- Joined
- Apr 13, 2007
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- 197
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I'm a little nervous to reveal this here, but I guess the ship has sailed. I'm thrilled to be pursuing emergency medicine and would be happy at any of these programs! Good luck to anyone in the future, best advice I would give is to do your EM rotations early, including one away in a different part of the country. Personally, I made a late switch to EM right before the ERAS deadline, and thus only had SLORs from my home program, and I definitely think it made a difference. Can't complain though. My stats are state university, not a top rated program, step 1 250s, step 2 270s, top 10% of my class. No pubs, a few poster presentations, lots of student involvement. Was told I had good SLORS on interviews, but I can't imagine they were too wonderful, since I switched so late I never had a really strong relationship with any given physician. I'm married so I had to take into account my husband's career and preferences. Overall just went with my gut. Sorry for the length. My rank list was:
1) Carolinas: When all was said and done, thought this was the best combination of qualities for my husband and I. Pros: amazing benefits, reputation, community experience combined with academic reputation, loved the location/charlotte, happy residents, amazing research, ONE EMR with dragon dictation, run traumas every other day, lots of fellowships, holding orders w/o boarding, 1 month orientation with 3 months electives, loved the PD and APDs. Cons: Not as many job opps for my husband, less exposure to med students, no CC fellowship, Weaker Simulation than some others, slightly lower salary than others, more men than women.
2) Indy: Absolutely loved this place, residents did such a good job showing their enthusiasm and felt that the didactics were the best on the trail. Pros: LOVED the residents, so cool and passionate. Great interview day. Two hospitals, one community/university-esque one county. Volume >250 k, probably the best peds experience I saw overall, great job placement, Jeff Kline is there now and saw him lecture, amazing, specialty tracks, really great ICU experience where you are 1:1 with an intensivist and cover tons of patients, one of the best EMS tracks probably with a SUV you can operate as well as opportunities to be a director. Sim center/sim education is probably one of the best if not the best in the country. Cons: Indy isn't as good for outdoor activities which I like, further from my family, no EMR/multiple different systems you have to learn, possibly too many other strong residencies in the hospitals-probably harder to get certain procedures than community programs like Carolinas.
3) Christ Advocate: Did an away rotation here, loved every single day of it. Overall, had some logistical problems with the location and also didn't feel the ICU rotations/off service were maybe the best for me since I'm interesting in pursuing critical care. Pros: would graduate ready to handle absolutely anything because from day one you see whatever patients are assigned to you and carry 10+ patients at a time, amazing amazing trauma from the south side of Chicago, good peds, one hospital system with dragon dictation, great ultrasound fellowship, orientation + 3 electives, very very fun atmosphere, didactics were pretty engaging, very Socratic, residents are very smart and fun, tons of critical patients. Cons: Not as academic as some, no cc fellowship, location in the suburbs means most likely commuting in bad traffic + very high cost of living, extremely regional group of residents-almost all are from Chicago.
4) UNC: One of my favorite interview days and probably the most beautiful place I interviewed..except maybe portland maine. Pros: Lots of girls (almost all girls in fact), academic hospital + community/county type hospital at WakeMed, great sim, very relaxed and fun atmosphere, great leadership, loved the PD, great global health if you are into that, great ultra sound, residents raved about the moonlighting opportunities, lots of research opportunities and funding. Cons: big commute between hospitals, not as much trauma, residents didn't get many of certain procedures, paper orders at UNC, no CC fellowship, lots of floor months
5) Maine Medical Center: Absolutely loved Portland but didn't totally click with the residents, though I thought they were very nice. Very high portion of ICU patients, but not a whole lot of diversity and not many Spanish speaking patients. Loved that it is such a strong community experience without many sub specialty residencies in the hospital. EIGHT HOUR SHIFTS, holy grail.
