Interview impressions

[2014XRT]

anyone have anything to say about Cleveland Clinic?

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[oncology2020]

I've never been shy about being a Moffitt resident, and I'm very proud of our program. We receive an outstanding education with a large variety of cases, frequent lectures and educational opportunties, while seeing many varied and advanced cancers treated with a wide range of technologies. In addition, we are treated very well as residents, and I think our limited scut and benefits are some of the best in the nation. Anyway, I don't want to be one of those types who posts on here to sell their own program to others, but I just wanted to correct a few factual things. Nothing personal here at all there jcradonc--it's hard to really gauge these things during your limited time here, and it's entirely possible you were given some inaccurate details.



There are so many beaches in the area that it's hard to give exact numbers. It's 30-60 minutes from South Tampa to the beautiful, tourist magazine, beaches (it just depends which one...). It's less than 15 minutes to decent beaches. I run from my apartment along the waterfront all the time, and I see dolphins most of the time down there.



Research is basically required, but it doesn't feel onerous to anyone because all rotations have at least 1 academic day, and many have 2. There are so many opportunities and support mechanisms that anyone can get involved and be productive. The Total Cancer Care database has been running for years. I use it to pull gene expression data from thousands of samples and correlate it to results from our EHR and other clinical databases.



Some rotations are busy and some are light. Almost every rotation is 1:1 coverage, but some attendings are very busy and others aren't. That's all liable to change with time--i.e. we're very likely have another thoracic attending soon, they're working on hiring another head and neck faculty member, etc...



It's 9-11 months of elective currently. Essentially, there has always been 9 months of elective. There was a rads-path-dosimetry rotation, but the rads and path weren't felt to be all that helpful, so they're now optional. I think of research/elective time like what I wrote here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...-your-program-stack-up.1043268/#post-14656004.

When you take the elective time is flexible. I'm taking mine most of PGY-5 year and the end of PGY-4 year. Opinions vary on when is the best time to do research. You could take the time all as a block if you wanted or break it up. There are many more faculty than there are residents, so faculty are used to not being covered by residents. Also, there is no set schedule, other than some rotations being 1st year and others being "senior" (all other years). So you can pretty much do what you want with regards to scheduling.



Travel allowance depends on the year. It's not set in stone. My allowance this year was about $2500. I say about because the book fund is somewhat flexible as well, and I think is getting rolled into my travel funds for radium society. You could probably go to one conference a year with nothing to present. Additional conferences would require at least posters. It's very easy to put together a retrospective series and get a poster, so most of us go to 2-3 conferences a year (first years often do 1, if you get additional travel support you could do as many as 4). In addition, we get our ABR dues paid for.

Moonlighting is actually available starting PGY-3. There are only 2 residents who do it currently. This is because you need approval from the program, and there are some pros/cons to moonlighting that you have to weigh. The details are very specific to here and wouldn't be relevant unless you matched here, but it is available.

Tampa sounds awesome but the sinkholes seriously scare me. Any experience with sinkholes? Seems like couple of times a year there is a sinkhole story from Tampa making national news. Although I know this picture below isn't from Florida (Guatemala?) but imagine falling into something like that while sleeping..didn't some guy in Tampa see his brother fall into a sink hole right in front of his eyes while they were in the bedroom and he never saw him again..so scary

http://preps.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/sinkhole-opens-in-front-of-pasco-home/2162809

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/14/florida-sinkhole-dunedin-homes/3524877/

 

[Neuronix]

Any experience with sinkholes?

I think you're probably trolling me, but in case you're not or if anyone else is hearing about sinkholes for the first time, here's a serious reply.

I have three thoughts on sinkholes:

1. The sinkhole stories you linked to happened over a half hour from Tampa in the far out suburbs. Sinkholes almost never happen in south Tampa where most of the residents live. This map of sinkhole events in our county illustrates my point: http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/pages/11100/f11131/f11131.htm. The little yellow dots are very small sinkholes. Very few of even those small sinkholes occurred in the south Tampa area. On the map south Tampa roughly corresponds to the area around the dot next to Tampa.

2. This is a relative risk issue. A google search tells me that a grand total of four people have ever died due to sinkholes in Florida. There are over 2,500 fatalities in motor vehicle collisions every year in this state. Sinkholes do not appear on my list of things to worry about.

3. There are environmental risks no matter where you live. In Florida the usual concern is hurricanes or flooding from other major storms. A major hurricane has not hit around Tampa in a LONG time, and we are relatively insulated from them based on geography. My other favorite is Archer's fear of alligators, but we haven't had an alligator death in the state in over 5 years. In the midwest there are tornadoes (5 deaths/year in Ohio, for example). Out west there are forest fires, earthquakes, and mudslides. In the northeast and much of the midwest there is snow in the winter, and all the complications that causes.

 

[oncology2020]

I think you're probably trolling me, but in case you're not or if anyone else is hearing about sinkholes for the first time, here's a serious reply.

I have three thoughts on sinkholes:

1. The sinkhole stories you linked to happened over a half hour from Tampa in the far out suburbs. Sinkholes almost never happen in south Tampa where most of the residents live. This map of sinkhole events in our county illustrates my point: http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/pages/11100/f11131/f11131.htm. The little yellow dots are very small sinkholes. Very few of even those small sinkholes occurred in the south Tampa area. On the map south Tampa roughly corresponds to the area around the dot next to Tampa.

2. This is a relative risk issue. A google search tells me that a grand total of four people have ever died due to sinkholes in Florida. There are over 2,500 fatalities in motor vehicle collisions every year in this state. Sinkholes do not appear on my list of things to worry about.

3. There are environmental risks no matter where you live. In Florida the usual concern is hurricanes or flooding from other major storms. A major hurricane has not hit around Tampa in a LONG time, and we are relatively insulated from them based on geography. My other favorite is Archer's fear of alligators, but we haven't had an alligator death in the state in over 5 years. In the midwest there are tornadoes (5 deaths/year in Ohio, for example). Out west there are forest fires, earthquakes, and mudslides. In the northeast and much of the midwest there is snow in the winter, and all the complications that causes.

nah wasn't trolling, thanks for the clarification, guess not as big of an issue as portrayed in media..tampa sounds aweseome

 

[Linaculous]

Here are a couple more mini-reviews.

Michigan: This was probably my favorite program. I've always loved Ann Arbor, although that love was a little dampened by the crazy cold weather on my interview day. The facilities are great, I can't remember specifics but I think they have pretty much everything but protons. Residents rotate at UM, the VA and Novi (for brachy). I don't think there are any concerns here about not getting adequate clinical training, unless you really "need" protons. UM rotations are busy, while the VA is supposedly pretty laid back. UM has a reputation of being unreasonably busy with possible scut issues, but, as with MSK, I think that reputation is overblown. It's certainly on the busier side, but the residents all said it was reasonable, with hours of about 7AM - 6PM and weekends free. Residents cover 1-3 attendings at a time, but never >1 on a single day and residents "usually" still get an academic day. Residents don't provide full cross-coverage for each other. Everyone knows about the research, you get 12 months uninterrupted and the options are incredible. As was pointed out, Michigan has one of the strongest combinations of clinical, basic science, and physics groups in the country. The salary and benefits are great, and the residents seemed like a fun and happy bunch. I thought the faculty members were also all great, they seemed sharp and driven but nice, I didn't have any negative experiences like the one posted above. Bottom line: Deserves its reputation as among the best programs out there. I was told by an attending somewhere else that if Michigan were on a coast it would be the most competitive program in the country, and I can definitely see where she was coming from. Busier but reasonable. Great clinical training and a Smörgåsbord of research opportunities to make you into the academic rockstar your mother always wanted.

 

[Linaculous]

Duke: I don't have a lot to add to the other reviews of Duke. Beautiful new cancer center and a pleasant vibe from the attendings and residents. Brachy has been weak, as freely admitted by many during my interview day, but this may be improving with completion of a new brachy suite. Other than that, they have pretty much everything but protons, with all there stereotactic stuff being linac based (hope I'm remembering that correctly). Hours seemed pretty average, quoted to me as 8AM - 6PM. Residents usually cover 2 attendings, but (almost) never >1 on a single day, and residents get an academic day. Residents do cross-cover for each other (http://sadtrombone.com/). Residents now get 12 months of research, which I think is new, with lots of good options. I appreciated their candor that it used to be a fairly "malignant" program, but with some faculty and machine changes it has turned a 180, and I think that's probably true. Bottom line: Another good program. If they can increase their brachy training it will have little going against it.

 

[Linaculous]

Iowa: Iowa City was actually more bustling than I expected, but it's definitely a small college town (for better or worse) that is pretty far from major cities. The department has 4 linacs that are all being replaced since Seimens is getting out of the business. Everyone gets 8 wks of research (4 in PGY2 yr and 4 in PGY3), and then you can choose a "pathway" that will dictate how you spend 16 wks during PGY4 and 5 yrs. You can do more research, electives, med-ed training, etc. Residents cover one attending at a time and don't cross-cover for each other. The hours seemed on the lighter side, and call is apparently not busy. Outcomes are ~50-50 for academics-private practice. They faculty were mostly really nice, although I had one interviewer who was pretty confrontational and kind of turned me off. One thing they do have going is a ton of rad-bio faculty. Bottom line: Solid program that probably doesn't have the name recognition, history or famous faculty of the "bigger" programs, but offers good clinical training and lots of rad-bio research opportunities.

 

[oncology2020]

thanks for including typical work hours and if there are academic days, that's also really helpful to gauge if residents are just being used as cheap labor to run the department or if they're actually being educated and trained

 

[Quetzal479]

University of Arizona:
Location - Great city/hidden gem. South side of city looks a little less than desirable, but the Southwest in general is amazing. Great access to outdoorsy stuff. As for research, they seemed very supportive if someone wanted to take initiative, but the initiative would certainly have to be yours. 6 months research time allotted - can use an additional 4 months (taking it away from elective time). Main department is old and in the basement, but the satellite location (breast cancer) is apparently quite shnazzy. Many of their machines are on different operating systems, so you have to learn them all. May be benefit when looking for jobs after residency. The chair was extremely nice and adorable. Likes all things Italian. PD is great as well - very kind and seems very supportive of the residents. Everyone was very personable and charming with only one slight oddball (only because he didn't make eye contact at all during the interview, which was slightly disconcerting). Residents were very laid-back and friendly. Definitely a strength of the program. Overall - Great group of people. Good location (if awesome outdoorsy stuff and great scenery is your sort of thing), but soft on research.

Buffalo:
Location - Enh. Cold winters, but good summers. Plenty to do in area. Naigara falls and Toronto nearby. Great cost of living. Good research going on and excellent facilities for research. Dedicated Cancer Center - main building is fantastic, and rad onc department is on 1st floor (not in basement). Has all tech, including gamma knife, on same platform. Residents get ipads and iphones, which isn't too shabby. PD was enthusiastic and warm. All other faculty nice except for oddly aggressive encounter with chair - basically forcing me to prove to him that I would leave my home program. I know it's good to figure out an applicant's true interest in the program, but this was basically the entire interview. Residents were very friendly. All male, but that seemed to be totally coincidental (PGY1s are female, recent grads female). As for workload, it seemed quite nice. It seems that PAs cover many of the less educational aspects, and residents don't have to cover others when they go on vacation, etc. Overall - Great program for research and good workload. Mostly nice people with chair giving a weird impression. Interviewing 30-ish people for one spot, so that was a bit of a turn-off.

 

[Quetzal479]

Stanford:
Location - Fantastic. Beautiful area with trees, coast, mountains. Great access to outdoorsy stuff. HIGH cost of living; however, good train system from places that cost less. Research support is fantastic. 11 months protected time and Holman encouraged. Kaplan fellowship available after completion. Main department in on ground floor, not basement. Has all technology including 2 cyber knifes. Chair is intense in interview (for good reason) and has strong clear vision for program. PD is fantastic and young - residents like him. Everyone seemed to love program and area. Residents were great and fun to hang out with. Many MD/PhDs. Workload seemed heavy-ish, with residents generally working 10-12 hour days. However many get call out of way by 3rd year, so hours get better then. Overall - Wonderful program with amazing opportunities for clinical training as well as a plethora of research opportunities.

NYU:
Location - AWESOME. HIGH cost of living, but can get trains from less expensive places (one difference in cost of living issue compared to Stanford - NYU at least compensates cost of living with slight increase in residents' salary; Stanford does not). Maybe slightly less accessible if married with kids, but incredible for any single applicant. Chair is very supportive of research. 12 months of protected research time, with Holman encouraged. As for facilities, they had 1/2 of department wiped out, but the new building going up on the East River is NICE. Just bought 2 new gamma knifes and a whole lot more equipment. Unfortunately, the chair was away for interview, so we didn't get to interact with her. However, everyone we did meet was friendly and engaging. Residents and faculty on first-name basis. Residents were a lot of fun and great to hang out with during the meet and greet the night before the interview. Several are MD/PhDs. Overall - Fantastic group of people, amazing new facilities being built, fantastic town to live in.

 

[Quetzal479]

Wake Forest:
Location - Small city; pretty, yet maybe slightly unimpressive? Great for families and low cost of living. They give 6 months research with 3 elective months that may be used as well. They have a very attractive and new cancer center with department on 1st floor. Strong in gamma knife and SBRT. Chair was thoughtful and a good conversationalist. PD was also very enthusiastic. Great group of residents. Workload seemed heavy but manageable - light days and heavy days. Easy to get required numbers of pts on site. Overall - good program in a pretty and cost-effective area.
(Caveat - alcohol is not covered at interview dinner - bring cash if you're going to get a drink).

Colorado:
Maybe the best well-rounded location. Fantastic weather, beautiful city, lower cost of living (well, definitely when compared to NYC and San Fran). New-ish, but good research program (mostly clinical research). Give 3 months research but willing to extend to 1 year for people with plan. They are loacted in a newish building with a 1st floor department (not the basement!). All tech; everything in one place. Chair is being replaced by existing faculty member - should be smooth transition. Faculty members pretty cool, especially Dr. Raben - he'll keep you on your toes (in a good way). They have very cool residents who spent much of the day with us. Workload didn't seem too bad, and they can get all of their numbers on-campus. Overall - Pretty awesome and very new program and very awesome location, but maybe not best place for those who are more interested in basic science research.
(Caveat - as with WF, alcohol is not covered at the interview dinner, but at least we were warned beforehand).

