Program X vs Y

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MDACC v MSKCC

specifically regarding job placement. it seems that, despite its reputation, MDACC-trained radoncs are not as widely distributed as I would expect. In contrast, MSKCC graduates seem to place very well all over the country. Thoughts?

A lot of this has to do with one's inclination of lifestyle before and after graduating residency. Residency is a long time, and many start to have families/significant others and enjoy the lifestyle that the non-East, non-West coast, + Southern states can offer. This can be a big pull for even med students when looking at their life goals beyond residency. On the other hand, people who really want to train in New York do so for certain reasons as well and therefore the jobs they look at in terms of location reflect their own underlying bias (stay in the East coast, etc).

Training at both institutions will afford an opportunity to get you anywhere YOU want to go, there is no doubt of that. Your life during residency will be very different however. If you're in the rare position of choosing between the few top programs, ask yourself some of these questions.

You can't go wrong though, good luck!
 
I think Stanford>UCSF just based on reputation and speaking to others. However, I think plenty would disagree on this. I guess the question is, how do they like SF vs Palo Alto?

My own take also was Stanford > UCSF... I liked the more suburban feel of Palo Alto as well, and the faculty, including Donaldson, Hoppe, and Le, were pretty amazing.
 
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Not to say any thread doesn't have value, but I just don't see how any one can really compare two programs individually any better than reading their individual "Interview Impressions" and strolling through some of the "Program Rankings" threads.

Like Utah vs UPMC, Both are average to above average programs. Utah is nestled in the mountains with beautiful skiing minutes away and a gorgeous cancer center. UPMC is in a pretty hip city in the rust belt with no sunshine and pretty good food, but you have to put up with Steelers fans. Both have heavy volumes and rotations can be done on site. UPMC has a very high resident publication rate (even with yours truly bringing the numbers way down). Utah is a bigger program and I believe heavy on didactics, while UPMC has much less didactic training. But, you see, all of this could be found in the Impressions and Rankings section, and you can't do a direct comparison that is very meaningful.

Or maybe, I'm wrong and someone will put up an amazing point-by-point takedown of the two programs, with an objective score rating on how to pick one, e.g. "Utah 78, UPMC 73, pack your bags for Salt Lake!"

S
 
Not to say any thread doesn't have value, but I just don't see how any one can really compare two programs individually any better than reading their individual "Interview Impressions" and strolling through some of the "Program Rankings" threads.

Like Utah vs UPMC, Both are average to above average programs. Utah is nestled in the mountains with beautiful skiing minutes away and a gorgeous cancer center. UPMC is in a pretty hip city in the rust belt with no sunshine and pretty good food, but you have to put up with Steelers fans. Both have heavy volumes and rotations can be done on site. UPMC has a very high resident publication rate (even with yours truly bringing the numbers way down). Utah is a bigger program and I believe heavy on didactics, while UPMC has much less didactic training. But, you see, all of this could be found in the Impressions and Rankings section, and you can't do a direct comparison that is very meaningful.

Or maybe, I'm wrong and someone will put up an amazing point-by-point takedown of the two programs, with an objective score rating on how to pick one, e.g. "Utah 78, UPMC 73, pack your bags for Salt Lake!"

S

I think a lot of times we like to hear more or less what you said when you said "Both are average to above average." I think deep down for these we all know which we'd rather go to, we just don't want to hurt our future careers if we want to go to the "wrong" one. I know for me, hearing that future career prospects are essentially the same frees me up to pick the one I like better.

Or maybe, I'm wrong and someone wants an amazing point-by-point takedown of the two programs. 🙂
 
I think a lot of times we like to hear more or less what you said when you said "Both are average to above average." I think deep down for these we all know which we'd rather go to, we just don't want to hurt our future careers if we want to go to the "wrong" one. I know for me, hearing that future career prospects are essentially the same frees me up to pick the one I like better.

Or maybe, I'm wrong and someone wants an amazing point-by-point takedown of the two programs. 🙂

very true. i was more asking what the differences were between cornell and columbia...i'm kind of confused as to if they're combined or what. also, how competitive of programs are they especially for people not from a top tier school. thanks!