Rank Order List (2014-2015)

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UCSF - Fresno: 4 year program Pros: almost 6 months of elective time. Specialty tracks pgy2-4 which are like mini-fellowships. Parkmedic program which lets you train national park rangers to be medics. Peds shifts during regular ED months, and also separate months at Peds ED. 9hr shifts. Great mission of helping the community. PD is very up front, seems to care about resident education and lifestyle. 4 PDs ever at an older program, so people stick around. Impressive varied faculty from all over. Proximity to everything, 1-2 hours from Yosemite, kings canyon, 3 hours from LA, SF, and beach. low cost of living. Residents seemed down to earth, fun, and had a sense of humor. Good research. Residents seemed especially strong. Varied patient mix, no residencies besides ortho to steal procedures. Unofficially the best residency in the hospital, big EM power. Nice facilities Cons: Fresno itself isn’t a nice area. Can get really hot, CA drought, supposedly poor air quality.

Orlando: 3 year program Pros: seems like a place with very strong training. Orientation month. Peds shifts during regular ED months and separate peds ED months, which was unanimously stated as a very strong aspect of the program. unmatched pathology with all the traffic through disney and the parks, caribbean nearby, and travel hub for central and south america. U/s with QA of scans. Teaching resident month. Lectures split into 2 days. Moonlighting built into schedule. Resident sports day each week where the residents get together and do some activity like flag football or something. Faculty and residents seemed like good, fun people. Genuinely nice PD, you can’t dislike the guy. Works hard for the residents and seems to care. Cons: floor month. 20x12s in a month block. Orlando is really tacky with lots of Disney stuff and chain restaurants. Florida.

Geisinger: 3 year program Pros: great flight program, probably one of the best out there as residents are actually listened to and integrated into the team, and longitudinal. Good moonlighting opportunities. Peds shifts during regular ED months. PGY3 residents felt they were well trained and ready to be on their own and emphasized this more than other places I went. Night floatsystem. Cool PD. Very low cost of living, family friendly place. 9hr shifts. New ED being built Cons: In the middle of nowhere, lots of hunting, atvs. They have state fairs and parades for entertainment.

MSBI: 3 year program Pros: Manhattan…you can do anything you want 24 hours a day. Subsidized housing right outside the hospital. Lots of ED based off-service rotations which seem efficient, i.e. only 1 week of OBGYN. Orientation month. Night float system. PGY3 supervisor shifts. Cons: My interview day was very underwhelming.12 hour shifts x20-18. Peds didn’t seem strong as you only get an informal sprinkling of peds shifts and overnight when peds is closed. Most NYC trauma goes elsewhere so trauma isn’t seen in regular ED, although you do spend a month in a trauma center elsewhere. ED was typical NYC old cramped place. Residents seemed to pick the place based on location, not program. No fellowships

North Shore: 3 year program Pros: peds shifts during regular ED months, recently affiliated with Hofstra. Live SIM with SPs in the ED. cadaver labs. Orientation month, selective pgy1 and pgy3, elective pgy3. Nice hospital. Pay is highest anywhere, and they provide housing allowance. People kept commenting on really learning “EM” here and not worrying about other stuff. Peds shifts during regular ED months. Lots of money and resources Cons: 20--->18, 12 hour shifts. The residents I met at my pre-interview dinner left me with a bad impression. The one hosting it was nice but 3-4 others showed up tipsy/drunk and loud and just talked about various bars and nightclubs all night. They also have a terrible website, whatever that means to you.
 
Posted Anonymously:

I re-ordered my ROL after typing these out and realizing I overlooked some things that are really important to me in a few places. I have found other's comments to be helpful, not so much the order, so here are mine in alphabetical order. Please post some more!


Albany: 3 year program (+) Residents seemed very down to earth, and easy to get along with. A lot of skiers and brew your own beer type people. 9 hour shifts with 1 hour overlap to wrap up, 20-18 shifts as you progress. They give you a hotel and a $5 starbucks card for your interview. not very research focused. new u/s fellowship. PD had a good sense of humor, lectures were very entertaining. area is good for housing, low cost of living. Great patient diversity with inner city, nearby suburbs and farms, immigrants. Tons of ED time, almost no off-service rotations (-)


Baystate: 3 year program (+) the single most resident friendly program I’ve encountered. PD very dedicated to residents. Only 4 hours of lectures weekly and some of those hours are in sim or small group. Good pay with low cost of living. the area is surprisingly nice, hiking close by, northampton and umass amherst. highly regarded orientation month. integrated peds. good pathology. Lots of fellowships where they take their own, might be making sports fellowship. beautiful ED, busy. residents jump right in, no graduated responsibility. (-)Only 1 mo community, otherwise based solely in 1 hospital with 1 EMR. EM runs trauma every other day, sharing with surgery, but always have 1°/2° survey and airway always


Boston Medical Center: 4 year program (+) big name in EM, great program. they talk a lot about being “elite”. busiest ED/highest volume in new england. Strong u/s with QA, fellowship, good machines, sparqs, zonares, sonosites. Many other fellowships. 5 elective months and resident interests seemed very supported. schedule is 8s on weekdays and 12s on weekends pgy1-3, pgy4 all 8s. residents were very smart and caring. great mission of the hospital. seemed a place where you can do some good with huge public health push. boston location. longitudinal peds. 3 hospital settings, urban lvl1, community, childrens. In Traumas, EM1 gets line, EM2 gets procedures, EM3 does airway, and EM4 supervises/teaches. Lots of research (-) weird progression of responsibility where PGY2 does all the procedures in the dept. new PD is supposedly great but I didn't meet her


Christiana: 3 year program (+) I got the “feeling” here. I was very impressed by the PD, he really seemed to understand resident education. Somewhat experimental curriculum where the program is tailored to each person’s strengths and weaknesses and sounds really well thought out. They track your RVUs, not in a pushy “move the meat!” kind of way, but just so you know and have the experience. The acuity is incredible in their ED and the pathology is second to none with inner city wilmington, college town newark, nearby farms, and philly. Resident friendly scheduling w/night float and 20x9s with 1 hour overlap. orientation, strong u/s with a fellowship, no surgical subspecialty residents. Most fun pre-interview dinner I went to, the residents were fun, not pretentious, and all seemed to get along. (-) the area is very boring, but some residents commuted 40 mins fron philly


Dartmouth: 3 year program (+) New-ish program graduating its first class this year, so you can potentially have lots of influence on the program. integrated peds. very few night shifts. 9s with overlap. lots of 1:1 time with attendings, who were mentioned as great teachers. pgy3 supervisor year. Lots of research going on, can easily get involved with policy work through the Dartmouth institute. (-)area secluded but close proximity to great outdoors and skiing, not a strong alumni group (none right now). ED was very small, 30k annual visits, lots of white people. You spend 2 months in baltimore shock trauma, which I wasn’t interested in. small class size, don’t work with co-residents too much. Not many fellowships.



Uconn: 3 year program (+) Residents seem happy, fun. Very resident wellness focused. Immersion month, integrated peds, most in depth off service rotations you can imagine. pgy3 supervisor month, 4 hospital settings, urban, community, pedi, rural. u/s QA and fellowship with unique “pass the probe” ultrasound lectures. 8 hr shifts w/1hr wrap up. 20/yr. (-)


Umass: 3 year program (+) Best training I came across, tons of fellowships in anything you could want, with tons of residency exposure as well through cool distinction tracks (mini fellowship), and you rotate through all of them to get broad exposure which is nice. resident QA on all u/s scans. The amount of fellowship trained faculty here dwarfs any other program I came across, huge tox program for research and training. supervisor month pgy3, immersion month, longitudinal peds, ED based ortho rotation. good pathology mix. PD almost intimidatingly smart, very honest and forthcoming. They have a lot of money for research and pay for a lot of conferences for residents. ED is brand new and one of the nicest I saw. residents seemed really strong (-) the residents here seemed to work a lot, 10 hour shifts and they seemed to stay an hour or two after, 22/month each year. Everyone I talked to felt like that gave them better training but some felt tired.
 
I don't know how you guys expect me to make last minute, impulsive rank list changes without posting your own lists to make me feel anxious about my own ordering :whistle:
 
throwaway12345678 said:
UCSF - Fresno: 4 year program Pros: almost 6 months of elective time. Specialty tracks pgy2-4 which are like mini-fellowships. Parkmedic program which lets you train national park rangers to be medics. Peds shifts during regular ED months, and also separate months at Peds ED. 9hr shifts. Great mission of helping the community. PD is very up front, seems to care about resident education and lifestyle. 4 PDs ever at an older program, so people stick around. Impressive varied faculty from all over. Proximity to everything, 1-2 hours from Yosemite, kings canyon, 3 hours from LA, SF, and beach. low cost of living. Residents seemed down to earth, fun, and had a sense of humor. Good research. Residents seemed especially strong. Varied patient mix, no residencies besides ortho to steal procedures. Unofficially the best residency in the hospital, big EM power. Nice facilities Cons: Fresno itself isn’t a nice area. Can get really hot, CA drought, supposedly poor air quality.

Orlando: 3 year program Pros: seems like a place with very strong training. Orientation month. Peds shifts during regular ED months and separate peds ED months, which was unanimously stated as a very strong aspect of the program. unmatched pathology with all the traffic through disney and the parks, caribbean nearby, and travel hub for central and south america. U/s with QA of scans. Teaching resident month. Lectures split into 2 days. Moonlighting built into schedule. Resident sports day each week where the residents get together and do some activity like flag football or something. Faculty and residents seemed like good, fun people. Genuinely nice PD, you can’t dislike the guy. Works hard for the residents and seems to care. Cons: floor month. 20x12s in a month block. Orlando is really tacky with lots of Disney stuff and chain restaurants. Florida.