 

[Quetzal479]

MUSC:
Location - Beautiful place to live and right at the beach. Low cost of living compared to most cities. Very little translational or basic science research going on currently, but they are making a strong, active effort at increasing research productivity (first MD/PhD attending recently hired). Facility is great with nice residents' room - first floor department with windows, dual monitors, ipads. Faculty are fantastic and supportive. Chair is incredibly kind - the type of person who you just want to work hard not to let down because it would break your heart to have him disappointed in you. One faculty member might be a bit more hard on residents, but maybe in a surgeon-type manner in which you end up learning a whole lot because of it. Fantastic group of residents who are intelligent and fun to hang out with. Like many residencies, they have a heavy workload on some services with a lower workload on others. Get very high numbers on campus. Overall - Good clinical program with slightly weaker research in an incredible location with great people to work with.

University of Wisconsin:
Location - amazing location; great every season but winter (just buy a bunch of down coats); somewhat low cost of living. Plenty of things to do year-round and known for outdoorsy lifestyle. Smallish town with great restaurants (beer and cheese!) and activities. Very strong research program with one resident in Holman path - entire faculty seemed incredibly supportive of research. Beautiful facilities with all tech and many new machines. New ViewRay. MRI-sim. Residents get Apple computers (what-what!). They have a great faculty environment. Dr. Harari is incredibly nice, and that seems to trickle down, including to their interview day. They paid for one night in a hotel, and the interview day was made up of two panel interviews instead of 8-ish one on one interviews (it sounds like it might be intimidating, but it was incredibly refreshing after a season of interview upon interview of "do you have any more questions for me?"). The residents were wonderful, easy to get along with, and most of them had the day to hang out with us. Workload seemed good workload but not too heavy - can easily get all numbers on campus. Overall - fantastic program with great reputation, strong research support, incredible clinical environment.

 

[Quetzal479]

Vanderbilt:
Location - Fun city with good cost of living comparatively, and you can live close to the hospital in good areas. Perhaps the best place for basic science/translational research with STRONGLY encouraged Holman Pathway. Good facilities, but in basement (enh, aren't most of them?). All tech. No dual monitors or ipads (wah-waah). Fantastic faculty; all very nice with collegial environment. Very friendly group of residents. Good workload - not too heavy and can get wide variety on campus. Overall - wonderful program with great support for research and fantastic clinical training.
(Caveat - most of us applicants thought that we were coming to interview for multiple spots (per FRIEDA?), yet we found out on the interview dinner night that we were interviewing for only one spot. This was a bummer).

Johns Hopkins:
Location - okay, so Baltimore is not touted as the coolest or safest place to live, but, you know what, it's not that bad. There are awesome good parts and bad bad parts, a bit like a checkerboard. Research is very well supported with one year set aside for research. Residents seemed very interested and enthusiastic about their research. Speaking of the residents, they were great to hang out with - maybe the group I felt the most comfortable with along the trail (maybe this being my last interview had something to do with this?). The faculty were all engaging and easy to interview with - Dr. Deweese was just such a nice, cool guy who seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. The workload seemed like it was probably pretty heavy, but an appropriate heavy (i.e. not all scut-heavy). Overall - very respectable program that will likely continue to rise in reputation; incredibly supportive staff in both research and clinical education. Awesome residents.

 

[Linaculous]

Would it be possible for people from last year to post some more interview impressions, especially of programs that don't get a lot of mention here. I will start by listing a few:

University of Kansas
CPMC- in SF, CA
Baylor

I certainly appreciate the people taking their time reviewing top programs but they have way too many reviews already and not all of us are going to be interviewing there.

I didn't interview at any of those places, but I will post the last reviews I forgot to post before, some of them of places that might be considered "less-reviewed." And again I apologize for my reviews lacking detail compared to others.

Rochester
Rochester was coooold, but then again everywhere was last winter. The city is medium sized, not super exciting but affordable and nice enough. The hospital and department were nice. For tech they have 5 linacs and tomotherapy. Decent research opportunities, I think 3 radiation biologists on staff. Rotations are 1:1 (mostly). Hours are on the lower side, I was quoted 8-4:30. Residents don't cross-cover for one another. In addition to the main site, residents rotate at Highland and Pluta, although I don't remember much about those places. Residents get 6 months of research or electives, but that is possibly going to 9 or 12 months in the near future. The PD is really great, seemed like a great resident advocate. The physicist who talked to us was a trip. I can't remember specifics about didactics. I remember that they do a lot of HDR prostate brachy, which is pretty cool. Bottom-line: I was more impressed than I expected. Residents were happy, staff were nice, and the training is solid. Fun fact, Rochester is the birth place of the Red Journal, I didn't know that.

Utah
Salt Lake is nice and the Huntsman is as beautiful as advertised. Residents get 6 months of research in 3 month blocks plus an additional 3 months of research or elective. Work hours are variable. Staying until 9 or 10 isn't unusual on consult days, while staying until 5 is the norm on others. Rotations are mostly 1:1, with only a few attendings requiring full resident coverage. I don't remember specifics about technology or didactics. The faculty were mostly very nice, I didn't click with them as much as some other places, but that's just as likely me as them. The exception would be Dr. Tward who was hilarious and also doing some cool research. The residents were happy with the training environment. I believe residents rotate at IHC and maybe LDS as well. As has been stated in other reviews, I think they get less lung and maybe h&n due to the patient population. Bottom-line: not a lot to criticize here, good clinical training and decent research opportunities.

 

[Linaculous]

These last ones have been reviewed to death, but they're all I've got left.

Wash U
St. Louis isn't great, but it's cheap and there are some nice areas not far from the hospital. Residents get 12 months of research (6 months if pgy 3 and 6 in pgy 4). Holman is veeeeerrry strongly supported. Tons of great research opportunities, especially in basic science. Dr. Hallahan is a basic scientist and sets the tone for the department (I mean that in a good way). Physics is very strong as well. Rotations are 1:1, there is no cross-covering, and residents get at least 1 academic day. They have all the tech you could ever want, 7 linacs, gamma knife, good brachy, protons on a gantry and probably some other stuff I can't remember. Hours are variable but I think pretty average. Some rumblings of malignancy in the past, but I think it's pretty good now. I got a good vibe from most of the interviewers and residents, but there may be a little roughness left with some of the older attendings. Bottom-line: one of the best programs for someone interested in academics, with diverse clinical training as well.

Hopkins
Baltimore is actually pretty cool. Don't get me wrong, it's as ghetto as it gets in parts, but there's a ton of history and cool stuff to do, as long as you don't wander too far. The hospital and cancer center are beautiful. Residents get 6-12 months of research (mostly 12), and there are some good opportunities, maybe not to Michigan/HROP/WashU level, but plenty of options for a resident. Holman is not supported, like at all. I can't remember details about tech other than something about a proton facility opening up in DC sometime soon. Rotations are 1:1. Hours are on the high side. Residents do get an academic day, but it's mostly for catching up on work. The faculty were all really great, especially the chair, Deweese. Bottom-line: a good program, maybe a little overrated on this site, but very good.

HROP
What to say about HROP that hasn't been said? You rotate everywhere, B&W, DF, BI, MGH & BMC (how's that for acronyms?). Hours are shorter at Longwood, but morning report can get pretty intense (I believe a microphone is passed around, so I guess you could say it's pretty wild). MGH is busier and with less formal didactics, but residents like it there as well. Some of the offices/workspaces are surprisingly dingy at the longwood campus, but otherwise these are nice hospitals. BMC is a community hospital with good "bread and butter" training. Residents usually cover 2 attendings on a given rotation, but without too much conflict. There is no cross-covering. Tech and research opportunities are unlimited. Residents get an academic day, but if rotating at MGH this is usually for catching up. Job opportunities are unbeatable for grads. Some residents said things could feel a little "fragmented" with all the different sites, and there's always the risk of getting the rotation in the disease site you're interested in somewhere or with someone who is not your first choice (if that makes sense). Bottom-line: definitely one of, if not the best program in the country. Great training, famous people, endless research opportunities. The number of different sites seemed like it could be a plus or minus, and is a unique feature of this program to consider.

 

[radoncopotamus]

Thank you for the reviews, Linaculous. Does anyone from the last few years have any impressions from interviewing at Rutgers RJW program?

 

[w00tz]

RJW
It's been over a year now, so what I remember is really fragmented. Anyways...
PD seemed really cool/down to earth and got along with residents. Seems like he played basketball with some of the residents.
Chair - Dr. Haffty is a big wig and he loves getting to know the residents. I think this may be one of the biggest strengths of the program, because when it comes to finding a job, he will go to bat for you. No pressure to go PP or academics, do what you want and they will support you was the vibe I got. I remember a good portion of recent grads went into academics, maybe ~30%?
I think 1 year of research. Good amount of education fund money and support to go to conferences.
Residents were really friendly and it seems like they made an effort to hang out with and bond with each other. Proton center was near completion last year.
Decent part of town. I wasn't a huge fan of New Brunswick, but it's close enough to NYC I suppose.

 

[radoncopotamus]

Thank you, w00tz!

 

[scarboost]

As the rank list deadline approaches next Wed, I would like to suggest that we try to do a better job with impressions this year (few posts last year it seems). I would like to see more impressions from Lower and midtier programs and not so heavily weighed on the top programs, which have IMHO been tirelessly reviewed. These impressions would be far more helpful for average applicants. Remember, you can post anonymously by sending the review to any of the moderators.

 

[SJSM001]

Scarboost- you will most likely have better luck if you ask about specific program(s) you are interested in. Folks have been pretty good in the past about responding to specific requests, even if they don't have time to report on all of the places they interviewed.

 

[Sheldor]

Scarboost- you will most likely have better luck if you ask about specific program(s) you are interested in. Folks have been pretty good in the past about responding to specific requests, even if they don't have time to report on all of the places they interviewed.

I like the spreadsheet that these newer classes have been doing, but I think its really taken away from the impressions thread which I think will be a real detriment moving forward.

 

[scarboost]

I will do my part and will be posting such reviews within the next few weeks, focusing on places that are very rarely reviewed that I had the chance to visit.

 

[metallica81788]

I like the spreadsheet that these newer classes have been doing, but I think its really taken away from the impressions thread which I think will be a real detriment moving forward.

Agreed. A lot of us on here relied a lot on those impressions. Last year we were seeing more low/mid tier places pop up too. The classes need to keep this going. The further back you go the less reliable the information is.

Another thing that didn't help was the SDN format changes which kind of made the anonymous impressions that were quoted difficult to find. You had to scroll down to find more than the first few lines.

 

[Sheldor]

Let the flood gates open!

I know the current crop has a google spreadsheet going, but I'd like to really encourage those who interviewed this season to contribute to this vital resource. We can easily look back over programs over 10 years all in this one thread!

Programs change, and just because someone reviewed a program a few years ago doesn't mean that folks don't want to hear how things are going now. So when you have time, give back to the SDN community! Congrats on making it to this point, and now the nice peaceful wait to match day

 

[Sheldor]

Wonderful!

Here are some anonymous reviews that I've received. Nice to see some less often reviewed programs!

Cleveland Clinic: Tricky; this is a strong program (probably ‘over-ranked’ by Doximity, but whatever). Their residents are worked hard in terms of having a strong knowledge base, and their focus on what they think of as the Socratic method is a little excessive. Their AM conference was basically an hour-long intense roundtable of pimping (not exactly the Socratic method, but we can let it slide). The culture is a bit malignant, in that the faculty (even the Canadian ones, shockingly!) are pretty hard on the residents. The chair has pure poker-face, and seems emotionless. All I managed to glean from him was that he didn’t like the prospect of a self-motivated resident, since his practice is to call in residents to tell them to do more research, etc. Essentially, I got a very draconian sense about the place. Still, the PD is a committed to resident success, and seems bent on making his program “the best in the country” (his words). They place their residents well, and a new cancer center in two years won’t hurt. Just be are: while the residents are a really nice group of people, the culture might not float your boat...

Columbia: As we now know (see recent posts about Columbia in another thread), the wheels fell off the wagon for Columbia as rank lists were submitted. Loss of a chair and some of their (already few) faculty mean this tenuous program probably isn’t going upwards anytime soon (an unfortunate truth). However, the residents are both brilliant and super nice. The faculty don’t seem as productive / invested in resident success, and consequently you see the residents doing their research with other schools/departments at Columbia (where so many of their non-rad-onc departments and schools are amazing in and of themselves). The resources of Columbia as a whole are great; the rad-onc-specific resources at Columbia, however, leave something to be desired.

Ohio State: Merriam-Webster includes a picture of OSU next to “meteoric rise.” Seriously, while OSU is not a strong program historically, a $1billion+ new cancer center and tremendous recruitment of top faculty make this place a program to follow. In the coming 5-10 years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this place breaking into the top tier of rad onc programs. Until then, its chair and PD are clearly committed to resident research, productivity, and training. Folks are amiable, and Columbus is a very nice, quaint mid-sized city.

UPMC: Murmurs on the trail kept referring to some incident here involved malignancy and a resident, but putting these aside, you can see Pitt’s culture well on the interview. It’s a strong program, though not top tier. They have some tremendous faculty (Beriwal) who publish well and promote resident success. But, it’s difficult to put into words, you can almost ‘feel’ there’s something off about this place. The residents were a fun group, but the relationship between residents and attendings appears strained. They also worked way too hard to sell Pittsburgh (replete with a long bus tour of the city at the end of the interview day, as well as a continuously running video of ‘Pittsburgh from the Air’ during break times). Pittsburgh is a lovely mid-sized city; if you’re someone who needs Manhattan or SF, you’re probably not going to come here anyway, so I thought the whole Pittsburgh pitch was a bit pointless.

Jefferson: This one is tricky. Historically a strong program, with good academic placement. The chair referred to it as a “boutique program” (still trying to figure out exactly what he means by this…). The residents seem happy and cohesive as a group, and the research done here is fairly strong, considering they compete with other big places in Philly for clinical volume. Still, the faculty were not enthusiastic about their own program, including/especially the chair. It’s not great to judge based on how good a program ‘sells’ itself to applicants, but you feel almost like the faculty don’t really care terribly much about the residents… hopefully this is just a misperception based on a single interview day.

USC: Also a bit tricky. Not a great program in most senses. They don’t place their residents well (i.e. – you’ll land a nice PP job in LA after this program, but nothing academic or outside CA, in all likelihood). And they have meager research time for residents (depends how you spin it, but the absolute MOST research time you can get here is 6 contiguous months, and it sounds like few people, if any, have gotten even that much). Yet, their chair, Dr. Chang, is a man with a vision for turning the program into a “top 20 academic program” (his words); if he wants to accomplish this, they need to parse out more research time and opportunities. They have good clinical volume, and their residents are quite well-trained as clinical oncologists. Now they need to ratchet up their research credentials if they want to be taken seriously. Otherwise, a ‘happy’ program with great residents, mostly nice faculty, and awesome facilities (the new County hospital is amazing).

Vanderbilt: A steady, strong program. Nothing glamorous or fancy, and not on some meteoric rise or slow decline. This is the spitting image of stability, it seems. They’re on the hunt for a new chair, yet the whole place felt solid in terms of resident training, research, faculty success, and job placement. Sits on the border of ‘top tier’ as a program, and Nashville is a charming city with high quality of life.

