- Joined
- Mar 9, 2006
- Messages
- 117
- Reaction score
- 1
Interview Day: began with the obligatory talk about how cool their program is and why you should consider it. No powerpoint, just the PD. The PD is kinda different, but in a somewhat refreshing way. Kinda has a beach bum sorta thing going. Then, we had 5 (I think) interviews, which were everywhere from "Tell me about yourself....," i.e. "I did not read your application," to very specific questions about medical school acitivities and other relevant topics. No pimping or anything, just your regular old interview type stuff.
Location: Houston, you either love it or hate it. It is a huge city (4th in US) with every great thing about big cities and every bad thing about big cities. Traffic is miserable (think about 80% of LA), the weather is HUMID. The city also though boasts some fantastic eating, great culture, and a really cool ethnic feel, in that you can find pretty much any type of cuisine or cultural shopping you want. Everything from India to China to of course Latino. The arts seen is pretty active, with a good deal of theater and symphony offerings. Sports are everywhere, they just might not be good teams. The actual medical center is in a pretty nice area, with lots of trees and surrounded by very affluent neighborhoods on one side and sketchier areas on the other. The medical center is Amazing! The largest medical center in the world, having MD Anderson, Ben Taub, DeBakey Center, and the list goes on. It is truly a mecca of medicine. The hospital which houses the program is Hermann, which is a private hospital and is actually very nice. ED is somewhat average, but certainly not bad. Trauma rooms are very small, but otherwise it looks like they have a pretty good set up.
Program: Trauma, trauma, trauma. If you love trauma, look closely at UT H. They are one of 2 level I's in Houston, and the other one doesn't have a helipad, so UTH gets all the air traffic plus slightly under 50% of the ground stuff. Lots of penetrating, lots of blunt. Trauma experience is their biggest positive in terms of education. Education is closely monitored here, with monthly quizzes over reading that they take pretty serious. In my opinion, there might have been a little too much hand holding and not enough independent study, but thats just me. Some people may really thrive in that approach. Residents seemed OK with UTH, though none seemed really thrilled to be there. They said "we work hard.." This was not followed by the usual EM sentiment "we play hard." Here, it was just "we work hard." So, take from that what you want. Pay is lower than alot of programs, and even though cost of living in Texas is very low, Houston is a bit higher than other cities in the state. They work 12 hour shifts, and sounded like they all pretty much enjoyed their off service months. They make a big deal that they don't have any medicine wards on their rotations, which is pretty cool. No month of rounding talking about Mg and Albumin. you can get enough of that in the ICUs.
Summary: I will not rank this program in the top 5 probably. I would however recommend that if you get an interview here to go, because it is a solid program. Not great, but definantly solid. Trauma experience appears to be excellent. Weak aspects in my mind were overall approach to education and maybe they work you a little harder than the average residency. Houston is a headache, but it also has so much to offer if you can get over the big city problems.
Location: Houston, you either love it or hate it. It is a huge city (4th in US) with every great thing about big cities and every bad thing about big cities. Traffic is miserable (think about 80% of LA), the weather is HUMID. The city also though boasts some fantastic eating, great culture, and a really cool ethnic feel, in that you can find pretty much any type of cuisine or cultural shopping you want. Everything from India to China to of course Latino. The arts seen is pretty active, with a good deal of theater and symphony offerings. Sports are everywhere, they just might not be good teams. The actual medical center is in a pretty nice area, with lots of trees and surrounded by very affluent neighborhoods on one side and sketchier areas on the other. The medical center is Amazing! The largest medical center in the world, having MD Anderson, Ben Taub, DeBakey Center, and the list goes on. It is truly a mecca of medicine. The hospital which houses the program is Hermann, which is a private hospital and is actually very nice. ED is somewhat average, but certainly not bad. Trauma rooms are very small, but otherwise it looks like they have a pretty good set up.
Program: Trauma, trauma, trauma. If you love trauma, look closely at UT H. They are one of 2 level I's in Houston, and the other one doesn't have a helipad, so UTH gets all the air traffic plus slightly under 50% of the ground stuff. Lots of penetrating, lots of blunt. Trauma experience is their biggest positive in terms of education. Education is closely monitored here, with monthly quizzes over reading that they take pretty serious. In my opinion, there might have been a little too much hand holding and not enough independent study, but thats just me. Some people may really thrive in that approach. Residents seemed OK with UTH, though none seemed really thrilled to be there. They said "we work hard.." This was not followed by the usual EM sentiment "we play hard." Here, it was just "we work hard." So, take from that what you want. Pay is lower than alot of programs, and even though cost of living in Texas is very low, Houston is a bit higher than other cities in the state. They work 12 hour shifts, and sounded like they all pretty much enjoyed their off service months. They make a big deal that they don't have any medicine wards on their rotations, which is pretty cool. No month of rounding talking about Mg and Albumin. you can get enough of that in the ICUs.
Summary: I will not rank this program in the top 5 probably. I would however recommend that if you get an interview here to go, because it is a solid program. Not great, but definantly solid. Trauma experience appears to be excellent. Weak aspects in my mind were overall approach to education and maybe they work you a little harder than the average residency. Houston is a headache, but it also has so much to offer if you can get over the big city problems.