This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Can someone describe the EMR at WashU? I know they are switching to EPIC "soon".. sounded like in 1-2 years. I've heard they have a couple of EMR which are relatively closely linked, but then again I've also somewhere seen an account of paper SOAPs and H&Ps dictated manually into EMR.. whatever that means. Cheers!
 
Oh good gawd... having worked at two places during their Epic transition, I almost think that would be an automatic exclude at this point.

FWIW, I eventually have come to appreciate Epic in many ways. But, roll-outs are.... criminey, I'm can't even say it without bringing up horrible memories...
 
Does anyone have any idea about the categorical internal medicine residency program at Mount Auburn Hospital? Also, if anyone has interviewed there in past, can you please share the interview experience?

I interviewed there this year.

Basically, it is the (one of the?) community affiliate hospitals of HMS. It's located in Cambridge in a pretty nice location. It's a really small hospital of about 200 beds. During the interview day the PD mentioned that they have 11000 admissions per year.

The facility is what you expect at a nice community private hospital (really nice hallways, all private rooms...etc.) Seems like a really cush residency (residents are done by 4 PM on short call and 7 PM on long call and rarely stay over). Team census seems to average about 4-6 per intern. Patients seem to be mostly mid-upper class Cambridge residents and students/staff from Harvard and MIT. They bill themselves as a full service hospital with the exception of transplant and neurosurgery. No fellows, but they also have radiology and podiatry residencies.

It's quite interesting because the residency is 2/3 IMGs for the seniors and juniors...in the intern class is the mix of IMGs and a bunch of prelims from HMS and other Boston med schools going on to stellar residencies in derm and ophtho.

Pluses are that they have a decent connection to BIDMC and many residents do electives or research there (like pretty much every other junior or senior resident I spoke to). They also have a decent fellowship match (seems like about half of the class specialize). Lots of endocrine and nephro matches to good university programs but they also place people in pulm and cards to decent places. GI is about 2 a year and mostly to other community hospitals. They build in a lot of elective time on purpose in the schedule to allow residents to do as many away rotations or research electives as possible. Many of the attendings also teach at HMS and there are HMS med students on all of the inpatient medicine wards. I thought the PD was ok but the residents apparently really like him, and they have a new chair of medicine recruited over from MGH.

Overall, Mount Auburn reminds me of the smaller Kaisers in California. I think if this hospital was located on the west coast they would have a lot more AMGs. There's just too many other academic programs on the east coast for AMGs to rank the place highly. But I don't think it's a bad/uncompetitive place by any means. I've been to university programs that felt worse.
 
I interviewed there this year.

Basically, it is the (one of the?) community affiliate hospitals of HMS. It's located in Cambridge in a pretty nice location. It's a really small hospital of about 200 beds. During the interview day the PD mentioned that they have 11000 admissions per year.

The facility is what you expect at a nice community private hospital (really nice hallways, all private rooms...etc.) Seems like a really cush residency (residents are done by 4 PM on short call and 7 PM on long call and rarely stay over). Team census seems to average about 4-6 per intern. Patients seem to be mostly mid-upper class Cambridge residents and students/staff from Harvard and MIT. They bill themselves as a full service hospital with the exception of transplant and neurosurgery. No fellows, but they also have radiology and podiatry residencies.

It's quite interesting because the residency is 2/3 IMGs for the seniors and juniors...in the intern class is the mix of IMGs and a bunch of prelims from HMS and other Boston med schools going on to stellar residencies in derm and ophtho.

Pluses are that they have a decent connection to BIDMC and many residents do electives or research there (like pretty much every other junior or senior resident I spoke to). They also have a decent fellowship match (seems like about half of the class specialize). Lots of endocrine and nephro matches to good university programs but they also place people in pulm and cards to decent places. GI is about 2 a year and mostly to other community hospitals. They build in a lot of elective time on purpose in the schedule to allow residents to do as many away rotations or research electives as possible. Many of the attendings also teach at HMS and there are HMS med students on all of the inpatient medicine wards. I thought the PD was ok but the residents apparently really like him, and they have a new chair of medicine recruited over from MGH.

