The importance of the coordinator!

[streetdoc]

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Just curious if i was alone in the importance i place on the residency coordinator. I want one who is on top of things, who will page/remind me when i haven't done something, and one who cares about my life outside of the department. Is this superficial? Is this a reason to change rank order?
The whole tone of a program has been set by them-through emails/communication -since invitation came out. Maybe I shouldn't really care.
thoughts?
streetdoc

Oh and Colts 33-27

 

[dlung]

Having a good one is a definite perk--I've had good and lousy ones... but, oh my goodness, you shouldn't change your RANK ORDER based on the coordinator! You're obviously overthinking your rank list waaaaay too much... go watch the Super Bowl and drink a lot of beer.

 

[Emergen-C]

It's definitely coming into play as I make my ROL. Maine has the best one (IMHO) and it's boosted it up my list. Same with Hennepin.

Highland on the other hand.....let's just say...unreturned emails and phone messages is moving them on down...

 

[streetdoc]

It's definitely coming into play as I make my ROL. Maine has the best one (IMHO) and it's boosted it up my list. Same with Hennepin.

Highland on the other hand.....let's just say...unreturned emails and phone messages is moving them on down...

Same here...rather than being a great positive (Maine's is great BTW), i see it as a big negative. I have tried for 2 weeks to set up a 2nd look at the place i intrerviewed very early on and still no response. Now it is way late and not worth buying expensive plane tickets, so they moved way down. I don't want to deal with that day in and day out.
How bad is it to have a not-so-great coordinator?
streetdoc

 

[membsr-8890]

I haven't heard any stories about having a bad EM coordinator, but I come from a school with a notoriously horrible peds program coordinator.

She is responsible for collecting/processing letter of recommendation for the residents applying for fellowships and she manages to lose the majority of them every year. A giant pain, but the residents know that she's horrible and work around this (everything important they copy in triplicate and they warn letter writers about the issue). So yes, a GIANT pain, but none of them are unhappy at the program because of it.

I wouldn't change my rank list based on the program coordinator unless I was REALLY hard-up for a tie-breaker.

 

[Jeff698]

If you decide to base your ROL on program coordinator, and you interviewed with us, we'd have to be at the top.

We clearly have the best coordinator in the country. I pitty all the other programs without her.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[BKN]

If you decide to base your ROL on program coordinator, and you interviewed with us, we'd have to be at the top.

We clearly have the best coordinator in the country. I pitty all the other programs without her.

Take care,
Jeff

Well Jeff, our graduating class sends MLE on a trip as a gift each year. Las Vegas 3 times and Miami to swim with the Dolphins once. If your coordinator is better, you'll need to send her to Hawaii.

bkn

 

[The White Coat Investor]

It's definitely coming into play as I make my ROL. Maine has the best one (IMHO) and it's boosted it up my list. Same with Hennepin.

Highland on the other hand.....let's just say...unreturned emails and phone messages is moving them on down...

Maine's was good, Arizona's was phenomenal. I don't remember Hennepin's. I would weigh it in your decision, as they do make a difference.

One way to tell how good a coordinator is is to determine if he/she (usually a she for some reason) is paid on the "adminstrative" scale vs the clerical scale. If they are considered adminstrators they usually are paid more and hence better people are attracted to the position. If they are just a secretary they probably haven't been there long and won't be there long.

 

[EctopicFetus]

Maine's was good, Arizona's was phenomenal. I don't remember Hennepin's. I would weigh it in your decision, as they do make a difference.

One way to tell how good a coordinator is is to determine if he/she (usually a she for some reason) is paid on the "adminstrative" scale vs the clerical scale. If they are considered adminstrators they usually are paid more and hence better people are attracted to the position. If they are just a secretary they probably haven't been there long and won't be there long.

Our coordinator is AMAZING at the U of A. She takes care of us, it is real helpful!

 

[Jeff698]

Well Jeff, our graduating class sends MLE on a trip as a gift each year. Las Vegas 3 times and Miami to swim with the Dolphins once. If your coordinator is better, you'll need to send her to Hawaii.

bkn

Hrumph. Now that's what I call bar raising. I've officially been raised and called.

Dammit.

I still think CR is great, though. Even if we can't send her to Las Vegas. Maybe she'd like an imported In and Out burger?

Take care,
Jeff

 

[beyond all hope]

My old coordinator at residency didn't turn in my resident licensing materials on time, then didn't tell me until a couple of weeks before I started. The result was that I had to wait 5 weeks to start residency, had to give up vacations and go late and I never ended up doing a full 3 years so I'll likely have trouble licensing in certain states.

Mostly they are inconsequential until you really need them.

 

[13770]

This is a very important position for me and in my rank list. If a program (coordinator) can't connect quickly or well, then it seems like the program doesn't care much about the face of the program. And if they don't care about the front end, I found that there were often issues on the inside once I interviewed. A program should take care of its residents and students, and this seems to be the job of the residency coordinator at the places I saw.😎

 

[Emergen-C]

I agree. I interviewed at one place where the PD and PC were both unfriendly, hard to get ahold of and didn't make eye contact, had bad PR skills etc. I'm not ranking them (even though they have a strong reputation and a great program) b/c the PD and the PC are the face of the program! Like the person before me wrote, if they can't get that part straightened out, what the hell else lies beneath the surface!?