 

[bltsammich]

Wonderful!

Here are some anonymous reviews that I've received. Nice to see some less often reviewed programs!

I agree with Scarboost and Sheldor above - this is a great thread and I hope more people contribute! I will try to do my part in the coming weeks, but thought I would chime in real quick about Cleveland Clinic after reading the review above, since I rotated there. They definitely have a more intense conference style than most, but I would not at all describe it as malignant. In fact, all the faculty were very collegial and engaged in education, and I really enjoyed my time there. Yes, the chair is fairly stoic but he was very supportive of the residency program. Someone described him as a stereotypical Asian dad, which I think is fairly apt. I didn't understand the anonymous comment above about him not liking a self-motivated resident, because that seemed to be his ideal resident. Speaking of the residents, they are all super smart and friendly. Per their PD (who is very passionate about the residency program btw), they rock the exams, have ramped up their research productivity, and have had a very high academic job placement rate. Bottom line, if you don't mind being pimped (which I don't), then this place provides some fantastic training. And Cleveland was a pleasant surprise as a place to live.

Alright everyone, keep the reviews coming! And good luck on match day!

 

[bltsammich]

Also, I second (or third) the request for people posting their impressions of some of the "less-reviewed" programs here. As a long time reader, this thread has been very valuable in helping to decide where to consider away rotations and prioritize interviews. While the google doc is great to post a lot of brief comments in one place, I'm afraid it might get lost for future classes. Last year I thought the interview impressions were kind of sparse compared to previous years, and so hopefully more people can contribute this year. I'm sure it will be appreciated!

 

[Sheldor]

Here are some more anonymous reviews! These are of the oft reviewed top tier programs, but its always get to get updates.

HROP: Probably tied w/ MSKCC for the single best program in the country. Resources beyond your wildest dreams, and as it turns out, the folks at Harvard are (mostly) super nice and happy people. Residents get great academic jobs. Enough said.

MSKCC: As above, tied w/ HROP for best program out there. Tied w/ Stanford for ‘top program’ with the highest workload / longest hours. More streamlined program compared with HROP, and fantastic resident placement into high-power academic jobs. And if Manhattan is a place for you, what’s not to love?

MDACC: Big. That’s the best descriptor for this place. 70-ish rad onc faculty, and the Texas Medical Center itself is bigger than many cities (250k people work here daily). Despite the immensity of it all, and its ‘big 3’ status, the residents didn’t seem to be placed into as many academic jobs at strong institutions as HROP, MSKCC, or Penn. Still, an incredible place to train, with tremendous clinical research opportunities and large volume.

Penn: Despite the whole ‘big 3’ thing (which is sort of ridiculous given that most of the top 10-15 programs all provide equally amazing training), Penn is in the same league as HROP and MSKCC without a doubt. The research opportunities (basic and clinical) are unimaginably vast, and the people (residents, attendings, staff) seem to make Penn an enjoyable and exciting place to train. I’m sure the chair they get to replace Hahn will be phenomenal, as well.

WUSTL: Regardless of what you think of St. Louis as a city, Wash U is one of those programs that transcends its location in terms of how great it is as a program. The research here, particularly the imaging / physics, is arguably the best in the country. Clinical volume is manageable, and the residents work moderately-long hours to balance clinical duties with multiple research projects. Academic job placement coming from Wash U is very strong. And although Perkins (PD) was a bit standoffish in the interview, she is apparently a very strong advocate for her residents.

Hopkins: You couldn’t ask for a better chair than DeWeese, and the PD (Terezakis) is also clearly enthusiastic and committed to resident success. Hopkins, with its name and resources, is both a top tier program and is rising in terms of prestige and visibility within the field. Those at ASTRO this year heard their resident research presented at a full-scale plenary session. While the area around Hopkins warrants a Kevlar vest, there are plenty of nicer parts of Baltimore too.

Yale: Like Hopkins, this is a top tier program that is also rising in terms of its status in the field. New faculty hires are doing cutting-edge research (cliché, but accurate). And the widespread impression that the Yale residents are happiest is no doubt true. They work good hours, have decent clinical volume, are highly productive with research, and get great jobs afterwards, often within the Yale system (at Yale / Yale satellites). Decker and Wilson seem like a great PD / PD emeritus combo, and have phenomenal rapport with the residents.

Stanford: The birthplace of rad onc, Stanford lives up to its name. Research opportunities that make your head spin. Clinical volume seems to run a little low, but the residents still manage to work VERY long hours (as above, I think Stanford and MSK are tied for longest hours among the top programs). There are hints of malignancy, but it seems more likely that it’s just an intense place with well-meaning but hard-working people. The residents and faculty seemed like really great folks, as a group. Palo Alto is expensive as sin, but so is most of the Bay Area… it’s just the reality of living there.

UCSF: Tragic that Roach is stepping down as chair and Haas-Kogan left for Harvard (silver lining: Roach is still around as faculty). But this is an incredible place, with a fast-growing department, plus a whole new cancer facility that just opened now / is opening now. Residents and faculty are both awesome, fun people, and the training you’ll get here will be exceptional. Research opportunities were there, but they did seem a bit ‘scattered’ (essentially it looks like you need to find your own way in the research world to get good projects as a resident). I could be wrong about that, though; hard to tell from one interview day. Overall, amazing place, unbeatable city, and things are looking up for this program, despite the admin changes.

U. Chicago: Top-tier program, but probably more in decline than others (vs. ascendant programs like Yale or Hopkins). Malignant is probably the wrong word for this place… maybe weird? After all, the popular motto of U of C is “where fun goes to die.” Somehow, this permeates even to the rad onc department. Overall, the faculty and residents are nice, if somewhat odd. The research there is tremendous, and they’ve hired some young, high-power faculty (i.e. – Spiotto). However, the chair, while a legend in the field, is aggressive with AM conference ‘pimping’ of residents. And the PD, while a very nice fellow, is a bit aloof (which could be a plus, depending on your personality). Clearly a great program, but your style has to fit theirs if you want to excel here, it seems.

 

[Gfunk6]

I would like to point out that Cleveland clinic type of intense conferences may seem painful during residency. However, they reap tremendous dividends when you were studying for oral boards.

 

[woodview]

Hear, hear to Gfunk's point

 

[Ray D. Ayshun]

I agree with Scarboost and Sheldor above - this is a great thread and I hope more people contribute! I will try to do my part in the coming weeks, but thought I would chime in real quick about Cleveland Clinic after reading the review above, since I rotated there. They definitely have a more intense conference style than most, but I would not at all describe it as malignant. In fact, all the faculty were very collegial and engaged in education, and I really enjoyed my time there. Yes, the chair is fairly stoic but he was very supportive of the residency program. Someone described him as a stereotypical Asian dad, which I think is fairly apt. I didn't understand the anonymous comment above about him not liking a self-motivated resident, because that seemed to be his ideal resident. Speaking of the residents, they are all super smart and friendly. Per their PD (who is very passionate about the residency program btw), they rock the exams, have ramped up their research productivity, and have had a very high academic job placement rate. Bottom line, if you don't mind being pimped (which I don't), then this place provides some fantastic training. And Cleveland was a pleasant surprise as a place to live.

Alright everyone, keep the reviews coming! And good luck on match day!

So you're saying that someone's impression from the interview day is not very accurate. Perhaps this isn't quite the resource we'd like it to be. I'm all for hearing from residents, home students, or away rotators, but how is an interview impression useful other than to let you know where to stay while in town?

 

[bltsammich]

No, in fact the opposite. These impressions are very valuable. It's just important to point out that different people can have different impressions depending on the circumstances. Not implying that anyone is right or wrong, I just happened to observe no mean-spiritedness and thought it would be valuable to add my own observation. Now that ranks lists are done and fates are sealed, I hope more people contribute so there can be multiple viewpoints on programs, especially for those outside the big 3. As soon as I'm done with them, I will send my interview impressions to the mods and then probably go back to being a lurker.

 

[Sheldor]

More! Thanks guys, keep them coming...

I decided to give back some impressions to SDN after spending the last year perusing the generally useful and always highly entertaining threads in this forum.

Loyola- Overall solid clinical program, with a relative strength in physics research. People here are great to work with, PD is just an awesome guy overall who cares a lot about residents. I think new chair (Dr. Small) brings a tremendous amount of energy to the program and a lot of opportunities for both faculty and trainees (and even med students) in research; even looks out to mentor med students which I think says a great deal; does have (reasonably) high expectations of everyone in the department. One lacking aspect is translational/basic research w/one biologist and one ENT faculty who does radio sensitizer work I think, and I don't think that will change anytime in the near future (just not an emphasis here); there is a new 300 million dollar research building opening next year so I'm sure you'll be able to work outside the dept w/some great cancer biologists if basic science is your passion (Holman is allowed here for qualified candidates). That being said motivated residents have recently gotten oral presentations at ASTRO, RSNA in clinical/physics work, and can easily graduate with a few high impact papers. With clinical faculty now at 8, a possible rotation at ProCure, and a strong VA experience, you will have solid clinical training at this program if you match here and no worries about passing boards/having weaknesses in training or finding a decent job (even in academics).

Northwestern - I think its easy to write off NW since its a stable program in a sea of programs that are up and coming. However, I think all the pieces are there for it to be a top notch program. There's a good variety of experiences from top notch referring doctors at arguably the premier academic medical institution in Chicago. In addition, they have some great basic science faculty involved in productive research, including a premier radiobiologist (Dr. Woloschak). My overall impression (admittedly based on one day) is that despite being a solid program where I would be happy to train, it should be even better given all the pieces that are there (I don't see why it shouldn't be the best in Chicago). Perhaps this is due to an emphasis on clinical training rather than focusing on academic productivity (although I didn't really get the sense that residents were clinically overworked). Great group of residents and faculty. Bottom line is that again you will get solid clinical training, and perhaps protons as well. Oh, and Dr. Gius and his house are both awesome (and I guess so are his two pet poodles, one of whom is recovering from IMRT for SCC of the paranasal sinus I think, but I'm not much of a dog lover); everyone should try to interview at NW if only for that pre-interview dinner experience.

Case Western - definitely the biggest surprise of the trail for me, although looking back on this forum, perhaps shouldn't be. Another great group of faculty and happy residents. Didn't get the best sense of breadth of training (perhaps due to some extenuating circumstances my interview day) but given their technology (cybernife, gamma knife, linac SRS, tomo, trubeam, protons in a couple years, MRI sim in dept) and affiliation with the children's hospital I highly doubt its lacking despite the Cleveland Clinic being down the street. They also are seemingly flexible to give up to a year of protected research to residents, and they definitely have the labs/technology (including animal irradiator) to make good use of that year (although I may not be the best person to judge that). Also have great clinical research from what I can tell (I'm sure that's a given w/Dr. Machtay as chair). There is some cross-pollination with the Clinic for visiting professors/didactics/aways (maybe even research?) as well if you are interested. I'm actually even more excited about possibly matching here now that I wrote this review, so yeah, overall its a hidden gem whose reputation and academic productivity will eventually catch up the great people and resources that are now present here.

Beaumont - firstly, let me say I was both excited and worried about this interview. Excited because it obvious has a great history and I spend some time growing up in michigan so I actually kind of like detroit. I was worried because I didn't now what impact the whole 21st century saga left on the dept (even though that was a few years ago now), and many applicants on the trail were as well. Well, I was very impressed during my interview day, and I think Dr. Stevens (new chair) is already close to returning Beaumont to its former glory and actually has a good chance of improving it even beyond its prior stature. They still have all the funding and resources and now Dr. Stevens has recruited a variety of strong senior and junior faculty (dr. guerrero, dr chinnaiyan, and others) and importantly they are all from outside Beaumont (cause otherwise I feel it was a little too inbred). They still have great brachy experience (strongest of all places I interviewed at), great biology/biophysics/physics research and a full year to do research, and another wonderful group of faculty and residents. Clinically, you don't just get the rich kid experience since residents do rotate a lot at Oakwood (is that the name of the hospital?), which has a lot of advanced, more urban pathology. The only weakness (or maybe it's just a weakness in my head) is that the other depts here are weak, esp med onc, which isn't really an academic at all. It probably bothered me more than it should but I feel that wanted to go to a place where I could learn to work with ALL the best minds in cancer not just the best in rad onc. Speaking of which...

Mayo (rochester) - I don't know if they ensnared me with their early interview day (which I actually had to leave an away rotation for), but I was pretty blown away. Mostly because the toilet paper was made of currency (just kidding). Unfortunately I didn't take very organized notes on this day but like Stephen Colbert (RIP) I'm trusting my gut on this one. First, the negatives. For many that starts and ends with Rochester, MN; of all people I think I would be least bothered by it, but somehow I was a still a little bothered. Secondly, the (more senior) faculty are somewhat inbred (mayo-trained residents hired as faculty), but there's a good variety of junior faculty. Thirdly, for those of you who are academic superstars (not me) and are seriously looking to do the whole 80/20 thing this may not be the best program for you. You won't have the strongest basic science mentorship or opportunity here (really the only reason I think people are saying Mayo is "over-ranked" on Doximity whatever that means). That being said, translational research is something I am at least going to make a concerted effort to try for during my early career and I think you can still have great opportunities in that regard, which are possible in the time (9months I believe) they give for dedicated research. They are also a clinical research machine (obviously). They have two interesting aspects to the program; one is their didactic style where residents pimp each other in front of attendings who occasionally chime in (I actually thought it would work well to help me not be lazy and it did not seem malicious), and second, they have something akin to a surgical "chief's service" where you get to see pts somewhat independently for 6 months which I thought was awesome. I am curious about their job placement record, which I would suppose is strong but am actually not sure, because I didn't realize such things were as important early in the trail (or I got distracted by the proton facility opening soon that could fit a decent community hospital inside). I also suppose on my wish list would be that they had an MR sim in the dept since I feel that will be a large part of rad onc in the future (already is for gyn), but I'm sure they'll eventually just get an MR linac or whatever in the future. Clinically, people think that not a lot of pts would stay in Rochester for treatment, but I don't think that a very big problem since all residents seem to hit their numbers pretty easily (though maybe lot of second opinion consults). My bottom line is impressed, but def curious as to other people's thoughts about this program (right now my thoughts are "MAYO, oh wait how come nobody talks about this program").

