Official 2011-2012 IM "How To Rank" Thread

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Hey Guys-
Any help here would be greatly appreciated. These 3 keep battling it out for the 3,4,5 spots and I'm having a tough time trying to decide. I'm interested in Cards for whatever thats worth. The way I have them right now is:

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Utah

but that order changes daily. Thanks for the help

Minnesota's Cards match is impeccable (at least for the past 3 years)

What do you have in 1, 2, 3?
 
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Hey Guys-
Any help here would be greatly appreciated. These 3 keep battling it out in my head and I'm having a tough time trying to decide. I'm interested in Cards for whatever thats worth. The way I have them right now is:

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Utah

but that order changes daily. Thanks for the help

Wisconsin probably has the best rep, but I think you can;t go wrong with all 3. I'd base it on location. Utah>Minnesota>Wisconsin IMO.
 
1. cedars
2. harbor
3. baylor
4. scripps green
5. uci

cedars is the opposite of a malignant program imo. they match well for cards. harbor has 4 in house spots and loves to take their own. i didn't go to my baylor interview so can't really comment. scripps green is a very small program but puts people in to cards in house and outside of scripps. uci is solid, but you're limited to in-house usually.

PD at UCI really emphasized how there applicants want to stay in the OC. I am sure UCI can place at some amazing places if an applicant really wanted it. I was really impressed with a lot of aspect of baylor as well. Scripps seeems super nice, but I didn't get a great vibe. The two main community places I interviewed at were UC/Northshore and Scripps. While Scripps was better in terms of fellowship, I thought the atmosphere at Northshore was much better. Cedards seems like a great place to train, wish I had applied there.
 
possibly considering fellowship (but unsure as to what... less likely GI or Cards?)

yale PC
jefferson
temple
.... and considering
UMD
montefiore

just worried a little about yale PC , if going there is gonna hurt my chances of possibly doing fellowship...

thanks!


From what I hear Yale PC matches just well in the fellowship game. UMD is probably the second best from the bunch. I feel like Jefferson is the equivalent of Rush. One of those higher mid-tier programs that many people don't consider, but resident seem very happy at each. If you liked Jefferson a lot, might be a nice number 1.
 
So I am making my rank list soon and am extremely confused as of right now and could use a little advice. I'm prolly interested in cards/GI so I know name matters a lot, but I definitely want a good work/life balance. However, I also love NYC and have seen that this city may not be too conducive to this, esp with the ancillary services. Here is my list of programs (in no particular order).

NYU
Emory
UIC
Rush
Montefiore (NYC)
NorthShore LIJ (NYC)
BU
GW
Jefferson
Brown
Robert Wood (NJ)
Maryland

Maybe some categories or leagues would be appreciated? Not a big fan of Baltimore at all, but everybody on here seems to love their program. Also I dunno if I'd move to Chicago, but the programs (esp Rush) were very nice. If I did go to Chicago I'd prolly move east for fellowship.. Thanks for any help!

bump
 
I am trying to gather more information about my rank list

I am from UTSW, categorical and thinking of becoming a Hospitalist vs Rheumatologist possibly Immunology (not sure if this will be too competitive). Would like a program that provides for this opportunity without killing me as my experience at UTSW was challenging but I respect the opportunities the school has provided for me.

So far I am ranking based on the information I have now but I am sure I have not heard enough about which programs will have better opportunity

I am thinking of ranking as follows

1) USC - good program, fair amount of work, good location
2) UCIrvine - good program, cush, good location
3) Beth Israel / Albert Einstein - good program, good location but interested in LA
4) UTSW Austin / Seton - decent program, home state, good location
5) St. Louis U - good program, not sold on location
6) Banner good sam phoenix - decent program, not sold on location
7) U of New mexico - good program, not sold on location
8) Methodist Dallas - decent program, home state, would not have to move
9) Queens-Presbyterian/Cornell New York - decent program, good location
10) U of Nevada LV - not sold on program or location
11) UTSW Dallas - Ive been here, ready for new program, good program malignant? I do not think they will rank me
12) UTHSCSA Harlingen - not sold on location but think they would take care of me
13) Sunny Downstate - I've heard they have good matching but the scut work is unbelievable?