Geisinger: 3 year program Pros: great flight program, probably one of the best out there as residents are actually listened to and integrated into the team, and longitudinal. Good moonlighting opportunities. Peds shifts during regular ED months. PGY3 residents felt they were well trained and ready to be on their own and emphasized this more than other places I went. Night floatsystem. Cool PD. Very low cost of living, family friendly place. 9hr shifts. New ED being built Cons: In the middle of nowhere, lots of hunting, atvs. They have state fairs and parades for entertainment.

MSBI: 3 year program Pros: Manhattan…you can do anything you want 24 hours a day. Subsidized housing right outside the hospital. Lots of ED based off-service rotations which seem efficient, i.e. only 1 week of OBGYN. Orientation month. Night float system. PGY3 supervisor shifts. Cons: My interview day was very underwhelming.12 hour shifts x20-18. Peds didn’t seem strong as you only get an informal sprinkling of peds shifts and overnight when peds is closed. Most NYC trauma goes elsewhere so trauma isn’t seen in regular ED, although you do spend a month in a trauma center elsewhere. ED was typical NYC old cramped place. Residents seemed to pick the place based on location, not program. No fellowships

North Shore: 3 year program Pros: peds shifts during regular ED months, recently affiliated with Hofstra. Live SIM with SPs in the ED. cadaver labs. Orientation month, selective pgy1 and pgy3, elective pgy3. Nice hospital. Pay is highest anywhere, and they provide housing allowance. People kept commenting on really learning “EM” here and not worrying about other stuff. Peds shifts during regular ED months. Lots of money and resources Cons: 20--->18, 12 hour shifts. The residents I met at my pre-interview dinner left me with a bad impression. The one hosting it was nice but 3-4 others showed up tipsy/drunk and loud and just talked about various bars and nightclubs all night. They also have a terrible website, whatever that means to you.
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Do you mean northshore does 20 12s as an intern then 18 as pgy3? If so this is wrong. I sent a mass email to the entire resident class and heard back from almost all of them. They all agreed it was 18 12s as an intern, then 17, then 16
 
GTP said:
Do you mean northshore does 20 12s as an intern then 18 as pgy3? If so this is wrong. I sent a mass email to the entire resident class and heard back from almost all of them. They all agreed it was 18 12s as an intern, then 17, then 16
Click to expand...

Did you end up matching AOA? Or holding onto the ride a little longer?
 
GTP said:
Do you mean northshore does 20 12s as an intern then 18 as pgy3? If so this is wrong. I sent a mass email to the entire resident class and heard back from almost all of them. They all agreed it was 18 12s as an intern, then 17, then 16
Click to expand...
I pulled this info from their website, which has since changed. Maybe it was outdated info. I hope you didn't mass email an entire residency program because of what I wrote on SDN! Thank you for clarifying, though 🙂
 
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I hope everyone remembered to certify.

250s/260s, Honors M3, HPass M4
Interviewed 3-year programs only, midwest and surrounding regional. I evaluated places based equally on quality as a job as well as quality as education. First, programs were ordered based on Salary/Cost of Living. Moved programs up or down 1-2 spots based on each criterias of work hours, volume, location, PDs, and program-unique factors. Final tweaks based on subjective feel.


Vanderbilt. Best salary/cost of living. Decent hours. Nashville is great town. National placement with residents able to get faculty at 4-year places. Fantastic PD/Chair combo engaged with residents. Very large emphasis on education and teaching. Weather a plus (although I've heard it can get quite humid). Con: Okay volume (but good diversity). Chiefs do a fourth year. A little newer program.

Indiana. Great salary/cost of living. Two homes with different feel, super nice facilities (Eskinazi, sim center), and monorail is cool. Great pathways and national placement. Good Peds (Riley). Great volume and catchment area(only game in town). Wide selection of mass events. Great number of fellowships. Decent hours (shifts are 8+1). Residents friendly and happy. All the residents seem to have a lot of kids which is different than what I'm used to(but speaks about the work-home balance), non-unified EMR combinations

Duke. Young program on the rise. Great salary/costing of living. Dr Broder PD is an absolute asset, and gives sense of excitement and progress. Lots of technological and engineering projects. Peds ED with Duke Children’s (although low ED volume). Job placement surprisingly good (because of Duke name) even though they’re so new. Con: On the lower end of volume. Less trauma. Still a Division of Surgery with associated budgeting concerns (Residents no longer able to moonlight, working on fixes in near future), no concrete plans for Department status at this time (but other Duke Divisions slowly changing status recently). Patient population is complex (“Duke” patients), but could be more varied.

MCW. One of the highest absolute salary that I saw (57k-59k). Fantastic hours; 8’s is a definite plus. Good patient mix (urban, suburban, rural, 50% peds) due to only game in town and large catchment area (SE Wisconsin). Good Pediatric ED exposure(great children's hospital). Milwaukee’s great town most of the year. Con: Wish volumes were higher. No moonlighting. More snow.

Pitt. Great reputation. 4 main sites for different experience(academic and county and community). Pittsburgh is a cool town (albeit with confusing roads). Lots of opportunity for research. Jeep hours are a definite plus for autonomy, helps take sting off of high # shifts. Great Peds Hospital. Con: But, still high # shifts. Weather + steep hills a little concern (although jeep will pick you up on bad days).

Ohio State. Good salary/CoL. New ED opened this year, including Onc ED. Great Peds exposure (Nationwide Children’s). Great volume and pathology (including onc, complex heart, prisoners). Expenses paid Hawaii rotation. Very strong ultrasound teaching and focus. Massive list of fellowship available (EMS, Admin, Med Ed, Research, Tox, US, peds, MPH). New energetic PD this year. Moonlighting at second (community-ish) site with Attending backup. Con: Campus parking is miserable (although residents do get paid parking).

Beaumont. Great volume (biggest in Michigan, 200k). Very nice facilities. Has some longitudinal tracks (Ems, Admin, Obs) and fellowships (Peds, EM, US). Close to Detroit but not in Detroit. Okay shifts (shifts are 9+1). Con: some concerns about diversity of population (lots of geriatics)

UIC. Decent hours, but I think there’s 12s at some sites. Four different sites to rotate, which is a plus and a negative. Residents are very close and social, journal clubs at bars. Gray coats set you apart. Chicago is a great city, but getting tired of Chicago traffic. Lots of fellowship opportunity (Sim, Tox, Resus, International, US). Con: traffic/commute. This would be higher if I was more gungho on practicing in Chicago (apparently Chi-town now more competitive for starting jobs than West Coast, Colorado, etc now).

Metro. Rotations at MetroHealth and Cleveland Clinic, for good mix of pathology and patient population. Good reputation. Nice facilities at the Clinic. Strong emphasis on teaching (residents can run teaching shifts). Cleveland is revitalizing and pretty cheap. Con: Hours are on the high side.

Resurrection. Multiple sites which is good and bad (Have to rotate at other systems(Peds –Uchicago, Trauma – Cook County, Sinai, Rush – PICU). Good hours (something like 18-10,18-10,17-10). Good board pass rate. Seems to be up and coming. Chicago is a nice town. Residents seem very happy, but are more spread out. Con: more of a suburban locale. Have to deal with O’Hare traffic and some commute.See UIC.

Akron. Competitive salary and hours. Top shelf PD who is fantastic and energetic. EM physicians are leadership of the hospital system. Nice benefits including free attached fitness centers at EDs, healthcare plan (free delivery at AGH for people with families, etc). Just bought by Cleveland Clinic, which is good and bad. Con: Lower end of volume. Akron is not fantastic location, and tough sell to many people, but cheap and Cleveland’s close.

Allegheny. Residents very chill and happy (during our interviews, played Mario Kart and Guitar hero while waiting). Some mass events (Pennsic Wars). Pittsburgh is a pretty unique cool city (see Pitt). Compared to Pitt, seem to be less focused on hard core bench research. Going live on Epic in 1-2 years. Con: Hours are on the high side. Lower on salary/cost of living.

Jefferson. My only east coast application. Lots of cool tech stuff coming online (Telehealth, virtual ED). Lots of opportunities for research and great PIs onboard. Con: Some far commutes. Philly population kind of split. Low salary/cost of living.


I didn't get "bad vibes" from any program. I got along with all the residents and I would be happy to practice at every place I ranked. Places that fell lower on my list are great programs, but whose salary were most likely not as competitive.
 
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Me: I am a little terrified to post here but I truly don’t have anything negative to say about ANY place I interviewed, and I have been gobbling up these threads for 5+ years now and feel like I owe it to people to be thorough. My rank list is strongly affected by couples matching (high five, I met a TON of fellow CMers on the trail). Otherwise no geographical preferences (really), and 3v4 was irrelevant.

I apologize in advance for not having more concrete measures in here, but I didn’t take notes on my interview days (on purpose) and my list is based 99% on gut feeling.

Low tier MD school, 240s/250s, NOT aoa, 3rd year honors, honors x3 at home and 2 aways.

1. Vanderbilt – Surprised to find it at the top of my list since I definitely started the season with a slight county preference. I actually didn’t hit it off too much with the residents I spoke with at the pre-interview dinner so I approached the interview day with some skepticism…and I was completely blown away. The residents I met on interview day were hilarious and completely unpretentious (an admitted fear of mine). Slovis and Wrenn are unbelievable, and unbelievably approachable. I definitely left with warm fuzzies, and I liked what I saw of Nashville.

2. Northwestern – I was head over heels for this program after my interview day and I went back and forth on my 1 and 2 several times (ultimately came down to COL concerns in Chicago). Dr. Gisondi is an amazing resident advocate and a really funny, down-to-earth person. His opening presentation was still the best “sell” of the interview trail and I would be so happy to end up here. I love that they have such a thoughtful curriculum with tons of ICU experience.

