Interview experiences

[Filter]

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Come on guys...i see lots of views but very few posts...i know everyone is busy but these reviews help everyone out....not just present applicants but others who are planning on applying next year and might be surfing the forums..plus as an applicant its nice to see if others had similar experiences or if i had a particularly good/bad interview day.

anyway, post if ya can.

Thanks.

 

[GGale]

Scripps Mercy - mellow day but long 07:45 to 4:30 pm. Started with morning rounds which were very relaxed, almost casual even with the attending present. 0900-11:30 were two interviews, 30-40 minutes, very casual, with two faculty members - chatted with various residents while between interviews. Then we attended morning report and noon conference, both of which were pretty standard. Lunch at noon conference, fairly decent Italian food. Then the obligatory 1 hour tour (we were divided into two groups, cat and prelims) followed by the exit interview with the program director which was also conducted in cat/prelim groups. Actually got out at about 3:30ish.

Impression: okay physical plant, nothing remarkable except the big honking crosses on every wall. Didn't let you forget this is a catholic hospital. residents seemed really happy, very satisfied with their choice, confident in getting jobs/fellowships. Spoke to a couple of prelims who despised everything about IM and being in the hospital but both said that Mercy was "almost worth doing IM for", which I considered to be a pretty rousing recommendation. More prelims than categorical in every class, which could be annoying if you're working with a bunch of people who feel that they are killing time before starting thier real residencies. Reasonably varied patient population. Every stressed that Mercy was more academic than most community programs and stressed strong ties to UCSD.

Scripps Green: 0800 to 2:30. Morning report was the least impressive that I've ever seen anywhere, ever. Intern presenting was terrible - awkward, rambling, poor presentation - I've seen better from third-years. The two attendings looks impatient and embarrassed and kept correcting the intern. Hope that was atypical. Orientation where they stressed wide variety of available research, bench and clinical, and in-house fellowships. Two interviews, then lunch, tour, then exit interview which was mercifully brief.

Impression: Obviously not impressed by intern at AM report. Residents seemed happy, more about location (san Diego) and future plans than current training. Got the feeling training was good, adequate, but nothing particularly special and that everyone knew and ackowledged that. Hospital was lovely with gorgeous pacific ocean views out of every other window. Food was terrible. No PACS system, just a small room with the actual films.

 

[carol ann]

My last few quickies

University of Virginia - The people are excellent with a great sense of comraderie. The faculty and program seemed very responsive to residents needs. Best conferences that I attended on the interview trail. I am not sure that I want somewhere with a night float, so that's a concern for me. Charlottesville seems like a neat little place to live, and I can definitely see myself being happy in this program.

University of North Carolina - I love the program based on my experience there, but I am not sure that interview day does much to sell people on the program. Morning report was great, but not very well attended. The residents are truly a great group of people that I would enjoy training with and the program is not so big that you get lost in the shuffle. Lots of ward months (9 I think) with traditional q4 call. I know some of the warts, but I am assuming other schools have their warts that I just don't know about.

Carolinas Medical Center - I loved this place and the people who are involved with it. The interviews involved meeting 2 faculty, the program director, and the department chair. Very casual and fun. The dinner the night before was a t a very posh restaurant that was quite yummy (and very expensive). For a community program, they do well with fellowships -- although most matches are in the south, as the programs name does not travel quite as far as the university programs. Also bear in mind that they have lots of other residency programs including ED, surgery, OB/GYN and it feels more university than community. 5 months of wards q5, no call during consult months 5 months of year even in intern year. Morning report was pretty good and well attended. Program is small and you can really tailor the curriculm to your needs. Seems like a really really nice place to do your training - probably in my top 3, but I may need to push my limits a little bit more.

