OB/Gyn Away/Interview Experiences

[trypanosomiasis]

In keeping with the spirit of the stickied thread above, and updating it 8 years later! I am an applicant and will post my own experiences as well as those which are PMed to me, on a rolling and random basis to try and preserve anonymity for all. Feel free to post on your own if you feel comfortable as well.

Here is the place to read ANONYMOUS information on 2015-2016 interview and/or away rotation impressions for future and current OBGYN applicants.

Please use the following format:

Program Name and Location:
Positives and negatives of the interview day/away rotation and the program?
Positives:
Negatives:
Does the program have a specific focus?
Specific interview questions you were asked?
What did you wish you knew before you went there?

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[schwasted589]

yes, please! this would be so helpful!

 

[bailarun8]

Bump!

 

[trypanosomiasis]

I've begun to receive some submissions. As you all go on away rotations/interviews, please post your own experiences OR you can PM to me to post them. Let's try to make a great, informative thread with lots of contributions. Thanks!

Program Name and Location: FSU Sacred Heart Program. Pensacola, FL
Positives and negatives of the interview day/away rotation and the program?
Positives: Interview was very organized and smooth. They had the best food. Everyone was very very personable. The residents seemed to really get along. They looked happy to be there. A lot of interns were represented, including interns. Residents get a lot of hands on experience and training early on. Residents and faculty also get along really well. You can tell that everyone there are really close.
There's surprisingly a lot of pathology in the area. So much so that they created a rotation in Destin, FL for more low risk Ob cases. Destin, FL is a beautiful destination vacation beach town.
Added Ob hospitalists to help teach and cover residents.
Robotics training!
They are bringing back Centering program where the resident will follow ob patient for entire pregnancy
Negatives: Since it is a Catholic Hospital, terminations and essures are done in a separate building. Family Planning rotation is in Orlando.
Their sponsor is being changed from FSU to UF. Not sure if this is bad or good because there are no changes being made in leadership at the institution.
The biggest negative is the city of Pensacola itself. It's a smaller town than i would like. Town is also absent of diversity and there are confederate flags everywhere in the city.
Does the program have a specific focus? Being resident centered. They want to know what your goals are and do everything they can starting 1st year to make u achieve those goals.
Specific interview questions you were asked? A lot of questions asking about our weaknesses and deficiencies
What did you wish you knew before you went there? What life is like in Pensacola

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name/Location: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Positives: Well done interview day and night-before social. Resident didactics are the same mornings as interviews, so residents of all levels get to participate in both events, and they definitely turned up; I’d say I met about half (24/48) of the program’s residents. The residents were very down-to-earth and friendly, and seemed pretty close despite the size of each class.

The main hospital is Ben Taub, a county facility in the middle of the Texas Medical Center. Residents also train at Texas Children’s Pavillion for Women and some other hospitals in the medical center. The TMC is incredible. One clinical site to commute to (Vallbona), about 15 minutes away from the main hospital. Nursing staff was visibly friendly to residents on the tours and we were assured that while things get busy, generally low levels of scutwork. High level of autonomy as well – interns run the gyn consult pager and the OB triage area at Ben Taub, so starts basically on day 1.

Lots of fellowships. On the OB side, enough acuity to go around and the MFM fellows serve in more of an attending fashion. No onc fellows so those cases go to the residents. New 3rd year rotation in private oncology as well allowing you to go 1-on-1 with an attending in surgeries. Probably one of the few, if not the only, place in Texas where family planning is really big, though they did mention this training is opt-out. No specific numbers given, but residents said that to graduate, the “Baylor minimum” is 30% higher than the ACGME standards. No issues getting numbers on OB or Gyn, though OB is dominant. This is even despite the fact that they take 12 residents per year, which is pretty incredible (2nd largest in the country).

PD is Dr. Kilpatrick, who has been proactive about resident education since taking over about 2 years ago. He’s eliminated the ED rotation from the intern schedule and they might also cut the MICU rotation soon. Adamant about getting interns into OR sooner to get skills. Added protected time for didactics.

Houston has pretty cheap cost of living. 1BR condos near the med center run $1200-1800, and deals can be had for less. Residents with family live in surrounding communities and commute in to work.