So help me with pros and cons of how I am ranking these programs

give me an idea by ranking how malignant these programs are, how prestigious these programs are, and also ranking which programs will allow for a life?

Thanks
 
4) UTSW Austin / Seton - decent program, home state, good location

Thanks

Sorry to ask you my own question but what did you like about this program besides the location? I interviewed there and was not impressed at all.
 
Hmm, I could be ranking them too high, but I really liked the location and I think my happiness would be fueled by being close to my family (Houston) and I enjoy going to concerts and the open minded population.

I felt that they match decently for fellowships, I am considering being a hospitalist too and felt the training would be good for this here, also when I asked residents about loan forgiveness programs every resident had heard of these programs and some have already signed. (something it seemed other states do not provide)
 
is there any chance people can please pay a little attention and post these questions in the appropriate thread



You must be kidding! You are telling me that you expect soon-to-be physicians to not think that they are the center of the universe and post their question in another thread with the commoners? Or to expect that by the end of January there just might already be a thread on SDN about ranking IM programs? :boom:
What is this your first day on SDN jdh?
 
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possibly considering fellowship (but unsure as to what... less likely GI or Cards?)

yale PC
jefferson
temple
.... and considering
UMD
montefiore

just worried a little about yale PC , if going there is gonna hurt my chances of possibly doing fellowship...

thanks!

bump 🙂
 
Rank requested: based on program strengths and reputation

- Beth Israel Medical Center, Albert Einstein SOM
- Robert Wood Johnson, New Brunswick, UMDNJ
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- New Jersey Medical School, Newark, UMDNJ
- SUNY Downstate
- East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine

thanks guys :luck::luck::luck:

bump 🙂
 
- Beth Israel Medical Center, Albert Einstein SOM
- Robert Wood Johnson, New Brunswick, UMDNJ
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- New Jersey Medical School, Newark, UMDNJ
- SUNY Downstate
- East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine

thanks guys :luck::luck::luck:


VCU=RWJ>>>>NJMS=>SUNY=>BIMC/AE

Don't have a clue about East Carolina but probably somewhere below VCU/RWJ.
 
RE:
Einstein
RWJ
UMDNJ
VCU
SUNY
ECU

I don't know much about the new york programs esp SUNY but I'd rank
VCU
Einstein
UMDNJ/RWJ
ECU
_________________________________________

Re another poster:
Yale PC > Jeff > Temple

With regard to the Jeff vs Temple it is going to depend on what you want to do. Jeff ranks above temple for some specialties and Temple > Jeff for others.
 
Interests are GI or Cards or Heme/Onc and perhaps Academic medicine -(I think I wanna be a program chairman.).

Houston native and would love to stay, but for career moves, will move. (Return to Texas heart Cards?)

Not too big on what city I'm in except that NYC seems toooo big and save me from too much social work.

okay, Im pretty sold on my top 1 and 2.

1,2 -X

Rank :
Mayo - Rochester
UPenn
UTSW
Columbia
Wash U
Vandy
OHSU
Baylor
Cornell
UT- Houston
BID (Harvard)

since it is a very real possibility I will get my 3rd, how does UTSW compare to the above?

Also, I work when I have to but I'm really not looking to be worked to death, especially if I could go to a better and more "chill" place.

Any well grounded advice is appreciated.😕

Long time lurker, first time poster. Glad to see someone else ranking Mayo-Rochester number one above some of the heavy hitters. I had the best gut feeling after my interview there. Question is would I be doing myself a disservice by ranking them over the likes of JHH, MGH, Columbia, and Stanford? I know Mayo isn't quite as competitive because of the fact that it's in Rochester (which I don't mind, I'm not a big city person). I was told on my interview day that their fellowships are particularly friendly towards their own residents, and that many people stay on as staff afterwards (Plus, staff salaries are apparently much better than at other "top academic institutions"). Any thoughts?