 

[Filter]

Columbia - People were nice, not at all malignant as rumors proclaim. High patient loads (avg 10-12 for intern..small unit so they can be vented, etc. really sick patients that prepare u for anything), GREAT pathology (saw some unique conditions on rounds.....really exciting stuff), excellent attending rounds (2 attendings per team), OK AM report (may have been off the day i interviewed). Fellowship list is about as impressive as it gets, basically u write your own check. Didnt really bother to look at call schedule, etc...im sure its rigorous. You do get some elective time, although u are sick call so u can get pulled. Ancillary services were admittedly mediocre ( i talked to some people who are residents there that went to my med school, and they said ancillary services were about the same....meaning u draw blood alot..) However, u don't have to transport patients. Another drawback is the lack of housing, which they try to mitigate with a 3000 dollar stipend.... Overall: Great Program, amazing pathology, top notch fellowships, friendly PD/chair, intense but non - malignant atmosphere. Negatives include poor/mediocre ancillary services, location ( not ideal like cornell), and lack of housing.

Brown next week.

 

[argh]

I went in thinking this was a strong program with lots of opportunities to learn from patients and I still feel good about it, but what I saw on my interview day detracted from my opinion of them some. It's great that Boston City Hospital takes care of so many medically underserved patients with complicated problems. Having the opportunity to rotate through a municipal hospital, a VA, and a university hospital is pretty uncommon, too. I was off-put by the fact that they frequently talked about the characteristics of their program in reference to the Harvard hospitals. Who cares about the Harvard hospitals? What BU has got is great, and they should focus more on how to be a better BU and not on how to be more comparable to Harvard. That said, the residents are unionized, and they used that weight to negotiate for better pay and improved ancillary services. The conference I attended was a little on the mediocre side. Fellowship list was pretty good, primarily in cards, pulmonary, and GI--the occasional top-flight fellowship matches were mixed with the more-common very good matches.

 

[germanIMG]

BU: kind of my home institution as I have been a post-doc here for 2 1/2 years.
Essentially BU has been covered extensively by others. Serves a underserved Pt population and takes pride in it. Rather strong research possibilities, yet the program itself not really academic. Mainly resident driven, extremely front loaded. For my taste, BU relies a bit too much on its "unique pt population learning experience" and as a program is not involved enough in residency training.

Thomas Jefferson: seems to me a bit underrated. New Chairman, from U PITT, before at Hopkins, tries to push the program to be more academic. Recruted some new faculty. faculty seems to be involved in teaching and PD is a strong resident advocate. Nice hospital, residents seem all very happy, decent to good fellowship placement. All in all, much stronger then I had thought, would rank it higher then BU. Only drawback: They have a strange system i place with 1/3 private pts with their attending somewqhere in the Jeff health System, 1/3 private with theri attending at the hospital and 1/3 hospital pts. Not sure how that plays out.

 

[boolaboo]

Anyone been to MGH, BWH, or BID?

 

[the citizen]

Anyone been to MGH, BWH, or BID?

I went to both, and both are impressive. As they are affiliated with Harvard, the resources and research opportunities at each appear second to none. The residents at each place are smart and motivated. They also seem happy and are very loyal to their respective programs with many staying for fellowship and taking faculty positions. Boston is an expensive city, and the cost of living is a drawback for these programs.

MGH--the interview day was pretty standard except there is only one interview and it was 6 interviewers on 1 interviewee for about 30 minutes. However, the interview itself was not at all stressful and at the end of it I wished I had more time. Call is q4 and is split between a private service with a traditional team (interns carry 10 of their own patients) and the Bigelow firm (4 interns follow 22 patients together and interns admit without a resident). Call is overnight. Overall, the program is very strong and no one regrets going there.

BWH--also a pretty standard interview day with lots of time built in to speak with residents. There is a night float system here, and the teams are the standard attending, resident, and 2 interns--the intern admits with a resident. The faculty are enthusiastic and the program leadership is very responsive to housestaff concerns and input. The third year sounds flexible with a large reseach block built in. Residents spend time at a VA and at a community hospital nearby.

Overall, I think the main difference in these programs is personality. MGH fosters independence very early on and is front loaded (not quite as rigorous as Hopkins, but close). BWH on the other hand lets the intern assert his independence at his own pace. Both see diverse pathology and train their residents very well.

