Unsolicited Opinion

[valtrex]

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Regarding:
University of Tennessee, Memphis - Pathology Residency Program


I'm a 4th year student from southern california that just spent a month out in Tennesse doing a path externship and have been a reader, but not much of a contributer.....so I figured I do my part to give back.

In my humble opinion this is an outstanding, up and coming program. There was financial turmoil and faculty turn-over in the past with the entire UT residency system. In path, a new Dept. Chair & PD took over 3yrs ago, and they have really turned the program around. The chair is now fulltime path chair of UT, president of the largest private path group in the city, and president of medical staff for the Methodist HealthCare. The PD founded the largest path group in the city, has worked in the city for 40yrs, tried retirement and couldn't stand it....so he came out to work with the residency program and his only responsibilities & focus improving the program. So it seems stability is there now.

UT Pathology is unique in that the department is affliated with every major medical center in the city, and the residents rotate at all these sites. Including 2 major private systems(Methodist & Baptist Health Care), the VA, UT's own pathology group, St. Jude Pediatric Cancer Research Hospital, as well as a number of private clinical labs & pathology groups are available for the residents to rotate at if they wish.

Downside:
-you're living in Memphis(homes are cheap, but weather isn't SoCal)
-every couple months you move to a different training site
-so if you like stability, it's not for you
-name recogition, there's a couple attending there who've wrote chapters in various path texts, but overall it's not Stanford, MdAnderson, etc. Residents from the past couple yrs have gone on to WashU & MDAnderson fellowships though.

Upside:
-variety.....great balance of academic & community training
-tons of attendings, tons of different styles(all I met, loved teaching)
-250,000 surgicals per yr between all these medical centers(variety!!)
-rotating at St.Jude.....opportunity to see & work with cutting edge cancer research & pathology. While I was there, their tumor board was teleconferenced to a couple south american countries. Pretty cool stuff.
-they eat like crap & don't take care of themselves very well in the south....so pathology is rampant

Well that's my opinion, hopefully it'll have given all you some info....much like much like this site has helped me out in the past. Good luck to everyone with the match.

 

[Weil-Felix]

Scutwork.com is probably something you should check out if you want to share your experiences at different programs. I think it might be a better place to post this because your review will be easily acessable to anyone looking for such opinions. Here, however, your post will most likely fade into oblivion after a few weeks. Just a thought.

 

[QuietSylph]

Thanks for the post -- I know we all love to hear specific feedback about programs!

Weil-Felix is right, we need to all be posting our interview/rotation experiences on Scutwork.com so people can contemplate our insights for years to come. 😉

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Thanks for the post -- I know we all love to hear specific feedback about programs!

Weil-Felix is right, we need to all be posting our interview/rotation experiences on Scutwork.com so people can contemplate our insights for years to come. 😉

I think rotation experiences should end up on scutwork. I'm a bit hesitant about reviewing a program based on an interview experience on Scutwork.

I do think that one can learn a lot about a program on an interview visit. However, the interview visit is really composed of a few 30 minute interviews with faculty and meets with a few residents. However, I personally would fall short of making judgments about a program or talking at length about pros/cons as an interviewee who hasn't experienced the day-to-day life as a resident of the particular program (yet). I think interview reviews should still end up here on this forum because misconceptions can be corrected by the residents themselves. I'm sure I will go to a program, interview, and digest the information; however, I'm also sure that occasionally, my perceptions will be faulty (which is scary because we're supposed to rank places based on spending 4-8 hours at a program 😱 ). For instance (a frivolous example), let's say I interview at U of Michigan and say that the residents are a bunch of hippies who do autopsies 12 months out of the year. I'm sure yaah would call BS.

 

[QuietSylph]

I think rotation experiences should end up on scutwork. I'm a bit hesitant about reviewing a program based on an interview experience on Scutwork.

I do think that one can learn a lot about a program on an interview visit. However, the interview visit is really composed of a few 30 minute interviews with faculty and meets with a few residents. However, I personally would fall short of making judgments about a program or talking at length about pros/cons as an interviewee who hasn't experienced the day-to-day life as a resident of the particular program (yet). I think interview reviews should still end up here on this forum because misconceptions can be corrected by the residents themselves. I'm sure I will go to a program, interview, and digest the information; however, I'm also sure that occasionally, my perceptions will be faulty (which is scary because we're supposed to rank places based on spending 4-8 hours at a program 😱 ). For instance (a frivolous example), let's say I interview at U of Michigan and say that the residents are a bunch of hippies who do autopsies 12 months out of the year. I'm sure yaah would call BS.

As long as you preface your comments with a description of your exposure to the program -- whether it be through an interview or a rotation or a whole residency -- I still say it's extremely helpful to post on Scutwork. Most residency programs on that site have either no reviews or very few, and I for one would much rather have easy access to a little bit of information from the student/resident viewpoint about how the program structures things and what its atmosphere is like versus total silence. Most people who use Scutwork know to take comments with a grain of salt, at least I think that's the case.... 😉

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Most residency programs on that site have either no reviews or very few, and I for one would much rather have easy access to a little bit of information from the student/resident viewpoint about how the program structures things and what its atmosphere is like versus total silence.

Now that you put it that way, I can't disagree. The number of times I've visited scutwork.com and been disappointed by the high number of programs with the # of reviews being a big fat ZERO 😡

I guess reporting the basics of the program from the interviewee viewpoint can't hurt.

 

[LADoc00]

Opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one. You want mine? Sure apply, but if you are ranking Tenn over a place like Emory or Duke or WashU or or or lots of places I can think of! then you will regret it. 😎

Going to Tenn wont doom you, but it wont give you that little boost when employers are shifting through 100s yes 100s! of applications per associate position opening. hey if you want to spend the remainder of your days signing out colon polyps in a rural VA hospital and raise 3 kids in Kentucky, go for it. Theres nothing wrong with it if you are happy.

If you want the 400 grand/yr, balls to wall, I drive a porsche to work and vacation in Bali-lifestyle, then think again.

Dont ask is program X good, because its not going to be good for everyone, it only has to be good for YOU.