bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 28
(11/17/01 8:55:06 pm)
Reply Put what your interviews were like here
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we have a thread for rejections, interview invites, how bout one for your experiences while interviewing at various places. It will help out people this year, but probably more people for next year when they come back and read this. Just an idea.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 29
(11/17/01 8:59:38 pm)
Reply Akron General
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Overall very laid back. I was the only student there that day (there are usually 1 or 2). Bascially consisted of tours, talking with the residents, going out to lunch at a local place, and 4 20 minute interviews all of which were very benign. I think the hardest question I got was "If you could be any animal what would it be and why?". Kinda tough on the spot. Overall the residents seemed very happy and I did not talk to any who had any regrets coming there. Akron is a little smaller town than many people are looking for but if that does not bother you than this seemed like a pretty nice place. Also the hotel they put you up in is pretty nice. My room had a jacuzzi next to the bed.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 30
(11/17/01 9:05:21 pm)
Reply U of Cincinnati
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Just got back from here this evening. Format was 15 or so candidates split into two groups that rotated through 5 or 6 stations with either attendings or 4th year residents in the morning and took the tour in the afternoon or vice versa. Also had a nice residents and candidates only dinner the night before. I would recommend staying at the kingsgate hotel (where the dinner is) It is 3 blocks from the interviews, only 59 bucks and if brand new. Overall the residents seem to get a good training esp in sports and peds (nice peds hospital and very busy). Didnt get to see the city very much except on the drive in/out but seemed like a ok mid-sized city. Overall a very positive experience and very benign process.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 44
(12/7/01 7:43:33 pm)
Reply People should have some more to post here now
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It was a little early when I started it. I think it would be good not only for people yet to interview there but for people to get to hear first hand accounts of various experiences aorund the country
Chaney3
OSRR Junior
Posts: 44
(12/7/01 8:39:30 pm)
Reply UIC
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Interviewed by 5 attendings and 1 chief ...all at once.
approx 12 applicants for the day...
Chairman is a real nice guy...interview was stress-free...only thing that may be uncomfortable for some is the 6 on 1 format...
Met about 8 or 9 of the residents...all were nice and helpful...answered all of our questions. All seemed happy to be there.
sat in on a conference in the morning...about an hour and a half...fell asleep (hoping no one saw me)
they took us out to eat after the interview day was over.
Generally liked the program a lot....we did not get to see the facilities...one reason is that the residents rotate through 7 hospitals...so it would have been impossible to show us all of them.
One thing i noticed was that the faculty were OLD...senior citizens all over the place....of course there were exceptions...Dr. Bergin (spine) is young and real laid back...great guy. A few others but i forget their names.
Grade: B
kluverbucy
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(12/10/01 1:26:43 pm)
Reply Re: Put what your interviews were like here
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henry ford, DETROIT, MI
the residents claim income of $60-100,000 b/c their moonlighting is part of their scheduled call. Overall a crappy location and the residents drive 30-45min each way to work. Residents seem fairly happy, although many of them were not around for questions. The ER was project! lots of getto, urine covered slime even at mid-day. Residents also get cheap ford/mazda/jag/volvo/land rover cars.
bmp2002
OSRR Intern
Posts: 11
(12/10/01 3:44:14 pm)
Reply mayo, hopkins, emory, pitt
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very benign- met with 2 attendings at mayo 20-35 minutes each, no pimping just smiles- they were very interesting in knowing why mayo, how would you deal with midwest...(i am from west coast)
hopkins- same thing met with 4 attendings 20 min each. very very relaxed, wanted to know why hopkins, why ortho, what makes you better than the rest and explain your research- big picture kind of stuff not the stats or stupid details. very nice process.
emory- actually kind of similar, no pimp type questions- just friendly get to know you kind of stuff- talked a lot about my letter writers whom a few of them knew. know your research not the little details though
pitt- different story pretty rough process, numerous interviews, actually asked about specific clinical scenarios and orthopaedic questions
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 47
(12/10/01 4:31:16 pm)
Reply Indiana
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Very easy day. 5 15 min interviews and a tour. Seems like a nice enough place and the residents did not voice any complaints either the night before or the day of. Indianapolis is pretty cheap to live in, and they have a new chairman that supposedly is not as gung ho about keeping lots of IU students like they have been in the past
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 51
(12/15/01 6:48:42 pm)
Reply Dayton OH
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very nice program with lots of perks, like a gym, basketball and raquetball courts in the hospital. early operating. A local hospital just closed so now they get all their business and are the busiest ER in Ohio! Always free food and residents nice. Dayton is not too exciting though.... Overall i was pleasantly surpirsed. Interviews were 5 in the morning following a tour.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 52
(12/15/01 6:52:11 pm)
Reply MAYO
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WOW. you cannont help but be impressed at the facilities. @ 30 minute interviews and a tour (boy, what a tour). I felt like i was in the movie THE FIRM walking around in their big builidings. The biggest downside is that no matter what they tell you there is really not much in rochester other than mayo. Will be a tough decision where to rank as my wife is not crazy about southern minnesota and 4 feet of snow a year...