 

[boolaboo]

thanks very much, citizen! your comments were very helpful. 🙂

 

[irlandesa]

BU:

I went in thinking this was a strong program with lots of opportunities to learn from patients and I still feel good about it, but what I saw on my interview day detracted from my opinion of them some. It's great that Boston City Hospital takes care of so many medically underserved patients with complicated problems. Having the opportunity to rotate through a municipal hospital, a VA, and a university hospital is pretty uncommon, too. I was off-put by the fact that they frequently talked about the characteristics of their program in reference to the Harvard hospitals. Who cares about the Harvard hospitals? What BU has got is great, and they should focus more on how to be a better BU and not on how to be more comparable to Harvard. That said, the residents are unionized, and they used that weight to negotiate for better pay and improved ancillary services. The conference I attended was a little on the mediocre side. Fellowship list was pretty good, primarily in cards, pulmonary, and GI--the occasional top-flight fellowship matches were mixed with the more-common very good matches.

actually, our views are not too different on BU.. I guess it depends on what day you go though, I didn't remember much in the way of comparison to Harvard.. But I do agree with you, BU has no reason to compare themselves to Harvard as they are already an exceptional program with plenty to offer! In fact, more Harvard residents matched at BU than BIDMC in the past 2 or 3 years! My impression from talking to some BU residents outside of the interview (and during the interview too) is that they love the opportunity to work with Harvard residents from BIDMC and BWH, and vice versa. Also agree that the structure of the program is not as conducive as it could be to interns attending conferences, which is an issue.. Of course, this is true at just about every program.

Back to the original thread, I don't have my Baystate interview until Thursday, but started a rotation out there this past week and have learned a bit about the program. Baystate is a large (800 bed), attractive hospital that is a major teaching hospital at Tufts in Springfield, Mass. Basically, everyone I've met is really nice, beautiful ambulatory clinic in downtown Springfield with great teaching from attendings in Neuro and Medicine, IM residents work closely with Ob/Gyn, Med/Peds, and ER residents on the wards. Much less malignant atmosphere than NEMC or St. E's. Huge Level 1 Trauma ER (4th busiest on the East Coast!) with very diverse patient population. The big downside to this program is the location; scant housing in the area near the hospital, Springfield leaves a LOT to be desired to the point where the program has had trouble filling in the past. Also the majority of residents are now FMG's, who are very nice and bring diversity to the hospital, yet there can be some real communication problems at times. Were it not for the location (and to some degree, reputation)issues, I would embrace the opportunity to work at this hospital hospital. Will write more after the interview.

 

[Pili]

I interviewed at BIDMC. The good news is that I really liked the program, and the bad news that I really goofed this time (for those wondering at this point, I am not goofy usually) because my interviewers were WEIRD.
BIDMC is as much Harvard as MGH and BW, and then some. The faculty IS Harvard. The hospital itself is better than BW, and nicer than MGH. The computer system is second to none. The residents are super smart and super funny. Faculty are outstanding. Morning report and noon conference were nothing short of awesome. I even took notes, don't wanna miss the opportunity to be taught by the best!
Both my interviewers were weird. One was a PhD who could not care less about interviewing. He made me talk about myself which, seeing how busy he was, did in one minute flat in telegraphic fashion. He obviously had not read my materials. This interview was over in 10 min., and I think it went well (i.e., he was pleased that I did not waste his time).
My second interviewer was the fellowhip director of the specialty I want to enter, which I did not realize until I told him what my fellowhip goal was ( another program) and he went ballistic. Strong work, Pili! Prior to that point, he had already made me feel uncomfortable by scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper all the crap I was saying (which was true, but crap nonetheless) He filled 3 pages with things about my life. One read "he told his mother..." I thought what the heck.
In summary, I think it's a top program but my chances of matching are slim.

 

[Jamezuva]

In summary, I think it's a top program but my chances of matching are slim.

Why do you say this???? 😕

 

[Pili]

Why do you say this???? 😕

Well, because you don't go to a fellowship director and tell him that you want to do the fellowship somewhere else! And because he might think I did not know he was the fellowship director (i.e. lack of of preparation?) The fact is that I did prepare for the interview, but had not memorized the name of the fellowship director, only the chief of the department. Do you think this must have put him off?

 

[Jamezuva]

Well, because you don't go to a fellowship director and tell him that you want to do the fellowship somewhere else! And because he might think I did not know he was the fellowship director (i.e. lack of of preparation?) The fact is that I did prepare for the interview, but had not memorized the name of the fellowship director, only the chief of the department. Do you think this must have put him off?

