Interview Impressions 2016-2017

[cowme]

I went to UW-Madison and Colorado, "sdn gold donor"

I'd give a review but you had us covered

1,224

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[cowme]

Whoosh.

 

[deleted379552]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Do you really not know when to quit?

Tell us, light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel (or MR80), has UWisconsin fired you yet? Is that why you have so much time to bully your way through this thread? There's nothing sadder than seeing a resident impersonate a medical student to give non-sensical advice in an attempt to destroy the reputation of his home program. Now, you're picking fights with folks on here who are actually offering genuine advice to actual medical students? On top of that, you're actively trying to cast aspersions on neighboring programs?

I'm afraid you're just digging what's left of your career into a deeper grave each time you baselessly malign another radiology program. Radiology is small and people inevitable talk. We all know who you are. Your reputation is ruined at your own doing. You've proven yourself to not only be incompetent, but also INCREDIBLY annoying.

Please everyone ignore this troll.

 

[Derv]

I would like to take this opportunity to nominate @Light at end of tunnel for worst troll 2016-2017 Residency Season. I know its a prestigious and sought after award, but I think his track record speaks for itself. Lots of great candidates out there, but he really has made some top notch contributions to this forum.

 

[tco]

1,223.

We all appreciate your input and wisdom,
cowme.

Personally, I would love to read a program impression from you which given your experience would likely be uniquely insightful and powerful.

The impression of someone who has been out for a few years is hopefully almost worthless. Programs are constantly changing and improving.

 

[cowme]

I'm a fellow, so I don't think my input is worthless. I do, however, think that a Med students opinion is nearly worthless since none of you really have any experience in this field besides an elective or two and maybe a research project. Just trying to help you guys ignore a blatant troll. But feel free to take his advice

 

[Lessisless]

I'm a fellow, so I don't think my input is worthless. I do, however, think that a Med students opinion is nearly worthless since none of you really have any experience in this field besides an elective or two and maybe a research project. Just trying to help you guys ignore a blatant troll. But feel free to take his advice

Call a spade a spade, man.

This whole time you've been wanting us to believe you are some source of infinite wisdom but in reality, by your own admission, you are a former resident defending his program. Self serving commentary masquerading as altruistic "advice," rather pathetic.

Hearing unsavory truths about your program (s) must really be getting to you and the other real trolls who likely are the actual former/current disgruntled residents (Raditude, rads1234, Pellegrino, etc.). Conveniently, you guys always seem to come out of the woodwork together. You've clearly been coordinating behind the scenes.

I'm calling your bluff.

 

[cowme]

It was a joke, I didn't actually go to Wisconsin or Colorado, hence the "whoosh".

Why would I give that punk any identifying information, im not on trial here.

Whatever, I'm outta here. good luck with the match guys. You picked an awesome field.

 

[Lessisless]

It was a joke, I didn't actually go to Wisconsin or Colorado, hence the "whoosh".

Why would I give that punk any identifying information, im not on trial here.

Whatever, I'm outta here. good luck with the match guys. You picked an awesome field.

OK, we believe you (and your trolls).

 

[rads1234]

Call a spade a spade, man.

This whole time you've been wanting us to believe you are some source of infinite wisdom but in reality, by your own admission, you are a former resident defending his program. Self serving commentary masquerading as altruistic "advice," rather pathetic.

Hearing unsavory truths about your program (s) must really be getting to you and the other real trolls who likely are the actual former/current disgruntled residents (Raditude, rads1234, Pellegrino, etc.). Conveniently, you guys always seem to come out of the woodwork together. You've clearly been coordinating behind the scenes.

I'm calling your bluff.

Richard (Dick?), you really just don't know when to quit, do you?

 

[Lessisless]

Richard (Dick?), you really just don't know when to quit, do you?

Captain Dick, please.

 

[VitaminDdeficient]

I'm a fellow, so I don't think my input is worthless. I do, however, think that a Med students opinion is nearly worthless since none of you really have any experience in this field besides an elective or two and maybe a research project. Just trying to help you guys ignore a blatant troll. But feel free to take his advice

Each time you all hop on here to discredit the post against your program, you make us all go back and re-read it (I've gotten pretty familiar with a couple of your "senior residents"). Hurrying up to put a defense is understandable, but it's starting to reach a point of diminishing returns. True or not, blaming your own residents for posts is self destructive. No matter the quality of your training, given what you are doing to one another on here, I'd rank it last.

The sense of urgency-to-discredit that accompanies any new posts made (about other programs) that undermine your original argument is also understandable.
But, if you expect everyone to believe that one rogue resident is responsible for all these posts, we first have to believe that Wisconsin has the most clarevoyant residents...because I can attest that the points shared about Colorado and MGH are true. And from where I'm standing, Wisconsin still has a full complement of residents.

First, you attempted to say the posting was full of false information. Over time, we found out that wasn't necessarily the case. I think the reason some of us started to believe it is due to how much of a resistance you all put up to it, which prompted some others to create accounts to attest that the points were true. You keep making this forum about Wisconsin when most of us have moved on from it.

 

[Gadofosveset]

Wow. There is some real crazy going on in this thread.

For any med student looking for guidance here, let's recap what's we know:

1. A multiple personality troll has hijacked this thread. The total of usernames is unclear (and not worth my time to figure out).
2. The motive is unclear but it seems possibly connected to an earlier blow out involving a disgruntled resident at Wisconsin. Possibly not. Who cares.

If I were a med student, I would abandon this whole thread at this point. There's a lot of nonsense on here about posting real genuine impressions or something. Don't waste time here for that. Email residents at programs you are interested in, maybe someone you talked to at the resident dinner. Get more information from him or her. If you don't have a resident to email, then ask the program's chief resident for a list -- they'll probably be happy to oblige. Email junior residents who may not have been able to make it to the dinner, you would potentially be working with this person in the future and get a feel for what that resident class is like.
Get more than one opinion from named (not anonymous) individuals. A resident doesn't have to be anonymous to send out vibes that they are not happy... as long as you're listening for it.
Impressions of a program from another interviewing med student or from a resident from another program should not really be that valuable to you.

