PCCM 2008 Match Thread

[Hirurg]

Wayne State; OK program, heavy on Crit Care, much less so on Pulm, plenty of Sleep. Extra calls are paid as moonlite, Interventionalist maybe coming there nex year. 3 hospitals connected, facility old; no transplant, no ECMO , no MARS, Not terribly impressed with academics.

Univ of Wis: Great program, even split of Pulm and Crit, Asthma, COPD, PHTN and Critical Care are special areas, some world famous faculty, very laid back, THE ONLY VA LUNG TRANSPLANT CENTER IN US, lots of moonliting if wanted, they encourage subspecializing track while in training, ALL bells and whistles, good grand rounds. VERY IMPRESSED.

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[argh]

Hey all, have not been here in a long time.

Applied to 25 programs:

heard from 13 so far

3 Interviews

Wayne State- done

Univ of Wis, Madison- done

Loyola- not yet

Rejected by: Henry ford, Colorado, U of Connect, U of Chi, U of Louiv, U of Mich, U of Indi, Case West, Ohio,

Have people heard from Northwestern, Cook County, Rush, UIC?

I've heard from UIC. Rush was still reviewing apps when I e-mailed a few weeks back.

 

[doogle5]

Guys, what s best way to say thank you ?
Emails, Thank you letter (typed) or small thank you card?
I personally prefer emails, as the other person can immediately reply .
wats s everybody doing ?

 

[snoozz]

has anyone heard back from columbia re interview?

 

[RTrain]

has anyone heard back from columbia re interview?

Check the next page back. Several of us got rejections, including me.

 

[Hirurg]

I didn't... But I did not apply there

 

[spiderdude]

Hey all, have not been here in a long time.

Applied to 25 programs:

heard from 13 so far

3 Interviews

Wayne State- done

Univ of Wis, Madison- done

Loyola- not yet

Rejected by: Henry ford, Colorado, U of Connect, U of Chi, U of Louiv, U of Mich, U of Indi, Case West, Ohio,

Have people heard from Northwestern, Cook County, Rush, UIC?

I heard from UIC, U of Chicago.

 

[spiderdude]

has anyone heard back from columbia re interview?

I got rej

 

[spiderdude]

Guys, what s best way to say thank you ?
Emails, Thank you letter (typed) or small thank you card?
I personally prefer emails, as the other person can immediately reply .
wats s everybody doing ?

email is ok, any way I do not think that is going to make a difference.

 

[spiderdude]

I didn't... But I did not apply there [/quo

 

[LTZ]

I'm going to MUSC and Yale next week.

Anyone been there? How's the program? Insights?

 

[dua]

Hi,
I have only one interview so far. Any chances of more coming? Should I call programs to find out?

 

[argh]

rush sent out invites

 

[spiderdude]

rush sent out invites

yes rush did send out invites, do you have any idea about Rush and UIC ?

 

[louden]

Interviews from Rush and UC Davis. Won't be able to make either. I've cancelled a bunch of stuff, just keeping 8 interviews at this point.

 

[sakullukas]

how many 1st year spots does u of utah offer ?

 

[Benzo4every1]

did anyone here apply to MCG? thoughts on program?

 

[PilonDoc]

Six interviews down, and I am exhausted. I'm curious to see how many interviews everyone is planning to attend.

It sounds like a significant number of people on the forum have the opportunity to interview at 12-16 places, but how many are you REALLY intending to visit?

 

[spiderdude]

Six interviews down, and I am exhausted. I'm curious to see how many interviews everyone is planning to attend.

It sounds like a significant number of people on the forum have the opportunity to interview at 12-16 places, but how many are you REALLY intending to visit?

Go and visit as many places as you can, if you have the time and the money.

 

[bugs bunny]

Interview at UMass...thoughts on the program, anybody interviewing there?

 

[sakullukas]

.

 

[sakullukas]

how many 1st year spots does u of utah offer ?

 

[doogle5]

Not much activity here. Done with three interviews ,
1. Thomas jefferson
2. case western , Ohio
3. Suny brooklyn.
Suny brooklyn is totally clinical oriented training. they rotate thr 4-5 hospitals.
Case western is all about research ..
thomas jefferson was also good program..

 

[RTrain]

Two interviews down at this point.

Cleveland Clinic - Very clinically strong, just massive numbers of bronchs, excellent interventional experience, MICU is expanding now, incredibly sick and complicated MICU patients; research experience is ill-defined - you get a ton of "elective" time in your 2nd and 3rd years and you can pool it to use for basic research but you seem to be on your own to arrange that. On the primary pulmonary service, you have no residents - you're the intern.