BoneWax
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(12/15/01 7:51:11 pm)
Reply Einstein-Montefiore
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a real "blue collar" program...and they were pretty forthright about it too...told us straight up that you'd be working your butt off here...it's an inner city program...in the heart of Bronx, NY...you see lots of crazy %$!#. Trauma at Jacobi is brutal and you rarely sleep if on call...they're the only major center in all of Bronx and so every trauma goes there...they get good experience in other areas as well. You'll be a great general orthopedist. Residents seemed like very nice people. The program is truly an inner city, no BS, put your money where your mouth is kind of program. Chairman mentioned the Bell commission, but added that they're struggling with it...their residents do work a lot. patient population is rough and HUGE...you'll speak spanish by the end of your residency.
My impression: this place trains you for ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING...nothing will surprise you after 5 yrs in Bronx. But lots of pain...i felt like i was at a general surgery interview. Got to have a set of balls to rank this place high.
orthohopeful
OSRR Junior
Posts: 45
(12/17/01 9:16:39 am)
Reply Long Island Jewish, others
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LIJ: four stations. General (easy get to know you stuff for about 15min), Research (talk about it if you have any, but if not then they give you scenarios and ask how you would design a study to answer a question), Ethics (one scenario, not too tough), Fund of knowledge (xray pimping). All stations have multiple attendings, which is somewhat intimidating. Some find it an off-putting interview, I actually found it refreshing to not regurgitate the same boring crap about myself again. Also toured both hospitals and their research labs (which are pretty impressive really).
Emory: same as above, very laid back. chairman is fun to talk with.
Campbell clinic: conference the night before with beer and food. then went to a bar with an open tab and pool tables etc. where we could quiz the residents about the program. interviews kinda grueling. 10 sessions of 15 minutes each with one guy. pretty laid back with standard questions. Only particularly interesting question I got was "what was the hardest thing you have ever gone through?". I was very impressed with the program from the interview process, but don't feel like I have a great shot at matching there.
Mayo: I actually had one very tough interview there. The guy baited me with very vague (guess what I'm thinking you stupid little med student) questions about the nature of orthopedics and randomized controlled trials, waited for me to paint myself into a corner and spent twenty minutes telling me how wrong I was. This seems to be an exception there though.
UTMB in galveston: fun interview day, one on one interviews mostly. standard questions. highlight was a forty minute session with four other candidates and one attending where we split into teams and play trivial pursuit. my team kicked @#$ so it was fun.
UT Southwestern: two thirty minute sessions. there are teams of interviewers in each room. mostly standard questions, but the trauma team will ask you some interesting stuff about your favorite books, movies, etc. I could see why people would say its a rough interview, but I knew what to expect so it was pretty easy overall. Just relax and answer questions frankly and have reasons for your answers.
Ortho2002
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 118
(12/17/01 5:42:24 pm)
Reply Wayne State
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had 9 interviews (30 min each). over lunch, we got a "survey" which turned out to be a FOUR PAGE WRITTEN ORTHO TEST!!! nice huh? if you are going next, have fun!
OrthoResident
OSRR Intern
Posts: 8
(12/17/01 7:53:09 pm)
Reply Re: Long Island Jewish, others
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My take on a few you listed:
LIJ: It was horrible. The research station pimped me about how my research paper would not be published in JBJS - I just wanted to tell them to got to h$%& or ask them what made them such experts/how many articles they had published in JBJS or CORR - not many from my understanding. Anyways when I thought the interview experience sucked! We had a med student (who wasn't even going to do ortho) give us a crappy tour. No residents, except for two starving junior residents that came for the food and took off. I thought it was a complete waste of time and money. I ranked them # 21 (I was probably in a good mood). Don't go to this program, save your time and money.
Southwestern: Excellent program. The chair, Dr. Bucholz is great. The trauma guys... well that's a different story. Despite not enjoying my interview there, I still thought it to a very strong program, just not my cup of tea. A buddy of mine who was a fellow there, said their operative experience was minimal for the first three years. Parkland sucks (just inundated with trauma). I think the weakness of the program is that it is so jaded by the trauma experience that you can't appreciate the stellar faculty there. Oh yeah and Dallas traffic is no joy.
