Is this the kind of info people are really seeking? Seems pretty useless to me, I mean anyone from hSDN could could put that together.
Surfdoc-I don't think we met but we definitely covered a lot of the same ground. Here are my thoughts (anyone please feel free to tell me if you think they are worthless I can take it)
UW-Awesome city, lived there for a while. Rain in city=snow in mountains. Go east through the mts. and the other side is a desert. Seriously, I think Seattle is quite easily the greatest city in the U.S., there is more to do within a days drive than anywhere else in the U.S.. You can go surfing, climbing, whitewater rafting, SCUBA diving, sailing, fishing, hiking all on a day's afternoon. I know the program has a big reputation and since I love Seattle so much I went there expecting to be wowed. I wasn't, I was really underwhelmed. I like the PD and what he was looking to do but I felt like his vision was just that a vision of what the place could be not what the place was. Certainly people get good fellowships from here but I was really surprised at the lack of discourse during morning report, they just kinda run through the admit from overnight and don't really analyze/discuss one single case. Also there was no hesitation from the residents admitting that the primary care side of the program was in name only.
OHSU-I saw it from your list earlier but noticed it wasn't in your top 3, kinda surprised, I'll give it a little love. I went to OHSU right after UW and was way more impressed. I am not on the W. Coast so I don't have the immediate bias of which name gets people off easier but I felt like the program was higher quality and that you would definitely get better teaching there. Portland is a great city from what I hear. I've had a lot of friends from Seattle move down there and say Portland even better than Seattle so that is a huge endorsement. The PD seems like a really great guy and is very dedicated and active in the world of IM resident education. Seems interested in being ahead of the curve in terms of curricular development rather than playing catchup.
Colorado-Very much liked the residents, it may have had a lot to do with the fact that on the preinterview dinner I played pool and drank beer and didn't have any painful conversations. The program seemed very strong and the residents very laid back but intellectually engaged. I had heard there were some issues with regards to the new hospitals in particular the ER and increased medicine admissions without any increase in the size of the non-teaching service. essentially all those admissions just got pilled onto the medicine teaching service, i.e. the residents. In asking about this it sounds like that has finally been brought under control. This isn't unusual and definitley occurs anytime someone opens or expands new ERs. Otherwise I don't really know enough about the program to feel too comfortable making any judgements.
Brown-One of the biggest RI fans around. Surfing can be very good sporadically and usually during the fall with hurricane season. Brown is essentially the only show in town for a very diverse and huge patient population. Went to med school here and really like the program. The PDs are some of the greatest people I've met in medicine and are super supportive. People seem to do well for the fellowships they want but the place isn't packed with the kind of obsessive annoying types that fill the SDN pages.
That's probably more than you wanted and I can't bring myself to actually rank them for you which may have been all you wanted anyway...
