Reputation: Chicago vs Boston, NYC, Cali

[m3unsure]

Hey everyone,

I am wondering what ppl think about reputation of Chicago programs versus Boston, NYC, and Cali (namely big cities). NWH and U of C seem to be popular locations in the midwest, but I don't know how they stack up to coast programs. I'm not trying to compare MGH to say NWH b/c that's futile. However, I never heard on the interview trail of any coast programs talk of "good" midwest places, but can say that they do notice each other.

And on a side note, any opinions on UCSD, UCSF, Stanford, BID, Brigham, Mt. Sinai, UPenn, and/or NYU? I'll be honest. I'm looking for a friendly, non-cutthroat program with reasonable hours (not 50, but not 80, let's say 65-70 incl. calls) and has an above average rep (concerns for future academia and/or fellowship).

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[Precedex]

Sorry I don't know much about the Chicago programs. I was curious about your comment about cutthroat programs. What is an example of a program that is nonfriendly and cut-throat? It is hard to imagine an anesthesia residency program with those characterstics.

 

[cchoukal]

I'm at the university of chicago and wanted to address this issue of reputation. My own opinion is that "reputation" is a tough thing to quantify, but that a good proxy is whether the graduating residents go off and do the kinds of things you want to do. I can't tell you much about the private practice sector, although I believe many of our residents stay in the midwest (and, frankly, are from there as well). In terms of fellowships, counting last year and this year we've sent to peds at stanford, hopkins, and northwestern, CV at UCLA and UTSW, Pain at UCSF and, I believe, hopkins.

So, again, everyone's concerned about reputations and rankings and all these nebulous things, but I think applicants need to ask themselves what they want and whether the programs they're considering can give them that opportunity.

That's my 2 cents.