PCCM Application thread '08-09 version
- Thread starter JayneCobb
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MUSC
Outstanding interview experience and program. Program director runs a renowned Sarcoidosis center. Interview day started with a formal presenation by him selling himself, the program, and their commitment to the fellowship. Excellent clinical training, with mostly clinical research and a few opportunities to do basic sciences. Very formal mentoring program. You meet with every single faculty member throughout first year, and then pick a mentor at the end.
Dr. Sahn is the division chief, and renowned in the field. Because he is an expert in pleural disease, the fellows own the pleural space. They do all their own chest tubes, pleurex catheters, pleural biopsies. They have a very large and cutting edge interventional program, including having been at the forefront of superdimensional electromagnetic navigation.
The fellows were great. Two of them took us out to dinner the night before, and then all 11 went out of their way to track us down during the interview day to tell us how happy they were. This is one of only a few places where I met every fellow. They were very sincere in offering to answer any and all questions, even in the future.
Overall, a great clinical program. The only downside is that they currently don't do transplant, but they are actively seeking to restart it.
Looking forward to thoughts on other programs.
Outstanding interview experience and program. Program director runs a renowned Sarcoidosis center. Interview day started with a formal presenation by him selling himself, the program, and their commitment to the fellowship. Excellent clinical training, with mostly clinical research and a few opportunities to do basic sciences. Very formal mentoring program. You meet with every single faculty member throughout first year, and then pick a mentor at the end.
Dr. Sahn is the division chief, and renowned in the field. Because he is an expert in pleural disease, the fellows own the pleural space. They do all their own chest tubes, pleurex catheters, pleural biopsies. They have a very large and cutting edge interventional program, including having been at the forefront of superdimensional electromagnetic navigation.
The fellows were great. Two of them took us out to dinner the night before, and then all 11 went out of their way to track us down during the interview day to tell us how happy they were. This is one of only a few places where I met every fellow. They were very sincere in offering to answer any and all questions, even in the future.
Overall, a great clinical program. The only downside is that they currently don't do transplant, but they are actively seeking to restart it.
Looking forward to thoughts on other programs.
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Yale:
5 Spots/year. Lots of opportunity to do basic research. The ex-Chairman of PCCM (now the chair of medicine) is a God in bench research and encourages the fellows to pursue it too. Also have clinical research track. They offer PhD and Masters degree for an additional year if interested. The ICU is amazing and the PD looked very energetic and proactive too. there was an informal dinner with fellows first. The IV day started with a presenctation by Dr J Elias and the PD. Subsequently, 4 interviews and they tried to match your interest with the interviewer. Very relaxed and informal interview. Fellows loooked very happy. The day I interviewed, all were US grads except me; that kind of made me uneasy. They have 3 internal candidates this year but PD made it quite clear in the orientation that they may take only on internal and prefer variety. All in all, graet program; no transplant though.
VCW:
3 positions/year. no transplant. very informal interview day. No presentation. The PD greeted the candidtaes at the main entramce; took us for coffee in cafe and then walked us into the conference room where a 3rd yr fellow gave some talk. Subsequently, had interviews with 4 faculty members including PD. very energetic faculty and all were very friendly. They have renovated the ICU which is now a 28 bed ICU. fellows do all procedures including bed side trachs. for transplant, one can roatate at UVa or center of their choice. they have recently recruited N Voehlkel from Uni of CO and are trying to expand their research track. I loved the program. very strong clinical training with lots of research opportunity. fellows looked happy.
5 Spots/year. Lots of opportunity to do basic research. The ex-Chairman of PCCM (now the chair of medicine) is a God in bench research and encourages the fellows to pursue it too. Also have clinical research track. They offer PhD and Masters degree for an additional year if interested. The ICU is amazing and the PD looked very energetic and proactive too. there was an informal dinner with fellows first. The IV day started with a presenctation by Dr J Elias and the PD. Subsequently, 4 interviews and they tried to match your interest with the interviewer. Very relaxed and informal interview. Fellows loooked very happy. The day I interviewed, all were US grads except me; that kind of made me uneasy. They have 3 internal candidates this year but PD made it quite clear in the orientation that they may take only on internal and prefer variety. All in all, graet program; no transplant though.
VCW:
3 positions/year. no transplant. very informal interview day. No presentation. The PD greeted the candidtaes at the main entramce; took us for coffee in cafe and then walked us into the conference room where a 3rd yr fellow gave some talk. Subsequently, had interviews with 4 faculty members including PD. very energetic faculty and all were very friendly. They have renovated the ICU which is now a 28 bed ICU. fellows do all procedures including bed side trachs. for transplant, one can roatate at UVa or center of their choice. they have recently recruited N Voehlkel from Uni of CO and are trying to expand their research track. I loved the program. very strong clinical training with lots of research opportunity. fellows looked happy.
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Interview experiences:
UT Houston:
Very average program. No exposure to lung transplant. A rule of mandatory coming in to see the patient within half an hour of admission to ICU. None/minimal research.
Pros: work in MD anderson for 1-2 months??
Baylor:
Extremely busy program. No research months at all if you take the 3 year clinical track. Interventional fellowship is on hold (no one to run the program at present).
Wash U, St Louis, MO
Good program. Exposure to lung tx, interventional, upto 12 mths research, good faculty. Various subspecialty clinics.
Cons: not enough exposure to ILD
U Cinncinnati
Good faculty. No exposure to Transplant. Good research, good night float system, exposure to rare lung diseases, perfect division chief: Dr. McCormack, Above average interventional exposure with Dr. Knepler.