 

[jorts42]

Wow. There is some real crazy going on in this thread.

For any med student looking for guidance here, let's recap what's we know:

1. A multiple personality troll has hijacked this thread. The total of usernames is unclear (and not worth my time to figure out).
2. The motive is unclear but it seems possibly connected to an earlier blow out involving a disgruntled resident at Wisconsin. Possibly not. Who cares.

If I were a med student, I would abandon this whole thread at this point. There's a lot of nonsense on here about posting real genuine impressions or something. Don't waste time here for that. Email residents at programs you are interested in, maybe someone you talked to at the resident dinner. Get more information from him or her. If you don't have a resident to email, then ask the program's chief resident for a list -- they'll probably be happy to oblige. Email junior residents who may not have been able to make it to the dinner, you would potentially be working with this person in the future and get a feel for what that resident class is like.
Get more than one opinion from named (not anonymous) individuals. A resident doesn't have to be anonymous to send out vibes that they are not happy... as long as you're listening for it.
Impressions of a program from another interviewing med student or from a resident from another program should not really be that valuable to you.

well said. is there an administrator that can clean up this thread and maybe open it up for real impressions? The last couple of years I noticed there were some good impressions posted around ranking time but this year it's just a dumpster fire which isn't helping us constructively discuss programs

 

[MadRadLad]

well said. is there an administrator that can clean up this thread and maybe open it up for real impressions? The last couple of years I noticed there were some good impressions posted around ranking time but this year it's just a dumpster fire which isn't helping us constructively discuss programs

It's really a pity...some of the other subforums have amazingly detailed threads with interview impressions on many programs. Seems like we get 2-3 here and then either a trollfest ensues or just radio silence.

 

[IR4thewin]

Really loved Hopkins but I am having a hard time with the concept of Baltimore. Is it really as bad as I think it is or is there some redeeming feature I have missed. Will probably have kids to think about during residency. Right now I have it #17, which just seems stupid for saying.


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[fantasticMedStudent]

Really loved Hopkins but I am having a hard time with the concept of Baltimore. Is it really as bad as I think it is or is there some redeeming feature I have missed. Will probably have kids to think about during residency. Right now I have it #17, which just seems stupid for saying.

Wow, that would be a dream rank list for me.

Did you interview at Mallinckrodt, Duke, UPENN any impressions. how would you compare them ?

 

[CapnJazz]

I still don't understand the point of interview impressions at this point in the cycle. Basically all of these places have finished up their interviews. I understand giving impressions for people who haven't had an interview yet and would like to have some idea what to expect, but haven't people seen the places for themselves and can't they make up their own mind? What do other applicants, who are as clueless as the rest of us, have to offer in this regard? Don't mean to be a jerk, I just am curious as to what people are looking to get out of this lol.

 

[fantasticMedStudent]

I still don't understand the point of interview impressions at this point in the cycle. Basically all of these places have finished up their interviews. I understand giving impressions for people who haven't had an interview yet and would like to have some idea what to expect, but haven't people seen the places for themselves and can't they make up their own mind? What do other applicants, who are as clueless as the rest of us, have to offer in this regard? Don't mean to be a jerk, I just am curious as to what people are looking to get out of this lol.

I think it is a good practice even though it will not change anyone's rank list probably, different perspectives are always good.

 

[deleted564680]

Helps people for following years too.

 

[CapnJazz]

Helps people for following years too.

That's fair for sure. I just don't understand why people don't post their own impression rather than insisting on someone else's at this point

 

[IR4thewin]

Yeah I think it mainly helps current M3s. I enjoyed reading them when I was there last year


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[IR4thewin]

Wow, that would be a dream rank list for me.

Did you interview at Mallinckrodt, Duke, UPENN any impressions. how would you compare them ?

Rejected by Duke but visited both MIR and UPenn. UPenn is in my top 3 institutions, MIR a little further down currently just do to personal preference on how I think I would fit in. Both obviously have a ton of resources, Upenn is better if you want to have a 'side interest' such as business of medicine, med education, etc. they give a half day off per week (as long as you don't skip conferences). MIR is obviously well respected for their clinical training but some hesitation that you work so hard there is little time for those other pursuits, though obviously that hasn't held back their graduates from getting leadership positions everywhere in radiology. Just kind of a personal preference on which atmosphere you prefer, Id take the half academic day.


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[Derv]

anyone heard from Duke???????????

 

[Radsandstuff]

anyone heard from Duke???????????

You forgot the ever-so-desperate exclamation points peppered between question marks

 

[IRorBustguy]

Rejected by Duke but visited both MIR and UPenn. UPenn is in my top 3 institutions, MIR a little further down currently just do to personal preference on how I think I would fit in. Both obviously have a ton of resources, Upenn is better if you want to have a 'side interest' such as business of medicine, med education, etc. they give a half day off per week (as long as you don't skip conferences). MIR is obviously well respected for their clinical training but some hesitation that you work so hard there is little time for those other pursuits, though obviously that hasn't held back their graduates from getting leadership positions everywhere in radiology. Just kind of a personal preference on which atmosphere you prefer, Id take the half academic day.


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ir/dr too. it's great to have 2n ranking ability, but i'm only ranking 20 programs total.

 

[Ilikefrankie]

You forgot the ever-so-desperate exclamation points peppered between question marks

Sorry not all of us w/ dreams can have >270 step 1 w/ 100 first author publications.