Overall, Mount Auburn reminds me of the smaller Kaisers in California. I think if this hospital was located on the west coast they would have a lot more AMGs. There's just too many other academic programs on the east coast for AMGs to rank the place highly. But I don't think it's a bad/uncompetitive place by any means. I've been to university programs that felt worse.

Thanks for sharing the experience! BTW, I am an IMG, so a good mid-tier program is the best I can hope. So although my interview is next week, I am thinking to rank this pretty high. Actually, I am interested in pursuing cardiology, so this being a small hospital with no in-house fellowships, I was a bit concerned. But if they are allowing lot of away rotations, then I am sure I can build my profile for cards. So thanks for sharing that info, it's something that I really wanted to here.
 
Thanks for sharing the experience! BTW, I am an IMG, so a good mid-tier program is the best I can hope. So although my interview is next week, I am thinking to rank this pretty high. Actually, I am interested in pursuing cardiology, so this being a small hospital with no in-house fellowships, I was a bit concerned. But if they are allowing lot of away rotations, then I am sure I can build my profile for cards. So thanks for sharing that info, it's something that I really wanted to here.
I hope you're not using your real name on here.
 
I was wondering if anyone could comment on the competitiveness of BaylorUMC(Dallas) in terms of getting into it for residency and how competitive its in-house GI fellowship is (they are ranked FWIW in the top40 as a GI dept in US News... what does that even mean???).

When I interviewed there I got the feeling that residents got a lot of personal attention/mentorship from teaching faculty and that for a community program,they actually matched quite well. Have had UTSW GI, NYU GI, pulm Duke within the past 2 years I believe.
 
Hi,
anyone have any info on this program? i heard the call schedule is suppose to be pretty cush comared to other ones in cali like harbor and olive view? i am thinking about doing audition there/away rotation. i think i may want to do nephrology or heme onc.

thanks
 
I had a buddy who I did internship with who finished his categorical residency at UCI and he thought the residents were weak compared to us.

He was a solid intern too. I trusted his judgement and have steered folks away from UCI because of it unless they really want to go there.
 
I had a buddy who I did internship with who finished his categorical residency at UCI and he thought the residents were weak compared to us.

He was a solid intern too. I trusted his judgement and have steered folks away from UCI because of it unless they really want to go there.

thanks for the perspective. i did mean UCI in my original post. weak in terms of clinical judgement? I am looking for a program that is not too intense as I do not learn well in an environment that is fast paced and stressful (I am coming from the east coast), I need a place where I will learn at my pace (I know that some may think I might be looking for a cush program, but I know that the county facilities where I did my rotations at, I did not learn much and just did scut work/getting yelled at and being scared).

However, I also want a place that will give me clinical good foundation as well as a good school system for the kids. My son is growing fast and Irvine has a good school system. I know that there is no perfect program but these things have to be factored into my decision too.
 
thanks for the perspective. i did mean UCI in my original post. weak in terms of clinical judgement? I am looking for a program that is not too intense as I do not learn well in an environment that is fast paced and stressful (I am coming from the east coast), I need a place where I will learn at my pace (I know that some may think I might be looking for a cush program, but I know that the county facilities where I did my rotations at, I did not learn much and just did scut work/getting yelled at and being scared).

However, I also want a place that will give me clinical good foundation as well as a good school system for the kids. My son is growing fast and Irvine has a good school system. I know that there is no perfect program but these things have to be factored into my decision too.

Weak as in just not able to hack it.

Look. I'm going to be gentle when I say this but you need to learn how to handle lots of medicine patients at once. Yes, it makes for stressful and sometimes long days but someday there will be no one to back your play. Your call is YOUR call for better or worse. Trust what I say when I say that residency is only the very barest minimum to allow a physician to be competent enough to work by themselves. EVERYDAY your first few years out you WILL run into something that confuses you, doesn't add up, doesn't make sense, you don't know exactly what to do. So you need to have the kind of training that will allow you to see lots and lots of cases that help you triage, sometimes delegate, and shows you how to think around corners and outside of boxes when necessary.

Take this advice with as much salt as you think you may need but I've been there, done that, I have the t-shirt and as a new attending I rely on every ounce of training I was given. Sure I'll grow. Learn on my own. Get even better and experienced. But what you come out if training with is . . . What you come out of training with.

