely able to board their pets in the school runs during shifts, but you can't have them with you during the day or 'supervise' them really.

I know there is a lot of frustration with the rotating program here....a ton of ER, interns are treated pretty poorly, etc. As for surgical experience, interns usually fill in the 'sterile assistant' role. I've seen interns hold things and hand things to the surgeon, that's it. Doesn't mean that there's more I haven't seen, of course.

Hi OP,

I attended NC State for vet school, and can vouch that a limited (but generous) quantity of on-site boarding exists for faculty, staff, students, and house officers. I took advantage of this multiple times with my own dog throughout vet school, but mostly during clinical year during time-intensive rotations. There is no charge, and the only stipulation is that owners clean up after their own pets. I was really grateful that NCSU provided this option for its people. It was super helpful, and much appreciated.

Good luck with the match (and beyond) this year. It's a brutal process. Even thinking about it for folks going through it this year makes me depressed.

That's amazing of your school to allow students to board their pets. We are absolutely forbidden from doing so, it's really stupid....and not all clinicians/interns will let you go home after 15 hours to let your dog out.

 

[VetMedSurvivalGuide]

Although you can get some feedback here, I'd encourage you to contact the current interns at programs you're interested in. They will give you the good, the bad and the ugly about their program. Including personal pet policy.

Hands-on surgical experience is highly variable and keep in mind that a private practice internship does not guarantee that even though you're not competing with surgery residents and students. Again, get inside info from the current interns! And, as mentioned above, a private practice internship can also land you a residency. It all depends on the program!

 

[ukrainiandude]

Some Blue Pearl and VCA internship programs seem to have very good residency placement for their interns.

 

[space whale]

Although you can get some feedback here, I'd encourage you to contact the current interns at programs you're interested in. They will give you the good, the bad and the ugly about their program. Including personal pet policy.

Hands-on surgical experience is highly variable and keep in mind that a private practice internship does not guarantee that even though you're not competing with surgery residents and students. Again, get inside info from the current interns! And, as mentioned above, a private practice internship can also land you a residency. It all depends on the program!

Yes, I've been in contact with several schools already and they put me in touch with current interns, which is really wonderful! Cornell and some other programs seem reluctant to give me intern contact info though, so I wanted to try my luck here and see if anyone heard anything about those programs in particular.

 

[JaynaAli]

In my opinion, if place won't let you contact current interns and/or residents, that says all you need to know about the program. Maybe that's being too judgemental, but I don't see any good reason to prevent applicants from talking to current interns. I admit my outlook on my internship is probably more positive now that it's over than when I was early into it (aka when applications for the next round are happening), but I think it's important for people to know what they're getting into. Otherwise, interns quit and then the whole program suffers picking up the slack. When I was an intern the intern director asked me if it was okay if he gave my contact info out to interested parties and it was up to me to decide. I know he asked my other internmates similar questions...there was no secrecy about it.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

In my opinion, if place won't let you contact current interns and/or residents, that says all you need to know about the program. Maybe that's being too judgemental, but I don't see any good reason to prevent applicants from talking to current interns. I admit my outlook on my internship is probably more positive now that it's over than when I was early into it (aka when applications for the next round are happening), but I think it's important for people to know what they're getting into. Otherwise, interns quit and then the whole program suffers picking up the slack. When I was an intern the intern director asked me if it was okay if he gave my contact info out to interested parties and it was up to me to decide. I know he asked my other internmates similar questions...there was no secrecy about it.

Honestly I can see the other side of it. It isn't really the university's place to be giving out employee contact information willy nilly. If I was at a place where my contact info was not publicly available, I would be pissed if they just gave anyone my email without asking me first.

 

[JaynaAli]

Honestly I can see the other side of it. It isn't really the university's place to be giving out employee contact information willy nilly. If I was at a place where my contact info was not publicly available, I would be pissed if they just gave anyone my email without asking me first.

I do see your point from that privacy perspective and I agree that they shouldn't be giving out people's info willy nilly. I guess I was just making the assumption that the programs OP is referencing just flat out said 'no' not 'well hang on and let me ask them if any are willing to talk'. It's not like applicants asking to talk to current interns is a random request...it's pretty standard advice given to people considering an internship. I'd think a program would get these requests every year so asking the current interns if they're okay with the coordinator sharing their info or not when it gets to prime application season makes sense to me.

