which is more important?

[yahooo]

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hey guys,

hope everyones doing well and not stressing out too much over the match. i had a question regarding what is more important when looking for a residency spot when your goal is a cardiology fellowship.
i have 2 programs which im interested in and cant seem to decide which to rank higher, 1 is a university based program and the other is a community program with a strong univ affiliation. and im confused between the two. the uni based program is a good solid program but their residents dont get excellent cardiology fellowships (they do in the other fellowships such as GI and pulm/critical care). the community program does alot better in that regard, sending residents for cardio fellowships to places such as baylor, u pitt and other good places this community program also consistently sends about 7 to 8 residents out of the 10 -12 residents that apply every year for a cardio fellowship. the university program sends maybe about 3-4 out of the 10 or so that apply.
now on paper this sounds great but im just wondering how important the label of being a university based program is. the community hospital also has good research opportunities and the only downside from what i could tell is that there might be a bit of scut involved...a price im willing to pay if they can place me into a competitive cardio fellowship.

thanks in advance for helping me with this. id be very grateful for any input. thanks
take care

yahooo

 

[Filter]

It seems like the particular community program you are interested in is better suited for your cardiology aspirations. The only caveat would be if you are not 100 percent certain you want to do cards, but that does not seem to be the case. Also, look at your own aspirations....do you want to be in academics or just practice? If its the latter, i say definitely go for the community program. If not, i don't think that going to this particular community program will hurt you that much, because you indicated that there was alot of research available. Finally, it seems that the university program you are looking at doesn't have a strong cardiology division, so they might not prepare you well for academics either. Basically, if it were me id just go for the community place. Anyway, good luck....and please take my advice with a grain of salt....im a know nothing fourth year too =).

 

[amimigut]

It also depends on if you like research or not. I would imagine most of the community programs would not have bench work research and relatively less prospective clinical research. However, an university based program would allow pretty much all - bench, prospective as well as retrospective. If you look closely on the recent housestaff research activities, most of the research done in community programs are more like retrospective research (chart review etc.) which would be a problem when you apply for competitive cardio programs. This is JUST what I think, any comments?

 

[yahooo]

It also depends on if you like research or not. I would imagine most of the community programs would not have bench work research and relatively less prospective clinical research. However, an university based program would allow pretty much all - bench, prospective as well as retrospective. If you look closely on the recent housestaff research activities, most of the research done in community programs are more like retrospective research (chart review etc.) which would be a problem when you apply for competitive cardio programs. This is JUST what I think, any comments?

i think youre right about the research opportunities being greater in a university program, and for those interested in a career focussing on research i would suggest a uni based place. I'm more interested in securing a fellowship and for that end i guess i have to look at those stats. i recently spoke to another friend who has a friend in that community program and it turns out that this particular community program really does have exceptional fellowship placement. as far as the fact that its harder to get retrospective studies published in a community program goes, i think id agree with you amimigut, but i just wonder if it would still be difficult getting bench work and prospective studies published especially when youre an intern or 2nd yr resident. im assuming, finding the time required for those lenghty studies will be difficult. if anyone else has any thoughts on this id really appreciate it. one more thought before i leave though, what do you think helps more when you are applying for a fellowship, publishing retrospective papers or publishing bench work and prospective studies?
thank you amimigut and filter for your opinions...they are deeply appreciated. thank you. and good luck.