3. Cincy – Dr. Stettler is laugh-out-loud funny and this is another powerhouse program that lives up to its reputation. The residents are completely badass, and there is no question that the flight program adds to that. The program bends over backwards to welcome you to Cincy (wonderful pre-interview dinner and they even paid for the hotel!). Can’t say enough good things about this program, the only thing keeping it at #3 is that my spouse didn’t feel like they were quite as strong for their specialty.

4. Hopkins – I went into this one without much word-of-mouth information or knowledge of the reputation and I left very much impressed. I love Baltimore and don’t understand why it gets so much hate. I think they make excellent use of the fourth year with the different tracks available. Also loved the gummy bear table during interview day.

5. Maryland – I was super excited about this program going in (and still am). Shock trauma is unparalleled and they really sold the didactics here as well. Dr. Bond is a wonderful PD and the residents all seemed very happy and well-supported. The 12h shifts that turn in to 13 and 14s seemed really rough to me, especially since all the residents admitted the emphasis is on volume ,volume , volume. They get their peds experience in DC so you do have a commute for those months, but that’s not a dealbreaker in this case.

6. BIDMC – I loved the residents here and the sushi for pre-interview dinner certainly didn’t hurt. The chair is wonderful and seemed so insightful, I would love to spend hours picking his brain about different facets of EM. Dr. Rosen is a little abrupt and I had one interviewer that realllly grilled me about whether I was Hahvahd material, but I rolled with it and it didn’t affect my view of the program since that was the exception rather than the rule. The two things I love and hate, respectively, are the 3+1 format (genius) and the cost of living in Bostom (the stuff nightmares are made of).

7. Cook County – I love this program, love the PD, love Chicago, and love county populations. The only reason this isn’t higher is because I don’t feel like the fourth year adds value here. It seemed very much like a dynamic of doing roughly the same thing every year, with added pressure to move faster and see more patients whereas the other four year programs had some degree of graduated responsibility or used the extra year for electives or ICU time. I’d still be overjoyed to end up here.

8. Advocate – This program would’ve fought for a top 3 spot if it weren’t for location, though I spoke with all of the residents and not a single one of them were bothered by the commute. It is an amazing program with an incredibly supportive faculty, but I had an inordinate amount of dread at the idea of driving through Chicago weather and traffic for 45+ minutes every day, and especially after night shifts. I recognize that is peanuts for most people, but I’m used to being able to walk to work and, in the spirit of full disclosure, I’m a horrific driver and a danger to myself and others even under ideal conditions.

9. Emory – Weird interview day and didn’t click with the residents very well. I love Grady, but Atlanta is not for me.

10.UIC – One of my most fun interview days, I felt completely at ease. Hands down the most fun observed didactics, and I’m crazy about the faculty. Ultimately the four different locations – which should be a huge selling point – bumped it down my list for reasons stated above!



I also interviewed at Chattanooga, Indiana, Wash U, Louisville, UAB, and UTSW – liked them all as well, and the only reason they’re lower is simply due to SO not getting interviews, or getting bad vibes from their specialty’s department.
 
Wanted to contribute because these threads have helped me throughout the process. 230s/250s, AOA, 3rd yr honors, honor 1x away and 1x at home. 3 year programs only, location, couples match, and gut feeling were main considerations. I would be happy to end up at any program I interviewed at

1) Vanderbilt: In love with this program! Residents and faculty are down to earth, including Slovis and Wrenn, who are awesome. Teaching and emphasis on education are unparalleled. Low cost of living in Nashville and no traffic. No negatives.

2) Advocate Christ: Really impressed with this place. The residents are awesome and super smart. Dr. Girzadas (PD) seems like the nicest person, great resident advocate. High acuity and loads of sick patients, no shortage of procedures. Only negative for me was the high cost of living in Chicago and dealing with Chicago traffic.

3) Hennepin: Awesome program, ED essentially runs traumas, again definitely no shortage of procedures, well-resourced county program, pitboss role PGY3. Interesting curriculum, including 2 months of neurosurgery, all seemed worthwhile. Residents work a lot, particularly on off-service rotations. I’m not opposed to this, especially as they work 8’s, however the residents seemed kind of burned out and unhappy during my interview day. Plus they take call on ED shifts for the hyperbarics chamber, which is unique but kind of a bummer.

4) UC Davis: Rotated here. Residents are great, ED has a lot of respect in the hospital, facilities are new and awesome, including a nice cafeteria open at random hours (ie. 2-5am). Some attendings were kind of a turn off, but mostly were nice and into teaching. Boarding was a big problem, had one shift where I couldn’t pick up a single patient because there was essentially zero movement

5) UIC: Felt really at home and comfortable with everyone during the interview day, and residents seemed like an awesome bunch. Physician scientist program a plus. Would have put it a bit higher except was scared off by Chicago traffic and having to drive to many sites, lacking a true “home base” feel at any of them until senior year

6) University of Chicago: Residents run ED PGY3 year, flight program arguably the best in the country and seems like a great experience, allowing for good experience with autonomy PGY2 year. Intense PGY1 year to prepare you for flying second year. Moonlighting on international flights is awesome. New ED to open in early 2016. Really liked Dr. Babcock, energetic and likeable PD. The sites were a strong deterrent for me, and I didn’t feel like I clicked as much with the residents as I did at other places. Also, like UIC, not thrilled with the prospect of dealing with traveling to multiple sites in Chicago. Probably would have dropped this program lower if not for the couples match, but still would not be unhappy to match here.

7) Henry Ford: Solid program with good training, liked the residents. Orientation at the end of first year, graduated responsibility with PGY2s and 3's in cat1

8) Resurrection: Rotated here (at Presence Res). Really liked the staff and residents. PD Dr. Dorfman is awesome; he’s funny and supportive, strong resident advocate. Again, not wanting to spend my free time driving around Chicago in traffic.

9) Carolinas: Really liked this program and loved Charlotte, but it wasn’t ideal for my significant other. Liked that it was a strong community program at one site, however not thrilled with the heavy amount of offservice rotations PGY1 year. Since I wanted a 3 year program, I’d rather have my time focused in the ED and ICU.

10) UAB: Really liked this program and would have ranked it higher but S.O. only had advanced program here and wanted a categorical. PD was really down to earth and asked everyone to call him Andy. Personally spent the time to take us on a tour and have lunch with the applicants. Also offered advice and really wants to help everyone find a place that’s right for them. Plenty of time for moonlighting, and residents said PGY3 year they essentially doubled their resident salary through moonlighting. People may find Birmingham a negative, but I didn’t think it was so bad.

11) UPMC: Wanted to like this program, but struggled with it. Great EMS, great leadership, and really liked the faculty, but the residents seemed so unhappy. I understand it’s difficult to go to so many dinners and lunches throughout the season, but only a couple turned out to the events, and they have a large class! Residents acknowledged they work a lot but felt it was worth it for the training though. Like the 4 different sites located close enough that you wouldn’t have a problem driving between them, and can take Jeep shift call from home if you live close enough.

12) BIDMC: Love the 3+1 format, however S.O. strongly adverse to respective program in Boston. I also wasn’t a huge fan of Boston (high COL, terrible traffic, sites up to 1.5-2 hour drive away!), but otherwise really liked the program. For the furthest sites, program provides lodging close by. The residents seemed like a fun, cohesive group, and they work the Red Sox games, which is cool. PGY3 also runs the core. Residents do a lot of research, so that can be considered a plus or minus depending on what you want from your experience.

Others: Kentucky, Wake Forest, Mayo, MCW, Vidant, UMass, Virginia
 
I liked reading these threads in years past, so I thought I would add my two cents.

My biggest insight from the interview trail was that I liked the EM programs that were not at big academic centers. My home institution is a big academic center. The name sounds fancy. The IM and surgery departments have been there for 100+ years. But the EM program gets treated like crap. When I listen to EM RAP and hear them talk about procedures and things they do I think, "oh, the department here would just consult that out". The other big name places that I interviewed at seemed to have similar problems.

At some of the smaller centers, it seems like the EM programs are the strongest programs in the hospital. Their residents and faculty run the ICUs. They staff the rapid response teams for the hospital. They drive policy and hospital priorities. I saw positive interactions between attendings from other specialties and EM residents in the ED that would never, never happen at my home institution. And, perhaps more importantly, there is not a resident/fellow in every conceivable specialty 5 minutes away at all times. If you plan on practicing in the community (95% of us), maybe that is going to be the better environment for you.

So, my advice would be don't just go on interviews to big name places. Go to a few smaller university programs, you might be very surprised at what you find.
 
DO/Osteopathic applicant. Applied to EM/IM and EM as a backup.

1. UMaryland EM/IM - equally strong departments with great EM didactics. Shock Trauma experience is a plus, but didn't like that there was no longitudinal trauma experience. There is an emphasis on pushing residents to become academic leaders which I liked. They have ample resources to cater to specific interests. The PD's for both EM/IM and EM were both very nice. It is close to home and it seems the EM residents have great camaraderie and get together outside of the hospital. It is close to home and Baltimore is an underrated city. Negatives: 12 hour shifts and don't know how much residents can do on their own given every specialty exists in the hospital, Not enough ICU experience in the 5 years, even tho they offer a 6th year ICU option

2. Christiana Care EM/IM - great community IM program. Morning report on interview day was great. They really broke down the cases and even talked about some social issues, which I liked. The residents were all down to earth. EM program - very strong. I rotated at some great midwest EM powerhouses and the residents here can hold their own against any of them. They don't have many residencies in the hospital so EM gets to do a lot, which is a huge plus. They are changing the curriculum this year to cater to the individual strengths and weaknesses of each resident. Didactics are protected time and they seem to mix it up with case based learning and flipped classroom. It is in the top 10 EM programs in the country in my opinion, which is tough to find on the east coast. Positives: 9 months of ICU, strong EM, LOTS OF ELECTIVE TIME, lots of research projects, receptive PD's, resident wellness is a focus, great benefits and the hospital is gorgeous. Negatives: Didn't click well with some residents, location is boring, but you can commute from Philly, which some residents do.

