UNC vs. UVA vs. Vanderbilt

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ANESman

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These will be my top 3 but I am having difficulty ranking them. Strong clinical training at all 3, programs seem to work hard but not overworked, set you up well for fellowship or pp, and dedicated to their residents which makes differentiated them difficult in my mind. Any help from the peanut gallery?

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Gotta go with UNC. The girl to guy ratio in the bars at Chapel Hill is legit. Also, I think they might go all the way this year.
 
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These will be my top 3 but I am having difficulty ranking them. Strong clinical training at all 3, programs seem to work hard but not overworked, set you up well for fellowship or pp, and dedicated to their residents which makes differentiated them difficult in my mind. Any help from the peanut gallery?

I like all 3 of them. Which did you prefer? It's not like you won't get good training at these programs. Didactics? How many hours per week at work? Call situation? Cost of living? Preference in location? Particular subspecialty area of interest?
 
I LOVED training at UNC. I can't say enough about the program and Chapel Hill is one of my favorite places on the planet. I lived about 1/2 a mile off of Franklin St and walked or rode my bike to the hospital every single day of my 4 years there. PM me if you have any specific questions. From what I gathered talking to others, UVA has a very similar overall feel. College town and great people with emphasis on resident education (i.e. not a fellow-saturated or other trainee saturated environment)
 
I liked all 3 as well. I felt like Vanderbilt>UNC = UVA. Their research, resident training, and periop leadership is probably best in the south after Duke. Plus Nashville is growing really well and is different from a college town unlike chapel hill and cville. But all 3 are great so up to gut feeling
 
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I cannot speak about UVA or Vanderbilt, but UNC is my home program and I can say after doing two months of rotations here that the residents are very happy and very well trained. It is a good place to match if you have a family or plan on starting one. Chapel Hill also has a very low cost of living, especially if you don't mind living ten minutes further away in Chatham or Durham county,
 
I have to say that all are very good programs. Vanderbilt is probably the strongest. We at Wake Forest do like poaching the best Anesthesiology applicants away from UNC, but UNC isn't bad either.
 
I have to say that all are very good programs. Vanderbilt is probably the strongest. We at Wake Forest do like poaching the best Anesthesiology applicants away from UNC, but UNC isn't bad either.

I think Wake has really built a great program. It's probably as good or better than UNC but some applicants are simply going to choose Chapel Hill. Sometimes it comes down to location and the single people will really factor that into their decision.
 
The allowance for time off without staying late to pay back the time is present in many other residency programs, and many feel it negatively affects female residents prospects for fellowship, etc.

You posted this, 18 months after the last response, to speak out on this topic? Weird.

Unless these "other" programs are lying, you are mostly wrong. The ABA is explicitly clear in their guidelines about total amount of days allowed off during CA years 1-3. If you go over, even with pregnancy or illness or bereavement, you will have to make up time. For many females, this means you could owe time at the end of residency - virtually guaranteed if you had more than 1 child during training. I think every female in my program owed at least a couple weeks for this reason - jobs and fellowships understand and adjust accordingly.

There are some ways to work around this - for example, allowing a resident to complete a research elective or something of the like from home during this time. Or come back "full time" doing half days on a pre-op clinic rotation (2 weeks allowed). There is restrictive language on this by the ABA, but definitely possible for 4 weeks (and maybe more). FMLA is a federal requirement (BUT you have to be employed > 1 year at most institutions to qualify for full leave with pay!), and they are forced to allow you to take off but a full 8 weeks off virtually guarantees added time at the end of training.

BTW, other training programs run into this as well.
 
Re: Chapel Hill and family. Disagree on the starting a family part if you are a female. The Program leadership is actively speaking out against the recent ABA survey which would allow up to 8 weeks of FMLA leave that would be in addition to the 60 days currently granted by the ABA during CA 1-3 years. Their official position from a program perspective is against this change. The allowance for time off without staying late to pay back the time is present in many other residency programs, and many feel it negatively affects female residents prospects for fellowship, etc.

GO AWAY TROLL.

New account. Person had to go out of their way to search for old UNC threads in order to post this.
 
You posted this, 18 months after the last response, to speak out on this topic? Weird.

Unless these "other" programs are lying, you are mostly wrong. The ABA is explicitly clear in their guidelines about total amount of days allowed off during CA years 1-3. If you go over, even with pregnancy or illness or bereavement, you will have to make up time. For many females, this means you could owe time at the end of residency - virtually guaranteed if you had more than 1 child during training. I think every female in my program owed at least a couple weeks for this reason - jobs and fellowships understand and adjust accordingly.

There are some ways to work around this - for example, allowing a resident to complete a research elective or something of the like from home during this time. Or come back "full time" doing half days on a pre-op clinic rotation (2 weeks allowed). There is restrictive language on this by the ABA, but definitely possible for 4 weeks (and maybe more). FMLA is a federal requirement (BUT you have to be employed > 1 year at most institutions to qualify for full leave with pay!), and they are forced to allow you to take off but a full 8 weeks off virtually guarantees added time at the end of training.

BTW, other training programs run into this as well.
I think what they were referencing is the ABA's move to increase the potential amount of time people can miss without extending their training.

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