 

[PL198]

Sorry not all of us w/ dreams can have >270 step 1 w/ 100 first author publications.

seeing as you were interviewed by duke that means you're a pretty good student yourself... like AoA and good scores obviously.

people are just joking because you post "has anyone heard from duke ?!?!" in like 5 threads multiple times

 

[Ilikefrankie]

seeing as you were interviewed by duke that means you're a pretty good student yourself... like AoA and good scores obviously.

people are just joking because you post "has anyone heard from duke ?!?!" in like 5 threads multiple times

BUT STILL NO ANSWER!!!

 

[CapnJazz]

BUT STILL NO ANSWER!!!

And what happens when you find out? You get to feel worse about yourself for not hearing back? Sounds dope.

 

[reviewradiology]

Rejected by Duke but visited both MIR and UPenn. UPenn is in my top 3 institutions, MIR a little further down currently just do to personal preference on how I think I would fit in. Both obviously have a ton of resources, Upenn is better if you want to have a 'side interest' such as business of medicine, med education, etc. they give a half day off per week (as long as you don't skip conferences). MIR is obviously well respected for their clinical training but some hesitation that you work so hard there is little time for those other pursuits, though obviously that hasn't held back their graduates from getting leadership positions everywhere in radiology. Just kind of a personal preference on which atmosphere you prefer, Id take the half academic day.


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Interesting perspective. I interviewed at both and felt that Penn residents worked harder based on how late they stayed and how much they raved about endless volume. Not in a bad way, both are obviously excellent and in my top 3. I don't see a reason to want to slack off on your training when radiology residency is already more chill than others (not implying that you are).

What others are in your top 3 if you don't mind?

 

[IR4thewin]

Interesting perspective. I interviewed at both and felt that Penn residents worked harder based on how late they stayed and how much they raved about endless volume. Not in a bad way, both are obviously excellent and in my top 3. I don't see a reason to want to slack off on your training when radiology residency is already more chill than others (not implying that you are).

What others are in your top 3 if you don't mind?

Yeah everywhere I went raves about their endless volume. This is also concurrent with the consolidation of healthcare institutions (nearly every major academic place has been buying up other hospitals/outpatient imaging places), which does mean more volume, but not necessarily that residents are staying late to clean up the lists. I'm certainly not looking to slack off, I just like the programs that actively encourage these other pursuits in addition to becoming a strong clinician. For example, 2 great Midwest programs, MIR and Michigan. The theme of the day for MIR is that you will come out great but will work very hard. The theme for Michigan is that they want to train you well but also be active to advance your career. They talked about their medical illustrators and graphic designers in the department to help with projects and highlighted their distinctive tracks with side-curricula to fit your interests. Again this is not the meat of residency, but it's nice to have those things. I'm sure MIR has the same resources, just not sure why they don't highlight some of that stuff.

My others in top 3 are Michigan and MGH. Everyone I met there just came across genuine and happy. Same with HUP. they all put their best foot forward for interview day. I still don't get how some top programs put lackluster faculty and residents on the forefront for interviews. If you can't muster up some good vibes for a day, what must it be like for four years?


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[clutch21]

I still don't understand the point of interview impressions at this point in the cycle. Basically all of these places have finished up their interviews. I understand giving impressions for people who haven't had an interview yet and would like to have some idea what to expect, but haven't people seen the places for themselves and can't they make up their own mind? What do other applicants, who are as clueless as the rest of us, have to offer in this regard? Don't mean to be a jerk, I just am curious as to what people are looking to get out of this lol.

While it shouldn't directly alter the way one would rank programs, I still think hearing others impressions can be helpful. We only get a few hours at these programs and see just a small cross section of residents and faculty. It's easy to miss a potential red flag or program flaw. Hearing other impressions of a program might point you toward something you missed or didn't consider. If indicated, you can then follow up with residents at the program about these red flags/flaws. Ultimately, your impression is what matters most, but I still see utility in considering the opinion of others when making such an impactful decision.

 

[GadRads]

Really loved Hopkins but I am having a hard time with the concept of Baltimore. Is it really as bad as I think it is or is there some redeeming feature I have missed. Will probably have kids to think about during residency. Right now I have it #17, which just seems stupid for saying.


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Baltimore isn't that bad. But there are nice pockets. Silver Spring and DC are 35 mins and 1 hr away, respectively. You can live in Baltimore County or Howard County (Columbia, Arundel, etc) and drive in to Baltimore City. Howard County has a very good public school system. I lived in Baltimore City for 6 yrs and know many others who do.

 

[GadRads]

.

 

[fantasticMedStudent]

Yeah everywhere I went raves about their endless volume. This is also concurrent with the consolidation of healthcare institutions (nearly every major academic place has been buying up other hospitals/outpatient imaging places), which does mean more volume, but not necessarily that residents are staying late to clean up the lists. I'm certainly not looking to slack off, I just like the programs that actively encourage these other pursuits in addition to becoming a strong clinician. For example, 2 great Midwest programs, MIR and Michigan. The theme of the day for MIR is that you will come out great but will work very hard. The theme for Michigan is that they want to train you well but also be active to advance your career. They talked about their medical illustrators and graphic designers in the department to help with projects and highlighted their distinctive tracks with side-curricula to fit your interests. Again this is not the meat of residency, but it's nice to have those things. I'm sure MIR has the same resources, just not sure why they don't highlight some of that stuff.

My others in top 3 are Michigan and MGH. Everyone I met there just came across genuine and happy. Same with HUP. they all put their best foot forward for interview day. I still don't get how some top programs put lackluster faculty and residents on the forefront for interviews. If you can't muster up some good vibes for a day, what must it be like for four years?

Thanks, great review. I felt the same thing about the MIR. Great place but you would only focus on clinical radiology and tons of research and not much else at the end of the day probably. I felt like residents were overworked but could be wrong. Duke was very strong at research and it has a great interview experience, just 5 people interviewing for a day and tons of exposure to residents. PD was amazingly personable , it is coming with fellowship in tow. I think this could be both good and bad in case you want to move out for fellowship still one of the best fellowship you can ask for probably. UPENN would probably a great place if you have any interest in IR, one of best moonlighting setting. Probably can do anything you want and interested in as long as you are sincere and hard working.

