Best program on my list?

[KJKZO]

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Hey everyone,
I am just finishing up interviews like everyone else, and I am having trouble picking a program to put number one..... I need help. Now, I have a lot of other factors, the biggest being I am couples matching with someone going into medicine. She is from Chicago, and I am from Florida, so that plays into this as well. Right now I am planning on ranking....in this order or close to it

UMiami
ECU
Schwab
Mount Sinai
Tufts
EVMS(good medicine program for my fiancee)
Albert Einstein(havent interviewed there yet, going next week)
Marianjoy
Kingsbrook Jewish

Now most people will say I should rank Mount Sinai higher, but we really dont want to stay in NY , we are living there now for rotations, and neither one of us enjoy living in NY.
So im trying to find any input people game give me about my list so far, and whether I am making a huge mistake anywhere or any concerns I should have about these programs. Thanks a lot for your input!

Good Luck everyone

 

[drvlad2004]

If you and your fiancee do not enjoy living in NYC, then you won't enjoy residency there either. Mt. Sinai is good program especially with inpatient (TBI and SCI). It is probably the better of the Manhattan programs. However, if you don't enjoy living in NYC, then you definitely hate the NYC programs (tougher call schedules, inpatient heavy). NYC is expensive and most of the residency programs give much lower salaries, compared to outside NYC, despite the significantly high cost of living. Manhattan is better suited for totally single people who can deal with living in an expensive shoebox.

I have interviewed at Schwab. It is a great program. Dr. Gittler is very friendly and personable. Great SCI population and decent outpatient rehab. I do not know you but this program might be for you since your wife is from Chicago and you would be close to her family. Also UMiami looks like a promising program but still in it infancy.

 

[PMR2008]

I am in a very similar dilemma. I am from Florida and my wife is from Chicago. I have not interviewed at some of the places you listed but, since living in NYC is out of the question for you I would rank the programs as follows

Schwab - Like drvlad2004 mentioned, excellent and very well rounded program. You will love it if you don't mind dealing with the under-served population. You wouldn't want to live in the area around Schwab but downtown is only 10 minutes by car and 15 by subway. With 13 out of 21 faculty from RIC no wonder its called the mini- RIC.

Marianjoy - I would rank them higher if location is your primary criteria used to rank the programs. Other wise they would be lower down the list. I rotated at the program and I think even though they have excellent facilities they lack in didactics and fellowship placement.

UMiami - A friend of mine just rotated through them and had good things to say. I think it is a steadily improving program and since you are from Florida you should definetly consider it. I didn't apply to any of the Florida programs because they are weaker than the east coast and midwest programs.


ECU
Mount Sinai
Tufts
EVMS
Albert Einstein
Kingsbrook Jewish


From the interview trail I have not heard too many good things about Tufts, Einstein or Kingsbrow but since you interviewed there you should have a better idea. Now that I am done with my ROL in the end it all came down to location and gut feeling. I feel that if you have the passion and enthusiasm for PM&R you can excel at any program that provides you adequate exposure in all the fields of rehab.

 

[normalforce]

Miami

Good program. Great location. Good fellowship placement if u want that.

GL

 

[jackpmr]

I would put Kingsbrook jewish on top of the list.
There are re-arranging a lot of things in the program and got rid of some "bad-apples" attendings. Also, theri board pass rate last year was 65% (up from 45% the year before). By the time you get around to doing ther ,I think it would be a pretty good program.

 

[ampaphb]

I would put Kingsbrook jewish on top of the list.
There are re-arranging a lot of things in the program and got rid of some "bad-apples" attendings. Also, theri board pass rate last year was 65% (up from 45% the year before). By the time you get around to doing ther ,I think it would be a pretty good program.

OP doesn't want to stay in NY, therefore Kingsbrook, Einstein, and Mt. Sinai are all at the bottom of the list

 

[dc2md]

I interviewed at four of your programs listed. Here's what I think:

Miami: loved the program director (Dr. Sherman). he really seems to be putting together a great program. some programs (probably most actually) want to just slide by with the status quo and not try to change with the times (a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy). he seems to actually want to build a top notch program...gotta love that. miami itself was a big drawback for me...i was intimidated by the high spanish speaking population. can't beat the weather though (kicks RIC and Mayo's butt in that category)

EVMS: had a lot of peds (four months and heavy months at that) that i wasn't interested in. and the cost of living was way higher than i thought it would be. beautiful part of virginia though.

ECU: small college town (but i didn't mind that). low cost of living. very nice facilities. i actually really liked this program. the faculty were all really nice too.

Marianjoy: beautiful stand-alone hospital. attending dictate all daily progress notes. very little interventional experience. moderately high cost of living. just outside chicago which was a plus for me. bone chilling cold winters NOT a plus.

my personal ROL would be: 1) Miami, 2) ECU, 3) EVMS/Marianjoy (tied)

good luck with your ROL. just remember, you might not get what you want, but that may actually turn out for the better...it did for me.

-chris