Oh and I also liked OHSU, Vandy, and Northwestern. Can't wait for this darn ranking process to be done!

Oops forgot to mention, currently interested in academic GI or Cards
 
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Wisconsin probably has the best rep, but I think you can;t go wrong with all 3. I'd base it on location. Utah>Minnesota>Wisconsin IMO.

Single vs. Married vs. Married w/ kids changes this equation a bit I believe if you're not mormon.
 
RE:
Einstein
RWJ
UMDNJ
VCU
SUNY
ECU

I don't know much about the new york programs esp SUNY but I'd rank
VCU
Einstein
UMDNJ/RWJ
ECU

No...This isn't the real Einstein program (that's Montefiore), this is a community program with a connection to Einstein in name only.

VCU=RWJ
-----------
NJMS
ECU
-----------
Downstate
BI
 
Be for real, Cornell is way better than Wisconsin. And NYC is phenomenal!
 
Okay guys...this is how my ROL looks like:
1. UAB
2. BU
3. Montefiore (NYC)
4. CCF
5. UTMB
6. UAMS (Arkansas)
6. BI/Einstein

Any suggestions welcome.
 
Be for real, Cornell is way better than Wisconsin. And NYC is phenomenal!

NYC is a sheet-hole. And Cornell is not that much "better" than Wisconsin. How? Better coke and hookers? What? They have a better way of training you to admit chest pain rule out? Give me a ****ing break.
 
NYC is a sheet-hole. And Cornell is not that much "better" than Wisconsin. How? Better coke and hookers? What? They have a better way of training you to admit chest pain rule out? Give me a ****ing break.

its preposterous to say that Cornell is (much) (better) than Madison.

Madison is a very solid residency program. Cornell has the hype of the name, but if I were to choose I`d opt Madison.

they have a better way of training you to admit chest pain rule out

word
 
Honestly, I'm more than a little burned out on all of this (maybe part of it is that I've had to do too much intellectual heavy lifting for a few unnamed services in my hospital that should ****ing think about the problem a bit before knee jerk consult to pulm and bailing for the afternoon). **** me if I don't want to be helpful, and I do. And I remember this time of year. While, I wasn't as neurotic as some, it was kind of anxiety provoking but putting together a list was fairly straight forward for me. I went with how I liked places. We spend all of this time going over these lists and giving "ranks" but it's largely BULL****. You will get good training at almost any program - truth. Some programs are more structured to formal teaching or to autonomy or to research. You gotta find your niche, your feel. Find the right program for you and tell all this ranking nonsense to eat jelly out of your ass!

A word about fellowship: the bottom line is this about fellowship. If you are a good resident, you're going to find a fellowship somewhere, doing what you want. If your goal is to do basic science research with the world's experts, and find a publish or die kind of a job, then you'll want to match as high up the generally agreed upon academic food chain as possible, because the big name academic types are ****ing snobbish like that. If your goal is simply to get great clinical training, then it doesn't matter as much, not really, where you do your residency, provided it's an academic institution. I'm at, arguably, a top 10 place for pulmonary medicine and I can tell you that outside of the exposure I get to transplant, and probably adult CF (which you largely won't see in private practice anyway) the clinical side of the training is largely not much different than the guys working at my old shop where I did residency (a "mid tier" university program, nothing "fancy" by "SDN ranking") - everyone from my old shop who didn't have a visa issue got their FIRST choice spot for fellowship. You all need to stop agonizing over this and just put together a rank list for YOU. I love you all, and wish you the best, and the best for you probably isn't the ranking we throw around on here - at least I know that was my experience. We can't make these decisions for you, but we're still definitely here to help - at least I know I am.

I may come back to ranking when I'm feeling less cranky, but the above . . . is the ****ing straight sheet. Remember it the next time I or anyone else throws out a rank list.
 
I am trying to gather more information about my rank list

I am from UTSW, categorical and thinking of becoming a Hospitalist vs Rheumatologist possibly Immunology (not sure if this will be too competitive). Would like a program that provides for this opportunity without killing me as my experience at UTSW was challenging but I respect the opportunities the school has provided for me.