My mentor was like just go for gut feeling at the end of the day resources of these places would be more or less same and you will do as much as you want. Most important thing would be if you are happy or not. I think this bears truth, although i am vert type A and checking my Excel spreadsheet everyday, i think probably you would be a good clinical radiologist at the end of the day and can publish whatever you want. it comes down to location and your network at the city etc.

 

[Obama123]

Yeah everywhere I went raves about their endless volume. This is also concurrent with the consolidation of healthcare institutions (nearly every major academic place has been buying up other hospitals/outpatient imaging places), which does mean more volume, but not necessarily that residents are staying late to clean up the lists. I'm certainly not looking to slack off, I just like the programs that actively encourage these other pursuits in addition to becoming a strong clinician. For example, 2 great Midwest programs, MIR and Michigan. The theme of the day for MIR is that you will come out great but will work very hard. The theme for Michigan is that they want to train you well but also be active to advance your career. They talked about their medical illustrators and graphic designers in the department to help with projects and highlighted their distinctive tracks with side-curricula to fit your interests. Again this is not the meat of residency, but it's nice to have those things. I'm sure MIR has the same resources, just not sure why they don't highlight some of that stuff.

My others in top 3 are Michigan and MGH. Everyone I met there just came across genuine and happy. Same with HUP. they all put their best foot forward for interview day. I still don't get how some top programs put lackluster faculty and residents on the forefront for interviews. If you can't muster up some good vibes for a day, what must it be like for four years?


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Not sure how you thought St. Louis was better than Baltimore. I thought Baltimore has the edge because you have access to a lot of east coast cities while in St. Louis, you are kind of stuck there.

One way or another, dont think you can rly go wrong with hopkins, duke, MIR, Penn, Umich, Or MGH.

I thought MIR, MGH, Hopkins had a slight edge in terms of academic prestige, but not much. Not sure about in terms of IR though.

 

[Life316]

If anyone has any questions about SUNY Downstate Radiology, feel free to message me.

 

[tco]

Same with UT Houston. I'd be glad to answer any questions you guys have.

 

[radmd123]

Does anyone know the call schedule for Mayo, U of Chicago, or U of Wisconsin?

 

[Ilikefrankie]

I think it's easy to understand people's apprehension regarding providing their own impressions - posters make for easy targets. It's also easy to be intimidated, if you allow yourself to fall into that net.

We simply have to keep faith in SDN's commitment to ensuring everyone's opinion matters and that we all have a right to offer our input.

Agree and emphasize the fact that it is ok to be obsessed with Duke. I think that's the most important part

 

[PL198]

Agree and emphasize the fact that it is ok to be obsessed with Duke. I think that's the most important part

?

 

[Raddy McRadface]

Better late than never….here are a couple more program reviews. Hopefully someone next year can benefit from them. I thought I’d review all the programs I saw on the interview trail since I found these reviews useful when applying…but yeah….that didn’t happen. Here are 3 from the start of my west coast tour (I still have to type up OHSU). I have a few from the midwest and northeast that I’m still working on and will try to have done before match day so I’m unbiased.

Disclaimer: This is just one medical students opinion. Take it for what it's worth. If you felt differently let the board know, but I won't be posting anything except program reviews.

Program: University of Washington

The Hospital and Facilities: The residency is broken up among a few hospitals. There’s Harborview, UW, the VA, as well as some ortho/cancer sites. They seem to see everything and are the referral center for like 5 states. Harborview is “trauma centric”. We only toured the UW radiology department so those are the only facilities I can comment on. Overall, they were kind of old and much of the radiology program was a little cave like, but there were also conference rooms with amazing views. Ultimately not a big deal, all radiology departments are a cave to some extent. UW is also right next to portage bay which seemed like a fun location to explore, but a tough location to commute to.

The Interview: 4 interviews with attendings. One is either with the program director or assistant director. You also have an interview with an attending that hasn’t reviewed your file. They disclose this before the interview. No twists or turns to note here. They say that it’s a “reverse interview” since they give you a powerpoint to review beforehand about the program so you can ask them questions, but in reality it was the same as any other interview.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: You attend a lunch conference here which was very good. I feel like a strength of this program would be the formal teaching received. The interviewers seemed very interested in teaching and the lunch conference was the most interactive I had seen. The program also touted a few different tracks you could participate in (education, bioengineering, etc.). I didn’t get the feeling that many residents participated in the tracks, but they did all feel the required morning and lunch conferences were among the best. They have a 7:30 conference as well as noon case conference which is rotation based. They also have Thursday lectures from 3-6 pm on things like professionalism, wellness, etc.

Attendings: My only interaction with attendings was during the interviews. All were nice. The program director and assistant director are definitely invested in their residents and very supportive. That was probably what stood out most.

Resident and Their Satisfaction with the Program: The residents I encountered seemed very close and spoke highly of the program and Seattle. The pre-interview dinner was probably the best attended of all the programs I interviewed at. Many wanted to stay in Seattle or at least the northwest after graduation. Previous posters have said that the residents seemed tired. I would agree that a few of the first years I ran into seemed less enthusiastic than the seniors. Overall, I got a good vibe from the residents.

Call Schedule: Call is taken both at the VA, UW, and Harborview. It sounded like volume at Harborview was very high while the others were more manageable. Your first year is call free. Second year you have 4 weeks of night float and a 8-10 weekends at UW. Third and fourth year you take call at Harborview as well as VA call which is pager call. There is also some call at the children’s hospital 3rd/4th year. You have fewer weekends and nightfloat, but more of the VA call. There’s quite a bit of call since they cover so many hospitals.

