bonehead
OSRR Junior
Posts: 27
(1/8/02 7:26:46 pm)
Reply Harvard question
for Bone Jock (or anyone else):
what was the dinner like? low-key, no attendings? or high-stress, make-sure-you-use-proper-fork-technique?
Bone Jock
OSRR Intern
Posts: 11
(1/10/02 7:48:50 pm)
Reply Re: Harvard question
bonehead,
The dinner was extremely low stress. The Staff guys were there at the beginning of the night and sat through dinner. After dinner, the staff guys left and the residents stuck around and asked questions. Now that I think about it, this probably won't help you much because you've probably went to interview already. Sorry, I just got home today.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 62
(1/13/02 10:09:50 pm)
Reply KU-Wichita
pretty low key, you get there and go to 4 interviews, 3 of which are 2 staff and the other is all the chief residents. They only have 1 faculty actually employed by KU (Dr Q the chairman) but they work with a ton of private guys who are all supposed to be pretty cool Overall the residents seem happy and had no complaints. You do have to spend 6 mo in st louis at the shriners hospital to get more peds but they give you a place to stay and all the guys said they liked the rotation since it is a really good shrine hospital. They say wichita is kansas's largest city, but that is only b/c all of kansas city's suburbs are not counted as one. Wichita is about 300-350000 people and is supposed to be very cheap to live in. Seemed like a nice enough place, esp if you are married/have kids.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 63
(1/13/02 10:17:07 pm)
Reply Kalamazoo MI
Very laid back program (only take 2 a year, getting a third possibly) There are 4 interviews, 2 with faculty (they only have 3 employed by michigan state univ) and 2 with private guys (they work with around 20-30). They residents operate a TON overall and early (on your three months of orhto as an intern its often just you and the attending, and one of the interns was putting in pedicle screws!). They graduate with around 2200-2500 cases and that is not b/c they are stuck doing a bunch of trauma, those cases are well rounded in specialty representation. split time b/t two private hospitals. call is ~q3 pgy2, q4-5 pgy3-4 and q5-6 as a cheif unless there is an intern on that month. They also seriously wine and dine you, paying for TWO nights hotel stay and dinner at a 4 star restaurant for you and your spouse if you brought one. Kalamazoo is around 100,000 people and it is easy to buy a house. This seemed like a great program if you want to go into private practice and I will probally rank it very high.
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 116
(1/13/02 10:26:09 pm)
Reply Penn
Very impressive program. The interview was very benign...no pimping or drilling you on your research like at some places. The happy hour session was a lot of fun, residents are great...Dr. Lackman (chairman) had drinks with us and was very laid-back. Other attendings came to the happy hour as well which was nice. They offer a 6 year track for 2 of the 8 residents. An exceptional program.
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 117
(1/13/02 10:37:14 pm)
Reply Harvard
Agree with the above comments made by Bone Jock. Another thing is that the program is now a 5 year program as of this year...no longer the required 6 years. The chairman is a very nice guy and is committed to resident education. It sounded like a very difficult residency, but the training you get there is phenomenal, regardless of the pain. The interview day was exhausting, but not worse than a couple other places i've been to...(and I had a stomach virus to boot which contributed to the pain...talk about bad timing). Bottom line is that this program has a very rich tradition obviously, and that is their selling point...the residents were very excited to be there. An awesome place if you like boston.
Chaney3
OSRR Senior
Posts: 59
(1/15/02 1:27:24 pm)
Reply Temple
There were 7 rooms with 2-3 attendings and/or chiefs in each room. Pretty benign process, and very efficient -the whole thing took about 1 hour. But no talk of any kind given by the chairman, which kind of sucked. We just showed up at a certain hour and we starting rotating through rooms. Pgy2's were giving tours throughout the day.
It sounded like a pretty nice program...it's so hard to judge a place from 1 day (not even that...2 hours). The hospital is pretty big, ancillary staff not so good, but they get great training, and the residents LOVE it there -- they were so enthusiastic about being residents at Temple, and I really did believe them. All of them absolutely loved it there.