U Wisconsin, Madison
Small program. Unsure about the quality/unique aspect of the program. Great ICU set up and good attendings. Average program.
U of Florida, Gainesville
Extremely busy, overworked fellows. Less time for research. Good interventional exposure with Dr. Jantz, exposure to lung Tx.
Not very happy fellows.
UT Houston:
Very average program. No exposure to lung transplant. A rule of mandatory coming in to see the patient within half an hour of admission to ICU. None/minimal research.
Pros: work in MD anderson for 1-2 months??
Baylor:
Extremely busy program. No research months at all if you take the 3 year clinical track. Interventional fellowship is on hold (no one to run the program at present).
Wash U, St Louis, MO
Good program. Exposure to lung tx, interventional, upto 12 mths research, good faculty. Various subspecialty clinics.
Cons: not enough exposure to ILD
U Cinncinnati
Good faculty. No exposure to Transplant. Good research, good night float system, exposure to rare lung diseases, perfect division chief: Dr. McCormack, Above average interventional exposure with Dr. Knepler.
U Wisconsin, Madison
Small program. Unsure about the quality/unique aspect of the program. Great ICU set up and good attendings. Average program.
U of Florida, Gainesville
Extremely busy, overworked fellows. Less time for research. Good interventional exposure with Dr. Jantz, exposure to lung Tx.
Not very happy fellows.
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Harvard
Pros: They did a great job at presenting the three affiliated hospitals on the interviewing day. The fellowship directors from the brigham, mgh and bi were all in attendance for a large portion of the day. It seems they've incorporated a lot of feedback to make fellows' feel more part of a consistent and structured program no matter what hospital they're rotating through. Most people do four years and have at least two years devoted to research. The Channing laboratory is impressive and Augustine Choi is amazing. They're very strong in basic science. The clinical training looks good. The first year is mostly consultative and the second year has a chunk of ICU. Other than that, you are expected to develop career interests centered around research. Some go and get an MPH or MSCE that is paid for. The fellowship director at the Brigham actually got a Master's in Education (adult learning theory) and is a clinical educator. Seems very flexible. Much more than I thought it would. Fellows were a great group. Faculty interviewers were as well. Did not feel like a pressure cooker.
Cons: No health policy research and, in all honesty, not much clinical outcomes research in the ICU other than Taylor and Net trials. Seemed very pulmonary heavy, but I did not get great exposure to their intensivists. Given that where you do fellowship if often where you stay as junior faculty, their program looks like it is next to impossible to move up the academic ladder in an expedited fashion.
Overall, a fantastic program if you are interested in the basic sciences and want a fellowship that will provide you with the necessary experiences and mentoring to advance in an academic career as a clinical investigator. Solid clinical training with no in house call. Not one of the best programs for clinical epidemiology or health policy/services research.
Pros: They did a great job at presenting the three affiliated hospitals on the interviewing day. The fellowship directors from the brigham, mgh and bi were all in attendance for a large portion of the day. It seems they've incorporated a lot of feedback to make fellows' feel more part of a consistent and structured program no matter what hospital they're rotating through. Most people do four years and have at least two years devoted to research. The Channing laboratory is impressive and Augustine Choi is amazing. They're very strong in basic science. The clinical training looks good. The first year is mostly consultative and the second year has a chunk of ICU. Other than that, you are expected to develop career interests centered around research. Some go and get an MPH or MSCE that is paid for. The fellowship director at the Brigham actually got a Master's in Education (adult learning theory) and is a clinical educator. Seems very flexible. Much more than I thought it would. Fellows were a great group. Faculty interviewers were as well. Did not feel like a pressure cooker.
Cons: No health policy research and, in all honesty, not much clinical outcomes research in the ICU other than Taylor and Net trials. Seemed very pulmonary heavy, but I did not get great exposure to their intensivists. Given that where you do fellowship if often where you stay as junior faculty, their program looks like it is next to impossible to move up the academic ladder in an expedited fashion.
Overall, a fantastic program if you are interested in the basic sciences and want a fellowship that will provide you with the necessary experiences and mentoring to advance in an academic career as a clinical investigator. Solid clinical training with no in house call. Not one of the best programs for clinical epidemiology or health policy/services research.
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where are the others.. are all the rest being secretive about their interviews or what???.. come on guys/gals.. speak up about ur experiences and views of the programs you have interviewed at or are currently IM residents at. Has someone started making up their ROL.. i have...but there is no activity in this thread to even discuss much.
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I need to post my interview experience, but my wife is about to pop out our first kid any day now. I'll get to it soon, I promise.- Joined
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I need to post my interview exp as well. So many things going on, ICU, Step 3, Interviews, Scheduling conflicts just not getting time to sit down and do it. But I will try to get this going on in the next one week,
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Allegheny General Hospital Program
Is a decent sized community hospital in Pittsburg, it was much larger than I actually expected. It converted to a Pulm-cc program about 4-5 years ago from straight pulm. Many of the attendings are grads of the program who spent extra time at Pitt to complete the Critical Care portion of it.
They take 3 fellows per year and this is a clinical program. They have no "sub-specialty" clinics, but do spend time at the TB clinic to get exposure to TB. Critical care wise that have somewhere between 9-11 months of critical care. The research isn't a huge factor there but they do want everyone to get published in some manner. They have in-house call q8-9 (the total number of fellows). They don't have much in the way of interventional Bronchs but the fellows state they get "tons" of bronchs. 1 of the second years stated she had well over 100, but that wasn't counting bronchs in the ICU which all the fellows stated they got a lot there as well. They do have a small transplant program, but it is nowhere near as large as Pitts or CCFs.