University of Pittsburgh - Great balanced clinical and research experience, their stated goal is to get you into an academic faculty career and they have the track record to prove it. If you don't want 18 mos-3 yrs of research, it's not for you. Tons of residents and students, zillions of ICU beds, transplants coming out the wazoo. Overnight call in the MICU all three years, but very infrequent.

 

[Hirurg]

Got invites from UIC and UCOW.
Loyola was great. Excellent program. Tobin is a cool dude. I liked it.

 

[louden]

3 interviews done so far.

University of Maryland: awesome program director. Balanced program between pulm and CC. Brand new 29-bed MICU. VAMC is right across a bridge. lots of opportunities in basic and clinic research. active lung transplant program. CT guided and interventional bronchs. 1st yr fellows get about 100 bronchs! Cardiology has taken over Pulm HTN but pulm fellows can do an elective there. Very nice facilities. Strong thoracic radiology department. Very cush call schedule (plus or minus). Very flexible curriculum with LOTS of elective time in 3rd year. 4 fellows per year

Washington Hospital Center: Program director has great credentials. Very structured curriculum with an entire month of protected education for 1st year fellows. MICU is old and bronch suite leaves something to be desired. Rotate through the SICU and the NIH ICU where the fellow is on-call overnight. Opportunities to do research at NIH. Month of echocardiography. Exposure to interventional bronchs but not as many procedures as at Maryland. Lung transplant at Inova Fairfax. 2 fellows per year.

Georgetown: Faculty that I met were very friendly. Facilities are OK. Fair research opportunities. They do the VATS (rather than CT surgery). Moderate call schedule for fellows with some overnight calls. They do lots of cyber-knife and lots of procedures. Fellows rotate through Washington Hospital Center for their SICU and CCU rotations (cardiology program is at WHC). Lung transplant rotation available at Inova Fairfax. 2 fellows per year.

 

[arsa]

15th invite!!
anyone knows how the program is?

scheduled 14, attended 4... costing too much already. everybody advises me to leave none... well...lets c how it goes.

 

[spiderdude]

15th invite!! how is the program?

scheduled 14, attended 4... costing too much already. everybody advised to leave none... welll...lets c how it goes.

the program is not really that good, but I think do not leave any invite if you have the time and the money.

 

[spiderdude]

how many 1st year spots does u of utah offer ?

I think 3-4 spots.

 

[arsa]

anyone's intved there yet? how many spots do they have? howz the program in general? i am going there for tuesday.

 

[RTrain]

Just got an invitation to Syracuse - makes me feel kinda like the third string... plus all my interview time and money is already committed elsewhere. Oh well.

 

[PilonDoc]

15th invite!!
anyone knows how the program is?

scheduled 14, attended 4... costing too much already. everybody advises me to leave none... well...lets c how it goes.

I interviewed at UMKC, and here is my assessment.

1. Hospitals: Two w/ a county and private.
a) The county is your standard public hospital, and will provide an opportunity to do plenty of procedures.
b) Private hospital has a different relationship with the fellows. They don't carry the admit pager, don't take call, but the attendings select the "most interesting" cases for you to see.
2. Research
a) Basic: Phd and MS people to help you perform/choose research project. So, better than most. Also, grant $$.
b) Clinical: Stronger of the two. You'll be able to jump onto an established project EASILY.
3. City
a) Affordable housing with a short commute
b) Downtown is completing a "revitalization" project so should be nice by 2009.
4. Fellows
a) friendly
b) didn't spend too much time with them during the interview so cannot comment further.

Hey ARSA:
Try eliminating programs in groups. For instance, I attended a university affiliated early in the process. I attended a program in a major city w/in the Northeast early in the process. If you don't like a particular type of institution or location THEN you can eliminate a few interviews.

 

[Hirurg]

Just got Interviews there.
Any input?

 

[PilonDoc]

I'm thinking that I should attend a total of 10 or 11 interviews. This should be enough to get a fellowship position, and here is my reasoning.

1. Programs I'm interviewing at are seeing 4-6 interviewees per position. Logically, I would need to see at least 4-6 programs to match. Multiply it by two, and I should be safe.

2. I did not "overshoot" by attending lots of interviews at 1st tier programs. My research mentor went over my resume, and provided a fairly accurate assessment of my competitiveness. So, I'm interviewing almost exclusively at 2nd or 3rd tier programs.

