Ochsner Clinic - Interview Feedback

[General Tsao]

Hey everyone! Cool BBS...! I just interviwed at Ochsner clinic.... I flew all the way from Kansas, and I gotta say that it was a waste of ca$h. I will not rank this program. It seems like a solid community program, but the attitude of a lot of the residents and faculty turned me off of the program. The residents dissed Tulane a lot, and kept stressing how the great Ochsner clinic is the #1 surgery program in the region... Not only that, but that Tulane was way inferior, and that LSU was not that good either. That was the first time where the residents openly railed on another program to the applicants... It really turned me off. I didn't even interview at Tulane, or LSU, but I would rather go to those programs sight unseen than go to the Ochsner clinic.

One other thing... The residents told us all during dinner the night before the interview day that the chairman Dr. Fuhrman is this great, jolly, cool guy... He was the most disinterested, arrogant chairman that I have come in to contact with. During my interview with him he just seemed to not give a crap about anything. As if I was inconveniencing him somehow by interviewing with him. And basically all of the applicants said the same thing as we were all in this one room during interviews. At the end of the day, he said how much he enjoyed meeting us, and interviewing us... riiiiiggghhhht.... No one believed him.

Finally it seemed the residents and the chairman are convinced that their little community program in a dirty little NOLA suburb is the greatest program after Hopkins... I really don't understand where they get off thinking this but they really put out that feeling.

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[GenMed]

Originally posted by General Tsao

Finally it seemed the residents and the chairman are convinced that their little community program in a dirty little NOLA suburb is the greatest program after Hopkins... I really don't understand where they get off thinking this but they really put out that feeling.

It's called an inferiority complex. It is rampant in 90% of community programs in the country, especially surgery. These are the guys who'll say "you can tell he's fellowship trained, he's just not as good as we are" of someone who did gen surg at Hopkins. They _need_ to believe this, or the truth of their insignificance will crush their little egos.

 

[fourthyear]

I am also vary wary of programs that go out of their way to say they are better than a specific program in the area.

And a program director or chariman who is a jerk is a scary thing -b/c that kind of sets the tone for the whole program - attendings on down. Regardless of what they say about how great he is, if all the applicants get the same feel - they are probably all right.

Sorry you wasted your cash, but as I am learning, sometimes we just have to go see for ourselves in order to get that truth that we can't see on paper or from rumors others tell us.

 

[scutking]

I have friends who interviewed there last year who reported similar experiences to yours. Be wary of any program which has to build itself up by knocking down its in-town competition.