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Applicant Summary:
Step 1: 250s, Step 2: 260s
EM rotations: H/H
Medical school region: Northeast
Miscellaneous: Long standing interest in EM. Many examples of leadership involvement. Strong PS.
Main Considerations in Creating this ROL: Strong academic programs: Leaning towards 4 year programs as I want time to explore and establish a niche. Location: Want to either stay in the North East or at least be sure the program can place people back into the northeast relatively easy. Also - do not want to train in NYC. Close residents - the type of people who get beer’s after shifts, etc. Strong wellness and mentorship. Prestige
1) MGH/BWH:
PROS: Insane amount of opportunities to get involved in just about anything. Resident’s come out with amazing job aspects and are highly sought after. I was really impressed with how down to earth and fun the residents were - a ton of residents came to the night before and people (myself included) stayed very late. The faculty came across as very down-to-earth (and NOT snobby!) and I really appreciated both chairs taking the time to meet every single applicant one-on-one. Resident’s seem like they work very hard clinically, and they really like the variety of patients they see between the two main hospitals, with BWH having the more complex “plugged in” patients and MGH having the more “rugged” population (with that said - still nothing that compares to BMC or a true county population). Just about everyone spoke most highly about time at MGH. Fourth years run the most acute side of the MGH ED and get experience supervising EVERYONE. Integrated peds - and I think they do a good job of seeing using both MGH’s peds ed/PICU where you become more comfortable with the bread and butter and Boston Children’s where you see very rare things but is more fellow-driven. SO and I love Boston!
CONS: Program takes advantage of two major hospitals, but does not have as big a mission in treating the underserved as BMC. Felt like they compete with BMC for trauma in Boston. Boston Children’s has a very fellow driven culture - during the night before, some of the residents were telling stories about how they really had to tell fellows to get lost to prevent them from taking some of the procedural experience. Potential Con - Didactics don’t really follow a particular schedule and many residents state that they do their own thing to study.
2) Brown:
PROS: This is the program that won over my heart, but my SO did not like their Brown interview. This program has everything, so I will just post a few of the more prominent highlights. One of the most awesome PD’s I met of the season - young, energetic, super easy to get along with, and just an all around boss. The resident’s are the greatest people to work with (did an away here). They were always looking out for med students and gave me ton’s of procedures. I always felt like an important part of the team. Fourth years are brilliant and know what is happening with every patient in their Pod and still find time for plenty of mentoring of med students/juniors. Second and third years run the Trauma/Critical care Bay (8+ beds - that seem like they are always full). Brown is a very academic environment however their unique position as THE major hospital for a huge encatchment area (essentially all of RI, parts of SE Mass and E CT) provides the program with a “pseudo-county” feel. Lastly, I will mention that their Peds experience seems very strong as Hasbro, the Level 1 Trauma Peds Hospital, is attached to RIH, and has a much less fellow-driven culture (the fourth years were doing the resuscitations). I love Providence - but it is definitely not for everyone (small New England city, but very close to beaches!). Lastly, they have really innovative and engaging didactics.
CONS: None. (Location may be a deal breaker for some)
3) BMC
PROS: THE county hospital of New England = you get to live in Boston AND still have sick underserved patients and great trauma experience. Best of all, the hospital has the resources to help this population - They are leading the way in public health measures for things like addiction, domestic violence, etc. The EM residency feels like one of the stronger residencies in the hospital (for better or worse), but it felt like the residents truly run the ED (ie, are not simply triage docs for other specialties). Trauma here is run completely by ED. Program has great reputation in EM and grads get good jobs - in fact, I felt like I met someone who trained at BMC at almost every interview. Lastly, I really liked the PD, felt like we got on really well during the interview with and just seemed like a cool person in general. Ped’s experience felt similar to MGH/BWI - bread and butter at BMC (which does see a decent number of kiddos) and very academic, fellow-driven experience of Boston Children’s. Lastly, their ultrasound experience seemed very strong - with many residents having a “tech-like” certification before graduating.
CONS: While I clicked with the majority of the residents, some of them - not as much, but it is really hard to gauge in 1 day. The patient population seems very demanding and it didn’t seem to balance out with the more “complex, but plugged-in” population - likely due to the presence of some of the other hospitals in Boston. While I really appreciated how transparent the residents were, they mentioned some of their rotations where only as strong as what you put into them (like Ortho, L&D), but after the interview season, this seems pretty universal.
4) UCSF - SFGH
Pros: Was not expecting to like this program as much as I did! I only applied to the West Coast ( Bay Area only) because SO forced me to. This program is truly 50% County, 50% Quart. Care Hospital, which comes with great advantages and resources. The county hospital, SFGH, was gorgeous - brand new ED with a lot of bells and whistles. Great adult patient exposure (many immigrants, refugees, homeless, spanish speaking). Residents were very proud of their program and I didn’t meet anyone that I didn’t get along with. Everyone speaks very highly about having the experience to live in SF. One unique thing that I thought was cool was that Bay area programs integrate with each other well and you get to meet the different EM residents from other programs. Great opportunities for collaboration. Academic opportunities seem limitless here as UCSF is (quickly) becoming (if not already) one of the true powerhouses in medicine.