UTMB: Solid Program. A little weak on Trauma and Recon, but tons of staff (I believe three hand, three spine, three sports, two foot/ankle, two pedi, two research, 1 recon). It's a laid back program with good faculty. I don't know if many people like Galveston (a cross between a Ghetto/muddy beach/historic city). But if you interview there say hi to Kathy, the program coordinator - she is awesome. You'll get X-mas/ holiday greetings, and other nice messages from her
bmp2002
OSRR Intern
Posts: 18
(12/19/01 12:14:32 pm)
Reply yale, jefferson
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both very laid back, residents seemed like great guys. jeff has a tough 2nd year but then clear sailing after that. very confident that they produce country's best surgeons. very strong in joints and spine. interview consisted of meeting with 2 seperate interviewers for about a half hour each- very informal
yale- program on the rebound, residents seemed very happy, a real nice group of guysweakness right now seems to be spine. city has a bad rap but didn't seem too bad. interview was very laid back met with 4 seperate interviewers about 20-25 min each. very pleasant just wanted to find out who you are, what you like
BoneWax
OSRR Intern
Posts: 6
(12/23/01 12:45:59 pm)
Reply Allegheny General
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They had 7 rooms, all interviews were one-on-one. 5 attendings and 2 chiefs. Overall, a very positive experience. Dr. Baratz's interview was interesting to say the very least -- he gave me a case, asked me to read the film and then do a physical exam on HIM (!!!) based on the film. A little nerve-wracking but everyone survived it.
All other rooms were more conventional, interview type questions. Very nice faculty. Residents are pretty cool.
They operate a ton. I was surprised by downtown Pittsburgh -- very nice place.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 59
(1/4/02 5:43:25 pm)
Reply UMKC
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Hmm, where to start... The chairman comes in and give you this fire and brimstone speech, basically says he does not want to be your friend, and that he WILL socially embarass you and is not afraid to fire you. So after that cheery start there were 5 interviews all of which were pretty normal except for the one with the chairman who asks a lot of ethical questions. Others included what do you do that annoys people, what is you biggest mistake, etc. They seem to have a preference for people who did not match the year before and are doing an internship already, in fact that is all he used to take. The hospital is a county hospital and is kind of hole, even according to the residents. The childrens hospital and the private one are better, but you still spend 8 mo in pgy2 and 4 thereafter at truman, mostly with the previously mentioned chairman. I was kinda disappointed and will rank it but mostly likely at the very bottom of my list.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 60
(1/4/02 5:46:48 pm)
Reply U of Missouri
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kinda wierd day, as we sat around all day just waiting to do three interviews. The dinner the night before was good and the residents are all a cool bunch of guys. They have 3 spots but one is a 6 year research spot. Call seemed to be pretty benign. They spend 4 mo in st louis at shriners for more peds time. VERY nice attendings and interviews, kinda like sitting around and talking to your grandpa. Overall this one surprised me and i will rank it much higher than i had expected to .
OrthoStud
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 86
(1/6/02 10:34:59 am)
Reply UMDNJ Newark
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Day started out with Chairman (Behrens) giving us a talk and iintroduction to their program. real nice guy and he was very candid -- basically told us that we should find a place where we would be happy, and to look at his program to see if we fit in. I talked to him a little bit and he's a true gentleman. Interviews were with 3 faculty and one chief, all 1-on-1. 3 of the 4 were laid back, 1 attending pimped the &*%@ out of me on my research, but I survived it. The tour was fine. One thing I did not like was that we didn't meet too many residents. Only 3 of them (out of 30!!!), so that was disappointing. But the hospital seems pretty okay, Newark is a true dump with absolutely no redeeming qualities but the residents do not live there...they live 20-30 min away in the suburbs...some areas around there are actually highly desirable places to live due to proximity to NYC. They rotate through 4 other sites that are within 20 min driving distance to mother institution. There are PLENTY of research opportunities here...from basic science to cadaver studies, to animal models, or clinical stuff. This is the one thing that surprised me the most about umdnj.
