Dr. Corday said:
These two schools are among my top five but I have no idea know how to rank them relative to each other. Anybody with any experience with these two schools? (match list, reputation, resident happiness, PD....)
Please no comments on Baltimore vs. Philly, I'm looking for help on the programs themselves.
Any input would be soooooooooo appreciated!!
I've had a similar problem with where to put those two on my rank list. They are very close to each other--I'll give you my 0.02
In terms of hospital training, it seems that Maryland has the advantage--they have multiple training sites including private experience, a university hospital, and a VA. Temple is all Temple all the time, save the rotations at the Fox Chase Cancer hospital. Temple's patient population is incredibly diverse, but predominantly underserved. Maryland has a more socially and economically diverse patient population by my calculations.
As for fellowships, it seems that both place people all over the place. With the chairman leaving at Maryland it may be a bit funny for a little bit, but to me as an incoming intern, I don't know how much that transition really would affect me. At the interview day at Maryland, the PD and the chair were honest, sincere, and up front about what the transition would mean--I felt quite comfortable. The Maryland PD is, from what I can tell, superb. I think that she's the head of the national program directors' association or something like that. From what residents say, she takes very good care of the residents. Temple is stable--great chair, fantastic PD. She is also very responsive. Both have pretty good reputations from what I can tell, Maryland possibly being an iota better known.
As for the resident satisfaction, it seemed to me that both UMD and Temple folks had a really well-balanced life. If it's about first impressions, I got to hang with the Temple folks after the interview day at a pub and they were a great bunch--we had a blasty blast. They seem to enjoy their colleagues and perceive themselves as well-trained. Their position as an institution to the underserved is both frustrating and rewarding--frustrating because of the amount of time spent on social issues, but rewarding because of the educational opportunities they enjoy and the community service aspect.
UMD residents were fun to hang out with as well. No post-interview pub experience, but they were joking around before morning report and in the halls during the tour. They seem to have a ball working together.
There's probably a bit more resident autonomy and on-the-job learning at Temple--didn't go on rounds at either so can't comment on the teaching. Residents at both seemed quite competent--Temple residents felt that at the end of their training they had seen a huge amount of stuff and were competent in there capacity to manage. Didn't get to talk to UMD folks much about it, but all were confident in their fund of knowledge and range of clinical experience.
In the end, I think that Maryland is just above Temple on my list (for now!). I like the multiple hospital system and the socio-economic diversity. It also seems that the Temple residents spent a bit more time on transport, blood draws, and social issues than the UMD folks. You can't go wrong with either and would definitely emerge well-trained. I did like Philly more than Baltimore, but didn't mind B-more at all, especially since it's so close to DC.
Hope this helps!
DS
