Sorry to next year's class, that this has been so light compared to previous years. I was working on my contribution but only got through about 9 before burning out.
Program: Temple / Moss
# of Applicants: 12ish?
Interview day structure:
Pre-interview drinks and apps at a bar in Center City. Nice place, they rent out the whole back room so there’s plenty of space and seclusion. Was a pretty chill night, lots of beer and nachos/wings/hummus to go around. Residents seemed happy and forthcoming about any questions.
Longest interview day of any program I interviewed at, I think. Starts 7AM at Temple Hospital, carpool with residents to Moss. Sit in on morning lectures with the residents, after which you can mingle with them and talk some more. Split into two groups - half went on a tour and the other half interviewed, then switch. Next, carpooled back to Temple for a noon presentation by the PD. Again with the interview and tour split. Left around 4:30PM I think.
# of interviews + w/who?:
2 interviews at Moss with Moss faculty, 2 at Temple with Temple faculty, 1 brief casual interview with the chair. I think everyone interviewed with the PD or APD.
Residents:
Used to be 9 per class, now moving to 8 per class and only took 7 in 2015-16 cycle to compensate. Mostly guys but supposedly they took a lot of girls in 2014-15 and 2015-16 so it may balance out. Very very “bro” atmosphere, residents are very nice but male-dominated at the time and had this very clear frat vibe. Not in a bad way, just different.
Programs directors:
I interviewed with the PD (Cruz) who went full poker face the whole interview, hard to read him. Spoke to others who interviewed with him and got the same impression. He’s proud of Temple (first PM&R residency in the country) and advocates for it, but seems kind of intense.
Fellowships offered:
Not sure
Call schedule:
Bottom-heavy, don’t recall specifics
Best Features:
Large program, strong TBI (Moss is model TBI center), good collegiality with other Philly programs, Philly itself is a nice city. Seems to have a big alumni network which may help with finding a job/fellowship.
Any negatives:
TUH is in the hood, plain and simple. Residents even said that part of North Philly is unsafe after dark, once you get >1 block away from the hospital. Moss is a bit of a drive outside of Philly, and some of their outpatient sites are also kind of far.
Anything else:
Program: Hofstra-NSLIJ (Northwell)
# of Applicants: 8-10
Interview day structure:
Starts in the morning with breakfast and presentations from the chair and PD. Then 2 interviews, including 1 with PD. Residents come for noon lecture, you sit through that and then have lunch with them. Optional tour at the end, no one took them up on it. Left around 2ish.
# of interviews + w/who?: 2 total, 1 faculty and 1 PD
Residents:
Typical PM&R residents - laid-back, relaxed, happy, outgoing. Got a bit of a “too chill” vibe from the chiefs, didn’t seem super inspired.
Programs directors:
Shatzer is extremely enthusiastic and energetic, clearly he and Stein (chair) want to make Hofstra a player amongst the NYC area programs. His enthusiasm was definitely infectious.
Fellowships offered:
Unsure
Call schedule:
Unsure
Best Features:
Fantastic salary ($68k PGY2), fairly livable location in eastern Long Island, most sites are fairly close together, residents seemed pleased with their education and training.
Any negatives:
Not a big name, residents don’t seem inspired to be leaders in the field (something I care about), just overall got a middle-of-the-road feel apart from the PD and chair’s enthusiasm.
Anything else:
Program: NYP Columbia-Cornell
# of Applicants: 8-10?
Interview day structure:
Whole interview day is at Cornell campus. Start in AM with breakfast, presentation from chief and PD, then hang out with residents who are at Cornell. Break up for tours/interview, lunch, housing tour, done.
# of interviews + w/who?:
5 interviews, including PD. Faculty from all affiliate sites participate.
Residents:
8 per year. Fun group, mostly northeastern types, single, wanted to live in the city. Very nice and forthcoming, but only got to interact with the 3-4 that were on the Cornell campus.
Programs directors:
Visco, young guy but very motivated. Knows where his program’s strengths (MSK, pain, cancer) and weaknesses (SCI, TBI) are and wants to make it more well-rounded.
Fellowships offered:
ACGME and non-ACGME pain, sports, peds, palliative, cancer
Call schedule:
Very complex, based on what year and site you’re at. Residents seem to figure it out though
Best Features:
Big city, big name, great affiliations (MSKCC and HSS!), solid outpatient and pain exposure, good peds, great fellowship placements
Any negatives:
NYC is expensive, inpatient is quite weak, getting between sites is a pain
Anything else:
Program: Penn
# of Applicants: 20? Largest interview group by far
Interview day structure:
Best pre-interview event - they rent out a bowling alley in Philly and it’s a whole night of bowling, pizza, wings, and beer. Lots of time to talk with residents, even PGY1’s from categorical track showed up.