Negatives: It can certainly be easy to get lost in the middle of the TMC, and the residents admitted that it takes some getting used to. Houston is hot and humid. Traffic is awful, just like any big city in Texas. Not necessarily a negative, but residents were pretty adamant that this isn’t a “hand-holding program” – they definitely expect highly independent workers here, and that comes with the fact the volume is so heavy. 4th year schedule is 10 straight months of gyn surgery. Most of the residents also downplayed robotics when asked about it (and had the evidence to back it up).. They do it more in upper level years, and they have an MIS fellowship, but robot skills don’t seem to be a huge focus in residency training.

Specific focus?: The impression I got was that they look to train exceptional generalists who could succeed in fellowships and in private practice. So no.

Specific interview questions you were asked? Asked about some research projects, activities outside of medical school, weaknesses… but mostly conversational interviews. Nothing out of left field.

What did you wish you knew before going? Don’t risk it – staying in a hotel near the TMC can be kind of expensive but Houston morning rush hour traffic is awful. Definitely worth spending the extra $50-60 for proximity to the school versus on a stressful cab/Uber fare getting there in the morning.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name/Location: USC + LAC, Los Angeles, CA
Positives: Great food at social, and a fair number of residents turned up. Interview day started with a continental breakfast and a presentation about the program. They spoke at length about the complexity of the patients seen at LAC. Upfront about how numbers aren’t the highest, but qualify that their patients are the most complicated, and thus offer superior training. All major fellowships represented, and some unique ones such as global health and fetal surgery. Large fetal surgery center and residents can get involved. 19/20 fellow match rate over the past five years, and 100% board pass rate over three years.
Residents are SUPER happy about life and their schedule, and seem to get along well. They stressed that they often hang out between the years, and not just within their specific graduation year. It was evident in their interactions at the social and interview day they liked each other and their faculty. The core blocks are “OBG” at LAC, in which residents take patients from continuity clinics to the ORs and out again, on both OB and Gyn care. In terms of curriculum, there’s not a true separation of OB and Gyn, which is unique and probably simulates real-life generalist practice better. R2s-R4s take q4 call, and this ends up translating into 2 golden weekends per month, as well as one half-weekend per month. No off-service rotations. Onc in all four years, and “that is our critical care experience.” 28 days vacation which is probably the highest amount for an academic center I’ve seen. Insurance is totally covered by the county. Residents live all over LA and its hard to be better than 350 days a year of sunshine.
Negatives: Salary is certainly lowest in LA, and given cost of living there, probably one of the lowest in the country. It normalizes by R4 but when R1 is ~48k/yr with bonus included, that’s tough. Commuting is a necessity and car ownership is a must, but free parking is provided at clinical sites. Bread and butter OB and Gyn cases seem to come at these other sites, all within a few miles of LAC, but that can be an hour depending on traffic. LA traffic blows. Numbers are not that high but again, the complexity of cases was stressed in the presentation, and seems like the residents feel good about their numbers and training overall.
Specific focus? Chair/PD is gyn onc trained. Legacy of excellence in MFM and FP.
Specific interview questions you were asked? Nothing crazy or beyond standard interview fodder. Everyone was really friendly and just wanted to know more about specific points in my application.
What did you wish you knew before going?

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio
Positives and negatives of the interview day/away rotation and the program? Positives: day was fast-paced and well organized; negatives: dinner the night before was at the Chair's house so the setting was more formal
Positives: Huge surgical volume (residents said they felt prepared to do a robotic case by themselves by the end of their third year), 100% match rate in urogyn, 2 elective blocks
Negatives: Residents said they didn't feel well-prepared in urogyn (ironically) and they didn't match their resident from this year into REI
Does the program have a specific focus? Urogyn?
Specific interview questions you were asked? A lot about my school and then basic questions--how do you handle stress, time you worked with somebody with a different personality, disappointment
What did you wish you knew before you went there? Nothing?