All the fellows were friendly and the PD Dr Carlin was very friendly as well.
As an aside, they interviewed close to 10 people for each spot. My interview day had 9 interviewees, 7 FMGs and 2 DOs.
Cleveland Clinic Program
I've done 2 months of elective rotations down at CCF, so I do have a little more perspective on their program. CCF now takes 6 a year and was at the time of my interview, awaiting approval to start a straight Critical Care fellowship as well. The fellows are great to work with and it seemed to me that they had a good working relationship with each other. The program is definitely much different than the others I interviewed at, as it has the size and capabilities to offer further sub-supecilization which Dr Mazzone and the soon to be PD Dr Ashton has put together a more formal plan for allowing the fellows to choice their basic curricula to either really focus on Pulm-Htn, interventional bronchs, critical care, transplant, or general pulm. But they did not push that as if it were a rigid format and their goal was more to allow fellows to get what they need for their careers out of the set up.
Currently they have a base of 6 months of ICU. A month in their ICU is extremely busy and it's still growing. They have one of the sickest patient populations in their ICUs I've ever seen. They also have an in-patient consult service as well as a Primary Lung/Rescu and Advance lung service (transplant). The consult is self-explanatory. The Primary Lung/Rescu takes admits for patients with lung issues, some of which probably really doesn't have to be under a pulm service but you'll see a lot of other pulm conditions besides COPD/Asthma on that service. The service rarely has residents and they have a NP/PA to help out but you're doing the work. The Transplant service takes care of all post-op lung transplant patients. And their program is getting much busier. I was there in January and they were getting close to their 20th transplant that month.
The research they do is primarily clinical and some of their fellows have tons of publications. They are part of ARDSNet and a few other research groups.
Despite liking smaller hospitals where I know who I'm calling when I'm consulting people, overall, I like the people and the program and enjoyed my time down there.
I hear they interviewed 42 people for 6 spots
Is a decent sized community hospital in Pittsburg, it was much larger than I actually expected. It converted to a Pulm-cc program about 4-5 years ago from straight pulm. Many of the attendings are grads of the program who spent extra time at Pitt to complete the Critical Care portion of it.
They take 3 fellows per year and this is a clinical program. They have no "sub-specialty" clinics, but do spend time at the TB clinic to get exposure to TB. Critical care wise that have somewhere between 9-11 months of critical care. The research isn't a huge factor there but they do want everyone to get published in some manner. They have in-house call q8-9 (the total number of fellows). They don't have much in the way of interventional Bronchs but the fellows state they get "tons" of bronchs. 1 of the second years stated she had well over 100, but that wasn't counting bronchs in the ICU which all the fellows stated they got a lot there as well. They do have a small transplant program, but it is nowhere near as large as Pitts or CCFs.
All the fellows were friendly and the PD Dr Carlin was very friendly as well.
As an aside, they interviewed close to 10 people for each spot. My interview day had 9 interviewees, 7 FMGs and 2 DOs.
Cleveland Clinic Program
I've done 2 months of elective rotations down at CCF, so I do have a little more perspective on their program. CCF now takes 6 a year and was at the time of my interview, awaiting approval to start a straight Critical Care fellowship as well. The fellows are great to work with and it seemed to me that they had a good working relationship with each other. The program is definitely much different than the others I interviewed at, as it has the size and capabilities to offer further sub-supecilization which Dr Mazzone and the soon to be PD Dr Ashton has put together a more formal plan for allowing the fellows to choice their basic curricula to either really focus on Pulm-Htn, interventional bronchs, critical care, transplant, or general pulm. But they did not push that as if it were a rigid format and their goal was more to allow fellows to get what they need for their careers out of the set up.
Currently they have a base of 6 months of ICU. A month in their ICU is extremely busy and it's still growing. They have one of the sickest patient populations in their ICUs I've ever seen. They also have an in-patient consult service as well as a Primary Lung/Rescu and Advance lung service (transplant). The consult is self-explanatory. The Primary Lung/Rescu takes admits for patients with lung issues, some of which probably really doesn't have to be under a pulm service but you'll see a lot of other pulm conditions besides COPD/Asthma on that service. The service rarely has residents and they have a NP/PA to help out but you're doing the work. The Transplant service takes care of all post-op lung transplant patients. And their program is getting much busier. I was there in January and they were getting close to their 20th transplant that month.
The research they do is primarily clinical and some of their fellows have tons of publications. They are part of ARDSNet and a few other research groups.
Despite liking smaller hospitals where I know who I'm calling when I'm consulting people, overall, I like the people and the program and enjoyed my time down there.
I hear they interviewed 42 people for 6 spots
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Creighton University Program
Without a doubt it's a smaller program that only takes 2 per year. The program seemed much more critical care oriented than pulm, they have 12 ICU months were many places only have 6, they're not very research oriented but the PD does have some NIH grants. They let you make what you want out of the research. They do not have much in the way of interventional bronchs, but in Jan 2010, they are getting a grad from (I think they said mayo) who is big in EBUS. Their pulm months are pretty much consult services and they have no specific specialty clinic for pulm htn/sarcoid/ILD/asthma/etc, Although Dr Schuler sees a lot of Pulm HTN. Their clinic is a straight pulm clinic and they see whatever walks into their door.
They have no transplant program. Their ICU isn't closed, but they still stay busy and they say they get a fair amount of trauma. They also cover a local VA as well.
