Mojetter seems to have an axe to grind. Many reputable people (including my PD) would place GWU as the best of the IM residency programs in the Washington, DC area. I heard all of this stuff and I applied to many big cities including Washington and interviewed at the Washington programs. What mojetter has to say as a former EM resident is the complete opposite of what I saw.
I would place Washington hospital center at the bottom of the Washington IM list. I would say that in order of quality, the Washington IM programs from best to worst are: GWU, Georgetown, and then Washington Hospital Center.
MAYBE some people might say that Georgetown is better, I would say that Georgetown and GWU are very close to being equa with GW just slightly better. WHC is definitely below both of them.
During the interview day at GWU, the applicants are told about the Gold Team which is basically equivalent to a cardiac rotation. However, the house staff informed the applicants that GWU has put into effect (or will start soon) a completely seperate chest pain service so that all of the rule out MI cases will go the chest pain service which is staffed by PA and not the house staff.
As far as the malignancy issue, the PD at GWU is quite possibly the nicest PD that you will ever meet on the interview trail. I actually ended up rounding with a medicine team at GWU as part of a second look thing because I was not too sure about the city. I also rounded with a Georgetown medicine team because all interviewees spend an 1 hour rounding with a ward or ICU team during the georgetown interview day. I did not detect any malignancy at all at GWU or at Georgetown. Neither are malignant. Residents seem very happy at both places.
As far as demographics, GWU sees everyone from homeless people to top government officials. GW hospital has been termed "the president's own."
The demograhics are probably the most diverse in the area.
Regarding finances, GW has a pretty new hospital and seems to be further expanding. Georgetown seems to be financially stable as well and the PD there told us (ie. the interviewees) that the hospital made a $5 million profit this year and the financial trouble sounds like a thing of the past.
Regarding FMGs, (if you even care) there are very few at Georgetown and GWU and more at WHC. I actually read both Georgetown and GW's "interns and where they went to school" lists. As far as I know, GW has zero FMGs in the current intern class and Georgetown only has a couple. I did not see WHC's list but just by visiting there I saw that there more FMGs there.
Everyone knows that (interestingly) there is no totally powerhouse IM program in a fairly decent sized city like Washington. All of the other IM residency programs (and hospitals overall) in Washington seem to be stable, but GW is very strong and is still on the offensive in terms of aggressively expanding its services and adding to its strengths.
An interesting fact that I noticed during my interviews in DC is that it seems like a whole bunch of Georgetown attendings have jumped ship and left to take positions at GW.
Having interviewed at the various DC program, in my rank list, GWU will figure the most prominently among the Washington programs.