Think about it. Good luck. I know the choices are hard. But I believe in all of you even when it seems like I don't.
 
thanks for the perspective. i did mean UCI in my original post. weak in terms of clinical judgement? I am looking for a program that is not too intense as I do not learn well in an environment that is fast paced and stressful (I am coming from the east coast), I need a place where I will learn at my pace (I know that some may think I might be looking for a cush program, but I know that the county facilities where I did my rotations at, I did not learn much and just did scut work/getting yelled at and being scared).

However, I also want a place that will give me clinical good foundation as well as a good school system for the kids. My son is growing fast and Irvine has a good school system. I know that there is no perfect program but these things have to be factored into my decision too.

from my interview day, there was consensus among residents that first year was not as demanding as second year. If family is your consideration, keep in mind that half of your rotations are in long beach which is a 20min drive from Anaheim with no traffic. As you probably know traffic is pretty bad in SoCal. Furthermore, Irvine, where the good school districts are (eg Uni high and Irvine high, even mater dei private school) are in expensive neighborhoods... Eg 2 beds 2 bath for $2000+ per month rent. Irvine itself, as I am sure u know, is about 15 min from Anaheim without traffic.

In the flip side. They Match in house for fellowship. Weather is great. School districts in Irvine proper are excellent
 
University of Mississippi and OU-OKC IM programs...

Anyone have any info on their fellowship matches? I can't seem to find any...

UMiss gave us a list of "recent" matches at the interview that was pretty impressive but I have no clue how old the list was... OU gave us a list of last years matches that only stated position but left off the institution (ie Joe Schmo -- GI fellowship).

Anyone with some more specific info would be very helpful. Thanks!
 
Weak as in just not able to hack it.

Look. I'm going to be gentle when I say this but you need to learn how to handle lots of medicine patients at once. Yes, it makes for stressful and sometimes long days but someday there will be no one to back your play. Your call is YOUR call for better or worse. Trust what I say when I say that residency is only the very barest minimum to allow a physician to be competent enough to work by themselves. EVERYDAY your first few years out you WILL run into something that confuses you, doesn't add up, doesn't make sense, you don't know exactly what to do. So you need to have the kind of training that will allow you to see lots and lots of cases that help you triage, sometimes delegate, and shows you how to think around corners and outside of boxes when necessary.

Take this advice with as much salt as you think you may need but I've been there, done that, I have the t-shirt and as a new attending I rely on every ounce of training I was given. Sure I'll grow. Learn on my own. Get even better and experienced. But what you come out if training with is . . . What you come out of training with.

Think about it. Good luck. I know the choices are hard. But I believe in all of you even when it seems like I don't.

I agree with you that this is your last opportunity to get as much exposure at once. But at the end of the day, we are all human, are you able to process and think outside the box when you are completely bombarded with admit after admit?

I know that the clinical acumen comes with exposure and maybe as a med student im still not there but i dont like some of the set ups I've seen in med school where the attending is virtually gone from the scene and the resident is stressed out trying to triage the pts. granted it was a pretty malignant program where i rotated.

but i definitely agree with you about needing every ounce of training. its just that i have also heard that the most you learn happens 2-3 years out of residency on your own.
 
Anyone know the 2015 cardiology fellowship matches for Jefferson, IU, and Cleveland clinic? I interviewed before the fellowship match day and they haven't posted their recent match data yet.
 
CCF's most recent cards match:
Cleveland Clinic
UPMC
Emory
Mid America Heart
Iowa
Baylor x 2
Methodist, Houston
Miami U
Arizona
Arkansas
BID x 2
Christiana Care
CCF Florida
Cooper University
Georgetown
 
thanks for the perspective. i did mean UCI in my original post. weak in terms of clinical judgement? I am looking for a program that is not too intense as I do not learn well in an environment that is fast paced and stressful (I am coming from the east coast), I need a place where I will learn at my pace (I know that some may think I might be looking for a cush program, but I know that the county facilities where I did my rotations at, I did not learn much and just did scut work/getting yelled at and being scared).

However, I also want a place that will give me clinical good foundation as well as a good school system for the kids. My son is growing fast and Irvine has a good school system. I know that there is no perfect program but these things have to be factored into my decision too.