6) Christiana: loved my interview day, some of my favorite residents and faculty, Delaware was surprisingly nice, again great combo of community and academic stregnths
7) Northwestern: PD and Chair are very inspiring. TONS OF CRITICAL CARE, wow. Feel that the EM residency is probably the ugly step child of the hospital. Really cool opportunities to do Trauma at Cook and community months in Gary Indiana. Beautiful area of Chicago, but unfortunately the cost of living would border on insanity. Very academic.
8) Mayo Clinic: Liked Rochester more than I thought I would, though it is COLLLLLD. Mayo clinic has some really cool institutional policies in regard to patient care/patient first. Lots of bread and butter medicine from the surrounding catchment area. Probably not much trauma, not as much diversity.
9) Jax: CRAZY CRAZY emergency department. Residents said they do at least one intubation on their first shift. They supposedly do tons of emergent airways here…which is very odd but cool. Was a little concerned about the service burden over time to study for boards etc, as the board pass rate was disturbingly low compared to other programs. Jacksonville seemed like an okay place to live. Really really liked all the faculty I met. Residents were very confident, but not many of them go into academics or leave the state of Florida.
10) Orlando Health: Great program, very smart residents. IS definitely one of the best if not the best residency in the hospital. TONS of trauma alerts a year >4000 I think. EM doesn't play a huge role in trauma though. Great ultra sound. Didactics are pretty good. Love the PD and Chair. Very young, excited faculty. Not very academic though, and in the past few years very few have left the state and not many pursue academic careers. Floor months that might not be very valuable.
11) U Maryland EM/IM: Loved Dr. Matthu's didactics, loved the pre-interview dinner which was like a huge house party, shock trauma is cool. Didn't like that peds was separated, but it would be neat to do peds in DC. Interested in CC, so I liked the idea of doing Em/IM/CC in 6 years, particularly since I have the impression that shock trauma's fellowship is pretty prestigious for CC. Liked Baltimore more than I thought I would.
12) U Maryland EM-think I would rather do EM/IM/CC at this program
13) Wash U-didn't think it was a great fit though I loved st. Louis, they have a really cool sounding journal club, four years with a lot of floor months
14) Kzoo-husband really didn't like the area, loved the EMS experience though
15) UT-Chatt-too new of a program
16) Palmetto-a bit too southern for me, didn't love Columbia
17) UIC EM/IM-too many hospitals to rotate in/drive to in Chicago traffic, no EM/IM/CC track
1) Carolinas: When all was said and done, thought this was the best combination of qualities for my husband and I. Pros: amazing benefits, reputation, community experience combined with academic reputation, loved the location/charlotte, happy residents, amazing research, ONE EMR with dragon dictation, run traumas every other day, lots of fellowships, holding orders w/o boarding, 1 month orientation with 3 months electives, loved the PD and APDs. Cons: Not as many job opps for my husband, less exposure to med students, no CC fellowship, Weaker Simulation than some others, slightly lower salary than others, more men than women.
2) Indy: Absolutely loved this place, residents did such a good job showing their enthusiasm and felt that the didactics were the best on the trail. Pros: LOVED the residents, so cool and passionate. Great interview day. Two hospitals, one community/university-esque one county. Volume >250 k, probably the best peds experience I saw overall, great job placement, Jeff Kline is there now and saw him lecture, amazing, specialty tracks, really great ICU experience where you are 1:1 with an intensivist and cover tons of patients, one of the best EMS tracks probably with a SUV you can operate as well as opportunities to be a director. Sim center/sim education is probably one of the best if not the best in the country. Cons: Indy isn't as good for outdoor activities which I like, further from my family, no EMR/multiple different systems you have to learn, possibly too many other strong residencies in the hospitals-probably harder to get certain procedures than community programs like Carolinas.
