I can say from the perspective of OHSU med students, the unofficial policy about taking only 1-2 OHSU students a year is a source of some frustation. The former and current PDs both have insisted they do not have a "limit", and I understand the diversity point, but many of my classmates are married/have kids and it is hard for them to reolocate. Also, Portland is a great city in general that many of us would be happy to continue living in. So it is hard to have such limited options in the pacific northwest (UW has generally only taken 1-2 OHSU students/yr also, despite being a much larger program). On the other hand there are plenty of my classmates that would prefer to leave. I love OHSU and will probably rank it highly, realizing that there is a reasonable chance I won't be staying regardless of where it ends up on my list. The residents do seem happy and from what I have seen, not particularly overworked, except perhaps in the second year.
The economic difficulties will no doubt affect the residency training in terms of reducing plans to hire nurse practitioners and other support staff to help reduce the resident workload. This is too bad because I know the program has a strong focus on making sure that resident activities truly have educational value, and it will be hard to maintain that focus in the current economic climate.
