Rank Order for 2004 PM&R Match

[MSK]

My top five in no particular order are:

Spaulding, RIC, Michigan, UVA and Emory. I think I'd be pretty happy matching at any of them.

From another post, Stinky asked if anyone from SDN bothered to interview at Spaulding. I did and was very impressed by the nice atmosphere, sharp faculty and residents and huge amount of elective time. It seems you work pretty hard and are on call alot the PGY-2 year but I think it's well worth it. You do a couple months of Neurology at MGH which is q3 or q4 but would be a great experience. Flexibility in the schedule for PGY-3 and 4 lets you focus on areas of interest and work with some of the top names in the field. 10 months elective time (lots of great opportunities within the Harvard system) would help getting a good fellowship or job. Spaulding and RIC were the only programs I know of that let you do several paid electives away.

RIC. Incredible overall program. Very impressive faculty and residents. Residents said they received excellent musculoskeletal training (a common complaint from residents at other programs). From what I could tell, you should come out of RIC a well-trained, well-rounded physiatrist. Excellent lecture series including manual medicine, anatomy lab, EMG, etc etc. Also, great research opportunities and plenty of elective time (four solid months plus 1/2 day week starting in the second half of PGY-2 if I understand correctly) This would work out to about 7 months. Nice atmosphere and beautiful views of Lake michigan from the hospital.

Michigan. I really liked Ann Arbor. Another really solid overall program. Residents claimed to get good training in pretty much everything. A couple said that sports was weak b/c Ortho has a monopoly on exposure. You get exposure to interventional with Dr. Chiodo and have alot of varied research opportunities and some manual medicine exposure. EMG training is excellent. Like Spaulding and RIC the PGY-2 year is harder than most places but this does not bother me. PM&R dept is in the process of moving to an outpatient spine center. A solid portion of PGY-3 and 4 is spent out there. They also have several pain and spine fellowship positions available. Only 2 months of elective time which are done in the Michigan system is a potential drawback.

UVA. An up and coming program. The PM&R dept is located in a beautiful cluster of buildings (Musculoskeletal Center?) Alot of musculoskeletal and sports exposure. Very little interventional exposure but some of the residents had been accepted for anesthesia-pain fellowships. Call is apparently alot easier than the above three. Atmosphere seemed really laid-back.... Lots of sports-related research opportunities. This program will only improve under Dr. Kerrigan's guidance.

Emory. Another solid program. Good exposure to procedures and excellent opportunites for fellowships. One of the chiefs is doing the Emory pain fellowship with Dr. Winsor nest year. Both chiefs seemed especially sharp. A couple residents complained about not getting any real outpatient exposure until the end of PGY-3, making fellowship applications difficult. Very nice people and the program seems to be moving in the right direction. May be only a few years away from being considered a top program.

I'm really excited about the upcoming match. Good luck to all and may we all get one of our top choices.

MSK

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[jrmm]

MY RANK ORDER IS AS FOLLOWS:

1. OHIO STATE: Solid Program. #1 at EMG's and good at procedures.
2. BOSTON UNIVERSITY: Good at MSK-Sports Meds. Varied pathology. Weak at TBI. Living at Boston- Big plus!
3. EMORY UNIVERISTY: Excellent program. Nice area. No football for team coverage.
4. GEORGETOWN (NRH): Dr. Miller is improving greatly the program. Weak at MSK as well as outpatient. Solid at Inpatient.
5. BAYLOR COLLEGE-HOUSTON:
6. UT-HOUSTON
7. SPAULDING HOSPITAL (Sorry Stinky, Dr. Burke didn't conviced me...)
8. UMDNJ- ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON: Dr. Currucullo is the PD --> Big Plus!!!!
9. LSU: Good at MSK. Weak at Peds.


GOOD LUCK!

 

[Stinky Tofu]

Ohio State doesn't get mentioned a lot on SDN, but I've heard it really is a great program. I have to admit that I am surprised that you would rank BU above so many other programs.

Regarding UVa, Dr. Kerrigan used to be at SRH and she left to Chair the PM&R program there. I'm confident that UVa will soon be considered one of the top programs in PM&R under her guidance.

 

[Finally M3]

My ranklist was....

1) UMich; I thought this offered everything I was looking for in PM&R...extremely intense inpatient experience (everyone said repeatedly that if they could manage floors at UMich, they would feel overprepared for private practice), EMGs, and procedure experience as well as inter-departmental fellowships. Lack of Sports Med not that big a drawback to me personally. Also since I see myself living and practicing in SE Michigan...

