Rank list help: Duke vs UAB

[Arantius]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am mulling over my rank list and I cannot decide between duke and uab as my -#1 and #2 spots. At this point I am interested in doing a Peds fellowship but who knows, that might change in the future. These 2 are clear stand-outs of me for many reasons-- wife's family is in the south, both programs have great reputations and are great academic programs and seem to have a good call schedule.

At UAB I felt the residents were happy, had great moonlighting, and all seemed to have positive things to say at the resident dinner. Kind interesting that they emphasized getting an MBA or MPH while in residency.

At Duke, it seems there is more opportunity to do cutting edge regional procedures and research, residents have longer days (but still out of OR by 5 and from what they said and no call when on main OR) and have moonlighting.
Also, Duke seemed more family oriented for what that's worth--less partying than Alabama and married folks at the resident dinner.

I have a wife and 9 month old at home, another on the way so lifestyle is a big concern for me to be home at least on weekends to see them. Wife works from home as a consultant so she is indifferent where I go as long as I get good training and can make it to birthday parties, etc.

Please help, am I missing anything? Can anyone comment on details of the schedules for these programs? Thanks in advance.

 

[Infexious]

.

 

[GABAergic]

I'm an intern at UAB. In my class, most of us are hitched. A couple of us have kids. Interesting that you got the feeling here that it wasn't as family oriented as Duke. I ended up canceling my Duke interview, so can't make any direct comparisons...but feel free to PM if you have questions about the first 6 months of intern year.

 

[Orin]

Which is closer to y'alls support networks?
Does your wife's salary allow you to not need to moonlight?
Do you prefer college or pro sports?
Are you really going to take the time for an MBA, MPH, or substantial research if it means time away from the family?

Having lived in both areas, Birmingham is easier commuting and living than the RTP.
Much lower cost of living in BHM though food costs more surprisingly.
Flying is easier out of RDU with more direct flights than BHM to most places.
Lots more young professionals in a wider variety of fields in RTP vs BHM.
Demographics wise, BHM seemed more white, republican, and religious of an area than the RTP.
The Peds Anes training at UAB seemed a bit lacking when I was looking, but they did just start a fellowship program there and have a pretty new addition to their children's hospital.
The family vs party feel of a program depends on the residents and that balance changes every year. UAB might get more partiers because of their sweet moonlighting loot, but I doubt it is that different.

 

[Arantius]

Thank you all for the insight. We got the impression of Alabama being a bit more rowdy from some things that happened at the resident dinner but it's not necessary to share publically. It's reassuring to know that maybe that was just a small slice of the total population. I was a bit concerned that it seems the Peds training at Alabama was lagging behind Duke, and noticed it sees all the Peds gas guys at Alabama are private with an army of CRNAs so I wonder how the exposure would be to difficult cases.. ?

Financially we do not need moonlighting to survive based on our combined income, it would just be nice. We want to move to Texas when we are done as that is where we met and we want to raise our kids there (middle school/high school/ hopefully in-state college tuition) so I'm not sure regionally which of these programs would be best for networking to practice in Texas. The few Texas programs I interviewed at didn't seem like a good fit for me so they are lower on the list. Plus I think there is value to not being seen as a resident where you practice as an attending.

Again, thanks for the input I'd like to hear some things about Duke if anyone has any insight.

 

[GABAergic]

I have heard that there is a very solid UAB to San Antonio PP pipeline fwiw. And you'll also notice in looking at class composites, Texans always make up a sizable chunk of the UAB class. I think that where you do fellowship will have more impact on where you ultimately network and settle down.

 

[deleted641888]

.

 

[Mman]

If you are planning on doing peds, you'll be doing a fellowship so that quality of the pediatric training in the residency is almost irrelevant. I feel UAB is a very solid program that is probably underrated on a national level, but Duke is probably deservedly in that top 5/10 programs nationally for quality of training as well as opening doors for fellowship or academics.

Go with your heart. You gotta live somewhere for 4 years and put in some long hours.

 

[BLADEMDA]

Duke is a top ten program while UAB is upper 1/3. Both are excellent programs but Duke is a harder match for most people. That said, UAB is an outstanding program which will develop you into an Excellent Anesthesiologist.

IMHO, I wouldn't let a few thousand dollars a year be the determining factor whether to match into a Top ten program. Instead, you should pick the program which fits you the best.

 

[Arantius]

Thanks all for the input. The beauty of the match is it will make this call for me. All I can do is rank 'em and wait...
I am still a bit starstruck that Blade replied to me, an underling in the anesthesia world. Thank you, kind Sir.

 

[beepbloop]

I'll bite . To be fair, I'm currently a resident at Duke, but UAB was relatively high on my list when I was matching.

In terms of clinical training, I think Duke has the advantage. We undoubtedly have world class cardiac and regional experience. Pain is on the fast track to world-class--currently really, really good. ICU experience is also quite strong, with our fellowship being one of the few in the country where you get legit TEE training (with some of the biggest names in TEE around). Our peds experience is fantastic--we have 6-9 Peds ORs running daily, with 2-3 residents and 1 peds fellow to cover those rooms. As such, you end up getting really amazing Peds cases from day 1--NICU babies, CDH, TE fistulas, craniosynostosis repairs, complicated neuro, big scoliosis cases, etc.

That said, I remember thinking that UAB had a really solid clinical experience. I seem to vaguely remember something weird about being 1:1 with CRNAs when you did Peds, but this may be antiquated.

In terms of research opportunities, Duke also has the advantage. We've got a bevy of prolific, well-funded, down to earth people who'd be happy to work to develop your career. UAB struck me as having a lot of untapped potential, but it seemed it would be potentially difficult to get a project going.

In terms of living, it's probably a draw based on your preference. Durham is an awesome mid-sized city. It's growing cooler at an astronomic pace, which has tons of perks. If you want to visit a gourmet donut shop / restaurant / upscale bar (all rolled into one), we've got that. Cost of living is pretty cheap, i.e. houses are affordable on a single resident salary. We're near enough to Raleigh/the mountains/the beach that you can experience all of those things by just driving a bit. I remember thinking Birmingham was pretty cool. At the time I was looking, it was more expensive than Durham but less than most major cities. In terms of moonlighting, UAB wins. It sounds like they have a mechanism to make filthy lucre, if that's your thing. Here we have decent moonlighting opportunities by doing OB shifts on the weekend for similar to what UAB residents make to moonlight.

Other intangibles: My co-residents are phenomenal. I'm absolutely privileged to be surrounded by some of the coolest, smartest people I've ever met. It's not uncommon for me to hang around the hospital for an extra 15-30 minutes to just hang out in the resident lounge and goof around with some of the other residents. We all know and respect one another, and there's no shortage of camaraderie/willingness to pitch in and help each other out.

Regarding your impression that Duke was more old/married/boring: I think that ~1/2 of each class is married, though many other are in committed relationships. A variety of residents hang out around town and have fun pretty regularly, and though I won't go so far as to say that we can party as well as anyone living in Alabama, we certainly have fun.

In short, I couldn't be happier with my residency choice. I'd pick Duke over and over again for residency. Whether you end up staying around for life or leaving for some sweet private practice job in flyover country, Duke leaves a permanent impression and confers a reputation that will follow you forever. Our grads go all over for jobs, and there's even a group in Austin, TX that used to be jokingly called "Duke South" because of the preponderance of Duke grads.

Anyway, that's my n=1 experience. Best of luck and feel free to PM me with further questions.