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Since interviews are about to get going I figured we could get the party started. Anyone have any positives/negatives about the interview experiences?
These threads have always been a bit sparse because people get paranoid.
Both myself or gutonc will anonymously post any impression if you PM them to us. Copy. Paste. Your name left off.
This is true...I will happily do so. Although I might snark it up a bit.
This seems like a great idea as long as everything can be posted anonymously.
If you PM gutonc specify if you want your posting with regular snark or EXTRA-snark
This seems like a great idea as long as everything can be posted anonymously.
I interviewed at Mayo. I liked my experience there. I think everyone there is collegial and from what the residents told us all the attendings are very friendly and approachable. Yes everyone wears suits on all non-icu rotations, but no one really seemed to mind it. The hospital itself is an integral part of the city and most of the people in that area work there. There is 0 traffic, which is great. Most residents live within 10 minutes of the hospital and according to them they do a great job of keeping the streets free of snow during winters, so people aren't getting stuck at home due to snow on the streets. The skywalk/underground subway system was also nice, making it easy to almost never need to go outside if you really didn't want to.
The ancillary staff appears to be very strong. I think that the curriculum seemed great and there were lots of opportunities for electives in all areas of medicine and even in other things like radiology, anesthesia, etc if someone wanted to do that. You rotate thru basically all areas of medicine over the course of the 3 years as part of required electives.
There were lots of great research opportunities as well as chances to go abroad. The program does a lot to facilitate research and pays for trips to go anywhere so you can present your work, and they find coverage for you so you don't have to worry about that. The best thing is the faculty. The PD seemed like a really cool person. Overall I liked the place.
Potential cons: The hospital seemed a little older on the inside. Some people won't like the daily suits. Rochester is a smaller area, so some people looking for big city life won't like it there.
Full on suits. Program is really nice. Rochester is the only limiting factor.
Anonymous said:Yale:
Resdients seemed super happy and well-adjusted. They report rarely needing to go over work-hours. They talk up New Haven and the surrounding areas as far as activities; seem to be a very tight-knit class (and pretty much tell you that they have to be since they are in New Haven).
PD was really nice, calls being PD his "dream job." He's relatively new in that he started just a few years ago. He, and all of the faculty, seem EXTREMELY responsive to resident feedback. About call schedules, about starting new education initivatives -- basically about anything. If something isn't working and it can be fixed, it seems like it gets fixed. Felt very resident-centric to me in a good way.
I liked the block scheduling (can't remember exactly -- maybe 4+2? 6+2?) so that inpatient and outpatient time are separate. Seemed like a lot of outpatient time (total) to me, but I come from an inpatient-centric program. Have a cool outpatient curriculum. They do ICU time as interns -- their MICU is huge, with 32 beds. Probably one of my favorite things is that they have subspecialty services run by attendings with subspecialty training -- like a Liver service run by GI peeps, etc etc etc. They have a research in residency program, which practically everyone does, and other opportunities as well if you like basic science or global health.
Hospital has a new part and an old part, a lot like other places. It all seemed sufficient and they continue to expand. They recently acquired a nearby community hospital but it will not change where the categorical IM residents rotate. I think they said they also do most of the area's liver transplants.
Morning report was good, but not amazing, but I certainly felt like their residents were on par. Chiefs were very nice and supportive, more administrative in role I believe. I wish we had been able to round with a team.
In general everyone seemed very happy and the training seemed good. Academic education is certainly a focus.
Cons: Living in New Haven; maybe amount of outpatient
Anonymous said:Cornell
Residents: Seemed a happy bunch. Every last one of them looooves living in NYC. Many of them are from NYC or came there for school/med school and never left. 90% or more live in one of the 3 buildings less than 2 blocks from the hospital where there is (slightlyyy) subsidized housing. Super convenient, but still fairly expensive. Probably worth it if living in NYC is exactly what you want -- such a nice area, too (upper east side). They seemed to have a good time together, with regularly scheduled happy hours and get togethers, but also many have friends/social life outside of the resident group because they have NYC ties.
PD: Seemed nice, didn't have a chance to meet her. But seemed responsive and dedicated to the residents and program.
Program: Morning report -- enjoyed that PD and faculty were there to join in the discussion. Liked that they followed up some questions from their last report with references. Rounds -- a bit crazy because the hospital is jam-packed right now. Attendings are generally hospitalists. Big focus on resident to resident education in the 3rd year. Chief residents very involved in these 3rd year education rotations. ICU time starts in first year. Block scheduling (yay) -- brand new, in response to resident feedback. Can have outpatient at one of 3 sites. Opportunities to do research/have global health experience are available. Program seems dedicated to helping each individual resident find their career path. Theirs seems to be a primarily night-float system as far as work-hour adjustments go. Everyone seems fairly happy with this.
