Cambridge Residency...Is it the Harvard experience?

[blackberry13]

I will be interviewing at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School and was told by a resident at Columbia that it is not the "true Harvard experience." She also stated my degree would not say Harvard on it, but rather Cambridge Hospital. I wanted to know if their is any truth to this. I have heard many good things about Cambridge from people on this site, but it would be a little bit of a bummer if the degree I hang up in a private practice didn't have the Harvard name on it. If anyone has any information on Cambridge currently, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[notdeadyet]

If nothing else, I'm sure someone could keep a Harvard mug on their desk and raise it every time they wanted to pretentiously drop the name "Harvard" into conversation.

(This isn't a habit limited to Harvard, god knows. It seems to be pretty rampant with both Stanford and USC on my coast...)

 

[TexasPhysician]

If nothing else, I'm sure someone could keep a Harvard mug on their desk and raise it every time they wanted to pretentiously drop the name "Harvard" into conversation.

(This isn't a habit limited to Harvard, god knows. It seems to be pretty rampant with both Stanford and USC on my coast...)

We can't practice medicine wearing a Harvard t-shirt?

 

[HCE]

I will be interviewing at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School and was told by a resident at Columbia that it is not the "true Harvard experience." She also stated my degree would not say Harvard on it, but rather Cambridge Hospital. I wanted to know if their is any truth to this. I have heard many good things about Cambridge from people on this site, but it would be a little bit of a bummer if the degree I hang up in a private practice didn't have the Harvard name on it. If anyone has any information on Cambridge currently, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

Why would you listen to a Columbia resident about the "Harvard experience"? Personally I would seek the opinion of a Cambridge resident or Cambridge alumnus/a. And so what if your degree says Cambridge vs. Harvard? Are you really under the mistaken impression that this is how you will be "judged" by your peers or patients?

 

[psychotrope]

I will be interviewing at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School and was told by a resident at Columbia that it is not the "true Harvard experience." She also stated my degree would not say Harvard on it, but rather Cambridge Hospital. I wanted to know if their is any truth to this. I have heard many good things about Cambridge from people on this site, but it would be a little bit of a bummer if the degree I hang up in a private practice didn't have the Harvard name on it. If anyone has any information on Cambridge currently, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

who gives a ****? People who matter will know what it is, and if you do private outpt stuff most of your more informed pts(especially if you are in that area) will know what it is.....

and pts aren't going to get close enough to see your diploma anyways....if they asked you where you trained, just say "harvard at cambridge" or something like that......

it's really silly iow....

 

[TexasPhysician]

This is a funny thread.

 

[americanidiot]

I only go to Harvard doctors so i would sue you for false advertising. And by Harvard doctors I mean that you went there for undergrad, med school, adult residency, AND child and adolescent fellowship. And by fellowship I mean that you a) had sex with every other fellow regardless of sex, because they also went to harvard and b) you wear Harvard boxer-briefs with the VE-RI-TAS logo all over them.

THAT is the Harvard experience. Anything short of that is, well, Columbia (no offense!)

 

[OldPsychDoc]

My diploma says "[state school]" and my residency diploma says "[evil out-of-state rival state school]", but the really BIG diploma in my office says "American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology".

And despite the "[cheap-***** state school]" diplomas, I'm still working until 6:00 every night and my existing patients can't get in to see me until November...

(And FWIW, on the subject of pieces of paper...line 37 on form 1040 says $Xxx,xxx and the balance on my one remaining student loan says $X,xxx.)

 

[Psychelle]

Thank god for http://stylesizzle.onsugar.com/tag/Harvard+Yard+clothing , it's a lifesaver for times when sweatshirts just aren't appropriate!

 

[277768]

😛😛

Who would have thought that psychiatrists would be so narcissistic! Its like living in the fishbowl....Oooh. You went to some state school...

NEWS FOR HARVARD-OBSESSED SHRINKS: At the end of the day, CaribMDs and DOs will be equivalent to you in most cities. See how much that pettiness got you?