3. UIC: Chicago - EM/IM - i loved this program and it was my number 1, but I didn't know if I could be away from home for 5 years. The residents were a family and they all attend interview day plus the pre-interview dinner, which I did not see at most programs. The PD is great and is focused on pushing residents to do as much as they want to. The IM was as strong as UMD. The PD, Dr. Zar?, is a great guy and really focused on resident education. The EM, I didn't get as good a feel for. You will see great pathology since it is Chicago. But, I don't think the EM is as strong as the one's above. Regardless, there are not many negatives aside from lack of elective time and Chicago winters. The 4 or 5? hospitals they rotate thru wasn't really a deciding factor for me. Positives: Free MPH, medical spanish, well-respected EM/IM program, GREAT RESIDENTS!

4. SUNY Downstate EM/IM - This was a tough one to gauge. The IM department has teh reputation for making residents do some scutwork and I didn't know how bad this could get. I know residents are happy and feel very prepared since the pathology and clinical experience is amazing. I think this is a place that is so busy that you learn by doing. I just couldn't gauge the IM program as well. EM program - I don't think I have to say much here. It's KINGS COUNTY, so the pathology is second to none. Strongest and most competitive residency in the hospital. Plenty of autonomy to do what you want as a resident. The residents really seemed happy. They have great didactics, it seems, and the residents only had good things to say. I only ranked this higher than OSU because the EM is County and I want a more county experience. Negatives: BK is expensive, 12 hour shifts, EM seemed much stronger than IM and the facilities are pretty run down.

5. Ohio State EM/IM - newest program. HUGE SURPRISE. Residents are happy and the pre-interview dinner was fun. Had a family feel similar to UIC. PD and Assistant PD (Christiana Care trained EM/IM) value resident education and are open to changing the curriculum going forward. They are both equally strong programs, with plenty of resources to cater to any specific interests you may have. The residents and faculty sold the program. Morning report for IM was good. EM - strong peds experience, hawaii elective in the PGY 3 year, working towards MPH, residents were happy. They all get together often outside the class. The residency is well-supported. It was tough to not put this as my 4th choice, but I wanted a more county experience and more critical care exposure during the residency.

6. VCU EM/IM - first full residency class with incoming residents this fall. The PD, Dr. Suri, sold the program and is a great guy, overall. He really cares about their mission and believes EM/IM is a needed field. The IM program has been around for a while, but the EM program is only about 12 years old. The positive is that the faculty are not in-bred and have trained at various programs. The hospital is gorgeous and the residents were all happy. on the IM side, they have a unique system, learner, manager leader? (don't quote me on that) where your role changes as you go thru the years. 7 months of ICU with some big names in the ICU world, according to the residents. Negatives: for me, the EM program was pretty new, most of the residents are married and I didn't get to meet many of the EM/IM residents so couldn't gauge the sense of camaraderie amongst everyone. The EM residents were nice and seemed happy tho.

Other EM/IM that I ranked lower, mainly because of location (Hennepin) and did not get a good gut feeling about the residents plus it seemed every patient in the ED was insured (NSLIJ EM/IM).

I did get interviews at Allegheny and ECU for EM/IM but was getting tired during the interview trail so I did not get a chance to visit these programs. I have heard they are both strong. I would be happy to match at any of the programs above because they are all strong. A lot the ranking came down to gut feeling and if I could see myself being just as happy in year 5 as I was in year 1.

EM

I wanted a more county program because that's what I fell in love with during my aways. I did an EM rotation at an academic, county and community institutions.

1. Albert Einstein (Jacobi/Monte): Awesome program. Hard intern year but the residents were still happy. Monte is an absolute zoo where patients are lined up side by side back to back, so the shear volume is impressive and great for clinical training. They offer subsidized Monte housing which makes living in NYC affordable. The PD, Dr. Perrera is enthusiastic. The didactics were good. It is a nationally recognized program and been around for a while. The residents run traumas. The shifts in PGY4 are about 14/month with every other weekend off, so you can enjoy your senior years. Negatives: Don't know how great the off-service rotations are and whether the ED residents have a direct role in patient care during ICU months.

2. Christiana Care - explained above. they also have a teaching month which is unique, where the resident's only job is to teach medical students.
3. SUNY Downstate/Kings County - explained above
4. UMaryland - explained above

5. Cook county - Dr. Bowman is the man. Had a great interview and he is very enthusiastic. Had that good gut feeling about the residents. They all said it was hard work but they all loved being there and had great chemistry. Trauma is NOT longitudinal throughout the 4 years. They have separate trauma months, but EM does run them all. Positives: Pathology! Great Trauma experience, great residents, Strong in U/S, and Tox, Ortho rotation Negatives: Low salary with High COL, Lots of volume, but unsure of the graduated responsibility or if there any.

6. Ohio State - explained above. HAWAII Elective!

7. Hennepin: Great program. Great PD and faculty and they are all down to earth, given its Hennepin. The best didactics out of anywhere I have seen. The STAB room is epic and there is nothing like it anywhere. Residents run every trauma and surgery only intervenes when they are asked to. Neurosurgery months are hard, but worth it. Supposedly you can read CT heads better than a radiologist when you are done with these rotations. Minneapolis is a great city. Great summers with lots of outdoor activities and nearby lakes. Great food and coffee. Negatives: Peds is really weak. I think this is important because it is every ED physicians achilles heel and I wanted to be better prepared to see Peds, Minnesota winters (-33 temperatures last year).

Other programs I ranked. UTSW - Dallas, VCU

Hope this helps future applicants. PM me with any questions.
 
@soothingaloe; Sounds exactly like me this time last year. I went to a "big name" med school where a 3rd year EM resident (now attending) asked me if the femoral vein was medial or lateral to the artery when prepping to do a fem central line (and for real, not the "let's ask the med student a question" way). Every person in every other specialty I interacted with at that instituation warned me to go elsewhere for my EM training. Department had zero respect from outsiders, but everyone inside the department thought otherwise.

I went to a very busy, near a big city but not in it, hospital where most people outside of the state don't know "the name" but who cares? I'm getting great training and loving it. I loved my med school, but gotta say I am SO HAPPY to be done chasing "big name programs" and "prestige." Life is so much better than it was when I was running that rat race.

Good luck to all in the match.
 
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throwaway12345678 said:
I pulled this info from their website, which has since changed. Maybe it was outdated info. I hope you didn't mass email an entire residency program because of what I wrote on SDN! Thank you for clarifying, though 🙂
Click to expand...
Lol no. I mass emailed all the residents after all my interviews if the info was available.
 
Removed as so many have felt is wasn't helpful if not in numerical order.
 
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I said it before, I think, but I'll say it again. Alphabetical is not helpful. All it does is make a mishmash of whatever one was thinking. What is is not is clear is why #1 beats #2. So why bother to put any narrative?

Is it really a fear that one will be discovered, or anonymity lost? And, as an aside, it's strictly a curiosity thing when people name programs they didn't rank.

Then again, I'm just a crusty old attending that worked last night and hasn't yet slept. Whatever!

In any case, good luck to all (although it's not "luck" in any way, but hard work and conviction)!
 
Paying it forward...

Good med school, 230s/260s, no AOA, half honors in 3rd year, one H EM rotation (no clue on the other rotation), VERY interested in public health. Applied based on cities, reputation of program, and public health opportunities. Went on 12 interviews, ranked them all. SO played a huge role in rank list (he'll be the one living wherever we end up!). Ultimately, I'd be THRILLED to match at any of the programs, but ranked based on the SO, the people and "fit," the reputation, and public health opportunities. Not sure how helpful my list will be to others, but figured I'd add to the site since I've read too many lists on here already 🙂

1. Emory - Originally from GA, and rotated here. LOVE Grady, and great variety with Emory's other sites (Midtown and University). They do a lot of public health with CDC nearby, and faculty have huge range of interests. Focus on serving the community through working at Grady, and faculty are leaders. Three years, and residents are clearly well-prepared at graduation. Big class, and residents seem awesome. Atlanta is great (low COL, warm, friends and family are here), and it worked best for my SO's job.

2. Denver - People seemed great and happy at dinner and interview day. Connected with the faculty members I interviewed with, and wanted to be friends with the residents. Residents work hard, and come out incredibly well-prepared. Great injury prevention work. Ultimately, was tied with Emory right up until ROL due day, but Emory won when I thought about my life outside of the hospital (I'd have a happy SO, great weather, and friends already there).

3. Brown - Warm fuzzies here. Loved everyone I met. They do tons of great public health work, and seem more proud of their residents than any other program. Like Denver, I wanted all of the faculty members I met here to be my mentors. Truly, the only downside is that Providence is cold, but not as outdoorsy as Denver.

4. GWU - Another program with a strong public health draw. Also loved the faculty I met here, and had one of the most enjoyable and relaxed interview days. Have friends in DC, but simply felt like I fit a little better at my top three than here. And DC is really expensive.

5. Hopkins - Loved the 3+1 set-up and the residents I met. Seemed a bit more researchy than what I want (I like research, but my interviewers just asked a lot about it). Hopkins and GW flipped again and again on my list, but ultimately my SO preferred DC to Baltimore.

6. Highland - Did an away here and loved it. Residents and faculty are amazing, and really taught the med students on shifts. Clearly well-trained residents who get awesome jobs after. Only things that knocked it down are that they don't didn't offer quite the public health opportunities as Emory in such a similar hospital setting (Grady and Highland are a ton alike) and COL is ridiculous.