Overall, a positive experience. I was pleasantly surprised as I had a negative impression of Newark (and still do)...but the program itself is a good one. The only thing my visit did was move it up a little on my rank list.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 61
(1/6/02 8:24:37 pm)
Reply Washington University
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All I can say is wow what a great program. They seem to have everything you could want, from top faculty in every area, to great facilities (they are buliding a large new resident lounge and work area, and a HUGE new buliding solely for trauma/ER stuff with dedicated OR's, etc) and a nice group of residents. They seem to be very responsive to input. Example, their pgy2 year used to be pretty rough and now they have institued a night float so that for 2 (non-continous) months you are M-F overnight, weekends off, and then everyone else (juniors) does not take overnight call except weekends when they are at Barnes. They also have put together an impressive core curriculum lecture series and have as many research opportunities as you can handle if that is your cup of tea. Previous to this I thought Mayo was the most impressive place I would be interviewing. Not anymore. Of course I want to stay in St Louis, but even if I did not there would be no way you could not be impressed with this place. Ohh and all those nasty rumors about residents not operating and all the attendings being mean, well I did not see ANY of that when I was there.
Bone Jock
OSRR Intern
Posts: 10
(1/8/02 5:38:06 pm)
Reply Harvard Combined Residency Program
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This program is Fat, er huh, I mean PHAT!!!! Truly phenomenal. If you don't mind working your @#$ off, this program has very little to no weaknesses. Residents were happy. Staff physicians were down to earth and easy to talk to. Extrememly strong in Peds, Joints, Tumor, Hand and very solid in the other subspecialties. The myth about the program having a million fellows bumping residents out of cases is false. The place gets so much volume that it's more than enough to go around. Didn't see much malignancy here either (another prominent rumor). Pretty diverse program. Resident's were cool as h$%&. Can't even complain about the location. It's Boston!!! Cost of living is high, parking sucks, but other than that it's a world class city. There seems to be a strained relationship with one of the hospitals in the system (Beth Israel), but Dr. Herndon (Chair) seems dedicated to making the residents happy. Two of the four hospitals in the system are among the top 15 ortho hospitals in the nation (Mass Gen. #3, and Brigham No. 13). How impressive is that.
The interview was pretty laid back. Very long day though. There were 2 groups. One group interviewed in the a.m. and toured in the p.m. and the other group vice versa. 3 rooms with 2 docs each doing the tag team thing. 1 room with the Heads of each hospital firing questions at you. 1 room with 5 of the Chief residents chatting with you. All were really laid back. No horror stories. Just casual conversation. Trying to get to know the applicant and sell the program. I was extremely impressed.
OSRR Junior
Posts: 28
(11/17/01 8:55:06 pm)
Reply Put what your interviews were like here
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we have a thread for rejections, interview invites, how bout one for your experiences while interviewing at various places. It will help out people this year, but probably more people for next year when they come back and read this. Just an idea.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 29
(11/17/01 8:59:38 pm)
Reply Akron General
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Overall very laid back. I was the only student there that day (there are usually 1 or 2). Bascially consisted of tours, talking with the residents, going out to lunch at a local place, and 4 20 minute interviews all of which were very benign. I think the hardest question I got was "If you could be any animal what would it be and why?". Kinda tough on the spot. Overall the residents seemed very happy and I did not talk to any who had any regrets coming there. Akron is a little smaller town than many people are looking for but if that does not bother you than this seemed like a pretty nice place. Also the hotel they put you up in is pretty nice. My room had a jacuzzi next to the bed.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 30
(11/17/01 9:05:21 pm)
Reply U of Cincinnati
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Just got back from here this evening. Format was 15 or so candidates split into two groups that rotated through 5 or 6 stations with either attendings or 4th year residents in the morning and took the tour in the afternoon or vice versa. Also had a nice residents and candidates only dinner the night before. I would recommend staying at the kingsgate hotel (where the dinner is) It is 3 blocks from the interviews, only 59 bucks and if brand new. Overall the residents seem to get a good training esp in sports and peds (nice peds hospital and very busy). Didnt get to see the city very much except on the drive in/out but seemed like a ok mid-sized city. Overall a very positive experience and very benign process.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 44
(12/7/01 7:43:33 pm)
Reply People should have some more to post here now
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It was a little early when I started it. I think it would be good not only for people yet to interview there but for people to get to hear first hand accounts of various experiences aorund the country
Chaney3
OSRR Junior
Posts: 44
(12/7/01 8:39:30 pm)
Reply UIC
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Interviewed by 5 attendings and 1 chief ...all at once.
approx 12 applicants for the day...
Chairman is a real nice guy...interview was stress-free...only thing that may be uncomfortable for some is the 6 on 1 format...
Met about 8 or 9 of the residents...all were nice and helpful...answered all of our questions. All seemed happy to be there.
sat in on a conference in the morning...about an hour and a half...fell asleep (hoping no one saw me)
they took us out to eat after the interview day was over.
Generally liked the program a lot....we did not get to see the facilities...one reason is that the residents rotate through 7 hospitals...so it would have been impossible to show us all of them.
