Hi!
I imagine that lot's of folks here can tell you about UMass or Baystate, I can just tell you about Berkshire Medical Center, which is a comunity based, university afiliated program. I signed a pre-match contract with them. Yaah is right, Pittsfield is a small city very rural, but nice, with a lot going on during the summer, music, dance, theatre, history, art, a place where you'll find the breadth and depth of cultural activities amid spectacular natural surroundings. The residents, are awesome! A great group, really happy to be there, they have been extremely helpful, checking out places to rent and even e-mailing pictures of houses in the area. The PD is a wonderful person and an exceptional staff of pathologists, each with subspecialty expertise. Many of their residents have gone on to getting decent fellows, even dermpath.So If you know that private practice is what you want to do, and you are the type that excells in a warm friendly environment, I wouldn't give it a second thought, the major drawback probably is lack of big research oportunities. The program is a solid one, with a proper amount of workload and adequate exposure to all types of disease processes, yet still enough time to read. We all know that you can't expect to be spoonfed path. They also make sure that whatever area is not sufficiently covered, the faculty members give GREAT, very didactic conferences, 2 hs. of conference every morning! Some residents seem to think that it's too much, but they are all well prepared, for the boards AND real life.
Feel free to PM me if you want more info.
Good Luck!
