I know all of these programs are very different, but I had good experiences at all places and get decide how to rank them! Any input would be must appreciated 🙂
Stanford vs. UW vs. Columbia vs. CHOP
- Thread starter hello2u
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I interviewed at Seattle and CHOP. I really liked the program at Seattle. I found the residents very friendly, down-to-earth and social. I liked the curriculum with a lot of opportunities for electives and balanced inpatient medicine rotations. The city itself is very pretty, plenty of outdoors things to do. Overall I got a great feeling at this place.
The program at CHOP has a great reputation although I've heard that this is really due to the fellowship experience. The class is huge and it seemed by December that interns still did not know all of their classmates. Residents were nice enough but not especially warm or welcoming. The hospital has a nice entrance but the building feels very disorganized. The curriculum has just about as little outpatient as is allowed by the ACGME (this is a good or bad thing depending on what you want to go into). Overall I didn't get an amazing feeling from this program, but I feel like residents match wherever they want afterwards, so it's only a matter of if you would enjoy your 3 years here and get the type of education you desire.
I'm debating between these programs as well. What are your thoughts?
The program at CHOP has a great reputation although I've heard that this is really due to the fellowship experience. The class is huge and it seemed by December that interns still did not know all of their classmates. Residents were nice enough but not especially warm or welcoming. The hospital has a nice entrance but the building feels very disorganized. The curriculum has just about as little outpatient as is allowed by the ACGME (this is a good or bad thing depending on what you want to go into). Overall I didn't get an amazing feeling from this program, but I feel like residents match wherever they want afterwards, so it's only a matter of if you would enjoy your 3 years here and get the type of education you desire.
I'm debating between these programs as well. What are your thoughts?
Thanks for your input!
I had the same impression of CHOP...the residents were not the warmest, but seemed nice enough. You can do whatever you want after residency, which is a huge plus, but I don't think the other programs would limit me in anyway. Philly seems like a fun place to live for a short period of time, too. The huge class size is definitely a downside.
I also loved UW. The residents were very friendly and very smart. They have a lot of autonomy and end up well-trained. Seattle also would be a great place to live. This is also a relatively large program (38), although the residents seemed to be closer than I observed at CHOP.
I wrote some comments about Stanford in another thread, but I did an away at Stanford and loved my time there. Morning reports and noon conferences were the best I've seen. Living in Palo Alto is a bit of a downside. I may have just been exposed to a larger sample size of residents because I was there for a month, but some residents seemed a little stuck-up. But there were other residents who were fun to work with and down-to-earth. The program takes great care of the residents.
For Columbia, I had a great interview day but didn't really know much about the program before that. The general reputation is that the residents work hard, but the program didn't seem at all malignant. I liked all of the residents I interacted with. It seems like a strong academic program but with a tight-knit group of residents (only 25). I loved the urban location and the patient population.
I had the same impression of CHOP...the residents were not the warmest, but seemed nice enough. You can do whatever you want after residency, which is a huge plus, but I don't think the other programs would limit me in anyway. Philly seems like a fun place to live for a short period of time, too. The huge class size is definitely a downside.
I also loved UW. The residents were very friendly and very smart. They have a lot of autonomy and end up well-trained. Seattle also would be a great place to live. This is also a relatively large program (38), although the residents seemed to be closer than I observed at CHOP.
I wrote some comments about Stanford in another thread, but I did an away at Stanford and loved my time there. Morning reports and noon conferences were the best I've seen. Living in Palo Alto is a bit of a downside. I may have just been exposed to a larger sample size of residents because I was there for a month, but some residents seemed a little stuck-up. But there were other residents who were fun to work with and down-to-earth. The program takes great care of the residents.
For Columbia, I had a great interview day but didn't really know much about the program before that. The general reputation is that the residents work hard, but the program didn't seem at all malignant. I liked all of the residents I interacted with. It seems like a strong academic program but with a tight-knit group of residents (only 25). I loved the urban location and the patient population.