Their PD Dr Morrow and Dr Schuler both came from WashU in St Lois and are extremely friendly and Dr Morrow is young (he graduated from fellowship in 2002) and the fellows have nothing but good things to say about him as being a fellow advocate. Dr Morrow is a charachter (in midwestern that's a compliment). He was the type who was wearing a plaid type button up shirt without a tie for our interviews and he was easy to talk to and very personable.
Being a Midwesterner myself, I enjoyed what I saw of the town and the laid back feeling the program gave. It's definitely for those looking for a clinical program that is light on research. Moonlighting is ample and apparently your malpractice at the Fellowship also covers you at any moonlighting position within the state of Nebraska.
I never got a firm number on how many they interviewed, but I have heard through multiple people that they've already filled 1 of this cycles spots.
Indiana University School of Medicine Program,
Is laid out very differently than I've seen at any other hospital. They cover 4 hospitals, which are all within a few miles of each other, and 3 of them are within walking distance. A county hospital, a large private community hospital as well as a University hospital are touching. A large VA hospital makes up the 4th system the fellows work in. Again, this is more of a clinical oriented program and what research they have going is clinical in nature, but several of the fellows were getting their Masters in ethics and their projects were over end of life care from what I gathered.
For the tour, we sat in one of their Radiology conferences which was quite good and the fellows were definitely comfortable reading chest radiology and the radiologist was a jovial character which made it easy to listen to him. They don't have any sub-specialty clinics but they do have a decent size Interventional department and the fellows we talked to all seemed to be very comfortable with EBUS, but I didn't think to ask about specific interventional exposure.
The town is another clean Midwestern town and the people are again very laid back. The current fellows were all extremely friendly and easy to get along with and besides the dinner, the tour allowed for lots of time alone with the fellows who had very little bad to say about the program and the things they did mention I can't even recall at the moment as they weren't big things at all.
Now for some hearsay. We were not interviewed by the PD Dr Fraber, but per the fellows, Dr Farber is going to retire in the next few years and that Dr Buckley (who was an interviewer) from Henry Ford was hired to take over as PD, but no timeline was given by the fellows. They take 5 fellows per year. I really like the idea of having the best of all the different types of hospitals, but a couple of times our Fellows giving the tour got lost because they're not in 1 single hospital enough to know the full ins-and-outs and backdoors.
Without a doubt it's a smaller program that only takes 2 per year. The program seemed much more critical care oriented than pulm, they have 12 ICU months were many places only have 6, they're not very research oriented but the PD does have some NIH grants. They let you make what you want out of the research. They do not have much in the way of interventional bronchs, but in Jan 2010, they are getting a grad from (I think they said mayo) who is big in EBUS. Their pulm months are pretty much consult services and they have no specific specialty clinic for pulm htn/sarcoid/ILD/asthma/etc, Although Dr Schuler sees a lot of Pulm HTN. Their clinic is a straight pulm clinic and they see whatever walks into their door.
They have no transplant program. Their ICU isn't closed, but they still stay busy and they say they get a fair amount of trauma. They also cover a local VA as well.
Their PD Dr Morrow and Dr Schuler both came from WashU in St Lois and are extremely friendly and Dr Morrow is young (he graduated from fellowship in 2002) and the fellows have nothing but good things to say about him as being a fellow advocate. Dr Morrow is a charachter (in midwestern that's a compliment). He was the type who was wearing a plaid type button up shirt without a tie for our interviews and he was easy to talk to and very personable.
Being a Midwesterner myself, I enjoyed what I saw of the town and the laid back feeling the program gave. It's definitely for those looking for a clinical program that is light on research. Moonlighting is ample and apparently your malpractice at the Fellowship also covers you at any moonlighting position within the state of Nebraska.
I never got a firm number on how many they interviewed, but I have heard through multiple people that they've already filled 1 of this cycles spots.
Indiana University School of Medicine Program,
Is laid out very differently than I've seen at any other hospital. They cover 4 hospitals, which are all within a few miles of each other, and 3 of them are within walking distance. A county hospital, a large private community hospital as well as a University hospital are touching. A large VA hospital makes up the 4th system the fellows work in. Again, this is more of a clinical oriented program and what research they have going is clinical in nature, but several of the fellows were getting their Masters in ethics and their projects were over end of life care from what I gathered.
For the tour, we sat in one of their Radiology conferences which was quite good and the fellows were definitely comfortable reading chest radiology and the radiologist was a jovial character which made it easy to listen to him. They don't have any sub-specialty clinics but they do have a decent size Interventional department and the fellows we talked to all seemed to be very comfortable with EBUS, but I didn't think to ask about specific interventional exposure.
The town is another clean Midwestern town and the people are again very laid back. The current fellows were all extremely friendly and easy to get along with and besides the dinner, the tour allowed for lots of time alone with the fellows who had very little bad to say about the program and the things they did mention I can't even recall at the moment as they weren't big things at all.
Now for some hearsay. We were not interviewed by the PD Dr Fraber, but per the fellows, Dr Farber is going to retire in the next few years and that Dr Buckley (who was an interviewer) from Henry Ford was hired to take over as PD, but no timeline was given by the fellows. They take 5 fellows per year. I really like the idea of having the best of all the different types of hospitals, but a couple of times our Fellows giving the tour got lost because they're not in 1 single hospital enough to know the full ins-and-outs and backdoors.
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Hey all... hope everybody is finishing up interviews. Here's my ?
