Where can I find residency rankings?

[fishface]

Hey all - I'm sure this has been discussed here before, but I'm trying to choose btw 2 schools and want to figure out which has better residency rankings and thus better residents teaching us! Is there anywhere I can find some sort of list? I'm guessing US News, but where on the site? Do I have to pay?

Thanks for the help!

-Fishface

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[karma4me]

I've asked this same question several times and have never gotten a simple answer. Apparently, the NRMP (National Residency Matching Program) used to post/publish match results, but they stopped doing that a few years ago. So, basically, you're on your own to find match results from the two schools you're debating. Most schools (at least the majority of the schools I've looked at) have them posted somewhere on their web site.

Try posting which 2 schools you're talking about, and usually somebody on SDN has found a link to the info you're looking for.

 

[Scrubbs]

fishface-

Unfortunately there is no easy way to answer your question. If you want to know where the students matched for residency, then karma is right, they should have that info available on the website or through the admissions office. However, if you want to know how good the residency programs at your school are, its a lot more difficult. The reason for this is that most hospitals have both good and mediocre programs. For example, hospital X may have a fantastic Medicine program, an ok Surgery program, and a not so hot Ob/Gyn program. Also, you may be rotating at other hospitals that have their own programs, and hence, their own level of residents.

Talk to the students at the school, or ask here on SDN (try the allo/clinical rotations boards). Good luck!

 

[banannie]

i think the US News Specialty rankings might be a good proxy for this. and yes, you will have to pay to see them.

not sure if their methodology is any good, but it seems like Harvard and Hopkins are at the top of most of the lists, and as we all know, any rating system that ranks these schools highly must be right.

 

[tBw]

well, you could look at the residency directors ranking of each school in USNews which has been posted in full on sdn

http://www.studentdoctor.net/forums...d=64058&perpage=5&highlight=rank&pagenumber=3

but really i'm not sure what this tells you. i mean a school with strong IM might be weak in Rads or Neuro, or vice versa....so really its pretty hard to break it all down, especially if you don't really know what specialty you'll end up in...

 

[JlazyMD]

Some rated reviews of residency programs can be found at

http://www.scutwork.com

Info is pretty patchy though, this site needs more contributors.

 

[fishface]

Thank you for all your help! or attempts at help that is. I don't know why it is so difficult to find some simple information! I'm choosing btw Northwestern and NYU and have been told that the residency programs at NW are better....but i want some concrete info! i'll keep looking....

thanks again for the help - any more insight as it comes would be great!

-fishface

 

[UCLAMAN]

Originally posted by fishface
Thank you for all your help! or attempts at help that is. I don't know why it is so difficult to find some simple information! I'm choosing btw Northwestern and NYU and have been told that the residency programs at NW are better....but i want some concrete info! i'll keep looking....

thanks again for the help - any more insight as it comes would be great!

-fishface

I have a copy of the 2002 usnews hospital rankings. It ranks each hospital in the different specialties. If you have a specific specialty in mind let me know and I'll give you the 411. For the most part Northwestern always ranks in the top 20 area for each specialty. I don't know which hospital/s NYU rotates at but if you let me know I'll check it out. I don't know how much these rankings reflect the residency programs in each specialty but I'd imagine a good OB dept probably means a good OB residency program too.

By the way...My unbiased opinion is that you should come to Northwestern. Come on...you've already got a friend in me!

 

[adude]

Really there are no residency rankings available at least that I'm aware of. Hospital rankings that you may see in magazines are based I believe on which hospitals are best for patients, which may not correlate with which are best for residency training. Suburban private hospitals are often ranked higher in these lists than university hospitals, because as a patient maybe you would rather be there but teaching may not be as good and most people would say university hospitals are better for residency.

The US News specialty rankings I think are for the academic departments of the medical school, not the residency programs. The criteria they use for these probably would not be the same criteria you would use to rank a residency program. Some places on that list including Harvard have multiple hospitals each with their own independent programs.

The problem is that there is no good way to rank residencies because what people are looking for in a program is so variable. For example, in internal medicine Northwestern is probably more academic and intellectual but NYU (Bellevue hospital) is more "hands-on" and allows greater resident autonomy and variety of experiences. Which one is "better" is a personal thing for each resident. And scrubbs was right, the different programs in each hospital can vary a lot in quality, even big name schools may be weak in certain departments. Both NYU and Northwestern are great places though, just pick whether you would rather live in Chicago or NYC.

 

[closertofine]

I'm not sure what specialty I'd like to go into (I have to at least get into med school first!)...but I'm interested in ob/gyn. Does anyone know the top schools in this area?

As you all mentioned, the rankings of residencies might not tell how good the med school program is...but maybe it would help... or if anyone here knows generally of one or two schools that stand out in ob/gyn?

Thanks! I tried U.S. News and World Report, but they only give the top three schools...and I'd go to one of them if I could get in, but I know that's not very likely!

 

[Brewster]

Ranking residency programs is a very difficult (nearly impossible) and probably fruitless task. The reasons for this have been alluded to by other posters:
- Many many many factors go into a medical student's choice of residency. Prestige is only one. Others include location, the people there, academic vs community, research opportunities, conferences, etc.
- Looking at the quality of the hospital/department may be of some help, but you have to be careful. Just because a deparment receives high marks in US News, does not mean its training program is stellar. These rankings are based on patient care, not resident education, and these two are not necessarily correlated.
Residency really is a "program that is best for you" rather than "program that is best" decision. Or at least it ought to be.

Realistically, I think you will receive a fine education at either NYU or Northwestern. You should just decide which school you liked best and whether you want to be in NYC or Chicago. They will both have fine residents and attendings and will educate you well.

As for the question regarding ob/gyn programs...I know nothing about these. However, I would say that you are probably best off going to a school that has decent training in all fields, not just one. The reason for this is that you cannot really know what specialty is best for you until you try things out. Most med students who go into medical school with an idea regarding specialty end up changing their minds. You want good exposure to a variety of fields.