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There are many things I noticed while interviewing that will make almost no impact at all on my ROL, but were interesting to me nonetheless - so just for fun, some awards/superlatives for my interview season…
ED so nice you could eat off of the floor: Adult (tie) TGH and North Shore – so clean and modern and glassy, Children's (tie) CHOP and Arnold Palmer (ORMC) – like above, but with adorable kid-sized stuff
Funniest interview questions/experiences: One of my interviewers actually turned to his computer and looked up my wife on IMDb during our interview.
Best interview day food: I was partial to the restaurants (Pitt, TJU, TGH), but NYU and NY Presby had solid spreads
Longest interview day: SLR, NY Presby, and Mt Sinai (tie) – all three have 2 major sites that can be an hour apart, add the time there and time back to each interview and it's a long day.
Hardest interview to cancel: (tie) Harbor, University of Chicago, and UC Irvine. I had very high hopes for all three, but distance from our support system eventually made them impossible for us to consider.
Best pre/post interview get together: ORMC, Pitt and Penn – good beer, good food, and good times at all three, which were laid back and felt more like a night out with friends than part of an interview.
Interview most likely to make me feel like a little kid meeting his baseball hero: Hopkins (Dr. Kelen) and Bellevue (Dr. Goldfrank). Getting to talk one-on-one with these guys was worth the price of admission for me.
Funniest spot I was interviewed: In a patient's room in an ED expansion that was still under construction. I don't know whether it was my impulse to get up and sit on the bed, or the construction workers sanding the desks around us, but it was a strange place to be interviewed.
Best interview perk: I didn't go to any of those places that hook you up with a free room, so mine would have to be catching a ride in the physician response jeep to eat lunch on Mt Washington overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline. Sweet idea from the Pitt folks.
Oddest moments: Playing charades with the other interviewees during down time at North Shore, The PD's power-point at Hopkins (something about decision trees and the circle of life), and an interviewer who told me all about his divorce for some reason.
Most amusing pre-interview trail moment: Going to a pre-interview event and standing outside of the bar checking to see if I was in the right place, only to have a gentleman in a suit stagger out of the door, look at me, vomit all over his shoes, turn around and go back in. Unfortunately, he was not one of the interviewees.
Best attempt to make a location look better than it is: Hopkins (disclaimer: I actually like Baltimore) – they drove us in a wide circle past the three nicest neighborhoods in the city and gunned it down the street past the ghetto to the hospital.
Best Hospital to film a Corona commercial: Tampa General – sits on an island in bay, with views of blue-green water, palms trees, and a pirate ship
Hospital most like a museum: Cornell (although I've heard Mayo takes the cake for this) – has more busts and plaques than The Met!
Coolest hospital addition, non-EM related: (tie) I.M. Pei's glass atrium at Bellevue, the atrium/addition to University of Maryland, and the waterfall entrance to Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies (ORMC)
Best view: Cornell and NYU MICUs (East river and city views), TGH ED (bay and Tampa skyline views). Also kudos to the Penn tour guide who took us to the heli-pad for a sick view of Philly, and the ORMC guide who took us to a balcony off of the hospital with views of Orlando and the lakes
Hospital you are most likely to get mugged walking away from: Hopkins – although this is bound to change soon enough
Hospital you are most like to get run over by a soccer mom walking away from: Christiana
Most likely place to walk past one of your regulars finishing a 40oz in front of the hospital on your way into a 7am shift: Bellevue
Funniest SDN-related moment: I found it amusing anytime I recognized someone, but my funniest moment was listening to a couple attendings at TGH talking about how Quinn was coming for grand rounds the next day, and me saying, "Really?", and them saying, "Do you know him?", and me realizing, well, no – not really, but I've read a lot of his posts!
Biggest surprise: The fact that two different PD's told me their program doesn't do much basic science because the chairman is opposed to animal research
Most aptly named ED pets: A couple of fish at the nursing station at Bellevue, named "5" and "2"
Most unique residency selling point: Jeep experience at UPMC – I'm not completely sold on its educational value, but I'm totally sold on how cool it is.
Favorite residency coordinator: Nancy Kenny, WHC/Georgetown – she was very funny, and Nina Van Cleave, University of Maryland – she made us homemade cookies!
Place everyone raved about on the trail that I didn't apply to: King's County and Maine Medical Center
Best rumor on the trail that was true: EKG reading at USF interview, the automatic frosting windows at North Shore, the slushy machine in the CHOP ED
Best rumor on the trail that was false: Interviews would be stressful (I had fun at all of mine), programs are all basically the same (I found them to be vastly different – but in great ways)
Obviously I only saw a handful of places, anyone else have awards to add?