HOW ARE OTHER PEOPLE LOOKING AT THIS???
Louden
ARSA
Heliox

I know how spiderdude feels. (You sound like my dad. He keeps telling me to schedule as many as I can! He's very conservative.)

 

[PepperLeach]

Did both of you mean UMKC or UKMC (Kansas Medical Center)

 

[PilonDoc]

Did both of you mean UMKC or UKMC (Kansas Medical Center)

Univ of Missouri Kansas City: the one I was referring to.

UKMC: Has the VA hospital but not the large local private hospital that UMKC runs. I did not interview there. (They did not send me an invite by Feb so I withdrew)

 

[alex2468]

so far 6 int

 

[spiderdude]

I'm thinking that I should attend a total of 10 or 11 interviews. This should be enough to get a fellowship position, and here is my reasoning.

1. Programs I'm interviewing at are seeing 4-6 interviewees per position. Logically, I would need to see at least 4-6 programs to match. Multiply it by two, and I should be safe.

2. I did not "overshoot" by attending lots of interviews at 1st tier programs. My research mentor went over my resume, and provided a fairly accurate assessment of my competitiveness. So, I'm interviewing almost exclusively at 2nd or 3rd tier programs.

HOW ARE OTHER PEOPLE LOOKING AT THIS???
Louden
ARSA
Heliox

I know how spiderdude feels. (You sound like my dad. He keeps telling me to schedule as many as I can! He's very conservative.)

I do not sound like your dad. Myself, I will not attend all the interviews, I will not go to program has 1-2 spots and invite 15-30 applicants. I will not go to unknown community program or program has no research. If I do not match in the program that I like then it is better not to match. But ARSA; for example; wants the fellowship whatever so it is better not to take any risk.

 

[louden]

I'm thinking that I should attend a total of 10 or 11 interviews. This should be enough to get a fellowship position, and here is my reasoning.

1. Programs I'm interviewing at are seeing 4-6 interviewees per position. Logically, I would need to see at least 4-6 programs to match. Multiply it by two, and I should be safe.

2. I did not "overshoot" by attending lots of interviews at 1st tier programs. My research mentor went over my resume, and provided a fairly accurate assessment of my competitiveness. So, I'm interviewing almost exclusively at 2nd or 3rd tier programs.

HOW ARE OTHER PEOPLE LOOKING AT THIS???
Louden
ARSA
Heliox

I know how spiderdude feels. (You sound like my dad. He keeps telling me to schedule as many as I can! He's very conservative.)

For me, I looked at it as a balance of using up vacation time/money and interviewing at places that I feel I have a shot at. The best shot that I have is at my home program (usually the case). The "next best" shot that I have are programs nearby geographically. I figured this to be true because the faculty and PD's in the region are familiar with one another and there's a lot of interchange between med students/residents/fellows. Then I had a few reach programs at bigger names.

I did not interview at any program I do not want to be at b/c I do not want to waste my vacation time and money on them. I did not feel that it was worth it to drag my family around so that I could be miserable at a program I don't want to be at.

So I ended up with 8 interviews that I will be attending. Had more scheduled at one time but started cancelling the less appealing ones.

 

[arsa]

I do want to get a fellowship anyhow and cannot afford to lose a yr partly because of H1B. But by now with 15 invites with what I think are 3 second tier and the rest 3rd tier; and the interview experience, I am quite confident that I am not in as bad a shape. I know they say that to everybody but I have, for some reason come to believe that I should not sell myself too cheap either. I will attend all interviews coz I have the time, and energy, and support from my wife financially and emotionally.

Lets see how June decides our fates.

And I meant University of Kentucky.. not kansas.. anybody interviewed ther?

 

[Heliox]

I'm thinking that I should attend a total of 10 or 11 interviews. This should be enough to get a fellowship position, and here is my reasoning.

1. Programs I'm interviewing at are seeing 4-6 interviewees per position. Logically, I would need to see at least 4-6 programs to match. Multiply it by two, and I should be safe.

2. I did not "overshoot" by attending lots of interviews at 1st tier programs. My research mentor went over my resume, and provided a fairly accurate assessment of my competitiveness. So, I'm interviewing almost exclusively at 2nd or 3rd tier programs.

HOW ARE OTHER PEOPLE LOOKING AT THIS???
Louden
ARSA
Heliox

I know how spiderdude feels. (You sound like my dad. He keeps telling me to schedule as many as I can! He's very conservative.)

I would plan on attending all interviews. For me, being an IMG, I can't afford to take any chances.

