Anyone hear from top programs?

[blahblah]

I'm new to SDN. Wish I had known about this place sooner...some pretty neat/useful info here. Just wondering if anyone has heard from the top programs (e.g. MGH, Penn, UCSF, BWH, JHU, Duke, Wash U, etc.) post-interview. Email? Phone call?

I'll start...I've gotten emails from Wash U & BIDMC, but none of the others. In past years (based on prior SDN posts) it seems that people have been contacted by these programs. Any opinions?

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[RetractorFellow]

I got BIDMC too, didn't apply to Wash U.

 

[Soon2BENT]

I got BIDMC too, didn't apply to Wash U.

I'm interested in BI. What did you think? (dont let my screenname fool you, i'm interested in general actually)

 

[njsurgstu]

I heard from BIDMC too- I though I was one of the privileged few but maybe not. They are the only "top" program I've heard from too.

 

[s204367]

Guys,
just to post a thread here. I spent 2 years in GS before switching to anesthesia with no regrets. I inerviewed at all the top programs at the time....BI is no where near a top tier program.....It's affiliation with Harvard is the only thing keeping it going. It is a very good medicine program, but Brigham and MGH are the only real Harvard Surg programs......

 

[TransplantSurg]

This is my first time on this site, but I came on looking for the same type of info. From what I have heard from other applicants (and I have no idea how accurate the info may be ) some have gotten calls from the top places. I also got the email from Wash U, which after talking to others it seems as if a lot may have gotten this from the PD after the interview there. I was told that they made phone calls last week from someone who got a phone call from them...again who knows really. I also heard about people getting phone calls from BI and BWH - this all came from the same two people. I have not gotten the calls from those places. It is hard to know how this all works as I have gotten a lot of mixed info! Don't know if this helps and I don't want to discourage anyone, just wanted to share what I have been hearing! Good luck to all.

 

[HMS '05]

I hate to speak poorly about any program, but I would certainly urge a large degree of caution before ranking BIDMC highly in surgery. Although I only did my Core Medicine and Rads clerkships there, I was extremely underwhelmed by my interaction with their surgery department, especially in comparison to my exposures at MGH and BWH. Whilethey definitely graduate very skilled technicians, even their general surgery residents seem to have almost no emphasis placed on the medical management of their patients. While I was on Medicine, we actually had a few post-op fevers transferred to medicine for management from general surgery!!! Additionally, it seems like a highly malignant program--one of the surgical residents was assigned to be on call on the night of his wedding (despite having notified the department months in advance), and when he complained, he was told "We all have to make sacrifices!". They certainly have a few excellent attendings there, but some other departments lag in star power (their transplant program is the laughingstock of the city, and it was actually shut down for a few months in recent years due to high post-OLT mortality rates).

 

[hatcher]

for those of you blokes hearing from top programs, was it before or after you contacted them? i certified my list in early february and mailed my top 5, telling them they were ranked highly. the programs that have called me have all been those i never contacted.

 

[PFunkAllStar]

I found out after probing my chairman that some programs have called him to ask about me. If you feel comfortable, you may want to inquire.

And I couldn't agree more about the posts on BID...stay away, far far away.

 

[njsurgstu]

Interesting feedback about BID. Thanks. The reviews of BID on scutwork.com were outstanding, so it's interesting to hear a different perspective.

 

[bsrg]

Hi,

I'm currently one of the surgical residents at the BIDMC. I'd like to respond to some the recent posts about our program. 1) We do not transfer patients to medicine for post-operative fevers. Any surgical resident in the country can attest that. We routinely manage a majority of the medical problems and comorbidities our patients encounter. When a patient is readmitted from the ED, even if it is for CHF, MI, or ARF, we generally take them on our service if they have had surgery within the last 3 months. Our SICU's are very busy and filled with patients suffering from derangements of mutliple organ systems, all of which we manage. If we were unable to manage a simple post-operative fever, I think we'd have a hard time managing patients with VADs on CVVHD and ECMO (which we do care for). In fact, I cannot ever recall consulting the General Medical service for any patient, only Cardiology and Nephrology when needed. 2) Regarding the resident scheduled to take call his wedding night -this was a scheduling error and he did not take call that night. We made him take call q2 during his honeymoon (just kidding). 3) Our transplant program is one of the most well rounded, busy, and aggressive in the area. We are one of the few transplant programs in the area which perform liver (including live donor), kidney, and pancreas. The New England Organ Bank can confirm the volume of our program, and attest to the quality of our outcomes. I'd urge you to investigate objective sources prior to labeling a department as a "laughing stock". Good luck with the match.

 

[whipple]

Hi,

I'm currently one of the surgical residents at the BIDMC. I'd like to respond to some the recent posts about our program. 1) We do not transfer patients to medicine for post-operative fevers. Any surgical resident in the country can attest that. We routinely manage a majority of the medical problems and comorbidities our patients encounter. When a patient is readmitted from the ED, even if it is for CHF, MI, or ARF, we generally take them on our service if they have had surgery within the last 3 months. Our SICU's are very busy and filled with patients suffering from derangements of mutliple organ systems, all of which we manage. If we were unable to manage a simple post-operative fever, I think we'd have a hard time managing patients with VADs on CVVHD and ECMO (which we do care for). In fact, I cannot ever recall consulting the General Medical service for any patient, only Cardiology and Nephrology when needed. 2) Regarding the resident scheduled to take call his wedding night -this was a scheduling error and he did not take call that night. We made him take call q2 during his honeymoon (just kidding). 3) Our transplant program is one of the most well rounded, busy, and aggressive in the area. We are one of the few transplant programs in the area which perform liver (including live donor), kidney, and pancreas. The New England Organ Bank can confirm the volume of our program, and attest to the quality of our outcomes. I'd urge you to investigate objective sources prior to labeling a department as a "laughing stock". Good luck with the match.

Here you go folks. Every program in US consider itself the best. Even the worse community program label by students is view by the program as the best. Well, that's why I don't play the name game. When people think of MGH,BIDMC, BWH, Columbia etc what comes in mind first is the name before the training. I guess it doesn't matter where you go. Every program will train you to be a better surgeon. People I have to go and looking forward to the match.
-Whipple

 

[herdgirl]

seems like scutwork is pretty out of date for some programs.