Help me RANK, please and thank you!

[air23radman]

- I'm single and looking to go to a fun place
- Don't know where I want to eventually settle
- Leaning towards IR but keeping my mind open
- I care equally about feel/location and program name/rep, as I want to keep the door open for getting a good academic job

Programs:
- Hopkins: I dislike Baltimore, and kind of liked the residents here. They talked about sports/played basketball/fantasy football, and seemed cohesive and fun
- UPenn: not a huge fan of Philly, but probably like it better than Baltimore. The residents here seemed kind of nerdy (not that that's a bad thing), didn't gel as well with them
- Duke: location seemed great for settling down, but not sure about being young and single. Residents I met were either married or had kids already
- UMich: loved this place. Everything clicked in terms of feel, and I don't mind the location. Worried that it doesn't have the same national rep as the other programs
- Northwestern: awesome IR, love Chicago, but again, not sure about national reputation, especially vs. UMich

Thanks for your input!

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[Prodromo]

I interviewed at all of those programs last year except for Penn. I also interviewed at MGH.

Some people may think I'm crazy but I chose UMich due to being from Michigan and my entire family is here. All of those programs are great and will offer you an excellent education and job opportunities. My best advice is to go where you want to live.

 

[RadsonRads]

How on earth does umich and NW not carry a 'national reputation' in your eyes? Those are 2 exceptional programs

 

[g8orlife]

How on earth does umich and NW not carry a 'national reputation' in your eyes? Those are 2 exceptional programs

+1

 

[air23radman]

Thanks for the responses. I do appreciate that both UM and NW are exceptional programs, but I was just wondering whether they carry the same "name recognition" as Hopkins/Penn/Duke throughout the country, as I'm not sure on where I want to settle down

 

[AlexMorph]

Thanks for the responses. I do appreciate that both UM and NW are exceptional programs, but I was just wondering whether they carry the same "name recognition" as Hopkins/Penn/Duke throughout the country, as I'm not sure on where I want to settle down

If you want to overthink it, you could say Hopkins and Penn are in the same tier, Duke and UMich are a small step down, and then you have NW. Realistically, all those programs will open many doors for you and won't really limit you. They are more different in location than "reputation". Go with where you would like to live and where you thought you would fit in with the residents.

 

[Gadofosveset]

The IR world tends to cluster around big names (+/- egos) in the department. So for IR, differences between the "tiers" practically depends on the presence or absence of these individuals... and frankly, these guys all hang out together and don't think of each other in terms of "institution". That's an afterthought.

For instance: If Riad Salem and Bob Lewandowski at Northwestern think you're awesome and give you good letters of recommendation, you can go anywhere. They go to all the same IO conferences as Geschwind and Todd Schlachter from Hopkins (Geschwind's going to Yale, BTW), Dan Brown at Vanderbilt, Mike Soulen at Penn, Dave Madoff at Cornell, Wael Saad at Michigan... and many many more.... they all know each other and hold each other in regard (and compete with each other). If you're interested, look where these IO leaders went to fellowship, look at where they've practiced... not all of them went to what many people on this site consider "tier 1"... so to me, that means the "tier" designation is proven wrong... it's only got a so-so correlation with producing the leaders in the field.

Only an outsider would try to split these programs into microscropic shades of "name".
The only differences in these programs for IR/IO is
1) if you mesh with the dominant attendings' style(s). It's going to be hard for you to know this.
2) where they are located in the U.S.

If you want to get a job in academics, go to whichever one of these programs you like best. Make friends. Publish stuff. Go to conferences. Become a good mentor and teacher to junior residents and med students.