 

[drryan]

I've heard that Wayne State and South Carolina are programs in trouble. It is possible that they are either changing/losing/unable to hire faculty or about to lose contracts (faculty/fellows).

Anyone has any insight? Can they lose their accreditation? How would you rank those pgms?

Thanks!

 

[arsa]

I've heard that Wayne State and South Carolina are programs in trouble. It is possible that they are either changing/losing/unable to hire faculty or about to lose contracts (faculty/fellows).

Anyone has any insight? Can they lose their accreditation? How would you rank those pgms?

Thanks!

I havent been to SC yet but been to Wayne and heard nothing of the trouble. MUSC is a great program from what I hear though, and I am looking forward to it. It is one of my top 3 amongst itself, VCU and Cedars Sinai.

 

[RTrain]

Okay, I'm starting to get a little nervous with all the talk of going to all interviews no matter the cost. I just don't have the money nor the time to go to 10 or more interviews - my residency program is small-ish so there is a limited number of people available to cover my time off, and I don't want to load up my credit cards to travel to places at which I don't really want to train very much.

Am I crazy?

 

[drryan]

.

 

[drryan]

ARSA: Do you expect to interview at a program and hear about trouble there? Don't be naive... they are recruiting you!

Apparently SC is not strong in critical care or has no decent research going. Not much support from house staff and few residents to help out.... Procedures are scant and transplant none. They'll be changing the program director soon (we all know how's that).

Wayne has trouble with pulmonary, it's heavily service oriented, not much bronch/procedures and few people running the program.... there's trouble between hospitals and the univ. I've heard this about Baylor too (cancelled interview there).

Washington, Wisconsin, VCU and Mayo were excellent all around. Flawless I may add.

RTrain: going to more than 10 interviews would't help I think. Chances are that with 7-8 you'll match in your top 5. That's if you didn't screw up while interviewing. But if you tend to pick your nose during interviews then you'll need help...

Has anyone been at WSU or SC and is willing to provide insights? And I'm not talking about "I liked the weather" or "residents/fellows look happy".

Thinking about cancelling interviews there to go to more stable places....

 

[spiderdude]

ARSA: Do you expect to interview at a program and hear about trouble there? Don't be naive... they are recruiting you!

Apparently SC is not strong in critical care or has no decent research going. Not much support from house staff and few residents to help out.... Procedures are scant and transplant none. They'll be changing the program director soon (we all know how's that).

Wayne has trouble with pulmonary, it's heavily service oriented, not much bronch/procedures and few people running the program.... there's trouble between hospitals and the univ. I've heard this about Baylor too (cancelled interview there).

Washington, Wisconsin, VCU and Mayo were excellent all around. Flawless I may add.

RTrain: going to more than 10 interviews would't help I think. Chances are that with 7-8 you'll match in your top 5. That's if you didn't screw up while interviewing. But if you tend to pick your nose during interviews then you'll need help...

Has anyone been at WSU or SC and is willing to provide insights? And I'm not talking about "I liked the weather" or "residents/fellows look happy".

Thinking about cancelling interviews there to go to more stable places....

I do not know a lot about SC. But I know WSU is ok program, as you said. It is really not a good pulmonary training, I am not going there anyway, but if I am going to choose to match in Michigan, I think HF is the best, the critical care training is excellent, and the pulmonary is good. University of Michigan is a good place to go if you like research.

 

[Heliox]

Today from Loma Linda. Does anyone have any info about this program? Please help!
I am half way through the interview season. Liked some, some not so much.
Good luck to everyone.

 

[arsa]

Georgetown
St Lukes Roosevelt

Far too many now. Will cancel some J1 only programs.

 

[louden]

George Washington University:
Program director has been there for 7 yrs now and has been working hard on developing this program. Traditionally the anesthesia dept ran the ICU and the Pulmonary dept only had 2 pulmonologists. Now there are 6 faculty in the pulm/ccm division. the program is unique in that the 40-bed ICU is a combined medical/surgical/neurosurgical ICU. The attending on any given block are drawn from anesthesia, surgical intensivists or medicine-trained intensivists. Likewise, the housestaff team is made up of IM, surgical, and anesthesia residents. The director has been developing the research component of the program which is mostly clinically oriented. They rotate through the VA which can be an hour's drive depending on traffic. Transplant experience is at INOVA Fairfax. Facilties are modern and very nice but it's a small hospital (350 beds). I wonder about the patient diversity, it seemed like a pretty cush hospital compared to my home program. Interview day was a bit disorganized, only met 1 3rd yr fellow. 2 fellows per year.