Help my rank: Emory/Maryland/UT-Houston/UVA/Wake/Wisco

[Radiologyreviews2015]

I am unsure where I want to practice in the future and unsure if I want to do academics or private practice. So I figured that I should look for programs with the broadest connections geographically to allow me to do anything in the future.

I really liked Emory, Maryland, and UT-Houston's program and locations.
Also really liked UVA, Wake Forest, and Wisconsin, but wasn't as hot on the locations.

Any thoughts on which of these programs will give me great training and help me find a job whether I want to go into academics or private practice? Which will have the best connections to help with finding jobs across the country?

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[Radiologyreviews2015]

I interviewed at all those places except UTH and WF.

I feel like size of program leads to a larger network. So Emory is the biggest, but I think their graduates favor south/southeast. I like the program, but because of its size and the multiple hospitals, I wasn't sure how strong resident camaraderie was. Maryland, UVA, and Wake are all about the same size and they end up somewhere along the mid-Atlantic region with Maryland having great resident camaraderie. Couldn't really tell at UVA and don't know about WF.

Wisconsin had great camaraderie, but I would say that they stick around the midwest, but there's enough research there to build a reputation. The only UT Houston impression I got was from Baylor, and they said they were more research oriented. Doximity has a feature to see where residency graduates practice now.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Didn't interview at Wisco or UMD, but I'm thinking of ranking Emory, Houston, UVA/WF, which is heavily influenced by the size of the city.

I actually thought the size of Emory of a relative weakness, I was thinking more in sense of closeness between residents and not alumni network but I can see how that can be a major benefit. Overall I think the research opportunities there outweighed any negatives of the commuting required.

I actually really liked UVA and WF also, I'm not sure which I'll end up ranking higher. The two places reminded me of each other. I would love to know how other people compared the two. The both seemed to place graduates really well into Southeast pp if that's your end goal. I'm not interested in IR so UVA's advantage there didn't make much difference to me. If I can't seem to find much of a difference I'll probably just rank the one that's slightly closer to family.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Agreed that Emory seemed to stand apart from these others in their research. It seems like they're only going to get more research oriented in the next few years.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Emory
Virginia
Wisconsin
Wake

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Agree with above, Emory is a tier above the others listed and is more nationally recognized.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

I know it's not up to par as the others listed, but how does UNC compare to these places? Is it respected/do you think the training is decent?

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

I know it's not up to par as the others listed, but how does UNC compare to these places? Is it respected/do you think the training is decent?

Have a friend of a friend at UNC who didn't seem very happy (in conversations outside the interview process).

I dont think UNC has any major deficiencies but it does get overshadowed by Duke and Wake in it's own state. I probably wouldn't rank it over Wake, UVA, or Emory, unless you had to be in or around Chapel Hill for some reason.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Emory is far and away the best of this group. The only real consideration would be UVA if you were doing the IR pathway. The other programs are solid but nothing to get excited about.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

I know it's not up to par as the others listed, but how does UNC compare to these places? Is it respected/do you think the training is decent?

I was not very impressed with UNC's programs, especially compared to the other programs in the region. The residents didn't seem particularly happy or fun to be around. I can't imagine ranking it above Wake, MUSC, UVA. Probably goes above VCU and EVMS.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Sorry to somewhat hijack, but how would you guys fit Vanderbilt into the mix of Emory, UVa, Wake

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Sorry to somewhat hijack, but how would you guys fit Vanderbilt into the mix of Emory, UVa, Wake

I am very interested in comparing Vandy to Emory as well. Vandy has a lot of NIH research funding (actually a lot more than Emory's) with a very large department but their residency size is relatively small (8, I think). I wonder how the class size would influence the residents' experience. I don't think there is a way for Vandy residents to cover all of their night volume, so I don't think call volume would be that much heavier at Vandy, although I don't know this for sure. At the level of the medical school, Vandy is slightly better regarded than Emory, but in radiology Emory seems to get more national recognition.

 

[tco]

I'm a resident at UT Houston, and I don't envy your decisions! Just remember that "official" rankings don't mean a damn thing. If you're at the best program in the country and are unhappy, I can assure you that you will be a bad resident. Go where you think you'll be happy.

I ended up with a final ranking of
1. Houston
2. UVA
3. Wake
And probably would not change a thing. If I were to change a thing, I would probably move Wake to 2 because of Dr. Geer (she's awesome!).

I nearly changed it to every possible permutation on the day before rank lists were due.

Good luck everyone.

If you have any questions about our program (I will answer them 100% honestly, good and bad) or why I ultimately decided on my rank list, let me know via PM.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

I'm a resident at UT Houston, and I don't envy your decisions! Just remember that "official" rankings don't mean a damn thing. If you're at the best program in the country and are unhappy, I can assure you that you will be a bad resident. Go where you think you'll be happy.

I ended up with a final ranking of
1. Houston
2. UVA
3. Wake
And probably would not change a thing. If I were to change a thing, I would probably move Wake to 2 because of Dr. Geer (she's awesome!).

I nearly changed it to every possible permutation on the day before rank lists were due.

Good luck everyone.

If you have any questions about our program (I will answer them 100% honestly, good and bad) or why I ultimately decided on my rank list, let me know via PM.

Thanks for contributing to the forum. As a general question, why do you think more residents aren't coming on here and trying to advertise their programs? Med students can discuss their impressions all they want, but one post from a current resident going into some specifics of why each program is good would be 1000x more helpful (I'm not even asking them to reveal things that are bad, although it would be incredibly helpful as well). If med students know more about programs before they make a decision, I would think that they will be happier once they are residents. Everyone knows there is power asymmetry on the interview day so med students can't ask questions that could reveal negative things. Also, who honestly takes meticulous notes on everything they hear and see on interview days? Kudos to you if you are one of them.

 

[tco]

Thanks for contributing to the forum. As a general question, why do you think more residents aren't coming on here and trying to advertise their programs? Med students can discuss their impressions all they want, but one post from a current resident going into some specifics of why each program is good would be 1000x more helpful (I'm not even asking them to reveal things that are bad, although it would be incredibly helpful as well). If med students know more about programs before they make a decision, I would think that they will be happier once they are residents. Everyone knows there is power asymmetry on the interview day so med students can't ask questions that could reveal negative things. Also, who honestly takes meticulous notes on everything they hear and see on interview days? Kudos to you if you are one of them.

You're absolutely right about most of what you said.

I think the lack of resident presence is due to people just moving to different phases of their lives and having less need for the resources here. If you look, this forum is mostly populated by med students asking for advice, fewer residents asking for advice, and even fewer fellows/attendings giving advice. As we move up the ladder, we see people drop out of the poster pool. A few attendings stay on here and contribute great information and advice to the boards, but that's a very limited number.

My program offers a trifold on interview day that covers the important parts of the program, but there's always details that people forget. There's also things that you might not have considered asking or were too intimidated to do so. Just send me the questions and I'll do my best to answer them from my perspective, or get the opinion of another resident who can answer them.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Maybe there are residents lurking on here who are trying to tell you something.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

http://www.auntminnie.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=443728

This thread has good examples of the kinds of responses that I wish we were getting here

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Bump, would really appreciating knowing how people evaluated UVA, Wake and UMD.

I really liked all three. Does anyone think going to Wake or UMD would limit a potential academic career? I think UVA is the highest ranked (=possibly the most academic).

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Geography and regional politics matter too. UMD is also overshadowed by Hopkins. Wake to some degree by Duke. UVA is kind of by itself and would be my top choice of the 3.