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Does anyone have any info on the IM program at MCG? Scutwork seems to have conflicting reports and I am trying to decide which to believe.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Medical College of Georgia
- Thread starter dochubert
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dochubert said:
You can't believe anyone. Reason?
(a) You can't believe the good reports. There actually are administrations which use Scutwork; some openly and some sneakily. I have seen some posts that stated they were from attendings and/or PDs, while others pretend to be medical students (but based on the content you know it's either an attending or a PD). These people obviously have a vested interest in attracting candidates and, in most cases, will gloss over bad spots in their program. That's why a lot of reviews are "4 stars" for everything. It happens during interviews, too. And it's not just attendings; residents also have an interest in getting good classes, both to maintain the prestige of their program and because they don't want to have to work with a bunch of sucky colleagues. Often they, too, will present the program in a great light.
(b) You can't believe the bad reports (but you certainly can believe them more than the good ones). Bad reports may be due to people with an axe to grind. Or they may be from people who are in competing programs. Or they may be from people who want to go to a program but consider themselves a borderline or marginal candidate and are trying to scare off others to improve their chances. So why are they more believeable than good reports? Because good reports just neglect to mention bad things (or just outright lie), so you don't even know to ask about it. Bad reports can be investigated and verified because they tell you WHAT areas are bad.
How to go about this? Well, asking someone brings all those biases and factors back into play. The only real way to do it is to rotate there on an away rotation. You can't hide something from someone for a month. It's a lot of work, but sometimes it can save you from a hellacious residency.
