Medical College of Wisconsin

[willie sutton]

Just interviewed there, PD seemed cool. Some FMG's. Damn cold.

What does everyone know about its standing (prestige) compared to upper tier programs? Any comments?

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[Broken Ankles]

Just interviewed there, PD seemed cool. Some FMG's. Damn cold.

What does everyone know about its standing (prestige) compared to upper tier programs? Any comments?

if research makes a program "upper tier," then mcw would be considered one of the top as it is #5 in NIH funding. if its location was just 2 hours south, then i'm guessing there would be no need to question its prestige.

 

[mille125]

very prestigious program....one of the best in the midwest

 

[willie sutton]

any residents out there that can comment on their third year rotations. i was told by the pd (seemed like a resonable guy) that third years got to 'more or less' make their third year curriculum. so, for instance, you could do 5 months of pain -- or something like that.

And, for the residents, at what time of day are you usually getting out in the day?

 

[citixen]

bump

 

[citixen]

please, tell some recent opinions about this program

 

[Stank811]

Great program clinically and academically. I probably average 50-60hrs a week. I know you can request your CA-3 months but I don't think that it is as flexible as the previous post indicated (probably are not going to get 5 months of pain). Great staff and fellow residents. A lot of big cases with minimal fellow interference. If you have any specific questions just ask and I will attempt to answer.

 

[citixen]

hey Stank811, thanks for reply! i have a couple of questions about life in Milwaukee.. is it a safe city(crime rate..)? expensive (housing, etc...)? are there any activities for singles/not married ? thanks in advance.....

 

[Stank811]

citixen no problem. MCW is actually located in a suburb of milwaukee which is very safe and the majority of medical students at MCW I would say live in wauwatosa. Milwaukee itself as its spots, like any city, that I would not feel to comfortable walking in at night. But theses spots are not close to the MCW campus at all. Residents with families often live in the suburbs of milwaukee and a good majority actually own homes. So Milwaukee is a very affordable city with the resident salary they give you and you will be able to find an descent affordable home within 5-30 minutes from campus depending on what your looking for. The single residents either live close to campus or about 20 minutes away on the "east side" or "third ward" area which is near the lake and are also the areas were there is plenty to do as a single person. The residents on the east side are usually renting but some do own condos which are on the more expensive side. Just let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Dejavu]

hey Stank811, thanks for reply! i have a couple of questions about life in Milwaukee.. is it a safe city(crime rate..)? expensive (housing, etc...)? are there any activities for singles/not married ? thanks in advance.....

I went to MCW. Another poster was right, there are spots where I wouldn't even let my wife drive during the day, but then I am a worrier. There are places where I wouldn't drive at night and maybe not the day either, but where you would live would be away from that. The small part of Milwaukee between Highway 40 and Wauwatosa is an inexpensive and comparatively safe neighborhood. We lived on Hi-Mount Blvd and my wife walked the neighborhood alot, albeit with a mean looking German Shepard/Doberman mix that came with the house.

Milwaukee was the most segregated city in America when we live there and the crime was quite localized as well.

PM me if you decide to go there. I will tell you some places to go and to avoid, although my info might be slightly dated.

 

[Gimlet]

hey Stank811, thanks for reply! i have a couple of questions about life in Milwaukee.. is it a safe city(crime rate..)? expensive (housing, etc...)? are there any activities for singles/not married ? thanks in advance.....

I can echo the above. Definitely no qualms about personal safety in any of the areas around the medical center or the downtown areas you would frequent during a night on the town. Milwaukee provides a great mix of big city culture (nightlife, music scene, sports, theater, museums, etc) without a lot of big city attitude or problems (traffic, cost of living).

 

[citixen]

thanks for your comments!

 

[100101]

Hey do MCW residents get the weekends off? What's your schedule usually like?

 

[Stank811]

We get the majority of weekend days off per month (average you get 1-2 weekend day call spots per month and the rest of the days you have off)....call varies on location (VA-CHOW-Froedtert hospital) and varies on experience. CA-3 will take more overnight call because they are responsible for running the board at night to get experience supervising other junior residents and CRNAs (of course with attending back up if needed)...again call and overall hrs are not bad...I am sure you can find easier programs in regards to schedule but MCW is a good balance of great cases and hours in my biased opinion.

 

[BeddingfieldMD]

Hey do MCW residents get the weekends off? What's your schedule usually like?

I can say from personal experience that the categorical intern year isn't too bad in this respect. I get weekends off on 4 of my 12 intern months, and that's not including ER month, which is of course shifts. My average weekly work hours probably average around 60, with most inpatient months in the 70-75 hours per week range, a couple of the busiest months hitting the 80 limit, and a few months that are straight up 35-45 hours a week.

From what I've seen while on my intern anesthesia months, the residents seem to work a schedule typical of a lot of anesthesia programs. That is, most everything happens M-F, and then you take call that probably averages about 2 weekend days per month. Children's months seem busiest, Froedtert is pretty busy, and VA is pretty chill and is home call unless you're on-call for airway (i.e. there's an intern on the SICU overnight). Then there's a few SICU months, as well, which are as one would expect.

Maybe some of the senior residents can comment more on their schedules.

As for Milwaukee...

I'm not from here originally, but I'm not new to the Midwest. So if you absolutely hate snow or cold weather, then yeah, it's probably not your place. But the city is actually not bad for residency. It's certainly not New York, Chicago, etc. But it is only an hour train ride ($20 each way) from downtown Chicago, which is a good diversion. And as others have stated, almost all residents either live in Wauwatosa right near the hospital (especially popular for those with kids or who want a home) or downtown or East Side along Lake Michigan. It's a short commute (15 minutes usually) from the Lake to the main hospital (Froedtert), and the lake/downtown area has tons to do, especially in the summer.