 

[space whale]

In my opinion, if place won't let you contact current interns and/or residents, that says all you need to know about the program. Maybe that's being too judgemental, but I don't see any good reason to prevent applicants from talking to current interns. I admit my outlook on my internship is probably more positive now that it's over than when I was early into it (aka when applications for the next round are happening), but I think it's important for people to know what they're getting into. Otherwise, interns quit and then the whole program suffers picking up the slack. When I was an intern the intern director asked me if it was okay if he gave my contact info out to interested parties and it was up to me to decide. I know he asked my other internmates similar questions...there was no secrecy about it.

I mean, they sent me a nice pdf of commonly asked questions, so it's not like they're hiding program details. I guess I just wanted to talk to someone because I was under the impression Cornell was like Davis and didn't offer rotating internship. It's definitely listed on VIRMP as a rotating internship though, so...

 

[VIN-Foundation]

I do see your point from that privacy perspective and I agree that they shouldn't be giving out people's info willy nilly.

We also respect our house officers' privacy. So the way we handle these requests is to forward the email to the interns so they can reply if they want to. There are always several interns who are happy to help answer questions about the program.

William Thomas

 

[Lab Vet]

That's amazing of your school to allow students to board their pets. We are absolutely forbidden from doing so, it's really stupid....and not all clinicians/interns will let you go home after 15 hours to let your dog out.

I agree. It was a very nice perk (among so many others) that NCSU offered to all individuals associated with the vet school, in any way. I also had clinicians that were very understanding of me wanting to spend some time with my dog while on rotations. We were allotted an hour of 'discretionary time' on Internal Medicine which we were able to take at leisure throughout the day, so long as that hour didn't impact our patient care, or place an undue burden on faculty/staff/house officers working the service. In general, NCSU was very humane. Administrative and faculty leadership really cared about our well-being as students, and did their best to safeguard our mental health (to the extent possible) throughout all four years. I wouldn't have been able to manage my dog fourth year without NCSU's help. I'm very grateful.

 

[Lab Vet]

We also respect our house officers' privacy. So the way we handle these requests is to forward the email to the interns so they can reply if they want to. There are always several interns who are happy to help answer questions about the program.

William Thomas

As a current resident myself, I would be more than happy to answer questions about my home program for prospective trainees. Trainees want to be sure that the target program matches their personality and goals. Although you can do this while on-site for interviews, the time allotted to spend with current staff is truncated. It's difficult to extract nuanced information from current staff while under the gun for a 30-60 minute interview (per interest group; i.e. residents, staff, faculty). To all prospective interns/residents, I highly recommended reaching out to programs and attempting to secure contact information from current trainees. Speaking with these individuals directly will go a long way towards promoting your candidacy (you cared enough to reach out and establish contact), as well as give you a credible, honest idea of what life will be like in the program. Keep in mind that some of the responsibility is on you as a candidate to 'ask the correct questions' to get at the information that you want. Before you start calling trainees at target institutions, be sure that you're clear on what is most important to you. What are your "deal-breakers" and "must-haves?" I'll provide the information that a candidate is looking for (to the extent that I'm able), but I won't do your homework for you. You need to be clear on what you want, and are ultimately responsible for making the decision as to whether or not a specific program can provide that for you. No program is perfect. All have strengths/weaknesses. Your choice as to training environment is often a compromise between competing interests. Get clear on what these are before you establish formal contact with program staff, and especially before your interviews. Best of success this season to all applying for training positions. It's a very rough road, one that I'd never want to walk again. Just realize that acceptance decisions have as much to do with 'fit' (perhaps even more so) than it does with qualifications. Often times, this is something over which a candidate has no control. In the words of Sven (the puffin) from Happy Feet Two, "If you will it, it can be yours!" Good luck

 

[DVMDream]

I WANT to buy the winning lottery ticket, I WILL myself the winning lottery ticket. The winning lottery ticket WILL be mine!!!!

 

[Lab Vet]

I WANT to buy the winning lottery ticket, I WILL myself the winning lottery ticket. The winning lottery ticket WILL be mine!!!!

Ah, if only it worked that way