Interviewed at my #1 early. Told them very soon after that they would be my number 1. Had my top letter writer contact them in my favor. He received very good feedback. I had a phone call from the Chairman as he was not there when I interviewed and this went well. Here the problem. Received an email a month ago which seemed somewhat generic. I replied and told them my final rank for them was #1. It's been 4 weeks and haven't had a response. Is this a bad sign or am I just being paranoid??? Thanks!
Interviewed at my #1 early. Told them very soon after that they would be my number 1. Had my top letter writer contact them in my favor. He received very good feedback. I had a phone call from the Chairman as he was not there when I interviewed and this went well. Here the problem. Received an email a month ago which seemed somewhat generic. I replied and told them my final rank for them was #1. It's been 4 weeks and haven't had a response. Is this a bad sign or am I just being paranoid??? Thanks!
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I am from renal but my thread is too quiet.
Does not mean anything.
If the program is compliant with the match 100% (some programs really are) they might not tell you anything, and even if they tell you something better than generic that will not predict your match unless you have a prematch letter in your hands.
Most of us are in the same boat of waiting for the match day.
Good luck.
Does not mean anything.
If the program is compliant with the match 100% (some programs really are) they might not tell you anything, and even if they tell you something better than generic that will not predict your match unless you have a prematch letter in your hands.
Most of us are in the same boat of waiting for the match day.
Good luck.
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Here are my interview experiences.
Cleveland Clinic:- One hospital, many possibilites is the way to describe this program. They just have about everything in one setting. However, the fellows seemed tired. 😴 I got time to spend with fellows in their room at the end of interview. They seem to suggest that it is getting more busy and tough. Their best teaching interventionalist left to Dubai. Great clinical research opportunities. Basic is limited. The interaction between fellows and faculty seemed that of condescending at times.
Pros: If you want to learn something, then they have it (From interventional to transplant),
Cons: City - never heard anyone talking good about Cleveland! Busy overworked fellows
The program would have been great if fellows and faculty interaction was better and the workload on fellows is less. I😕 will rank it but not in my top choices.
Tulane, New Orleans:- Nor really impressed by the program at all. Program is still under "construction"!!! (post all those hurricanes). Two hospitals - Tulane and Community. A little busy program and you do get nice clinical exposure. No interventional (no EBUS also) pulmonary, though they did talk of bringing in someone soon. Research is more basic oriented but still limited to within deparment. Fellows seemed happy and interaction with faculty is good. I attended noon radiology conference and they were good at reading X-rays (the radiologist is pimping the fellows a bit but overall not bad).
Pros: Relaxed environment, Southern climate.
Cons: Hurricane land, Limited exposure to latest techiniques.
Will be one of last choices.
Cleveland Clinic:- One hospital, many possibilites is the way to describe this program. They just have about everything in one setting. However, the fellows seemed tired. 😴 I got time to spend with fellows in their room at the end of interview. They seem to suggest that it is getting more busy and tough. Their best teaching interventionalist left to Dubai. Great clinical research opportunities. Basic is limited. The interaction between fellows and faculty seemed that of condescending at times.
Pros: If you want to learn something, then they have it (From interventional to transplant),
Cons: City - never heard anyone talking good about Cleveland! Busy overworked fellows
The program would have been great if fellows and faculty interaction was better and the workload on fellows is less. I😕 will rank it but not in my top choices.
Tulane, New Orleans:- Nor really impressed by the program at all. Program is still under "construction"!!! (post all those hurricanes). Two hospitals - Tulane and Community. A little busy program and you do get nice clinical exposure. No interventional (no EBUS also) pulmonary, though they did talk of bringing in someone soon. Research is more basic oriented but still limited to within deparment. Fellows seemed happy and interaction with faculty is good. I attended noon radiology conference and they were good at reading X-rays (the radiologist is pimping the fellows a bit but overall not bad).
Pros: Relaxed environment, Southern climate.
Cons: Hurricane land, Limited exposure to latest techiniques.
Will be one of last choices.
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UCSD, San Diego:- Great clinical and research program. New dept chair (about 3yrs) interested in more research. Three different hospitals, one in downtown is about 25min from the other two hospitals. I think they said they are taking 5 fellows this yr. Faculty seemed friendly. Met with only one fellow who is present through out the day. He was talking only good things about program. Call - two weekends/month and every weekday if on ICU with all calls from home.
Pros: Well know for Pulmonary embolism. Great city (loved it!)
Cons: Cost of living is very high (for what I undestand). No interventional program yet, though they do lot of bronchs. Would have loved to meet a few more fellows. Travel between hospitals for conferences.
Overall, I liked the program well. Will be one of my top choices. Would like to hear about the cost of living in San Diego.
U of Louisville:- Department has a new chair. Strong clinical program. You rotate through University and Jewish hospitals in addition to VA. Lots of ICU expreience. There are no residents in Jewish ICU (good and bad). So you will have to go in for any admits. Program is expanding and seems like there will be lot more changes coming in. They are not sure how the call structure is going to be. Interviewed with most of the faculty (6!). Generally seemed very friendly. Fellows did say the Jewish ICU (which is a new rotation) is getting a little too busy. Some of the fellows seemed tired to me. Overall good interaction between fellows and faculty. Research is not their strong point, however the new head is trying to expand it.
Pros: City, Hands on ICU with out residents.
Cons: Fellows are tired (but this may be changing with expanding program and new call/program restructuring). Research opportunities limitied. No interventional pulmonary. Louisville has good and bad reputation as a city itself!
Overall, the program is good. The new changes may make the program better. It won't be my top choice but will be one of the top five.
Pros: Well know for Pulmonary embolism. Great city (loved it!)
