UVA and MUSC

[musom]

Does anyone have any information on these two residency training programs. I will be doing away rotations at these institutions in the fall. Would either of these two places be considered "competitive"?

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[exPCM]

UVA - higher tier program -> competitive
MUSC - mid tier program -> not very competitive

UVA has a number of big names on the faculty (Mills, Wick, Stoler, Patterson, Cousar).
MUSC has a placental path expert (Lage) so if you have a burning desire to specialize in placentas it might be for you.

P.S. There is a poster who frequently comes to this site and posts the list of the top 5 pathology residency programs in the nation and I don't believe UVA is one of the top 5.

 

[HESC]

check out the recent southeast programs thread

you might want to try the search function as well... it works pretty good

 

[Napoleon1801]

Does anyone have any information on these two residency training programs. I will be doing away rotations at these institutions in the fall. Would either of these two places be considered "competitive"?

"Competitive" is in the eye of the beholder. At any rate, MUSC seemed like a really friendly laid-back sort of place. It seemed like they had a good name in the south and they seem "competitive" enough that they don't always take in-house applicants from their medical school. I believe they said there were 8 applicants this year from their class applying. They have a good amount of fellowships, including a dermpath. It was one of my top considerations given the positive atmosphere here.

 

[Pianoboe01]

they seem "competitive" enough that they don't always take in-house applicants from their medical school.

I don't think having a lot of in-house people match at a program makes that program less competitive. If anything, I think it would be more competitive because it may be harder for unknown students to match there. Also, in house applicants may know first-hand how great their own program is and don't want to leave.

 

[SushiKitty]

Agree with above. Applicants wanting to stay "in-house" is a good sign and testament to the program's appeal.

I interviewed at UVA and MUSC among other programs in the southeast. Historically, UVA is more competitive than MUSC. If I had to rank, I would say UVA is top 10-top 20; MUSC top 20-50. I heard UVA didn't fill through the match this year - probably a fluke, due to not interviewing enough candidates. UVA has the "big name/top-tier/prestige" factor, which can facilitate landing a competitive fellowship and possibly your first job. UVA is more intense, MUSC more laidback. As other have said, MUSC places greater emphasis on training community physicians. UVA is very strong in AP, I think some research (or at least a couple publications) is expected, although not explicitly mentioned anywhere.
You will get a feel of the "personality" I'm talking about when you do your aways.
There are some other excellent programs in the southeast you should take a look at too (Vandy, UAB, Emory, UNC, Duke, UTSW).

 

[urbanpath]

MUSC: great group of residents that get along well, strong AP training (4 day surg path schedule freeze/gross/***read-out***/sign-out repeat...), not a lot of big names but nice, knowledgable, faculty, around 23,000 surgicals last year, adequate CP training, most residents tend to go into private practice but some do choose academics (maybe 15%), Fellowships: Heme (1 position), Derm (1 position), SurgPath (2 positions), Cytology (3 positions), Forensics (1 position), Clinical Chemistry (1 position) --> definately a preference for in-house candidates, residents get good fellowships but sometimes people outside southeast are not very familiar with MUSC which can be a disadvantage (although recent residents have/are going to UCLA, Hopkins, Mayo, Michigan...), i feel well prepared for boards, as enjoyable as a residency program can be (i would do it again in a heartbeat). Oh yeah, fairly competitive program actually - probably a mid-tier academic program, but due to the intangibles (beach, great town) lots of people are interested (Step I scores of interviewees range from 210 for those with connections and great personalities to 260, avg probably around 225, but Step I is not the most important thing here...).

UVA: good reputation, don't know much beyond that.

 

[musom]

Great, I have applied to do a two week away rotation in September at MUSC. Hopefully I will be accepted and able to get a feel for the program. Thanks for the information.