Ohhh...i somehow glazed over the "another program" part of your original post. I still however feel that you are placing too much emphasis on the weight of the interview. I am pretty confident that most of these places have a rank list in place before the start of the interview season, and your spot unlikely moves a tremendous amount after the interview. I know that you have gotten interviews at several other prestigious places and I know that BID knows this as well just going by your stats. While it would have been ideal to have known the name of the fellowship director there, I think it is pretty unrealistic to expect applicants to know this type of info given the hectic schedules a lot of us have during this time of year. I think the rest of the intern selection committee will acknowledge this as a common thing and it will not hurt you much. In short, I wouldn't be too scared that you'll match to a "lesser" program if BID is truly your #1. Good luck...and btw, I have to wonder if I met/saw you there since I just recently interviewed there myself 😀

 

[Filter]

Any more impressions of BID (maybe jamezuva would be kind enough to post?), Cornell, or Brown?

 

[dmc05]

Hey filter,

I recently interviewed at Brown. I think this program is underrated. I think people are turned off by Providence but it doesn't seem that bad (in my limited time there)

By far, the most organized interview visit on my trail thus far. The PD/associate PDs were very friendly and enthusiastic and had a sincere interest in informing us about the Brown program and all the opportunities that are available to us. We had 3 associate program directors sit down with us and answer our questions about the program in a very informal manner. Morning report was very good, hi-tech, and with interesting cases..the associate PDs are present for the morning reports and add depth to the morning report.

3 hospital system: RIH the big city hospital, the Miriam which is your community private hospital, and the VA. Lots of service pts at RIH from varied ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The Miriam is very well-known for its cardio, immunology, and heme-onc. The pts here on the floors are very sick, ancillary services are great..physical environment is very pleasant. They treated us to ben & jerry's ice cream while we were here..that was awesome!! International health is huge here..you have the opportunity to do an away elective(s) in India, Dominican Republic, Kenya among a few of the choices.

The housestaff was super friendly and took the time to answer our questions. They love Brown and love Providence too. The camarderie here is very strong. Cutthroat people would not do well here. The faculty here also is very approachable and friendly too. My interviewer was super friendly and told me about what recreational opportunities exist in the summer and winter. It was super laid back. Apparently, there are great restaurants b/c of the Johnson & wales cooking school in the city.

I can't remember much more right now. There wasn't anything ostensibly negative about the program from my recollection. Oh, another perk is that you're considered a Brown faculty member and have the privileges that med students have at the medical school and undergrad too.

Anyway, let me know what other people think!

 

[Jamezuva]

BID: Overally very impressed with the program. Best computer system I have seen with everything computerized including notes. Hospital is very nice looking with "beautiful" floors and units. My interviewers were very split, one of them I loved and she was extremely nice, the other one had the flattest personality I've met of anyone on the interview trail and didn't seem at all interested in interviewing people. PD is very set on trying to make this program as good as the other Harvard programs but is supposedly not the most approachable PD. Research is not required but heavily encouraged based on the number of abstracts, etc that are produced by the housestaff there. Your attendings always seem to be Harvard faculty. I wasn't that impressed with morning report, but the case conference later on was more interesting, although they still didn't mention one area in the differential diagnosis that seemed obvious to me and I had to relate this to one of the residents after the report since everyone was still somewhat baffled by what disease the patient had. Residents seemed very nice overall although there were a few that seemed to have that "we're harvard, ha!" attitude. I was also bugged by the fact that there was a shuttle to take us from the hospital to the dinner, but no transportation back to the hospital afterward, so I had to walk all the way back in the midst of night in Boston by myself. Their residents come from everywhere in the U.S. and it seems like they have pretty good fellowship placement, but not the best I've seen.

 

[Renea]

Greetings! Just doing my part to keep the thread going.

UW: Obviously a strong, academic program. Rotate at "the U," Harborview, Providence and the VA. Strengths for me are tradition of success in primary care AND training of subspecialists, so a lot of options if one is undifferentiated. Residents seem happy and smart, and don't mind rotating through 4 hospitals. Seattle is amazing, and there is a great tour of the city on the interview day. Interview day left a little something to be desired--saw only one hospital, not many residents came to our "chat session" so the applicants ended up talking to each other for an hour. If you have this interview coming up, I would definitely try to make time for one of the "optional" activities to get more exposure to the hospitals, wards.