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name/Location: Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Positives: Really awesome interview day. Beautiful facility - Prentice Women's Hospital, a dedicated women's hospital, overlooking Lake Michigan and connected to level III NICU next door at Lurie Children's. Residents seemed really happy with the program and the workload. OB volume is very high at Prentice, over 13k deliveries available per year. Residents seemed to get lots of PGY1 OB surgical experience, with over 200 NSVDs and over 100 C-secs seeming like a pretty normal case log for PGY1. Operative vaginal deliveries still practiced with regularity, including forceps, and get early exposure to that as soon as PGY2 - the PGY4 who did our tour said she was giving away forceps deliveries because she was so comfortable. High GYN volume as well, with lots of it coming from the county hospital, Stroger. Both places employ a night float system, so no call. Fabulous ONC experience and volume. Also REI, FP, and FPMRS seem big here - so you'll get good exposure to all aspects of the specialty. Residents go into everything but there's a predilection for oncology. Research seems to be a big and important thing here, and there's a physician scientist training program that extends residency by two years for those so inclined. "Summer series" of lectures replaces normal weekly M&M conference with topics exploring humanities, arts, and culture. Residents get together for holidays and socials regularly and genuinely seem to love each other. Amazingly familial for such a big place (12/year). Time is split about 70% Prentice, and 30% Stroger. Shuttle runs between the two sites, and public transit is also solid in Chicago. The PD is down to earth, responsive to the residents' needs, and super personable. Lots of stability within the program and with respect to future development. Did I mention Prentice was beautiful? Can't believe how gorgeous the hospital and surrounding area are.
Negatives: Off service rotation - only one month combined ER and SICU, but many places of equal caliber have gotten rid of this, and the residents said this was a hard month. Don't get to see Stroger on interview day but they offered second look visits. Chicago is cold in the winter. But otherwise it's hard to say much negative about this place - they really blew me away.
Specific Focus? Not sure if one really exists, but they seem particularly strong in Onc and REI. That said, they're strong in all subspecialties and also train generalists very well.
Specific interview questions you were asked? Strengths and weaknesses, why OB/Gyn, why Chicago, story of accomplishment
What did you wish you knew before going? Wish I had been better prepared for how amazing this place is.

 

[drtobe88]

Bump! Would love to see some more responses, especially about east coast programs.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio
Positives and negatives of the interview day/away rotation and the program? Positives: day was fast-paced and well organized; negatives: dinner the night before was at the Chair's house so the setting was more formal
Positives: Huge surgical volume (residents said they felt prepared to do a robotic case by themselves by the end of their third year), 100% match rate in urogyn, 2 elective blocks
Negatives: Residents said they didn't feel well-prepared in urogyn (ironically) and they didn't match their resident from this year into REI
Does the program have a specific focus? Urogyn?
Specific interview questions you were asked? A lot about my school and then basic questions--how do you handle stress, time you worked with somebody with a different personality, disappointment
What did you wish you knew before you went there? Nothing?

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University of Maryland
Positives and negatives of the interview day/away rotation and the program?
Positives: High surgical volume, especially on Gyn Onc. Residents said they sometimes do 7-9 abdominal hysterectomies a day. One of the physicians did his interview as a walk around the block, which was really nice because it felt more casual. The residents do hang out with each other outside of work a lot.
Negatives: Program seemed malignant to me. The residents didn't seem happy and admitted they often went over the 80 hour work week, especially on L&D and Gyn Onc. Most of the residents weren't interested in a fellowship.
Does the program have a specific focus? None
Specific interview questions you were asked? Questions about how I chose the topic of my personal statement, time when I was criticized, and I mentioned that I spoke German so I was asked where I learned it in German.
What did you wish you knew before you went there? Just that the program seems malignant and the residents seem really unhappy there.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Positives and negatives of the interview day/away rotation and the program?
Positives: I rotated in Gynecology Oncology there and interviewed. I really liked the Sub-I because there was a lot of autonomy. One of the two weekend days, I rounded on 7 patients. If you're not in the OR, you're in clinic, which means a lot of seeing different conditions and getting to work 1 on 1 with attendings. The residents seem to really get along well with each other and hang out together. Ann Arbor isn't particularly diverse, but it gets a lot of referrals from surrounding areas. The MFMs there do some fetal surgery with the assistance of pediatric surgeons. Fellows in Gyn Onc were an addition to the resident's education.
Negatives: On the interview day, everybody doesn't get to meet or interview with the program director. Program chair plays favorites and said that 2-3 of the next class would be University of Michigan graduates, so there are fewer spots open to everybody else.
Does the program have a specific focus? No, they have the most amount of fellowships in the nation, including a breast diseases fellowship.
Specific interview questions you were asked? Why Michigan?
What did you wish you knew before you went there? Just that the program really encourages in-breeding and that a lot of the residents are married.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and location: University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky
Positives: Everyone was very friendly and the residents were clearly close with each other and with faculty. Interview day was very relaxed and you had a resident “buddy” who took you to all of your interviews to make sure you did not get lost. Lexington is inexpensive and safe to live in without bad traffic and heavy college focus. MFM and Gyn Onc fellowship, both are very strong divisions. Lots of abdominal onc cases. Great simulation center.r
Negatives: The OB/GYN dept is spread over two hospitals and several clinics that while they are close are a little bit of a walk. The dept is within the older section of the hospital and while they will be expanding into more space do not appear to be moving into the new hospital anytime soon. No REI division in house, residents rotate with private REI for that experience. Only 1 urogyn, 1 Family planning. Not as much robotic experience.
Specific Focus: Mission is to train generalist ob/gyns for KY. Strong Onc program,
Specific Interview Questions: What do you do for balance? Where do you see your career in 5 years? Tell me about your research. Tell me something interesting about yourself.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Positives: Have Pediatric and Adolescent GYN fellowship, strong family planning program, strong gyn surgery experience, residents and staff were all great and friendly, great success recently with residents matching into fellowships, especially onc, great robotic experience, Louisville is a great place to live, very reasonable cost of living and lots to do, lots of residents own homes, several residents pregnant/with kids
Negatives: borderline ob numbers (L&D only has 7 beds), several years ago lost several faculty members with lots of new people coming in, currently using multiple different EMRs and paper charts in hospital
Specific focus: exceptional GYN surgery training
Specific Interview Questions: Where do you see your career in ten years? What are you looking for in a residency program?

