Colorado childrens

[Pedsnumerouno]

Any thoughts on this program? I didnt get a good sense of the "vibe" but liked the program structure a lot. Denver also seems like a pretty awesome place to live. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

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[Stitch]

I interviewed there for fellowship and have a friend who did residency there. It's a fantastic place and the residents and fellows that I met were really cool. Not to mention that Denver is a great place to live if you like outdoors stuff. I'd move there in a heartbeat if I had a chance.

 

[Pedsnumerouno]

Thanks so much for your input!

 

[DeadCactus]

I interviewed there for fellowship and have a friend who did residency there. It's a fantastic place and the residents and fellows that I met were really cool. Not to mention that Denver is a great place to live if you like outdoors stuff. I'd move there in a heartbeat if I had a chance.

Job market there for pediatric subspecialties as tough as it is for most other specialties?

 

[Stitch]

Job market there for pediatric subspecialties as tough as it is for most other specialties?

Seems like it, but it probably depends on what you're going into. The PICU group is VERY basic science oriented and I think difficult to get into if you are more clinically oriented, but I know of others in the department who are clinicians, so it varies. Either way, it's a popular institution in a popular town. And the hospital is the 'real deal' so to speak in terms of an academic facility.

 

[RySerr21]

does CO have that kind of reputation where you can kind of pick your specialtly/place for fellowship? Im interested in cardiology so i know its tough no matter where you are from, and i plan on workin hard and doin what i have to do to make a compeitive application, etc, but i would love to come back to CA if i leave for residency and part of me thinks its just easier to just stay in CA for residency if i wanna be there for fellowship, but maybe CO has a good enough reputation where coming back is definitely doable...

otherwise i loved CO as a state and as a prrogram

 

[Slade]

I just learned today that living in Denver, CO is the equivalent of getting a chest X-ray every week (in terms of radiation exposure, due to the cosmic radiation exposure component). Food for thought... 🙂

 

[Stitch]

does CO have that kind of reputation where you can kind of pick your specialtly/place for fellowship? Im interested in cardiology so i know its tough no matter where you are from, and i plan on workin hard and doin what i have to do to make a compeitive application, etc, but i would love to come back to CA if i leave for residency and part of me thinks its just easier to just stay in CA for residency if i wanna be there for fellowship, but maybe CO has a good enough reputation where coming back is definitely doable...

otherwise i loved CO as a state and as a prrogram

Where you match into fellowship is more a matter of what you're trying for and how good your application/letters of rec are. Denver has an excellent reputation and which does help, but as you know, cards is tough. I don't think you can really just 'pick' the place where you want to go no matter where you come from.

 

[DeadCactus]

So do you start residency with a largely clean slate in terms of fellowship applications? Is it pretty much just about how well you do clinically in your first year or two of residency plus whatever scholarly activity you can pull together? Or are you still competing with people in terms of who got AOA, published, and rocked the boards in medical school?

 

[Stitch]

So do you start residency with a largely clean slate in terms of fellowship applications? Is it pretty much just about how well you do clinically in your first year or two of residency plus whatever scholarly activity you can pull together? Or are you still competing with people in terms of who got AOA, published, and rocked the boards in medical school?

There's no one easy answer to this question. It really depends on what fellowship you're looking at and which institution you want to do that fellowship. Most fellowships want to know that you're a hard worker and that you're also a good clinician, so your first years in residency are reflective of that. People who are AOA, published and rocked the boards are always going to stand out, but not having those things won't prevent you from doing a fellowship.

 

[chemta2006]

MS4 wrapping up the interview trail; just my two cents on Colorado:

Loved the program and the people there. Agree the "vibe" is harder to characterize (not strictly east coast, midwest, west coast, etc) but residents and staff were super friendly. PD seemed like a nice guy, pretty laidback. Case conference was well attended and both residents and attendings had great input. I went to the happy hour the same night, then the Diversity in Pediatrics Dinner afterwards. By the end of the night I felt like everybody there was a family member, a rare feeling for me but a great sign.

From the stats (admissions/outpatient visits/ED), it's a high-volume program and I'm sure they see plenty of cool pathology since it's the only big name in the 4 states around. Their fellowship list looked good and I'm sure the residents have no problem matching into their subspecialty of choice. That was important to me since I'm going for academic/fellowship track.

About Denver, I was told the area right around the hospital isn't great but you can live within 10 minutes driving distance in great neighborhoods, and while more expensive than the midwest (thinking of Cinci) definitely affordable compared to major cities like NY, SF, DC, Chicago, etc. The day after the interview I drove about an hour to go snowboarding and it was awesome.

Summary: fantastic experience, definitely going to be high on my rank list.😍

does CO have that kind of reputation where you can kind of pick your specialtly/place for fellowship? Im interested in cardiology so i know its tough no matter where you are from, and i plan on workin hard and doin what i have to do to make a compeitive application, etc, but i would love to come back to CA if i leave for residency and part of me thinks its just easier to just stay in CA for residency if i wanna be there for fellowship, but maybe CO has a good enough reputation where coming back is definitely doable...

I'm a Californian at a med school in the Midwest, and IMHO it's always easier to go back to Cali as a resident/fellow than if you didn't have ties there. I think Californians who leave for med school/residency are also valued at Cali institutions later on for bringing diverse experiences back home; I could be wrong but that was my impression on the interview trail. Anybody care to comment on this?

As for CO having the reputation, the short answer IMO is yes.