7. UC Davis - Loved the PD, but had a bit of an awkward interview day (10 minute interviews with like five questions to get through in each interview), and I think I need at least 20 minutes to be charming 😉 I think I'd really like Sacramento (SO MUCH OUTDOORS) and the hospital is an incredible balance of safety-net + academic, but it was bumped down because I just didn't get any warm fuzzies here. (Also, this one was right in the middle of my interview season when I really needed a break, so I think anywhere I'd interviewed then would've been lower).

8. Temple - Once again, I only have good things to say about the program. I want to add the faculty members I interviewed with to my unending list of mentors. Residents seemed great, too, but for whatever reason I just didn't feel the fit as well here. Like UC Davis, county with academics. Philly is cold, and quite frankly, all of the incredible sandwiches would be bad for my health. I think for a lot of the three year programs I just compared them to Emory, so they all got bumped down as a result.

9. Utah - LOVED the residents here. I want to go be outdoorsy with them all. Once again, really enjoyed all of the faculty members I met. If I wasn't so into public health, this would have been way up the list. They do have global health opportunities, but I'm more interested in working with a really underserved patient population on a day-to-day in the hospital.

Now these last three were just based on random gut feelings + SO opinions.

10. Georgetown - Had a good interview day, but had just interviewed at GW and had a much better feeling about GW (they seem to do all of the policy work in DC). Also got asked where else I was interviewing by two interviewers, and that's an auto bump in the ROL for me. Residents were great, and the training and hospital also seem to be great.

11. Maine - Program has the Alaska factor, but I just didn't feel like I fit great here. They don't do a ton of public health, Maine is Maine and is cold, and I just didn't get any warm fuzzies here.

12. Boston Med - Yep, I put an incredible program last. I was not on my game that particular day, and as a result I just didn't fall in love here. Didn't get to meet the new PD. Boston isn't quite for me or the SO (both cold AND expensive), so although they do awesome injury prevention research and work, it ended up last.

Less than three weeks!!
 
Long-time lurker, first-time poster in the EM forums. I got a kick out of reading these while thinking about my rank list, but ultimately ranked my list based of the "wow" and "warm fuzzy" factors before adjusting for friends/family, location, and opportunities in my areas of interest. Stats: 210's/240's, still fairly new medical school, lots of extracurriculars/leadership, prior EMT/FF, many posters/some oral presentations (only 1 or 2 EM-based), non-trad student with a prior non-medical career.

Top Half: Happiness Level = Snoopy Dance

1. WashU: (+)Faculty/residents, residents on committees, great physical plan, hours, near friends/family, pathology, Hawaii, scholarly tracks, combined fellowships, International options. (-) 4 years, floor months

2. Denver: (+) Sites, chill/nice residents, great rep, scholarly tracks, really run things, rural EMS director opp, event med, near friends. (-) Rough hours, mixed trauma, 4 years, floor months.

3. Maricopa: (+) Epter/Katz, residents awesome, hours, Phoenix, pathology/county, electives every year, warm fuzzies. (-) Physical ED plan, less academic, many sites, god-help-me summers.

4. ORMC: (+) Silvestri & Co., residents are great, nice ED, near friends, orientation month, Hawaii, lots of fellowships, medical missions, reputation. (-) Lots of off-service, hours, Orlando.

5. SLR: (+) NYC, residents happy, high throughput, reputation, scholarly tracks, no floor months, Baltimore/Miami Trauma, great benefits/retreats. (-) Less peds than some, housing small, hours.

6. Palmetto: (+) Great residents, Cook, nice ED, hours tracking, near family, academic, HBO, Hawaii, International funds, paid benefits. (-) Location, location.

7. EVMS: (+) Site variety, Norfolk area, scribes, academic, moonlighting, funded International, good benefits. (-) Trauma @ level II/III, site variety.

Bottom Half: Happiness Level = Chipotle Burrito Baby (A little uncomfortable, but satisfied.)
(These are not as inclusive because I ranked them mostly based on warm fuzzies...)

8. UT-Houston: (+) Nice physical plan, LifeFlight, strong academics, no floor months, Global Health all paid (twice!), benefits. (-) Residents and faculty felt a mixed fit, limited trauma involvement, hours, Houston

9. UNLV: (+) Event med, stand-alone trauma, good peds. (-) New PD, weird feeling between residents and faculty, over Vegas.

10. USF: (+) Layout, Tampa, pathology, very friendly. (-) Not a great fit with residents, overall lackluster feel.

11. SLU: (+) St. Louis, nice residents, near friends and family. (-) Poor physical plan, some faculty not supportive of residents, small residency.

12. BIMC: (+) NYC, nice residents, no floor months, subsidized housing looks phenomenal. (-) Wasn’t feeling the fit on interview day.

13. UT-Murfreesboro: (+) New blood, nice faculty and staff, connections. (-) New program very close to a popular, well-established program leaves too many questions.

14. UF-Jax: (+) Pathology/county, on the beach, residents were awesome. (-) Didn’t mesh with the faculty or leadership, questionable oversight/support, not a fan of Jacksonville. (Happiness Level = Who cares?! I Matched!)

Hang in there! We're almost there!
 
Congrats to everyone for being so close to match day!

I was wondering for anyone who applied to BIDMC, how competitive is this program? I think I am a reach candidate at this point for BIDMC but wondering if an away rotation would help me out or if an average step 1 would keep me out regardless.
 
IMO I think a stellar away rotation is the strongest part of an application. Performing well, interacting with the residents/faculty and getting to know the program will help both you and the program far more than a number. Average step 1 + honors away is much more likely to get an interview than average step 1 alone.
 
DarkHorse22 said:
IMO I think a stellar away rotation is the strongest part of an application. Performing well, interacting with the residents/faculty and getting to know the program will help both you and the program far more than a number. Average step 1 + honors away is much more likely to get an interview than average step 1 alone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply and input!
 
Anonymously posted:

DO Student. Steps 250s/250s. Top 10% of class. All H 3rd year. EM rotations H and P (P/F only on second rotation). I was told my SLOEs were excellent while interviewing but who really knows. Applied to 35, received 18 invites, went on 13 interviews. Applied and interviewed based on regional preferences. Ranked on gestalt. Here is my top 8 in order:

USC+LAC: (+) Amazing patients/pathology/trauma/everything! Non-stop, crazy busy ED with tons of procedures and loads of autonomy. They have some of the best educators in the country (as evidenced by EM:Rap, HippoEM, etc.) Best EM Grand Rounds I have been to. All the residents are super nice, super smart and easy to get along with. Very good relationships amongst residents-faculty-staff-other services. Very nice ED. Strong Ultrasound and Peds. Super cool hyperbaric training. Cadaver lab. Will come out of training as a badass. Obvious strong commitment to serving their patients (-) COL, LA is too urban and too far from mtns for me, maybe a little bit too homogenous patient population, not much opportunity for international/non-USC electives

UCSF/Fresno: (+) Amazing pathology with lots of sick patients! Non-stop trauma, critical patients in the ED. Tons of procedures. Good mix of community and county populations serving both rural and urban patients. Fantastic residents and faculty; instantly felt like I could be good friends with everyone there. Like the AM shift change rounds/cases. Faculty seems to give plenty of autonomy but there for you when you need them. 19-21 x 9 hour shifts. Family and dog friendly. Great area for climbing and outdoor shenanigans (-) Weaker academics and didactics, a faculty member mentioned something negative about DOs which was offensive to me. *Shifted back and forth btw #1 and #2 multiple times but in the end my gut feeling told me to rank USC #1 however I know I would be equally as happy here.*

UCLA/Olive View: (+) Extremely friendly and welcoming faculty/residents/staff, 12 x 4 shifts/week, 3 very diverse clinical training sites, 20 weeks of flexible elective time including very well est. international rotations, resident feedback drives curriculum changes, West LA, very reasonable schedule, 4 weeks of orientation, great didactics, cadaver labs, excellent PD (-) Lack of penetrating trauma, 8 weeks of med wards, COL

Denver Health: (+) diverse training sites with High volume and acuity; very hands on training from day 1, graduated responsibility with seniors running the department; extremely well thought out off service rotations; super nice and smart faculty and residents, uber close to mountain fun, great didactics, 8 hr cycle forward shifts (2 afternoon, 2 overhs, 2 am), great trauma training (-) work much harder than many other programs with no reduction of shift load as you proceed through the program, only 3 weeks of vacation/year!, only 8 weeks of elective in a 4 year program *Probably would have been higher on my rank list but SO input put it lower*

University of New Mexico: (+) Huge catchment area leading to high volume of sick patients, diverse residents who all seemed very strong, impressed by the commitment of residents and faculty to their patients, ABQ is a really cool place to live with cheap COL and great outdoor access, Dr Rimple is amazing (-) Too much boarding in the ED, Personally I didn’t click as well with the residents here

University of Nevada: (+) Wide array of pathology, high acuity, high volume; lots of procedures (most interns have completed required number of procedures), EM runs airways for the hospital; residents do all of their own reductions; good trauma and Peds training; event medicine; the best orientation I have encountered with focus on pre-hospital care and team building; Most welcoming, friendly residents I met on the interview trail; residents seem skilled and confident with great training overall; very affordable COL; outdoor life is Vegas is ridiculously amazing climbing at Red Rock, hiking Charleston, skiing Brian Head, etc., track schedule with flexibility (-) Weaker academics and didactics; residents may be too single/party oriented for me; 12 hr shifts (18,17,16), only 3 weeks vacation (2+1)

Maricopa: (+) Very busy county hospital with high acuity, residents do all of their own reductions, good procedural experience, COL, good work/life balance, great outdoor activities nearby, paid conference every year, 1 elective every year, 9 h x 20 shifts/month, Dr Epter is a strong leader and resident advocate, overnight shifts are done in month block, definitely some of the nicest residents I met on the interview trail/very like minded, burn ICU (-) Phoenix is hot, academically weaker, unsure if there is enough trauma experience

Stanford: (+) Great teaching, strong faculty, plenty of opportunity and funding for research and other interests, beautiful area to live, multi-site diverse training experience, Dr. Williams is a great role model and leader (-) I noticed some weird interactions between faculty and residents, seemed to be too much resident hand holding at Stanford hosp, COL, 12 hr shifts

Good luck to everyone in the Match!
 
