Free Food

[meliora27]

One of the really nice perks I enjoyed during my third year was that at every hospital I rotated through, students, interns, residents got all the free food they could ever want. This ended up saving a ton of money during the year. Is this common at most program?

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[Leo Spaceman]

No 🙂 You wish! and I wished too.. In fact when I attended pre-interview dinners an dprospective interns asked what was one of the negatives of my training program..this was my go-to thing - not enough free food, and when you do get it, unhealthy stuff like pizza and bagels and muffins.

 

[Raryn]

One of the really nice perks I enjoyed during my third year was that at every hospital I rotated through, students, interns, residents got all the free food they could ever want. This ended up saving a ton of money during the year. Is this common at most program?

Really varies, sometimes even within the same program.

At my medical school, we could rotate at 3-4 different hospitals. One of them (which wasn't affiliated with the main residency program but had its own) had basically unlimited free food, breakfast, lunch, >$100/month for dinners, etc. Another (which was affiliated with the residency program) that I didn't rotate at was similar. Our main teaching hospital gave you coupons that would cover (at least most of) a dinner on a call day, so you'd get 5-6 meals free on a wards month and none at any other point. Our VA gave you nothing.

Some programs I interviewed at had basically unlimited free food 365 days/year. One rather memorable one was USC, where they told us they could basically charge 3 meals a day in the cafeteria no matter what rotation they were on, including electives, vacation, whatever. And that didn't include meals they could also potentially charge in the private hospital down the street.

Other hospitals basically had no free food for residents whatsoever.

 

[RheumDoc112]

definitely depends on where you end up, some programs are really generous with there meal card allowance and food at noon lectures...others not so much :S

 

[AlmostAnMD]

The IM rotation at my school feeds you every day. It's usually good food, too...only one of those days is pizza.

 

[DermViser]

One of the really nice perks I enjoyed during my third year was that at every hospital I rotated through, students, interns, residents got all the free food they could ever want. This ended up saving a ton of money during the year. Is this common at most program?

No it isn't common, actually. Lucky you!

 

[dhavalp]

My program feeds us everyday. They also send food over for residents rotating at off-site clinics sometimes.