Yale vs Mount Sinai vs Montefiore

[agrasky]

I'm hoping someone can add to my limited interview day knowledge of Mount Sinai and the Albert Einstein Montefiore programs.

Any experience/insight into these programs would be helpful, but I've also listed specific questions/issues that were not clear on interview day. I'm looking for a program that offers diverse clinical experiences (such as multiple training sites and different ethnic/socioeconomic patient populations) as well as reasonable work hours as I have many interests outside of the hospital. Thank you!

1) Mt Sinai: This program seems "up and coming," and a seems to offer a good work/life balance. However, some of the residents I met were not very friendly or engaged. I also heard that faculty are sometimes distant and don't teach much. Any one had similar or different experiences?

2) Montefiore: I heard great things about resident happiness and satisfaction, however the hospital seemed dreary and I did not meet many people on interview day. I am also worried about limited exposure to diverse patient populations, as residents only treat low income patients in the Monte hospital. Also, the residents I did meet seemed to be here mainly because they had families and wanted an easier program. Any thoughts on quality of the training?

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[britelite]

Hi, I interviewed at Sinai and Monte and had similar experiences to what you posted. Regarding Monte, I asked the residents if they truly felt prepared once they completed residency and they all told me they felt more than prepared for fellowship and jobs. They felt their protected teaching day and intense supervision was very beneficial for their learning. I can only take what they said at face value so I'm hoping it's true. I was wondering how many people you met on your interview day because the day I interviewed there were many residents from all different years present. I'm also wondering about patient diversity because the Bronx does have a very specific patient population.
In regards to Sinai, I loved their focus on specialization and the varied exposure to different areas in Psych that you get in your first year, however I also felt that although the residents were polite there was a lack of overt friendliness (it might just be our personalities not meshing). Dr. Rieder and Dr. Stewart seemed really motivated to encourage resident education but I don't know about the other faculty. I don't know if this helped any but I just wanted to share the impression I got on my interviews.

 

[agrasky]

Thanks for your response. Its helpful to hear that you had similar experiences. I met about 5 people at Albert Einstein, a decent sized group, but not as many as I met at other programs. You're right that they have a very specific patient population, which is one of my concerns, as I think the broadest patient base possible would be the best for training.

Regarding Sinai, at the resident dinner the majority of people who attended were friendly, smart, and interesting. I just thought it was odd that the people who attended the lunch did not seem to really interact with us and instead just talked amongst themselves. I'd also heard from other interviewees similar experiences with the residents being somewhat unfriendly and withdrawn.