Programs you didn't rank....

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PhakeDoc

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I'm curious - did any folks have any really bad experiences this season that led them to not rank a program?

Ugh, these next 3 weeks are going to be tough if there's no traffic on here!
 
PhakeDoc, this is a great question. I battled with idea of ranking last vs not ranking at all for quite some time. In the end I decided to leave 2 programs unranked for personal reasons.

1) Vanderbilt - They have a terrific program with great faculty. However, I really didn't get the feeling that I fit in on my interview day. I don't want to take anything away from the reputation of the program, but it was merely a personal decision not to rank them. Although Nashville is a great city, I just couldn't envision myself living there for the next 4 years and being happy.

2) Harbor UCLA - They seem to have a solid reputation for churning out good neurologists. However, the facilities and shear number of faculty (5) deterred me from ranking them. There is just too much instability with such few faculty.

While both programs are great programs, I just didn't feel like they were right for me. I already had 10+ program I ranked, so I didn't feel it was necessary to add them as backup programs. I would be curious to see what programs other people left unranked.
 
I did an away rotation at Emory and one of the senior residents there told me she would not choose to go there if she had to do it all over again. Several of the other residents from various years seemed pretty unhappy, too. I decided not to even accept their interview.

Also decided against ranking Cleveland Clinic and Case (post-interview) based on the fact that I would be utterly miserable in Cleveland.

I've been meaning to type up the reams of notes I took on all my interviews for the interview impressions thread but I just can't bring myself to do it.
 
Rogue Synapse said:
I did an away rotation at Emory and one of the senior residents there told me she would not choose to go there if she had to do it all over again. Several of the other residents from various years seemed pretty unhappy, too. I decided not to even accept their interview.

Also decided against ranking Cleveland Clinic and Case (post-interview) based on the fact that I would be utterly miserable in Cleveland.

I've been meaning to type up the reams of notes I took on all my interviews for the interview impressions thread but I just can't bring myself to do it.
Click to expand...

ditto with CC and Emory. I had exactly the same experience last year.
 
Cleveland was not for me.....however, some people love it there....
 
Was not going to rank either of these programs but because I would rather get started and not sit out a year I ranked them.

Loyola: I really did not want to go here. I felt as if the chair ran the program he did not care how much the residents were overworked. One 4th year resident told me he would not go there if he were to reapply. A PGY-2 said he went well over the 80 hour work week all the time in PGY 1 and 2 years. Would have ranked it last on my LOR but because it was categorical I ranked it number 5. Regardless I will be happy if it gives me a chance to be a Neurologist!

UMDNJ New Brunswick: New Program. The only resident I met I did NOT like at all. Only ranked it because I believed there was no chance I would go that far down on my ROL.
 
Also let me please point out that these are only my opinions and am posting them now because I did not want to start arguments or influence others opinions when they were interviewing there. Hope I did not upset anyone!
 
I ranked all 9 places I interviewed... I figured I could tough it out in a few cities that I didn't love for four years rather than not match. A year out is a year less towards the ultimate goal!!
 
I agree. Just match, train & get it over with. I would not not rank any program I spent time interviewing at. I have met a few people who have regretted not matching into residencies/fellowships after not having ranked some programs they interviewed at. They had to sit it out for an year, getting behind their compatriots & the ultimate goal. I dont think anything is worth an year out of your life.
 
I didn't do an away rotation, but I felt I had a very different opinion of Emory when I interviewed there. I have an attending who is one year removed from her residency and fellowship training at Emory. She says she worked her ass off while she was there but enjoyed her training and felt it was very good. I also know one of the PGY 2's who loves it there. I'm sure opinions vary, but I just wanted to counter that I felt like it was a great program. I went there trying not to like it and it became one of my top choices.
 
Prelim programs--definitely rank as many as you can. No matter how horrid it is, it's 1 YEAR. For Neurology though, you have to remember that slots do open up, but you can't break your match if you do match. Point being-- maybe you can be a little more flexible with neuro
 
Louisville.

I hated being there. The chairman was the oddest person I met on the interview trail. There were literally minutes of silence as he was reading my application. And he would periodically say things relevant to what he was reading like "When did you do this?" or "Impressive!" Just ridiculous. I don't get how programs can be so lazy that they literally do no research on who they interview. As I was the only US medical grad in the whole lot (applicants and residents), it seemed like they just fill up with as many interviews as they can stomach in the hopes of filling.

To their credit, their PD seemed like a great guy. I'm sure he'll probably do his best to turn the program around. But I'll just say that I had a ridiculously poor experience there and leave it at that. Frankly, I only scheduled the interview because I'm couples matching and we wanted to stay in the midwest, but I couldn't bring myself to rank it even though she'd interviewed at her respective program and thought it was fine.

Agree with Loyola not being the greatest. I ranked it because I thought it'd be preferable to not matching, and don't think it will come to my going to Loyola (though perhaps that's just wishful thinking).
 
pep45 said:
I didn't do an away rotation, but I felt I had a very different opinion of Emory when I interviewed there. I have an attending who is one year removed from her residency and fellowship training at Emory. She says she worked her ass off while she was there but enjoyed her training and felt it was very good. I also know one of the PGY 2's who loves it there. I'm sure opinions vary, but I just wanted to counter that I felt like it was a great program. I went there trying not to like it and it became one of my top choices.
Click to expand...

I actually did an away rotation at Emory and I didn't meet any residents who were unhappy. You do realize that they had recently changed their call schedule and are only Q4 for 3 months during the PGY-2 year? I was told it was not always like this and that the more junior residents tell me they are very pleased with the new schedule. The senior residents I worked with and the neurocritical care fellow tell me that they thought their training was superb. I know that when I interviewed there I found out that several of their current residents ranked Emory as their first choice, which i think says a lot about the program. They are opening a second NeuroICU at grady and a telestroke program this spring which is very exciting as well. I ranked Emory as my top choice after my away rotation experience.
 
Neuropath said:
I actually did an away rotation at Emory and I didn't meet any residents who were unhappy. You do realize that they had recently changed their call schedule and are only Q4 for 3 months during the PGY-2 year? I was told it was not always like this and that the more junior residents tell me they are very pleased with the new schedule. The senior residents I worked with and the neurocritical care fellow tell me that they thought their training was superb. I know that when I interviewed there I found out that several of their current residents ranked Emory as their first choice, which i think says a lot about the program. They are opening a second NeuroICU at grady and a telestroke program this spring which is very exciting as well. I ranked Emory as my top choice after my away rotation experience.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info... Glad to know someone enjoyed the away rotation there..!
 
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