The good thing about Milwaukee is that unlike Chicago, housing is so cheap that you can easily afford a house or a nice condo downtown on a resident's salary. And MCW starts at about $53k for PGY-1 year with an extra $1500 for test/books each year plus good benefits. So you actually have money to spend on your days off or to start chipping away at loans.

Hope that helps for some people unfamiliar with the program.

 

[Gimlet]

Hey do MCW residents get the weekends off? What's your schedule usually like?

To give you a concrete example, last month when I was in the OR I worked exactly one weekend day call. It was on the 1st and I made it home in time to see the Badgers play/lose the Rose Bowl. This month I'm off service in the ICU, so working considerably more weekend days...just have my bare minimum 4 days off scattered throughout the month as most internal medicine style schedules tend to do. Next month I'm back in the OR again and have only one weekend day call (plus obviously the ITE on Sat the 5th that every resident in the country takes).

Maybe I've gotten lucky with only getting one weekend day each month, but I don't know a junior resident that has worked more than two weekend days per month in recent memory.

 

[citixen]

I copy/paste this from another thread(2010), please, could you comment on the atmosphere at the program..?

"I know MCW is ranked highly w/NIH dollars, and I've seen alot of ya'll ranking it highly on the "rank order" thread, but I didn't get a good feel there. Only one resident was able to make it to dinner the night before (plus a pgy1) and then at lunch, no residents came until the end when one very arrogant CA3 came strolling in, grabbed a sandwich, talked about how awesome he was and that we should know which subspecialty we want prior to residency (despite the fact that he didn't). Lastly, the resident that was supposed to do the tour couldn't get out of the OR and the only other "available" person was a fellow who also did residency there. This individual seemed very shoulder-chipped and was incredibly flippant about us, the program, and the hospital. Lastly, during my interviews, one doc spent a good chunk of time comparing MCW's residents to another nearby program saying how that program doesn't train them to deal with the real world as well as MCW does.

Ripping on another program to boost yours up is akin to the playground bully with low self-esteem and appeared flat out unprofessional. I got a sense of malignancy there and though the program looks good on paper I left very, very concerned about the training despite the great strides they have made in improving resident education.
I'm curious if anybody else had a similar experience...?"

 

[Stank811]

Hmm were to start...

I know I mentioned many of the concerns to our anesthesia manager, who is responsible for setting up the interview process, because I had a similar experience during my interview. I think I told him something along the lines of...if I didn't know what MCW's program was all about based on my experience as a medical student...there is no way I would have ranked MCW highly based off my interview experience and then went on to explain many of the complaints which were noted in the initial quote in this thread.

Since then I know the program has tried to make changes like giving residents devoted time to give the tours instead of banking on a residents case finishing in time to give the tour etc. But overall I agree we could have done a better job of representing the strengths of our program during the interview in the past and hopefully are making improvements as needed.

 

[Infexious]

.

 

[imfrankie]

I will simply concur with the opinion you received.

 

[Infexious]

.

 

[Stank811]

I just wanted to revive this thread if any current residents are still hanging around the forums. I am set to interview at MCW a little later this winter. I recently ran into an anesthesia resident at another institution who was from MCW (medical school). They stated that the program was not "friendly" and that the attendings and administration are more stand-off than at other programs that offer a more "family-like" environment. I am from the midwest originally so I have come to want a friendly staff and administration since that is what I am used to. Anyone care to affirm or refute the statements?

I am currently one of the CA-3s at MCW and would be willing to answer any questions regarding the program. I will refute the statement...no idea what that particular residents experience was that made our program feel so unfriendly. We do have a bigger program with 60+ residents which maybe resulted in that particular medical student feeling that way...it is hard to say. But in my opinion I would say our staff is "friendly". I have no issue asking any of them questions or opinions regarding anything. Residents at our program go out with our staff outside of the hospital and have each other over at their house for social events on a fairly regular basis....with that said, obviously not every resident/staff are as social outside of work but that will be the same at any residency program. So I would recommend going to the interview day/dinner and talk to the residents and staff who are currently at MCW and attempt to formulate your own opinion regarding the work/social environment.

 

[Stank811]

I just wanted to revive this thread if any current residents are still hanging around the forums. I am set to interview at MCW a little later this winter. I recently ran into an anesthesia resident at another institution who was from MCW (medical school). They stated that the program was not "friendly" and that the attendings and administration are more stand-off than at other programs that offer a more "family-like" environment. I am from the midwest originally so I have come to want a friendly staff and administration since that is what I am used to. Anyone care to affirm or refute the statements?

I am currently one of the CA-3s at MCW and would be willing to answer any questions regarding the program. I will refute the statement...no idea what that particular residents experience was that made our program feel so unfriendly. We do have a bigger program with 60+ residents which maybe resulted in that particular medical student feeling that way...it is hard to say. But in my opinion I would say our staff is "friendly". I have no issue asking any of them questions or opinions regarding anything. Residents at our program go out with our staff outside of the hospital and have each other over at their house for social events on a fairly regular basis....with that said, obviously not every resident/staff are as social outside of work but that will be the same at any residency program. So I would recommend going to the interview day/dinner and talk to the residents and staff who are currently at MCW and attempt to formulate your own opinion regarding the work/social environment.