2) Ohio State; I was hella impressed with this program; The EMG experience alone was incredible, senior residents logging 800?? However, it didn't sound like they incorperated as much interventional procedures as I wanted, and the rigid curriculum schedule sounded a little too much like medical school for me.

3) William Beaumont; I rotated here, liked it very much, has a good reputation for churning out excellent MSK graduates. Weak in interventions, although they have a TON of elective time that allows for you to get interventional procedures done (although through anesthesia). No graduate has yet gone on for a fellowship, definite concern. Happiest bunch of residents I have ever seen.

4) Rehab Institute of Michigan; Home institution, I actually felt pretty guilty about ranking RIM at #4. They have some great faculty (SCI, TBI, and Harper consult attendings are awesome) and you see some great pathology as well. Good EMG exposure, adequate interventional exposure, resident-driven program where residents cover high school football games. Cons include in-house call 1-2/month, and, I hate to say it, financial situation re; the Detroit Medical Center. I really like this program, though.

5) CWRU/Metrohealth; Pretty decent all-around program. Liked the facilities, disliked the in-house call. They did some pretty interesting research that piqued my interest re; functional electrical stim (I think, it was a while ago) in SCI patients. If this was closer to home, I may have ranked them higher...

My only regret about this was the fact that I didn't apply to more places; I wish I applied to RIC, Mayo, and Spaulding, but I am 'geographically limited', so to speak

 

[eric k]

Here's my list in no specific order

Wisconsin
impressive outpatient experience. dedicated months to spine, pain, and numerous other clinics. adequated emg and interventional experience. madison is ranked as one of the top cities to live in year in and out.

RIC. enough said. impressive outpatient experience. numerous months of elective/selective rotations.


Ohio State. A big sleeper. I almost cancelled my interview. Great emg. probably the most organized program out there. you got to love the use of pdas for evaluation and labs.

UCDAVIS. Outpatient up the yin -yang and probably one of the best PEDS experience due to the shriner's hospital. Plus it is in cali

Emory. Hotlanta. Variety of experiences, Good or bad? depends how you look at it. Intervention and the Shepard Center are their strengths.

Mayo. Overall one of the most impressive programs for outpatient/msk training. The only question, can one live in Rochester

U of M. As previously stated you will take care of the sickest of the sick on inpatient floors. Great emg/interventional experience. Weaker in outpatient/msk clinics. Lots of consults

Indiana
50/50 mix of in/outpatient training. emphasis on occupational medicine. rotations are spread throughout the city.

To all those considering pmr for next year's match. please interview at any program you have the slightest interest in. I now wish that I would have interviewed at more programs then 9. the more the better. take out the alt loan from medex and don't worry about the money

 

[Ligament]

Guys, the information you are providing here will be invaluable to next years applicants. Kudos to you for taking the time out of your schedules to contribute to this forum.

I would also encourage you to write reviews at scutwork.com on these programs.

Best, Ligament

 

[kurt rambis]

My top choices in no particular order:

Emory: I was very impressed with the quality of resident there and got an exellent feeling while I was there. They get a ton of interventional exposure and have access to the Sheperd center which offers a broad PM&R experience. I love the south and I loved Hotlanta: great place to be 25-35 years old.
Have one of the few ACGME approved PM&R fellowships. Minuses are too much inpatient for my taste (18 months) and in house call.

RIC: The granddaddy of them all reputation-wise. More outpatient exposure than I expected. If you want it you got it at RIC. Minuses: heavy inpatient loads and although Chicago is great, it is cold and expensive.


LSU: By far the most underrated program that I visited. I did an externship there and loved it. Excellent outpatient opportunities, with exposure to interventions, sports, and good EMG. Maybe the most cush schedule of any program that I interviewed at. AS much inpatient as you want over the minimum. New inpatient unit at Charity hospital and great TBI and spinal cord experience at Touro hospital. Residents are competent and friendly. New Orleans rocks: a ton to do in a smaller big city with low cost of living. Charles April, an interventional guru, is stationed there. From what I understand he is the man in interventional spine. Minuses: not much name recognition and the teaching/ didactics needs to be better. Check this one out!

Mayo: IMHO the best training out there. Minimum inpatient but what you get is quality. Unbelievable outpatient/msk and the EMG training was some of the best I saw. AS you can imagine Rochester is cold and miserable, especially for a single guy. But if you have a family and want to settle down this may be your spot.

