As an Arizona resident I looked into returning to the state but decided against my interviews at U of A and Mayo Scottsdale in favor of other programs. I chose to interview at Pitt over doing a three-day UNewMexico-Mayo-AZ-U of A trip. If they schedule it the same next year, these dates will occur Th-Fri-Sat in the second week of January (I think?). Mayo pays for your hotel.
Here is what I?ve heard.
U of A: Has potential to be a good program. U of A has the reputation of being the department where you go as faculty if you want your career to die. I guess you could interpret this as a chronically underachieving department. Maybe the good life in Arizona gets the better of them. And yes, the department and hospital do suffer from insufficient funding from the state as does every state run program in Arizona. Another down side is that the whole state is full of MDs who were trained outside of Arizona (mostly Midwest). Their view is that U of A is a state school and is therefore inferior. This view also projects to the residency programs and will affect you when you try and get into the upper level private practice groups (i.e. Scottsdale). I disagree with these views and think that the med school does an excellent job with its med students and the surgery program provides excellent clinical training. Good research opps are lacking. Good for CT surg though.
Mayo-Scottsdale: It?s in AZ but it?s still the Mayo system. I?ve heard it?s not as uptight as the MN program but still maintains the Mayo efficiency. Great reputation within the state among the privates. Residents are very happy. You have access to all the Mayo sites as a database to study outcomes. Last I heard it was the only profitable hospital in the area. The program and hospital will grow. Downside is that it is Mayo-lacks bread and butter cases (although this program appears to have more balance then the MN program-ex: better trauma), the Mayo dress attire, treating mostly upper class whites, very small program. I would consider it if you are evaluating community programs but not if you are looking into academics-BUT, if you are somewhat undecided; this program is a nice compromise between a community and an academic program. I don?t think quality of life can be beat by being in Scottsdale and the program will allow you to enjoy the town. I expect it to be a major program in 10-20 years. Don?t underestimate it-it is a very competitive program to land a spot in.
The other programs I never really looked into. I would recommend that you only look into them if you really want to live in the state.
