Hard to get a good feel for the place and its fellows. Anyone with any insight. Does this place prepare you for private practice (cocats level 2 requirements)? Place seems relatively hard core.
Penn Cardiology
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i have only interviewed at Penn once (for residency)_ from what my cardiology friends tell me, its pretty high volume and uber-strong in EP ( Marchilinski, Epstein etc). Other specialities are very strong to excellent. The fellowship is quite busy. Moreover, there is little hand-holding in terms of mentorship: if you know what you want to do and go for it, you will be fine.. but ain't that how most 'big' places in cardiology tend to be (with brigham, mayo, duke being few exceptions).
i have not seen a lot of penn fellows being as well published as ppl from duke or brigham.
Nonetheless the program is outstanding for clinical training (like 20% other programs in the country
), but has the brand name recognition. Clearly a top 10-15 program, some may argue a top 5 clinical program..i have only interviewed at Penn once (for residency)_ from what my cardiology friends tell me, its pretty high volume and uber-strong in EP ( Marchilinski, Epstein etc). Other specialities are very strong to excellent. The fellowship is quite busy. Moreover, there is little hand-holding in terms of mentorship: if you know what you want to do and go for it, you will be fine.. but ain't that how most 'big' places in cardiology tend to be (with brigham, mayo, duke being few exceptions).
i have not seen a lot of penn fellows being as well published as ppl from duke or brigham.
Nonetheless the program is outstanding for clinical training (like 20% other programs in the country
that's all fine...but do you get cocats level two training?...that they never really answered
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I agree, they were very vague in addressing cocats, seemed to avoid answering it directly.
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Here are the requirements for the COCATS - Does anyone really think that at a high volume place like PENN, the fellows will have any problems getting level 2 in echo, nuclear, or cath?
I thought the fellowship was 2 years- it says three. Is that essential for cocats 2
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Nope, and some are even 4
I think Penn does allow their fellows to get level 2 in a number of modalities, but they weren't clear on the interview day.
Generally speaking though, I'd just warn that you can get fooled by volume. Some programs have great volume but they don't allow their fellows to schedule the appropriate amount of clinical time to meet COCATS requirements.
Generally speaking, Penns known for being really strong in EP (arguably, the top program in the country) and being really strong in heart failure. I'd buy it if someone told me it's a top 10 cards program or if it's a top 10-15 program.
Don't think it really matters at the end of the day.