UNC - for some reason, this place kept creeping up on my rank list as time went on, and I think it's because they just do everything well. And in a sense they are one of the most "academic" programs I interviewed at least in terms of culture if not resident productivity. (In fact some fellow interviewees had not so bubbly interview sessions but I didn't mind any of the interviewers in the least). They have great, well-respected faculty from top to bottom with a nice variety of interests and Dr. Chen (PD) is great asset to the program. They have up to twelve months of research, most technology (other than protons), and some of the most self-motivated residents I've seen on the trail (or maybe it was just this one resident who somehow got ASCO oral presentations in back to back years, has a few grand of his own research funding, and also has an oncology app that he developed). The residents are all guys (I don't know why I noticed that) but they're a solid bunch. Great job placement track record including a recent grad (who I actually met at an away and is also an awesome guy) who went on to fellowship and then 80/20 career (prob won't be me in 10 years but whatever). Great new cancer hospital. I seriously can't think of a single significant negative to the program (maybe a bit in Duke's shadow?). I've heard they interview a more candidates per position than other programs, so I may not have much luck matching here, but one can hope?

MCW - this place is pretty straightforward, they have tremendously talented and welcoming clinical faculty (even with Dr. Wilson stepping down in near future) and an emphasis on clinical training (including VA exp) and they make that clear. Def hard working residents clinically, but have time for clinical research. They do have a couple people who they reluctantly have allowed to Holman in recent years so that oppt is there but a bit of teeth pulling is involved it seems (not doing Holman myself so doesn't matter to me much). Good job placement, didn't get great sense of didactics but I think they are pretty good. They are also one of two pilot centers for MR-linac (w/MD anderson) which is going to be the next big thing after proton frenzy settles out I think, and with any pilot center the resident who takes advantage can get their names on some good papers. Again, would be very happy to train here if only to work with all the tremendous people (residents, staff, junior and senior faculty).

OHSU - The view is breathtaking and extremely distracting when trying to focus on getting good notes from the interview day. My biggest concern here is that they are a small program/dept, but they are definitely pound for pound an incredibly good program. The chair here really works for the residents and wants you to have the entire resources of the hospital at your disposal (not just rad onc dept) and the proof that he delivers is in the incredibly productive residents (including a surprising high number of Holman) who work in cancer biology labs outside of rad onc. Best chair interview on trail for me, very personable guy, makes you feel that you will have something special to offer in your future career. They seem to have great clinical training, decent technology, although by this time in the interview trail (February) it was hard to focus on the pedantic. Would be very happy training here; actually would be even happier to work here so I scheming of ways to snag a junior faculty spot here and get one of those offices overlooking the sky tram w/Mt Hood on the horizon (seriously the sun rising over Mt Hood brought tears to my eyes - and yes I'm a dude). Sadly, their most recent hire is a Harvard-trained mudphud who somehow also has a great personality and is already very productive academically so I have a steep uphill battle (one can always dream though).

Iowa - very interesting place in the middle of nowhere, but somehow seems to have one of the strongest rad bio programs in the nation. Again smallish dept but great pound for pound and if you are set on holman w/radbio research career this would be a great fit. Also a great fit if you just want to get great clinical training, and they have a very nicely laid out newish dept with decent technology including MR sim. Great group of faculty and residents. Despite swearing I would not take into account location, I can't help but feel if this program was in Chicago, I would have ranked it higher, if only because I was somewhat concerned that so many grads end up in smallish areas in Iowa/SD (I'm sure its a matter of choice, but while I would be perfectly fine training here for four years, I'm not excited about living in such a small town for much longer than that). If I end up here, though, I will probably consider myself lucky in the long run. (And who knows, apparently by the time I graduate anyone who isn't a harvard or msk grad will have to work in some remote location untouched by civilization anyways).

That's it for now, I know they got more sparse towards the end but I kind of ran out of things to say. As you prob guessed, I'm not an academic superstar (esp in terms of research), but I'm very happy with the interviews I got (despite not getting an interview at either of my away rotations) and I'd be happy (and lucky) to train at any of the above places. I looked at faculty teaching ability/personality, reputation, technology, research opps, and resident accomplishments to make my rank list (things like didactics, hours, call schedule, vacation I didn't really care about too much). Hopefully, future rad oncers find this useful and I for one can't wait to dive in headfirst to the next stage of my training.

 

[Gfunk6]

Anonymous review

Cleveland Clinic: I rotated and interviewed so I am able to offer some insight over my month there


Interview Day: I really appreciated that everyone had read my file (something that wasn’t the case at many other places), so there was no need to talk about things that were already there. All interviewers wanted to get to know me as an individual and they were all incredibly nice; I really appreciated the friendliness and quality of the residents and staff. The atmosphere at CCF is very collegial and everyone is in a first name basis; no toxic sense of competition among the faculty or residents. The PD here is the best one I met on the trail and he is very involved in the program and truly cares about the residents. I was very impressed with the chair’s vision for the program. Dr. Suh is an incredibly ambitious hard working chair tirelessly working to make CCF a top program. He is a huge advocate for the residents and will have your back, always. He has a stone face and is very formal and business-like but he warmed up over the interview; if you stare at the corner of his lip you may even catch a hint of a smile, but you may miss it if you don’t pay attention because it happens quick. I got the impression that he really values hard work, humility, commitment to family and teamwork and a self-starter resident that will come to work very hard. The residents get very good jobs and are heavily recruited by multiple top institutions. They have excellent academic placement. Look throughout the nation and multiple program directors trained at CCF. This was undoubtedly hands down the best group of people I met on the trail.

Research: 9 months. The databases are there. The residents get excellent top journal publications. New MD PhD hires from Harvard and UCSF with labs. There are excellent basic science and clinical research opportunities. A current resident did a basic science project and gave a presentation during grand rounds of his unpublished data. Everyone was left with their mouths open because of how potentially impactful the results were in the management of that particular cancer. Bottom-line, if you are hungry and thirsty, work hard, you can be a rockstar here. All the residents were impressive.

Lifestyle: Cleveland is an underrated city and I’ve heard it described as a “mini-Chicago”. It has a great brewery scene, good areas of nightlife, all the major sports (don’t ever say anything bad about the Dawg pound or someone may knock you out), a casino (no free drinks though), and pretty good foodie scene. The city offers neighborhoods for all the likes from the hipster bohemians to the pretentious highrise condos, where NBA players live. The cost of living is incredibly cheap. You can certainly own a house or get a pretty decent apartment with a lot of space without breaking the bank. It gets cold during the winter with a good strong wind chill to tickle your bones but just put in a few layers and you should be real good.

Clinical: One of the top strengths of the program. It offers amazing clinical training in one of the best hospitals in the country which is often used as a model for top healthcare delivery; The CEO is frequently called one of the best in the country and Obama has tried multiple times to poach him away to run the VA. Simply look up where all their programs rank and they are usually in the top 10 if not top 5 (or 1!!!), which means you will learn and interact with the best of the best in every field. The tumor boards had a very collegial atmosphere of mutual respect among all the disciplines. There is a new incredible cancer center being built to open in 2017, where the department will move. They have all major technology except protons. Pediatrics is done at St. Judes, where they are building the first proton center designed for pediatrics in the nation; pediatrics training with Thomas Merchant who is heavily involved in the COG. The residents have no trouble meeting all the requirements for cases. There is PLENTY of brachytherapy which includes GYN, prostate, eye and some thoracic, head and neck. No weak points, whatsoever.

Didactics: Daily morning conference that some reviewers have described as “intense” or “malignant” but I strongly disagree with these characterizations. I rotated so I got a pretty good sense for the whole month of attending them every morning. It is not intense or malignant, at all. The expectations are high but the environment is incredibly collegial and friendly (people laughing and smiling while sitting around a table). You know the topic in advance and have plenty of time to prepare. A resident is in charge of creating a sheet with all the relevant information. These sheets are eventually put together to create the book that is sold to alumni, containing all the updated literature citations for every disease site (essentially “blue book” that is actually useful). One or multiple of the faculty leads the discussion and asks questions about it. The level of difficulty of the questions was adequate for each level of training and if you don’t know the answer they move up (no shaming if you don’t know, truly nice environment). There is a very strong focus on education in this program which everyone takes very seriously. The residents here are extremely knowledgeable. It is very impressive to listen to the upper levels speak. They could pass their boards in their sleep, it seems. I was truly impressed with the quality of the residents.

Bottom Line: Top place to train on the rise. Limitless research opportunities and resources of The Clinic. Amazing co-workers who are very nice people and incredible clinicians who you will enjoy working with every day. The excitement in the department is palpable daily, which makes for a great work environment. Excellent academic placement with a very wide strong alumni network throughout the nation in academics and private practice. You will leave this place being able to rock your boards without any doubt and positioned to get an academics or a top private practice job. Cleveland is an underrated city on the rise that allows a nice Midwest quality of life. This is a place where you will work hard, be very productive, not one where you will lay low and cruise but it will be very rewarded at the end. I would make sure to check this place out for an away rotation or an interview.

 

[Gfunk6]

Another anonymous review

The University of Oklahoma, Stephenson Cancer Center.
Interview Day: very well organized day with one of the nicest coordinators I met on the trail. Everything ran very smoothly. They had a very tasty dinner at a fancy pizza place the night before though they did not pay for drinks. The residents were very enthusiastic about the program and the entire faculty were incredibly nice and kind. The majority of the residents are married with families. One of the attendings has been around for a long time and is responsible for creating all the billing codes for radiation oncology (thank Dr. Bogardus for the competitiveness of the specialty; he is the gatekeeper godfather). Dr. Bogardus also wrote the patient record software used in the cancer center and has commercialized it. He told me the key to a long good life is lots of Oreos and milk. You will see a giant ceramic stack of Oreos in his office (apparently the guy can’t get enough). He seemed like a very solid gentleman.


The place is a hidden gem in every definition of the word. It completely takes you by surprise how nice the Stephenson Cancer center looks inside and out. I am talking about one of the NICEST cancer centers I have ever seen. Two words: oil money (and LOTS of it). One day they decided to get protons and they put the money together by snapping their fingers (more to come on this).


Research: 3-5 months. The place is more clinically focused at the moment but there is a lot of potential to get things done due to the opportunities and quality of life. The EMR software made by Dr. Bogardus is designed so you can pull up every single patient ever treated for a specific disease, which means it takes a few minutes to create a research database.

The entire faculty are very enthusiastic about the program. The chair is heme onc and rad onc trained and he still works as both in the hospital (only chair to my knowledge to still do this). He received a call about a PEG tube in the middle of the interview, so he is a very busy clinician. You will get the potential chance to work under him during the hem onc rotation, which I think would provide excellent, educational and research opportunities. He seemed very committed to the residency program and supportive of research. OU is a huge wealthy state university with lots of funding for research (and sports). There is a lot of potential to get things done here if you go after it (heme onc, surg onc, gyn onc and rad onc research). The Gyn Onc group is very involved in GOG and does a lot of research. Basic science opportunities are there as well and the chair was supportive if you wanted to do lab work as well. There is a lab researcher who works with the department in abscopal effect research, though I did not get to meet him. One of the faculty, who graduated from the program, got 12+ publications during his residency, so plenty of low hanging fruit to be productive academically, if you are hungry. You can also lay low here if research isn’t your thing.

The head of physics was originally at CERN. He was recruited to Texas to run the CERN-like facility before the plan was shut down by the Texas legislature. His research interest is in finding ways to use proton therapy to make radiation more effective at killing cancer. Lots of physics research opportunities as well. He was very modest but he was actually quite accomplished.

Lifestyle: One of the best quality of life I saw on the trail. Hours and volume are not overwhelming and very adequate. One of the few programs I visited where residents have the opportunity and time to moonlight. The residents said you could make pretty good money moonlighting (the figure cited was high, Ka-Ching!!). They have few physician assistants in the department so the level of scut is minimal.

The cost of living in OKC is incredibly cheap. You can own a great house for cheap or rent a spacious apartment without breaking the bank. OKC is a great Midwest City with a river-walk (Bricktown) modeled after San Antonio and great sports (except NFL though there seemed to be a lot of Cowboy fans). There are breweries, great nightlife and some pretty cool artsy hipster neighborhoods. There are also the family oriented neighborhoods with pretty good schools in the nearby suburb. It’s the Bible belt so lots of churches and white conservatives but if you stay in the city it is more diverse and progressive (like all of the South and Midwest). However, you are still in Oklahoma, which is arguably one of the most conservative states, which is a little scary. Other things about living in the Midwest are cold and icy winters with hot summers (with hurricanes). The city is growing and is undergoing a lot of investment. There is a plan for a huge downtown park, which has already been approved by the taxpayers.


Clinical: excellent volume with everything needed including pediatrics (pediatrics hospital too). Residents meet all their cases without any problems. The majority of the patients are seen in the Stephenson Cancer center, though they have a full VA service staffed by the PD. Unique learning opportunities with the chair. All the technology including a gorgeous Mevion proton vault, which is theoretically upgradable to IMPT per physics, is ready and they will start treating pediatric and adult patients very soon in the next few months. OKC will have two proton centers, so the future is unknown about the patient volume. They offer training in all the modalities, which is great for jobs. Dr. Bogardus has been around for a very long time so he brings incredible knowledge base, perspective, experience and also the knowledge of the business aspect of medicine.

Didactics: Pretty standard set up a few days a week mostly faculty led with some resident involvement. It is composed of mostly lectures. No “socratic method” used here. It lends itself to a very relaxed time during residency but it also requires someone who is very self-motivated. The chair and one of the young faculty both said they are actively working to improve the educational experience. Excellent board passing rates.


Bottom line: Hidden gem in every sense; a true “best kept secret” and some of the happiest nicest residents I met on the trail; everyone had a huge smile and you could tell why. The most beautiful facilities in a cancer center I saw on the trail with a fountain in the middle and a patio. The program offers excellent clinical training in gorgeous facilities with all of the technology and patient population (Peds, VA et al) in a very affordable, family friendly, scut-free environment, located in a cheap Midwest City. if you are looking for a great place to train with all modalities with adequate, yet not overwhelming volume, where you can have a great quality of life, without having to live in a closet, without breaking the bank, and be positioned for a private practice or academic job (if you do research and are a self motivated individual), this would be an excellent place for you. Right now this program is surprisingly low key and very under radar but I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a pretty good program in the coming years. They are expanding and taking two this year. There is a lot of potential. I was very impressed with the quality of the facilities, residents and staff. This is a place where I would be very happy to do my training, without any reservations. I would make sure to check it out if you don’t mind the location.

 

[vokey588]

Can anyone post their impression of Northwestern? Thanks!

 

[itom37]

UAB:
Holmann people get 21 months of research in 6 month blocks, does not prolong residency. Sounds like few residents go into academics. Resident led didactics are a strength. Physics curriculum repeated x4 but attendance is not strict for seniors. 6mo research if not Holman. Cover multiple attendings at a time, but it’s supposedly not too bad. One satellite campus you spend a few months a year. Town described as “not as bad as you would expect.” Lots of “bad parts”. Cheap cost of living.
Impressive research facilities. 4 or 5 dedicated labs adjacent to rad onc offices in rad onc building. Residents encouraged to do research, including Holman, or “clinical trials pathway”. UAB resources seem very good. All attendings endorse excellent clinical training, ability to do research, and happy collegial atmosphere. All seem to like Birmingham. Satellite facility runs like private practice. Sounds like lots of “academic time” during rotations at least 1 up to 3 days per week. Can contour from desk or from home. Program very responsive to resident requests. Start early… 7am usually. Call sounds ok… front loaded. PGY-2’s split Christmas/thanksgiving, PGY-3s split lesser holidays. Overall lifestyle sounds great.