Hospital: Huge, and they're building a new research building nearby. Crazy busy right now because of post-Sandy adjustments; but seems generally busy in that interns say they are usually capped. Have Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for heme-onc rotations. They use eclipsis now, not sure if they plan to switch to something new.
Cons: not really sure...you just have to decide if living in NYC is right for you. I'd also prefer that not all my attendings be hospitalists (for learning purposes) but that's me.
Do you really have four posts in your history of SDN, all of which are permutations of "How is NYM?" Seriously, they were all posted in the same day and three of them in the IM forum - did you think that asking more times would get you a faster response?
Can you please give some input on the program....
it's a community program in park slope. park slope is a nice area in brooklyn. it probably attracts a lot of IMG's. not sure what more you want to know, and you probably won't get answers to the questions you have on SDN... since the SDN avg is the brig, UCSF, MGH, JHU.
It attracts exclusively IMGs. I don't know for certain but assume it's "all out" this year. It's not the worst program in Brooklyn...but it puts up a good fight for that spot.
PD: terrific. friendly, made sure to touch base with all applicants on the day of my interview, which was meaningful even if brief.
Hospitals: residents rotate through main center and the VA. Hospital is quite pretty with beautiful surrounding architecture. The new outpatient facilities are amazing.
Residents: happiest interns and residents I've encountered thus far, and it was certainly genuine (crazy turn-out at the pre-interview dinner). It's obvious that most of them get along and are a fun bunch.
Program structure: simply...outstanding. Night float in place so there is no overnight call for interns. Doesn't seem like folks get close to violating work hours. On some older WashU threads the program has gotten grief for being 'cush'--but that doesn't seem to have impaired training whatsoever and actually promotes resident well-being, time for research, community activities, etc. Generous amount of time for electives and research. There is actually a "resident diversity" program, in which residents can engage the community and have a substantial supplement to their annual salary (~$8,000 per year).
Attendings: appeared friendly and more than willing to advise/mentor residents.
Morning Report: collegial atmosphere and low-key.
Location: a drawback for many. STL is not the safest of areas, but it does provide a good chance to work with an extremely underserved population.
Research: the hospital is extremely well-funded, thus facilitating abundant funding for resident scholarship. Anything and everything you could think of studying is here.
Cons: see location.
Overall impression: amazing program with out-of-this-world intelligent residents who are humble and outstanding opportunities to engage in research and/or community welfare.
WashU
Copy and pasta from my PM box
Pros: Program director been there for 10 years, very friendly. Spent the whole day with us along with the APD's. Chiefs seem really friendly. Can do elective rotations at NIH. Fellowship match list was impressive, and Hem-Onc there's opportunity to stay (Lombardi). Program put emphasis on making you good all-around clinician first, rather than just a fellowship applicant. Faculty are super friendly. Chief of medicine spent the day hanging out with us and apparently is on the floors a lot. Good ancillary support. Right on Georgetown campus which is pretty.
Cons: Ambulatory clinic one half day a week feels sort of tacked on, and residents seem to not particularly love it. No primary care track, yet. No 4+1 system, but I think this may be in the works. Hospital itself was a little outdated-looking, but not terrible. EHR is a hybrid of electronic and written. Not sure if they have EPIC. Driving to hospitals seems a pain (esp on way home = rush hour), but the advantage over NYC residency is reduced cost of living by being able to live in Arlington.
Overall Impression: Happy residents, solid IM program. Would want a more concentrated ambulatory education, but nevertheless got a warm vibe and would be happy here. Ranking highly.