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Positives: Very friendly people, residents stayed to talk with applicants while others were interviewing, even had games to play while waiting to pass the time. The program is really strong with nearly every subspecialty represented with a fellowship, with the exception of gyn onc which is in the works for starting in the next 2-3 years. Cincinnati Children’s is a top children’s hospital so you have experience in PAG as well as lots of fetal anomalies who deliver at UC to have their care at Children’s after. Mix of two hospitals, including a community based one with lots of gyn surgery, low risk SVD and some operative deliveries. Cincinnati is a really affordable city to live in but offers lots of fun things. Both hospitals are nice and resident work areas are spacious.
Negatives: Time split between two hospitals (70/30) with other rotations at three other hospitals. Elective time is really an REI block that you can use instead to do something else, but other things really have to be self directed. No formal global health options. Not a Ryan program, but does have opt-in family planning experience at planned parenthood.
Specific focus: MFM very strong with fetal care center, but no specific focus.
Specific Interview Questions: Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Tell me about your research experience. What made you look at our program? Tell me more about this experience on your application.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Trihealth, Cincinnati, OH
Positives: Residents and faculty were great, really easy to talk to, fetal care center at children’s hospital means tons of high risk pregnancies, two MFMs perform fetal surgery, dedicated PAG rotation first year, very busy ob service, tons of experience with operative deliveries, very “academic feeling” community program but with many of the perks of a community program (nice facilities, free food, etc)
Negatives: Didactics include weekly book chapter quizzes, 2 hospitals are about 20 minute drive apart, traffic can be bad when heading to the suburban hospital on nights, not a ryan program, family planning is opt-in
Specific focus: training exceptional generalists, really strong MFM
Specific Interview Questions: Tell me more about this in your application. What are you thinking for your career?

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, NC
Positives: Great area to live in (not far from mountains, tons to do), low cost of living and active support for spouses, lots of residents are pregnant/have kids, facilities are beautiful (brand new cancer center and private hospital for OB), NP covers most of the postpartum rounds, tons of OR experience first year, about 50% male residents, can take vacation days as single days (i.e. take off monday for long weekend) instead of only weeks at a time
Negatives: Second year is roughest year in terms of hours/experience because first years often in OR while second year runs the floor, higher c-section rate
Specific focus: training great generalists, strong MFM
Specific Interview Questions: Who is the most important person in your life? How do you deal with stress? What made you look at this program?

