michigan, nationwide, yale, rainbow

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Omar Little

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Hey everyone,

I never thought I'd do this, but I need some help with my rank list. I really, really liked Nationwide, Michigan, Rainbow, and Yale, but am having trouble differentiating these programs on my rank list. I know everyone says 'go with your gut', but all these programs left a good feeling and it's really hard to tell based on one day. I pretty much liked everyone I met on the trail, everyone in peds pretty much seems friendly and well-adjusted.

Here are my thoughts, but I was wondering if anyone else had any insights. Specifically, the things I'm looking for in a program are pretty standard: high-volume and sick patients (I like being busy and like seeing lots of patients), national reputation and opportunities for fellowships, hard-working and cool fellow residents

Yale: I saw the previous thread which was really helpful, program director is incredible, lots of opportunities to do basic science research.
Cons: wonder if some zebras go to columbia or boston?, wonder if peds world is overshadowed by adult world there?, wonder about clinical volume?

Rainbow: great reputation, nice sized program
Cons: again wonder about clinical volume, facilities are older, I guess (but not a big deal at all)

Nationwide: really seemed like a program that was on the up-and up, nice facilities
Cons: I wonder if it gets overshadowed by the big dawg down south and wonder if it is busy enough.

Michigan: great benefits, nice facilities, residents treated really well
Cons: Ann Arbor doesn't seem very diverse, think I would miss some pathology by not training in urban environment, wonder about patient volume at michigan

thanks for the help.
 
What are you thinking of doing after residency? I would think hard about how these programs will set you up to succeed post-residency.

Do you want to be a hospitalist? Go to a program with strong inpatient service months, that are busy, and where you are the senior resident as a PGY-2, and attendings aren't in-house overnight. Compare which programs are sending graduating residents right into hospitalist positions vs. to hospitalist fellowship. Do you want to be a neonatologist? Which program has the best NICU and NICU-related research that you can be a part of. Etc...

Are there any activities outside of clinical duties that you really want to be involved with? Think about which cities/programs are better fits for this.

I'm a peds resident at a good medium-sized program, and which isn't any of the programs you listed, so I can't specifically comment on them. That said, imo, I think you no longer need to factor in "high-volume" when comparing these programs, as at all of these programs you will be plenty busy. When you compare big to medium sized programs, I don't think the volume makes any difference to the individual resident. At any of these programs (i assume at least) when you're the night-float senior you're admitting a dozen patients yourself overnight, in the ED there are endless patients to see, on inpatient day-team you have 5-10+ pts per intern, etc. It's the same at big vs. medium, there are just more pts and more residents at big programs. Yale, for example, will have plenty of zebra cases (e.g. GBS, rheumatic fever, pulmonary sequestration, etc). Maybe you won't see the super super rare case that goes to CHOP or BCH, but as a resident, those cases aren't great learning experiences, since you'll never see them again in your career.
 
I interviewed at Yale and Michigan but not the Ohio programs you mentioned. My overall takeaway is that Yale, in addition to Michigan, has great benefits. I agree the facilities at Michigan are great but I don't think that should be a make or break in a decision like this - on the day to day, prettiness won't matter much - what will matter more is the people!! I thought pelple at both places were friendly. I wouldn't worry about Yale being over shadowed by the adult world there - the peds residents there seem well trained! One thing I did notice in your post was the mention of national reputation - in that sense ironically I'm not sure if Yale is that specifically known for peds - the Yale name is there that's for sure, but I'm not sure how much weight it carries in a pediatrics world. That being said, like I mentioned earlier, those residents seem well trained. In Michigan it's def less diverse - I had the same reaction - but given its like the main referral center for across Michigan, you'd probably see enough variety of pathology. Sorry for th disorganized post - it's a reflection of my brain right now!
 
As someone who has spent a good amount of time at Nationwide, I don't get the sense that it's overshadowed at all. They do everything there, and it's definitely busy. The place is awesome and I'd definitely rank it #1 if I wasn't shooting for a specific part of the country that isn't Ohio.
 
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