Interview day is at PIRM (super nice building in Rittenhouse), starts with breakfast and presentations, then several interviews and a tour.
# of interviews + w/who?: 1 with chief resident (structured interview, fixed questions), 1 with PD/APD, 2 with other faculty
Residents:
Again, typical PM&R crowd (see Hofstra). Seemed to be from all over, several said the Penn name was a big reason they came.
Programs directors:
Good presentation, knows Penn’s position among the Philly programs (weakest one) but wants PM&R to be an integral part of Penn’s expansion. UPHS is expanding all over the place and he sees PM&R being involved a lot more. Goal is to make Penn PM&R a player rather than riding the Penn name.
Fellowships offered:
Several offered in house, don’t recall specifics
Call schedule:
Unsure
Best Features:
Big name (at least for those that don’t know PM&R programs), big-name sites (HUP, CHOP), inpatient peds, hiring from within for fellowships and jobs as Penn buys more hospitals
Any negatives:
3rd out of 3 Philly programs, not a big name inside PM&R, not as good inpatient as Jeff/Temple, some residents seem to be there for the name appeal
Anything else:
Program: Ohio State
# of Applicants: 8
Interview day structure:
Pre-interview at a nice downtown Columbus restaurant. None of the residents got drinks (weird to me), but they were all friendly and easygoing.
Interview day starts at Dodd Hall (inpatient rehab) with breakfast and presentations. Tour of Wexner campus, interviews, depart. Chief resident was our point guy and spent a lot of time talking about the program, Columbus, etc.
# of interviews + w/who?:
3 faculty interviews, plus PD (Colachis).
Residents:
From all over, but mostly midwest/Ohio natives. Again, typical PM&R and didn’t have that leadership/drive I was looking for.
Programs directors:
Colachis is the best PD interview I had. He thoroughly reads your ENTIRE file and spends half the interview telling you about your experiences, background, history, etc. Clearly very interested in getting to know his applicants, which is a nice change from other places where faculty haven’t even read your file. Great PD and wants the program to go places.
Fellowships offered:
Unsure
Call schedule:
Unsure
Best Features:
Model TBI center, good peds and cancer exposure, low cost of living
Any negatives:
College town, not much happening in the area, not a fan of the midwest personally, and program seemed good but not top-level.
Anything else:
Program: Carolinas Medical Center
# of Applicants: 8-10
Interview day structure:
CMC pays for your stay at a Charlotte hotel (next to NASCAR hall of fame) the night before, first sign they have money.
Pre-interview dinner at a decently upscale Charlotte restaurant - second sign that CMC has lots of money was when a resident said “get whatever you want, we can go to $1500 without getting in trouble”. This was for <15 people in total. Residents seemed pretty chill, some were more talkative than others, almost all southern.
Interview day almost entirely at CMC PM&R. Start with breakfast and program overview, small presentation by PD (Nguyen), then split for tours/interviews. Finished up in early afternoon, last thing I saw was CMC itself, complete with marble floors and a concierge rivaling upscale hotels (third sign they have money).
# of interviews + w/who?:
3 faculty and 1 with PD
Residents:
Super laid-back, relaxed, mostly southern. Again, seemed like they just wanted to finish residency and open up shop somewhere. Most were married (southern trend, I found).
Programs directors:
Nguyen is a pretty intense guy. Residents warned us the night before about his standard “curveball” question - can’t remember what it was exactly, but the warning helped. Talked up how big CMC is (covers both Carolinas and expanding into neighboring states) and how CMC PM&R has a huge catchment. Wants to regain model TBI status.
Fellowships offered:
Unsure
Call schedule:
Unsure
Best Features:
Charlotte is an awesome southern city - just big enough to be fun without being too crazy big. CMC gets huge volume (100+ beds, huge catchment area) so you see a lot of stuff. No overnight call I believe, can moonlight for admissions after 5PM.
Any negatives:
Lost model TBI designation, residents said outpatient isn’t very strong, again the residents don’t seem to have bigger aspirations than just finishing residency and getting a job.
Anything else:
Program: Harvard / Spaulding
# of Applicants: 12ish
Interview day structure:
Start at SRH, very strategically timed so you see the sunrise coming over Boston Harbor (beautiful view) from the top-floor conference room. Presentation from chair (Zafonte) and PD (O’Connor), then split up for tour/interviews. Wrap up with lunch with the residents.
# of interviews + w/who?:
I think 5 total, including PD. 1 with chief resident, rest faculty.
Residents:
Motivated, energetic, love their program to the core, most felt lucky to be there. Think the world of O’Connor and Zafonte, and you get the sense they want to go places in PM&R.
Programs directors:
O’Connor is fantastic. Very self-assured but not arrogant, realizes what being at Harvard entails and wants his residents to be drivers in the field. Spoke very highly of the chair and faculty, and places an emphasis on getting the best residents and faculty.