UT San Antonio: Again, exellent training. Very strong procedural and EMG exposure with Walsh and Dimitru (2 big names in the field). The 1st year seemed unnecessarily malignant (SICU, ortho and neurosurgery months). I wasn't crazy about the 4 year program here and I did not like San Antonio.

Good luck with the match everyone!!

 

[bobatea]

Hey folks,

My top choices:

UWashington -- great program, great reputation, a program director (Dr. Massagli) that is straight-up and honest about things (no games -- this is a good thing). A lot of attendings that I talked to along the interview trail either came from UW or had great things to say about the program. Weaker in the MSK area than other programs, but is something they are actively improving upon. Seattle is a fun city, especially for an outdoorsy person like me. If you can get over the gray, raining, overcast weather for 6-7 months out of the year (it never gets too cold, though), UW may be your program.

RIC -- not much needs to be said about it -- amazing facilities, super-smart residents. These residents are some of the happiest, most "with-it" folks that I have interacted with in the PMR field. Dr. Sliwa (PD) struck me as being very friendly and approachable -- and the residents have only great things to say about him. Chicago is a fun city, but super-cold and windy, and not much outdoors activities to do as Seattle -- but still a fun place for the 20-30s crowd.

Baylor (Houston) -- great program, great reputation. Dr. Francisco (PD) is a friendly, down-to-earth, and has great visions for the program. TIRR is a well-run facility, and the folks that I met there are genuine and nice. Nice, warm weather, too. Houston is actually a lot more cosmopolitan, and with a lot more activities, than the rest of Texas -- ethnically diverse, great restaurants and bars.

I'd be happy at any of the above places....can't wait until the 18th! Best of luck to all.

 

[bobatea]

just noticed that a lot of the respondants are ranking east coast/midwestern programs. Anyone else thinking west coast out there?

I've heard about the east-coast PMR bias, in terms of the stronger programs being in the east/midwest. I wonder if this factors into things (that, and the number of programs in the east is much more than those in the west)

 

[normalforce]

Hey eric k or anyone else,

Got any more info on IU? Is it good for musculoskeletal/sports?

 

[dotson]

I know this is coming a little late, but what the heck

pretty much want to stay in the NJ, Phili, NY area.

1. JFK
2. Kessler
3. Temple
4. Columbia/Cornell
5. Mt. Sinai
6. Spaulding

 

[jack straw]

let me first say that this forum, and all the fine chaps and chappettes that continuously post here, has been an invaluable resource for those of us who have been shown the light that is pm&r. i am forever grateful to stinky, ligament, drusso, and the like. i can only hope that i am able to lend as much insight to those that follow as you all have given me. everyone here continues to exemplify what pm&r is all about. bravo.

here is my rank list, in a particular order (why shouldn?t it be). i interviewed at 9 and ranked 7.

1. UVa
2. Spaulding
3. Mayo
4. UCDavis
5. RIC
6. U of Missouri
7. Rush

i can elaborate on the hows and whys, but thought that this late in the game it matters little.

the hardest part from here on out is enduring a year of internship before i have the pleasure of starting my pgy2. i?d prefer to get right to the business end of it all. good luck to all, and i hope to see you on the other side.

axm397, it?s bigdaddy

 

[axm397]

hey big daddy, i knew it was you even before your "shout-out" to moi. Great to see you contributing for a change

I am just counting the minutes down - the time is going by really slowly!! (I'm getting anxiety attacks everyday from thinking and re-thinking about my rank list.)

dotson, JFK is a GREAT choice. I LOVED it when I rotated there. Kessler is excellent too. You can't really go wrong with any of those two. I think I know you??? pm me if your name starts with a "j".

Anyways, I need to calm down and try to be patient. Anyone have any good tips for coping with the remaining week??


Please everyone remember to come back and tell us where you matched next week!!

 

[bobatea]

Hey axm,

What is your RoL, if you don't mind me asking?

I think I met you along the interview trail....at Stanford, specifically? At lunch, one of the docs was impressed with your questions re: their upcoming ACGME review?

Hope all's well.

To pass the time: I'm studying for Step 2 of the Boards -- will be taking it a couple days before March 18th. That's keeping me occupied these days.