North Philly is as getto as it gets, but 10 min away and you can live in a safe area.
Anyone have any familiarity with the program that would help me with my rank list?
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 125
(1/18/02 5:07:45 pm)
Reply Lenox Hill
just got back from upper east side Manhattan and I must say it is an exciting (and expensive) place to be. There were 7 rooms..1-2 were drilling sessions, in general a laid-back setting. The chairman is a joints guy from hss and is highly regarded by all. They do tons of joints here. Altogether an outstanding program and I was very surprised, as I knew little to nothing about it before my visit. Strengths are joints, spine, sports (cover the Jets and Rangers), hand (?), manhattan, peds (at Boston childrens for 6 months). You'll operate plenty at this program.
Drawback: high cost of living (studio runs over 1800 a month, but subsidized housing cuts it down to 1000 a month), not a level 1 trauma center, but you go to UT-SW for 3 months your 4th year for trauma, virtually no basic science research here, but you can do clinical research.
Another perk is that you get 4 months of elective time as a PGY4 and 5 --can do whatever you want -- whether it be research, more experience on a subspecialty or an away rotation at a potential fellowship site.
Having said all the above, cost of living is exorbitantly high, which has to be factored in when deciding the rank list, unless you got some cash falling from the family tree.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 71
(1/20/02 12:32:23 pm)
Reply Kentucky
A very mellow process. All the faculty are very young including the chairman. consists of 4 interviews and a night before dinner. All were very nice, with no pimping. They go to their university hosp, a VA and a shiriners hospital. Only fellows are 2 sports guys so they dont get in the way. Lexington seemed like a very nice place to live, with a definate college atmosphere. It also seemed pretty affordable and the residents all were very nice. Really no complaints about the whole process. Seemed like a balanced, stable program.
OrthoWife
OSRR Intern
Posts: 7
(1/21/02 8:27:43 am)
Reply Lenox Hill
Do you remember if they let you moonlight at all? I would think this would make a big difference in your income over five years.
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 129
(1/21/02 10:22:03 am)
Reply re: Lenox hill
I was thinking the same thing, but I found out that you are not allowed to moonlight, and I asked the residents and they did not do so.
I spent 35 bucks for 3 hours parking! I hear you'd be spending at least 125 bucks just to go out for a night. It is absolutely outrageous, not surprising though given that it's right on park avenue.
orthohopeful
OSRR Junior
Posts: 49
(1/21/02 1:00:41 pm)
Reply Lenox Hill cont'd
Did you get an official answer to how much they pay at Lenox Hill? An intern there told me they got 47K the first year, but FREIDA says 37k. I don't know if the FREIDA site is outdated or I mis-heard the guy and he meant 37 instead of 47. Makes a big difference in NYC.
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 130
(1/21/02 2:16:41 pm)
Reply Lenox hill
Interns this year get 41 K. Next year interns will get 42 K. It increases by 2 grand every year, so chiefs get around 50 K.
carlos
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 2
(1/26/02 7:39:29 pm)
Reply Temlpe Ortho program
I went to school there quite a few years ago. Two of the Chiefs were my classmates. Thus, here are my thoughts:
If you are into penetrating trauma, go there.
If you are into research, don't go there.
The chairman is very resident-oriented and is well liked by all the residents. You'll get a very strong clinical training, although it may be a tad weak in sports (they have a sporst fellowship there which probably takes cases away from residents). They apparently had a recent high turnover of staff there since about a third of the attendings were names I din't recognize from before. Some of those who left went to MCP/Hann, including MCP's current chairman.
There is no safe place to live in the proximity although some safe places are about 10-15 minutes away. If you are looking into a family home perhaps a little farther away.
OrthoStud
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 90
(1/26/02 8:19:42 pm)
Reply Temple
Carlos: I know they're pretty strong in trauma, but I'm wondering how they are in other subspecialties, especially spine, hand and joints. I know Dr. Kozin is a big name in the hand world, but I was told he left a couple of years ago (to Shriners), and as you mentioned, Johanson left for MCP-hahnemann. Why such a high turnover, and why did Kozin leave???