So far I am ranking based on the information I have now but I am sure I have not heard enough about which programs will have better opportunity

I am thinking of ranking as follows

1) USC - good program, fair amount of work, good location
2) UCIrvine - good program, cush, good location
3) Beth Israel / Albert Einstein - good program, good location but interested in LA
4) UTSW Austin / Seton - decent program, home state, good location
5) St. Louis U - good program, not sold on location
6) Banner good sam phoenix - decent program, not sold on location
7) U of New mexico - good program, not sold on location
8) Methodist Dallas - decent program, home state, would not have to move
9) Queens-Presbyterian/Cornell New York - decent program, good location
10) U of Nevada LV - not sold on program or location
11) UTSW Dallas - Ive been here, ready for new program, good program malignant? I do not think they will rank me
12) UTHSCSA Harlingen - not sold on location but think they would take care of me
13) Sunny Downstate - I've heard they have good matching but the scut work is unbelievable?


So help me with pros and cons of how I am ranking these programs

give me an idea by ranking how malignant these programs are, how prestigious these programs are, and also ranking which programs will allow for a life?

Thanks

Malignant (kind of guessing at this point, can you help guide me here)
Downstate>>>UTSW>USC>Banner Good Sam>St. Louis>UNM>Queens>Beth Israel>UN>Harlingen>Methodist>UCI>UTSWAustin

Prestigious (kind of guessing at this point, can you help guide me here)
Downstate>UTSW>St. Louis>UCI>Beth Israel>USC>UNM>UTSWAustin>Banner Good Sam>Queens>Methodist>UN>Harlingen
 
Malignant (kind of guessing at this point, can you help guide me here)
Downstate>>>UTSW>USC>Banner Good Sam>St. Louis>UNM>Queens>Beth Israel>UN>Harlingen>Methodist>UCI>UTSWAustin

Prestigious (kind of guessing at this point, can you help guide me here)
Downstate>UTSW>St. Louis>UCI>Beth Israel>USC>UNM>UTSWAustin>Banner Good Sam>Queens>Methodist>UN>Harlingen
Beth Israel not very academic. New York Hospital - Queens: run as far away as you can! Downstate is malignant.
 
Malignant (kind of guessing at this point, can you help guide me here)
Downstate>>>UTSW>USC>Banner Good Sam>St. Louis>UNM>Queens>Beth Israel>UN>Harlingen>Methodist>UCI>UTSWAustin

Prestigious (kind of guessing at this point, can you help guide me here)
Downstate>UTSW>St. Louis>UCI>Beth Israel>USC>UNM>UTSWAustin>Banner Good Sam>Queens>Methodist>UN>Harlingen

Don't guess...you make yourself look bad.

I don't know what to say when you rank a program like Downstate (a bottom tier program) higher than UTSW (one of the toughest but best respected IM programs in the country) in terms of prestige. I just need to shake my head and walk away at this point.
 
single and interested in cards

Maryland
RWJ
Loyola
Wake
UT Houston
Rochester Strong
Rush
NSLIJ
Lahey Clinic
Temple
Lennox Hill

Any thoughts?
 
I just finished my interview trail and honestly for the most part really enjoyed all of the programs I interviewed at and no doubt would be happy at any of them. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but the interview days and dinners did not help me as much as I would have liked to give me that "vibe" that people talk about helping them make their rank list. That being said I am interested in either cardiology or pulm/critical care but right now just interested in getting good, well rounded internal medicine training. I am a pretty laid back guy, not married and do value location but most of all want a collegial training program. Would appreciate any input on the following programs:

Mayo (Rochestor)
Michigan
WashU
Duke
Baylor
UT Southwestern
Beth Israel Deaconess (Boston)
Wake Forest
Columbia (NY Presbyterian)
Vanderbilt
Emory
 
Don't guess...you make yourself look bad.