Cons: Cost of living is very high (for what I undestand). No interventional program yet, though they do lot of bronchs. Would have loved to meet a few more fellows. Travel between hospitals for conferences.
Overall, I liked the program well. Will be one of my top choices. Would like to hear about the cost of living in San Diego.
U of Louisville:- Department has a new chair. Strong clinical program. You rotate through University and Jewish hospitals in addition to VA. Lots of ICU expreience. There are no residents in Jewish ICU (good and bad). So you will have to go in for any admits. Program is expanding and seems like there will be lot more changes coming in. They are not sure how the call structure is going to be. Interviewed with most of the faculty (6!). Generally seemed very friendly. Fellows did say the Jewish ICU (which is a new rotation) is getting a little too busy. Some of the fellows seemed tired to me. Overall good interaction between fellows and faculty. Research is not their strong point, however the new head is trying to expand it.
Pros: City, Hands on ICU with out residents.
Cons: Fellows are tired (but this may be changing with expanding program and new call/program restructuring). Research opportunities limitied. No interventional pulmonary. Louisville has good and bad reputation as a city itself!
Overall, the program is good. The new changes may make the program better. It won't be my top choice but will be one of the top five.
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USC, Los Angeles:- Dr. Crandall moved on to become Head of Medicine dept and Dr. Borok is new chair of the dept. They said straight forward that their program is busy and we should consider it only if we don't have complaints against working hard. Four people interviewed. The new hospital has less beds. Attended morning conference - faculty and fellows are friendly. They have a good mix of patients (County hospital has more medical patients and University hospital has more surgical patients). Research wise limited opportunities. I think they mentioned that the program will have more changes coming in with no of fellows being increased.
Pros: You will be damn confident at the end of fellowship! 🙄and City if you like it.
Cons: Busy program. Los Angeles is not for me! Limited research and interventional.
The program is too clinically oriented for me and the learning style does not suit my approach. Will rank it but not in my top choices.
If anybody else has any thoughts, please share
Pros: You will be damn confident at the end of fellowship! 🙄and City if you like it.
Cons: Busy program. Los Angeles is not for me! Limited research and interventional.
The program is too clinically oriented for me and the learning style does not suit my approach. Will rank it but not in my top choices.
If anybody else has any thoughts, please share
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arjun: agree with your view of cleveland clinic. I sone how also felt that the interaction b/w attendings and fellows was missing. It is a huge program no doubt; but I did not feel the connection. It is way down on my list too.
Will post my last few experiences and ROL planning soon.
Will post my last few experiences and ROL planning soon.
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I am frozen by the rank list decision....at least at the top. Any suggestions/insight?
(no particular order, obviously)
Emory
Pitt
UVA
Ohio State
Creighton....and others but these are at the top.
(no particular order, obviously)
Emory
Pitt
UVA
Ohio State
Creighton....and others but these are at the top.
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I did not interview at the other 4 except UVA. I liked UVa but it probably will be a little lower on my list. Have heard great things about UPitt; surprised it is not your 1st choice.
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any views regarding the following: random order- may not rank all. Just wanted opinion.
UVa, cook county hospital, UMass, Lahey Clinic, Yale, CCF, VCW, Temple, Montefiore, beth Israel (NY), Tufts
UVa, cook county hospital, UMass, Lahey Clinic, Yale, CCF, VCW, Temple, Montefiore, beth Israel (NY), Tufts
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Moozy,
I thought Temple had an excellent clinical program. They have a busy hospital, and I liked their very active lung volume reduction and transplant service. The faculty and fellows tended to be mostly from Temple, and I thought that was good and bad. They have a very distinct personality, and seemed to be looking for people to fit their mold. I thought the fellows looked like they work really hard, but they all seemed happy. Will rank it in my top tier, but am looking for a little bit more research.
I really enjoyed Tufts. The program and the faculty seemed great, and I really enjoyed my interview day. Dr. Hill seemed like a great person to work with, and the rest of the faculty appeared energetic and interested in their fellows. My only concern with Tufts was that with only three fellows, there may always be just enough fellows to manage the workload once you factored in the people on non-call blocks.
I thought Temple had an excellent clinical program. They have a busy hospital, and I liked their very active lung volume reduction and transplant service. The faculty and fellows tended to be mostly from Temple, and I thought that was good and bad. They have a very distinct personality, and seemed to be looking for people to fit their mold. I thought the fellows looked like they work really hard, but they all seemed happy. Will rank it in my top tier, but am looking for a little bit more research.
I really enjoyed Tufts. The program and the faculty seemed great, and I really enjoyed my interview day. Dr. Hill seemed like a great person to work with, and the rest of the faculty appeared energetic and interested in their fellows. My only concern with Tufts was that with only three fellows, there may always be just enough fellows to manage the workload once you factored in the people on non-call blocks.
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Remember: The deadline to submit your ROL is 9:00 pm eastern time on Wednesday, June 3, 2009.
Mine is submitted, so even more waiting begins.
Mine is submitted, so even more waiting begins.
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Thanks. I liked Temple too but was not much impressed with their chronic vent service. I felt they were not interested as they generally fill internally. They are a little lower on my list. So far, I am thinking about Yale. I dont know what to make of the program. It is definitely great but lots of basic research. Rest of he places I went were clinical tracks. A little confused but hopefully will decide this weekend. Suggestions welcome!!!
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Hello All,
Did anyone else interview at Penn, Denver, Michigan or any of the Chicago programs? This is going to be a tough decision. I'm having a hard time finding a program with a good mix of clinical and basic science opportunities.
