bbbmd - I think last year (or the year before) was the year the JHU split from Maryland's program. I wasn't sure how that was going to turn out and didn't want to be the guniea pig either. I'm sure it will be an excellent program in time. The current chair there used to run the program at Baylor.
NYU/RUSK as a Rehab Center is world renowned. However, many of the residents seemed unhappy and many applicants seemed to be cancelling their interviews there (including me). I am sure it is still an excellent program and the attendings there are amazing.
UTHSCSA is not a popular program, but it provides excellent training. The person who wrote the book on EMGs is there and the Chairman of the AAPMR is also there.
Columbia/Cornell - Seperately the two programs were above average, but the combination of the two this year should make for a great program. I see some growing pains of the combined program initially, but with all the resources that Columbia and Cornell has to offer, I am sure it will develop into one of the top programs soon.
University of Washington has a reputation for REALLY working their residents. You used to get a Masters after completing the residency because there was a lot of classroom time and work. I didn't want to go to the program so I don't know all the details.
Mayo is one the programs I regret not going to for an interview. Last winter was especially rough and they had a really bad snowstorm. After my wife and I froze our butts off at RIC, the thought of going to an even colder climate (MN) was not appealing.
Baylor is a great program and I struggled with not ranking it higher? How can you not be impressed by the facilities. Ultimately, I didn't want to live in Houston and the program was too inpatient focused. I understand that they are changing things aroung for more outpatient exposure in Interventional Pain Management, elective time, and Sports Med. I know many people in the program because many of my mentors went there for residency.
I loved RIC and I went back and forth between the two in terms of ranking. The hospital was in an amazing location, with a view of the lake. Actually, I don't really need to sell it, you'll see when you get there.
Kessler was a great program and the Chair is the person who wrote one of the main texts in PM&R. The only things I didn't like about the program was New Jersey and the lack of elective time. Of course Kessler has its own fellowships so you can always do those. Anyway, I wanted electives so I didn't rank Kessler very high.
Ultimately, I went with Harvard. Many of the current residents (all from good US Medical Schools) only considered RIC and Harvard. In fact, the resident that interviewed me went to Northwestern for medical school and chose the Harvard program above Northwestern's. The resident who gave us a tour at Northwestern said that Harvard was known as the "East Coast" RIC. Of course he did also say, "Why go to the 'East Coast' RIC when you can go to RIC."
When I did interview at Harvard, I found out that the their were 8 months of electives. Your last year can really be tailored to you own area of interest be it Sports Med, Interventional Pain, etc. Rotations are done through the Anesthesia department at Mass General in Pain Management. You also rotate through MGH for Neurology, which is an amazing opportunity to work with the most famous people in the field. If I remember correctly, there was also one rotation in Hawaii where a condo and rental car is provided for two months.
I did my interviews last year, so I hope all this information is still accurate. Just confirm these things again on your interviews.
With regards to the US News rankings, bear in mind that many of the hospitals listed don't even have residency programs. Rancho and Colorado come to mind. UCLA residents do a couple of rotations there, but the VA is their main site.
Oh, I almost forgot that if you interview at Baylor, they set aside some TY spots for the PM&R residents. You need to tell them during your PM&R interview and you discuss it with Maureen Nelson, M.D. I interviewed at six places or so for PGY-1 spots. I just didn't have the energy to go to any more interviews on top of the PM&R ones. If I couldn't get the PGY-1 interview scheduled within 1-2 days of my PM&R interviews, I just canceled them. In retrospect, this was somewhat of a gamble and probably accounted for my nervousness the week before the match.