For some reason they think that their true identity will be discovered...
 
Did mine anonymously, but since lists are finalized I'll give my top 6:

Step 1 = 250's, Step 2 = 250's, 2 Honors M3 year, rest are High Passes, HP'd both of my EM rotations. Top quartile (AOA nominated but didn't get it.)

1. Palmetto - great place near home. PD is awesome and cares greatly about the quality of education provided in the program. Columbia is a mid-sized city with a college town feel. Huge lake in the next county over and Charlotte is a little over an hour to the north. Housing was cheap.

2. Wake Forest - Solid program, honestly a really hard choice whether to rank this number 1 or 2. PD here is fairly new but seems very devoted to maintaining the incredible reputation the department has. Residents all seemed very happy here. Winston-Salem is somewhat similar to Columbia with a little bit better access to places like the mountains, Charlotte, Raleigh.

3. EVMS - Was definitely surprised by this program. Would definitely be happy if I ended up here. The hospital seemed nice and some of your rotations would be at Virginia Beach hospital (allowing you to get the community ED experience). Also great opportunities for teaching med students if you're into that.

4. Indiana - Program has incredible opportunities and everyone I met in the program was passionate about how great the program was. The "track" system they incorporate into your training would probably make you very marketable to any place you applied. Indianapolis seems live-able but at the end of the day I realized I wanted to live in the southeast.

5. UAB - Very solid program. All of the residents seemed nice and were very down to earth during my interview. The PD personally gave us a tour of the hospital which is something I didn't see at any other place I interviewed at. Birmingham was a cool city and the reputation of the UAB healthcare system is pretty awesome.

6. Vidant - Residents were very tight knit and had a similar sense of humor to mine. Definitely feel like I would fit in if I ended up here. Hospital sees a huge volume with very diverse pathology. ED is one of the nicest I saw on the interview trail.

Other places I interviewed (in no particular order) - Hennepin, VCU, UNC, NYMC/Metropolitan, UT Murfreesboro, UF Jacksonville, Orlando Regional, USF
 
normtheniner said:
Did mine anonymously, but since lists are finalized I'll give my top 6:

Step 1 = 250's, Step 2 = 250's, 2 Honors M3 year, rest are High Passes, HP'd both of my EM rotations. Top quartile (AOA nominated but didn't get it.)

1. Palmetto - great place near home. PD is awesome and cares greatly about the quality of education provided in the program. Columbia is a mid-sized city with a college town feel. Huge lake in the next county over and Charlotte is a little over an hour to the north. Housing was cheap.

2. Wake Forest - Solid program, honestly a really hard choice whether to rank this number 1 or 2. PD here is fairly new but seems very devoted to maintaining the incredible reputation the department has. Residents all seemed very happy here. Winston-Salem is somewhat similar to Columbia with a little bit better access to places like the mountains, Charlotte, Raleigh.

3. EVMS - Was definitely surprised by this program. Would definitely be happy if I ended up here. The hospital seemed nice and some of your rotations would be at Virginia Beach hospital (allowing you to get the community ED experience). Also great opportunities for teaching med students if you're into that.

4. Indiana - Program has incredible opportunities and everyone I met in the program was passionate about how great the program was. The "track" system they incorporate into your training would probably make you very marketable to any place you applied. Indianapolis seems live-able but at the end of the day I realized I wanted to live in the southeast.

5. UAB - Very solid program. All of the residents seemed nice and were very down to earth during my interview. The PD personally gave us a tour of the hospital which is something I didn't see at any other place I interviewed at. Birmingham was a cool city and the reputation of the UAB healthcare system is pretty awesome.

6. Vidant - Residents were very tight knit and had a similar sense of humor to mine. Definitely feel like I would fit in if I ended up here. Hospital sees a huge volume with very diverse pathology. ED is one of the nicest I saw on the interview trail.

Other places I interviewed (in no particular order) - Hennepin, VCU, UNC, NYMC/Metropolitan, UT Murfreesboro, UF Jacksonville, Orlando Regional, USF
Click to expand...

You mention Charlotte twice, was wondering if you applied to CMC (if you don't mind me asking)?
 
MD Applicant Step 1= 230s Step 2 = 250s. All honors third year. Honored 2 EM AIs


#1 Palmetto - PD Cookie Monster. 8 months of EM first year with only 3 months of off service rotations. Great community/academic mix. Patients are SICK. Definitely no lack of pathology. Columbia has enough. Awesome talented residents who are all down to earth. (-) Facilities could be a little shinier but who cares
#2 Wake - Strong critical care focus. 7 months of EM first year with a lot of ICU exposure. Program has great reputation. The Hospital system is a monster .Winston Salem is a hip little town. (-) not sure how much penetrating trauma exposure you get here. Very very very academic (depends on if you are into that thing)
#3 Indy - Wowed by their pretty things. Great pathology especially in peds. SOLID reputation. Lots of Critical Care. Great educational opportunities to serve on committees and such (if you are into that sorta thing).... (-) Outside of Indy there is nothing. Location will put me 10+ hours away from family
#4 VCU - Amazing facilities, trauma bays are the nicest i've seen ever... Great trauma exposure and very indigent patient population so new lack of pathology here. (-) New PD, floor medicine and floor peds first year, Richmond traffic
#5 CMC - (+) its CMC.... (-) Didn't jive with residents or faculty. Really felt like their tooted their own horn a little too much for my likings. Solid program but they need to get over themselves.

Honorable Mention: EVMS, Vandy, Jacksonville, Hopkins


Good Luck everyone.
 
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I'll shoot. If anyone would like more specifics, please PM me re: specific programs.

I should preface my list that I'm on the West Coast trying to get back to the southeast, where my wife and I are both from and would like to raise our kids. Didn't meet too many on the trail that were trying to make that move, and plenty of people who were plenty happy that I was "opening up a seat" at one of the LA programs for them. Other desires: either proximity to family (our two families are in the same place in the deep south) or preferably a functional biotech sector, which is my wife's field of work.

My philosophy: how well I and the program/residents fit together, far and away the most important. At some point the number of mentors IRL and people on here hammering home the "RRC has you covered, every program has the tools to allow you to become the physician you will become, go for fit" message got it to sink in. Considerations of who ran trauma, or how many chest tubes you get to do, or how many floor months you do, were very, very secondary to how happy/satisfied I thought people around the programs seemed.

About me: older non-trad MD applicant from strong CA program, 240's/260's, pass/fail 3rd year, 2 home Sub-I's, 1 away, all honors and/or very strong SLOEs. Good not great research experience.

1. UNC - Did my away here, solidified my feelings about the place. Probably the most resident-friendly place on my interview trail. Salary/benefits aren't out of this world, but the PD here is amazing and made me feel very at home. Two of the three legs of the programs missions statement involve the growth and care of residents, and it shows. Fantastic faculty, I really liked all of the APD's, who are each very different. You randomly bump into Judy Tintinalli. Great EMS PD, which is an interest of mine. Great exposure to community-style medicine (which is where I want to wind up) at WakeMed. Saw much more trauma than I thought I would. Residents from top to bottom seemed happy. Even Ob Gyn consults were really pleasant, which says something. Great moonlighting opportunities. Possibly best location in the South, IMHO, great academic but still very culturally Southern city. Research Triangle has best biotech opportunities in South, which is why we started looking at this program in the first place. Best COL and kids' school options out of my top programs.

2. UAB - Another really resident-friendly place. PD here is uniquely amazing to me and my hobbies (from South, started climbing, became guide on Rainier, now back in South). One of those places where you really get a sense of the place by how well the coordinator takes care of you and planning your interview and also how well the faculty and residents treat her when you see them interacting on interview day. Fantastic pathology 2/2 huge catchment area. Amazing flight options, with moonlighting on fixed wing an interesting option. Good benefits (UAB is a private hospital). Birmingham is an amazing mid-sized southern city with a great vibe, but fewer options for wife. Tried to sell this program to everyone who would listen on interview trail.

3. LSU-NO - Closest program to our kids' grandparents. Amazing training, Charity-vibe still lives here regardless of where the ED is physically located. Great residents from all over the country/world. Strong county vibe. If you don't love that Charity patient population, which I very much do, don't look here. The program and the residents take improving the lives of poor New Orleanians very very seriously, and spend their free time helping how they can. New facility coming online. 4 year program, big negative for me but not a deal breaker. They sell the value of that year pretty well though. You work hard here, shift load higher than a lot of places in region. I loved this place, but NO isn't our best option for wife's work.

4. UTSW - Loved this place as well. Most closely approximated the Harbor/LAC experience in the South. Huge county program with everything that that means. Fantastic academic options for me: EMS and GEMSS both great programs, EMS faculty with whom I interviewed was probably my favorite interview of the entire trail. Great benefits. I got along great with the residents (Lots of them did UG at SEC schools, as did I, which made corn hole at the resident mixer a hair more competitive than the average.) New Parkland facility looks like it will be awesome. Not a huge fan of Dallas, but this program makes Dallas attractive.