Random neurotic question, does it look pretentious to cross your legs during an interview? sitting with my ankle resting on my knee is how im most comfortable but im wondering if it comes off looking too nonchalant... or am i just overthinking this and it doesnt matter as long as you dont act like a douche
Anonymous said:Hey there,
I wanted to add this to the Interview Impressions thread for Internal Medicine at USC:
Pros: implementation of care coordinators to absorb scut from treatment teams, Blue service which handles non-teaching cases (e.g. extended psych holds, placement issues, etc.), no call (6-6 everyday), decent match list (they take 50% of their own for GI), no overnights as an intern, weekly continuity clinic, EMR is integrated between hospitals and clinics, NPs admit patients during the day for you so you are able to focus on teaching and conferences, PGY-3s are allowed to take as much time off for fellowship interviews as necessary
Cons: lowest salary in the country (43k), hospital not located in great neighborhood
PD: very down to earth, funny, receptive to feedback from residents, former PD promoted to Vice-Chair of Medicine, but still very active with residents
Facilities: mostly County, few rotations at Keck (private) and Norris Cancer as PGY-2 and PGY-3, everything looks new and clean
Residents: seemed happy enough, program is big enough (55) that youll find enough cool people to hang out with
Morning Report: very educational and well-run, attendings from various services were there to break down different aspects of the case
Patients: lots of pathology and diversity (LA County)
Location: LA has great nightlife, cultural attractions; traffic seems to be the only thing residents complain about
Research: hospital just received huge donation ($300 million) for facilities and research, mentors are assigned from day one
Overall: felt like I could be happy there, training seems good, would rank highly
Random neurotic question, does it look pretentious to cross your legs during an interview? sitting with my ankle resting on my knee is how im most comfortable but im wondering if it comes off looking too nonchalant... or am i just overthinking this and it doesnt matter as long as you dont act like a douche
Received a hand-written, personalized note from the PD at Duke today. Anyone else? Despite knowing that I'm a unique little snowflake, I'm assuming this is standard procedure.
I'm kinda curious about this too, though not for Duke. I've gotten correspondence, sometimes repeatedly, from PDs and am curious how much (if any) reliability can I put on this. Or, is this just the normal stuff most applicants get from numerous programs?
I got this same hand-written message from the Duke PD last year, my adviser was told by them I was ranked to match, I ranked them #1 because it truly was my favorite program, then....didn't match there. I would not put a whole lot of thought into letters or correspondence you get from them.
(To be fair, I would not trust correspondence coming from ANY program. A lot of programs play games, and you should never allow what some PD says sway how you rank a program. Please rank programs based on how you like them and how they will allow you to achieve your career goals. Do not over-react to the little things, especially correspondence letters - it will drive you INSANE over two-three months.)
I'm kinda curious about this too, though not for Duke. I've gotten correspondence, sometimes repeatedly, from PDs and am curious how much (if any) reliability can I put on this. Or, is this just the normal stuff most applicants get from numerous programs?
I've said this elsewhere but the only correspondence you should put any reliability in is a contract with your name on it signed by the PD and GME officer. Everything else is hot air.
Anonymous said:UChicago
PD: among my least favorite PDs, but couldn't quite understand why. Seemed fake (just my gut feeling). The associate PDs are terrific. At the beginning of the day they chatted with us briefly, and seemed to really know our applications. We also had exit interviews with one of the two assistant PDs to chat about our day.
Hospitals: residents rotate through main UofC hospital with some months at a private/community hospital. There's a new hospital set to open in 2013 where some medical specialties (including surgery) will be housed.
Residents: all seemed friendly and passionate about academia.
Program structure: very busy schedule (Q4 overnight, ~16 hr shifts for interns and ~24 hr for R2s). They are instituting a 4+2 system in 2013, which has its benefits.
Attendings: terrific instruction on rounds, but found the atmosphere/interactions to be a bit 'stuffy' (overall impression).
Location: Chicago is a great city, hyde park has some rough areas but for the most part residents can find a cool place to live close to campus or in the city.
Research: ample opportunities to conduct research from the lab to population outcomes/social sciences work.
Cons: appears to be rough training (some may like this, others not so much). Patient's are for the large part AA and not well off, so diversity could be an issue if you want more ethnicities you treat (not to say you can't here, but there is a predominance).
Overall impression: superb training that will place you into fellowship/academia in an environment that may be too intense for some.
Cancelled WashU, UW, Baylor, Vandy, UNC, Pitt, NYU
UCLA>Stanford>UCSF - great programs but I have decided not to move to CA
Chicago - great program, very impressed with morning rounds, bad location
Northwestern - cush program, PD, Chairman , nice hospital, nice part of town.
Michigan - great program, great hospital, great people, only 6 patients/day (cush??), location not so interesting.
MGH, BWH, BIDMC - great programs, different culture in each, great people, love the location, expensive.
Penn, Yale - great programs, great people, location - not bad at all!
Cornell> Mount Sinai>Columbia - good programs, good location, expensive
Duke - great programs, great people, great support, boring location
JHU - loved loved the program, great people, not so nice location.
I have 2 weeks to digest everything, contact people and plan second looks.