VCU richmond/ Hopkins-Sinai Baltimore opinions wanted

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lucyz02

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hello amoungst my interviews, I am going to VCU in Richmond and also at Hopkins/Sinai in Baltmore as a prelim........

mostly i am interested in a program that will offer:
- good teaching
- good experiences to learn from
- also as an intern and hopefully not excessive scut work (which takes away from the teaching factor and learning expeiences). Its not important if its big name, I am not into that.
- commraderie amoungst the residents also creates an important aspect

I ask mostly b/c the reviews of these programs on scutwork and the like are for one, not current, but they are not stellar, possibly somewhat opinionated...?? so if anyone has interviewed, rotated or even a resident the input is much appreciated.

thanks ....

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Ok: I know someone has opions...with over 70 views- help us all out and tell us the dirty truth!!!

I am adding EVMS, Norfolk,VA to the list.

lucyz02 said:
hello amoungst my interviews, I am going to VCU in Richmond and also at Hopkins/Sinai in Baltmore as a prelim........

mostly i am interested in a program that will offer:
- good teaching
- good experiences to learn from
- also as an intern and hopefully not excessive scut work (which takes away from the teaching factor and learning expeiences). Its not important if its big name, I am not into that.
- commraderie amoungst the residents also creates an important aspect

I ask mostly b/c the reviews of these programs on scutwork and the like are for one, not current, but they are not stellar, possibly somewhat opinionated...?? so if anyone has interviewed, rotated or even a resident the input is much appreciated.

thanks ....
 
VCU seems like a pretty good program- it is your standard large county hospital, but is quite nice with decent ancillary staff. The program also uses the VA as their other teaching facility-- it is large and nice but is the same as all other VAs with respect to patient care, medical record systems, etc. Since I do not know much about any of the other programs that you listed, I cannot comment on them. The program director is quite nice at VCU-- she is extremely friendly and seems very responsive to changes desired by the housestaff. However, I have heard that the quality of training/patient population is comparable to that provided by University of Maryland's IM residency program as well as the program at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY. The people at VCU seemed quite friendly. I hope this helps, but I also welcome any posts from someone with differing viewpoints.
 
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thanks for your reply about VCU, I look forward to going to the interview. Did you interview there this year??
 
VCU- PMR -wise, they are pretty tight on interviews... Medicine - their total count is up to 50, a very large program. Its bassed out of a large county hospital like the prior post mentioned. Actually pretty nice for a county. The program director is young, she has tons of energy and is making contant changes to the program based on resident opinions... seems very receptiive and willing to get the job done. They had just incorporated the night float. The time at VA varies, depending on how the schedule falls. Not too impressed by the VA. TY Interns are required to do continuity clinic which (seemed very disorganized) is really lame IMHO. TY are more interested in electives and less ward time but clinic appeared chaotic and disruptive the regular regimine. Vacations can only be taken during electives too, so imagine you have 3 week vaca, but 2 months elective which actually equalibrates to about 30% less time doing something you really want to do. Those are just things in general you'll find at programs abreast the nation, things to consider in making you ultimate decision.
Richmond is a smaller city, sort of unique with all the history and developmental america, along with plenty of crime. Its offers a nice balance of outdoors, without too much snow because its right on that mason dixon line everyone talks about. (ie, some racism still might exist)
Faculty is supportive and top caliber from what I can tell. Be prepared to work hard if you go there for TY.
 
I interviewed at Hopkins Sinai last year. The hospital is beautiful, residents seemed cool, as did the attendings i met. Ancillary staff is, per residents, great. Patient population is very diverse culturally. The one thing i didn't like (though some might prefer this) was that everyone kept saying that it's possible to go through the whole year and not learn anything. More than one person mentioned this on interview day, including my interviewer. An alum of the prelim program also said that it was a very "chill" year. It was my 2nd favorite program in bmore however (i actually preferred bayview in terms of being a little more rigorous, yet still very supportive), and if i matched there i wouldn't have been disappointed at all. It's a good program.
 
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