Researching Hospitals and Path dept for residency

[alaska82]

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Hi,
I am applying for pathology residency this year. I already have 6 interviews (Henry Ford, Howard, Kansas, UF Gainsville, Drexel and OSU) and am waiting to hear from many others. I need to know which universities offer better education.

Since I am IMG (and have no friends who are in pathology field in USA), I am not aware of reputations for hospitals. Can you suggest me how I should go about researching the institutions and be able to resonably rank them objectively. I already know I should look for how big the hospital is, Faculty count, resident faculty ratio. This is all I could get from most websites. Is there any other source that can give me better information.

Thanks

 

[2121115]

Hi,
I am applying for pathology residency this year. I already have 6 interviews (Henry Ford, Howard, Kansas, UF Gainsville, Drexel and OSU) and am waiting to hear from many others. I need to know which universities offer better education.

Since I am IMG (and have no friends who are in pathology field in USA), I am not aware of reputations for hospitals. Can you suggest me how I should go about researching the institutions and be able to resonably rank them objectively. I already know I should look for how big the hospital is, Faculty count, resident faculty ratio. This is all I could get from most websites. Is there any other source that can give me better information.

Thanks

UF has a good reputation and has well known faculty in GI/liver pathology (the guy who wrote the Robbins GI chapter is there). I don't know much about the other programs you mentioned.

 

[KeratinPearls]

UF has a good reputation and has well known faculty in GI/liver pathology (the guy who wrote the Robbins GI chapter is there). I don't know much about the other programs you mentioned.

I think James Crawford is the chair at Long Island now.

 

[2121115]

I think James Crawford is the chair at Long Island now.

Yeah he moved on, but I think this guy is still there. He co-authored that chapter with Crawford.

http://www.pathology.ufl.edu/~liu/

 

[alaska82]

Thank you very much. Apart from program website is there any other palce where I can go to find more information about the program.

 

[alaska82]

Yeah. I tried scutwork. There is some good information but its mostly very old. Its a good resource any way. Thanks

 

[Ziehl-Neelsen]

All of the programs have good reputations save 2. Drexel is one of the smaller hospitals in Philly with lower volume. I have not heard specifically bad things from friends at Penn, but there are 2 other programs in that very same city that they deem better. Howard I am familiar with, and that place is freaking atrocious. No structured lecture/education program, miniscule surgical volume, residents farmed out to the VA for months at a time... I could go on and on. No offense to the OP, but there is a reason that the program at Howard is completely IMG. People with other options go elsewhere.

The best way to evaluate a program's potential is to take a look at the hospital. If it is large place with active surgery and medicine departments the volume and variety is probably there. That is the main criteria for training, because even without teaching one has the opportunity to learn. The only way to evaluate teaching is to go on the interview and get the scoop from current residents.

 

[KeratinPearls]

All of the programs have good reputations save 2. Drexel is one of the smaller hospitals in Philly with lower volume. I have not heard specifically bad things from friends at Penn, but there are 2 other programs in that very same city that they deem better. Howard I am familiar with, and that place is freaking atrocious. No structured lecture/education program, miniscule surgical volume, residents farmed out to the VA for months at a time... I could go on and on. No offense to the OP, but there is a reason that the program at Howard is completely IMG. People with other options go elsewhere.

The best way to evaluate a program's potential is to take a look at the hospital. If it is large place with active surgery and medicine departments the volume and variety is probably there. That is the main criteria for training, because even without teaching one has the opportunity to learn. The only way to evaluate teaching is to go on the interview and get the scoop from current residents.

Howard is atrocious. I wouldn't even interview there. Maybe if you were desperate, match there and then transfer out of there asap.

 

[alaska82]

Thank you very much for th advice. I am going to interview at Howard anyway because I want to get some experience. I probably wont rank it.

Does anyone know about Baystate Medical Center/Tufts University School or Univ. Of Buffalo?

So far I got 8 interviews. I know there is no guarantee but would that be enough for me be reasonably confident of getting matched?

Thanks

 

[KCShaw]

Your chance of matching is going to depend a lot on your personality, USMLE step 1 score, and ability to communicate in English.. with the number of programs you interview at being lower on the list. Yes, the more programs willing to interview you, probably the better your step 1 score, grades, & other background are. That's not to say I think step 1 is such a critical thing per se, but I know how many programs address IMG applicants.

Most decent programs should have even on their website some indication of how many surgical specimens they handle per year, what subspecialty faculty they have, and what fellowships they offer in pathology. Those aren't guarantees of good programs, but if they have lots of each then most likely they at least have an established teaching system in place. If you're not getting that info from the website, call or email them with questions; if enough people do that, then they'll add it to their website as they should have in the first place.

I don't have any substantial information on the programs you've listed, but I'm out of the loop.

 

[star23]

The UF programs is in a state of flux right now. It has changed a lot in the past few years (interim chair now who is an endocrinologist, new PD taking over next year).