Here is what I found on recent posts (mostly two years or more recent). You're right that there isn't as much info on UPenn in the year or two, so a nice post from a resident, recent alum or even interviewee would be nice.
Jefferson
　
The interview day started around 7 am (optional grand rounds) or 8 am and ended around 2pm. There were a total of 5 applicants that day.
Started with Grand Rounds at 7am then had a ppt about the program and breakfast. Then from there we had interviews in two different groups. So the group that didnt go went to lectures and then we switched.
Interviewed with 1 resident, 1 attending and the PD - Dr. Formal. Overall standard interview but what stood out to me the most was the protected lecture time because Dr. Formal was taking the calls from the floor about patients while the resident was in lectures. Also that day they don't do any notes. To me that was a big deal because it showed that the PD's concern was for the residents learning. There is also an anatomy cadaver lab.
Total class was about 6-7 with one of those spots being a peds position. Ratio of Attending to resident was 1:1. They have ultrasound training with some guru. Do their amputee at Moss Rehab. Also have close association with the 2 other philly schools. In the senior year there are 2 months of elective time and 2 months of half days which you can use the rest of the day to do whatever you want to do in the Jefferson system.
Call is inhouse and I forgot how often it is because my interview was a few weeks ago but it didnt seem to bad. They cap the admissions at 2/night.
$1,500 reimbursement if research paper is accepted at annual meeting, $300/ year for books
Magee is a nice standalone rehab hospital, Jefferson has some complicated rehab patients with diaphragmatic pacers, LV assist devices, etc. Rothmann institute is an orthopedic giant in the city that works with the major pro teams in the area.
Residents seemed very happy with the program and got along well with each other.
Only real negative I see is that its in Philadelphia and they do their peds in Delaware which is a 40 min drive.
I'm going to rank them.
THOMAS JEFFERSON (Philadelphia, PA)
7 Advanced PM&R Positions
1 Pediatrics / PM&R Position
Pre-Interview Happy Hour:
Residents smart, but social and laid-back. 75% MDs/25% DOs.
Residents are geographically diverse from Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, and California. All U.S. grads from prominent
places such as Univ of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Mayo, Univ of Minnesota,
and Ohio State. One resident is a Board-Certified Orthopod trained at Mayo and another is a Board-Certified Internal Med doctor. Accomplished, yet
all were very approachable and easy to talk to. Can see they get along well. Easily can see myself hanging out with them outside work.
INTERVIEW DAY:
7am optional Grand Rounds. Given by Resident, who was articulate and clearly knew his stuff. Was honestly better than most attending Grand Rounds I've seen. Attendings and residents were engaged in a lively discussion and was obvious they there were all well-read.
8am: 10 min Film Presentation (one of the most comprehensive films I saw, answered most of my questions see below), Casual Talk with Residents, Assistant Residency Director (Dr. Kupfer) and PD (Dr. Formal)
9am-11am: Interviews. Three ~25 min interviews.
2 with faculty, 1 with resident. Interviews were thoughtful,
was obvious they read my application, delved into what
I was looking for in a program and my experiences in PM&R. Half of time spent during interviews, other half talking with residents and attending lectures. Felt residents were very happy with their program.
11am-11:45am: Tour of Magee (Independent Rehab Hospital
of Jefferson, Model Systems SCI). Very nice facility, remodeled.
12pm: Easily the MOST AMAZING Lunch the whole season. At the 19th floor of a posh Downtown Philly hotel with private dining room. We ordered our meals in the morning and I had the Steak with Red Wine Sauce and Potatoes,
Fancy appetizer/salad, petite four/dessert buffet. Approx 8 residents
attended and all very open about discussing their experiences
and answering our questions.
1pm: Tour of Jefferson (~10 min walk through Center City,
Philadelphia from Magee, lots of nice shops, restaurants,
nearby hospital, pedestrian friendly, lively, yet not overwhelming
like NYC)
end at 1:30pm
HIGHLIGHTS (from presentation, folder, and asking residents):
CALL: Overnight In-House call at either Magee (60-88 avg patient census) or Jefferson (~20 pt census), never at both. Admission Cap: 2 admits per call. Hospitalist does rest of admissions. PGY-2: 4-5 calls/month (2-3 weekend calls/mo). PGY-3: 2-3 calls/month (1 weekend call/month). PGY-4: 1 weekday call/month (no weekends). there are NO additional note-writing weekends, as the attending on call does writes notes on weekends (at Magee). In-house. 5pm to 7am on weekdays. Sat Call is 7am to 7am sunday. Residents say they averaged 6 hours sleep at Magee and 8 hours sleep at Jefferson. The residents stressed that ALL the attendings give them their cell phone numbers and that attendings are very supportive. Residents on the services are also very helpful and taking care of their patients well during the day.
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE: PGY-2: 8 months Inpatient, 2 months Outpatient.