UofChicago: an excellent, smaller academic program. The BEST morning report thus far, and rounds with the resident team was a lot of fun. They seem to take very good care of their residents, and will have a new chair coming on board who included a letter to applicants. It is a one hospital system, but residents seemed to feel that they saw a diverse group of patients. The house staff seem genuinely very happy there--can't think of many negatives, frankly, unless you are looking for a bigger program. Well, I guess you either love Hyde Park or you don't.

OHSU: Oregon is a beautiful state, and Portland is very nice. The hospitals built in/on hillside so that you see many a scenic vista as you walk around the medical center. This program is University Hospital/VA based, about 55/45%. They have some really cool curriculum innovations, such as a "systems health" course, where everyone spends 8 weeks at Kaiser and learns about systems health research. They also have a chronic care clinic and have been measuring outcomes from that clinic. A smaller program, with 29 categoricals. The PD is an amazing person, obviously cares deeply about the program and education of residents--I just get the feeling that he has to fight against the administration of OHSU on a lot of things due to budget constraints, etc. The house staff are currently trying to organize a union to try and "encourage" the administration (again, hospital, not program) to be more responsive.

I'll second what ppl have already said about Brown and BID. I thought the Brown residents seemed like very nice, happy "normal" ppl and the PDs are great. RI Hospital leaves something to be desired in terms of attractiveness, but apparently the staff there are great, and that matters.

BID also had very happy residents working in beautiful facilities, and they have a primary care track that looks excellent with some really cool rotation opportunities--I'm just not sure about the patient population there in terms of diversity. Frankly, although morning report was pretty good, I was less impressed with the Firm Conference I attended.

 

[germanIMG]

I know some people on this thread do not think highly of this program, but I believe this is a mistake.

JHU Bayview: Interview day starts with an introduction by the leadership of the program. As already apparent from their invite, they pay a lot of attention to everyone's application and with a ratio of only 6:1 of invites to spots, their claim, that they only invite candidates they are serious about, becomes believable. PD and Chairman both are extremly nice, Chairman used to be the chairman of the JHU main program for 8 years before coming to Bayview 4 years ago. I believe since then, the integration of the two campuses is progressing. On campus are two NIH institutes, for aging and Drugs, lots of research space. 40% of JHU faculty and about 45% of NIH money for JHU are at Bayview. That's more then most other top institutions have.
Essentially all of geriatics, ImmunologyandAllergy, Rheumatology and Pulmonology are at Bayview.
Two almost 1 hour interviews, very friendly both, one was the chairman, one a Endo research guy. extremely smart people.
Then you join a team rounding, followed by a tour, noon report and lunch with residents.
Noon report was something else: Never thought you could talk so much and so "academically" about wounds and wound healing.
Residents are nice, some from JHU, few IMGs, rest from all over the states.
Their fellowship placement is essentially JHU. Some other strong programs like UVA, NIH, U Maryland and BWH.
Its a small program with only 18 residents. Hospital has about 600 beds, but you can do all your electives of which you have 6 months I believe at downtown JHU.
All in all I was very impressed with this program. So much, that I am rethinking my ranking list and even might rank this above Cornell and MT Sinai.
have to talk to my wife though, if she would like to trade Manhattan for Baltimore;-)

 

[Hova2005]

Anyone interview at Emory and care to share their thoughts?

 

[bicycle]

I am guessing the posts slowed down because all these days blur together. For what it's worth:

Northwestern: phenomenal facilities, true academic program with no private services and top-notch fellowship placement (something like 9/9 in GI and sending people to places like Hopkins and Wash U for Cards), happy residents from all over the country. To top it all off, in a great part of Chicago. The PD and all the residents are miffed at the rumor that they only care for "rich people" - just not true. As far as interview day, standard activities (inlcuding rounding) with 2 30 minute faculty interviews in the morning.

OHSU: Smaller program (29 per year) but in a great city. PD was enthusiastic and the type of person you can immediately tell is an asset to the program. Referral center for all of Oregon so pretty good catchment area. Academic opportunities but 50% of class ends up in general med. Fellowship placement very good for some but not all specialties (GI good, Onc good, Cards so-so). Another typical interview day although only one 30 minute faculty interview (which could be with PD or Chair of Medicine).