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI.
Positives and negatives of the interview day and the program?
Positives: Everyone was very nice and friendly and it was evident that the residents get along well with each other and the faculty. The clinical volume is very high in both ob and gyn surgery, particularly 90%ile in operative deliveries (forceps). This is the tertiary center for the entire Pacific basin. The primary c-section rate is very low. While the program is sponsored by UH, they operate at two community hospitals which is an interesting mix for patient population. Fellowships are Family Planning and Maternal Fetal Medicine. Main hospital is Kapiolani, which only has OB/GYN and peds residents so you are responsible for managing patients if they are in the adult ICU, not a medicine or critical care team. Expansion of the hospital is due to open in 2016 and will include new ORs, larger NICU, and a staff fitness center. Hawaii is gorgeous and has tons of outdoor activities. Dept Chair is pushing the research program to really expand and become prominent over the next 5-10 years.
Negatives:
Hawaii is very far from home unless you are from there. Honolulu is a very expensive place to live. Does not offer all fellowships.
Does the program have a specific focus? Not that I could tell.
Specific interview questions you were asked?
What has the worst day of medical school been? Situational question about honesty. What are your research interests? How do you balance life and work?
What did you wish you knew before you went there? The interview style is multiple mini interviews with 10 different 10 minute interviews.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC
Positives: Everyone was incredibly friendly, very “academic” feeling community program, has medical students from UNC Chapel Hill year round, Fetal Care Center with MFM that performs fetal surgery, able to break up one week of vacation into smaller chunks (i.e. take 2 days for long weekend), Only fellowship in Urogyn starting this year so lots of hands on experience with attendings, very busy services all around, have midwife to help in triage, benefits are terrific, free food in hospitals, great insurance plans, money set aside for conference attendance yearly (do not have to be presenting), family life is valued for residents, several recent residents have matched at great fellowships, hospital is in a very nice and safe part of town with a great park nearby, mostly at 1 hospital, (only urogyn at different hospital 2 miles away)
Negatives: only 2 weeks vacation except PGY-3 plus 1 week of meetings, do not perform circumcisions, 3 off service rotations (internal medicine, emergency, general surgery focusing on breast surgery), this is not really a negative but lots of spanish speaking patients, Interns do not do c-sections, but all of the vaginal deliveries, family planning training never mentioned, unable to perform postpartum LARCs inpatient, low postpartum show rate (~10%)
Specific focus: Very well trained generalists
Specific Interview Questions: What is a time you went above and beyond for a patient? What is a time you had to think outside the box? What is a time you changed your mind about something after learning more information? Tell me about yourself. What do you think are the most important things for us to know about you? What is your proudest accomplishment in medical school? What is the most interesting thing you’ve done in the last three years? Describe a frustrating patient encounter

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Mountain Area Health, Asheville, NC
Positives: Asheville is located in the beautiful blue ridge mountains and there are incredible mountain views from all over the hospital. There are multiple rooms with labor tubs and as an intern you learn vaginal delivery from midwives so you can learn multiple different techniques and birthing positions.
Negatives: smaller program, only 4 residents/year, the market in Asheville for ob/gyns is pretty saturated so could be difficult to stay in area after training
Specific focus: training good generalist ob/gyn providers
Specific Interview Questions: Strict behavioral interviewing with role playing scenarios about interacting with co-residents and patients. Afterwards you get follow up questions about why you chose some of the things you did and what you would do or have done in similar situations. Also two looser style interviews where you can ask questions and you get the regular, tell me more about X in your application, why this program, what are your career goals
What did you wish you knew before you went there? The behavioral interviewing involves role play (which is not as awkward as you might think) and they are strict (i.e. they do not give you feedback like smile and say “good answer”)

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Greenville Health, Greenville, SC
Positives: Greenville is beautiful little city, very livable and affordable. Residents are very friendly, staff is outstanding. Program covered the hotel and a great dinner.
Negatives: smallish program
Specific focus: good generalist ob/gyns