PGY-3: 4 months inpatient, 6 month outpatient. PGY-4: all outpatient
including 4 months of electives. Inpatient experiences include: SCI, TBI, Stroke, Pediatrics (2 months at A.I. Dupont Children's Hospital), General Rehab, 2 months General Consults, 2 months acute SCI consults, Amputee (Prosthetics/Orthotics). SCI-heavy (Jefferson admits ~3000 SCI patients/year), but all residents say they have enough knowledge as a SCI-fellow at the end of residency. Outpatient experience includes 4 months of EMGs, MSK, Sports, Botox, Ultrasound, Anesthesia Pain, MSK Pain, General Rehab (mixed SCI, Stroke, TBI, Amputee), Concussion/Spina Bifuda/Cerebral Palsy clinics during the 2 months at AI Dupont). Residents say they had a solid experience in the inpatient and outpatient setting to feel comfortable being an attending in academia or private practice. Most
of the rotations are in Center City at Jefferson, Rothman, or Magee. Only rotations that are a 30-min drive from Center City are 2 months Pediatrics (Wilmington, Delaware) and 6 months at Moss Rehab (Elkins Park, PA).
VACATION: 5 weeks/year. 4-weeks vacation, 1-week educational (elective conference). NO need to find coverage from another resident during time-off as attendings are capable or running their service without a resident.
ELECTIVES: 4 months total. 2 months may be done outside of Jefferson (great for auditioning for fellowships) and Jefferson provides malpractice coverage at outside institutions. 2 of the 4 months must be done at Jefferson affiliated hospitals/clinics, acting in a Senior Advisory/Junior attending role. Elective offerings are abundant (inpatient, outpatient, MSK, prosthetic/orthotics, gait, cardiac, Pain, EMG, etc.) They have an extensive network of over 52 clinical faculty, who are open to work with residents.
LECTURES: Wednesday Mornings (7am to 11:30am). COMPLETELY protected. Residents are not allowed to turn on beepers or answer calls until 1pm Wednesdays. Attendings write ALL notes for inpatient services on Wed mornings. Didactics are organized by subject blocks (Anatomy, TBI, Stroke, SCI, Cardiac/Pulm, MSK, etc.) where the subjects are repeated at least 3 times before graduation. Residents have review sessions at end of each block in a "game style" setting going over study-guide and previous SAE questions.
FELLOWSHIPS: For the current PGY-4 class, all the seniors that applied for fellowship were offered positions at an ACGME-accredited fellowship. 2 Pain and 1 Sports. 1 will be at the Jefferson Anesthesia Pain Fellowship this July which usually takes 1-2 Jefferson PM&R residents/year. All felt they had good support from faculty, PD, and Chair in their applications. They all seemed helpful with each other and not cut-throat.
RESEARCH: Not required, but >90% of residents have presented at the AAPMR, AAP, and published at either PM&R/SCI Journals or other Spine and Neurosurgery journals. Their Program Director stresses the importance of first learning to be an excellent physiatrist and doing well in the boards (residents proud that their PD scored #1 in the boards, and recent grads scored in top 10). MSTP Research available with Dr. John Whyte at Moss. Extensive research available in SCI. Other residents have presented in Pain Conferences and published in pain journals.
EMGs: All residents not only exceed 200 requirement, but also see interesting rare pathologies (e.g. FSH Dystrophy), esp with attendings (Dr. Sridhara at Moss, Dr. Herbison at Jefferson). At Moss (which both Temple and Jefferson residents rotate through), EMG attendings usually have bias towards Jefferson residents for their superior knowledge in anatomy and MSK physical exam skills (mainly because of Dr. Herbison).
MSK ULTRASOUND: 1 month rotation with Dr. Nazarian (editor of major MSK U/S journal and PD of the highly-respected Radiology Residency Program at Jefferson). You work 1 to 1 with Dr. Nazarian without any other radiology or PM&R residents. Residents are able to participate and they say they get additional MSK Ultrasound experience during their outpatient rotations at Moss and Rothman.
SPORTS/JOINT INJECTION EXPERIENCE: Spend 2 months at Rothman Institute (regionally well-knowned orthopedic center), where 1/3 of docs are physiatrists. Work with Dr. Vitanzo seeing 65 patients/day with lots of joint injection (mainly knees/shoulers) experience. Work with official team physicians for Philles and Eagles players. Residents experience directly treating professional athletes from these teams.
SPINE INJECTION EXPERIENCE: They have required 1 month rotation with Jefferson Anesthesia, 2 months required at Rothman Institute, and additional experience with Jefferson affiliated private practice docs. Residents say they gained experience directing the C-arm, and driving the needle in ESI's, MBB's, and facet injections.
TEACHING MED STUDENTS: Jefferson Medical Students have been required to rotate through PM&R for over 25 years, so residents gain experience doing didactics for med students on MSK/anatomy topics and teaching MSK exams throughout the year. Currently PM&R is a 3-week rotation for 3rd year Jefferson med students.
MOONLIGHTING: Residents allowed to moonlight starting in PGY-3 year. Most moonlight at suburban rehab hospitals ($1200 for 24hr moonlighting call or $600 for 12hr overnight call). Others to disability evaluations in the outpatient setting (up to $1000/day).
