UNC vs Magee vs Northwestern

[bellalou]

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Hello All,

I hope your interviews are going well and perhaps winding down now.

I am trying to decide between UNC, Magee, and Northwestern. Any thoughts out there about these three programs? I got good "vibes" from each of them, but it is so hard to decided after only 36 hours with a program. Thank you so much!!!
🙂

 

[tiredmom]

Hi Bella!
It was good to meet you on the trail. Of the three you mentioned, I only applied to UNC - but I really loved it. It will definately be high on my list. I've heard great things about both of the other programs too. A classmate of mine has a sister who is in the ob/gyn program at Northwestern and he says she LOVES it... and he's not one to exagerate (I think I spelled that wrong!). And you are the third person I ran into on the trail who loved Magee. The only thing that would scare me about Magee would be the malpractice situation in Pennsylvania - we Texas students can't rotate there during 4th year because our malpractice coverage isn't high enough!
Good luck - It's getting hard to put things in order!

 

[sunnygyn]

Hello All,

I hope your interviews are going well and perhaps winding down now.

I am trying to decide between UNC, Magee, and Northwestern. Any thoughts out there about these three programs? I got good "vibes" from each of them, but it is so hard to decided after only 36 hours with a program. Thank you so much!!!
🙂

just curious what you ended up decidine (and more importantly - why). i'm having a hard time with magee, unc, yale, and hopkins (plus a few others). for both magee and unc, they had super-specialized people with lots of fellowships, gurus in family planning . . . i kind of got the feeling that the residents at magee weren't as happy as some of the other places, but a friend of mine interviewed on a different day and had a completely different view.
HELP!😕

 

[bellalou]

Hi Sunnygyn - I also got the opposite impression of Magee. I felt like the residents were very happy there, and they all seemed to get along well. I also have talked to several Pitt students applying for OB/GYN and they told me that the residents were "wonderful" and loved their program. I heard this from multiple med students, so I think that it might be true.

 

[letsdothis]

I'm a Northwestern student that interviewed at Magee, not UNC. When I spoke to the Chairman at Magee he basically said "take Northwestern and place it in Pittsburgh and you have our program." I think they are quite similar. Great research, faculty, and residents at both programs. Actually I think the number of research departments may actually be greater at Pitt. But Chicago is a much better city. My impression of the Pitt residents was that they were genuinely happy and pleased with their choice and one another. There was some concern about being single in Pittsburgh, however. Those are my thoughts. Take care.

 

[DeaconMD04]

Having trouble with a few... any other thoughts that people are willing to throw out about these 3 programs?

I'm a Northwestern student that interviewed at Magee, not UNC. When I spoke to the Chairman at Magee he basically said "take Northwestern and place it in Pittsburgh and you have our program." I think they are quite similar. Great research, faculty, and residents at both programs. Actually I think the number of research departments may actually be greater at Pitt. But Chicago is a much better city. My impression of the Pitt residents was that they were genuinely happy and pleased with their choice and one another. There was some concern about being single in Pittsburgh, however. Those are my thoughts. Take care.

 

[bottomlesspit]

while i didn't apply to northwestern, i did interview at UNC and magee. my own impression is that chapel hill has extraordinarily friendly vibe, both among the residents as well as among the staff. there's definitely a piece of the "southern hospitality" thing going on down there, too. my program chair said that UNC has quite a high opinion of itself, but while i was there, the program seemed pretty easy-going. the UNC residents also seemed relatively chill.

while pittsburgh was also surprisingly down to earth, the feel was far more institutional, and they are *extraordinarly* proud of themselves. i think there's definitely a "pittsburgh way" that you'll be trained into if you go there -- you'll get indoctrinated into a certain ideology that might only exist at wealthy private institutions (e.g., UPMC, mayo). i might have become somewhat influenced by their own presentation, but UPMC does seem more academically accomplished than UNC chapel hill. but the residents were incredibly friendly and seemed to get along very well, too.

patient population at UNC is probably more diverse than at UPMC; resident diversity is iffy at both. chapel hill vs pittsburgh -- neither seems ideal, but maybe pittsburgh is closer to bigger cities (NYC, boston).

just my $0.02!

 

[Storkbyte]

I trained at Magee and now am in private practice. When I was in med school and ranking, my top three were UNC, Northwestern, and Magee (in no particular order). I think they are all comparable, excellent programs. You should do what I did--go with your gut. Where did you fit in the best? Where were you most comfortable? Then, you should wind up at the right place.

On a side note, my training was fantastic at Magee. I was well supported and developed lifelong friends. There has been nothing in private practice so far (for the 6 months I've been doing it) that I haven't been able to handle. I wouldn't trade where I trained for anything.