General surgery match list - need some help!

[Lamel]

Hi SDN, long time no post. I'm finished with my residency interviews and needed some help ranking my top 4-5 programs. Right now I am trying to balance location (family in Long Island NY) with culture/fit. Interested in CT and Transplant for fellowship and likely academics. Thought I'd post if some people have insider information on some programs as it's hard to get a feel through virtual interviews. Here is the tentative order:


1) Penn - Really liked it, but 7 years are required. But a good balance between operative + research + location.
2) Sinai - Seemed like a good balance of academics + operating
3) NYU - Seems good on paper but resident interactions/interviews were a bit cold
4) Jefferson - overall very solid
5) UPMC - Seemed really awesome, but lots of fellows? Also 6 hour drive back home (not sure how doable this is during residency). Also 7 year.
6) Emory - Seemed really awesome, but Atlanta is a bit far (though many flights - would a golden weekend trip to NY be possible?)


I would honestly be putting UPMC and Emory higher up but the location issue bugs me a bit. Any word of advice (or warning if I'm making some huge mistake haha) would help, thanks!

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[Lem0nz]

Coresident did medical school at UPMC and we both spent a lot of time rotating at Jeff and she spoke much, much higher of UPMC. Would swap them, at least. Also Jeff's transplant rotation was kind of rough and the home residents did not enjoy being on that service even a little. So if you think that's got a strong possibility to be your passion, maybe somewhere else. They have a lot of attending turn over (though Maley was and will always remain a badass. Not sure how much time is left in his career though).

Seven years opens doors you may not even know you want open right now. If you have the opportunity to match at a program like that I would. Also another plug for UPMC (and Jeff for that matter) is that a flight from Pittsburg to NYC would be whatever. Cheap and fast. From center city Philly the train ride is actually really enjoyable I thought and though not obviously faster you can do a lot of studying in a pretty pleasant environment. So matching at Penn or Jeff for that would be cool. Shrug.

Can't comment on the NYC programs, only place I spent time at there was MSKCC for a month.

Unrelated to your list: I went from the west coast where I was born/raised and went to undergrad+med school to the east shore and then midwest for fellowship. Leaving my home town turned out to be a really good thing for me in the long run. I did much better in a new environment (thought I would do worse and struggle). Just food for thought. Surgical residency is all consuming. Even if you live in the same city as your family you're going to see them a lot less. Its honestly sometimes a little easier if you just plan to see them on vacations or really long/holiday weekends because when you're out of the hospital you still have to study and do research stuff.

OH! Edit: My absolute favorite mentor left after my first year of surg onc fellowship and is a liver transplant surgeon at UPMC. He is without a doubt the best, kindest, and most thoughtful teacher I have ever met. Huge plug for him. I can't believe I spaced that he went there. So, I completely endorse UPMC if you're considering transplant. I miss him so, so much.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Hi SDN, long time no post. I'm finished with my residency interviews and needed some help ranking my top 4-5 programs. Right now I am trying to balance location (family in Long Island NY) with culture/fit. Interested in CT and Transplant for fellowship and likely academics. Thought I'd post if some people have insider information on some programs as it's hard to get a feel through virtual interviews. Here is the tentative order:


1) Penn - Really liked it, but 7 years are required. But a good balance between operative + research + location.
2) Sinai - Seemed like a good balance of academics + operating
3) NYU - Seems good on paper but resident interactions/interviews were a bit cold
4) Jefferson - overall very solid
5) UPMC - Seemed really awesome, but lots of fellows? Also 6 hour drive back home (not sure how doable this is during residency). Also 7 year.
6) Emory - Seemed really awesome, but Atlanta is a bit far (though many flights - would a golden weekend trip to NY be possible?)


Some others on the list that I liked: Rutgers NJMS, Georgetown/Medstar


I would honestly be putting UPMC and Emory higher up but the location issue bugs me a bit. Any word of advice (or warning if I'm making some huge mistake haha) would help, thanks!

Unless you have vacation time, it's doubtful you'll be spending much time in other cities. I would not let that stop you from considering Pitt or Emory.

 

[WinslowPringle]

UPMC CT fellowship was on probation ~3 years ago; knew a now graduated fellow there who was miserable but n=1. (I haven’t seen him operate, don’t know how he is with that.)

n=2 of previous fellows I know who graduated from Penn CT fellowship who could both operate well on graduation. Had a friend who went there for non-surgical fellowship who said overall it was fairly hierarchical and also had lots of mid levels.

n=1 of a previous CT fellow I knew from Sinai who graduated and could not operate well. N=1 of a Gen surg resident who graduated from there; said it was very busy, not great support staff - but I don’t know, it’s a NY program didn’t talk about if the support staff was better or worse than the rest of NYprograms.

All obviously second hand, don’t know how much it impacts your GS residency decision; only mention it because you mentioned interest in CT fellowship.

Biggest recommendation is really considering the impact of mandatory 7 years. That’s two years of potential attending salary and currently neither CT nor transplant require research years to match.

I did about four 6hr drives during residency with some golden weekends - doable but doesn’t leave you with a lot of time at the destination.

 

[Lamel]

Thanks for the detailed responses so far.

Unless you have vacation time, it's doubtful you'll be spending much time in other cities. I would not let that stop you from considering Pitt or Emory.

Would you say from your experience the operative training at UPMC and Emory are better than the choices I have above them?

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Thanks for the detailed responses so far.



Would you say from your experience the operative training at UPMC and Emory are better than the choices I have above them?

UPMC is well respected in the CT Surgery world. Luketich is known for his esophageal work, but it's also a factory there. Transplant had its early starts there as well with Starzl. Emory is in Atlanta, which is nice. I don't know much more about the program otherwise. As for ranking, I'd say go with what gives you the best feeling and also which gives you the best chances for opportunities for the future. Don't worry about location as much.

 

[OrangeandMaroon]

In the past three years penn has matched residents at hopkins, stanford and its home program for ct and at wisconsin and columbia for txp. There is strong research in both txp and ct. Research years are completely funded and you can moonlight.