Moonlighting: You could protocol studies for an hour for like $70. You could also work answering calls for a few hours for the department for something like $50 an hour starting R1 year. Seemed like opportunity was plentiful.

Fellowships: Most stay at UW. There didn’t seem to be a problem going where you want if you did want to leave. They offer basically everything and most seem to stay and then seek employment in the area.

Special or unusually good aspects: The involvement of the coordinators was top notch. They have created a work life balance that helps the residents tolerate the high volume. The only other program I encountered that seemed as involved in work life balance was BWH (which I’ll try to review later). They were also very balanced with both IR and DR both strong. Another thing that seemed unique was that third years got an additional week off and 3 months protected from call to study for boards.

Red flags: The commuting would get old fast. Driving in Seattle is not pleasant and they basically have to have a car with all the different sites. They also have to pay for parking (something like $8/day) at the hospital. The residency did recently unionized and got a little extra money and transportation funding.

Notes: I really expected to love the program after some of the previous reviews so I think my bar was set too high. I think this was when I realized how similar the training is among the top 30 or so programs. No doubt this is a strong program where you would become a great radiologist. If you have ties to the northwest or just want to live in Seattle you’re in luck, because you have a great program to train at.


Program: University of Utah

The Hospital and Facilities: The hospital has newer and older areas. Lots of construction going on. I was told a new medical school is being built. The radiology department didn’t seem too run down, but apparently it’s being completely renovated over the next year or so. The VA is just a short drive away (<5 min) and residents spoke highly of their VA. The hospital is also connected to the children’s hospital. Everything is pretty well contained which is convenient. There is also covered parking for a monthly fee (like $50).

The Interview: 8 interviews. Yes, 8 interviews. Fortunately they were all fairly conversational. One of your interviews is with a PhD. Other than that they were all radiology faculty or chief residents. Everyone was welcoming, but your voice will be a little hoarse after this one.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: The lecture format is somewhat unique with all lectures taking place on Wednesday morning. If I remember correctly, lecture started at like 7:30 am and went until noon. This allowed them to start their day at 8 am on the other days which I felt like was a pretty sweet deal. I seem to remember that there were departmental lectures at noon as well. The residents praised the professor that gives their physics review. They also get a stipend to go to AIRP.

Attendings: The program director was great and had the approval of all the residents I spoke to. Their department chief is somewhat new, but he gave the opening presentation and seemed to really value resident education. Not much detail I can give about the rest of the staff I came into contact with. Everyone was nice…as you would expect from an interview day.

Residents and Their Satisfaction with the Program: Residents seemed like a good bunch. Lots of talk about various activities they do as a group. There did seem to be some married residents with a few having children. Everyone seemed to enjoy both the program and living in the mountains. Multiple residents told me it was their top choice and that it would be their top choice again. Many had connections to Utah while some others came for the skiing/hiking. They did mention that Utah has its quirks, but they felt the outdoor activities more than made up for it. I got the feeling that everyone wanted to be there and was happy with their decision.

Call Schedule: I would say slightly above average call load. Residents start taking baby call after 6 months until 10 pm. They also are responsible for the occasional weekend. After the first year is complete call seemed to ramp up. A night float system with a swing shift is used. The residents really liked the swing shift. It also sounded like IR call was pretty intense with residents carrying the pager every 4th day or so.

Moonlighting: Pretty decent moonlighting opportunities. Contrast coverage starts R2 year. The pay was a little lower than some places (something like $50/hour), but I’m sure cost of living is also lower. Interestingly they also had the opportunity to work the methadone clinic for an hour prior to coming to the hospital. Not sure how much this one paid. There was also mention of residents moonlighting at other sites during R4 year for better pay, but it required long shifts and they usually had to use vacation days.

Fellowships: Solid fellowship placement. Those who did leave seemed to go to land at very competitive programs (UCSF, etc.). They said something like 80% decide to stay in Utah for fellowship. Most also try to find work in the rocky mountain region upon graduating. There most popular fellowship by far is neuro with like half the class entering a neuro fellowship every year.

Special or unusually good aspects: There was a lot of talk about the strength of the neuro department. Some of the StatDx creators are still on staff as well. They seemed to pride themselves on quality improvement and innovation and had ways you could get involved as a resident (I can’t remember what these pathways were called).

Red flags: Some residents said IR was hurting for staff with only a handful of attendings currently employed. I probed for this during my interview with an IR attending and apparently they’re hiring a bunch of new staff this year, so maybe it will be corrected shortly. Nonetheless, it likely isn’t an IR powerhouse if that’s what you’re looking for.

Notes: This was probably my biggest surprise program of the interview season. Didn’t expect much, but ended up finding they had basically everything the bigger programs were touting. It felt like a program that I would want to train at regardless of location, but the fact skiing/hiking are minutes away made it even more enticing. I ended up ranking it right after a couple of programs in my home state which really surprised me. If you’re looking for a solid place to train and enjoy the outdoors come check this place out.


Program: U of Colorado

The Hospital and Facilities: The Aurora medical campus is brand new and very impressive. It has probably the biggest IR department I saw on my tour (in sheer size, not sure about volume). The reading rooms were also very new. Aurora did seem to be a little ways away from everything. Parking would not be an issue and the medical campus even had coffee/sandwich shops that felt like you were in a strip mall. You spend half your time at the downtown Denver hospital which is the county hospital. We didn’t tour this hospital so I can’t comment on it. They also rotate at the children’s hospital which is on the Aurora campus and there was a VA they rotate at (I can’t remember if this was brand new or still being built. Either way, from the outside it looked like the fanciest VA in the US)

The Interview: This was not my favorite interview process. They only interview 3 or 4 times so it’s a massive amount of people at the interview day. The interview “dinner” seemed to have a 10:1 applicant:resident ratio. It was also just appetizers so don’t come hungry. The interviews themselves were fairly standard. 1 resident interview and 2 faculty. The program interview chair (or something like that) was very personable and seemed very interested in the program. I never even saw the program director though.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: They have a lunch lecture series that covers all the core topics. They broadcast this online so if you’re at Denver health you don’t have to commute which is nice. They do start each day at 8 am which gives a little more sleep than most other programs. Other than that they have the standard interdepartmental lectures. They go to AIRP.