5. UCLA-Olive View - I love the people here, and I think the residents here are as happy and well cared for as any program in CA, and much more than most. Great academics. Wish you had more time at AV facility. I've known the residents here since beginning of MS1 and they all seem completely satisfied that they are here instead of some of the "better" programs around LA, and they seem to have the job offers to show for it. Great use of 4th year, incredibly flexible with elective time (you really can do anything you can design that will further your education.) If I had to stay in LA, this is the program I would want to stay at.

I will be happy at any of those 5, but UNC is where I hope to end up.

The rest of my interviews, which I may get around to another day, or can answer via PM if you have burning questions:
Georgetown, George Washington, Loma Linda, Harbor-UCLA, LAC+USC, Johns Hopkins, LSU-BR, JP Smith, UCSD
 
Renaissance Man said:
You mention Charlotte twice, was wondering if you applied to CMC (if you don't mind me asking)?
Click to expand...

I did apply... no interview. I'm guessing its my HP'ing EM rotations or my lack of AOA status.... regardless, I'm extremely happy with how things ended up this year (I say that without knowing where I'm going at this point).
 
Lurked and never posted. Used these threads a lot to make decisions about where to interview (I don't think they're that helpful for where to actually rank -- that part is on you to figure out once you're in that position).

I only applied to programs in cities where I knew people, so that’s my biggest limiting factor from the outset. In terms of making final decisions, I’ve heard people say you rank with either your brain, your heart, or your gut. What follows is 100% gut.

1. BMC: Strong social justice mentality that extends beyond just the patient demographics and into both the services being offered and the way that care is being considered. Residents seemed happy, confident, and normal. Faculty interviewers were warm and really supportive. Have heard that the new PD is a little colder than the old one, but didn’t get that vibe during my interview. Don’t love Boston but it is close to family and ended up making the most sense.

2. Highland: Could easily have been number one. In the end, decided to preference family over a big adventure, but I really loved this program. Kind of a question of whether you’re gonna drink their Kool-Aid, and I totally did. Solid training and, above all, their residents are SO HAPPY. I feel like that matters.

3. GW: My list turns a little here and switches from county programs to way more academic programs. Can’t totally say why. Maybe I don’t know what I want. Like I said, though, I did this mostly (just kidding, entirely) on feel, and this place felt awesome. Tons of opportunity, particularly if you’re interested in building a career in EM beyond just clinical work. Residents seemed so down to earth and kind. Best PD on the trail, far and away. I want her to come with me wherever I go. Into the mini-fellowship thing. ED felt weirdly small.

4. Hopkins: Never thought this would be this high, almost cancelled the interview. Wonderfully diverse, nice, and interesting residents. Loved Baltimore as a city even though I have no ties there (the one exception to my rule about places with people I knew). Loved the fourth year structured tracks, which felt like they made a lot of sense at a place with so many resources. Felt a little formal and stuffy, not surprisingly, which is why it didn’t land higher. As others have mentioned, A+ for the interview candy platters. Definitely elevated the whole day.

5. MGH/Brigham: A name that goes a long way in terms of broader career goals, tons of money, tons of opportunity. Close to family. Felt old and white. 5-8 were the hardest ones for me to rank, and the final order is pretty arbitrary and based on admittedly petty things. In other words, don't read too much into this. I think they are all very good programs with fairly similar pros and cons.

6. Penn: Wanted to place this higher because I loved my interview day and love Philly, but keep hearing that it is wildly academic to the detriment of the overall program. Liked the new trauma center but that did feel like a gamble.

7. Brown: Would possibly be ranked first if I were in a relationship. All the residents were married or engaged. Seriously. Other than that, amazing program with tremendous clinical training, huge catchment area, great faculty, tons of space to do more creative work. A bit sad about this one.

8. Yale: Eh. Don’t really want to live in New Haven. Everything seemed fine but not fantastic. Amazing patient population, lots of money to do cool stuff, but something about it just didn’t click with me.

9. Denver: Way too intense. If I’m doing four years, I want to have space within that time to do stuff that is not strictly clinical. Can’t do that here. Best trained residents out there, from what I've seen, but it turns out that clinical excellence isn't my number one priority. I want to be competent, obviously, but I don't need to be able to run a hospital on Attending Day One.

10. Cooper: I love this program. I love this patient population. I love this Chair. In the end, just didn’t seem like it offered the same opportunities that the other programs did. Someday I would like to work here, though. I really recommend this place to people who want to go into the community and who believe in Emergency Medicine's potential to improve entire cities. Just writing this makes me a little nostalgic. In another life...

11. UMD: Thought I would be really into this one, totally was not. Shock trauma felt like a con instead of a pro. Didn’t click with the residents. Faculty interviewer spent a lot of the time talking about training at BMC and how awesome it was.

Only place I didn’t rank was Georgetown. Got bad vibes there from minute one. Can’t totally say why, but the residents just didn’t even seem like they wanted to be talking to us and the faculty members were beyond uninterested in learning about me. It was also really rainy. To their credit, they did give the best (/kind of only) swag of the trail.

Also, for the record, got most of the interviews I wanted but did not get interviews at Temple or UCSF. No longer feels like a huge loss, but for people reading this as a way to make decisions, I will say that those are places that I heard great things about, and I think they likely would have landed fairly high on my list.
 
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Anonymous post:

Very warm thank yous to all those who posted before me! Paying it forward.

Step 1 ~230, Step 2 ~260

Low tier med school. 4H in 3rd year (a lot of H in med school), not AOA. 2 EM rotations, both H.

Philosophy: My significant other had a huge part in my ranking – there were some programs that I really, really loved but didn’t end up ranking highly because of SO. Gut feeling, resident satisfaction/happiness, approachable faculty, my comfort level during interviews also played a huge role. I also paid special attention to the patient population being served – I have a strong preference for working in underserved communities. Also preferred 4 year programs – I just like the flexibility 4 year programs offer and have a strong interest in international EM, so the more electives, the better.

I really was impressed with almost all of the programs I interviewed at and consider myself very fortunate to have had the privilege. Without further ado…

Highland: (+) Awesome residents and faculty (down to earth & fun, type of people you want to be around 3 am in the morn)- really loved the vibe here. The patient population/training site. Great reputation – very strong specialty in the hospital. International experience with faculty support. GI rounds TID. Sunny California. 8 hr shifts. Graduates from this program are doing amazing things. Great benefits including moving stipend. Gut feeling: Honestly, I was dazzled by this program, tons of warm fuzzies (-)COL

UCSF/SFGH: (+)Great residents and faculty- they have awesome faculty (including Michelle Lin of ALiEM). Very strong tertiary care hospital -amazing off service rotations (you’re working with the best). Great county site -SFGH. Great international opportunities with faculty support. Great benefits including moving stipend. Gut feeling: Loved this program so much as well, ++ warm fuzzies. (-)COL, newer program (just mentioning this, did not have any bearing in my ranking)

UCLA/Olive View: (+) Very diverse teaching sites (RR – tertiary care serving some of the richest zip codes on planet Earth, OV-county site serving a very underserved/marginalized population). Strong faculty & fun residents. Gut feeling: this program was a practical choice for me given opportunities my SO had in the area and family presence in the area (-) LA traffic, COL, distance between the two sites, 12 hr shifts

UC Irvine: (+) Loved the interaction with the residents and how close they seemed. New PD seems invested in residents and very approachable. It was just a fun, close-knit group. Close to 1:1 faculty/resident ratio. Very close to family for me, more affordable than LA or Bay area. Gut feeling: Loved it here! Walked out with a smile on my face. (-) 12 hr shifts (but it’s a 3 year program so it makes sense with 12x20/month, goes down to 10hr as a senior resident),

Northwestern: (+) This was a no brainer: strong program, crazy city, international opportunities, ++ research with funding, Grads are doing amazing things. Gut feeling: Loved the program itself but not too crazy about the weather in Chicago, no ties to the area but was willing to overlook that given how strong this program was. (-)Very academic, maybe too academic for me. Not much county experience. Chicago wind knocked me out.

The rest of my list included: Cook County, Stanford, Loma Linda, BIDMC, SUNY Downstate, MSBI –NY, Einstein (Philly) with special shout outs to:

UT Austin: New program, loved the PD, loved the city, this program is off to a great start.

Denver: No brainer again. Strong reputation, amazing residents, LOVE Denver. Very work hard, play hard – residents are beasts (meaning they’re on top of their game, strong). Really one of the best, if not the best program out there. If it wasn’t for my SO, probably would have been #1 or #2.

BMC: Loved BMC. Independent residents with total ownership of their department. Very cohesive group who hang out outside of work (I think they run 5Ks every month), great vibe. This was a program that I really wanted to be a part of. Again, if it wasn’t for my SO, definitely top 3.

SLR: This program is a gem! Great PD totally invested in resident wellness, strong reputation, amazing residents. I just couldn’t stomach living in NYC and again SO had better opportunities elsewhere.

Baylor: Ben Taub is a crazy hospital, chaotic, very county. When I visited, I was blown away by the volume of patients in the ED and by the stories the residents were telling me – in terms of the quality of cases. You will be worked but I felt that the diversity and the vast amount of patients was a perfect combination for this relatively new 3 year program.

Hope this was helpful. I really appreciated reading these lists while I was ranking and hope this helps someone out there.
 
Coming out of TX with Step scores in the 240-250 range, mediocre pre-clinical grades, excellent clinical grades with honors in two EM rotations. Strong research background in emergency medicine and education.

In no particular order, but the Bay Area programs were my top three-- despite major reservations about going from the city with the best cost of living to the city with the worst, I just think it'll be a cool place to live and train for a few years, and provide opportunities for my SO and myself to get involved with interesting work opportunities and research opportunities in the health IT sector.