UW: Elite level academic program by every standard. Residents from great med schools all over the country and a go-anywhere-you-want fellowship match list. 4 hospital system, county hospital (Harborview) an amazing asset and most resident's favorite hospital. Referral center for Washington, Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana!! Large program and spread out, contributing to a persistent rumor that class is not "tight." When asked this question I heard everything from denial to "don't come here if you think you can't make friends." My take is that the rumor is largely true, but that it is a necessary trade-off for the awesome multi-site training. The interview day itself was mediocre (they let the program speak for itself) and the group is randomly divided into thirds with each group seeing only one of the hospitals. Standard 2 30 minute interviews. One interviewer had not read my file, other had. Not sure if that was intentional or if the first person just didn't have time.

OK, hope that might help someone. Anybody been to UCSF and/or Stanford and willing to share. That would be great. Thanks.

 

[Filter]

Sorry, but i have no info on any west coat/midwest/southern programs....wish i did... anywayz just finished Brown. I'll try to keep it short since irelandesa and dmc05 were both really accurate in thier descriptions (thanks alot - it helped to know about the place before visiting).

Brown - Very organized interview day. Lots of time to talk with pd's, residents built into the day. Tour both the Miriam and RIH, had a laid back single interview with a PD. The people here were uniformly friendly, enthusiastic, and happy! What really struck me was that EVERY resident i talked to loved the place. One applicant even flat out asked a resident to come up with something negative, and all that she could say was that the clinic population was occasionally difficult to deal with due to lack of resources and follow-up (like just about every clinic pop.). DMC05 pretty much talked about everything else... Fellowship list was solid, not as impressive as some of the programs i've visited, but good. Seemed like they matched really well in GI, if thats your interest. Cards seemed a little weaker (although that was just from perusing the list). Providence seemed like a nice, but really small city (then again im coming from NYC, so my viewpoint is a little skewed =). Overall: I really loved the people in this program!! If you are looking for the absolute "TOP" program with the best fellowships in everything it might not be for you, but if you want to train in an academic, friendly, and genuinly caring enviornment with alot of camaraderie take a look here.

 

[Coco_Nut]

I can only comment on Stanford. This is going to be similar to a post I put in a previous thread.

Anyway, Stanford is a very research oriented program (with quite a few housestaff interested in academic careers). The residents fare well with fellowship placement....and many stay on the west coast. There is good camaraderie between the housestaff and faculty and teaching is superb. Ancillary services are top notch and the Palo Alto area is beautiful.... however, property values are out of control; but, the residents are able to find reasonably priced apartments. The one drawback is that the patient diversity (and also patient volume) is not the same as programs in bigger cities.... which is not so bad if you like the idea of having the time to actually read about your patients.

I'd also like to hear how people perceive this program in relation to some of the programs on the east coast.


OK, hope that might help someone. Anybody been to UCSF and/or Stanford and willing to share. That would be great. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

 

[hammersmith]

I can only comment on Stanford. This is going to be similar to a post I put in a previous thread.

Anyway, Stanford is a very research oriented program (with quite a few housestaff interested in academic careers). The residents fare well with fellowship placement....and many stay on the west coast. There is good camaraderie between the housestaff and faculty and teaching is superb. Ancillary services are top notch and the Palo Alto area is beautiful.... however, property values are out of control; but, the residents are able to find reasonably priced apartments. The one drawback is that the patient diversity (and also patient volume) is not the same as programs in bigger cities.... which is not so bad if you like the idea of having the time to actually read about your patients.

I'd also like to hear how people perceive this program in relation to some of the programs on the east coast.


OK, hope that might help someone. Anybody been to UCSF and/or Stanford and willing to share. That would be great. Thanks.

[/QUOTE]

As far as the patient load goes, when you go to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, you will see a lot of them. The teaching at SCVMC is very good as well. Stanford is a strong program, no doubt.

