Vanderbilt University

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Ignatius M.D. said:
Any recent interviewees/rotators want to chime in?
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I did a rotation there. Some of the smartest residents around, though my "N" is pretty limited. Nashville the city is a plus for most folk.
I don't know how many catarracts they push out, but Call is front heavy and busy. Their consult service is considered "top echelon" in the hosp, which bascially means they get consulted for any and everything at any time the consulting service wishes. This is good, because their residents are knowledgeable and see a lot, but probably not ideal for sleep life work balance. and their cachement is wide so they see any and everything that can be expected from the home population. I did get the feel they emphasize academia, but I know some of the residents openly expressed wanting to settle down in private practice and didn't seem fazed by the academic emphasis. Lots of young well-trained attendings poached from other institutions of higher learning with a committment to teaching. They have a robust Basic Science program (phds with labs and active research), lots of cross-talk between clinicians and lab scientists, and heavy hitters in almost all disciplines-particularly Retina.

Anyone else want to Chime in
 
This is another subjective review of the Vanderbilt program. I went on quite a few number of interviews during my interview season, and I had positive impressions of all of them except for two programs. Vanderbilt was one of the two programs.

There were definitely positive aspects about the program that I really liked. The residents were all friendly and nice. They seemed to get along really well and look out for each other. Their call schedules are pretty demanding, yet the fact that they could be enthusiastic and upbeat was impressive.

Vanderville has strong faculty, especially in retina. Dr. Sternberg is obviously the most renowned member of the department. He was a great person to interview with, and I'm sure he is willing to pull strings to help residents match into fellowships. However I did not get that kind impression for most of the other faculty members that I interviewed with. Some were condescending and even hostile (this is highly unusual in the field of ophthalmology, at least from my experience).

Additionally I wasn't too impressed with the fellowship match results over the last few years. I also didn't like the fact that the residents are required to do rotations outside of Nashville for certain parts of a year. For example they go to Emory for the ophthalmic pathology rotation.
 
I'd have to mirror the above sentiment. Vanderbilt was the only program I interviewed where I felt a faculty member was hostile in an interview. I wasn't going to post anything about this until I saw your review, because I think it's a given that you won't get along with everybody you meet. But another person with such a similar (and unique) experience is a little suspect.

It left a really bad impression on me, which is unfortunate because the PD and chair both seem like very dedicated, good people. The night float is an interesting concept and seems to help with their rather rough call. Their surgical curriculum seems fairly popular among the residents. The cataract numbers leave something to be desired (120-140), but they appear to get decent volume with other surgeries.
 
I was really excited about my Vandy interview because faculty at my home institution trained with some of the faculty there and spoke very highly of the program. But on interview day, my experience was similar to Corn Dog and OphthoApplicant04. One of my interviewers grilled me on my hobbies and another one on my research. It was the interview where I didn’t have fun. But that was slightly balanced by the residents who seemed busy and said they loved working with the faculty. So idk, I think their interview experience probably turns ppl off to an amazing program. I’m still going to rank them pretty high on my list.
 
Does Vanderbilt have a resident run clinic? Also, was anyone else who interviewed surprised by the cataract numbers? I don't have the sheet in front of me but I recall them being in the low 100's. I would have thought being the only institution in the area would result in higher cataract numbers for the residents. Any thoughts?
 
ASDA DDOC said:
Their consult service is considered "top echelon" in the hosp, which bascially means they get consulted for any and everything at any time the consulting service wishes. This is good, because their residents are knowledgeable and see a lot, but probably not ideal for sleep life work balance.
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Don't know what top echelon is supposed to suggest.
Anybody who has been through residency will tell you that's actually bad. Ophthalmology is an outpatient specialty and the vast majority of inpatient consults are bull ****. Consults for anything and everythhing at any time means you will be very busy seeing dry eyes, subconj hemorrhage, corneal abrasions, and "blurred vision" (dry eyes).
 
i'm a fellow applicant, but from my notes from that interview day...no resident run clinic. cataracts 120-140. i too was surprised at how average the numbers were considering they have two VAs and a county. i heard a resident mention the VA can do max 4 cases/day which may be part of the problem, but i don't have more info other than my interview day. i also second the weirdly hostile vibe of one interview as mentioned by others, though the chair and PD are awesome.
 
AgentMichaelScarn said:
i'm a fellow applicant, but from my notes from that interview day...no resident run clinic. cataracts 120-140. i too was surprised at how average the numbers were considering they have two VAs and a county. i heard a resident mention the VA can do max 4 cases/day which may be part of the problem, but i don't have more info other than my interview day. i also second the weirdly hostile vibe of one interview as mentioned by others, though the chair and PD are awesome.
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Unfortunately, that's the problem at every VA that I've ever worked at. If I worked there, I'd be the same way. Blame the culture, not the people. The only way to have more cases at the VA is to have more rooms and more attendings operating more days of the week.

Best surgical situation I've ever encountered is to have an ambulatory surgical center where residents can do their own cases (only encountered that at one program and helps explain their godly numbers).
 
Here are my final thoughts from when I rotated/interviewed at Vandy as a 4th year (written for people at my med school applying after me):

Vanderbilt is a solid program. The eye institute is stand-alone and very nice, and they see tons of pathology and are busy in clinic. VEI itself feels a little like a private practice facility, and the patients often reflect that. The university and children's hospitals are fabulous. No real weak areas-particularly strong in retina (Sternberg, Agarwal-Gass protege, Kim-uveitis, Daniels-ocular onc, Law-associate PD, etc.), plastics-Dr.Mawn, peds, and solid in cornea and glaucoma. Lower cataract numbers (120-ish) even though they have 2 VAs and very high clinical volume. Not sure why this was exactly and was not clarified. Numbers in other areas were pretty good and well-balanced. The interviews were almost all behavioral and, with some exceptions, more intense than other programs. The residents here were super nice and a big plus for the program. They have strong match lists for fellowship, some still go comprehensive. The PD is excellent-very bright, thoroughly involved in resident education. The residents helped create a night float system and "consult resident" in response to the rough call and it has apparently been a success, though call as upper-levels can be rough (large medical center that also gets a lot of trauma). In my opinion a top tier program or very close to it, but you may work longer hours with more scut than other places, and it may be better suited for those going into academics/fellowship as the surgical numbers are low-average. Its major advantages are in subspecialty exposure, top affiliated hospitals, great location (Nashville is an awesome city), great residents, and a strong PD.
 
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