Thanks-- I was hoping more applicants would chime in but oh well.
I ranked UTSW first for a large variety of professional and personal reasons. I knew what I wanted in a program:
1) a large, tertiary academic facility with broad specimen variety and multiple practice settings including a University Hospital, a county hospital, and a VA;
2) an attached children's hospital, preferably with an in-house pediatric path fellowship; (UT has 11 pedi path faculty and a good fellowship)
3) a hospital with a robust cardiac surgical program with cardiac transplantation and, ideally, a high volumen of medical & surgical congenital cardiac cases;
4) the ability to pursue AP-only training- ideally the 2+1+1 pathway I was talking about earlier;
5) excellent research opportunities within the residency curriculum as well as the larger institution.
Since this isn't my first time at the rodeo (TEXAS METAPHOR), I also was looking very closely at PDs and department chairs. I think it's hard as a med student to appreciate exactly how important they are. I could tell how much my new PD loves running his program; he puts a lot of effort into the recruitment process. I had a great rapport with him and it doesn't hurt that he's the only program director in the country who's also a pediatric pathologist.
And the personal reasons-- we've literally just made an offer on a house which is to the dollar half as much as our LA house cost. My kids' childcare will be about 60% of the insane amount I was previously paying. No state income tax. Tort reform. Great jobs for my spouse. Public schools you could actually consider using.
Pretty stoked.
