drPLUM - I asked the question for a reason so I thought it was great that finally someone could tell me what they wanted to hear so that I could incorporate the comments. You weren't being high and mighty
Try this for honesty.
Consider the regulars.
yaah interviewed at UMich/BWH but didn't apply to UMN.
Andy interviewed at UMich/BWH but didn't apply to UMN.
I interviewed at UMN, didn't apply to BWH and wasn't interviewed at UMich.
All of us got our first choice. So in a way, we got what we wanted despite making not-completely-informed decisions.
yaah is at UMich doing AP/CP. Apart from the occasional rant about platelet parameters, the boob service and lymph nodes, he appears on SDN to be happy.
He's more diagnostically-oriented (this assessment based solely on what I know of him from his posts), and has done some translational-type research but doesn't necessarily care to make a career out of it.
Andy is Dr. Dr. Cell, at BWH doing straight-track AP. He went there in the hope of building research connections - which is perhaps what this "prestige" business translates into for him (vs. prestige = tertiary referral diagnostics for others). He wants to get back to doing basic science research in a lab 100% of the time. Currently, he's grossing asses and covering frozen section call, and for the most part will be doing this throughout his first two years (again, this assessment based solely on what I know from his posts).
Now, this sounds like a mismatch.
But are the gripes truly because he is unhappy with his program, or do we notice his gripes more because he posts them? (The rant threads will always be more popular than the rave threads.)
And when you consider the situation, is there really ANY straight-track AP program in the country that would allow him to spend protected time in a basic science lab as a resident? (There are research tracks at some places, but that's not the point here.)
I'll leave the physician-scientist theme for awhile and close by saying that not being able to do basic science research during residency is not the same as saying a program is bad.
And then, you have me.
I am a well-camouflaged Canadian grad, and while not being Canadian can pass myself off as one.
Never having been in the US, SDN (and to a much lesser degree, Scutwork) were my primary sources of inside scoops on residency programs. (Hence my Search function proficiency
)
I had vague ideas of wanting a solid program. I didn't need a Name (and by Name I mean the handful of places everyone's mother-in-law and their dog around the world has heard of).
I applied to a couple of Names (I doubted they would take me, so my "barometer" was no longer prestige) but I was also a little wary because with Names generally come long hours and hierarchy (and "long hours" and "hierarchy" are different for everyone).
I was quite spoilt in Calgary because the department had an almost ridiculously open-door policy. I had been encouraged to do straight-track AP because I couldn't see myself doing private practice. I was - and am - interested in the type of research that Andy scorns
but it makes me happy.
In the end, I chose to do AP/CP at an Upper Midwestern University, where half the residents are married, many with kids. Nothing noble about it
This seems counter-intuitive from a "getting ahead" perspective.
However, I have a theory (currently being put into practice) that if research and publishing (of the translational variety) is going to be done in one's spare time, then one actually needs to allow oneself that spare time. If residency is not going to give me protected time, then I will have to generate it myself somehow.
Hence, AP/CP. And interspersed throughout the 4 years, instead of a year of AP, then a year of CP, then another year of AP etc.
I had already established the usual schedule/teaching/atmopshere grading for the programs I was looking at, and had a vague rank list based on that. The top 4 were based more than not on location (i.e. geography, city/town, local culture).
I also used "soft markers" to assess programs - i.e.
- Midwest meant more flexibility, less competition
- gender balances mean a more balanced workstyle.
- 4 sites (uni/county/private/VA) means people are at least a little laid-back about your turning up late on a new rotation from getting lost.
- The 3AMG:3IMG ratio meant I had a chance of getting in.
The PD said the combined surg path volume between the 4 sites was about 42k - and as an aside, recommended seeing between 20-60k. I thought that sounded about right.
Residents either stayed for fellowships, or in the most recent class went to Mayo and Sloan-Kettering. Fellows stayed for jobs. That was good enough for me. I have to leave the country anyway.
So what can I say that is bad about my program to achieve some credibility? I can't remark on surg path since I haven't done it yet. Being a first-year, I don't know the people who left except that the chief resident who went to lunch with me went to Sloan-Kettering for surg path.
My primary concern about my program was the flexibility and sites. The 4 sites are vastly different from one another and I only got to see the U on interview day. Ask if you can see the other sites if any of you are interviewing here. I can't vouch for how much it would influence your decision though!
The offsites are about 10-15 minutes drive from the U (which you return to for conferences about 3 days/week), and it's mostly CP rotations that take place offsite (the exception being surg path).
We can certainly start a "Day In The Life Of..." type thread; I've always felt this would be helpful throughout the application process, and I've been meaning to find yaah's Surg Path Day post and copy it into a new thread now that I have two rotations so far that I can comment on. The reason a thread like this would be helpful is that various rotations are so wildly different from one another that it's the only real way to compare them is the daily workflow.
[Addendum]The moral of the story - and you are all going to hate me for this, especially as Rank-List Day approaches - is that
you have to know what you want.
This is of course, easier in retrospect. But that's life for ya.