I don't know what to say when you rank a program like Downstate (a bottom tier program) higher than UTSW (one of the toughest but best respected IM programs in the country) in terms of prestige. I just need to shake my head and walk away at this point.

I did not come to this forum to be judged this way, why do you even bother?

I only ranked them this way because of impressions made during interviews, I am not a person that holds prestige so heavily. That is why I am in the dark on the subject, and as a student at UTSW ..... I have to just shake my head and walk away.
 
Honestly, I'm more than a little burned out on all of this (maybe part of it is that I've had to do too much intellectual heavy lifting for a few unnamed services in my hospital that should ****ing think about the problem a bit before knee jerk consult to pulm and bailing for the afternoon). **** me if I don't want to be helpful, and I do. And I remember this time of year. While, I wasn't as neurotic as some, it was kind of anxiety provoking but putting together a list was fairly straight forward for me. I went with how I liked places. We spend all of this time going over these lists and giving "ranks" but it's largely BULL****. You will get good training at almost any program - truth. Some programs are more structured to formal teaching or to autonomy or to research. You gotta find your niche, your feel. Find the right program for you and tell all this ranking nonsense to eat jelly out of your ass!

A word about fellowship: the bottom line is this about fellowship. If you are a good resident, you're going to find a fellowship somewhere, doing what you want. If your goal is to do basic science research with the world's experts, and find a publish or die kind of a job, then you'll want to match as high up the generally agreed upon academic food chain as possible, because the big name academic types are ****ing snobbish like that. If your goal is simply to get great clinical training, then it doesn't matter as much, not really, where you do your residency, provided it's an academic institution. I'm at, arguably, a top 10 place for pulmonary medicine and I can tell you that outside of the exposure I get to transplant, and probably adult CF (which you largely won't see in private practice anyway) the clinical side of the training is largely not much different than the guys working at my old shop where I did residency (a "mid tier" university program, nothing "fancy" by "SDN ranking") - everyone from my old shop who didn't have a visa issue got their FIRST choice spot for fellowship. You all need to stop agonizing over this and just put together a rank list for YOU. I love you all, and wish you the best, and the best for you probably isn't the ranking we throw around on here - at least I know that was my experience. We can't make these decisions for you, but we're still definitely here to help - at least I know I am.

I may come back to ranking when I'm feeling less cranky, but the above . . . is the ****ing straight sheet. Remember it the next time I or anyone else throws out a rank list.

Yes, Thank you, I agree... I just want to see if I can have a little more insight into what programs carry a name basically. In the end I am going to make "my list" but I feel that I need to be informed. Also after going to UTSW I have some fears of being at a school that can eat you alive
 
Hey guys, I appreciate the advice on my list. I've grouped them according where they generally fall, but I can't decide within each grouping on a rank. I don't have a preference for a specific location or specialty prestige. I do want to stay in academic medicine.

MGH
Hopkins
Penn

Duke
UNC

Michigan
Uchicago
NW
BID
 
quite an impressive list here - honestly, you are going to be in excellent shape for a future in academic medicine no matter where you choose to rank these programs - as some others have stated if you are super set on a big research/heavy pub career, you might gain a bit by choosing from the MGH/Hopkins/Penn/Duke/Mich group IMO, as for your individual groupings

MGH=Hopkins=Penn as far as I'm concerned; some might say the first two are ever so slightly "better"; I'd probably just pick where you want to live out of these heavyweights - personally, I like where Penn is located in Philly over the others, but that's for you to figure out

Duke>UNC - no location difference here; Duke is definitely the bigger academic powerhouse, although UNC is a great program too/the residents are pretty cool/more laid back atmosphere

Michigan> UChicago=NW=BID - tiny bit more academic rep I'd say for Michigan; personally felt the directors & residents were great as well; on the flip side, Chicago & NW are both awesome programs, and happen to be in a pretty fun city which trumps Ann Arbor by quite a bit...
 
Hello there...could someone please help me with my list (no particular order)
1. GWU
2. University of Connecticut
3. Wayne State
4. University of Arizona
5. University of Louisville
6. William Beaumont
7. University of Buffalo
8. Upstate Medical University - NY
9. Washington Hospital Center

Thanks fellas..
 
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Hey y'all! Can you guys help me differentiate these programs in terms of national rep/fellowship matches? I'm thinking about doing academic cards, but still very much open to other specialties like Pulm/CC or GI. Geography is not an issue. Thanks in advance!

- UTSW
- Baylor
- Michigan
- Northwestern
- U Chicago
- Wash U
- UCSD
- U Washington
- NYU
- Emory
 
Hey y'all! Can you guys help me differentiate these programs in terms of national rep/fellowship matches? I'm thinking about doing academic cards, but still very much open to other specialties like Pulm/CC or GI. Geography is not an issue. Thanks in advance!

- UTSW
- Baylor
- Michigan
- Northwestern
- U Chicago
- Wash U
- UCSD
- U Washington
- NYU
- Emory

Not a "bad" program in the lot but clearly very different places:

WU
UW
Michigan
------------
NW
UC
UTSW
UCSD
----------
NYU
Emory
Baylor
 
I did not come to this forum to be judged this way, why do you even bother?

I only ranked them this way because of impressions made during interviews, I am not a person that holds prestige so heavily. That is why I am in the dark on the subject, and as a student at UTSW ..... I have to just shake my head and walk away.

But the question specifically asked about prestige. If you don't know, why answer?

Also, how did you make it through 4 years at UTSW with such a thin skin?

FWIW, I was a student at Downstate and, like everybody I know who graduated from UTSW (including 2 of my current co-fellows and 2 of my attendings), I would never even apply there for IM, let alone rank the place. The thing is that UTSW has a really great national research reputation which is generally sufficient to overcome its reputation as a horrible place to be a resident. Downstate OTOH doesn't have the research rep and still has the malignant rep...so unlike with UTSW where you'll get points in the future for going there ("hardcore training, great research, etc, etc"), at Downstate people will just wonder what you were thinking and why you couldn't match someplace better.
 
Can anyone comment on the training differences between a CCF and Mayo clinic? My impression is that Mayo gets the edge since the residents get a lot of work at St. Marys, better research opportunities, and probably better didactics. Also, I found it kind of odd that Mayo is a majority AMG/MD vs CCF that has a larger mix of DO/MD/AMG.

It fun have a rank list that literally changes every day. I wonder how I feel on the 22nd?
 
Would like advice on how to rank. Please give reasoning as well. Thanks.

USC
UCIrvine
UCDavis
Kaiser SC
Banner Good Sam - Phoenix
Mayo Arizona
UCLA Olive View
 
Hello,

I am wondering how to rank UCLA, OHSU, UAB.

Thanks.. would appreciate your input
 
Very, very different locales. How did it come down to these three? Do you have any notion of what you're interested in doing (e.g. primary care, speciality, hospitalist)?
 
Very, very different locales. How did it come down to these three? Do you have any notion of what you're interested in doing (e.g. primary care, speciality, hospitalist)?

I had applied all over, got interviewed at these.. These seem to be the most academically solid programs on my list. I have no personal ties to any of these.

I am confused how to rank. I am interested in some sort of specialty -- currently like Renal or Hem/Onc.

Would appreciate any thoughts.. Thanks
 
Would like advice on how to rank. Please give reasoning as well. Thanks.

USC
UCIrvine
UCDavis
Kaiser SC
Banner Good Sam - Phoenix
Mayo Arizona
UCLA Olive View

You need to help us out a little bit here...advice on how to rank if you want GI/Cards...if you want just the best clinical experience possible...by academic prestige...best place to start forging a research/academic career...best mix of enjoyable place to live/solid program?! Tell us what YOU want, and then maybe some people on here can suggest programs where you might find that
 
What part of "norhing wrong with your list the way it is" do you not understand? If I had that list, I would rank it in exactly the same way.

Dude...I meant that I'm not comfortable ranking Monte at 3 and UAMS at 6? Is Monte really better than CCF and UTMB (ignoring the geography)..What say?
 
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