Attendings: Only came in contact with three attendings, but all seemed like they’d be fun to work with. The staff was young for the most part and enthusiastic about teaching/the program.

Resident and Their Satisfaction with the Program: This was a mixed bag. Some seemed very happy to be at Colorado while others didn’t offer much praise for the program. No one had any huge complaints; there were just some people that were melancholy towards the program. They talked up all the things to do in Colorado, but never had much to say about the residency. Overall, satisfaction seemed average to below average (mainly because almost everywhere else I interviewed the residents really talked up their program).

Call Schedule: Baby call starts mid 1st year with call starting after year one at the Denver health hospital. Call is taken with attending coverage at all times. They talked highly of the call experience at Denver health and said volume was high with lots of trauma. You start out 2nd year with 6 weeks of night float and 11 weekends. Third year you have 4 weeks of night float, but more weekends. 4th year you have less of both. IR call is done separately.

Moonlighting: I honestly don’t remember on this one. I want to say they could monitor contrast reactions, but I didn’t make note of it.

Fellowships: Pretty good fellowship placement. However, they do all seem to go elsewhere for fellowship training. Not sure if that should be a red flag or not. They did place some residents at very competitive programs, but also had some which seemed to make a lateral move which I didn’t see a lot of on the interview trail

Special or unusually good aspects: Nothing really off the charts on this one. The work life balance seemed above average and Colorado has plenty to do. Apparently they have or are getting a brand new VA. IR did seem pretty strong if that’s what you’re into.

Red flags: There is a decent amount of commuting between sites as half your time is spent in Denver and half in Aurora. I suppose this isn’t an issue if you live somewhere in between. The lack of enthusiasm from some residents and tendency to do elsewhere for residency also seemed questionable.

Notes: I don’t know if it was just the interview process, but I was somewhat disappointed with this one. It felt like they tried to sell Colorado and not so much the program. I’m sure most of us share the opinion that you can become a good radiologist anywhere, but If you’re looking for a strong program near the mountains I’d suggest you keep driving west to Utah (Washington seemed to have some pretty good skiing also.…and even Oregon).

 

[MadRadLad]

Thank you so much for finally getting things going. Much appreciated!

 

[Raddy McRadface]

Okay…here are reviews for MGH and BWH. These two were tough for me to rank since they’re both top notch programs. Hopefully this can be of help to someone in future years.
This will likely be the only other reviews I get done. They take a surprising amount of time. I encourage other posters to post one or two, though I doubt this will happen at this point. I found these reviews incredibly useful during the application process and I’m sure many others did as well.

Program: MGH

The Hospital and Facilities: The hospital is located in Beacon Hill which is an awesome part of Boston (also very expensive). The hospital is obviously massive and both old and new. The radiology department was on the older end, but the lecture hall and many other areas had been nicely renovated. The MSK section was in a brand new portion of the hospital. One of the coolest things about the hospital is the Ether Dome which they show you on their tour. This hospital has so much history it is part museum. All rotations are contained to the MGH campus and there is also the Eye and Ear Infirmary you can do rotations at if interested. As far as machines go they have it all.

The Interview: If you’re trying to decide where to put this interview on your calendar my advice is put it towards the end. There were 3 faculty interviewers and 1 chief resident. While everyone was enthusiastic about the program and very nice, they ask a lot of the questions that I seemed would have stumbled through early in the interview season. Some radiology interviews feel like they ask “why radiology?” and “what questions do you have?” and then the interview is over. This place actually probed for your interests, motivations, etc. which actually cut back on the awkward question asking time. My advice is just to be well practiced with some other interviews. Once you’ve done a few you’ll have heard all the questions they’re going to ask.

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: Residents had a morning case conference as well as a noon conference. We were given a conference schedule for the noon lectures and it was very impressive. They do minicourses in the various subspecialties. They also do a weekly rad path correlation which we were able to attend. While everything discussed at the conference was well beyond my understanding at this point, I was very impressed with the second year residents presenting the cases. They seem to have a rigorous (in a good way) educational curriculum.

Attendings: Really difficult to judge as I only interacted with them in the interview. The program director has been there forever and was very involved in resident education for the entire nation. We also met with the chief who was very down to earth and emphasized that he trained at the program and wants it to remain the “crown jewel” of the radiology department. The other attendings were on a spectrum from more formal with little chit chat to laid back. I’d heard through the grapevine that BWH had more relaxed attendings while MGH was more formal. I would agree to some extent, but after my very short experience my thought is that this is overstated.

Resident and Their Satisfaction with the Program: This was hands down the longest pre-interview dinner I attended. It started with happy hour and ended with a 4 hour dinner. Needless to say, the residents enjoy hanging out together. No one I talked to could come up with any real weaknesses. Some brought up that traditionally IR was lacking, but that they feel like it’s being revamped. Overall, the residents praised the training they were getting and were very happy to be at MGH.

Call Schedule: MGH and BWH both have great websites that cover details like the call schedule. I’ve included the call outline below. Call seemed pretty average. This is in contrast to BWH which I would put at below average. It was somewhat hard to gauge just how much call there is due to the many call pools.

“July of Year 1 - December of Year 1 | Emergency Room day buddy call: Residents are immediately given the opportunity to learn the basics of the Emergency Department, working with a second-year resident. Shifts are between 8:00 am and 5:30 pm for two weeks.