Wisconsin:
Strengths: Seems to be strong clinical training with good research support. Holman option. Basic work seems encouraged. Residents seem really happy. Lots of Brachy, HDR prostate. Seems like faculty participate in didactics. Didactics are a strength. 8am start most days. All rotations at Wisc. Everyone likes attendings. Everyone likes each other. TrueView (real time MRI). Tech is good. 30 weeks of electives, more possible. Meeting travel encouraged.
Con: Clinically very busy. 12 weeks of call pgy 2, then 8 and 6. None as chief. Cross cover attendings. Often cover more than one attending on a rotation. Sounds like their “academic day” is never an academic day. Book fund is only 2000 for all 4 years.

MSKCC
Cons: Workload seems heavy. Apparently they treat 7am-9 or 10pm. Pros: Didactics start at 8 am, faculty led for the most part. They do rad bio at Sinai, cab fare is reimbursed. Everyone does research PGY4, Holman is option. Eclipse. Contour at home. Great ancillary staff. Nurse practitioner works up new consults during the day so resident doesn’t have to. Really great research opportunities. Currently can rotate at proton center in NJ, but Bronx is getting protons in the next few years. Sounds like politics are not an issue. PGY2’s seem to be working hard but not overwhelmed. All residents seem happy. Housing is good… studios are 1400, 1 bd 1700. The one they showed us had an amazing view. Do a lot of brachytherapy. Residents “learn by doing”. No evidence of malignant environment. They get an academic day, which does sound like it’s a real academic day.

Colorado:
Enjoyed this interview. Cons: Seem to be undergoing a lot of changes… chair in flux, new attendings coming on, merging with other centers. “upheaval”. Most seem to think changes are going to shake out for good. Sounds like a lot of “**** rolls down hill” though, regarding the residents. Doesn’t sound like program is super responsive to resident problems. Sounds like a very heavy clinical load. Multiple residents say they get in at 7 and leave at 6 or later. They do crosscover attendings. Location kinda stinks… It’s in Aurora which sounds like it’s a min. 20 minute drive from anywhere you’d want to live without traffic. Traffic sounds bad in the city, especially I70. Might be light on prostate brachy but they do tons of SBRT and hypofrac so interesting opportunities there. Pros: Very friendly, everyone seems really happy. Clinical training seems strong and they support research… pushing for a year for everyone. Everyone is doing clinical research longitudinally. Holman is an option. City is really great… amazing recreation outside the city in the mountains. Residents sometimes rent a ski condo with friends to use during season. Lots of Gyn brachy. Clinic is nice… spacious. Can contour at home. Heavy peds. Huge cachement area. Department is growing.

Johns Hopkins:
Really really impressive. Feels great. Pros: 1.5-2 academic days per rotation. Only cover more than one attending on one rotation and it’s still really light. Still busy on clinic days and get plenty of clinical experience. PGY 4 is research, huge variation in resident projects, plenty of basic science opportunities. Tons of multidisciplinary clinics including several run by rad onc. Awesome collegial environment… everyone at Hopkins seems to be invested in working together. Residents are super happy. Their voices are heard and changes happen. They are basically happy with everything. They like Baltimore, which they feel is not deserving of its reputation as being dangerous. Most live very close to JH. Crosscover is very very light. $2000 academic fund AND $2000 if you get an oral at a conference. Hospital is gorgeous. Tech is impressive. Cyberknife, linacs, tomo, hdr, working on protons. Placement is good… mostly academic, very impressive places. Lots of pubs by residents. Innovative physics. Cons: call sounds busy… you see inpatient consults during clinic days. Lots of expansion into different hospitals in the area, which could indicate residents will have to move around. Brachy may be light… although numbers are easily met. Apparently prostate is limited to LDR seeds.

Stanford:
Pros: Amazing technology. Strong HDR brachy with private practice brachy rotation available. Campus beautiful. Research is pretty strong. Holman supported. 11 months otherwise. Varian is right down the street. Amazing relationship with biotech. Biostats in house. Database manager. Residents publish a bunch. 22 first authorships in 2013. Best NIH funding per capita. Great healthcare. $3000 moving costs. Can contour from home. Free caltrain pass. Sounds like they have been proactive with addressing issues… there are now nurse coordinators for each attending to handle scut. Cross cover has improved greatly (apparently a previous cause of strife). Incredibly rich history and reputation. Pretty usual to have an academic day. Protected time for didactics. Program director seems really strong and advocates for residents. Cons: Cost of living… Sometimes cover 2 faculty. Some odd ducks on interview… not the easiest to talk to, but generally nice. “projected 50% increase in patient volume” unclear how that will affect residents. Two residents leaving in 2 years...

UTSW:
Very impressive. Pros: Amazing technology. Gamma Knife, Cyber knife, gamma “pod” HDR, building protons (2017) plans for carbon (2020). Building beautiful new cancer center which will house expanded tech and looks amazing. Should be done 2017ish. SBRT and hypofract are excellent. Brachy is excellent HDR prostate. Huge investment in becoming elite program. Faculty are impressive… from all over, lots of energy. Research is 6 mo to a year though Holman is supported for the right applicant. Residents participate in clinical trials writing. Most residents are going into private but sounds like they are really pushing to change that. Lots of molecular biology faculty, really great lab space in department. University is huge and seems well funded. It seems they do a good job of keeping rad onc dollars in house. Seems very innovative. No “glass ceiling” due to dogma as you might see at other places (MSK example). Lots of investigator initiated trials. Strong peds. Salary is high (about 60k for pgy2) Cons: Dallas… New cancer center and protons are in the works but not there yet. Residents are going into private. Not sure how into basic work PD is.

Chicago:
Pros: PGY4 is research. Often get plugged into chair’s lab, but other options. Clinical tract also possible. PGY5 you can do up to 3 months of “aways” including 2 “international”. Sounds awesome, program pays. Research in department is amazing. Science and Nature pubs. Clinical training seems really robust. Monday didactics where you basically get a topic and are supposed to study up, and random person gets picked on. Malignant… probably not but it’s higher pressure. 100% board pass rate. 2000/year for travel after your book fund. Most lectures 8am. Chair is amazingly well published and respected. Prostate guy (Liauw) places own fiducials. Cons: No investment in new technology. HDR but not for prostate. Seems like there is little investment in changing things. No new building, new tech. Can’t contour from home from UC site (can from UIC). No IORT

Emory:
Residents and attendings are kinda not that nice. Not mean but… I dunno. Not very friendly. Attendings were sorta hard to talk to and a little rude (cut me off a few times). Chair is head of RTOG. They put in their own fiducials. Good tech… building protons. Brachy for prostate is weak, but apparently they’re trying to get St. Joseph’s site up for residents which would be more, including HDR. Multiple sites… kinda spread out over ****ty Atlanta traffic. Scut: residents openly admit they do scut. Sounds like they track down records. Yikes. Everyone says they’re “clinically heavy” but it’s really unclear if this time is spent well… or if it’s chasing scut. Residents apparently like Grady prelim ok. 6 months inpatient. 6mo research is standard, but they sound eager to have people do Holman or longer project (a year). Radbio seems strong.

WashU:
Impressive. Residents are nice and super cool. Great collegiality. They seem to have fun together. The attendings were nice. Famous people. All rotations are 1:1 and always get academic day (at least one). Clinical volume sounds high but no scut whatsoever. Residents get out by 6. Large academic allotment (3500 + extra thousand for another conference, ASTRO is paid for seniors and doesn't come out of that fund). Holman is huge. Super supported. Year of research for everyone, 18 for Holman. Residents go where they want, and most get faculty positions. Brachy is huge. Protons. All the tech you want. ViewRay. Area around hospital actually kinda nice (central west end). Can buy something within walking distance. Everyone was saying the city isn’t too bad… free zoo.

UCSD:
pretty exciting. Everything is new. Protons (you rotate as senior). Claim to have a lot of brachy including prostate HDR but it didn’t sound like their volume is huge. I get the impression there is little to no scut and the workload is not too much. All varian. No gamma or cyberknife. Lots of investment in department. Holman supported. Research PGY4. International elective paid PGY5. Pretty good benefits, travel allotment isn’t super clear but it seems you get paid extra for doing 6p-9p shifts and you can moonlight. Nice nice nice. Chair is exciting. Problem is this place is totally unproven. Graduates so far have stayed in department. Seems they have strong ability to recruit faculty from outside (harvad, msk, Anderson). Interviews here were awkward, and probably didn’t go that well. Hard to talk to some of these people. Radbio guys were really antagonistic. They teach you medical Spanish. There is also a business course.

Vanderbilt:
Hrm. Residents and attendings are all pretty nice. Uro link is weak… they do a lot of surgery. Not a lot of prostate brachy. PGY4 is research, Holman (18moths) is well supported. Hours sound ok. Rotations are 1:1, no cross cover. Sounds like benefits aren’t great. No travel money, educational stipend is 1200… terrible. So you’d have to pay for ASTRO, pay for all travel. No HDR prostate b/c startup is an issue. New chair is apparently gonna be great and that will bring new $$$ and tech. All linac based SRS.

Duke:
Nice. People are nice. Good network. People seem to go into academics and get good jobs. All linacs. PD is solid. Famous people. Prostate HDR. Uro relationship sounds iffy, lots of surgery, lots of salvage. They crosscover. Always have at least 1 academic day, up to 3.5 per week. Resident led didactics. Almost always double cover, but they say it’s ok.

UW: (I also rotated here).
Really love this program. Everyone is very nice. The tech is very strong (protons, neutrons, gamma knife). There are satellites but I honestly don't see it as a con... they aren't far away, and the SCCA is a nice location. You do gamma knife at Harborview. Protons are kinda far away, and residents don't rotate there yet. I get the impression that this program is underrated. Doesn't capitalize on its capability to be a top program by pushing resident productivity and research time. Six months is standard, but you can push for a year if you get funding. Didactics start 7am or 7:30. Workload did not seem too heavy.

UCSF: (I also rotated here)
They sound like they have things under control with PD. Lots of young faculty interested in it. Losing Haas-Kogan is a big loss. Snead is taking over with Braunestein assisting until they decide (feels like braunstein). Park will be chair during search. Ultimately changes don't sound like they’re going to hurt. Didcats start at 8am. 10 elective months. Can be research but will be split up. PGY4 is chief. 20 vacation days per year. Rotations are selected by seniority. Stipend of about 200 a month on top of UCSF 720. They pay your license, MBA. People get good jobs mixed between academic and private. There is Holman, but it’s only 15 months? And might be split up. Roach is staying on as faculty. Can contour on their laptops. Residents don’t cover for each other when one is on vacay. Relatively light workload. Easy to do clinical research. Lots of astro. They have an annual research retreat. Peter Carroll is the director of the cancer center now, and he is a very opinioned urologist. 3000 per resident education fund (total for 4 years). 2000/year travel

 

[Telorad]

Just 1 tip for al future applications: Although this thread was/is very useful, please do not use it to decide which programs to apply to if you are a prospective applicant. The majority of us should apply BROADLY, don't assume you will hear back from some places due to geography etc. Unless you are 270+ steps + 10 radonc pubs from top 10 med school, you should apply to at minimum 65-70 programs with good mixture of top tier, mid tier, and low tier. You cannot predict who you will hear back from so cover all your bases, and apply broadly.


University of Kansas

Program on the rise but still some kinks needing to be worked out. Facilities currently finishing renovation so def. improved but still in a pretty old part of the medical center. 4 months research max. Residents meet all the numbers on campus but peds is a little weak. Cross coverage was bad historically but changing now and increasing total residents to 6 in the next year or two which may make workload less and research time more. Nice, young, faculty although I really wish they wouldn't interview while having clinic (majority of my interviews were interrupted with pages/door knocking/phone calls). Location is not bad, kansas city is a cool town with interesting history and good personality, however it gets pretty cold. No real radiation biology happening here. Hours reasonable, residents seemed pretty happy.

Overall: This program is not an academic powerhouse and research options here are very limited, but compared to years past, department is on an upward trajectory as I do believe clinical training has improved. PD was very approachable and very kind, but didn't get to meet chairman. Standard tech.

University of Maryland

Above average program with lots of technology. They invented gammapod in house, they have gamma knife, and building a beautiful proton center across the street. Main dept has average facilities. Department is fast growing, they have >10 faculty in all three divisions (physics, radbio, clinical). Lots of hiring including that of Dr. Mehta, who is new director of proton center (and who I had a very enlightening convo with during interview). Radbio translational sciences department was very impressive with good faculty with active labs and funding. The issue I had was almost no residents past or present have radbio projects so it just seemed like a huge disconnect. The chairman went on and on about how much funding the department has (and he was spot on about that info), but was disappointed to see that this does not translate over to resident opportunities as they only get about 6 months total research. I also got the sense that residents are slightly overworked, they do cross cover here, and some rotations have triple coverage for attendings. Some residents admitted to staying at work till 8 almost everyday. Baltimore is not the best nor safest place to live although the maryland medical center is not in a bad part of town (but close to some sketchy parts).

Overall: This program looks great on paper, faculty are strong, good clinical training, all the tech you want, and strong dept. with active research. Job placement is good mix of academic and private. Disappointed with cross coverage, the city of Baltimore, and lack of resident involvement in the basic sciences. PD was nice, and approachable. Awkward questions asked from chairman during interview turned me off a little.

University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston)

Good program. Contract with methodist hospital (at the med center in Houston) currently is up in the air where residents currently spend 1.5 years. However, the 6 months at MD Anderson where residents do peds/lymphoma rotations currently looking likely to stay this way which was nice to hear. Thursday is dedicated didactic day that all residents come back for. Seemed like the residents loved their didactics here which they raved about- strong physics and radbio lectures. Residents are very happy. Possibly looking to cover additional site if methodist contract doesn't renew which should maintain numbers for residents. Facilities are nice on the main campus, and UTMB is building a brand new hospital as well which should increase business. Hours very reasonable, residents very happy but commuting back and forth in Houston is tough with the traffic. An interesting aspect of this program was partnership with treating Texas prisoners, which allows you to see a lot of interesting pathologies. Research options and time limited at this program as there is no dedicated research block, however residents can still get abstracts published if motivated. Galveston is a cool city that is close to Houston, so lots of diversity/food/amenities nearby.