 

[jack straw]

axm,

tis true i have lurked way too long. i suppose we all contribute in our own little way. now i have the fever for the flavor, so i think i'll stick around a bit.

cheers

 

[axm397]

Hey physguy, I guess my cover is blown yet again. I don't recall much about who was there, but were you sitting next to me at one time? Are you from NY?? Or were you the quiet one whose sister is a neurologist? I don't remember too many guys from that interview.... I would pm you my RoL but I don't see the link. I'd rather not publicize my RoL because I don't want to jinx myself and because my cover's been blown too many times unintentionally. Let me know how to pm you.

And wow Jack Straw, you're on a roll! What's that, like five posts in one day?? You go babe!! Oh, and I was just thinking about you because the word "dick" just slipped out of me today at my rotation. It's a good thing the attending didn't hear me correctly.

Anyways, exactly one more week to go!

 

[caedmon]

I have found this thread very concise and helpful, just thought I would bring it back for those making decisions about interviewing and eventually ranking.

 

[paz5559]

Just to shill for LSU for a moment, I wanted to add that Dr. Sholas, the most recent Peds fellow from the RIC, has come on staff this year. Dr. Kurtz-Burke is a young, energetic staff who trained at UC-Davis, where her Peds exposure at Shriners also makes her a valuable asset.

As Kurt alluded to, our program is cush, with most rotations letting you off no later than 4 each afternoon, with the exception of 6 months at the Touro Infirmary where you actually work (15-18 pts). But come on - 6 months out of 3 years? Life is good in the Crescent City.

Didactic schedule has been entirely revamped in the past two years. We enlist faculty from Tulane, The Ochsner Clinic, and the Turo Infirmary locally, Baton Rouge General for burn rehab, and have alumni who are kind enough to fly back from MD Anderson (cancer, obviously), Tampa (regional SCI and occupational medicine guru). Also, because so many annual conferences are held in New Orleans, we have begun to tap into speakers from national meetings who talk to us during the course of their stay).

You can't beat the weather 9 mo out of the year (OK, so we have the occasional hurricane!), the cost of living is less than any major city (rents run from $500-900/mo if you don't live in the dorms).

The outpatient exposure is top notch (4 months dedicated injections, only 12 months inpatient in the course of your 3 years, 6 months EMG where the VAST majority of your studies have significant pathology because of the wealth of clinical material at Charity Hospital), and sports both by covering every Southeastern Louisiana High School football team if you want to, and working with Tulane Sports as part of the program (who just took on a new Andrew's trained, HSS trained orthopod to add to their already top-notch staff). Home call one week out of the months you are on inpatient rotations only (so 12 weeks out of your three years you carry a beeper, and I have had to come in twice in my 2 years so far).

Inside tract for the best interventional fellowship in the country (training with Charles Aprill, co-founding member of the International Spinal Injection Society (ISIS) - last three fellows have all been LSU grads. Last year 4 graduating seniors got fellowships, including one at UW for SCI.

Reputation? I agree, you will get a blank stare (although people like Dave Burke of Harvard, Rajesh Yadav at Baylor, and Fracisco Torres at the Florida Spine Institute all trained here)

All in all a well kept secret. Is it perfect? Hardly - it is an institution, where the chances of changing the way things are done are slim and none. It is state run, which means the salaries are at the low end (which the cost of living counter-balances) and there is little funding for academic travel or books (but we are surprisingly innovative, and thus have managed to get Braddom for every incoming resident each year, and are working on getting our alumni to sponsor senior residents to the AAPM&R Annual Meeting). Most of the staff are terrific, but we all have one or two who are quirky and could never function in the world outside of academia. Any program that tells you they don't have a wierd doc or two is a place I would not trust about larger issues.

So would I do it again? OK, I was disappointed when I didnt get my top choice, but in retrospect, my top choice was an inpatient-heavy program I ranked based on reputation. This place works for me, and for someone with an outpatient, interventional or EMG musculoskelletal bent, you should certainly consider it. Someone who wants a great lifestyle for 3 or 4 years and entre to an underserved region of the country (there are only a handful of established programs in the South, not counting Texas and Virginia, which are boarder states) should put it on their list. Someone who wants a good mix of service and private patients, hands on public and golden-slipper private institutions, where as the only game in town, you are taught by every staff in a metropolitan area of over a million? I think at the end of the day, this was a great fit for me. I hope you take the time to look, and don't just blow off the interview cause the place isn't top 5. For me, at least it has strengths other "top 5" places lack. I hope you will consider it.