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I thought it might be interesting to have a single thread on the topic of impressions obtained from our interviews...
Originally posted by bartholomew
Rochester was my first and only interview to date. I was very favorably impressed. They put us up at a very nice hotel, offered a dinner with residents the previous night, and seemed to go out of the way to make the interview day convenient for its applicants. The hospital itself was clean, up to date in terms of facilities including computer systems, while ancillary staff seemed busy and helpful...all the gears seemed to move smoothly and quietly. The patient population appeared well varied and all tertiary services offered by the hospital seemed up to snuff, including both liver and heart transplant services. The program is relatively small with 20-some house officers in each class which seemed to facilitate comraderie. Internal medicine seemed well respected. Faculty can be either academic, hospitalist or private attending offering a fair balance of practice styles...Given all this, my impression was that this program is very likely under-rated due to its less than ideal location. Both the residents and faculty seem keenly aware of this and went to great lengths to sell Rochester as a fun place to live. For anyone looking for a nice and affordable lifestyle perhaps with a significant other or family, this program would be ideal. Personally, I'm not sure I'd thrive socially in Rochester or deal with the weather all too well. It will nonetheless rank high on my list.
Originally posted by bartholomew
I thought it might be interesting to have a single thread on the topic of impressions obtained from our interviews...
Originally posted by ClassSwitch
So I interviewed at Dartmouth recently and really enjoyed it there. Feel a bit at a crossroads now.... Part of me feels wants to go to some hot-shot place (MGH, Brigham, Penn, UCSF, UW, Stanford, etc.), yet as I get older, an ever-growing part of me wants to enjoy the rest of my life as much as is possible -- not that I don't want to take medicine seriously, and not that I don't medicine to occupy an intense position in my life -- quite the contrary. But deep down inside I think I'd prefer a program that's supportive, nurturing, positive -- like the impression I had of Dartmouth or of the primary care program at my home institution. Unfortunately, academic job prospects depend on fellowship program names, which in turn depend on residency program names. Would I be shooting myself in the foot by going to a lesser-known place where I felt more comfortable? Is one's training at a more "nurturing" program necessarily less strong or comprehensive than at a program known to be toxic e.g. MGH?
Originally posted by Da Vinci2
I thought UAB is known for its malignancy, with Emory a close second.
Originally posted by carpe diem
UAB, although known nationally and internationally, is arguably the most underrated medical center in the country, and Birmingham is an underrated town. Hey.... it's not Atlanta, but I, personally having grown up in Birmingham, enjoy having 2 extra hours each day not stuck on the freeway.
Let UAB and Birmingham grow on you; you will not regret it.
Carpe
Originally posted by rajvosa
Do not forget the economics. Yeah you said Manhattan...OK, I agree Manhattan is cooler place to live.
However, I did my 3rd year OB/GYN at Beth Israel. In 6 weeks I spent $650 for food only. It was not fancy food either (Dinner, Chinese). You cannot have a meal in Manhattan bellow $7. Well, if you multiply 7 by 6 days a week...That's $42 per meal times 3 meals that's $126. Well, that's $500 a month or $6000 per year.
You can find a small studio for $1500 a month.
Your salary after taxes will come to maybe $2700 a month. So for everything else you will have $700 left. In other words, you will be broke.
In that case I do not mind getting to manhattan in 30 minutes if that means I will have $2000 more than you in my pocket each and every month.
Originally posted by Galaxian
Jeez, if you REALLY want to live in Manhattan, why don't you just shop in Brooklyn then? It doesn't take THAT long on the subway...how much for a metrocard these days? The discussion about Montefior vs. NYU/Columbia is interesting. Would the Columbia/NYU name make fellowship applications easier, open more doors, etc. I always thought that was the advantage of going to a "name" program, but I don't know much about IM.
Originally posted by thad8
albert einstein, while a great medical school, is not a good internal medicine training program. the program is huge, it's in the bronx, mediocre fellowship placement (the best place they match is at einstein, with a few exceptions) and i've had many faculty from there tell me it's not a great program (i remember my interviewer from yale last yr tell me that he didn't think the training was very good at einstein, and he went to med school there). additionally, ancillary services suck there (unfortunately, this appears to be pervasive in nyc programs, but monte if unusually poor even by nyc standards). i have many friends currently there for various residencies, and they always complain about poor ancillary services - they have to do there own blood draws, transport there own pts, etc.thad8 - regarding your statement about montefiore's fellowship placement: Looking at the fellowship list they handed out on interviews, last year they matched fellows at mt sinai, MGH, UCLA, Stanford, Upenn, Columbia, NYU, Johns Hopkins, UCSF and Yale among many others. I wasn't crazy about the program, but the fellowship placement seeked OK. But I agree that ancillary servies seemed poor/fair, much like other NYC programs. Montefiore probably gets a bad rep due to location, while some NYC programs benefit from the fact that they are in Manhatan and have a sexier address.
ej