Overall: Established program with good clinical training, approachable faculty. Research is a weakness if you are so inclined. Job placement has been mixture of academic and private so that was nice to see. PD nor chairman were at interview day which I thought was odd. Uncertainty of future contract with Methodist being upheld or not is tough but I don't believe will effect the overall quality of clinical training here. Standard tech but exposure at MDACC with protons is a plus.

University of Wisconsin

Excellent program, but Madison is COLD. Residents are happy but maybe not as happy as they have been historically. The department is growing and they just hired a ton of young faculty, total is now at 10 attendings. Because of this, some services have a heavy workload and although you get 1 academic day usually, most of the time on this day is spent catching up with work as opposed to being productive from a research standpoint. That being said, hours are reasonable, usually 7:30-6. First year is heavy workload because they do cross cover for consults and so interns pick up the pace when the seniors go on leave. This makes for a tough 1st year but great lifestyle in the remaining 3 years (per the residents). Residents very strong bunch, holman is supported and the one in it right now is a superstar with great high-profile publications. 9 months research minimum for all residents which is awesome. Dept was supportive of whatever research the residents were interested in which was nice to see. Madison seemed like fun city, but I got the feeling that brutal winters essentially make 4-5 months out of the year very un-bearable.

Overall: Strong clinical training with great research opportunities and option for Holman if you would like. Facilities are above average and the overall Wisconsin medical center is beautiful. Didn't like the weather at all but can't fault the faculty for that. The PD and chairman were both very kind, and great to talk to. Panel interview was nice and not stressful at all - felt great not having to repeat yourself 10x throughout the day. Job placement is good mix of academic and private. Good tech but lacking protons.

University of Arizona

Good program, making new facility in 1.5 years time which should be awesome. Right now, facilities are sub-par which was a turn-off. Residents get 6 months off for research, and more if you would like to substitute electives. The department is supportive of residents going wherever they want to for away electives which is great to build connections for future job opportunities. Ped Heme/Onc Required. No issues meeting numbers but peds volume is a little low and might dip because of new proton center being built in Phoenix. Faculty very supportive, residents VERY happy. Seems like they get funds to go to whatever conference they want, and one of their seniors won the ASTRO clinical poster award this past year. Tuscon is great city for those who like warm weather, with good amenities and restaurants. Beautiful weather in the wintertime but summer is brutal. Hours great here, usually 8-5, no more. Some services busier than others.

Overall: Good clinical training with options for research for residents who are so inclined, however more on the clinical side than basic sciences. Personally, I liked Tuscon and I think this program is going to be even better once they build new facilities. Loved the chairman and the PD, both were very welcoming and ran a great interview day. Standard tech. Job placement primarily private.

City of Hope

Above-average program in the L.A. area. Located in nice part of town, most faculty and residents live in Pasadena and traffic is not an issue. Campus is beautiful, weather is great, and facilities are recently renovated and are gorgeous (but of course located in basement). The Chairman was very active in the interview day and is serving as program director as well which I thought was interesting. That being said, he is one of the nicest I met on the interview trail. He spoke to me about the strengths of the program, namely of City of Hope being a tertiary level cancer center with NCI designation. He envisioned the program to be very academic in nature and that is why residents were initially alotted 1 year of research however not many residents have pursued basic science projects (of which there are plenty!) in years past so this has now been changed to 6 months guaranteed or more if your project is needing that much time to be completed. Clinically, the faculty were good mix of old and young but definitely felt as if research-wise, the faculty were not so productive, other than the chairman. Residents were nice bunch, some with ties to area, but were happy with 1:1 attending coverage, and call is very benign. Lifestyle wise, they seemed very satisfied, not overworked at all. Dept. has good tech including 2 tomos, brachy is not an issue either, however protons are lacking as are gamma knife for those who are interested in learning that.

Overall: Young program that is only going to get better. Being at City of Hope, a NCI designated comprehensive cancer center is awesome, especially from clinical standpoint, and I feel like radonc dept. will grow with time. Unique basic sciences research going on here but residents haven’t actively pursued these opportunities but I think it is bound to happen soon. Very nice facilities but standard tech. Job placement too early to tell. Chairman/PD was AWESOME.

William Beaumont

Excellent program. 1 year of research is solid. All the fancy lab toys and faculty very supportive of whatever research you want to do which is great. Dr. Stephens is a great chairman and I had an awesome conversation with him as he actually READ my application Built in transitional year is nice but new SICU rotation worries incoming residents. Other than that, mostly onc-oriented electives during this year. Residents cover 1 attending at a time but do cross-cover for consults and sims (not f/u) so can get busy but nothing too overwhelming. Facilities are gorgeous, they are getting protons (very certain) by 2017, possibly earlier. Residents rotate through Troy location satellite atleast 2-3 times throughout residency during which they only see consults and sims. As seniors, residents act like attendings. Faculty were very nice, and new hires are very academically oriented. Gamma Knife is here. Great restaurants nearby, safe area to live. Hours reasonable, usually 8-6ish. Call is frontloaded like most other programs. Residents get like nice perks i.e. $1000 for food, and half-off all cafeteria food. Detroit is cold, which turned me off a little, but really liked this program as it has everything I was looking for. Historically, peds exposure has been a little weak but this should improve with coming Protons.

Overall: Residents all seem very happy and even though Beaumont doesn't have a name outside of radonc, within it, I think it deserves the reputation it gets as being an outstanding top 20 clinical program with solid research opportunities for any who are interested. Great chairman. Job placement excellent mix of academic and private.

Scott and White

Young program but in a nice part of Texas with Austin just a short drive away (most attendings actually live in austin suburbs and commute to Temple). Faculty are all pretty young including the PD who is super involved in resident education so it is a neat environment. Chairman was awesome and very kind and approachable. Rotations are all 1:1, no cross coverage, quality of life is awesome as it isn't that heavy clinically you are out by 5 almost everyday, call is light. Problem is since its a new program you are dealing with growing pains but they gotten a lot of the initial kinks out of the way as they will be graduating their first resident this year. Research opportunities not that much in basic science or radiation biology. Good thing is they do get about 6-9 months of research and residents usually have done clinical projects during this time. Rotation structure is really nice in that you rotate through each service about 3 times so you come out feeling pretty confident in the bread and butter cases when you have graduated. They meet all numbers on their main campus, no outside rotations are necessary. This is a program that is rapidly expanding by building new satellites across the state (Baylor Scott and White is HUGE medical organization, largest in Texas now) so department is growing, unsure as to how resident education will play-out with this but I think will only improve the program and quality of training. Residents meet all numbers.

Overall: Came away impressed with this program. Although young, I believe the affiliation with Baylor Scott and White and A&M HSC is awesome, and the faculty were all great. I think residents trained here will come away very competent clinically and are probably initially going to attract more interest from private practice job offerings. Average facilities and standard tech but likely to improve in near future. PD and Chairman were nice and approachable.

UTHSC San Antonio

Above average program, with beautiful facilities, and very heavy clinical focus. Program director a little tough on residents, but nice to talk to. Radiation biology guy left, ex-resident in holman pathway quit for private practice so not much going on at all from a basic science standpoint if that is your thing. Faculty say research opportunities here are primarily clinical and in physics and some residents take advantage but most are looking towards private practice. One of the attendings at MD Anderson now graduated out of here with 100+ pubs so opportunities are definitely here but they don't give ANY dedicated research time - whatsup with that? Busy VA month covering 2 attendings but they are moving this to the main facility so commute will get better (currently going to AFB). Residents overall happy, workload will decrease when they increase to 7 residents. Some grumblings about young attendings not helping residents as much. Chairman was super nice. Rotations are usually 1:1, call isn't that bad. San Antonio is a fun city with lots to do, I wouldn't mind living there at all.

Overall: Above-average clinical training and exposure at this program. Weakness is radiation biology currently but physics dept is very strong. No issues with numbers, and peds exposure is really good as they see all cases throughout San Antonio pretty much. Standard tech, no protons or gamma knife. Job placement leans toward private but academic route is possible if you are productive from research standpoint.

Washington University

Outstanding- Top 10 program for sure. Residents all very happy. Holman is interesting set-up whereby they actually do 20 months with a 6 month block in the middle where they go back to clinic but it works really well. Residents very successful academically, tons of basic science opportunities, you can do Holman with any faculty in the university pretty much. Clinically workload is decent here, the residents say they are busy, and call can be tough at times but is spread out nicely due to the fact that its a large program. Hours 8-6 on average. Hallahan was very supportive chair and sets a great tone for the department. They have all the tech, the new proton center is up and running and is first of its kind, they are also excited about the MRI-based viewray machine they have installed, tons of research opportunities through that as well. Facilities are in the basement and are nice and spacious. GYN is huge here, residents get 100+ cases throughout their residency, and peds is strong as well through affiliation with Children's. I think this program is a rare mix of top tier basic science and clinical training but St. Louis isn't the greatest of cities, it gets cold, and area around Barnes Jewish depending where you go is sketchy. Quality of life can be high with good salary and cheap cost of living. Hallahan lived up to the hype, very visionary guy who has a ton of funding, you can tell he thinks on a different level, and other faculty are equally as impressive.

Overall – No question about it, this is an outstanding top 10 program no matter which way you look at. Only hesitation from me was St. Louis wasn’t as desirable of a place to live but can’t deny it has great restaurants/diversity and amenities. Airport was super disappointing though for a city of its size. Chairman and PD were both very supportive of residents. Research here is incredible and past residents have been very successful in securing grants from ASTRO and RSNA. Awesome job placement in academics if that is your thing.

Vanderbilt

I'd say this program is about to build itself up to be top 20 in the near future, but not there yet. The search for the chair is over and should be announcing soon who it is. In the interim, the chair was actually a PhD radbio guy who said the institution wanted to 'make a statement' with that. Without doubt, this is a top 10 place if you are interested in physician scientist track as they are incredibly supportive of the Holman pathway and resident involvement in research. Anyone at Vanderbilt is at your disposal and recent resident graduates (of Holman) who are being hired on as faculty have been very successful i.e. numerous grants funded and high impact publications etc. That is great to see. From a clinical standpoint, I feel as if they are not as strong as an institution of its size would be. They have all tech except protons, including gamma knife, and 2 new linacs recently installed (residents said the dept is undergoing a technological upheaval with new machines replaced old ancient ones to more to come definitely). They meet all numbers comfortably and the faculty are a good mix of young and old. Rotations are 1:1, no cross coverage, call is light, and hours are great (solid 8-5). Residents are happy with both program and the city, facilities are in the basement of cancer center but location is nice, campus is beautiful, and lots of nearby restaurants. Nashville is a super cool city with lots going on, though cost of living has increased recently as a result. Mild weather, 4 seasons, great place to live IMO unless you need a 5+ million city, Nashville is good fit for almost anyone of any age.

Overall: Excellent program that is on the rise with new chairman and investment in the department. Strong research, probably top 10 for people wanting to do Holman, and good clinical training. All tech but missing protons (ex-Chairman very anti proton). Great quality of life and Nashville was awesome place to live. Residents were happy. PD was very kind and approachable.

Emory University

Outstanding - Top 20 program in that you come out a VERY competent clinician which is definitely the emphasis here. Residents are good group of people who are hard-working. Intern year, surprisingly, is not as bad as it may have been historically. Residents all say it is not as cush as transitional but definitely not near as bad as 90% of the pre-lim med years out there. Residents get 1 month of heme/onc, and 1 month of radonc (research or clinical) guaranteed during this year. NO ICU month. Residents cover more than one attending during their radonc rotations which makes it a very busy clinical residency but this shows in that the residents are extremely competent and confident bunch. There is no cross coverage, just that their rotation set-up is such that you usually are working with more than one attending. Residents admitted that scutwork might be more than some other programs but they have hired some nurses and staff to help-out and this shouldn't be as much of an issue in the future. Faculty are very nice and good mix of young and old, and Dr. Curran is a great chairman who is heavily involved in resident education and sets a great tone. Basic science is strong here but residents historically haven't done much, they are looking and very open to have a resident pursue Holman should it be their interest. Peds volume is great here and Peds attending here is one of the best. Great radiation biology and physics dept as well. This is a very well balanced department as a whole with mixture of old, established big names, and young faculty with active research and great ideas.

Overall: Outstanding program with emphasis on clinical training. Admittedly, your hours will be a little on the long end here, and probably more busy due to multiple attending coverage but I believe them when they say this will make you a more competent physician when you are on your own. Holman is possible if you are interested. Atlanta is a fun city with good cost of living and plenty to do. PD a little quiet but good resident advocate. Chairman was incredible.

UT Southwestern

Outstanding program, I believe it is a top 20 place (or will be really soon). Hak Choy is visionary, as are Dr. Timmerman and other young attendings in their department. I feel like they have the mindset to be the best department in the country and nothing can come in their way. Building beautiful facilities across the street from old ones that looked gorgeous. Getting protons in 2016, carbons coming by 2020. They are very heavy in research and give residents 12 months and support Holman. Residents are a cool bunch, especially the younger ones. Dallas is a great city with plenty to do, great airport that gets you wherever you want to go. I feel like the opportunities are here to do whatever you want and they will support you. This place is huge on basic science and are trying to set that as one of the things they pride themselves on (and to distinguish it from Anderson down south) - but that comes with UTSW as an institution which has always been a basic science powerhouse. Very strong attendings although chart rounds can get a little rough from time to time. No cross-coverage, rotations are 1:1 for the most part, and lifestyle is good except on maybe 1 busy service. Usually 8-5 but can be longer occasionally. Call varies in terms of how busy it can get but residents have no complaints.

Overall: I feel like this program is on an exponential rise and wants to rival with MDACC in the south. Basic science and innovation is huge here and they are encouraging residents to get involved which is great to see. Residents seemed happy except for a few. Still relatively young program so job placement in academics isn’t great but I believe this will change soon as younger residents were strong candidates. Dallas is awesome city with lots to do. ALL TECH with protons coming soon. Chairman may not be everyone’s type but definitely supportive, PD a little quiet but I think he is a huge resident advocate and asset to the program.

MDACC

Top 3 program for sure. Beautiful facilities, clinical powerhouse, all research options including basic science if that is your interest. Although Holman has not historically been a strong point their presentation certainly left it open as an option for those who are interested. Most rotations are now having you cover more than 1 attending but the incredible support staff and mid-levels makes the flow so smooth that it does not feel as busy as it could be. Faculty are great mix of old greats and young innovators who are pushing new ideas and boundaries. Call is busy (of course) but you get it all out of the way year 1 so thats a plus. Built-in transitional year is a sweet gig. Residents play a large part in their own education and they lead 3 conferences a week on rotating topics, which might not suit everyone. Radbio and physics are given in week long blocks in the spring semester where you are protected from clinic. Dr. Hahn is a great addition, and is super down to earth, their program director is also a very nice person who clearly is a huge advocate for the residents.