Cons: Peds exposure is hard to come by in SF (more dogs than kids in the city) - but they make up for it by shipping you to Oakland. Many different rotating sites so you are moved around a bit. They still have some turf battles that need to be won (ex. Anesthesia doing trauma airways ?!?!). I had a great impression of the PD, he came across as really nice and dedicated to the program during the presentation, but I never had the opportunity to meet with him one-on-one, which is pretty important to me. Lastly, SF seems like an amazing place to live, but it is definitely not an easy place to live - and I am not talking just about prices (I am used to expensive east coast cities), the process of finding housing seems horrendous, but the residents do it. Lastly, this program is really far from family - but it feels like such a great fit that I am willing to try something different for four years!
5) Yale
Pros: Again, was not expecting to like this one. Academic resources but at the same time, the patient population is very diverse (similar feel to Brown). Expected to pursue a niche of some sort. Residents see everything as far as pathology and trauma. Gorgeous fairly-new ED. They do a lot to stream-line work-flow for residents (example, everyone has their own phone with all the contacts for admitting) to ensure learning is the focus and not scut work. PD is very dedicated to program and is a large reason for many of the programs improvements over the last few years. Peds experience seemed strong - Yale-NH Peds ED is very close and has less of a fellow-driven culture as other academic institutions. The Yale reputation really helps place grads into great and competitive jobs. Tox in NYC. Seemingly strong ultrasound experience.
Cons: Very regimented didactics (weekly quizzes). New Haven not for everyone.
6) Northwestern
Pros: Probably the greatest “sell” of any program on interview day. The PD will give a speech about how 4 yr is the new 3 yr and then talk about how NW does more with 4 years than most other programs. Very ICU heavy (10-11 mo). Great Pediatric exposure (NW is a top 10 peds hospital). Hospital is in the “nice” part of Chicago but still get’s a great trauma exposure as UChicago is not a level 1 trauma center (until 2018). They make use of very strong off-service rotations (trauma at Cook County). ED is gorgeous (although he hospital feels more like a luxury mall than a hospital). PD is very transparent about alumni success, grads get very competitive jobs in great locations in both academics and community. NW did come across as the strongest “academic” program in Chicago (disclaimer - I only interviewed at NW and UoC). Chicago is a great city to live in (at least, so I’ve heard…).
Cons: I REALLY liked the PD (Gisondi), but he is leaving to Stanford, and there is no replacement yet - and I don’t love the idea of having a PD that I have never met. Program had a couple other uncertainties such as what the trauma situation will look like once UChicago’s trauma center is up and running. Furthermore, some of their rotation sites are far (ie. Gary, Indiana). Program is far from home, but they place many people in the NE so I did not feel worried about opportunities of getting back to the East Coast.
7) Cincinnati
Pros: One of the more “classic” powerhouses in EM. This program has produced an insane number of PD’s, chairs, and leaders in the field. The program is very well thought-out with a large emphasis on graduated responsibility. First years get their feet wet, supervised by fourth years. Second years are proceduralists (+ or -) but still run their own 10 bed pod. Third years run the Resusc. bay. Fourth years supervise an entire pod, and teach med students/juniors. Resident’s spoke very highly of their flight program. Fantastic peds experience at Cinci Childrens Hospital (top 3 peds hospital). The program really puts on a strong show for the interviewees - they pay for your hotel, fancy dinner night before, etc. Awesome, cohesive group of residents. Had a bunch of residents reach out to me and it was nice to have that personal touch to the interview.
Cons: While Cinci is a powerhouse in EM, it did not feel like as big of an academic presence as some of my other interviews. Also, not a big fan of Ohio, although I admittedly thought the city was pretty cool and it feels very up and coming. Not much patient diversity in Cincinnati (very little spanish-speaking patients). PD is stepping down (new PD has been at Cinci for a long time and should be a very smooth transition).
8) Vanderbilt
Pros: Awesome academics. I expected it to be a two-man show (Slovis and Wrenn are very well known in the EM world), but I also really liked a lot of the other people that I met such as the new PD and the Ultrasound Director. Note: Wrenn is stepping down as PD, but he will still be keeping all his teaching roles. Faculty felt like a great mixture of distinguished, big-name, gurus and very down-to-earth young attendings. Gorgeous ED and hospital and with huge encatchment area and diverse pathology. Their program is really well thought out for three years and Vanderbilt has a great reputation. Very strong ICU and Peds exposure. Residents were super friendly.
Cons: Nashville doesn’t seem like a bad city, but I could definitely tell I was in the south - and the post-election vibe didn’t help either. Almost all the residents were from the south and got jobs after in the south, which was a bit worrying for me. The interview day was also unnecessarily draining, consisting of 8 interviews where every single person says “This is really your opportunity to ask questions” - and by the end, I was scraping by to come up with questions. Also, this is a three year program with very little elective time that most residents use as a mini-vacation, therefore, not much dedicated time to pursue a niche.
Rest of the list:
UChicago, Highland, BI, Pitt (UPMC), UCONN, UPENN
