Tufts

[TheBlues]

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Can anyone give any input about Tufts?

 

[newapp]

tufts seemed nice but i've heard lots of negative parts of it - what they claim to be one of the best parts of their program (the beautiful wet lab) is actually because residents have problems reaching surgical numbers and so they use that for a lot of teaching since they dont have live patients. also, in your third year you have to go across the country to new mexico (kinda a turn off for choosing a great place to live like boston) to get your VA experience and pretty much all of your surgeries in 3 months. also, while it seems the call schedule is cush your first 2 years, your 3rd year you're in NM where there are only 2 residents so you're q2 primary call. so much for being a senior resident..... it seemed nice on interview day but i knew someone who graduated from there and in his opinion he said he would not have ranked it as high as other places....

 

[Ophtho24]

Residents at Tufts do not have trouble reaching surgical numbers. Our surgical numbers for cataracts are in the range from typically 120-150 and have had residents at around 180. (These are very good numbers for the Northeast) Our peds/plastics numbers are also good. We have plenty of live patients to operate on. The faculty are very friendly, approachable, and knowledgable. I ranked other programs higher (was trying to stay out West) but in no way do I regret coming here. 3 months in New Mexico is a very sweet deal for our program. We essentially share NM with Pitt and with only 2 residents there at any given time that gives us great surgical exposure and autonomy. The program pays for our travel costs and places us in a 2 bedroom apartment while we are there. It is sort of a downside to be on q2 call as a 3rd year but our call schedule averaged over all 3 years is quite good. I am very very happy with my lifestyle. The wet lab was essentially a project of one of our faculty members who is really interested in teaching residents and medical students. I do not believe it was in any way created to make up for surgical shortcomings in our program. But it is a big advantage to have done a ton of surgery on pig eyes (including phaco with our 3 phaco machines) prior to getting in the OR. It is essentially used the most by 1st years who are getting ready to phaco humans and 2nd years to hone their skills after having phaco'd humans. The third years use it less so as they have a good number of patients to operate on. We all do very well in the fellowship match. This year 2 in oculoplastics and 2 in surgical retina (1 at Tufts-our program is excellent and one at Rush- another great retina program.) Just thought I would give applicants a little more information about this program because I feel it is very strong and I don't think a strong point of our program (the wet lab) should be spun as a weakness.