Sorry for the delayed reply! Between Easter and all the NCAA Bball games, I really haven't been on here.
Anyway, here's how the process worked for me with UVA:
Mid October: Received an email from the program coordinator inviting me for an interview. (Many others had already received interviews at that point). Interviews ran from November 1st to January 31st. Coming on a Wednesday was recommended, since there was a surg path conference, but any day was okay.
End of January: Interviewed at UVA. The program paid for one night at the Marriott. When I arrived, there was a packet waiting for me at the desk delineating the itinerary etc. The following morning, I was walked over to the hospital by the program coordinator. The day went from 9am to about 2pm and consisted of 6 interviews with lunch and tour. As with most other programs, people were very nice and well-behaved on interview day.
I really liked all the residents I came across. The resident giving the tour was not just approachable, but really welcoming. Aside from never having been in that hospital before, I felt right at home. As for the faculty, I was instantly taken in by two of my interviewers. It wasn't just an interview; it was a fun (and hilarious) experience. Most of all, though, I had a great feeling after I met with the program director. He was really down-to-earth and pragmatic. Almost verbatim, he said that he realized UVA wasn't everybody's number one choice for residency, but since pathology is such a small community, people might come for fellowship or faculty positions, so it was in his best interest to maintain contact, whether I was interested in the program after my day or not. He even offered to give me information on other programs. I asked a few just to see if he was for real, and his input seemed helpful rather than scheming or discouraging.
Anyway, there was only one other program I liked better out of the 14 I visited, but because of couples matching, UVA worked out best as a top choice.
Program wise, UVA is mid-sized (they took 4 people this year). They have approx 30,000 surgicals, 220 autopsies 30,000 cytologies. Fellowships are available in cytology, neuropathology, hematopathology, dermatopathology, and transfusion medicine. New hospital buildings are nearing completion and anatomic pathology is scheduled to move into one of them (hopefully before next year starts!)
In terms of structure, training is organized into alternating years of anatomic and clinical path:
1st year (anatomic): 5 mos surg path, 5 mos autopsy, 1 mon derm/renal, 1 mon cytology
2nd year (clinical): 3 mos blood bank, 2 mos micro, 2 mos chemistry, 3 mos heme, 1 mon immuno, 1 mon molecular/cytogenetics
3rd year (anatomic): 5 mos surg path, 1 mon autopsy, 2-4 wks forensics (in Richmond at the M.E. office), 2-3 mos cytology, 2-3 mos electives
4th year (clinical): 1 mon molecular/cytogenetics, 1 mon heme, 4 mon electives (for some reason the other 6 months aren't specified).
Signout is general. Subspecialists galore are available, if you want a second opinion. It's a 4 day rotation with plenty of preview time. I honestly don't remember the specifics now, but I remember preview time REALLY being adequate relative to some other programs, not just labeled as such. Research is encouraged and always available, but not everybody gets involved. There a quite a few major journal editors among the faculty. On the other hand, residents are mostly heading into community practice.
In terms of benefits, salary for 2004 was a little over $39,000. THere's a $500 book allowance (which is not that much comparatively), 3wks of vacation (standard, except for U Arizona), and 1 wk allotted for meetings.
This year, general orientation is supposed to start June 14th.
I picked UVA mostly because I felt there would be lots of opportunity to research, but no obligation. Since most people go into community practice, I was pretty sure clinical ability is emphasized and nurtured. Lastly, I simply felt at home with the residents and faculty; there's no right or wrong answer on this one; it's just a personal decision.
I didn't do an away rotation at UVA and I don't believe that hurt my chances. I do think away rotations at your favorite program are usually a good idea, especially if you've got good people skills and maybe already know a little bit of path so you can impress them, but it's totally optional. The only hard and fast reason to do one is to jazz up an average application or to negate a blemish on your transcript, whether it's really low board scores or a poor academic record.
Iserson's residency guide (which usually seems either a little overzealous or overly cautious) says that an away rotation can sometimes hurt you if you don't hit it off with people or don't know your stuff or whatever. I figure, if you don't hit it off with people, you should probably not want to go there anyway, right? But these are just some pros and cons I've heard.
Okay, I think I've yakked on enough. If there were any other specifics I didn't cover, PM me or something.