Fellowships offered:
SCI, TBI, Pain
Call schedule:
Varies based on site. Residents said neuro at MGH is rough. No weekend overnight call.
Best Features:
My first “big time” program, and the difference is palpable. Model TBI, SCI, and burn. Well-resourced, SRH is brand new and gorgeous. Highly interested and motivated faculty, many leaders or to-be leaders in their field. Great exposure through the Harvard hospital sites. Boston is a great city, if expensive. Tons of research money, big name, great placements.
Any negatives:
Boston is really expensive! Sites are a bit far apart. Inpatient-heavy, mandatory neuro at MGH is difficult for most residents.
Anything else:
Program: Mount Sinai
# of Applicants: 10-12
Interview day structure:
Start with presentation from PD (Herrera), then morning didactics with residents. Split for tour and interviews, end with lunch with a few residents. Finished around 2PM.
# of interviews + w/who?:
3 total, including APD and PD
Residents:
Similar to NYP - young, single, happy to be in the city. Seem to hang out fairly often outside of work, get along really well. One resident bad-mouthed another local program, first and only resident I saw that did that. Left a somewhat bad taste.
Programs directors:
Herrera was the PD when I interviewed, but he is stepping down. Really goes to bat for his residents, and is a huge name in sports/pain. Residents said he will get on the phone with fellowship PD’s and personally pitch his residents to them. Fun guy, lots of jokes in my interview and easy to get along with. Also runs Sinai Beth Israel’s PM&R department and the Sinai sports fellowship.
Escalon was APD when I interviewed, but will be PD this year onwards. Kind of a foil to Herrera, a little more reserved, quiet, pleasant but not a big personality. Did his SCI fellowship at Sinai.
Fellowships offered:
PM&R-based sports and spine, SCI
Call schedule:
Unsure
Best Features:
Chair is a big name in sports (turned down offer to be Jets team physician), great location in NYC, shuttle to get between the 3 sites, model TBI center, good inpatient SCI and TBI
Any negatives:
NYC is expensive, not great peds exposure, seems outpatient-focused (may change with Escalon as PD)
Anything else:
Program: Baylor COM (Houston)
# of Applicants: 16-20ish (2nd biggest group)
Interview day structure: Started at Baylor Clinic conference room with breakfast and speeches from chair and PD, then went upstairs to outpatient offices for interviews/tours. Tours were in a fancy limo bus since Texas Medical Center is as big as a small city. See most places from the outside only, went inside TIRR. Come back for lunch with the residents and PD, who we did a Q/A session with as well.
# of interviews + w/who?: 3 real interviews (2 residents, 1 faculty) plus a “group” interview with the PD and half the interviewees. Was more of a Q/A session about the program, UTH alliance ending, how is Houston, etc.
Residents: Was a gigantic program during the UTH-Baylor alliance, now just a big program (8/yr). Residents seemed excited to be at a “big time” program, many acknowledged that TIRR months are rough but very educational. PGY4 class was basically all outpatient (6/7 matched ACGME pain or sports) but PGY3 said her class is more inpatient so it varies. All of them love Houston for different reasons.
Programs directors: Harrell - young guy (finished residency 2006), well-liked by the residents, very open and honest during the “group interview” about the UTH-Baylor breakup and where Baylor will be going forward (he’s very optimistic as Baylor has more $$$).
Fellowships offered:
TBI, SCI, Peds
Call schedule:
Varies based on site, TIRR calls are 24hr in-house and residents said they can be rough sometimes
Best Features:
“Big name” program with huge site variety, TIRR is elite (like RIC or Kessler), great fellowship placements, young and energized PD, lots of residents (plus for me), Houston is great and low COL
Any negatives:
TIRR calls are 24hr in-house and intense, seems to be inpatient-heavy, no elective time, all different sites means you need like 10 ID cards, Houston gets really humid in the summer
Anything else:
Program: Montefiore-Einstein
# of Applicants: 8?
Interview day structure:
Breakfast and presentation from chief resident, brief and informal speech by PD, 2 interviews, lunch, dismissed. No interview structure per se, interviewers just took people as they were available.
# of interviews + w/who?: 5 interviews - 3 faculty, 1 chief resident, 1 PD
Residents:
Only met the chief who gave the presentation, which was odd. Didn’t meet any other residents.
Programs directors:
Very honest guy, probably the most honest PD I met. Knows that his program isn’t competitive with the big NYC programs, but wants to make moves
Fellowships offered:
Unsure
Call schedule:
Unsure
Best Features:
Only thing that stood out is subsidized housing in the Bronx which is quite cheap
Any negatives:
PD perhaps too honest? Told me straight up he expected to lose me to [a Super-6 program]. Not exactly the confidence you'd expect from a PD trying to sell you on his program.
Anything else:
