**Official 2015-2016** - Diagnostic Radiology Program Reviews

[Radiologyreviews2015]

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Post your reviews of programs you have interviewed at this season!

Please only post program reviews here and if you want to know anything else about a specific program, just start a new thread.

DUPLICATE REVIEWS ARE WELCOME!! It's helpful to have many opinions about a program, so please post away.

You can see a dozen reviews from the 2014-2015 season here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...diagnostic-radiology-program-reviews.1108208/

You can see over 100 reviews from the 2008-2010 seasons here (the old thread): http://www.auntminnie.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=168108

You can see several 2007-2008 reviews here (the even older thread): http://www.auntminnie.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=116807&mpage=1

Please copy the following format and paste it into your new post:

Program:

Location:

Travel:

Pre-interview dinner:

The Hospital and Facilities:

The Interview:

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching:

Residents/Staff/Attendings:

Resident Satisfaction with Program:

Call Schedule:

Moonlighting:

Fellowships:

Special or unusually good aspects:

Red flags:

Notes:

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

I thought we could revise the template to reflect those aspects of programs that are considered most important when selecting programs for ranking as seen on the 2015 NRMP Applicant Survey. I've detailed explanations/suggestions in parentheses.

Program: (program/institution name)

Type of program: (academic medical center or community hospital)

Size of program: (residents per year or total program size)

Location: (geographic location, social and recreational opportunities, cost of living, proximity to support network, cultural/racial/ethnic diversity of geographic location)

Overall goodness of fit: (what kind of person fits in here?)

Interview day experience: (comment on travel, pre-interview dinner, interviews, tours, etc.)

Reputation of program: (ranking or anecdotal)

Quality of education: (curriculum and training: conference, case volume and diversity, call experience, balance between faculty supervision and resident responsibility, opportunity to conduct research, flexibility to pursue electives and interests, opportunities to perform specific procedures)

Fellowship: (preparation for fellowship training, future fellowship training opportunities, career paths of recent program graduates)

Quality of residents: (were the residents strong applicants? comment on perceived affability and aptitude)

Quality of faculty: (teaching, research, leadership, etc.)

Quality of program director: (responsiveness, dedication, affability and aptitude)

Quality of hospital facilities: (buildings, lounges, scanners, reading rooms, procedural suites, conference rooms, lecture halls)

Resident wellness: (morale, work/life balance)

Other notes: (pertinent positives and negatives, miscellany such as moonlighting)

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

b

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

copying over to new reviews thread

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Wish this was more active. I'll add more gradually as I find time.

Program: Pitt

Type of program: Academic. Idk it's doximity rank, too lazy to look it up.

Size of program: 13 residents/year

Location: Pittsburgh, PA. Not a local so maybe someone with more knowledge could amend this. Seemed to have relatively low COL for a city. Passionate about pro sports if you're into that. Didn't feel that diverse (other than black and white) but I could be wrong.

Overall goodness of fit: Residents seem to work hard. A lot seemed married.

Interview day experience: Pre-interview dinner was fun. Tour was long, they take you to three hospitals.

Reputation of program: Applied because I was told it was a very strong program from attendings at my home institution (top 5).

Quality of education: High volume, though residents seemed happy with didactics/supervision. Lots of research opportunities.

Fellowship: Don't have a list of specifics, but residents seemed to go to top places - UCSF, UM, MGH, etc

Quality of residents: Affable and down to earth. Good camaraderie.

Quality of program director: Dr. Heller is a really nice guy. Articulated a good vision for the program and how it's handling the IR changes. Felt like the residents liked him and he was able to make changes in response to feedback.

Quality of hospital facilities: Have to rotate at multiple sites - at least 3, maybe more, which seemed inconvenient.

Other notes:
Pros: Lots of moonlighting, easy to get and pays per case read. Strong volume and great research opportunities. Pittsburgh has culture and low COL.
Cons: Didn't like the multi-site nature. Resident turnover in recent years.

 

[Apoplexy__]

I've been writing reviews in the old format (not the nice one the 2nd OP posted modeled after NRMP -- thanks for that). I'll post them closer to match week, since some of the details in the review may give away my interview day, etc.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

1

 

[Gadofosveset]

PDs / chief residents shouldn't be allowed to write reviews.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

PDs / chief residents shouldn't be allowed to write reviews.

It's really inconceivable that any applicant can pay enough attention and ask enough questions at an interview day and do enough online searching to write reviews of that depth, huh.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

It's really inconceivable that any applicant can pay enough attention and ask enough questions at an interview day and do enough online searching to write reviews of that depth, huh.

yeah... haha
in depth knowledge of a program's history is suspicious. I don't know that level of detail about my home insitutions program.

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

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[Radiologyreviews2015]

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[Radiologyreviews2015]

1

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Where did these reviews go? They were pretty helpful for people making their lists and will help future rads hopefuls...

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

I thought there was a new thread that they were moved to. Unless this is the new thread?

 

[deleted564680]

Bump now that rank lists are in...not sure if this is the "new thread" or where the reviews went.

 

[RadsAnon2016]

A few reviews for mid-tier academics and some community programs coming up. Sections that are omitted are because I forgot, unfortunately.

Program: UC Davis

Summary: Mid-tier academic program in California. Resident-reported emphasis on churning out studies. Less communal compared to other programs, with more of an academic, formal tone. Generally average for an academic place.

Location: Located in Sacramento, which is a relatively tame/small city. Most native Californian interviewees weren’t particularly excited about the area. It’s called the “city of trees”, which was evident by the abundant beautiful fall leaves and colorful trees filling the city. I believe both the beach and ski resorts are within 1-2 hours driving distance.

Travel: Flew into Sacramento International Airport, which is pretty small and not too busy. Traffic was probably below average for California, and probably resembles regular city traffic for non-Californians.

Pre-interview dinner: None.

The Hospital and Facilities: Standard. It had the typical academic feel but was relatively small for an academic center.

The Interview: A rather exhausting 8 hour day boasting 6 interviews, roughly 15 minutes each. There was a ton of waiting around and wasted time in the room with other applicants, which would normally be awkward if Radiology applicants weren’t generally cool people. The interviews were generally conversational, but all contained 1-2 rather difficult questions compared to other interview.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: Daily noon conference. Seemed pretty standard.

Residents/Staff/Attendings: There are fellows, but of course everyone downplayed this and felt that the program was overall resident-run. They have some really high-quality faculty that come from name-brands and pump out research and textbooks. Having done an audition here, I can say that the attendings are generally pretty down to earth and friendly. The residents frequently go out for beers with multiple attendings. There are some stuffy and less friendly attendings too, but I think this is well within the typical variability of any program. Residents seemed to be working hard, and they seemed to be held to a certain efficiency requirement (i.e. a more workflow-focused program, rather than a literature-focused one).

Resident Satisfaction with Program: Probably average satisfaction. They noted that the work was pretty tough and that you just sort of get thrown in with minimal orientation.

Call Schedule: Mixed call and float. Call starts mid-late R1. Can't remember much more than that.

 

[RadsAnon2016]

Program: University of Minnesota

Summary: Categorical university program with a close-knit feel. Residents felt that the amount of volume made competition with fellows nonexistent. While the PD said that the PGY-1 isn’t easy, the residents seemed to think it wasn’t bad at all.

Location: Minneapolis is a really cool area. I don’t travel much but from what I could tell it seemed like a young, vibrant city with a lot of different extracurricular offerings.

Travel: Public transportation in Minneapolis is excellent; for this interview, everything you need is within reach via the light rail.

Pre-interview dinner: It was a very awkwardly loud place that made conversation difficult even with just the person next to you. The residents were very casual and warm, one of them sporting jeans, a long-sleeve sports shirt, and a cap as if to say “hey, chill.” Alcohol was not paid for. The residents seemed to have camaraderie and explicitly stated so as well. They were all friendly and down-to-earth people.

The Hospital and Facilities: Nothing stood out to me as far as bells and whistles, save for their exorbitantly strong 10.5T magnet (strongest in the world as of 2013, I believe) at their dedicated MR research facility. You rotate at 3 centers:
1. U of Minnesota’s quaternary center
2. A county hospital with a level 1 trauma center
3. A VA center

Seems like a pretty varied experience; the way the residents viewed it is that you see your tough, esoteric stuff at the university, then round it out with your bread-and-butter at the VA and county hospital.

The Interview: 4 interviews, 15 minutes each. There was one pretty awkward attending that interviewed me, but the rest were super down-to-earth and cordial. One of the interviews was basically “You’re a great applicant! Any questions?” The lunch and tour were standard.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: I got the feeling that the didactics were generally unremarkable. Not much to say.

