MGH v. UPENN v. Yale?

[doctah jp]

Hi all,

Looking for the opinion of current residents and practicing pathologists. I'm having a hell of time deciding who to rank #1, MGH, UPenn, Yale. I'm AP/CP, pretty much unsure of exactly what I want to do, but particularly interested in transfusion med, hematopathology, hematology/coag. Eventually want to do a fellowship & 2y post-doc research experience, landing an academic job. I could, of course, tell you much more but I'm interested in any of your thoughts that come to mind and purposely don't want to limit the focus. I'm aware of the Boston v. Philly v. New Haven cost of living and stuff. It's the programs that I'm concerned about -- and that includes everything, like workload, comraderie, resident-faculty relations, structure, quality of teaching, opportunities after.

Do you think they're equal? If not, for what reason?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Yale - I don't know much about the program as I didn't interview there (just didn't wanna live in New Haven).

MGH -
workload: you get worked...but you learn a ton. but seems like you're probably MD/PhD and wanna be an academic researcher. so the issue becomes, you will gain clinical expertise but will it be really useful? (i.e., do you wanna mainly do research or clinical duties?)
camaraderie: people get along great for the most part. i thought there was a great sense of camaraderie.
residency-faculty interactions: most of the faculty seemed interested and enthusiastic about teaching the students.
structure: AP side - you got your typical AP months. surg path is completely subspecialized and not general signout. CP side - the one aspect that stuck out to me is that you do quite a bit of DIRECT patient care (i.e., you spend a good amount of time on the wards). AP and CP months I believe are intermixed but I'm not sure (I'm applying AP only so I tuned out during this part of the orientation).
research: well, it IS Boston. cutting edge stuff here. you can do research for ANYBODY in any of the Harvard/MIT institutions.

Penn - I already discussed how I liked Penn in the Penn thread.

 

[vetiver]

I interviewed at both Yale and MGH, and thought there was excellent camraderie at both places. At both places, the residents seemed genuinely happy, but at both places residents reiterated that they worked very hard (MGH > Yale).

I thought the facilities were nicer at MGH and the number of faculty there is larger Both places were open to AP/CP/undecided career people as well. I got the sense that CP was better at MGH, and that Yale was a little less formal. Research is available at both places. Yale you gross q3 days, MGH you gross qd. Both have specialty signout. Yale just got a bunch of new faculty as well.

As for living in Boston and New Haven, New Haven is cheaper, more suburban. Despite the bad press, New Haven is a nice place to live--tons of culture/tons of music/plays/lectures for a town of its size. I used to live there, so feel free to PM me if you have New Haven questions.

 

[Mrbojangles]

Yale you gross q3 days, MGH you gross qd. Both have specialty signout.

I'm pretty sure you gross every day at Yale. Because only one resident is assigned to GI, GYN bigs, GYN smalls, breast... 2 residents are assigned to General, I'm not sure if you gross every day or every other day for the General service.

 

[ICDEADPPL]

As I am a first year res at yale, I can definitely say that you gross EVERY day. Most of the residents get along well, especially the first years. AP and CP are split so this can be a pro or a con depending on your view. You will work hard but I suppose you will at either place you are considering. My advice is to go where your gut tells you to go and where you will feel comfortable and not because one place has a better name or a better reputation. You will be happier in the long run. Best of Luck!