I completed my IM residency at UCI a couple of years ago. I'm happy to answer any questions for you if you'd like. I'm in a challenging competitive fellowship program now (outside of UCI) and am doing consistently well. You will find "weak" residents everywhere; it's a matter of perspective and what you do yourself to improve your situation. UCI is not MGH but I had a solid education there and I'd go do it again. They have changed leadership in the last couple of years and are more progressive now in regards to scheduling and ABIM board studying. None of the duty hours are faked, no one will expect you to lie or falsify your documentation and everyone is honest. You will see eventually that not every program is this sincere.
 
Wondering when the last interview date is typically for most programs? And how quickly after the last interview date do programs usually start finalizing their ROL?
 
Fellow applicant, but from what I gathered, based solely on reputation:

RWJ > NS/LIJ > SLR = NJMS

Also fellow applicant and my impression is:

RWJ = NJMS >> NSLIJ > SLR
 
Also fellow applicant and my impression is:

RWJ = NJMS >> NSLIJ > SLR

Nope. I have interviewed/rotated at all these.

RWJ = NSLIJ >> SLR = NJMS (actually each of the pairs are comparable all around)
 
You definitely have more info than I do if you've rotated at all of them, but on my interview days it seemed like SLR was full of FMGs and caribbean grads vs NJMS which had mostly AMGs. I know that doesn't speak specifically to the quality of the program, but it does seem to be meaningful in terms of overall culture of the program.
 
You definitely have more info than I do if you've rotated at all of them, but on my interview days it seemed like SLR was full of FMGs and caribbean grads vs NJMS which had mostly AMGs. I know that doesn't speak specifically to the quality of the program, but it does seem to be meaningful in terms of overall culture of the program.
I think you should know that the reason you didn't see FMGs at NJMS is because they interview all/most of their FMGs on separate days (apparently tuesdays are FMG days, just not sure how many tuesdays are FMG days).
 
You cannot always judge the quality of program based on percentage of FMG. The more desirable programs (USC, NS-LIJ), have 1/2-1/3 FMG until 3-4 years ago. I highly doubt the educational quality of the programs change dramatically in just 3-4 years.
 
I was wondering if anyone could talk about the strengths and weakness of UAB. I'm hesitant on ranking it number one solely because it's in Birmingham. I have heard the program is generally well respected, but would I be limiting myself to staying in the SE if I ended up there for residency? Would it be possible/likely to end up in the NE or even the west coast after residency?
 
I was wondering if anyone could talk about the strengths and weakness of UAB. I'm hesitant on ranking it number one solely because it's in Birmingham. I have heard the program is generally well respected, but would I be limiting myself to staying in the SE if I ended up there for residency? Would it be possible/likely to end up in the NE or even the west coast after residency?
The only real problem with UAB is that it's in Alabama. You're not going to limit yourself in terms of future fellowship or jobs by going there.

And, to be fair, I will say that although I'd rather be a barista where I live now than a doctor in Alabama, I know a lot of people who have lived or do live there (Birmingham and Huntsville primarily) and love it.
 
A few questions about UWashington from someone interested in Heme/Onc fellowship in the future.

(1) It is a 3-hospital system and the hospitals are pretty spread out- does this impact resident camaraderie or connection with program leadership?

(2) A similar question was asked several years ago but I was wondering if there were any recent updates. Given the program's strength in primary care and its lower relative percentage of people matching directly into fellowship, I was curious about the support systems in place for those who do want to go on to fellowship. For example, connecting with research and career mentors, etc.

(3) Also, for heme/onc, the vast majority of residents stay at UW- which is probably unsurprising given the strength of their program. But as someone not from the west coast, are residents getting fellowship interviews all over and then choosing to stay?

I appreciate any opinions/insight!
 
How does Cedars Sinai IM compare to UCI for someone interested in GI?

I've having reservations with both. Cedars has an impressive match list for an academic community program with tons of research in GI/Cards and big names like Simon Lo. However, digging through the forums, it seems like clinical training here may be on the weaker side due to some services having very low census. I hear rumors about people being discouraged from applying into certain fellowships, and there were a handful of graduates from the program who wish they had trained elsewhere. That said, if GI is the end game, this seems like a good choice.