 

[Filter]

Any info on the Yale Categorical program? I've heard mixed things about the place and am kind of exhausted.....just wondering if the trip is worth it.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[ak1978]

Filter,

I really liked Yale. The interns were a very tight group & had great camaraderie. Their match list was awesome (rivaling Penn etc)—didn’t realize their program was that strong. New Haven is better than advertised, had some cute areas (plus it’s really close to NYC). They also have this incredible international medicine program that other programs send their own residents to. The attendings are phenomenal from what I understand. One downside (according to a former Yale student I met at Hopkins) is the level of acuity—it’s not at the same level as say, Hopkins, MGH, Penn, etc. But I would definitely consider it. Good luck!

Any info on the Yale Categorical program? I've heard mixed things about the place and am kind of exhauseted.....just wondering if the trip is worth it.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[irlandesa]

This program is very much like BU in that one of it's main goals is to provide medical care to underserved populations in both New Haven and Waterbury, CT. Huge emphasis on training socially aware physicians, and the first program I've seen that provides significant financial support for those who want to do international rotations (>50% of residents during their 3 years of training!). Incredibly racially diverse group of residents with great comraderie, excellent fellowship matches (~40% of IM/PC grads go into fellowships). I was also very impressed by the program director and faculty I met, all really bright and with amazing training.

Minuses: (for me at least) commuting to Waterbury Hospital (30 min.+ each way from New Haven) for at least 6 months of intern year and for continuity clinic. I liked Waterbury Hospital itself (they take you up on a bus to visit, prepare for a long day). and the dedication of the program to serving the community of Waterbury, and the drive up there is quite pretty. The PD is making an effort to transition the residents into more time at YNHH, and to cutting down on call time at Waterbury. It also seemed that relationships between PC, Traditional, and Med/Peds residents were a bit distant, though I didn't detect any outright hostility. Overall, really liked this program; easily in my top 4.

 

[DJ Trauma]

Anyone interview at Emory and care to share their thoughts?

I loved it! There was a dinner the night before, which was the first in a while that I didn't actually find painful. The residents are a big, diverse group. They were fun to hang out with, and seem to know each other well and hang out together a lot. At the interview day, both my interviewers (the PD and one other faculty) were very nice, laid back and personable. I also spoke with the PC PD (I'm not sure which track I want to take), who was great, too. The residents seem to have great support from faculty; one even told me that they had helped him and other residents get approved for home mortgages by talking to local banks for them. Most residents I spoke to also seem to feel that there are plenty of potential research and career mentors that they can work with at Emory. The fellowship placement is pretty impressive. A lot of people end up staying at Emory, but the ones who leave do pretty well, too. The conference was one of the better ones I've been to so far. As far as the clinical training, I think you get to work with an extremely diverse group of patients and see a lot of great pathology and get a lot of autonomy. You rotate through Emory (tertiary care/referral center), Grady (big-a$$ public hospital), a VA, and Crawford Long (private community hospital). Contrary to what I've heard, ancillary services are not bad at Grady; they now have on-demand phlebotomy, and residents told me they have to do blood draws occasionally, but definitely not on a regular basis. They do a pretty good job of adhering to the 80 hr work week, and there is no in-house overnight call at Grady and Crawford Long. There are a ton of research opportunities; their NIH funding is growing rapidly...they claim the fastest of any school in the country, but one other place I interviewed at said the same thing 🙂 There are also opportunities for moonlighting, and cost of living is fairly low in Atlanta.

Negatives: I couldn't really think of too many, I think I'm going to rank it pretty high. It's a really big program, so if that's not your thing, this isn't the place for you. Also, there is no real elective time during the first year to do research, just subspecialty electives. I asked the PD about this; she felt that it hadn't really affected fellowship placement so far, but it's something that they're keeping an eye on and will change if necessary.

 

[irlandesa]

Huge, spectacular hospital complex, with Maryland VA and University Hospital connected by an overhead walkway. Excellent, often underrated program in a fun city (believe it or not, I actually love Baltimore!). A bit of a different feel from the New England programs, lots of residents from down South and a bit more low-key. Highly supportive, resident driven program with great research funding, excellent fellowship match list on par with BU, Brown, etc.