October of Year 1 - October of Year 2 | Emergency Room evening coverage: Residents are given the opportunity to learn the basics of the Emergency Department, working with a staff radiologist and fellow in the evening to learn the important categories of acute disease, study selection, patient triage, and consultation in the emergency setting. Shifts are between 5:30 and 9:30 pm every 9th or 10th weeknight evening.

December of Year 1 - December of Year 2 | Dodd Saturday: Residents are in-house between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm to cover the inpatient intensive care portable radiographs, emergent and postoperative GI fluoroscopy studies, and abdominal radiographs. This responsibility rotates among the residents in the class.

March of Year 1 - March of Year 2 | CT Weekend N/M Beeper Call: Residents interpret inpatient and outpatient CT scans for the thoracic and abdominal imaging sections, reading out with a staff radiologist. Residents protocol the studies in advance and are on hand to provide consultations to referring physicians. Residents also cover the Nuclear Medicine pager to facilitate urgent nuclear medicine examinations. The shift typically runs between 8 am and 5 pm and includes both days of the weekend. This responsibility rotates among the members of the class.

March of Year 1 - March of Year 2 | Emergency Room Weekend Days: Residents are assigned to cover the Emergency Department between 8 am and 8 pm, working with staff radiologist and fellows to cover all modalities (including plain film, ultrasound, CT and MRI).

Emergency Room nights: A four week block of night float (five nights a week) is scheduled between the middle and end of the second year. This block is an important step in the development of our residents, where they have the opportunity to apply the principles they have learned to deal with acute problems encountered in a very busy ER. The overnight night float rotation is scheduled after a four-week block of ER days. A staff radiologist is also present and reviews all studies dictated by the resident during the night shift. Although challenging, this rotation builds the confidence and skills of our residents. After this rotation is complete, residents help to cover Friday and Saturday overnight shifts with a total of approximately 10 additional shifts during the course of the residency. Of note, there is an ultrasound technologist in-house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which enables the radiology resident to focus primarily on the interpretation of studies.”

Moonlighting: They had moonlighting off site doing contrast reactions. Can’t remember the exact hourly rate, but I believe it was somewhere around $75. Having a car would definitely make it easier to actually take advantage of this. Residents said there was plenty of opportunity for this.

Fellowships: Most stay at MGH obviously. Some do leave to pursue things like Peds or find a more comprehensive IR fellowship. They have worked it out where some of their 2 year fellowships are able to be condensed to one year if you complete your mini-fellowship year in the same field.

Special or unusually good aspects: This would be a great place for those that are interested in research. I got the impression that research is not only encouraged, but expected. They’ve also tried to make it easy to produce quality research in a short amount of time by compiling various databases. I also liked that the program had a procedural divide among all specialties and not just IR. Here the neuro department does NIR and spine, MSK does kyphoplasty, etc. I felt this was a big advantage if you don’t want to do IR as you can still get the hands on experience without rotating through IR multiple times.

Red flags: Expectations from attendings are definitely high here. I didn’t find the clinical demands to be as high as some, but the additional research and leadership expectations place the overall work among the top of the residency pile. That being said, their goal is to make you a leader in the field and their training sets you up to do so.

Notes: I’ll do combined notes at the end


Program: BWH

The Hospital and Facilities: The Longwood medical campus includes Brigham, Dana Farber, and Boston Children’s. It is also the home of Harvard Medical School so if you’re interested in teaching the med school is next door. You’re also closer to the Harvard campus where you can apparently use the facilities as either an MGH or BWH resident. The facilities themselves were amazing. I expected an older hospital, but clearly there have been massive renovations. Maybe they hid us from the old parts of the hospital, but I would have sworn it was brand new. I have a personal bias towards the Beacon Hill area, but I would say it would be an easier to live near or commute to BWH.

The Interview: You’ll interview with 4-5 faculty including program director and assistant director. We also interviewed with the department chief which was unique. This interview was not as formal as MGH. The one word of advice I do have is that they like to ask questions about small details on your application. They asked about two activities on my activities list that I hadn’t even talked about on other interviews because they were well overshadowed by activities that took greater involvement. Know your application and what you want to convey about each experience before this one. They also really probe for why you want to come to Boston and specifically BWH. Make sure you can explain what it is about BWH that appeals to you. They seem to emphasize matching residents that will be happy in the area (which is a good idea).

Didactics / Conferences / Other Teaching: We didn’t attend an actual lunch conference here and weren’t provided a conference schedule so I can’t provide much insight. They have your standard lunch conference and then case based conferences that are interdepartmental. I would again direct you to their website for the specifics. Residents raved about the teaching they were getting during their rotations. This was somewhat unique as usually I would hear about the quality of formal lunch lectures and didn’t speak to the on the job type training.

Attendings: Again, this is hard to answer as I only interacted with 5-6. The assistant program director and program director are both very welcoming. The interviews were conversational because they are very approachable and legitimately seemed interested in you. The other 2 attendings were about par for the course. The interview with the chief was more formal with mostly questioning about why you want to be in Boston/a radiologist. The BWH residents really spoke to how great the attendings were and listed them as a large reason they chose the program (though I don’t know how they knew this before matching as many of them probably only knew them from the interview).

Resident and Their Satisfaction with the Program: This was another well attended dinner with residents of all years attending. They definitely didn’t hide residents from you at this interview. I honestly felt like I had too much time between the dinner and interview day where residents had to sit with us as we awkwardly tried to come up with more questions. That being said, the thing they emphasized over and over was how well they feel BWH takes care of them. They talked up their assistant program director and how quickly their complaints get addressed as well as the individual mentorship they’re provided. They also bragged about their call schedule and how they got the majority of holidays off. This was definitely one of the happiest groups of residents I encountered on the interview trail.