Overall: Much has been said about this program and IMO, it is only going to get better with Dr. Hahn at the helm. Houston is humid and summers are HOT, but weather is very pleasant in the winter/fall/spring months and Houston is a large city with great airports, and with awesome food scene and diversity. All the tech here guys, facilities are incredible.

 

[RadOnc28]

Anybody have information on North Shore/LIJ or VCU?

 

[Gfunk6]

Anonymous Reviews

KUMC
Interview Day: Haphazard. They have several interview days because they only interview 2 people at a time, but that means it’s hard to get faculty to block off time for applicants. Two interviewers left in the middle of the interview to go see a patient.
Research: 1 month is standard, up to 4 months if you forgo the Path/Rads/Med Onc electives. The department wants to increase their academic productivity and seem to encourage residents who do research, but it’s definitely not the priority right now.
Lifestyle: Kansas City was actually much nicer than I expected. Tons of cool stuff to do, and the radiation oncology center is located in a pretty sweet area of town.
Clinical: This is the strength of KUMC. Their volume has tripled in the last few years and their catchment area is massive, so you will see a ton of different pathology. Most of the time is spent at the main facility, with a few months at satellite locations. Peds experience limited to 1 month at one of the satellite facilities in KC. They have only 4 residents right now, but they are hoping to expand to 6.
Didactics: RadBio lectures seem to be a favorite of the residents. They are more interactive than just standard lectures. Didn’t get a good sense of the physics didactics.
Bottom Line: I didn’t get a great impression based on how they conducted the interview day. It just didn’t seem to be well planned out - interviews were anywhere from on time to an hour late, and faculty would leave in the middle to go see a patient and then come back. However, I feel like this program has turned into a low-mid tier program with the type of exposure that will produce good clinicians. Since Kumar took over as chair in 2010 they’ve been on a hugely positive trajectory and have had a 100% board pass rate the last 2 years (compared to 0% in 2008). I don’t expect that I will rank this program very highly, but I will rank it.
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NY Methodist Hospital
Interview Day: Well organized at first but faculty are very laid back, so a few showed up late and things didn’t get started as soon as planned. Off service resident helped to coordinate the whole thing, seemed to be a job that others didn’t want and could be taken over if a resident was willing.
Research: 6 months dedicated time, primarily clinical research done at or with other institutions due to low patient volumes and poor database management. Encouraged but not “required” per se. Department will cover costs of sending you to a conference for an oral presentation, likely not for a poster except ASTRO.
Lifestyle: Outstanding. Hospital is situated in a really neat part of Brooklyn with tons of bars and restaurants. Patient volume is comparatively low (60-90 patients on treatment) so even with only 4 residents, 3 on service at any given time, work days aren’t bad. Generally 8:30 - 4:30, maybe 7:30 - 6 or 7 on call weeks (q4). Being in a private hospital also means free lunch every day but Mondays… but residents are given a $900 meal card to cover meals when they’re not provided.
Clinical: Good clinical experience to prepare for private practice. All attending see all disease sites, but some focus more on certain areas. Personally I think this is a big downside to the program. Graduates have gone into academics but takes more work on the residents part to seek out research opportunities and outside rotations. Faculty are more than willing to work with you if you have those interests.
Didactics: Don’t remember a whole lot. Physics was lackluster per the residents, but you get a 1 month physics rotation where you can basically just sit down and study and no one minds. Don’t remember much about rad bio except that residents don’t have to give any lectures. Rad Bio guy has a wet lab that residents spend time in.
Bottom Line: This is a good program if you want to do private practice. Or just want a relatively “easier” residency. Lots of inter-department resident get togethers on switch weekends where services change over. Location and lifestyle make this program. Salary is higher to compensate for increased COL. Residents were all a great bunch of people. I would be happy ending up here for the location and lifestyle alone, it just can’t be beat.
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DMC
Interview Day: Very well organized. Patty, the program coordinator, runs a tight ship. 14 minute interviews in order to fit everything in before lunch and kept almost perfectly on schedule.
Research: 6 months of dedicated research time, most often taken in one block. Encouraged to do bench work during that time and all clinical research during rotations. Residents generally productive, 1-2 publications from their time in the lab. New MR Linac planned for 2017 should significantly expand clinical research opportunities.
Lifestyle: Per residents, often out of clinic by 4 but not always. Detroit is a much nicer city than its reputation would suggest. Downtown and Midtown, the two major areas near DMC are on the up and up, but housing is still (relatively) cheap. Even the suburbs are only ~20 minutes north and reasonably priced with cool stuff to do. Lions, Red Wings, and Tigers stadiums are all close to DMC. The academic/administrative opportunities for residents to get involved with are basically limitless as faculty are very flexible with giving residents time for these as long as you show interest and initiative.
Clinical: See a range of pathology due to being a tertiary referral center. Excellent peds experience, stand alone children’s hospital next door. Several multimodality clinics (H&N, breast, GYN, lung, etc). One site that is ~40 minutes north (Huron Valley) but expect no more than one rotation at that site. Installing several new machines over the next 2-3 years as well.
Didactics: Top notch, Burmeister in Physics and Joiner in Rad Bio are both very well respected. Will attend didactics at Henry Ford as well when they have a guest lecturer and vice versa.
Bottom Line: I liked this program, and city, much more than I anticipated. I would not be disappointed at all to end up here.
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Case Western
Interview Day: Originally well organized. A scheduling error with one interviewee ended in last minute changes to much of the schedule, but overall a very enjoyable experience. Hot breakfast… a first for interviews. Residents voluntarily came in on a Saturday and did a ton of work to help out and make things go as smoothly as possible.
Research: 6 months is standard with possibilities for up to 12 months. Anything and everything you can want. Machtay does not micromanage, as was pointed out by several of the residents and faculty. As long as you’re productive you can pursue any type of research you want. A few residents had collaborations with the engineering departments at CWRU. Bench research without prior experience was encouraged - current chief went into the lab with no experience and was able to do well.
Lifestyle: Relatively standard, but didn’t get a whole lot of information on it. Never close to hitting duty hours. Currently each residents takes one day at a time of “triage” for inpatient consults, but this is changing to a new weeklong consult service. Didn’t really understand/remember the exact details but call days currently seem relatively heavy with 2-3 inpatient consults/day.
Clinical: Outstanding. Every modality you would need. Standard linacs, CyberKnife, GammaKnife, Mobetron for IORT, significant brachy, and a Proton center slated to open for patients in December 2015. Approx 275 patients on treatment at any given time (across all campuses) and they expect the department to continue to increase.
Didactics: Don’t really remember much about the set up of this. There are daily conferences. Monday is new patient, Tuesday is resident lecture, Wednesday attending lecture, Thursday and Friday are physics and rad bio (or something similar to that). No free lunch… so it goes.
Bottom Line: Great program that will give you a lot of great clinical experience, and for me the opportunity to go into the lab even with no previous experience and be productive. The proton center is to be used primarily for peds, so the exposure in that area will be huge especially with Rainbow Babies right across the street. Cleveland is actually a pretty nice city with a great cost of living. Honestly a little intimidated by how smart the residents were; this is definitely a tier above most programs and would teach me everything I need to know to walk into either an academic or private practice after residency and be successful.

 

[Gfunk6]

Anybody have information on North Shore/LIJ or VCU?

An Anonymous Response

Hofstra/NSLIJ - Impressed by my interview day here, the department is probably physically the most beautiful I saw on the trail and they established a really great group of attendings that is fairly well respected in academia. The PD is all-around a really great guy that I was very impressed by. The place is pretty private practice focused here which can be a plus or a minus depending on how you want to lay out your career, and much of that is because they have still yet to graduate a residents (the 2015-16 academic year will be their first group of PGY-5s) so there is some uncertainty as to where they will get jobs. I have little doubt they will at least be able to stay in the Tristate area in the gigantic, ever-expanding NSLIJ health system (which would probably be pretty awesome private practice jobs), but beyond that is pure speculation. The chair has a little bit of a cult of personality and is really into Press-Ganey scores, but he's a very well respected guy in academia and clearly has the department on the right track. I can't remember many specifics but I was pleasantly surprised and I think the department is in the right direction (and has a ton of money to back it up). Also pays their residents the most of any program in the country I'm pretty sure (their PGY-1 salary was something like 67k with subsidized housing available). Solid APP coverage of services. Certainly will rise to be in the NYC mix.

Bottom Line: Strong clinical program, research and academic job placement questionable at this point solely based on lack of time. Pays well, amazing PD, chair with a vision.

 

[2014XRT]

Cleveland Clinic: This is one of those places that most people that interviewed here or pretty much ANYONE that got a chance to rotate there really liked. Just a very nice group of people there, awesome, fun group of residents who are very impressive. Great job placement this year with one of the seniors getting an academic job at Michigan (others this year - academic job at Rush, one got a job at Cleveland Clinic Florida which is starting up a Rad Onc practice).

Their residency program is their strength, with a history of putting out grads that really really really know the literature. The didactics here are second to none, and the atmosphere manages to be super supportive at the same time. The morning conferences are not even close to malignant (see a review below for a malignant conference.) The attendings are all really well liked and came across very well on interview day. They had clearly reviewed the applications closely and all seemed like would great to work with.

Lot of research opportuintes here, and the recent residents have been very productive. most of it is clinical, but they have a new guy from Harvard who is doing really cool translational stuff too. I think this is clearly one of the best programs in the midwest. It's very similar in a lot of ways to Yale (which I review below) in terms of supportive family environment.

Pitt: interesting place. They residents seemed to be productive research-wise but they didn't seem to be over-enthusiastic about their program or their faculty. There are rumors of malignancy (recent senior resident forced to transfer?). Didn't really like some of the senior faculty members. I agree with others that have said that the residents didn't seem like a cohesive group. I liked Pittsburgh as a city.

UChicago: Weird, chaotic interview day, but awesome interview dinner. This is obviously a great program with historic importance. When asking the residents how they liked it, the answer was 'Was miserable for two years, now I like it'. The morning conference IS not pleasant. Still, it's a top program and definitely a place to look into if you are wanting basic science opportunities. Chance to travel abroad as well.

OHSU (Oregon): Portland is amazing. The program is great as well and the chair, Charles Thomas, is an outstanding advocate for his residents. Small program with 6 residents. Holman is very possible to do here, if you're inclined.

Yale: Simply put, outstanding. Every opportunity is available to you, and you have great support.


Clearly I lost steam at the end in posting these. I'll write some more later. Here is how I ranked these 5 programs on my list (I had others, Yale was not my ultimate number 1, but the order for these was: Yale, CCF, Chicago, OHSU, Pitt)

 

[MadRadLad]

Have a non-SDN using friend who will be applying soon, she would be interested in reviews of the Michigan programs (Beaumont, UMich, Henry Ford, DMC).

 

[Foosball]

This thread was super helpful when I was applying and interviewing so here's my contribution.

Can't offer reviews of Michigan programs, but I'll give my 2 cents about interviews:

Iowa:

A wonderful little program. Very basic science and Holman friendly. The chair of the department is engaging and has really built that department from the ground up. It's clearly his baby, and he has done wonders with it. The faculty all seem very engaging, and on my interview day they took the time to set me up with a basic scientist in my area of interest. Location can be a positive or negative depending on your perspective- small college town similar to Madison, WI.

UCSF

One of my favorite programs from interview day. Great faculty, definitely swayed by the location in SF, and the facilities we saw as interviewees were beautiful - especially the new campus. I realize that there are older facilities not shown on interview day but every program has warts. There is a lot of talk about flux in the leadership, but it's UCSF, they'll sort it out and be right back on top. The one concern for me is that many residents don't seem to do a lot of research and end up going into private practice.

NYU

Tough to be in the same city as MSKCC, but NYU seems to do an admirable job despite this. They have recovered very well from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Their chair has staked out an impressive position as the go to for all things radiation-immunotherapy. There was some talk about her departure to another New York program, but it may be just rumor. The interview day was pleasant and stress-free. The residents seem very laid back, private practice oriented, and enjoying the NYC life. This program seems to attract a very high achieving and intelligent but less academically inclined resident than MSKCC does, but I suppose that's not surprising. Overall, probably second best program in New York.

PENN

The 4th best program in the country. You'll be swept away on interview day with the beauty of the facilities, the warmth of the faculty, and the endearing grittiness of Philadelphia. I absolutely loved the place. Steve Hahn, from what I've been told, is a big loss, but I firmly believe this program will not miss a beat. The basic science and clinical research opportunities are varied and numerous. Carl June, made famous by CAR T-cells, is adding multiple floors to the cancer center and has brought added dollars to an already wealthy institution. They even have a hanging statue in the Cancer Center lobby of a mutated BRCA protein. What more could you ask for?

Emory

I think this is a top 10 program and I saw most of the Doximity top 10. It has protons and all the tech of everyone else. It has a large faculty and as much research as you can ask for. Most importantly, it has Wally Curran. He's a gem of a human, and he has charm that you can't fake. He's also chair of RTOG which will help with research connections and jobs down the line. I had a great experience with the residents on interview day- some of the most well balanced and normal folks I came across at any institution. Atlanta is a great town. It is the South, but it has a cosmopolitan feel and an airport that can take you anywhere you want to go at a reasonable price. This place will be a consensus Top 10 in a decade. Similar quality program to WashU and Duke, but better location.

UChicago

Has the best integration of basic science research with the Rad Onc department outside of WashU. Weichselbaum is a hard asset to quantify. He's eccentric and provides unparalleled research opportunities in his famously expansive laboratory. Clinical training is overshadowed by the research. Chicago is a great town. Bottom line is it's a great program for academics, weaker if your goal is private practice.

MDACC

Not much to add to above reviews. Best clinical training around. Basic science is weaker, one resident said he was leaving for a year to do research elsewhere. Most residents are married. Houston is tough to stomach- a few too many rodeos and firearms. It's Anderson, however, and if you train here the rad onc world is your oyster.

MSKCC

Again, it's been reviewed to death. Amazing place filled with amazing people. Go there if you can.

 

[baculum1]

Just to clarify for future applicants, regarding your comment ^^ "There was some talk about her departure to another New York program, but it may be just rumor."

Dr. Formenti has officially moved to Cornell: weill.cornell.edu/news/pr/2015/03/dr-silvia-c-formenti-appointed-chair-of-radiation-oncology-at-weill-cornell-medical-college-and-radi.html

 

[Foosball]

Just to clarify for future applicants, regarding your comment ^^ "There was some talk about her departure to another New York program, but it may be just rumor."

Dr. Formenti has officially moved to Cornell: weill.cornell.edu/news/pr/2015/03/dr-silvia-c-formenti-appointed-chair-of-radiation-oncology-at-weill-cornell-medical-college-and-radi.html

Thanks for updating!

