Brown and Mt. Sinai

[Filter]

Any current students/residents of these insititutions have any insight on the programs. I had a great vibe from brown when i went there, and was wondering if they just have a really slick interview day, or if its truly that wonderful all the time. (Also - specifically for brown - how are the privates at miriam...is the teaching good? What is the avg pt census as it compares to RIH? How is the range of pathology/Pt. Diversity? ) In terms of Mt. S, one student i met characterized the place as mailgnant, but i certainly didn't get that vibe. In fact, everyone seemed pretty personable, and the schedule seemed reasonable. Any students/residents out there care to contribute? I'm starting to form a match list, and any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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[Filter]

anyone?

 

[Burt Bachrach]

i think both programs are great. that being said, mount sinai is in a different category than brown. i would say that sinai is in that group of programs that aren't quite in the top ten but are very close (eg. vanderbilt, ucsd, stanford). and, while it certainly is not a malignant program, especially for a new york school, i get the sense that brown is unusually benign.

so to sum it up--sinai is a much stronger program, but brown is also an excellent program and probably has happier residents.

 

[Filter]

i think both programs are great. that being said, mount sinai is in a different category than brown. i would say that sinai is in that group of programs that aren't quite in the top ten but are very close (eg. vanderbilt, ucsd, stanford). and, while it certainly is not a malignant program, especially for a new york school, i get the sense that brown is unusually benign.

so to sum it up--sinai is a much stronger program, but brown is also an excellent program and probably has happier residents.

Thanks for the response, much appreciated!

Any others, perhaps with some first hand experience at either place??

 

[greeneyes23]

I think both programs are probably about equal Id say, but if I remember right- you got alot of interviews at the top places (upenn/columbia/harvard hospitals), so I would think it shouldn't be an issue for you in the long run. Brown is like that year round it seems, everyone ridiculously happy- I need to start drinking their water.

 

[Filter]

...but if I remember right- you got alot of interviews at the top places (upenn/columbia/harvard hospitals), so I would think it shouldn't be an issue for you in the long run. .

Well, im couples matching, so my situations a little different. Also, im definitely ranking programs more on feel than reputation. My top choice will likely be pretty rough to match at, but other than that ill probably be ranking some less competitive places higher than most people. I figure happiness and fit ARE actually more important than prestige/fellowship placement, etc. in the end FOR ME (my opinion ONLY). However, if a place has both, happy residents and a great rep.....well then ya just gotta pray u match =).

Good luck, and thanks for the post.

 

[allday]

I'm a medicine resident at sinai, and I am very happy that I chose the program. I grew up and went to med school (and college) in the south and based my residency choice solely on location, and basically fell in love w/ sinai during interviews (over all the other competitive nyc programs). We are blessed with a fantastic program director and a very resident oriented department chairman. overall:

perks- it's nyc! great teaching, very tightknit group of residents (very social I would say), awesome affiliate hospitals (elmhurst in queens to me is reason alone to come here -- it's got one of the most ethnically diverse patient bases you'll find anywhere in the world), and i feel that we are pretty protected as residents --- I came from a major academic southern program where I felt that the residents were not as protected as we are at sinai -- in ny you have bell commission, so the whole work-hour reform is pretty old. I never once stayed past noon post-call, and generally was out by 10am across the board.

downsides- we have some private attendings, and those interactions can sometimes make life difficult. the pace of medicine in nyc is ... brisk, and sometimes intrapersonal interactions can be hairy -- it's all part of citylife. it's a big hospital and sometimes one feels lost in the political mess inherent to an institution this size, but overall its manageable, and at the affiliates you often feel more like a medium size fish in a small pond.

all in all it's not perfect, but i don't think anywhere is. I think it's a fantastic program and I feel that I will leave residency as well-trained as anyone coming from an academic center (even the boston fools -- ).

hope that helps

 

[Filter]

allday - thank you for the informative post!!! That was REALLY helpful, its good to know my gut was right about Mt. S.

Any brown people care to chime in??

 

[adude]

To answer some of your questions about brown-

-The interview day is not a scam, we are all pretty happy here. Nothing is perfect of course, but life is quite tolerable for residency. Everyone is very friendly and the program directors are strong advocates for residents.

-As far as the Miriam hospital-The private attendings are pretty good, probably not quite as good as the service attendings at RIH who are awesome. A large number (>50%) of patients are managed by a hospitalist service, so you deal with the same few attendings a lot of the time, most of whom are excellent and many are former Brown residents. There are also a large number of patients on the heme-onc and HIV services who are technically "private" but in reality are academically oriented. The patients at Miriam are very sick for a variety of reasons and you often end up managing a lot of crap on the floors that would be in the unit elsewhere. Another advantage is that almost all the patients have actual medical problems as opposed to a lot of the social issues you have to deal with at a city hospital like RIH. Patients are very diverse and come in with everything. There are a lot of patients with ethnic backgrounds unique to Providence/Southern New England (portuguese/cambodian/russian). Miriam is also a little bit busier than RIH, average would probably be 1 resident with 2 interns carrying maybe 8-10 patients each, but this can be higher especially in winter.

Feel free to ask any other questions.

 

[Filter]

Thanks for the post! Brown seems like a wonderful place.