Call Schedule: Their website breaks it down nicely (I’ve put the highlights below). The big take away for me was that they make the most of having such a large residency class and call is kept to a minimum (like almost no call your final year). They also protect time well before the core exam.
“Night float: One resident covers the emergency department from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. When the Consult resident leaves at 12:30 a.m., the Night Float resident also assumes the inpatient radiology pager, which is in use until the reading rooms open at 8 a.m. The Emergency Radiology Division is staffed by an attending 24 hours/day. Our Night Float rotation runs 7 days, and each resident will complete a total of 6 weeks of Night Float during the course of his or her training. First year residents do not participate in Night Float coverage. Beginning July, 2011 the Night Float rotation will be changed to a 6 day block.

Consult: One resident covers inpatient CT and MRI, as well as any radiographs on which the housestaff have questions, from 5:45 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Attendings/fellows are available to the Consult resident for back-up from each section. There are no morning/afternoon responsibilities while on Consult. Currently each resident will do a total of 6 weeks of Consult during the course of his or her training. First year residents do not participate in Consult coverage.

2nd-4th year: One resident is scheduled to work Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with time split between the neuro radiology and abdominal radiology reading rooms. The resident works one-on-one with the attending to handle all inpatient studies done during the day. Only third and fourth year residents are included in this call pool. Each resident will do a total of 6 days of Senior Call during the course of his/her training.”

Peds and IR have separate call.

Moonlighting: It didn’t sound like there were many moonlighting opportunities here. The residents said that there was kind of an option to moonlight, but it was sparse. There was also talk of working with MGH to get some more moonlighting since they had plenty.

Fellowships: Like basically all other good programs the residents tend to stay around for an extra year. Like MGH they have a comprehensive list of fellowships (NIR is lacking, PEDS/IR is better). If you’re goal is to stay in Boston for fellowship you’ll have plenty of opportunity.

Special or unusually good aspects: They were very proud of the ultrasound department. They were doing a lot of fetal intervention under ultrasound and other crazy things. They also do all of the OB/GYN imaging which is a rarity. I could see this being a plus or a minus depending on what you want to practice.

The other things that really stood out about BWH was the culture. As I mentioned above the residents really felt that they had some of the best attendings and program administrators out there. It was honestly hard to get any kind of complaint out of them. They would talk up things like their paternity leave and 4th year call schedule which are usually details you don’t hear about.

Red flags: I honestly can’t come up with any big red flags unique to the program. The residents did seem to bring up how MGH will say that they’re the best, but that BWH is a much better place with more reasonable faculty a few times. I don’t know if this was them venting their annoyance that MGH thinks they’re a better program or if they were just trying to give us a heads up.

Combined Notes: All in all, both are amazing programs where you’ll graduate a Harvard trained radiologist. I didn’t feel like any opportunities were exclusive to one program. I would give MGH the slight nod in areas like neuro, but give the same advantage to BWH for IR and PEDS. MGH places a lot of emphasis on research and provides you with all the resources imaginable. BWH will give you more free time to pursue research, teacher, or whatever else. Rank the programs based on training style or location or lifestyle or flip a coin…residents were happy at both places and receiving great training.

 

[medivh101]

Thanks everyone for your insight. This thread is helpful for an MS3. Did anyone interview at Emory or Vanderbilt?

 

[qwerty89]

Regarding B&W...

Call Schedule: Their website breaks it down nicely (I’ve put the highlights below). The big take away for me was that they make the most of having such a large residency class and call is kept to a minimum (like almost no call your final year). They also protect time well before the core exam.
“Night float: One resident covers the emergency department from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. When the Consult resident leaves at 12:30 a.m., the Night Float resident also assumes the inpatient radiology pager, which is in use until the reading rooms open at 8 a.m. The Emergency Radiology Division is staffed by an attending 24 hours/day. Our Night Float rotation runs 7 days, and each resident will complete a total of 6 weeks of Night Float during the course of his or her training. First year residents do not participate in Night Float coverage. Beginning July, 2011 the Night Float rotation will be changed to a 6 day block.

Consult: One resident covers inpatient CT and MRI, as well as any radiographs on which the housestaff have questions, from 5:45 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Attendings/fellows are available to the Consult resident for back-up from each section. There are no morning/afternoon responsibilities while on Consult. Currently each resident will do a total of 6 weeks of Consult during the course of his or her training. First year residents do not participate in Consult coverage.

2nd-4th year: One resident is scheduled to work Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with time split between the neuro radiology and abdominal radiology reading rooms. The resident works one-on-one with the attending to handle all inpatient studies done during the day. Only third and fourth year residents are included in this call pool. Each resident will do a total of 6 days of Senior Call during the course of his/her training.”

As a current resident at a different program, this seems chill as f***.

Average of 2 weeks of nightfloat a year for the PGY3-5 years.
Consult shifts are < 7 hrs.
6 total weekend days? (other than nightfloat)

I mean maybe I am just jealous but with the more senior attendings such as @Gadofosveset saying that call is one of the more important aspects of your training this seems a bit light...

 

[Gadofosveset]

Regarding B&W...



As a current resident at a different program, this seems chill as f***.

Average of 2 weeks of nightfloat a year for the PGY3-5 years.
Consult shifts are < 7 hrs.
6 total weekend days? (other than nightfloat)

I mean maybe I am just jealous but with the more senior attendings such as @Gadofosveset saying that call is one of the more important aspects of your training this seems a bit light...

Call is definitely where you learn to be a radiologist. It's the X-men danger room; the practice game before the real thing. But you need good feedback as well in order to make it work. If you read a ton of studies every night, but get no feedback, it's less valuable than fewer studies with careful detailed feedback.

A resident every now and then puts up a good show reading out during the day, or is the PD's pet with research, and then their radiological or medical judgment fails hard repeatedly in the middle of the night. Those are the ones who are in trouble.

 

[Gadofosveset]

Congrats to everyone who matched! And to those who didn't… keep looking for a spot!