HELP with ROL!!!!! Northwestern vs Rainbow AND Brown vs CHLA

[PMinty44]

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I'm having a small breakdown about this ROL. I have been thinking about these issues for WEEKS thinking I would eventually come to a conclusion, but here I am the day before the list is due and I am stuck.

Here are my questions:

1. Trying to decide between Rainbow and Northwestern for #2 and 3 spot. How to rank them? I love the atmosphere (residents, faculty, etc) at both. But I am slightly hung up on the ranking (I know -- I'm ashamed to admit it). Rainbow's ranking of #5 is hard to ignore. I looked at the fellowship match lists for both places and it seems that Northwestern grads OVERWHELMINGLY stay there for fellowship...is that a good or bad thing (i.e., how good is Northwestern for fellowships???? I'm thinking of doing ED.) A smaller percentage of people remain at Rainbow after residency; the others go to other well-respected places (Denver, CHOP, Boston, Texas). The city is the last sticky point. Clearly, living in CHicago would be 1000x cooler than living in Cleveland, but I've lived in Cleveland and technically I COULD do it again and make it work (and be happy, I guess). Help!

2. Lower on my list (fighting for #5 and #6) are Brown and Children's Hospital of LA. I loooove Brown: residents are happy, faculty is super-supportive, teaching is fantastic. BUT, I do wish there were more fellows around; I feel like they refer some patients to Boston Children's (which is annoying); and Providence, although in some ways better than Cleveland, is also not the coolest place to live. CHLA, on the other hand, I loooooved as well (PD is great, city would be super-fun, love the patient population, they're going to be mostly q5 call, which is nice....etc), BUT their salary $43,000/year SUCKS....you get paid more in Cleveland where the cost of living is cheaper! I'm afraid that this salary will pressure me into living in their subsidized housing complex (which is like living in a dorm) OR If I choose to live elsewhere, I will have no money to truly enjoy LA. Help!

Thanks!

 

[drbetty]

1. I am slightly hung up on the ranking (I know -- I'm ashamed to admit it). Rainbow's ranking of #5 is hard to ignore. I looked at the fellowship match lists for both places and it seems that Northwestern grads OVERWHELMINGLY stay there for fellowship...is that a good or bad thing (i.e., how good is Northwestern for fellowships???? I'm thinking of doing ED.)

I loooove Brown: BUT, I do wish there were more fellows around; I feel like they refer some patients to Boston Children's (which is annoying)

I have a few general thoughts, nothing about the specific programs:
1. Rankings - not an important enough factor, in my opinion. these are all great programs
2. At most programs, prestigious or not, I felt like most people stay, perhaps because they loved the city (maybe that's why more people leave for fellowship @rainbow to try new location?) or they loved the program/mentors. Or perhaps for personal reasons, it's tough to relocate spouse &/or kids & they want to be near family.
3. The nice thing about having fellows is that you get an idea of that particular fellowship at the program & have another resource/teacher. The flip side is that residents get more attending interaction without fellows.
4. I don't think matters that much if the super-complicated patients are referred elsewhere, because it is likely those patients need more attention from attendings/fellows anyway, and residents might not be able to participate much anyhow. I'm sure that you'll have plenty of complicated patients to care for and learn from at a major academic center like Brown, but maybe not at a community hospital that lacks a lot of specialty services.
5. Can't really help you with location, I guess try to pick where you have friends/family if you can't decide from other factors.

 

[bjackrian]

BUT their salary $43,000/year SUCKS....you get paid more in Cleveland where the cost of living is cheaper! I'm afraid that this salary will pressure me into living in their subsidized housing complex (which is like living in a dorm) OR If I choose to live elsewhere, I will have no money to truly enjoy LA. Help!

This was one of the primary reasons that I did not rank CHLA highly. I was very turned off by the idea of living in a dorm again--just not something I wanted to do. I did feel that many/most of the residents enjoyed the dorm-type experience which is fine, but not what I was looking for in terms of my future colleagues and not an environment I would fit into well. I don't know much about Brown by comparison, but I at least wanted to validate the concern. =) Good luck--it sounds like you have some excellent programs to choose from!

 

[PMinty44]

drbetty and bjackrian, thanks for your sharing your thoughts....taking it into account.

Any more thoughts????

 

[PMinty44]

Bump....please, folks....are there any attendings or residents or ANYBODY that can comment on this thread? Pretty please??????

 

[CrazyPeds527]

Pminty - i PMd you