Jersey programs

[wallywhat]

I have interviews at Robert Wood Johnson (piscataway) and New JErsey Med (Newark). I am interest in scrapping one of them. Anyone have any opinions of either program. I am looking for a university/academic program with strong opporunities with GI fellowships

THanks

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[adude]

By all means skip the Newark interview. Both places are fine medical schools but for IM RWJ is really the only program worth interviewing at in NJ. Both are university programs technically but research, academics, facilities, etc are much better at RWJ. They have a fairly strong GI program there as well. University Hospital (Newark) is kind of a dump and while you will probably be well trained especially as far as procedures and inner-city type medicine your fellowship opportunities would not be as good as it has kind of a poor academic reputation. Great lifestyle at RWJ as well. Not sure about Newark.

 

[jerseyboy]

adude, I'm not sure where you get your information, but I think that you are totally wrong. The Newark program is very well respected from a clinical standpoint. I am sure that the residents that come out of that program are prepared to deal with anything and everything. Sure, RWJ has the name (well, kind of) and more money, but the clinical experience cannot even come close to what the Newark program offers. If you are more into research, than, yes, RWJ is the way to go. And I would be willing to bet that Newark graduates are more attractive for fellowship opportunities. And besides, who wants to live in New Brunswick? Many Newark residents live in NYC, Hoboken, or Montclair. Newark has 3 or 4 GI positions. RWJ, I'm not sure about.

 

[adude]

Actually I went to med school at RWJ and interviewed for IM at both programs. Like I said before I'm sure the clinical training in Newark is excellent but I doubt any better than RWJ other than perhaps procedure opportunities. But the OP said he was interested in GI and for such a competitive fellowship you want to have the best name and best research opportunities, and residents from such programs make better applicants for better or worse. GI at RWJ I believe has 3-4 spots/year as well. Agree that the area is more suburban but is also less expensive.

 

[samparsh]

I will have to completely agree with adude.
Being familiar with both medical schools and both internal medicine residency programs I would definitely pick RWJ over Newark.... in fact i'm surprised that this is even being debated.

RWJ has vastly superior teaching program, fantastic clinical services and very comptetitive fellowship opportunities.
Residents actually match very well for fellowships, especially in Cardio and GI (the most competitive ones).

And if you need more of a reason, look at the hospital situations. University Newark is bankrupt and has significantly cut programs and resources and ancillary staff (the little they had to begin with)

RWJ University Hospital is one of the few hospitals anywhere that was actually making money. In fact they are even further expanding with a brand new building next to the already freestanding Cancer Institute of NJ, Signifiact ER changes, a new research wing and great renovations to the radiology department. The internal medicine residents are happy, their night float system works very well, and the surrounding area is very hospitable.

and I could go on.....

 

[souljah1]

samparsh,

go on then....

i am jersey bred and i have actually been wondering about the caliber of RWJ as far as internal medicine and GI are concerned. i interviewed at RWJ for medical school and i didn't care for it that much, but i have heard that their IM residency has a decent rep for fellowship placement and that their interns and residents are as happy as a PGY can be. i am wondering if you could provide some specifics about fellowship placements into areas such as GI and possibly Cards or Heme/Onc. i'm out here on the west coast and loving my medical school experience, but i am missing home. the cost of living in jersey, the close proximity to nyc, the 'shore', etc...so, when i start missing it i start wondering about the possibility of doing my residency there (or NYC/Philly/Balt).

 

[samparsh]

apparently the residents are very happy there. The resident call scheduling is somewhat flexible and there is a HUGE emphasis by the program director on fellowships and subspecialty medicine. In fact he even states he wants all his residents to apply for fellowships.
For the past few years they have had about 84% of their residents purse fellowships.
Every Resident who wanted a Cardio / GI or HemOnc fellowship in the last two years got a position somewhere.
The following is information put out by their residency office..... on fellowship placement over the past 3-4 years and which programs:

Cardiology:
Einstein
Brown
Columbia
Lahey Clinic
Loyola
Mount Sinai
UMDNJ / RWJ
UCONN
U of Pitt
U Wisc
St. Vincent's

GI:
Einstein
Case Western
Cleveland Clinic
Oschner Clinic
UMDNJ / RWJ
UMDNJ / NJMED
UCONN
U Maryland
U of Miami
U of Pitt

HemOnc:
Georgetown
LIJ
Moffit Cancer Center - FLA
NIH
NYU
Temple - Fox Chase
Thomas Jefferson
UMDNJ / RWJ

I hope this helps souljah1

 

[Krafty]

Please keep in mind that this thread is bound to attract many biased views, f.i. people that graduated both institutions. They might not be the sort of objective information you should base your interview trail on.

Being from the area I'm familiar with both programs.

They are both state institutions. They are both under the blanket of University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). RWJ IS UMDNJ. Hence they attract very similar amounts of NIH research money.

They both have graduates/contacts in the tristate area. Jersey Med tends to have more people in/around NYC, whereas RWJ has more people in/around south Jerey/Philly.

Here are the some details.

Jersey Med Advantages:
- Dr.Jo-Ann Reteguiz residency director, a REKNOWNED author of the OSCE and Pre-Test Medicine books, used widely by medical students throught United States + Abroad
- Dr.Jerrold Ellner, department chair. Just do an OVID search on Dr.Ellner and see what you come up with.
- Diverse clinical experience - Private (Hackensack Hosp), Public (UH), VA (don't know how to classify war vets/army) patients.
- Location - technically NYC, many residents commute from downtown manhattan to work. Many live in Hoboken/J.City/Brooklyn

Disadvantages
- Suboptimal ancillary services (UH only)
- Newark

RWJ Advantages
- Nice looking, nice living - mid New Jersey, esthetically pleasing
- Location (if you're a suburban type), Rutgers State in the area
- Name recognition - Non-generic name Robert Wood vs New Jersey Med (more state school sounding-like)

Disadvantages
- Location (if you're the urban type) nothing to do in mid New Jersey unless you're into college bars
- Private patient population, nice but won't let you touch them (lacking procedure training)

Basically in terms of what they offer TODAY, I would say location and hospital environment (public vs private) are the only differences between the programs.
Be careful tho, with all the new guns (dept leadership), and location (NYC = #1 metro area in world), I would apply to Newark now, because for the last 2 years they have been getting much more competitive. The trend seems to continue.

I probably would come down to what kind of environment suits the applicant. If you don't like big cities, suburban medicine, and are into cushy private patients RWJ is probably the place for you.
Newark is definitely not for suburbanites.

 

[adude]

Krafty I think your post was more or less accurate except for one thing. While not exactly like the Newark situation, the RWJUH population is not at all cushy and private. There are definitely some, especially the cardiac and heme/onc patients but for general medicine I would say about 75% of the patients there are ward service patients meaning indigent with no private physician, many non-English speaking. Again not like University Hospital but don't expect it to be like Hackensack or Princeton Medical Center where the RWJ residents spend a couple months each year.