Also does anyone know which programs also have interventional fellowships? Many seemed to be in the early planning stages of IP, but it was difficult for me to tell which programs could confidently train you for a career in it.
Thanks! And hope all are well!
Did anyone else interview at Penn, Denver, Michigan or any of the Chicago programs? This is going to be a tough decision. I'm having a hard time finding a program with a good mix of clinical and basic science opportunities.
Also does anyone know which programs also have interventional fellowships? Many seemed to be in the early planning stages of IP, but it was difficult for me to tell which programs could confidently train you for a career in it.
Thanks! And hope all are well!
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U of Mich: A lot of research, felt like clinical education was an afterthought/sideline.
UVA: very friendly faculty, workload seems very manageable, diverse pathology except not much urban stuff; good lung transplant program
UVA: very friendly faculty, workload seems very manageable, diverse pathology except not much urban stuff; good lung transplant program
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Emory: Big program, 4 different hospitals, About 15-20mins drive, most subspecialities are available, they are getting an interventionalist (their own fellow who went to harvard), Lots of research opportunities both basic and clinical, PD is young and energetic and faculty seem friendly, Heard that department head is moving to a different place. Fellows seem happy and did not appear tired and has good interaction with faculty. Their call is from home and fellows mentioned that most of the time they don't have to go in (like most places).
Pros: Big program, exposure of different hospitals, Atlanta if you discount traffic!
Cons: 4 hospitals could be a bit strech, particularly considering travel in Atlanta,
Overall liked the program, will be one of my top choices
UAB: Another big program, Has all the things, Interventional right now with CT surgery but they are getting one of their own and fellows actually rotate with CT sur if they like to have more experience in that. Univ and VA hospital side by side, Associated with big health sciences buildings, Lot of basic and clinical research. Everyone seemed very friendly. Faculty and fellows has good interaction. Pretty flexible with scheduling per fellows.
Pros: Appeared very well knit program and well organized interview day!
Cons: Birmingham is seen by some as not a fun city. Otherwise I don't see any in program
Will be one of my top choices.
Pros: Big program, exposure of different hospitals, Atlanta if you discount traffic!
Cons: 4 hospitals could be a bit strech, particularly considering travel in Atlanta,
Overall liked the program, will be one of my top choices
UAB: Another big program, Has all the things, Interventional right now with CT surgery but they are getting one of their own and fellows actually rotate with CT sur if they like to have more experience in that. Univ and VA hospital side by side, Associated with big health sciences buildings, Lot of basic and clinical research. Everyone seemed very friendly. Faculty and fellows has good interaction. Pretty flexible with scheduling per fellows.
Pros: Appeared very well knit program and well organized interview day!
Cons: Birmingham is seen by some as not a fun city. Otherwise I don't see any in program
Will be one of my top choices.
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Shreveport: May offer H1 depending on candidates, Small city, Appeared a bit remote but have a very good clinical program. Seemed much better than Tulane, Clinically strong in both pulmonary and critical care. Not much of research with in the dept though. Clinical research is OK and mostly on critical care side. They said they do a lot of EBUS and occasionaly advanced procedures like stenting, but no proper interventional program. They have a new pulm HTN specialist from boston. Faculty seemed very friendly and has nice interaction with fellows. Fellows also seem very happy with the program. They did mention that it gets busy at times but manageable.
Overall, much better that what I expected.
Overall, much better that what I expected.
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Moozy, I agree totally with you about clevland clinic. Something about the program did not touch my heart though I felt it is one of the the top programs that I went to interview. Anyways presently it will be in the middle of rank list.
I am still undecided about how to rank the programs.
I think out of the interviews I went to UCSD, UAB, Emory (in no specific order) will be my top 3 choices. Each one of these I felt has a good mix of clinical exposure with optimal resesarch. And each of these said they will soon have IP fellowship mostly by the time we join. Clevland clinic, Louisville, Shreveport will be my next choices. USC and Tulane will be my last options presently.
But am sure by the time I submit my final list there will be more changes.
I am trying to see if other people have any opinions.
I am still undecided about how to rank the programs.
I think out of the interviews I went to UCSD, UAB, Emory (in no specific order) will be my top 3 choices. Each one of these I felt has a good mix of clinical exposure with optimal resesarch. And each of these said they will soon have IP fellowship mostly by the time we join. Clevland clinic, Louisville, Shreveport will be my next choices. USC and Tulane will be my last options presently.
But am sure by the time I submit my final list there will be more changes.
I am trying to see if other people have any opinions.
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Arjun: I am in similar confusion about my ROL. I am looking for program with strong clinical side but also some research but at the same time I think no of postions in a program is a major factor for me too as that may inc. the likelihood of match. I am really looking for some insight by others on this forum about UVa, Yale, Drexel, VCU and Montefiore. Cleveland, temple and the rest are lower on my list.
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I have not interviewed at any of those programs Moozy. But based on what I heard Yale and UVa should be top choices.
I think this year (compared to last year) our forum is slow in discussion. We had a good begining and then we slowed down for whatever reasons (myself including). Lets see if people catch on and talk about what is important to them now that they interviewed at programs. And how they are plannning on the rank lists.
I think this year (compared to last year) our forum is slow in discussion. We had a good begining and then we slowed down for whatever reasons (myself including). Lets see if people catch on and talk about what is important to them now that they interviewed at programs. And how they are plannning on the rank lists.
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Has anyone had programs just not reply (ie no rejection or interview). I called a number of these places and tried email as well and was typically told by the secretary that "all interviews have been sent out..." is that a common thing considering the amount of time money and stress we put ourselves thru...