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Hofstra Northshore/ Long Island Jewish, Queens, NY
Positives: Very busy program where you will get tons of experience. LIJ has a brand new hospital that is very beautiful. On-campus housing available
Negatives: Split between 2 hospitals, but only ~1 mile apart. No residents present at interview dinner for first hour. Eventually 3 showed up, but this was a red flag. Area is not the nicest, but some residents live closer to city and commute out.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Stony Brook, Long Island, NY
Positives: Chair is active and engaged and knows all of the residents well. There is tons of support to allow residents to get the best learning opportunities available and to spend time in OR. Have lots of mid-level providers that help cover things on the floor so that residents (even interns) can get into the OR. No 24 hour call.
Negatives: Not big focus on operative vaginal deliveries. Many attending are “quick to section” per one of the residents. Being a smaller program and having no 24 hour call makes golden weekends more rare (only every 3 weeks even as an upper level).
Specific focus: Operating early and often.
Specific Interview Questions: Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult person, Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Are you interested in pursuing any fellowships? Tell me more about X on your application
What did you wish you knew before you went there? Macarthur Long Island Airport (ISP) is nearby and has Southwest flights- check these out for travel options. Rental cars are cheap.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Positives: Really impressive program all around. Strong academics, great numbers, wonderful residents and really interested faculty. Got phone call from chief several weeks later checking to see if I had any other questions. Smaller interview group so you had plenty of time to talk to residents and get to know them. You get exposure to all the subspecialty areas early on. One of the few programs to have a PAG fellowship.
Negatives: Location is a tough sell point for them, but they take you on a car tour around the city to show you some points of interest and neighborhoods that residents typically live in
Specific focus: strong academic center

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL
Positives: Residents were great, good diversity, loved the neighborhood that UIC is located in Chicago. Great clinical experience.
Negatives: Did not get to interview or have FaceTime with program director or chair. Dinner was a joint dinner with 2 days of applicants and very crowded and difficult to talk with residents. Split at several different hospitals. Seems like there has been some shifting within the department but they did not really address it
Specific Interview Questions: Tell me more about X on your application.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Loyola, Chicago, IL
Positives: strong academic program, faculty focused on individual interests and goals and how they could help you accomplish them. Everyone very happy at the program. Research program is unique- your class as a cohort works on projects, which allows some bigger projects to get accomplished (i.e. RCT)
Negatives: Another applicant had an encounter with the chair where he was negative about the idea of residents having children during residency. Nearly all residents live in the city and commute out to Maywood, which is especially long when going with rush hour traffic for night float (~1 hr commute each way)
Specific focus: strong academics

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
Positives: Great global health program, new Eskanazi hospital is beautiful and residents really proud of providing top notch care to patients. Very baby friendly in residency. Indianapolis is big enough to have lots to do but still very affordable.
Negatives: Work at 3 different hospitals
Specific focus:
Specific Interview Questions: Behavioral style interviewing with situational questions, but overall more loose- not role playing, still had time for asking interviewers questions

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: St. Vincent’s, Indianapolis, IN
Positives: Residents very friendly and supportive of each other. Good community program. Program covered hotel. Freestanding women’s hospital separate from main.
Negatives: Have to go to main hospitals for ED consults
Specific focus: Good generalist ob/gyn
Specific Interview Questions: Worked through some ethically challenging cases and questioned you kind of tough, “well you said you would do X last time, why not this time?”
What did you wish you knew before you went there? Interview with residents is panel style, with 3 residents interviewing you at once. Other interviews are 2 interviewers at a time.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Program Name and Location: UTSW, Dallas, TX
Positives: Well respected program nationally and internationally. Writes the book about OB/GYN, literally. Very impressive obstetrical numbers and complications. This would be an ideal place if you are interested in MFM. Only average to low average operative vaginal deliveries however. Very large program so there is flexibility within the schedule, you can get extra months of things you are interested in and fewer months of things you are not. New hospital is beautiful. night float system allows for almost never having to take 24 hour call. Lots of lighter rotations where weekends off don’t involve covering L+D for shifts. Large program but residents seemed to get along well and able to always have other residents off when you are.
Negatives: They are well known internationally and they know it. You have to “drink the kool aid” as one resident explained it. Less emphasis on GYN, one resident explained that she would have to work under her senior partners at new job for a while before she felt comfortable operating on her own. No elective time built into schedule because of organization of night float system. Because they are so large, they can be slow to make changes. Got mixed messages on how responsive the program is to resident feedback. No research requirement therefore no research support staff
Specific focus: Obstetrics.
Specific Interview Questions: How do you want to be remembered? Why here? Where do you see yourself in 15 years? What is something in your application that you like to talk about?
What did you wish you knew before you went there? Dallas Love airport is Southwest hub and very close to the campus (much closer than DFW), check for Southwest flights to Dallas. One of the recommended hotels, the Hawthorne Inn, was having a wild party the night I was supposed to stay there and no parking was available. I would not recommend staying there as the staff was not helpful in addressing the situation.