3) Christ Advocate: Did an away rotation here, loved every single day of it. Overall, had some logistical problems with the location and also didn't feel the ICU rotations/off service were maybe the best for me since I'm interesting in pursuing critical care. Pros: would graduate ready to handle absolutely anything because from day one you see whatever patients are assigned to you and carry 10+ patients at a time, amazing amazing trauma from the south side of Chicago, good peds, one hospital system with dragon dictation, great ultrasound fellowship, orientation + 3 electives, very very fun atmosphere, didactics were pretty engaging, very Socratic, residents are very smart and fun, tons of critical patients. Cons: Not as academic as some, no cc fellowship, location in the suburbs means most likely commuting in bad traffic + very high cost of living, extremely regional group of residents-almost all are from Chicago.
4) UNC: One of my favorite interview days and probably the most beautiful place I interviewed..except maybe portland maine. Pros: Lots of girls (almost all girls in fact), academic hospital + community/county type hospital at WakeMed, great sim, very relaxed and fun atmosphere, great leadership, loved the PD, great global health if you are into that, great ultra sound, residents raved about the moonlighting opportunities, lots of research opportunities and funding. Cons: big commute between hospitals, not as much trauma, residents didn't get many of certain procedures, paper orders at UNC, no CC fellowship, lots of floor months
5) Maine Medical Center: Absolutely loved Portland but didn't totally click with the residents, though I thought they were very nice. Very high portion of ICU patients, but not a whole lot of diversity and not many Spanish speaking patients. Loved that it is such a strong community experience without many sub specialty residencies in the hospital. EIGHT HOUR SHIFTS, holy grail.
6) Christiana: loved my interview day, some of my favorite residents and faculty, Delaware was surprisingly nice, again great combo of community and academic stregnths
7) Northwestern: PD and Chair are very inspiring. TONS OF CRITICAL CARE, wow. Feel that the EM residency is probably the ugly step child of the hospital. Really cool opportunities to do Trauma at Cook and community months in Gary Indiana. Beautiful area of Chicago, but unfortunately the cost of living would border on insanity. Very academic.
8) Mayo Clinic: Liked Rochester more than I thought I would, though it is COLLLLLD. Mayo clinic has some really cool institutional policies in regard to patient care/patient first. Lots of bread and butter medicine from the surrounding catchment area. Probably not much trauma, not as much diversity.
9) Jax: CRAZY CRAZY emergency department. Residents said they do at least one intubation on their first shift. They supposedly do tons of emergent airways here…which is very odd but cool. Was a little concerned about the service burden over time to study for boards etc, as the board pass rate was disturbingly low compared to other programs. Jacksonville seemed like an okay place to live. Really really liked all the faculty I met. Residents were very confident, but not many of them go into academics or leave the state of Florida.
10) Orlando Health: Great program, very smart residents. IS definitely one of the best if not the best residency in the hospital. TONS of trauma alerts a year >4000 I think. EM doesn't play a huge role in trauma though. Great ultra sound. Didactics are pretty good. Love the PD and Chair. Very young, excited faculty. Not very academic though, and in the past few years very few have left the state and not many pursue academic careers. Floor months that might not be very valuable.
11) U Maryland EM/IM: Loved Dr. Matthu's didactics, loved the pre-interview dinner which was like a huge house party, shock trauma is cool. Didn't like that peds was separated, but it would be neat to do peds in DC. Interested in CC, so I liked the idea of doing Em/IM/CC in 6 years, particularly since I have the impression that shock trauma's fellowship is pretty prestigious for CC. Liked Baltimore more than I thought I would.
12) U Maryland EM-think I would rather do EM/IM/CC at this program
13) Wash U-didn't think it was a great fit though I loved st. Louis, they have a really cool sounding journal club, four years with a lot of floor months
14) Kzoo-husband really didn't like the area, loved the EMS experience though
15) UT-Chatt-too new of a program
16) Palmetto-a bit too southern for me, didn't love Columbia
17) UIC EM/IM-too many hospitals to rotate in/drive to in Chicago traffic, no EM/IM/CC track