Tier these programs?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

emt30119

Member
15+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2001
Messages
220
Reaction score
13
Trying to get some input as I am prioritizing where to interview. Anyone who wants to share their opinion as to breaking down the following programs into tiers. I have them broke down as I understand them, please correct anything you feel is wrong about the current tier levels. And what I'm really looking for is some stratification of the mid level programs below, maybe Upper mids, mid mids and low mids. Be creative, have at it, have fun, and thanks for the input.

Upper:
• Mayo
• Wash U
• Vandy
• Michigan
Mid:
• Colorado
• Oregon
• U Washington
• Iowa
• Wisconsin
• Pitt
• Minn
• Cinci
• Ohio
• Cleveland
• Case U
• Rochester
• WF
• UNC
Lower:
• SLU
• Nebraska
 
Trying to get some input as I am prioritizing where to interview. Anyone who wants to share their opinion as to breaking down the following programs into tiers. I have them broke down as I understand them, please correct anything you feel is wrong about the current tier levels. And what I'm really looking for is some stratification of the mid level programs below, maybe Upper mids, mid mids and low mids. Be creative, have at it, have fun, and thanks for the input.

Upper:
• Mayo
• Wash U
• Vandy
• Michigan
Mid:
• Colorado
• Oregon
• U Washington
• Iowa
• Wisconsin
• Pitt
• Minn
• Cinci
• Ohio
• Cleveland
• Case U
• Rochester
• WF
• UNC
Lower:
• SLU
• Nebraska

Honestly, they will all provide quality training. What do you want in a location?

FWIW, I would probably place Pitt and definitely place UWash in your "Upper" Tier.
 
Trying to get some input as I am prioritizing where to interview. Anyone who wants to share their opinion as to breaking down the following programs into tiers. I have them broke down as I understand them, please correct anything you feel is wrong about the current tier levels. And what I'm really looking for is some stratification of the mid level programs below, maybe Upper mids, mid mids and low mids. Be creative, have at it, have fun, and thanks for the input.

Upper:
• Mayo
• Wash U
• Vandy
• Michigan
Mid:
• Colorado
• Oregon
• U Washington
• Iowa
• Wisconsin
• Pitt
• Minn
• Cinci
• Ohio
• Cleveland
• Case U
• Rochester
• WF
• UNC
Lower:
• SLU
• Nebraska



Upper
Michigan
Vandy
Wash U
Pitt

Upper/Mid
OHSU
Uwash
UNC

Mid
Mayo
Cleveland
Rest
 
Honestly, they will all provide quality training. What do you want in a location?

FWIW, I would probably place Pitt and definitely place UWash in your "Upper" Tier.

Thanks for the reply. I have a few of the same priorities everyone has: quality training and competitiveness for fellowship, most likely pulm/critical care.

In addition to the standard priorities, I have a wife and two young kids, so being in a decent sized city with stuff to do to keep her/them busy balanced with family friendly/safe, don't want to have to live downtown of a huge city (i.e. Chicago programs are out).
 
Thanks for the reply. I have a few of the same priorities everyone has: quality training and competitiveness for fellowship, most likely pulm/critical care.

In addition to the standard priorities, I have a wife and two young kids, so being in a decent sized city with stuff to do to keep her/them busy balanced with family friendly/safe, don't want to have to live downtown of a huge city (i.e. Chicago programs are out).

You'll be able to land a Pulm/CC fellowship from any of those places. Don't underestimate how much it will help to be close to extended family when raising your own family in a grueling residency program.

That being said, I would also recommend UNC as an Upper-Mid place, and Chapel Hill would be a good place to raise a family.
 
Trying to get some input as I am prioritizing where to interview. Anyone who wants to share their opinion as to breaking down the following programs into tiers. I have them broke down as I understand them, please correct anything you feel is wrong about the current tier levels. And what I'm really looking for is some stratification of the mid level programs below, maybe Upper mids, mid mids and low mids. Be creative, have at it, have fun, and thanks for the input.

Upper:
• Mayo
• Wash U
• Vandy
• Michigan
Mid:
• Colorado
• Oregon
• U Washington
• Iowa
• Wisconsin
• Pitt
• Minn
• Cinci
• Ohio
• Cleveland
• Case U
• Rochester
• WF
• UNC
Lower:
• SLU
• Nebraska

Upper consists of:
Michigan, WashU, Vandy, UWash, Pitt, Mayo

UNC, Oregon, Iowa, and Colorado are also excellent.
 
I interviewed at a few of the places on your list (Iowa, Ohio State, Nebraska, Cincinnati). My favorite two of those four are Iowa and Nebraska. Cincinnati would definitely not be in the same tier (and the pre-interview dinner and interview day are "different"), though I think its training is solid. Ohio State was fine but very businesslike and seemed to think a lot of itself. Iowa and Nebraska both offered solid training. Iowa has a national reputation, sees a lot of referral type pathology, and Nebraska has a strong reputation in the midwest. The biggest factor is deciding what you want out of your program. I wanted strong general medicine with good internal matching for fellowships since I will stay where I am for fellowship. You can get a good fellowship out of any of the programs on your list, so check out fellowship match lists. Your midwestern programs are going to tend to match a lot at their own institutions since many of the residents are married and want to stay where they are. Also, for pulm-cc from what I hear you may want to slide Colorado up to top tier due to its close proximity to National Jewish. Maybe a Colorado resident could comment on that. Good luck.
 
Upper consists of:
Michigan, WashU, Vandy, UWash, Pitt, Mayo

UNC, Oregon, Iowa, and Colorado are also excellent.

I wouldn't put Mayo in the upper section. It is not on the same tier as Michigan, Vandy and the like. Maybe upper-midtier.
 
Top