Also, they spend a year at a community hospital (Abington) -- any thoughts on the experience here?
Thanks for any help.
Bud1824
OSRR Intern
Posts: 12
(1/26/02 9:37:39 pm)
Reply Temple
I also went to school there so I can give you some insight on the program. First off, the residents are a great group and all get along very well. Dr. Thoder makes resident education a priority and is always looking out for what's best for them. Losing Johanson to MCP-Hahneman was a big loss, and Kozin did leave a few years prior (but the residents do spend time at Shriner's where I think he may be). The time spent at Abington is supposedly very good and a great chance to operate a lot. The sports experience may be a little weak only because there is a fellowship there so they do take virtually all of the cases, but the sports attendings are great. As for the area, there are plenty of nice places to live about 15 minutes from the hospital, and Philadelphia is not a bad place for a young person to be for 5 years. All in all, I think it seemed like a very solid program. If anyone has any more questions just let me know.
carlos
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 3
(1/26/02 10:32:56 pm)
Reply High Temple turnover
Why the high turnover, I don't know, but I remember that Johanson had wanted to be chair someplace a few years ago.
The experiences at Abington and Northeastern Hospital make-up for the lack of sports at Temple. Those rotations are seen positively by the residents. Abington is a nice suburban hospital north of Philly. NE is in Philly but I did not rotate through there as a student and therefore don't know much about it.
As for spine, Dr. Clements seems to be be a big name for scoliosis. Dr. Johanson used to be the joint guy but, as we discussed, he went to MCP. The current guys are new faces to me. As for hand, I don't know if Kozin is still part of the group while at Shriners, but at least the chairmain is a hand surgeon.
orthostud2002
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(1/28/02 9:21:53 pm)
Reply Rush
I interviewed here last week and I hardly saw the residents. The ones that I did get a chance to talk to seemed to be upset with the number of fellows at their program. It seems that there are more fellows than residents and that the residents didn't like the interaction with them.
On the other hand the attendings seemed like a good group of young guys who are in their prime.
Hard to say if they are happy since we didn't see any of the residents--but it wasn't a good sign.
Did anyone else get the same impression here or am I in left field?
DrNukeOrthoMan
OSRR Junior
Posts: 27
(1/29/02 1:53:37 am)
Reply Harvard
IamNikolas and BoneJock - What made you both think that Harvard's program was such a difficult residency? What in particular led you to that?
Did either of you rotate out there?
orthogirl1
OSRR Intern
Posts: 13
(1/29/02 8:13:05 am)
Reply Re: Rush
I have a friend that rotated there and he said the residents are pretty happy. They have a great lifestyle with minimal call (except a small amount of time at Cook County and Saturday conferences). He didn't mention anything about the fellows so I can't help you there. But I do know that they have so many joint attendings that I can't imagine the residents are brushed off to the side...too many attendings to cover them all is the impression I got. As far as the other sub-specialties go, I'm not sure. They definitely do not have more fellows than any other program.
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 134
(1/29/02 11:03:56 am)
Reply Harvard
I did not rotate at harvard, but interviewed there. I have not spoken to anyone who has rotated there, but the impression I got from my interview is that you'll be working pretty hard. Internship sounded pretty tough, (although one resident made it sound rather benign), I got the overall sense that you get reamed pretty hard. One resident told me the peds experience during 3rd year is busy as all heck. At harvard, you'll be scrubbing in with leaders of their respective specialties, and with that comes lots of cutting-edge, experimental procedures and lots of tedious data collection (which may not be fun when you're postcall and it's 7-8 pm). Home call last 2 years though, which is nice. Although this program has a "malignant" rep, I did not get that sense at all, as the new Chairman has changed the work environment apparently. The attendings are very busy (not surprising) and that always translates into more work and case reports for residents. To be honest, I don't think the residency itself is any harder than many other programs that I visited, but the pressure to do research, case reports, etc. may make it significantly more difficult. I don't know, just my take, others may disagree
Don't get me wrong, I loved the program and will rank it very high. I thought penn's program was much more of a "gentleman's" program, with the academic perks that harvard offers.