 

[WhoisJohnGalt]

My diploma says "[state school]" and my residency diploma says "[evil out-of-state rival state school]", but the really BIG diploma in my office says "American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology".

And despite the "[cheap-***** state school]" diplomas, I'm still working until 6:00 every night and my existing patients can't get in to see me until November...

(And FWIW, on the subject of pieces of paper...line 37 on form 1040 says $Xxx,xxx and the balance on my one remaining student loan says $X,xxx.)

👍 Good to know I wont be completely destitute if my diploma doesn't say Harvard... I'm sure somehow I'll get by. 😉

 

[billypilgrim37]

I'm pretty sure Cambridge diplomas have the Harvard seal on them, just like MGH/McLean, Longwood, and the VA program.

Cambridge is a wonderful program. Especially for people who like dynamics, like community psychiatry, don't care much for consult liason, and don't like to work all that much.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

it's also the only harvard program that actually abutts the main campus.

 

[Doc Samson]

it's also the only harvard program that actually abutts the main campus.

The undergrad campus. Longwood is the only program to abut the medical school campus.

 

[Doc Samson]

😛😛

Who would have thought that psychiatrists would be so narcissistic! Its like living in the fishbowl....Oooh. You went to some state school...

NEWS FOR HARVARD-OBSESSED SHRINKS: At the end of the day, CaribMDs and DOs will be equivalent to you in most cities. See how much that pettiness got you?

In my experience, the supposition from others that folks who trained at Harvard are supercilious, arrogant, or narcissistic is a MUCH bigger barrier to collegiality than any Harvard alum actually having those characteristics.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

The undergrad campus. Longwood is the only program to abut the medical school campus.

true, i meant undergrad when i said main. btw, i must have changed the spelling on abut about 50 times before giving up.

 

[billypilgrim37]

In my experience, the supposition from others that folks who trained at Harvard are supercilious, arrogant, or narcissistic is a MUCH bigger barrier to collegiality than any Harvard alum actually having those characteristics.

I don't think I've ever seen the word supercilious in print. You pretentious Harvard guys... 😉

 

[Doc Samson]

true, i meant undergrad when i said main. btw, i must have changed the spelling on abut about 50 times before giving up.

The only reason that I got it right is that my browser is Firefox which has an automatic spellchecker. I went with the double t first myself.

 

[Doc Samson]

I don't think I've ever seen the word supercilious in print. You pretentious Harvard guys... 😉

I'd chalk that up to being English rather that having trained at Harvard.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I don't think I've ever seen the word supercilious in print.

What? You went to [evil out-of-state rival state school] and didn't learn to read big words? Perhaps you could find a football player from [THE even more evil out-of-state state school] to sound it out for you...

 

[billypilgrim37]

What? You went to [evil out-of-state rival state school] and didn't learn to read big words? Perhaps you could find a football player from [THE even more evil out-of-state state school] to sound it out for you...

You must be reminded that I received my English degree from [more remote and somewhat less evil out-of-state dominant basketball university] prior to my matriculation to [evil out-of-state dominant football medical school].

As for [THE even more evil out-of-state school], we should not speak of such atrocities.

I am one of the few applicants to have divided his residency applications by NCAA Regionals in a spreadsheet. 😉

 

[BobA]

Let me put it this way: All the Harvard Med School grads who go into Psychiatry choose either MGH or Cambridge. Almost none go to Longwood. Do they know something we don't know?

Moreover, when I interviewed at Cambridge last year they gave us a handout of where all of their grads got jobs. Some were attending's at MGH, others at UCSF, etc. This is right out of residency. So yeah, I think you'll do allright if you end up at Cambridge. You will do a lot of "community psych" but what that really means is that you'll see a lot of really sick patient's and learn good psych skills. Plus, Cambridge is an awesome place to live in.

Would've ranked it number one if it wasn't for my "gut" that told me to go elsewhere.