 

[Gfunk6]

Anonymous Review

Wisconsin:
General:
I think location-wise, Madison could really fit a lot of people, from a single person looking to live downtown or lakeside to a family looking for affordable living. Sure it gets cold, but not too far from some other fun cities (Chicago in particular). The campus, building and facilities are lovely.
Interview:
The interview day is set up as two panel interviews, with maybe 6-9 faculty in each session lasting 15-20 minutes. Some of my interview questions were a little negatively based (re: my least favorite x, y or z), but overall the group was welcoming and friendly. The PD and chairman were both warm and genuine. The residents were a cool group of guys, who spent most of the day with us during our down time. There was a lot of down time as you only have 2 short interviews, and many many applicants. They did a boxed lunch at the end of the interview day which was odd, as the faculty came to chat with us- and this wasn’t as relaxed as other interview meals. They pay for a one night hotel stay!
Program:
2 month rotations. Happy residents. $2000 annual support for meetings, can go just for education I believe. 6? Months of research protected. Faculty run didactics. Mostly linacs, some tomo, but they do have the new view-ray MRI-cobalt machine, good for a lot of “prospective first ever” small resident projects. It seems that most attendings expect coverage, and there is a good deal of cross-cover going on here. The residents made it seem like at best they had a half of an academic day each week, if they were lucky. The PD and chairman were so nice and would likely be great resident advocates. They do support Holman, with 1 resident doing the Holman pathway currently. Seems that jobs are about 50:50 academicattachFull191696P. Overall, solid program with somewhat higher resident-dependent clinical setting.

Colorado
General: Denver is great, the medical center is really lovely and nice as well. So sunny all the time. The campus isn’t actually in Denver, it’s about 20ish minute drive from the downtown area in Aurora.
Interview day: The pre-interview dinner was nice. As mentioned previously they don’t cover drinks or anything. The program assistant attends the dinner, which is a little awkward because it didn’t feel like I was getting a totally unfiltered perspective from the residents, but in general they seemed happy. A bunch of mini-speed dating style interviews. It maybe seems like the chairman didn’t read our applications, as he kind of said “tell me one or two important things from your activities.”
Program:
3 month rotations, 3 linacs, 1 tomo, 1 gamma knife. 1:1 coverage, yes CC for consults/follow ups. 8 attendings and growing. Quoted average work hours for rad onc residency. A lot of multidisciplinary conferences/clinics. No issues getting case #s. The PD is really enthusiastic and focused on making residents happy. The department was in the process of bringing on multiple new faculty, so there were maybe some growing pains going on as far as coverage, but there was talk of a nurse practitioner coming on soon to help with some of these issues. Fun group of residents, really nice faculty. Solid program with good clinical training.

Florida:
General: Gainesville is a quintessential college town; there is one of everything you would need (think a target, mall, movie theatre) within a 5 mile radius of the campus, and a couple niches of cute/nice restaurants in Haile plantation, downtown, etc. Obviously you have the Jacksonville campus, which is beautiful with a nice condo provided while you are rotating there.
Interview day: Panel interview as previously mentioned. Can play Wii during downtime with the residents. Awesome pre-interview dinner at a good restaurant in downtown Gainesville. You have the option to go to clinic for a half day and attend head and neck tumor board which is unique because this is one of UF’s strengths. Residents are diverse, but seem like a cohesive group with a variety of interests from patient safety to epidemiology to engineering and basic science.
Program:
You would be hard pressed to find a PD who knows more and at the same time cares more than Dr. Amdur. He really has all of his resident’s best interests at heart and goes out of his way to make things possible for residents (whether it be an away rotation, or conference or… anything.) Residents are required to do a research project at minimum 1 x per year for annual conference in February at UF. This also provides them with an abstract for ASTRO every year, which is fully funded by the department if you get a poster. There is a great research office that edits and submits manuscripts and posters, giving the residents more time to actually collect the data and write the science. Spend 6 months in Jacksonville, usually split into 3 month rotations, one in peds and one in adult. The peds volume in Jacksonville is extraordinarily high, as patients come from overseas and all over the southeast.
Overall:
Excellent program with good work-life balance, highly productive residents, great well-known mentors. Gainesville is a smaller town with great cost of living.

Alabama:
2-4 month rotations. 10-11 total residents. I think they have 4 linacs? There is a small satellite off campus that has more of a private practice type feel. Plenty of pediatric volume. $3000 education funds. Full meeting support. They bring up their stellar track record on physics boards. Good # of cases, no issues meeting minimum. Call schedule declines with seniority. Pretty good hours quoted by residents, with 1-2 academic days per week. They also have a pretty sweet moonlighting gig? Low volume of LDR brachy, but can do a 2-3 week Puerto rico rotation and get bunch of cases. The residents were all really happy, and seemed pleased to be in Birmingham. Some single, some attached with kids, I think there enough to do in Birmingham. Interview day went well, went to a cute restaurant downtown the night before. Faculty were all very nice and seemed supportive.

 

[MadRadLad]

I'll attempt to go in some type of alphabetic order over next couple weeks.

Starting with a program that pleasantly surprised me on the trail! Hadn't heard the best things about this program on the blogs over the past year, so it was nice to go visit myself and see that all the negatives about the stability of the program are just plain not true. Can't fix Detroit though

Beaumont

Location: This is obviously one of the biggest downsides of the program. While the hospital is actually in Royal Oak, which seemed nice enough, its association with Detroit is a huge bummer. Most of the residents didn’t even travel into Detroit proper they said. A big perk is the lower coast of living and the ability to purchase a nice size house for a very reasonable price in a pretty nice suburb. Nightlife is probably lacking for us single folks.
Facilities/Tech: The Beaumont hospital and medical campus was very impressive. The hospital is relatively new and in great shape. The technology was definitely up to date, and it seemed like the department had a great relationship with Elekta. They also recently installed MRI simulation and are opening a new satellite campus. Plans for protons but stalled by some government issue..??...it sounded like no protons during our classes residency.
Research: 12 months protected. They were eager to boast (and rightfully so!) that they had something like 40 abstracts accepted to ASTRO this year, which put them at/near top of the list as an institution. So, surprisingly to me, the research opportunities at Beaumont seemed on par with almost every other program I visited. Dr. Wilson, their big radbio guy, was an interesting character and seemed to be involved with some neat projects. They had a scaled down animal image-guided linac with animal size PET/SPECT/CT and MRI scanner which seemed pretty awesome.
Faculty: Another issue (that was possibly addressed too many times by faculty during interviews) was the loss of the chair and other faculty members a couple? years back. Personally, what happened in the past doesn’t bother me presently since they seemed to have recovered very well and are currently interviewing some really big names for the new chair. Additionally, the faculty there now seemed great, particularly the PD.
Residents: Take 3 every year. Super laid-back group of residents that seemed very happy. I think most the residents were from the mid-west and Michigan with a couple random schools thrown in there.
Work: Everyone seemed very happy with the work load. Residents were definitely not overworked and life seemed nice as a resident at Beaumont. I believe you get all of your cases here.
Wild card: The built in Transitional Year was pretty awesome. It’s a “cancer-structured” TY year and you are one-on-one with an attending, for example ENT, where during your rotation you would only be required to see head/neck cancer cases. Same for GYN rotation, urology, etc. Seems to me like a more valuable year in terms of educational purposes, with the perks of a TY year of course. Other programs should consider this structure in my opinion!
Overall Impression: This program surprised me in a good way! If you are willing to live in Royal Oak I think program is really, really great. Has everything you would need for a productive and enjoyable 5 years without the stresses that come with some of the other big name programs. I think once the faculty stabilizes this program will return to huge name status because all of the pieces are there.

Wanna add some stuff to this review which was from 2013, just to provide some additional info for those who are combing through this thread for future cycles.

- Craig Stevens (former chair at Moffitt) has been the chair at Beaumont for the past couple of years now, probably joined not too long after this review was posted.
- Proton Center is currently under construction and will be treating its first patient in 2017.

 

[Gfunk6]

Anonymous review

Baylor College of Medicine, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center


Some background: This program has been around for decades and has an alumni network all over the country. IMRT was pioneered at BCM with the help of the neurosurgery department. The growth of this program has been hindered by the previous affiliation with the radiology department (the chair of the department was the radiology chair until over a year ago when they finally broke away from their grip). New faculty brought in from MD Anderson to lead BCM’s new focus in growing radiation oncology. An interim chair from MDACC is currently making great changes to the program and focusing on research. A permanent chair search is rumored to start soon. Both the chair and PD are from MDACC and they are bringing their experience and training over to lead the program.

Interview Day: Well organized with a nice coordinator, recently joining from the OBGYN service (saw the light). The interviews are split between the three main rotating sites for the program (VA medical center, Smith Clinic and Baylor St. Luke’s medical center). One is transported to each location by a resident to meet with chosen interviewers: sometimes multiple faculty, sometimes one faculty and one resident, sometimes a physicist and the PA, sometimes a nurse. Everyone was really nice and pleasant during all interviews, all are equal parts of the team. Good Tex-Mex served for lunch, of course; you better like cheese. No pre-interview dinner but they did have a post-interview wine and cheese social afterwards. The transportation between the sites made the interview go a bit longer than other interviews but nothing excessive.


Research: 6 months protected time. Both basic science and clinical research encouraged, as long as you have a plan. This is actual research time where one is expected to be productive not “research” time at the beach, per the chair. The cancer center is a fully comprehensive NCI center, meaning excellent opportunities for collaboration with heme onc, surg onc, ent, urology and translational researchers in BCM’s huge research powerhouse (the home of the human genome sequencing project). The Mecca is next door if you want to do your research with a rad onc big wig. Residents are required to do at least one project during residency; most residents have multiple publications by graduation. Encouraged to do one research project per year with funding available for meetings. Required to take a “fundamentals of clinical investigations course” through BCM’s clinical scientist training program.


Clinical: Located in the biggest medical center in the world, the Texas Medical Center. Excellent clinical training overall. Divided into 3-month rotations at primary hospital, and 3 months total at MDACC.

MD Anderson (3 months): 1 month of prostate brachytherapy, 2 months of pediatrics. Very rewarding and welcoming experience per the residents.

Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center: this is the second largest government building in the country, only second to the pentagon. Huge volume. The facility occupies the basement of this building. It is very nice, large, has all the technology, including cyberknife, except protons. At this time, they are not doing very much breast and GYN due to the veteran population but that is expected to change in the future. A new mammography suite is being built.

Smith clinic: The newly built huge specialty clinic from Houston’s Harris Health District (the county hospital system which serves the uninsured, indigent, lower socioeconomic status population in the entire county). Facility occupies almost the entire first floor of the building, brand new spacious facility located right in front of the nice front lobby. All the technology, including cyberknife, except protons. Due to the uninsured, indigent, undocumented, underserved population, they can see very rare, sad advanced pathologies and residents get training at very complex cases, besides the usual bread and butter. GYN is still LDR, usually on Fridays TOs in the OR, get to wear scrubs.

Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center: Brand new large facility opened a few years ago. All the technology including cyberknife, except protons. Zero scut. This is a private hospital, mostly higher socioeconomic status (total opposite of Smith Clinic). HDR brachytherapy here for GYN. They plan to open satellites throughout Houston.

Didactics: everyone passes their boards without any problems. Divided between a weekly physics, cancer/rad bio, and clinical didactics course. The clinical didactics course has standard lectures by visiting professors, faculty and also an onco-anatomy component, borrowed from Duke, taught by other onc specialties. A statistics course is also part of the curriculum through the graduate school and BCM clinical scientist-training program.


Job Placement: Alumni network all over the country from decades of the program being around (since 1980s). Most in PP, some in academics, some have stayed at BCM. Last year one resident went to PP, the other resident got an academics/private hospital job at Methodist Hospital next door, where they previously had a residency program. Previous year, residents all went into PP, one in the same place as another MDACC resident.


Lifestyle: 1:1 coverage, no cross. Pretty decent it seemed. Residents did not seem overworked. Houston is a pretty cool city, about to pass Chicago in size, just needs better public transit. Very affordable. Never heard of state income taxes. Some people need to hear that it apparently can get hot in Houston.


Bottom line: Overall pretty solid, will continue to improve with current leadership. Excellent clinical training with solid alumni network, large volume, multiple large facilities, multiple cyberknives, peds and prostate brachy at MD Anderson, great mix of social mission (care of indigent and veterans) balanced with the private hospital training. Research opportunities are there if you want them. Residents have no issues getting good jobs.

 

[kingphat42]

Emory

Location: Atlanta is an awesome city. Cost of living is affordable and there is plenty to do and see. There is a lot of traffic.

Facilities: VA medical center, Midtown (private practice), St Joseph’s (residents don’t rotate here), Grady, Emory main campus (academic center). Grady is inner city hospital for the underprivileged patients and there are a lot of advanced cases. There is a peds hospital on main campus with plenty of volume. None of the residents had any concerns about meeting the minimum peds cases. Brachytherapy is done at all sites. Emory does not allow residents to do outside or international rotations like other programs. Proton center in the works. Overall, with the different sites, this place has a great potential for diverse training.

Didactics: Chart rounds Friday and Monday mornings with 2-3 attendings. The residents then have a clinical didactic afterwards which are prepared by residents. Attendings did not attend resident didactics. During my time, none of the attendings gave a didactic. Rad Bio and Physics lectures followed and then residents went back to clinic.

Research: 6 months. Residents said Holman is not done here. Most residents submit projects to ASTRO and the department pays for the trip and expenses. But I got the impression that most residents are too busy in clinic to really have enough time to work on research.

Jobs: At the time of my rotation the seniors had just started looking for jobs. Most recent residents have gone into PP. Many residents expressed stress about searching for jobs, tight market

Clinic/Work: At most sites residents are covering more than one attending and in clinic 5 days a week. There are only 1-2 nurse practitioners at main hospital. Residents see all treatment checks, follow ups, consults, and inpatients. It’s a grueling schedule day in and out and most stay late in the evening (8-9pm) and at times had to come in on weekends to contour and write notes. There are some services that have 4-5 simulations a day and the resident is required to finish them by the next day! Residents had to go to simulation to approve setups throughout the day, many times they did this unsupervised. I didn’t see much teaching in clinic and there was no time to thoughtfully discuss cases. Attendings generally did not see patients on their own even when the resident and I were busy with other patients. Residents also deal with a lot of scut and were dumped on by nurses. Residents had to call patients with lab results and schedule follow ups.

Overall: I was initially excited about this rotation based on past reviews but I’m not sure I want to be here although Atlanta is a great city. The residents were over worked and were forced to cover multiple attendings plus education is not a priority by attendings. Most of them seemed tired and unhappy with the program, they didn’t like the work environment. The program director was really strange to interact with but I was told he is normally weird.