I'm sure I would be happy at Brigham or Penn, but I'd rather not go there. For Brigham, I just did not overall feel very comfortable during my interview. I explained it to someone else this way: Going to Brigham, to me, feels similar to skipping grades in high school and going on to the next. While I could probably do the work and even do it well, I would feel as though my classmates were so much more well prepared for what they were doing. And I don't want to jump ahead of my own learning curve just yet. Not scared of it, just uncomfortable. I felt like a lot of the folks at Brigham already had their full career goals in mind and they were doing the residency to get it done before moving on to the lab or other such things. Not to say I don't want any research involvment in my residency, quite the contrary. But my goal in residency training is to prepare myself for a career that may include academics, may include private practice, or even heavy research. I didn't feel like I could explore all of these there. I also realize that Brigham's program is not quite as heavily research-biased as many make it out to be, at least in terms of actual day-to-day training schedules. I have also talked to some prior grads of the program which did not leave me the most comfortable when thinking about what I wanted to get out of a residency program. I have done a year already in anatomic pathology, but for where I am right now I want to train with other people who are not already half way to their career goals. I don't know. It's hard to explain, but when I thought about it I just was not happy with any situation in which I matched at Brigham.
Penn was similar, but a little less so. I also felt the amount of time spent doing surg path was not really sufficient for what I wanted. I also don't like Philly too much. I did have quite a crush on one of the residents who I met there and talked to, but I hardly think I should choose a program based on that!
Don't get me wrong, both are great programs with terrific histories and offer great mentoring and preparation for a career, particularly in academics. I just didn't feel right. As I said, I kind of felt like a child.
So, you're asking, why rank MGH #2? Are you a hypocrite? MGH to me, as I have told others, feels similar to going to an elite school, where everyone in your class is at your level and equally qualified. You have to work hard, but you are all in it together and coming at things from similar perspectivevs. MGH also focuses a lot on diagnostics, which is key to me.
What's your rank list like?
