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MD/TX2006

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Boston Univ/BMC just f-cked me over. They offered me a date to interview in January and then when I am trying to confirm, they pulled this crap "We don't have ANY January interview dates- who offered you this date?" And they don't even interview during the entire month of JANUARY??? Is this right?

Anyway, beyond that insane reply (which was accusatory instead of apologetic!!!) should I even bother interviewing there???
 
There is a review on this program on the interview review thread that seems in keeping with what you have just described. My only knowledge of this program is second-hand, but it was persuasive enough to keep me from applying (and I'm looking strongly at nearly all of the Boston programs). Good luck.
 
I can speak first hand about this program as I recently interviewed there.

Overall, I think they have an average to strong clinical program. You'll do a lot of cases and be very prepared when you finish. They also have a demonstrable committment to education with a brand new multimedia room and a kick-ass web site for the residents.

However...

The interviewing experience was embarrasing at best. I received no confirmation of the interview so I called the day prior to ensure everything was all set, and proceeded to get attitude from the secretary..."why wouln't everything be all set?" was the response. When I arrived, there was no schedule and we all sat in a room for 30 minutes after the start time waiting. Finally the vice-chair greeted us an proceeded to mumble about the program for an hour, putting almost all of us to sleep. It was totally unorganized, unprepared and overall boring and worthless. After that, we went on a mini-tour and met two residents. After we left the room where the residents were studying, the vice-chair proceeded to throw one of the residents (who we just me) under the bus and describe how, duriing a recent trauma at 200 in the morning, she proceeded to make multiple errors of "ommission and commission." His point was that BMC is a great teaching hospital because he was with her and was able to debrief her afterwards, etc... Bottom line is that the guy trashed one of his residents infront of a group of applicants. NOT AN ATTENDING I WANT TO WORK WITH. We then went back to the room and each had 2 - 3 interviews (we were all suppossed to have 3 but they were short staffed). No closing words, just a secretary come in and say "alright, you guys are done." No parking validation (cost me $15.00).

The worst part about it was the lack of contact with residents. There was a first year resident who sat with us while people were getting interviewed but he must have been paid to be there. He couldn't think of anything negative about the program except for the food in the hospital cafe. Being a CA-1, he did not know the answers to many of our questions. There was no offer for contact with upper-level residents. This means one of two things... 1) they are too busy to meet with us (a bad sign) or 2) the administration is afraid of what they will say (a really bad sign).

The program does have strong points. it is small (7 residents/year) and 2 - 4 residents ever year stay on as attendings after graduation, meaning they probably had a good experience. The Chair is a nice guy, very charasmatic. Good case numbers, great trauma. Weak in OB, only kidney transplants (nothing more complicated), constantly in the shadow of MGH< Brigham, Beth Israel, lots of FMGs (some would consider this a weakness).

Final analysis... This should be a safety school only. If they will not accomodate you in January, consider it a gift and take the money you would have spent on airfare and parking and double it on a trip to Vegas. Good clinical program, no real research to speak of. Boston is the greatest city in the country, but also one of the more expensive.

If you are really interested in interviewing, email the Chairman directly and ask if he can help. Do not go through the secretary because you might get stonewalled.

Hope this helps.
 
You would never guess what happened!

The secretary started lying about me "changing dates all the time" (which I never did). No ever said "I'm sorry", instead I got blamed for requesting a date in January. (I'm sorry, does it not say in FREIDA BMC interviews until 1/31/2006???)

So, her superior steps in and said I'm being harsh on her for not recognizing how stressful the coordinator's job is. 😎

Damn- a Vegas trip would be awesome, but I was "prepared" and already have a flight out there! So, finally the office manager offers me an personal interview day but cannot guarantee the the Chair or PD will be there.

Well- at least I get to visit Boston... with my fabulous fiance (he's interviewing too) and we'll make a trip out of it!

Thanks for the thoughts,
I'm sure it's a fine training program, but crap like this just makes me 😡
 
MD/TX2006 said:
You would never guess what happened!

The secretary started lying about me "changing dates all the time" (which I never did). No ever said "I'm sorry", instead I got blamed for requesting a date in January. (I'm sorry, does it not say in FREIDA BMC interviews until 1/31/2006???)

So, her superior steps in and said I'm being harsh on her for not recognizing how stressful the coordinator's job is. 😎

Damn- a Vegas trip would be awesome, but I was "prepared" and already have a flight out there! So, finally the office manager offers me an personal interview day but cannot guarantee the the Chair or PD will be there.

Well- at least I get to visit Boston... with my fabulous fiance (he's interviewing too) and we'll make a trip out of it!

Thanks for the thoughts,
I'm sure it's a fine training program, but crap like this just makes me 😡

You're not alone. I interviewed there earlier in the season and thought the coordination on the part of the secretary / office manager was deplorably unprofessional. We never met the residency coordinator (who sent us the scheduling info) at all, and we were met at the door by the office secretary (NOT the coordinator), who said, "You're too early. Don't come into the office."

The interview day consisted of sitting in the conference room by ourselves (just applicants) for most of the day, with the occasional resident and attending dropping by for a few words here and there. We saw very few residents, and perhaps it is possible to speculate that they were either too busy or hand-picked to talk to us. The PD/vice-PD and/or chair talked but had no agenda (very informal, off the cuff). We saw no other attendings and no other residents.

