Any salient info on these residency programs?

[PepeGotera]

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Any comments on the following residency programs?

Case Western
UT Memphis
SUNY Downstate
Baystate
UTHSC San Antonio
UAMS Little Rock
Oklahoma OUHSC

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
PG

 

[exPCM]

My understanding is as follows: I have not been there but I talked to someone at the Ackerman Academy at one time (which has a dermpath fellowship affiliated with SUNY Downstate) and was told they generally do not select path residents from SUNY Downstate for the dermpath fellowship since the caliber of the path residents and the path training at SUNY Downstate has not been the greatest.

UAMS - IMO solid program, excellent hemepath - they are probably the leading center in the world for multiple myeloma (Sam Walton had multiple myeloma and made a large donation).

UT Memphis - My understanding is that it has crumbled into a below average program and is located in a crime ridden and dangerous neighborhood. I have heard that many residents and students there have personal stories about being affected by the crime.

Case Western - My understanding is this is a solid but not spectacular program.

Baystate - IMO it is probably not in the top 5 programs in the state of Massachusetts.

 

[PepeGotera]

Thanks for the info exPCM.

Wow, I was not aware that UT Memphis is in such a bad situation, thanks for the tip.

 

[TMZ2007]

I interviewed at Memphis last year and can confirm the observations by exPCM.

Minuses: The program is divided through multiple hospitals, including the county place (with academic staff), St. Jude's, and two private hospitals with private practice groups. My understanding about surg path at the private practice rotations was that it was basically shadowing. Preview some cases and then signout; seemed like residents didn't have much opportunity to workup cases independently. Your rotations are scattered all around these places, as I recall. Conferences are only once a week (since everyone is spread out). First-time boards-passing rates were below average.

You'd have to have a very tight grasp on a program like this to make sure that residents are getting trained effectively, and it seemed at the time that they weren't making sure of that and that you might easily fall through the cracks.

Plusses: lots of fellowships including Derm and Heme. The pathology at St. Jude's is rumored to be wicked-crazy. They claimed that PA coverage was such that you could gross as much (or little) as you wanted and no one cared. Memphis, although crime-ridden (#2 in the country by some statistics), is a major city with big-city amenities. If you wanted to work in the south, it seemed as though they had a large network of graduates (the program is really old) that you might hook up with.

 

[lipomas]

I think the chair at baystate is the current ABPath president. They are kind of a hybrid academic-private practice program. They don't seem to attract great residents unless they happen to be residents who like that area of the country (there aren't many programs within a couple hour drive). I don't know much else about it.

 

[PepeGotera]

I interviewed at Memphis last year and can confirm the observations by exPCM.

.

Thanks for the detailed response, TMZ2007. Did not know about the area much, but applied there based on the fellowship list. Any perspective on comparison of UT Memphis (bad training, but fellowships and connections) v/s a program without fellowships (say a William Beaumont or Rush university)?

PG

 

[PepeGotera]

I think the chair at baystate is the current ABPath president. They are kind of a hybrid academic-private practice program. They don't seem to attract great residents unless they happen to be residents who like that area of the country (there aren't many programs within a couple hour drive). I don't know much else about it.

Thanks lipomas for the info.

I also found a couple of threads in the forum on baystate which answered most of my questions.

 

[Ziehl-Neelsen]

UTHSC: I have heard very good things about this program recently. It is truly the only game in town in one of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. Brooke Army Medical Center and Wilford Hall Medical Center are in San Antonio, but obviously they are not treating the same patient populations. The hospital is exploding in size and the recent graduates have a well-connected pipeline into private practice groups throughout central TX. Also, there is a wealth of subspecialty expertise in their faculty with more than a couple fellowships.

 

[BamaAlum]

I am a current resident in internal medicine program at UAMS. The program is extremely busy and geared towards extracting as much work from residents and more so IMG's . There is hardly any emphasis on teaching or scholarly activities . The program is also very unstable in the sense that residents are constantly leaving and coming and there changes being forced upon residents . The most depressing thing is that several fellows from different university and county hospitals across the country were shocked to see the amount of work internal medicine residents were putting in (or asked to do) at a academic university based setting. The program leaves much desired and if If I were to go to match again, will rank this program much lower. If any prospective US or IMG applicant has a specific question then I will happy to answer to the best of my ability.
The only good thing for visa seekers is that this is an H1 program , at least for now. Also it gives no preference to it's own candidates for cardiology and GI fellowship

?? Think you may be lost.
What does this have to do with the Pathology residency program?? Arkansas is an up and coming program in my mind. As was stated before, they have a great heme reputation and also seem to have a good dermpath presence. If you like living in Arkansas I would definitively check it out.

Oh, and as someone who currently practices in Tennessee I can confirm that the UT-Memphis program sux big time. Worst interview day of my life. Don't waste your time.

 

[KeratinPearls]

I am a current resident in internal medicine program at UAMS. The program is extremely busy and geared towards extracting as much work from residents and more so IMG's . There is hardly any emphasis on teaching or scholarly activities . The program is also very unstable in the sense that residents are constantly leaving and coming and there changes being forced upon residents . The most depressing thing is that several fellows from different university and county hospitals across the country were shocked to see the amount of work internal medicine residents were putting in (or asked to do) at a academic university based setting. The program leaves much desired and if If I were to go to match again, will rank this program much lower. If any prospective US or IMG applicant has a specific question then I will happy to answer to the best of my ability.
The only good thing for visa seekers is that this is an H1 program , at least for now. Also it gives no preference to it's own candidates for cardiology and GI fellowship

Dudes in the wrong forum.

 

[MirkoCrocop]

?? Think you may be lost.
What does this have to do with the Pathology residency program?? Arkansas is an up and coming program in my mind. As was stated before, they have a great heme reputation and also seem to have a good dermpath presence. If you like living in Arkansas I would definitively check it out.

Oh, and as someone who currently practices in Tennessee I can confirm that the UT-Memphis program sux big time. Worst interview day of my life. Don't waste your time.

Lol sounds like my experience at MCG. However, you gotta be careful about making generalizations based on one day. From an interviewees perspective, we don't always want programs making generalizations about us based on limited exposure!

 

[moonraker]

Any comments on the following residency programs?

Case Western
UT Memphis
SUNY Downstate
Baystate
UTHSC San Antonio
UAMS Little Rock
Oklahoma OUHSC

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
PG

Wow you sure are aiming high. OK...one, maybe two, respectable program(s) on this list. You might as well add St. Luke's-Roosevelt on that list if you're this ambitious.

Goddamn...too many stupid people applying to pathology these days.

As long as pathology is considered a field for refugees, we will never get the respect we deserve!

 

[jace's mom]

Wow you sure are aiming high. OK...one, maybe two, respectable program(s) on this list. You might as well add St. Luke's-Roosevelt on that list if you're this ambitious.

Goddamn...too many stupid people applying to pathology these days.

As long as pathology is considered a field for refugees, we will never get the respect we deserve!

Was this really necessary? I think at least four of the listed programs are solid enough, based on what I've heard. And if you want to be offered respect, perhaps you should start by offering it to others.