Spud
I did an externship at Hennepin this summer.
Minneapolis: To begin with, Minnesota is beautiful during the summer. There are lakes everywhere, and people really seem to take full advantage of the weather (for obvious reasons). There are jogging/biking trails everywhere in Minneapolis. Night life is good as well, with a nice bar district downtown. The Baseball/football stadium is literally across the street from HCMC. The biggest downfalls I see are the winter weather and traffic, which seems bad at all times of the day (of course I'm from Kansas, what do I know about traffic!)
Hennepin: Great program. The residents are very nice and seem to get along quite well. The only resident I didn't care for was on loan from the surgery program! The computer system (EMSTAT) is great. It makes things easy and efficient (I will be looking hard for similars set-ups at my other interview sites). The faculty are very helpful, and most seem dedicated to teaching. The facilities are well set up, with three different pods and a separate 4-bay trauma suite, which gets frequent use. Speaking of trauma, the great thing about trauma at HCMC is that the EM residents do everything. First years do IV's and intubations. Second years do lines (PICC's, etc). Third years run the codes (with attending present as well). The surgery team is purely for consultation. I could go on and on, but I think you see the basics. I highly recommend Hennepin and will rank it highly regardless of my other interviews.