Minuses: Comraderie among residents is good, but by no means the best I've seen. I have the impression that most of the residents are married (though I know some singles there as well), and many commute from the suburbs. Much more VA training than other hospitals (not necess. a minus, but depends on your preferences), and less of that "part of the community" feel that Northeast programs like Brown, UMass, Yale, etc. have. Really liked the program, but due to the fact that my heart and family are in Boston now will not likely be in my top 3. I think it is definitely a program worth a visit, however.

 

[Filter]

Yale - LAST ONE .....YIIIIPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Typical interview day. PD was extremely nice, knew all the applicants files inside out and was able to recognize and talk to us before we even got a chance to introduce ourselves. Very nice research facilities, hospital itself is average. All the residents seemed extremely friendly and got along well. Just switched to 1 intern:1 resident team, allowing for more supervision by the resident, at the expense of more call for pgy 2/3. Fellowship list from last year was VERY strong, on par with hopkins, penn, columbia. However, i spoke to someone there who was good friends with a about 4 of the residents who told him that this year there was some issue with the cardiology match, and that the yale program did not take 2 of its own residents, which were sort of depending on the spots, leaving them unmatched. The other 4 who applied to cards did EXTREMELY well though. I think this might have caused some temporary hard feelings, but other than that, the program is going strong and everyone seemed happy. They have a wonderful international elective program (lots of sites, paid housing), as well as a variety of research oriented tracks. My first interview were great- typically relaxed, informative, and informal..... but the next interviewer was borderline rude, although she lightened up as the interview proceeded. (I was told prior to interviewing by a yale student that this interviewer was known to be pretty malignant). New haven is a nice little place, much more liveable than i thought. Overall, yale was alot better than i expected, but wasn't a perfect fit for me either.

Anyway, im glad to be done....now the pain of making a rank list and taking step 2 looms large........GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!! thank you for the posts and the info!

 

[pretzel]

Bicycle -- UCSF vs. Stanford

UCSF and Stanford: Awesome morning report, really nice PD, had a great overall experience, good patient base, really bright and hardworking residents. Loved both programs.

The only minor negative thing about UCSF (I hope no one shoots me down for this comment) is that the salary is the same at all UC schools, and it is a very different salary from Stanford. Stanford is of course private, so they have more leeway with doling out whatever salary they want. That's really being picky though, because the major things I am looking for in residency are my peers and future friends, and both seemed really incredible at both places. Really loved them both.

 

[pretzel]

Coconut -- I got really lucky with interviews. I felt as though UCSF and Stanford were very similar to programs on east coast, like Cornell or Penn or Brigham or MGH. I really couldn't tell much difference between residents at any of these places, in kindness or happiness or culture of not being belittled by attendings.

I did sense that these programs were a bit formal, but I didn't sense much difference in formality between programs from seriatum interviews. I am going to rank these programs according more to the city than clinical training or peers. All of them do so well with fellowship placement and research that from my perspective, it doesn't make any difference for future career development. I think that NYC is different from Boston is different from San Francisco though, and the culture of these cities may bleed a little into the feel of the respective residency programs. For example, I did feel that the San Francisco programs were a little more laid back than eastern programs, but I think that has more to do with the types of people who are on each coast, rather than something intrinsic to the programs themselves.

 

[Masreya]

irlandesa;
How was your Baystate interview??? Also how was your rotation there? It seemed really laid back to me, what was your impression?

thanks

 

[irlandesa]

irlandesa;
How was your Baystate interview??? Also how was your rotation there? It seemed really laid back to me, what was your impression?

thanks

hi, I posted on the other thread about this in probably too much detail🙂, but I still am very much enjoying my rotation and the attendings are among the best I've worked with (including at BIDMC, Lahey, NEMC). The atmosphere here is not a pressure-cooker, which I also like, but the possibility of having to admit EVERY day (whatever happened to a Day Float or expanding Night Float?) has knocked Baystate down my list, unfortunately.

 

[rdomingo]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering whether anyone had interviewed at Albany Medical Center who might be able to speak of their experience there. I matched at Albany for a PGY-2 position in Neurology beginning in 2006 and am guaranteed a prelim Medicine position beginning this summer. I did not have to interview separately in the Department of Medicine, so I really have no insight whatsoever into their residency program... if anyone could shed some light I'd really appreciate it! You can PM me if you'd like.

Thanks so much! Best of luck in the Match!

rdomingo