Clarification about the FAQ on top programs

[Sammich81]

Hey guys--in the sticky thread on top programs Case Western is listed as one of the best programs for peds. Does that mean in terms of doing a peds fellowship, or the peds exposure as a resident?

Also, is there a thread that reviews people's impressions of residency programs from the most recent interview trail? I know geographically where I'm thinking of applying (Cleveland, Pitt, Penn, maybe some Boston places, maybe Chicago) but within them, I don't know where I'd be a good fit. I come from UVA which I think is a wonderful, very kind, benign, attendings-take-good-care-of-their-own place. So that's kind of what I'd like.

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[aredoubleyou]

Its all actually all crap, really.

Who's ranking these programs? What do "They" actually know about them?

Not much probably.

The rankings are typically based off of the institution's reputation.

Here's the basics of what you wanna know. Is everyone passing the boards. Are they getting the jobs they want. What deficinecies does the program have and what are they doing about it (heart cases at OSH, etc). Are the residents happy. Are they on probation. Then among those go to the one that you had the best vibe at in a city you can be happy with.

 

[jennyboo]

I just applied to all the programs in my locations (admittedly, you'll end up with too many if you do all programs in all of those cities), then trimmed my list and went to 11 residency interviews. Because I ended up with too many interview offers, I eventually went by reputation -- attended all interviews at programs with strong reps, cancelled some at programs that didn't have strong reps. What I attended vs cancelled was pretty arbitrary -- you can't know prior to attending, so you just have to pick some arbitrary way to trim your list.

If interested in pediatric fellowship, tell them so at the interview and ask whether previous grads of the program have been able to secure peds fellowships, and where.