ED so nice you could eat off of the floor: Adult (tie) TGH and North Shore – so clean and modern and glassy, Children's (tie) CHOP and Arnold Palmer (ORMC) – like above, but with adorable kid-sized stuff
Funniest interview questions/experiences: One of my interviewers actually turned to his computer and looked up my wife on IMDb during our interview.
Best interview day food: I was partial to the restaurants (Pitt, TJU, TGH), but NYU and NY Presby had solid spreads
Longest interview day: SLR, NY Presby, and Mt Sinai (tie) – all three have 2 major sites that can be an hour apart, add the time there and time back to each interview and it's a long day.
Hardest interview to cancel: (tie) Harbor, University of Chicago, and UC Irvine. I had very high hopes for all three, but distance from our support system eventually made them impossible for us to consider.
Best pre/post interview get together: ORMC, Pitt and Penn – good beer, good food, and good times at all three, which were laid back and felt more like a night out with friends than part of an interview.
Interview most likely to make me feel like a little kid meeting his baseball hero: Hopkins (Dr. Kelen) and Bellevue (Dr. Goldfrank). Getting to talk one-on-one with these guys was worth the price of admission for me.
Funniest spot I was interviewed: In a patient's room in an ED expansion that was still under construction. I don't know whether it was my impulse to get up and sit on the bed, or the construction workers sanding the desks around us, but it was a strange place to be interviewed.
Best interview perk: I didn't go to any of those places that hook you up with a free room, so mine would have to be catching a ride in the physician response jeep to eat lunch on Mt Washington overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline. Sweet idea from the Pitt folks.
Oddest moments: Playing charades with the other interviewees during down time at North Shore, The PD's power-point at Hopkins (something about decision trees and the circle of life), and an interviewer who told me all about his divorce for some reason.
Most amusing pre-interview trail moment: Going to a pre-interview event and standing outside of the bar checking to see if I was in the right place, only to have a gentleman in a suit stagger out of the door, look at me, vomit all over his shoes, turn around and go back in. Unfortunately, he was not one of the interviewees.
Best attempt to make a location look better than it is: Hopkins (disclaimer: I actually like Baltimore) – they drove us in a wide circle past the three nicest neighborhoods in the city and gunned it down the street past the ghetto to the hospital.
Best Hospital to film a Corona commercial: Tampa General – sits on an island in bay, with views of blue-green water, palms trees, and a pirate ship
Hospital most like a museum: Cornell (although I've heard Mayo takes the cake for this) – has more busts and plaques than The Met!
Coolest hospital addition, non-EM related: (tie) I.M. Pei's glass atrium at Bellevue, the atrium/addition to University of Maryland, and the waterfall entrance to Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies (ORMC)
Best view: Cornell and NYU MICUs (East river and city views), TGH ED (bay and Tampa skyline views). Also kudos to the Penn tour guide who took us to the heli-pad for a sick view of Philly, and the ORMC guide who took us to a balcony off of the hospital with views of Orlando and the lakes
Hospital you are most likely to get mugged walking away from: Hopkins – although this is bound to change soon enough
Hospital you are most like to get run over by a soccer mom walking away from: Christiana
Most likely place to walk past one of your regulars finishing a 40oz in front of the hospital on your way into a 7am shift: Bellevue
Funniest SDN-related moment: I found it amusing anytime I recognized someone, but my funniest moment was listening to a couple attendings at TGH talking about how Quinn was coming for grand rounds the next day, and me saying, "Really?", and them saying, "Do you know him?", and me realizing, well, no – not really, but I've read a lot of his posts!
Biggest surprise: The fact that two different PD's told me their program doesn't do much basic science because the chairman is opposed to animal research
Most aptly named ED pets: A couple of fish at the nursing station at Bellevue, named "5" and "2"
Most unique residency selling point: Jeep experience at UPMC – I'm not completely sold on its educational value, but I'm totally sold on how cool it is.
Favorite residency coordinator: Nancy Kenny, WHC/Georgetown – she was very funny, and Nina Van Cleave, University of Maryland – she made us homemade cookies!
Place everyone raved about on the trail that I didn't apply to: King's County and Maine Medical Center
Best rumor on the trail that was true: EKG reading at USF interview, the automatic frosting windows at North Shore, the slushy machine in the CHOP ED
Best rumor on the trail that was false: Interviews would be stressful (I had fun at all of mine), programs are all basically the same (I found them to be vastly different – but in great ways)
Obviously I only saw a handful of places, anyone else have awards to add?