School: top med school
Preclinical: very, very few honors
Clinical: mostly honors
AOA: not even close
Aways: 2 aways â worked my butt off, got awesome evals (not rec letters); both places still didnât even know that I rotated in their programs during the interview. I had to remind them.
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Step I: 240+
Step II: took it few days ago, I just want to pass with little bit of dignity.
Research: 5+ publications (all ortho).
Extracurriculars: a lot (bordering on hypomanic)
Applied: 50+ programs / ~45 interviews offered / 19 interviews attended / ~7-8 post-interview chairman phonecalls or equivalent.
Matched at #1.
Categorized, but not in particular order (all awesome programs, and mainly based on location and vibe)
2-5: Columbia, UPenn, HSS, Hopkins,
6-10: UCSF, UCLA, Brown, Wash U, U of Wash
10-15: NYU-HJD, UPitt, UMich, Case Western, Dartmouth
1. Harvard: This program is the Big Bang about to explode (I may be little exaggerating here). You rotate through 4 premiere hospitals (MGH, BWH, CHOB, BI) and I figure if I can take care of patients in these hospitals, I can take care of patients just about anywhere. 100+ attendings (actually this might not be true, but pretty close) who are all worldclass and a lot of them surprisingly down to earth. Zero weakness in any subspecialty. A combination of old school and young attendings who seem to understand what its like to be a resident. I also loved the residents... like really really loved them. They were all like Jedi Knights with the force that rivals Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi combined! Trust me, I felt the force.
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Obviously an academic powerhouse and I thought that the residents were given plenty of opportunities to thrive here and grow as an awesome surgeon.
Some nice perks: 1) $50,000 starting salary. While one should NEVER make decision based on money, itâs a nice gesture by the institution. I didnât find this out until I got my contract. 2) Boston is an awesome city with plenty of chicks who dig star wars and Jon Favreau movies. 3) Journal club meeting with the editor of JBJS. 4) Free pitching lessons with Dice-K (just kidding, although a realistic possibility since Harvard covers Red Sox).
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My thoughts on selected programs, but I would have been happy with all the places I interviewed at. Not in particular order.
Columbia: Awesome, awesome program! I just loved it during my interview here. Great balance of the happy triad (research, operative experience, social life). I am nominating Dr. Levine for the coolest PD of the year award.
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Heâs rocks like Gandalf whoâs about to whop Balrogâs ass! The rotations were carefully designed to maximally benefit the residents, and the PD and Chairman seem very responsive to any concerns. Chiefs have impressive fellowship match across the nation, and Columbia is a huge name wherever you go and opens a lot of doors.
UPenn: UPenn is off the hook! with happiest and coolest residents around. The program has great operative experience and research. The relationship between the residents and attendings were extremely collegial with much less hierarchical than any other program I interviewed at. Philly is an awesome city and great for single life. I ran into quite a few hot, off the hook nurses during tour, and really fell in love with the program. The hospitals are located within the main UPenn campus which was a big plus for me. This program also fulfills the happy triad. A lot of fellow Jedi Knights here too, with skills like that of Legolas bringing down a mammoth with his triple arrow shot.
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HSS: Itâs obvsiously a huge name in orthopaedic circle (although I didnât know about HSS until my fourth year⦠kind of embarrassing for me actually). They have awesome group of residents. Great private hospital feel with academic affiliation and a full research facility. Housing is a huge plus. This place runs like a factory.
Hopkins: I loved this place. Residents were very, very cool and very funny. I spent the whole interview laughing my butt off. The attendings were also very cool and had a lot of pride working at an institution like Hopkins. Surprisingly for an academic place, there seems to be less pressure about publication and more emphasis on operating; so you get the benefit of the both worlds.
UCSF: This place is one of the few academic powerhouses with operative experience that tops the community programs. You operate early and you do majority of them as a primary surgeon. The new chairman (Dr. Vail) is a supernova about to explode. He was just so awesome to me and everybody else that I actually got little teary. I was so used to getting crapped on, and so I just didnât know what to do with myself when I met this guy. San Francisco is an awesome city with plenty of hot girls; had difficulty driving around because I was busy staring.
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Case Western: I think this place is equivalent to Wash U (also a kick ass program), and one of the best in the Midwest. Dr. Marcus is the death star about take over a planet. Heâs young, energetic, and loves the program as much as he loves his residents. Case Western also has very carefully designed system for the residents with excellent exposure to both research and OR. Residents were very polished and very cool. If you want to stay around Cleveland or around this region, this is the place to be.
