PGY2 at NSLIJ here.
Call, during first year, is typically once or twice a week. I get one or two free two-day weekends a month. That's pretty standard, and it's the same deal at Montefiore. The program adheres to the Bell Commission rules restricting residents to less than 80 hours a week averaged over the month. Calls are busy; sometimes you get lucky and get 3 consults, but my personal record is 18, plus progress notes for the floor patients and various followups, it gets to be about survival sometimes. You could make the argument that it makes you a stronger resident, but it definitely is not fun. Call becomes less frequent (Q7, and no weekends, which is beautiful) second year, and third year is like once a month I think.
Monty is not particularly busy on the floors. The consult service can be pretty hairy. The problem over there is that, though the didactics are excellent, there is just too much teaching and not enough time to do your work. You have an hour or so to see patients on the floor before 1 pm. The rest of the morning is essentially 'protected' for morning report, lectures on various topics, and EEG and neurorads conference, and it makes the afternoon the only time to do any work. And what do you do if you have clinic in the afternoon? But very good teaching.
NSLIJ is a solid program with very high patient load and diverse pathology due to large catchment area. I ranked it on top of my list, and I don't regret that. I would definitely rather be here than any other program I ranked. No program is perfect, and no residency should be easy - there's just too much to learn for it to be easy.