Then, there's UCI. Historically, it seems that the program has had a bad rap in the past but I don't have any outside/inside knowledge to comment on this. Sounds like there have been many recent changes but I can't tell if things are on the upswing. They take maybe 1 or 2 people inhouse for GI each year. Large prelim program. PD and residents seem more than friendly and location is great.

Which is stronger?
 
How does Cedars Sinai IM compare to UCI for someone interested in GI?

I've having reservations with both. Cedars has an impressive match list for an academic community program with tons of research in GI/Cards and big names like Simon Lo. However, digging through the forums, it seems like clinical training here may be on the weaker side due to some services having very low census. I hear rumors about people being discouraged from applying into certain fellowships, and there were a handful of graduates from the program who wish they had trained elsewhere. That said, if GI is the end game, this seems like a good choice.

Then, there's UCI. Historically, it seems that the program has had a bad rap in the past but I don't have any outside/inside knowledge to comment on this. Sounds like there have been many recent changes but I can't tell if things are on the upswing. They take maybe 1 or 2 people inhouse for GI each year. Large prelim program. PD and residents seem more than friendly and location is great.

Which is stronger?
What does the rest of your list look like? Are these your 1/2?
 
A few questions about UWashington from someone interested in Heme/Onc fellowship in the future.
It's been a few years since I interviewed there (for residency or fellowship) but here's my $0.02

(1) It is a 3-hospital system and the hospitals are pretty spread out- does this impact resident camaraderie or connection with program leadership?
When I interviewed I asked the same question. One of the R3s told me he only really knew about half of his (admittedly huge) class. Part of this was due to the 3 separate tracks at the time (PC, Boise and Cat - not sure what the setup is currently) and partly due to the fact that, even if you never leave Seattle, you spend time at 3 different, dramatically different and geographically separated sites. So it's best to think of UW not as one huge IM program but 5 or 6 different little ones. You'll no doubt find camaraderie and you'll have access to program leadership, but you'll have to work at it more than some other places.

FWIW, the 3 spread out hospital system was a huge downside for me and led to UW going from #1 on my pre-season list to #5.

(2) A similar question was asked several years ago but I was wondering if there were any recent updates. Given the program's strength in primary care and its lower relative percentage of people matching directly into fellowship, I was curious about the support systems in place for those who do want to go on to fellowship. For example, connecting with research and career mentors, etc.
UW/Harbor/PSVMC/SCCA is an enormous medical and research enterprise with hundreds of labs and clinicians. If you can't find a research or clinical mentor there, that's on you, not the program. People who want to go into fellowship and/or academic/research careers will have absolutely no trouble doing so coming out of UW.

(3) Also, for heme/onc, the vast majority of residents stay at UW- which is probably unsurprising given the strength of their program. But as someone not from the west coast, are residents getting fellowship interviews all over and then choosing to stay?
They choose to stay there. Why would they leave? When I interviewed there for fellowship, the list of places that the current first year fellows had interviewed was ridonkulous.
 
Hoping to get some opinions on 3 programs:

RWJ - I liked it a lot when interviewing (though it was one of my earlier ones). Residents were very friendly. Didactic heavy. I'm fine with the location.

NS/LIJ - I really wanted to like it. Alot. But I just..didn't get a great vibe. I know its a newly minted "university program" but can anyone comment on the quality of training? Seems like they've done a lot in recent years in terms of boosting board passage rates and getting residents more involved with research (they like to brag that the Feinstein institute is in the top 10% of NIH grant money?).

UNC - I loved just about everything about this program. Its great. However, is it that much better than the above 2 programs for someone who is not interested in a competitive fellowship?
 
Hoping to get some opinions on 3 programs:

RWJ - I liked it a lot when interviewing (though it was one of my earlier ones). Residents were very friendly. Didactic heavy. I'm fine with the location.

NS/LIJ - I really wanted to like it. Alot. But I just..didn't get a great vibe. I know its a newly minted "university program" but can anyone comment on the quality of training? Seems like they've done a lot in recent years in terms of boosting board passage rates and getting residents more involved with research (they like to brag that the Feinstein institute is in the top 10% of NIH grant money?).