If the coordinator said she could "make up" an interview date for you but can't guarantee if the PD/chair will be there, after being defensive and trying to cast the blame on you for her mistake, I am not sure that I would take the interview if I were in your shoes. I would think there was no guarantee that they were seriously considering me as an applicant after all that. Fly to Boston if you want, but seriously, I would just spend the day chilling with the fiance. The interview day did very little to convince me that the program was worthwhile to interview at, much less live at for three years.
 
jennyboo said:
You're not alone. I interviewed there earlier in the season and thought the coordination on the part of the secretary / office manager was deplorably unprofessional. We never met the residency coordinator (who sent us the scheduling info) at all, and we were met at the door by the office secretary (NOT the coordinator), who said, "You're too early. Don't come into the office."

The interview day consisted of sitting in the conference room by ourselves (just applicants) for most of the day, with the occasional resident and attending dropping by for a few words here and there. We saw very few residents, and perhaps it is possible to speculate that they were either too busy or hand-picked to talk to us. The PD/vice-PD and/or chair talked but had no agenda (very informal, off the cuff). We saw no other attendings and no other residents.

If the coordinator said she could "make up" an interview date for you but can't guarantee if the PD/chair will be there, after being defensive and trying to cast the blame on you for her mistake, I am not sure that I would take the interview if I were in your shoes. I would think there was no guarantee that they were seriously considering me as an applicant after all that. Fly to Boston if you want, but seriously, I would just spend the day chilling with the fiance. The interview day did very little to convince me that the program was worthwhile to interview at, much less live at for three years.

Gotta agree. I posted this in the interview review section, but just to let everyone know that the experiences y'all are having is common, I will repost it here.



teep said:
BMC
S: Not a good vibe here. Most of the staff seemed disinterested in the interviewees. Day started with an off-the-cuff presentation lasting about 45 min, after a 45 min wait in a small room with some coffee and continental type breakfast. It seemed that the vice pd spoke a lot, but never really said anything. After he excused himself for whatever reason, the other students all kinda looked at each other with a "what happened" look on their face. One was even entertaining the idea of walking out, but decided against it. After a 20 minute period after the vice PD walked out, he came back in mumbling something about "he's not showing up," and decided to start the interviews. I was invited into his office, at which point he opens my file, looks me in the eye, and says "I haven't read your file... what schools did you go to?" So after regurgitating that part of my PS, he asks me what my board score means, and I answer "nobody really knows... the nbme keeps it that way so that they can prevent tampering etc..." then, realizing that he is unprepared, he hits me with "what questions do you have for me?" After I finish interviewing him (b/c that is what really happened) I walked out realizing that he never really answered any of my questions. Turns out, he was vague as hell with the other interviewees too. So fast forward a few mins to interview 2 w/PD "why anesthesia" he asks... so, after reading him that part of my personal statement, he then hits me with "well what questions do you have for me" Again, vague as could possibly be. We go back into our holding area, are fed some lasagna, and a cuppla residents make their way down... one at a time b/c the attendings that were interviewing us had to go upstairs to relieve them... so I figure maybe I can get some meat outta these cats.
me: "how do you like the program?"
res1: "it's good"
me: "how's the teaching?"
res1: "it's good"
me: any negatives
res1: "not really"
me: "do you mind if I borrow your mom for a while... my room gets lonely"
res1: "not really"
the last one was a mental extrapolation. Anyhow, the other residents were pretty vague, and only answered questions that were qualitative, with good being the only option.
The tour of the campus was cancelled b/c our guide was too busy with a case. This last sentence speaks volumes about the program, as well as leads me into...

O: Work hard. CA1= 8 call/mo, 2=6-7, 3=5-6. Call rooms not shown to us. $8 on call food, $4 postcall in a cafeteria that serves termite $hit and eye of newt. Pay=50K. Parking 35/mo. Housing= expensive as all hell. Ancillary staff is hit or miss. No time to study, no time for research, residents looked haggard, and tired. PD makes it clear that they are looking to train people they want to hire into their private group... which works their as$es off. AV room is cutting edge, but small as a closet. Along with this is the web-based access. You can see the lectures b4-hand, and do questions. Board pass last yr=100%. Nice touch screen projector. Strong in peds, regional improving, hearts are strong, only kidney transplants, poor in neuro d/t lack of cranis, ob improving. Residents have no problem getting fellowships in elite neighboring programs. No autochart system= you're charting everything for every case. Boston is cool, tons of things to do.

A: Everyone is so vague b/c they can't really soften the crappy work/learn ratio verbally without scaring off students.

P: I'll quit medicine if this is where I end up matching (negotiable). Even so, I'll rank 'em d/t my fear of not matching. They will be ranked according to above review.
 
after many years of experience with interviews here is some food for thought:

Whatever attitude or personality the program's office has - will only get worse after you are accepted. It makes a huge difference when you can walk into a PDs office and make crazy requests and get them all approved with a smile...
 
gasguy06 said:
Boston is the greatest city in the country, .

If it wern't for the Harbor, snow, big dig, Logan, Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots then maybe...

...sorry just pushing buttons.

That program sounds like a peice of dog shyt and Tenesma is dead on right - how you are treated on an interview is easily twice as good as you will ever be treated again.
 
Don't know why I bothered going on this interview based on all I have read and know. I would sooner change specialties than work at this hole.
 
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