Reason I ask about BIDMC--HELP!

[Airway81]

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Hey Everyone:

Within a 5 day span, I will be interviewing at Hopkins, MGH, BIDMC, UPenn.

I am thinking of cancelling BIDMC, bc I am afraid I will simply be too exhausted.

Also this would not allow me to attend the UPenn dinner...I heard a story of someone recently not attending the UPenn dinner and getting "flogged" for it during the interview the next day, so I am afraid to miss the dinner.

Any advice on this? What would y'all do?

Thanks so much--I really have on idea what I am doing at this point!👍

 

[huron]

Hey Everyone:

Within a 5 day span, I will be interviewing at Hopkins, MGH, BIDMC, UPenn.

I am thinking of cancelling BIDMC, bc I am afraid I will simply be too exhausted.

Also this would not allow me to attend the UPenn dinner...I heard a story of someone recently not attending the UPenn dinner and getting "flogged" for it during the interview the next day, so I am afraid to miss the dinner.

Any advice on this? What would y'all do?

Thanks so much--I really have on idea what I am doing at this point!👍

What is BIDMC?


Unless your scores are so high you think you can get into every big name program you apply to you probably would benefit from going to as many interviews as you get invited to.

 

[Flycatcher]

Beth Israel Deaconness, on of the 3 "Harvard hospitals," and an excellent program, by many accounts.

Airway81, beign ver familialr with UPenn gas, I would be surprised if anyone were truly "fllogged" for not attendng, the dinner (although they would most liely have missed out on a good time), unless their reason sounded extremely ass, like "Those dinners are always so boring and stoid" or some such. Of course, I wasn't there and said flogging victim might be totally right, but it could be an overreaction to an innocen question or an bad answer. Just sayin'.

Unless UPenn is your top choice without a doubt, I agree with huron that you're better off attending the BID interview. Is it really impossible to do both? When does the BID inteview day end. Could you arrive late for the dinner?

 

[StealYourFace]

Good point Flycatcher, forgot to put that in my other post (the other BIDMC thread) -- the interview day is over by noon @ BID. So you could conceivably still be on time for your UPenn dinner.

 

[BostonGas]

Good point Flycatcher, forgot to put that in my other post (the other BIDMC thread) -- the interview day is over by noon @ BID. So you could conceivably still be on time for your UPenn dinner.

Official interviews end noon-12:30. This is followed by lunch with the residents for about an hour. You can take off anytime you want and I'm sure the coordinator would even help out to make sure a cab would be waiting to take you to the airport. It takes less than a half hour to get to Logan at that time of day. You should be able to easily get to Philly by late afternoon, so all and all, very doable. Keep the BIDMC interview. You may like the place so much, you may want to spend at least three years of your life there

 

[jennyboo]

Those other programs were somewhat more exciting in terms of reputation and cases, but since you probably do want a "safety," BID is probably as solid a "back-up" (many people wouldn't call it that) as you'll ever interview at. You may look back and remember this as your interview "hell week" and probably could match at one of the others if you stacked them up at #1, 2, and 3 on your rank list, but I think it's probably a good back-up if you need some more programs to rank and feel confident you'd be content with. By the end of my interview season, I probably would've been happy at my top 4 and everything after that had some serious drawbacks (location, reputation, whatever) -- so give yourself a good chance to rank some programs you'd be really content with.

 

[BostonGas]

Those other programs were somewhat more exciting in terms of reputation and cases, but since you probably do want a "safety," BID is probably as solid a "back-up"

I hate to break it to you but given the size of the resident class, quality of cases, quality of teaching, relative lack of fellows and overall quality of resident life, BIDMC is far and away the most "competitive" program in Boston.
(judging competitiveness by percentage interviewed/applied and how far down rank list) "Safety" is not a word that immediately comes to mind.

 

[chicamedica]

Also it's entirely possible that you might not like Penn and you might love BID. So dont miss out on the BID interview. At least be in the running for a spot at both. even if you're late for the penn dinner, it's ok. Just let the administrators @ Penn know you might be late to the dinner because of this other interview.

 

[joshmir]

g

 

[joshmir]

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[joshmir]

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[joshmir]

bias-current BID resident but been posting on here for years prior(ie, not a new kid on the block), just as scared as you were, and bringing you the 2 scoops:

please forgive us if we seem defensive...you read a lot of BS on sdn, and you see a lot of BID residents hopping on here to defend the program because...honestly...it's an *awesome* program in terms of

-your quality of life while you are a resident
-what it can get you afterwards

our seniors these last two years got the top fellowships in the nation in the competitive subspecialties, and none of them published earth-shattering research...

-Regional fellowship (Hospital for Special Surgery/Memorial Sloan Kettering-Cornell)
-Pain fellowships (BID-Harvard, Texas Tech, Cornell, UPenn)
-Pediatrics (Childrens-Harvard)
-Cardiac (Columbia)
-OB (Stanford)

Plus we take many of our own residents into our fellowships (and the fellowships are so good that people want to stay for them):

Pain (seems like at least 2 a year last couple of years)
Cardiac (this year's and next year's fellows...she was taken out of over 30 who interviewed)
Pediatrics (rotate through at Childrens along w/ other harvard hospitals)
ICU (this year one fellow was a former resident, also probably one of next year's)

The residents here are nice, young, diverse, funny, social, and smart...zero backstabbing/politics among the residents. Most of the diverse faculty are on a first-name basis. Non-malignant call schedule. Angelic program directors. friendly Old school attendings with jedi-wisdom (including current board examiners), new attendings who know where you've been and can teach you to get slick and fast. Protected research or simulator time if you want it.

People here are happy. Don't believe the hype. That's why we defend our program with the quickness. I *hate* the weather in boston but I'm still happy. PM me to feel the love. 😍

aiway81- with those programs giving you interviews, you will no cdoubt end up very happy where you match. congratulations...(and you can easily drive/train out of boston at 1230-1 and get to philly in time for dinner)