UCSF - Really liked this program's emphasis on education, and the design of their curriculum -- 4 years is longer than Stanford, but the 4 years seem to be a solid investment, especially if you're interested in academics on the west coast/NW, where most programs are four years and they'll want fellows or attendings who trained at four year programs. 8s > 12s for me. Residents seem happy, faculty is interested in teaching and making a strong program. Very tightly affiliated with Highland, including the new PD, so I'm hopeful that some of the Highland personality traits will rub off on this program as Dr. Fee contineus to bulid it from a fairly new program into a powerhouse. Many people seemed hung up on the idea that you don't "own" procedures here in trauma as you might in other programs-- I don't mind this as much. Four years is a long time and I feel like I'll get plenty of experience. Also, I feel like EM and surgery/anesthesia are team players in trauma management have a lot to learn from/teach each other.

Stanford - Again, huge emphasis on education here. Stanford also has a tighter affiliation with Kaiser, which is appealing to me from a research/policy junkie standpoint. Clinically, I wish they had more time at their county site, but it seems like residents come out of here very well-trained. Like UCSF, cost of living is a factor-- though the salary here and bonuses are the best anywhere, it still will be expensive to live anywhere near where you work, and you have to commute a lot. Loved the PDs, loved the interview day, and will be very happy if I match here.

Highland - Loved everything about this program. Went in early to attend their didactics on interview day, and was very impressed at the excellence of instruction and the collegiality/happiness of the residents. Really fun group, and if you're signing up for four years of county in Oakland, you want to be with people like that. Watched "The Waiting Room" and this just deepened my respect for the community integration and social justice aspects of this program, which I'd also be ecstatic to match it. Possibily less affiliated with the tech side of things than Stanford/UCSF, which is partially a reason I'm drawn to the Bay Area, but I feel like I'd be the best clinically if I went here.

Harborview - Loved Seattle, but this program still feels like it's shaking off the vestiges of their former anti-EM head of the ED/director of Medic One. EMS experience here is obviously excellent by reputation and I love the experience you could get managing patients from all over the NW, but I also feel like it's sort of overhyped in terms of CARES data reporting. But that's a topic for another time. Harborview itself seems like an amazing county hospital, though here I think you'll get the least amount of experience running traumas-- I was concerned by, and never received a response to, an article published by their trauma anesthesiologists that said that at their center anesthesia does ALL the airways in trauma. I don't mind sharing, but I want the experience and that's a dealbreaker for me.

Denver - It's been said before, great training, brutal lifestyle. The lack of deprecated number of shifts as a function of PGY bummed me out. At the same time, you get enough time off to explore the mountains and it's a great city with low CoL. Fantastic reputation, could probably go anywhere coming out of here.

MGH/BWH - This program will eventually be a powerhouse, I think-- Ron Walls being chief is a huge deal, and obviously this place has resources for days. They have an incredibly productive research focus, and the infrastructure to get anything done you want. Downsides are basically living in Boston-- I'm just a west coast kinda guy, I think.

BID - Three years v. four, and more community sites v. 2-3 central hospitals you spend almost all your time at. That's the biggest difference between here and Partners. Also, they have an EM/CC guy who is a beast at post-arrest and sepsis research, which is a interest of mine, and a lot of really cool tech research in their ED. Again, not really wanting to live in Boston, but if I did I'd love this program.

OHSU - Beautiful campus, very nice people, Portland is an awesome city with a low cost of living. VA hospital here, which is sort of unique among the programs I interviewed at. The volume here *is* less than other sites, though as their PD says, "You'll see more patients here per resident and make up for it". I'm not really sure what this means, but I don't know that I buy it in terms of clinical excellence coming out.

UCLA/Harbor - Cool program, new ED, famous faculty, seemed kinder/gentler/happier than USC but still county. Their trauma M&M made it seem like the relationship they had with their colleagues was decent, and the residents all seemed nice and looking forward to doing whatever they wanted next year. Southern CA < Northern CA for me, but if I wanted to live in LA this would probably be my choice.

USC - Great faculty here, obviously. The size and volume at this place is a little intimidating, but I think it could yield clinical readiness for literally anything. Code Black obviously showed a side of LAC, and they seem proud of that.

Hennepin, UT Houston, UT Austin, UW Madison, King's County, Maine -- All great programs, especially Hennepin (amazing, just have to live in Minneapolis), Austin (will be the most desirable program in TX soon and provide huge opportunities to educate med students at UT Austin).

Last but not least (and definitely not ranked last, but I don't want to stay for the usual reasons anyone would want to go out and diversify their knowledge base / life experience): UT Houston-- highest trauma volume in the country, amazing faculty, happy residents, good county/tertiary care mix, endless job opportunities when you're done, and lots of intradisciplinary research happening. I went to medical school and worked closely with the faculty here, and give them all the credit for my ability to interview at a ton of amazing places and have the opportunity to leave TX-- I may yet come back for fellowship, or maybe for one of these sweet high-paying Texan jobs once I'm done. 🙂

Well, just got the e-mail that I matched somewhere. We will see where! Good luck in the match everyone!
 
Congrats to all that matched.

Anonymously posted:

Step 1 250’s, Step 2 270’s, AOA
Top 4 Alphabetical in order
1. Carolinas: Great reputation. Hospital is in nice part of town but see’s typical inner city patients. Motivated residents from all over the country. Nice weather. A lot of residents go into academics. Well known faculty. Lots of off service rotations.
2. Indiana: Loved this program. Very nice Sim center. Great reputation. I really got along great with residents and staff. Dr. Kline is here. Not sure about Indianapolis for a city.
3. Mayo: Big name in medicine. Opens doors outside of medicine. Residents were great. Opportunity to learn from some of the biggest names in medicine. Rochester Minnesota.
4. Regions (Health Partners): Hidden Gem. Great blend of county, academic, and community medicine. Nice sim center. Opportunity to teach medical students. Residents and staff seem genuinely happy.
Next 4 in alphabetical order
1. Medical college of Wisconsin: older program. Good reputation. Nice blend of community vs county program. Low cost of living and short commutes.
2. Orlando Regional Medical Center: Nice weather. Nice facilities. Residents seem really close. Weekly sports day. Nice pediatric ED.
3. OSHU. Portland, great city. Nice facilities. Close to Ocean and Mountains.
4. University of Nebraska: newer program but really like their trajectory. Surprised by the number of traumas in Omaha.
Also interviewed at HCMC, Salt Lake, University of Texas Austin, and University of Wisconsin.
 
Would really be nice to see some diversity honestly. I feel like every list has been a ranking of the more "big name" programs.
 
Tomorrow night - More than likely anyone who matches at our program is going to be getting some awesome phone calls...

Good luck everyone
 
Do most programs call for EM? I would absolutely love to get a phone call from the program I match with.
 
Akail said:
Would really be nice to see some diversity honestly. I feel like every list has been a ranking of the more "big name" programs.
Click to expand...
How can you tell? With the idiotic alphabetical order, the "big names" could be at the bottom of the list. With each entry of "I loved it here", but, if the person ranked it 4th, that would make more sense. In other words, again, why bother to post, if you are going to say how much you loved a program, but not where you ranked it? That is nonsensical.
 
Apollyon said:
How can you tell? With the idiotic alphabetical order, the "big names" could be at the bottom of the list. With each entry of "I loved it here", but, if the person ranked it 4th, that would make more sense. In other words, again, why bother to post, if you are going to say how much you loved a program, but not where you ranked it? That is nonsensical.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
 
Apollyon said:
How can you tell? With the idiotic alphabetical order, the "big names" could be at the bottom of the list. With each entry of "I loved it here", but, if the person ranked it 4th, that would make more sense. In other words, again, why bother to post, if you are going to say how much you loved a program, but not where you ranked it? That is nonsensical.
Click to expand...
Not that it matters much, but mine are in order if it helps anyone. Not sure exactly how it would however.
 
Pons Asinorum said:
Not that it matters much, but mine are in order if it helps anyone. Not sure exactly how it would however.
Click to expand...
Really? First, to be technical, an alphabetized list is, strictly speaking, NOT a rank list, and just a list of where one interviewed. Literally, they are not "ranked". More to the spirit (vs. the letter), though, is that, if one is listing commentary, if a person said they loved a place, and ranked them #5, and said another place was just midrange, but ranked them #1, then it would raise an issue. When all the places listed are 'great', but not ranked, then it looks just generic (and make me wonder, at least, if the person actually would say if one was worse than another, or whether it is another example of "millennialism", with "everyone wins!" and "participation ribbons, because no one should be ahead of another!), and wouldn't engender discussion. And, then, it would raise the question of "why even bother?". SDN is "paying it forward", and it's like how I (virtually, not really) cringe when people say, "I lurk all the time, but never post", like that is some sort of beatitude.
 
Apollyon said:
How can you tell? With the idiotic alphabetical order, the "big names" could be at the bottom of the list. With each entry of "I loved it here", but, if the person ranked it 4th, that would make more sense. In other words, again, why bother to post, if you are going to say how much you loved a program, but not where you ranked it? That is nonsensical.
Click to expand...

I will agree that at this point, posting in alphabetical order is not going to change anything for you, but posting in the actual order you ranked may be helpful. You know, I actually think either way should get the point across though. Some married people may have loved a program for one reason or another and wanted to rank it first, but their wife/husband vetoed it... Knowing that someone ranked it 4th instead of 1st isn't going to help anyone because the decision was made for a specific reason that no one else will relate to. The pros and cons of the program are more useful than the actual spot you placed it on your list in my opinion. Out of what I would have liked to put into my top 3, only one of them ended up in my top 3 because of my significant others location...

Since tomorrow is match day, I will go ahead and give you my top 6 in order. Please refer to my prior list for details of why.

1. UTSW Dallas
2. University of Missouri Kansas City
3. University of Kansas
4. Carilion Clinic Virginia Tech
5. University of Arkansas
6. Albert Einstein in Philly
 
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