UNC - I loved just about everything about this program. Its great. However, is it that much better than the above 2 programs for someone who is not interested in a competitive fellowship?
TIFWIW, but UNC is consistently ranked as a top primary care program.
 
posted this in another thread, but more appropriate here.

can anyone elaborate on the strength of the clinical training at mayo? considering the 4+4 setup, the focus on research and the unique hospital system are residents very strong clinically/prepared for hospitalist careers?
 
Thoughts on U of Maryland??

I have heard great things, but wanted to get other opinions. Especially if you could compare this program to Georgetown's and George Washington for a Cards fellowship?
 
It's been a few years since I interviewed there (for residency or fellowship) but here's my $0.02


When I interviewed I asked the same question. One of the R3s told me he only really knew about half of his (admittedly huge) class. Part of this was due to the 3 separate tracks at the time (PC, Boise and Cat - not sure what the setup is currently) and partly due to the fact that, even if you never leave Seattle, you spend time at 3 different, dramatically different and geographically separated sites. So it's best to think of UW not as one huge IM program but 5 or 6 different little ones. You'll no doubt find camaraderie and you'll have access to program leadership, but you'll have to work at it more than some other places.

FWIW, the 3 spread out hospital system was a huge downside for me and led to UW going from #1 on my pre-season list to #5.


UW/Harbor/PSVMC/SCCA is an enormous medical and research enterprise with hundreds of labs and clinicians. If you can't find a research or clinical mentor there, that's on you, not the program. People who want to go into fellowship and/or academic/research careers will have absolutely no trouble doing so coming out of UW.


They choose to stay there. Why would they leave? When I interviewed there for fellowship, the list of places that the current first year fellows had interviewed was ridonkulous.

Thanks, I appreciate the input!
 
Thoughts on U of Maryland??

I have heard great things, but wanted to get other opinions. Especially if you could compare this program to Georgetown's and George Washington for a Cards fellowship?

FWIW, the program director at my school said that he thought UMaryland had some of the best clinical training in the country
 
Thoughts on U of Maryland??

I have heard great things, but wanted to get other opinions. Especially if you could compare this program to Georgetown's and George Washington for a Cards fellowship?

UMD > DC programs

Rigorous training, but they do pretty well
 
I had a question about Case IM program. Can anyone tell me a little bit about how it's perceived? I've thoroughly searched SDN and noticed that it doesn't get as much love as some other programs when it comes to rankings. I interviewed there earlier this season and absolutely loved it. Now, as I'm trying to create my rank list, I'm questioning if I should trust my gut feeling. I know everyone says to trust your gut, but I just want to make sure my decision is not just based on a false impression. I guess I'll describe what I really liked about the program, and hopefully you guys can tell me if I'm completely crazy?

Btw, I'm interested in Cards as a fellowship (but also thinking about pulm/CC)

Pros:
-The program director (Dr. Armitage) was awesome and super helpful
-I really liked the residents there. They seemed interesting and fun to work with. I could see myself fitting in with them and the culture at Case
-The morning report was one of the best that I attended. High level of discussion, everyone seemed smart and engaged
-I thought the Cards match list was really good...highlights include Emory, Mayo, WashU, U Mich, and this year BIDMC, Duke, UNC, UW-Madison. There were also some community programs as well...but I guess it does show that doing an IM residency there doesn't limit you, right?
-I actually didn't mind Cleveland...I thought it was a place I could live in. Also really affordable.

Cons:
-Weather

I liked Case better than a lot of programs that are usually ranked higher than it: UW-Madison, UVA, UNC, and UCSD, all because of a combination of location + program culture (I just felt like I fit in at Case). The only program I liked better than Case was UCLA, which will probably top my rank list. However, I doubt I'll match at UCLA because of how competitive it is (plus my school name doesn't carry any weight), so there is a good chance I'll end up at Case if I put it at #2. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!
 
I think that letting the opinions of a bunch of douchecanoes on the intarwubs (like me) about a particular program that you clearly think is one of the best places for you is ridiculous.

If it were my list, I'd put every other program you mentioned higher than Case, but it's not my list, it's yours. If you liked Case then run with it.
 
Top