Residents/Staff/Attendings: The PD is a wonderful woman who really seemed to strive to change things and make things happen for her residents as far as requests, accommodations, and feedback for constructive change in the program itself. She’s only been there for 2 years, and I got the sense that the program changed a good amount during that time.

Resident Satisfaction with Program: They all seemed to really like it at their program. None of them seemed disingenuous when they spoke highly of the place. They didn’t seem tired or overworked.

Call Schedule: I don’t remember, because it was pretty complicated. You can actually look it up on the site if you look at the resident links. Seemed pretty standard though. It was a mix of night float and call. From my survey of the sample residents’ schedules I viewed, it seemed like every resident (even R2-4) got roughly 2 days off/week on average, when including the post-call days.

Moonlighting: $50-75/hr babysitting a scanner for contrast reactions. It’s available to R1’s via petition, and R2-4 on what I think was a first-come-first-serve basis.

Fellowships: The residents said their IR and Neuro fellowships were pretty strong. I think they had 1-2 others, but they mostly talked IR and Neuro.

Special or unusually good aspects: Nice city. Good MR research opportunities. PD seemed great.

Red flags: None.

 

[RadsAnon2016]

Program: University of Illinois at Peoria

Summary: Categorical university program with strong IR department. Lots of perks. Heavy didactics. Located in a quiet, suburban, family-friendly area with low cost of living.

Location: Peoria seemed to be a small suburban, perhaps even town-like area, even though it was described by the program director as the main referral center for a huge geographical chunk of the state. It was safe and quiet, with a bit of an affluent feel. Housing is cheap. Traffic is non-existent.

Travel: Fantastic. They pay for your hotel and have transportation both to the hotel and from the hotel to the hospital (and back for both). Peoria airport is very small and low-stress.

Pre-interview dinner: None. Instead, there was an off-site lunch with all of the residents (and no faculty) at a local country club. Very classy. Maybe it was the lack of alcohol, but the interactions with the residents were certainly not casual. I kept my guard up the whole time, through awkwardly slow and nervous conversations at this lunch. They were all nice people, but I personally didn’t jive with several of them in the way that I pretty much unanimously liked the residents elsewhere.

The Hospital and Facilities: Everything is basically in one building, which is the OSF St. Francis Medical Center. It’s a tertiary center with a level 1 trauma center. I think the only separate building you do rotations in is their breast imaging center.

The Interview: 3 interviews, a whopping 30 minutes each. This was not a relaxed interview experience, but it still remained well within what you’d expect for radiology. Each interviewer asked some typical interview questions (e.g. what you look for in a program, your greatest strengths/weaknesses, etc.), and on all of them you really had to grasp at straws for questions to ask them to kill time.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: High-quality, and lots of them. As of 1 year ago, they changed the format of their didactics such that one day a week is “lecture day” from 8 to 4:30. This means the other 4 days of the week have no didactics. One of the lectures is a series in which you cover Brant & Helms cover-to-cover two times by the time you take the Core. There is a case-based learning series of lectures in which you are required to present and discuss interesting cases – participation in this series seemed somewhat involved and is required to claim some time off for resident retreats.

Residents/Staff/Attendings: The PD has been doing this for 23 years and seems to have gotten a lot of aspects of managing a residency program down to an art. There are a number of very well thought-out policies; for example, this program’s PGY-1 electives are scheduled as radiology at the end, to form a sort of pre-residency time that makes up for the 12 weeks of half-duty later in residency for Core studying. The residents noted that he watches out for them, making things happen when they need to. I felt like the way us interviewees were treated in addition to the perks noted below confirmed this.

Resident Satisfaction with Program: I would not say that the residents seemed particularly happy, but they didn’t seem unhappy either.

Call Schedule: Call only – no float. It’s complicated, but is best summarized as something that averages to q4 call in R2, then decreasing in frequency and intensity each year after. R1’s start a supervised call halfway through the year.

Moonlighting: $60/hr monitoring for contrast reactions, plus a cool system of opting into reading plain films during supplemental shifts for $5/study. You can do these simultaneously. I don’t recall, but I think moonlighting is available only R2 and up. The residents liked this moonlighting and frequently did it, partially because they felt the extra plain film experience eventually gave them valuable reading speed.