LIFE / PHILADELPHIA: Residents mostly rotate at either Jefferson or Magee, which is both in the safest most vibrant area of Philly (Center City). 75% (mostly single) live in Center City, 25% (married with families) live in nearby suburbs in PA and South Jersey. I felt safe walking through the Center City area (feels like walking through an endless outdoor shopping district). Jefferson is only 2 blocks from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, so there's a nice mix of colonial rowhomes alongside high-rise apt buildings. The residents seem to be pretty social, hip (several are pretty good looking lol) and hang out a lot with each other outside of work at happy hours, dinner parties, sporting events, and concerts.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I felt that Jefferson is a solid program to train to be either a comprehensive physiatrist or for fellowship. Residents are intelligent and well-accomplished yet were very approachable and not cut-throat with each other. I felt all the residents and faculty were very honest in answering my questions. Appears they all got along really well with each other. I was very pleased with my experience there and I plan to rank them very highly.
Jefferson
– + = MSK U/S with Dr. Nazarian, 2 mo elective time in PGY4 with opportunities to go abroad, PGY4's have advisory rotation with half days so can set up afternoon opportunities or read, nice rooftop greenhouse. – = Magee 96 pt census with no back up in house, sites can be as far as 45 minutes away. Neutral = all calls are in house.
　
Thomas Jefferson
- Very strong SCI exposure, great interview experience. The attendings were a nice mix of young and more experienced clinicians. Very strong, historic reputation. Good amount of elective time in last year, may even go international for electives. Nice location in Philly, seems like a great city that is close to many other metropolitan areas on east coast.
Thomas Jefferson- happiest residents I've seen on the trail, get to work with very well-known physiatrists, lots of elective time, good exposure to ultrasound-guided techniques, located in nicest part of Philly
Temple
Temple
Travel: Airplane, taxi, host service from my school for a place to stay, subway, and rail
Interview Day: started at 7am at Temple Hospital in downtown Philly. Met with other interviewees and a couple of the chief residents who drove us to Moss (in Elkins Park, about 30-40 minutes). Extremely nice! We started with grand rounds given by a PGY4 and then Dr. Braddom (!!) gave a talk for a couple hours during which we were pulled out for various interviews/tours (but we got the print out of his power point presentation). I also got to meet our very own Taus.
After lecture, the chiefs drove us back to Temple where we had lunch and the PD gave us a more detailed presentation of the curriculum. If you hadn't meet with the PD at Moss, you met with him then as well as a 3rd interview with either a faculty member or a chief resident and had a tour. I was done about 2:30pm with plenty of time to get to the airport. Had a wonderful time and loved the people!
Call: PGY2: 2x/month, PGY3: 1x/month, PGY4: 0!
Experience: most of your PGY2 year is at Moss on inpatient rotations (wonderful ancillary staff, great staff), PGY3 you have more outpt and EMG, PGY4 is a lot of outpatient, EMG, and elective time
Fellowships: 25% do interventional, 25% sports, 10% other, the rest do private practice, many opportunities available for whatever you want to do
Pros: People are amazing! So fun, laid back and smart. Really felt at home. Great research happening. ReWalk (so cool!).
Cons: This is tough because there is a lot of driving, but you get to go to top places for various experiences (so it definitely seems worth it despite the drive! but you certainly need a car).
Sorry if I missed something important. Feel free to ask questions or anything. Good luck all! Hope to see you on the trail!
　
Temple
– 10 residents. Big program so networking easy. + = moonlighting opportunities ($800-1000/Sat), vacation time carries over if unused. – = Need a car, each resident gives grand rounds, anatomy course is taught Thursday evenings.
　
Temple - big program, very balanced, dynamic faculty, lots of driving
Temple- Nice rehab hospital. Cool residents. Good mix of outpt/inpt. No call as a pgy4. good amt of commuting
Temple
- As has been said before, the interview here really stressed the strong alumni network you have due to the class size and history of the program. Unlike some other programs, even though the class size is large, I still thought the residents were tightly knit and very relaxed. The atmosphere between the attendings and residents was also very laid back (one of the attendings came in to tease the PD right before his presentation). There are a lot of opportunities for research here (though no requirement). MSK U/S is done with Dr. Lento, who teaches several national courses. The residents were diverse, but largely focused on going into pain management. Due to Jefferson, Moss rarely takes any cervical spinal cord injuries, which was a little disappointing for someone looking to go into SCI.
UPenn
University of Pennsylvania
- Huge name in all aspects of medicine, gaining recognition in rehab as well. New chair, wants to grow even more, but perhaps the presence of two other elite PM&R programs in Philly may make that difficult. Residents were nice, cool interview with night of bowling before interview day.
UPenn- very impressed by this program. New chair that used to be at MCW. Nice PD. Nice bowling/dinner experience the night before. Nice residents. Philly is nice.
I really liked Penn because of the promising new chairman, brand new rehab facility, CHOP, their unique categorical program and amazing location.
　
2012 on temple vs penn (but not much on penn):
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=889531
2009 (strange post about UPenn forcing a review to be removed from SDN and the backlash that ensues):
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=604698
2007 announcement of residency expantion:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=427561
2005:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=246013
*Philadelphia programs have 3 annual multi-day courses – EMG at Jeff, Gait at Moss, P&O at Penn. I believe Kessler also attends some of these courses.
