Help me Decide on a PM&R Program (and commentary on Cornell/Columbia)

[Mavs]

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I have officially completed all my PM&R interviews and I'm tortured with making this decision of where to go. Could someone more sagacious than myself please shed a little light on their personal persective of each program listed below. Thanks in advance!

1)Schwab/U of Chicago: Nice freestanding rehab facility. What else?

2) UT Southwestern: Looks like residents are JUST getting an outpatient rehab education? Tons of hands on stuff? Pain fellowship attached!

3)UPenn: What do I know! People say this is a horrible program, but I didn't think so?

4)University of California-Irvine: Someone tell me their thoughts!?

5)Cornell/Columbia: Certainly the most overrated residency I have ever come across. I am certain that if it was not located in NYC, that people would write it off as having a piss poor residency. I know for a fact that the educational experience the residents receive at Cornell/Columbia is far inferior to many other lesser known/rated programs. Whether it's Inpatient or Outpatient, Cornell/Columbia gives you a nice environment to work in (both the city and Cornell Hospital/HSS, but you would not come out of there feeling confident in your training..... But I guess that's what fellowships are for

 

[Fooman]

4)University of California-Irvine: Someone tell me their thoughts!?

You can read my post on the interview trail regarding UC Irvine. Personally, I liked the program a lot because it seemed very resident oriented. The program director seemed very nice and personal. Residents seemed pretty happy and the workload is pretty cush compared to the East Coast programs. That said, it's pretty well balanced. Location is in Southern Cal which is a bit expensive to live, but you also get sunny weather with that.

There is no formal board review course, but all the residents pass the first one. Didatics doesn't seem as well structured as say, Temple or NYU/Rusk.

The only cons to the program is the lack of reputation (West coast programs as a whole doesn't seem to be strong in PM&R) and with that, I wasn't sure how residents were placing in fellowships. Though in the interview, those who were looking for one, had no trouble getting into one. However, it was mentioned that most residents end up going straight into practice.

I take it you interviewed there as well. What were your thoughts?

 

[Dr. Ice]

You are definately correct about the training at NYP. I have friends who are current residents there right now and they are not exactly thrilled (to say the least) with their current experience. As with the rest of the NYC programs, Columbia/Cornell is very, very inpatient heavy, and not only that, from what I understand, they end up taking severly unstable patients just to fill beds. I have heard terms such as "ICU stepdown" describing the inpatient rehab units at both Columbia and Cornell. However, like you said, it is in manhattan and they do give subsidized housing, not to mention having some pretty reputable affils. I guess its all a matter of what you want. As you begin to rank programs, you should really evaluate what your priorities are. Remember, any program can give you what you want if you are self motivated enough to make the best out of it.

You can read my post on the interview trail regarding UC Irvine. Personally, I liked the program a lot because it seemed very resident oriented. The program director seemed very nice and personal. Residents seemed pretty happy and the workload is pretty cush compared to the East Coast programs. That said, it's pretty well balanced. Location is in Southern Cal which is a bit expensive to live, but you also get sunny weather with that.

There is no formal board review course, but all the residents pass the first one. Didatics doesn't seem as well structured as say, Temple or NYU/Rusk.

The only cons to the program is the lack of reputation (West coast programs as a whole doesn't seem to be strong in PM&R) and with that, I wasn't sure how residents were placing in fellowships. Though in the interview, those who were looking for one, had no trouble getting into one. However, it was mentioned that most residents end up going straight into practice.

I take it you interviewed there as well. What were your thoughts?

 

[prefontaine]

What people?

3)UPenn: What do I know! People say this is a horrible program, but I didn't think so?

 

[OUsooner]

Hmmm, I interviewed at UPenn this year and find a hard time believing anybody could call it "horrible" in the present time. It is an exciting place to be and I plan on ranking it highly.
I don't like to knock programs but there was one or two in NYC that might fit the "horrible" description.
just my 2 cents (48 more to go til i'm a billionaire)