Strength of Programs

[khadija]

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How do you guys go about deciding which programs are better than others? I have been fortunate enough to get more interview invites than I can possibly go to. So now I have to decide which programs I'd rather interview for. Aside from the location factor, I'm having trouble deciding. I've tried looking at US News ranking, but since that's mostly based on how much research money they get, I think that's too limited. I also looked at pass rates. But for the smaller programs, pass rates can be real skewed year to year.

So what other data are you guys looking at to decide how strong (academically) a program is?

 

[Law2Doc]

How do you guys go about deciding which programs are better than others? I have been fortunate enough to get more interview invites than I can possibly go to. So now I have to decide which programs I'd rather interview for. Aside from the location factor, I'm having trouble deciding. I've tried looking at US News ranking, but since that's mostly based on how much research money they get, I think that's too limited. I also looked at pass rates. But for the smaller programs, pass rates can be real skewed year to year.

So what other data are you guys looking at to decide how strong (academically) a program is?

Get a mentor in the field. This is a word of mouth profession. There are only a few major societies in each subspecialty and so every faculty member knows somebody who knows somebody. And tap into alumni from your school to get the real scoop on programs they are at. Don't waste time with US News and other published resources - this is not that kind of career path. Get yourself plugged in with a human being who knows the lay of the land.

Also careful with the notion of what is "better". This isn't about prestige collection so much as it's about getting yourself well trained and in good shape for the next step of your career, be it fellowship or whatever. Very often that means certain kinds of programs will be preferable for some people but not others. You want to be an academic, then one set of programs may meet your needs. You want to pick up a lot of first hand experience so you are ready to jump into private practice, then another set of programs might have more merit. There won't always be a definite objective "better", and nobody really ranks residencies the way they do med schools. it will be more a question of whether you are someone who is better off in X vs Y setting.