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.