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Yyou are right arjun. I must say this that I feel that VCU is a far more better program than UVa or some of the other programs I have interviewd at. I loved their faculty, their clinical training is strong and they are research oriented too - basic or clinical both. I am not sure why they are not that famous when com,pared to other top notch places.
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I did not call programs to find out but yes; many NYC programs did not reply at all and I did not hear from some in mid west. The interview calls mainly were sent out in Jan-feb with a few exceptions.
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UCSD: Seemed like a great program. Appears as strong clinically as any program I interviewed at, and new division chief (3 years) is really committed to research. Amazing city and fellows seemed happy.
Stanford: Very strong research, with what seemed like great clinical training as well. Main hospital almost purely a tertiary referal center, bread and butter at the VA, and then oustanding clinical experience at large independent medical center near San Jose. Faculty were terrific.
both cities very expensive.
Stanford: Very strong research, with what seemed like great clinical training as well. Main hospital almost purely a tertiary referal center, bread and butter at the VA, and then oustanding clinical experience at large independent medical center near San Jose. Faculty were terrific.
both cities very expensive.
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So is it common to get no reply to thank you letters or any response from the program at this time.. or is it just me. I have not one response from any program if they are interested in me or ranking me..... Dont know how to interpret this with 10 days remaining for ROL submission.
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I recieved no replies to any of the thank you letters I sent, and I've only recieved 1 letter from any of the programs I interviewed at and that was the same day I mailed my thank you letter.
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Yeah! It seems like this may be normal. Others on the foum may want to add what their views are. Should I be worried having had no replies from any of my programs.
PS: I rcvd a similar thank you note in post by UVa.. which seems routine.
PS: I rcvd a similar thank you note in post by UVa.. which seems routine.
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I also did not recieve any replies to my thank you letters. But this week I got emails from emory and louisville which were very generic. Rest of the programs sent nothing.
On the same line atleast a third of programs did not even respond to my application. I mean they did not even sent a rejection. I called some programs that I was interested in, at the beginning of april, but by that time itself they were saying their interivew spots were filled. I agree with moozy that most of the interviews were sent in Jan-Feb and very few in March.
I kept playing with my rank list now. Will probably submit it in a day or two and then the longest wait starts.
On the same line atleast a third of programs did not even respond to my application. I mean they did not even sent a rejection. I called some programs that I was interested in, at the beginning of april, but by that time itself they were saying their interivew spots were filled. I agree with moozy that most of the interviews were sent in Jan-Feb and very few in March.
I kept playing with my rank list now. Will probably submit it in a day or two and then the longest wait starts.
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me too.. got that email last week. Generic. No other responses. Certified my list today with hopes to match. I hope I do or Will be one annoying Hospitalist next year. 🙂
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I haven't been using this forum much at all. Sorry about late input. Hopefully my input isn't too late since match list is still open until 6/3/09, 9PM.
- UCLA:
Good research-based program in a very uncomfortable city. Sure, the neighborhood around UCLA is acceptable, but NO ONE lives there d/t high cost. People all live at more reasonable places about 0.5-1 hr away by commuting, fellows and attendings alike, and then commuting is the worst in the nation... if you are a countryboy like myself who isn't used to being stuck in traffic for 1 hour just going to and back from work. The fellows are friendly, but the program director is a bit aloof and gave me a negative feeling overall... At one point of the interview he became sarcastic and lost eye contact completely. I am still puzzled by that..... Well, I think if you truly want "fame" of a program, this program is for you. If you want congeniality of program director and affordability of neighborhood & commuting, I would consider somewhere else. I am ranking this in the middle portion of my 2nd-tier, in my 15-program ranking list.
I would like to share with everyone something my own program's director told me, "follow your heart. don't ignore your gut feelings for a program. strong training and being happy where you are shouldn't be mutually exclusive."
- UCLA:
Good research-based program in a very uncomfortable city. Sure, the neighborhood around UCLA is acceptable, but NO ONE lives there d/t high cost. People all live at more reasonable places about 0.5-1 hr away by commuting, fellows and attendings alike, and then commuting is the worst in the nation... if you are a countryboy like myself who isn't used to being stuck in traffic for 1 hour just going to and back from work. The fellows are friendly, but the program director is a bit aloof and gave me a negative feeling overall... At one point of the interview he became sarcastic and lost eye contact completely. I am still puzzled by that..... Well, I think if you truly want "fame" of a program, this program is for you. If you want congeniality of program director and affordability of neighborhood & commuting, I would consider somewhere else. I am ranking this in the middle portion of my 2nd-tier, in my 15-program ranking list.
I would like to share with everyone something my own program's director told me, "follow your heart. don't ignore your gut feelings for a program. strong training and being happy where you are shouldn't be mutually exclusive."
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Ronin your point taken, I believe that's a wonderful suggestion from your program director. I finally submitted my list. Let's see where we will end up. Good luck to all
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I submitted my list; did not change it much though. I kind of knew what my heart wanted. I ws advised to rank according to where I wanted to go and not from what programs are likely to take me or who responded to me; so i ranked shom I liked despite not rcving any responses from my top choices. The cooming 14 days will be difficult to pass. Good Luck ya all.
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How will I know if I matched to a program?
Beginning at noon Eastern Time on Match Day, applicants may use their AAMC ID's and password to access the web-based Registration, Ranking and Results (R3) System and
1) find out whether they matched and, if so, to which program, and
2) view associated reports.
Match results information also is available to applicants by calling the NRMP office at (202) 862-6077 or 1-866-617-5834.
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