Fellowships: 1 breast fellow, 2 IR fellows, and 1 neuro fellow. Neuro is supposedly weak, but the IR program is hot.

Special or unusually good aspects: Their IR department was described to me by the chief resident as a “powerhouse”, which granted her wider fellowship opportunities when applying IR nationally due to name recognition (coast to coast, apparently). Another special aspect is the dedicated Core studying allotted for 12 weeks of half days, as mentioned above. And finally, some significant perks include: 1) Unlimited free food and beverages at the cafeteria, which is open 24/7, 2) A generous AIRP stipend of something in the order of ~$5000, and 3) a free iPad upon signing.

Red flags: None.

 

[RadsAnon2016]

Program: East Virginia Medical School

Summary: Community program with happy, relaxed residents. Procedurally heavy. No fellows. Don't go here if you're a gunner.

Location: Norfolk is an urban/suburban area. It’s right near the water, and is actually located right next to the largest naval base in the world.

Travel: The nearest airport is 20-30 minutes away. Generally unremarkable.

Pre-interview dinner: There was one, but I did not attend.

The Hospital and Facilities: 1000+ cumulative beds between all the centers. Primarily Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (tertiary w/ level 1 trauma center) and a dedicated children’s hospital. I think there are two other rotation sites, but I didn’t hear much about these and think they play a very small role.

The Interview: 3 interviews (PD, vice-PD, and chief resident), 10-15 minutes each. The PD and chief resident were extremely conversational and laid-back, essentially thumbing through your application and priming you to talk about easy topics. The vice-PD gave more of a “traditional” interview with all those tougher questions that everyone tries to prepare for (e.g. “where do you see yourself in X years?”, “what do you look for in a program?”). In addition to a resident-guided tour of the facilities, the residents actually drove us around the city pointing out restaurants, social attractions, etc. Nice touch.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: Didactics twice a day, with multiple supplemental programs interspersed such as visiting professors and things. Overall I felt like the didactics and conferences were a strong point of this program.

Residents/Staff/Attendings: There are a total of 16 residents, who are all remarkably collegial. I was actually really surprised just how fun-loving and casual they were. The atmosphere was very light-hearted and full of jokes. Their faculty is notable for being primarily private practice docs who teach there. Dr. Kushner, the president of the ACR, teaches Peds there.

Resident Satisfaction with Program: The happiest residents I saw on the trail, easily. They seemed to feel that they were somewhat of a hidden gem.

Call Schedule: Mostly night float. Call starts in R2, with R1s getting introduced to it towards the end buddying up with a more senior resident.

Moonlighting: No internal moonlighting. There is some moonlighting activity available where you can do general practitioner shifts that pay roughly $120-140/hour, but you need your own malpractice and license to do that since it’s non-internal.

Fellowships: None in-house. I think there’s a breast fellowship affiliated with EVMS, but that’s it.

Special or unusually good aspects: Procedurally heavy, because there aren’t any fellows. An R1 was lamenting to me about being sick of doing LPs after doing 100 in one month. Also, you get tons of days off – between vacation, sick days, and “personal days”, residents get a combined 41 days off per year! This is in addition to their plentiful protected time for extracurriculars (for example, they all got the entire day off for this interview day). That lack of reliance on residents was another topic addressed by the PD; when you need to do something, the attending has no qualms about covering you completely.

Red flags: None. I was concerned with all the time off that the residents may be a little underworked or that volume may be low, but the residents convincingly felt that the program was high-volume both in reads and procedures.

 

[RadsAnon2016]

Program: Christiana Care Health Services

Summary: Categorical community program. High volume and case diversity for a community program. Generally average in most respects.

Location: Located in Newark, Delaware. The area is suburban and pleasant. There are multiple large big-ticket cities within 2 hours of driving. Weather is typical for the PA/NJ area: gray and gloomy. It rains and snows in the winter and is muggy/hot in the summer. Residents can easily live in either this suburban area or in one of the nearby cities -- even Philadelphia.

Travel: Wasn’t able to find any good flights into the local airport which is 10 minutes away (New Castle Airport), so I had to fly into Philly which is 45-70 minutes away, depending on traffic. I think most interviewees either drove from their school or rented a car.

Pre-interview dinner: None.

The Hospital and Facilities: 1100+ beds between all the various centers – volume was a repeated bragging point, though it's probably about average compared to an academic place. The facilities and overall feel of the hospital were standard. Everything is in one building except for the children’s hospital which I believe is only a short drive away.

