Mayo Rochester is a full scale academic medicine residency program. There are about 45 categoricals and 20 prelims each year. The program is highly committed to producing academic physicians most of whom will go on to do sub-specialty fellowship or advanced training to prepare for academic/leadership roles in primary care. About half the residents stay for fellowship; looking back over the class photos from the past 15-20 years, 1 in 10 residents are eventually on staff. Program leadership does not conceal their efforts to scout residents for staff positions within the Mayo system.
Clinically, the patients come from both local and referral sources. The case load is reasonable, and the range of pathology is excellent. ABIM performance is 99%+. Teaching is also outstanding; beyond morning report, M&M, EBM lecture, EBM conference, core curriculum lectures, resident-run board review and Medicine grand rounds, there are also hundreds of sub-specialty conferences. Medicine and IM subspecialty staff members are highly approachable, and curbsides often turn into informal case-based teaching. Staff members are chosen for clinical ability before research ability.
Scholarly activity is required; it can be as informal as a case series write-up, or not un-commonly, first authorship in a major journal. Up to 3 months can be taken as research elective. There are opportunities for short-tracking, a clinical research masters, MPH affiliation with U of M, or the Mayo Scholars program. Access to active research with hundreds of leading clinician-scholars is readily available.
Rochester is a very convenient, very affordable place to live, especially if you like outdoor activities. Most residents are laid-back, friendly people; we get along well and socialize outside of work. House parties, dinner gatherings and trips to the Twin Cities are popular activities. Most residents buy condos or houses. Free, covered, on-site, garage parking (read that again, slowly) is an excellent perk. My commute is 8 minutes long.
My wife and I couples matched here, ranking Mayo first, over MGH and JHU, mainly because we would have excellent training and world-class research/fellowship opportunities but still be able to see each other, start a family and live comfortably.