 

[josehernandez94]

this thread is funny. i'm not sure what the "harvard experience" entails but in any event, i just finished my intern year at cambridge. i just dug out my diploma and for whatever it's worth, it does, in fact, have the harvard seal on it. hope that helps.

this person from columbia sounds like a bit of a tool.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

I will say that I was extremely impressed with Cambridge. I love Dr. Forstein and Dr. Rubles (not sure if i got the spelling right).

I was particularly enamored with Dr. Forstein's approach to training and scut. I.e. he did his best to eliminate the latter as much as possible and still keep the hospital running. No call as interns (which I'm actually not 100% on board with) and Q14 call as 2nd and third years. Not to mention a lot of their child-bound people chose to stay for their fourth year due to the quality of psychotherapy training. Which, I honestly can't think of a better compliment to a program.

And unlike other schools that shall remain unnamed, despite having the greatest dirty commie socialist cred of any psychiatry residency i'm aware of, they don't get all high and mighty and preachy.

The public psychiatry model isn't for me (I prefer to do my outreach my own way--libertarian to the death), so they didn't end up too high on my rank list.

 

[billypilgrim37]

Long time no see, Jose. Some of us stay addicted to SDN, others taper. 😉

 

[HCE]

this thread is funny. i'm not sure what the "harvard experience" entails but in any event, i just finished my intern year at cambridge. i just dug out my diploma and for whatever it's worth, it does, in fact, have the harvard seal on it. hope that helps.

this person from columbia sounds like a bit of a tool.

Good points and lesson to the starter of this thread. Jose had to dig out his diploma to figure out if "Harvard" was listed on it. Apparently this issue hadn't been important enough to even hit his radar.

And yes, the Columbia person does sound ready for the shed. My guess is that he/she graduated from [smarty-pants private college], and got rejected by Cambridge. But I speculate...

 

[HCE]

The undergrad campus. Longwood is the only program to abut the medical school campus.

I haven't been on SDN in a while, and I must take the time to compliment Doc Sampson on his professional-looking avatar style. 😎

 

[josehernandez94]

Long time no see, Jose. Some of us stay addicted to SDN, others taper. 😉

yeah i'm more of a lurker these days and only post if i feel compelled, as in this case. how are things going for you?

 

[Doc Samson]

I haven't been on SDN in a while, and I must take the time to compliment Doc Sampson on his professional-looking avatar style. 😎

Thanks... AMC's Mad Men site has a "design your own avatar" feature that produces appropriately stylish results.... couldn't resist. I'm sure the flowing green locks of the real DS will return eventually.

 

[Doc Samson]

Let me put it this way: All the Harvard Med School grads who go into Psychiatry choose either MGH or Cambridge. Almost none go to Longwood. Do they know something we don't know?

Given the woefully low N of HMS grads going into psychiatry, not sure you can make a valid statement one way or the other here. I think we had 3-4 HMS grads in my time at Longwood, which was pretty much on par with the other 2 programs but things always change. If this is any sort of trend, I'd say HMS grads looking for academic glory will choose MGH, those looking for less call will choose Cambridge. As I've frequently said before, Cambridge is an awesome program with only one identifiable weakness - CL exposure. If you know for sure ahead of time that you aren't interested in CL at all, you'd be hard pressed to find a better program. If CL lingers on your radar, you might want to "try it out" as a specialty somewhere else.

 

[abcxyz0123]

I only go to Harvard doctors so i would sue you for false advertising. And by Harvard doctors I mean that you went there for undergrad, med school, adult residency, AND child and adolescent fellowship. And by fellowship I mean that you a) had sex with every other fellow regardless of sex, because they also went to harvard and b) you wear Harvard boxer-briefs with the VE-RI-TAS logo all over them.

THAT is the Harvard experience. Anything short of that is, well, Columbia (no offense!)

Holy ****............that part I bolded was one of the funniest things ive ever read on this board in a long time. haha!!! man i cant believe nobody else thought this post was pure gold