bmp2002
OSRR Intern
Posts: 22
(1/31/02 9:20:55 pm)
Reply hjd- crazy story
interview was pretty laid back- a few bizarre questions but in general very friendly. the chairman - dr zuckerman is unbelievable, the man was born to be a chairman and it is obvious the program is his pride and joy. i can't think of a weakness, overall awesome program.
funny story- they took us out for drinks the night before and some tool brought some artsy, nose pierced chick with him to try and hook up with some of the residents and change their opinion of him. granted she was the best thing he had going for him but what the h$%& was he thinking. nothing ,like bringing a random sleezy girl to a place for free drinks on a group of people who could decide your fate for the next 5 years. i sure hope i don't match with that clown but then again maybe she has a bunch of friends who will show up for morning conferences next year. i think he is from robert wood, i'm sure some of you out there know him.
RubieMink
OSRR Intern
Posts: 6
(1/31/02 9:43:36 pm)
Reply HJD
I agree with BMP. HJD is a awesome program with strengths in every area.
OrthoStud
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 94
(1/31/02 11:01:53 pm)
Reply the lowdown
That is pretty funny...was this his girlfriend? if not, did any of the residents hook up with this sleezy chick or what?
Gunnin4Ortho
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(2/2/02 8:11:59 pm)
Reply West Virginia
There were 7-8 rooms total, interviews were very laid back. We were in casual clothes, no suites, which was nice. An excellent clinical program, as you become a very well-rounded surgeon after 5 years here. They are undergoing some changes right now, with Dr. Blaha stepping down as chairman just recently. He is still a part of the department, but for how long I have no idea. He may be leaving soon. They're interviewing for chairmen right now, and should have one by this summer. I got the following impression from the faculty/residents during my visit: They're sorry to see Dr. Blaha step down as chair because he's very well-liked, but he has had conflicts with the Dean for years now, mostly over adding faculty to the ortho deptment, which requires money and apparently the hospital is not willing to spend this money. The feeling is that with new leadership comes added clout. They are planning on adding 5 new faculty in the next 1-2 years, and depending on who the new chair will be, the program will be undergoing some changes. But I was told that they will not be changing all that much as everyone seems to like the system they have in place already. Dr. Blaha was very honest with me (and I suppose everyone who interviewed there) regarding the future of the program. He basically said that there will be changes and quite a bit of "flux" in the coming years, but that we can count on those changes contributing to the betterment of the ortho program.
We got a very nice tour of the city and the hospital. The residents are pretty cool. They have a very nice laboratory that you can take advantage of if interested. I liked Morgantown more than I thought I would. A very mountainous topography, and a very active college town. Having pretty college girls all over the place is something that I'm just going to have to live with I guess
From what I gathered, the weaknesses are foot/ankle and sports. They're strong in all other departments, and you get great all-around training and a lot of one-on-one interaction with the attendings.
All in all, an excellent program and I was very impressed. At first I was hesitant (because of change in chair, etc.), but I left with a very good feeling that the program is solid, and the faculty are committed to expanding and improving the program.
BoneWax
OSRR Intern
Posts: 16
(2/2/02 11:07:39 pm)
Reply WVU
Agree with above comments about WVU. I got the impression from several people there that a change in leadership was needed and will be a positive thing down the road.
I liked morgantown as well.
The hospital is really nice, and the rec center was incredible - nice pool, rock climbing, etc.
My concern is with the changes that are going to be made and whether resident education will be affected in the short term. I have no doubt that the program is solid and will be so in the future. But with change comes some degree of instability. I'm sure things will be great when i'm a chief, but is there going to be a "transition" phase while I'm a Pgy2 or 3?
This spells the end of interviews for me and for all of us I'm sure.
good luck everyone.
==============================