The Interview: A gargantuan 7.5 hour day. 3 interviews, roughly 10 minutes each. The chief resident and vice-PD basically didn’t ask any questions, while the PD actually asked a couple tougher (for Radiology) questions like what you look for in a program. Most of the day was actually really redundant and consisted of a ton of waiting around.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: 7-7.5 hours/week of lectures, with daily noon conference and the occasional morning conference. Didactics seemed average in general.

Residents/Staff/Attendings: The PD stated that 1/3 of the faculty trained at Christiana. Other than that fact which suggests satisfaction with the program and area, there isn’t much to say about the staff. No complaints from the residents, but no rantings and ravings either. The program was described to me by the residents as a “self-driven” program, in which attendings aren’t breathing down your neck and it’s up to you to work hard enough to squeeze the most out of your education.

Resident Satisfaction with Program: Probably average satisfaction. They seemed pretty collegial and were good people.

Call Schedule: Nights are 100% float, and are actually split into two 7-8 hour shifts. Night float begins R2.

Moonlighting: Two opportunities: Monitoring for contrast reactions at $45/hr starting as soon as you can get a license (late R1 potentially) and another opportunity reading films at the pediatric center for $60/hr that is available starting late R2 or R3.

Fellowships: They send you home with a sheet of the past 7 graduating classes and what they went on to do. Roughly 1-2 residents in a class of 6 got into the east coast giants (Duke, Hopkins, Yale). Very few stayed in-house for fellowship.

Special or unusually good aspects: This is a categorical program with a TY PGY-1 that seemed to be average intensity. Call schedule is great, as above. Most of their sales pitch revolved around their volume and diversity, since they are the main referral center for most of Delaware and are the only radiology residency in the state. Good compensation ($57kà67k from PGY1-5), especially considering the low cost of living in the area.

Red flags: None, but I was disappointed to find out that there is no meal stipend whatsoever – not even during night shifts!

 

[RadsAnon2016]

Program: UC Irvine

Summary: More relaxed mid-tier academic place in beautiful SoCal. You don't go here to reach the pinnacle of Radiology education, but it's a solid place where you won't hate your life in a desired location. This was one place where "fit" reigned supreme (for both applicants and interviewers).

Location: Orange, CA. Your standard pricey, beautiful California city near beaches and fun attractions.

Travel: Fly into John Wayne Airport for an easy 15 minute drive, or LAX if you hate yourself.

Pre-interview dinner: They bring you to Dave & Buster's, which is a casual hybrid bar-arcade place. Talk about making a statement about the program. A resident bought our alcohol since the program can't pay for it. After that, we went around shooting zombies and winning stuffed animals in crane games. The residents gave away their stuffed animals for correctly answering radiology trivia the next day after interviews. I had a freaking blast.

The Hospital and Facilities: Your standard stuff. Last interview of the season so my eyes kind of glazed over anyway.

The Interview: I think it was something like 5-6 interviews, 10-15 minutes each. Half of the interviews were sort of academic, formal, and professional, while the other half were really lax, friendly, and cordial. No curveballs, standard stuff. They almost all emphasized camaraderie and collegiality in their prospective applicants above all else.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: Standard. I don't remember anything remarkable.

Residents/Staff/Attendings: Staff and attendings seemed pretty unremarkable. The residents felt everyone got along well. Nobody was purported to have "written the book" on anything, which was a notable contrast to the standard advertisement of academic places.

Resident Satisfaction with Program: Really happy, friendly residents -- happiest I saw at an academic place. They seemed to have found a good work-life balance. I actually directly asked a resident what he thought about the program maybe being a little too easy, and he seemed to mostly dismiss the concern but recognized that it's more lax than your typical academic place.

Call Schedule: R2-heavy, with R3 and 4 gradually decreasing. I don't believe there's much if any call in R1, where the emphasis is on book review.

Moonlighting: Less than most programs. You can read out some prelims at their children's hospital site. I believe they may also have contrast monitoring opportunities, but I don't think they've always let residents do it and it may be only an intermittent or rare thing.

Red flags: None.

 

[MadRadLad]

Would appreciate any reviews of midwest programs if someone gets the time: Michigan, Cincy, Henry Ford, Beaumont, DMC, Ohio State, etc would all be welcome.

 

[Radz123]

What IR changes at Pitt?