Yale (New Haven) vs UW

[Linus2007]

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Hey just wanted to get people's ideas on the UW and Yale-NH program. The Yale program suprised me with how approachable they are. I'm having trouble deciding and barring the toss of a coin I just wanted to see other people's opinions. Here is what I have on the table at moment for the two programs:

UW
Pros:
1. Seattle is a great place with city stuff and nature/hiking stuff available.
2. Harborview - Great indigent care and the Medic one exposure is very unique and amazing.
3. Great faculty teaching + relaxed atmosphere.
4. Excellent enthusiastic, apporachable PD with excellent ideas for the program.
5. Good name for placement (Most stay within UW or NW area but I think it's cos Seattle is a great place).
6. 3 hospital system has good variety of pts - indigent, transplant, middle class, veteran etc.
7. I actually love the weather there
8. Great procedure exposure!

Cons:
1. Wasn't impressed by their presentation. Was not as bad as prior year reports but they have so much that they sold themselves short. (on a tangent UMich really has the best presentation).
2. 1 Interview did not even read my application: C'mon I mean I'm interviewing you as well you interviewing me. Not impressive to say the least sadly.
3. The number of new interventions are impressive but on the flipside waaayy to much for me to be the guinea pig. Sucks as when the new designs all pull through it is going to be one hell of a program again (Damn it why couldn't they have started it earlier)
4. No free parking (shuttles are available but only for certain times)
5. Seattle is expensive.
6. Big class.
7. Pushing work hour limit easily.
8. Electives start in second year, so if you are undecided on specialties it may push back application schedules. Most residents there appeared to apply in their third year.
9. Sill on probation but expecting to be fine.

Other thoughts: UW reminds me of the France World cup squad before Japorea. Having been a powerhouse for so long their lack of show during that world cup was shocking and a lot of changes needed to be made. They got better but it did take some time. I am really impressed by the new PD and I do have the feeling he is someone who will go to bat for you (even more so than the Yale PD who is excellent himself.)

Yale:
Pros:
1. Reliable name.
2. Many tracks are available, really impressive. In my opinion this is what Uw will be in a few years.
3. Residents and faculty seemed down to Earth. A few egos but no more than other programs.
4. Good benefits like $1,400 for books, conferences, PDAs etc.
5. Good research opportunities.
6. Good population exposure - indigent care, referrals etc.
7. New Haven is cheap.
8. Charming PD.

Cons:
1. Pushing hour limit
2. No night float system if I recall correctly
3. During the dinner the resident wasn't as 'enthusiastic' about the program when compared to other programs. Maybe she/he was being more honest.
4. New Haven can be a little dangerous but it's getting better
5. Intern autonomy is resident dependent. There can be residents in this program (per several intern reports) that don't really let you do 'your thing'.

Other thoughts:
They didn't really spend any time explaining where there residents go for fellowships (outside of Yale). They do give a list in the handouts but it wasn't in their presentation.


I know there are previous reports of this from prior years but as UW is very different from last year I really wanted to hear views from this year's interviews. I think the problem is I was pretty set on UW having known it pretty well but Yale 'done good' during the interview and UW seemed to falter a bit on their presentation.


Any thoughts or anyone else have the same dilemma?

 

[lemonade02]

you'll have to choose on where you want to live..seattle or new england. with uw, you'll probably be in the NW for the next 5-6 years...with yale, likely in new england for that long.

 

[Boz Bozeman]

Hi!

Yale was an institution that I was considering in my search, and I was impressed with them as well. Ultimately, I decided to go with the UW, and here's why:

1. Coming from the Midwest, amazingly, it was easier for me to get home from Seattle than to New Haven. Either the airplane connection or the train connection through NYC were too much for me to bear.

2. I liked the idea of the UW being the 800 pound gorilla of health care in the Northwest. Everyone who gets sick out west of Boise and north of Olympia goes to the UW or Harborview if they are really sick. That meant that the most interesting cases and the people who needed doctors most would be coming to Seattle. I liked that. And with New Haven being sandwiched between a million hospitals in NYC and another million in Boston, I couldn't see that happening there.

3. I was super-impressed with the ID and pulmonary faculty at the UW, two fields that I was considering entering. I was peeking ahead to the application I was going to need to write in a couple of years. I didn't find the same types at Yale.

4. I found Seattle to be a great place, and one that I wanted to get to know better. I couldn't say the same about New Haven, or really the Northeast for that matter. I guess I was just more of a West Coast guy.

I hope that this helps.

From a UW homer,
Boz