One thing i noticed was that the faculty were OLD...senior citizens all over the place....of course there were exceptions...Dr. Bergin (spine) is young and real laid back...great guy. A few others but i forget their names.
Grade: B
kluverbucy
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(12/10/01 1:26:43 pm)
Reply Re: Put what your interviews were like here
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henry ford, DETROIT, MI
the residents claim income of $60-100,000 b/c their moonlighting is part of their scheduled call. Overall a crappy location and the residents drive 30-45min each way to work. Residents seem fairly happy, although many of them were not around for questions. The ER was project! lots of getto, urine covered slime even at mid-day. Residents also get cheap ford/mazda/jag/volvo/land rover cars.
bmp2002
OSRR Intern
Posts: 11
(12/10/01 3:44:14 pm)
Reply mayo, hopkins, emory, pitt
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very benign- met with 2 attendings at mayo 20-35 minutes each, no pimping just smiles- they were very interesting in knowing why mayo, how would you deal with midwest...(i am from west coast)
hopkins- same thing met with 4 attendings 20 min each. very very relaxed, wanted to know why hopkins, why ortho, what makes you better than the rest and explain your research- big picture kind of stuff not the stats or stupid details. very nice process.
emory- actually kind of similar, no pimp type questions- just friendly get to know you kind of stuff- talked a lot about my letter writers whom a few of them knew. know your research not the little details though
pitt- different story pretty rough process, numerous interviews, actually asked about specific clinical scenarios and orthopaedic questions
bonedoc2be
OSRR Junior
Posts: 47
(12/10/01 4:31:16 pm)
Reply Indiana
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Very easy day. 5 15 min interviews and a tour. Seems like a nice enough place and the residents did not voice any complaints either the night before or the day of. Indianapolis is pretty cheap to live in, and they have a new chairman that supposedly is not as gung ho about keeping lots of IU students like they have been in the past
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 51
(12/15/01 6:48:42 pm)
Reply Dayton OH
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very nice program with lots of perks, like a gym, basketball and raquetball courts in the hospital. early operating. A local hospital just closed so now they get all their business and are the busiest ER in Ohio! Always free food and residents nice. Dayton is not too exciting though.... Overall i was pleasantly surpirsed. Interviews were 5 in the morning following a tour.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 52
(12/15/01 6:52:11 pm)
Reply MAYO
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WOW. you cannont help but be impressed at the facilities. @ 30 minute interviews and a tour (boy, what a tour). I felt like i was in the movie THE FIRM walking around in their big builidings. The biggest downside is that no matter what they tell you there is really not much in rochester other than mayo. Will be a tough decision where to rank as my wife is not crazy about southern minnesota and 4 feet of snow a year...
BoneWax
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(12/15/01 7:51:11 pm)
Reply Einstein-Montefiore
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a real "blue collar" program...and they were pretty forthright about it too...told us straight up that you'd be working your butt off here...it's an inner city program...in the heart of Bronx, NY...you see lots of crazy %$!#. Trauma at Jacobi is brutal and you rarely sleep if on call...they're the only major center in all of Bronx and so every trauma goes there...they get good experience in other areas as well. You'll be a great general orthopedist. Residents seemed like very nice people. The program is truly an inner city, no BS, put your money where your mouth is kind of program. Chairman mentioned the Bell commission, but added that they're struggling with it...their residents do work a lot. patient population is rough and HUGE...you'll speak spanish by the end of your residency.
My impression: this place trains you for ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING...nothing will surprise you after 5 yrs in Bronx. But lots of pain...i felt like i was at a general surgery interview. Got to have a set of balls to rank this place high.
orthohopeful
OSRR Junior
Posts: 45
(12/17/01 9:16:39 am)
Reply Long Island Jewish, others
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LIJ: four stations. General (easy get to know you stuff for about 15min), Research (talk about it if you have any, but if not then they give you scenarios and ask how you would design a study to answer a question), Ethics (one scenario, not too tough), Fund of knowledge (xray pimping). All stations have multiple attendings, which is somewhat intimidating. Some find it an off-putting interview, I actually found it refreshing to not regurgitate the same boring crap about myself again. Also toured both hospitals and their research labs (which are pretty impressive really).
Emory: same as above, very laid back. chairman is fun to talk with.
Campbell clinic: conference the night before with beer and food. then went to a bar with an open tab and pool tables etc. where we could quiz the residents about the program. interviews kinda grueling. 10 sessions of 15 minutes each with one guy. pretty laid back with standard questions. Only particularly interesting question I got was "what was the hardest thing you have ever gone through?". I was very impressed with the program from the interview process, but don't feel like I have a great shot at matching there.
Mayo: I actually had one very tough interview there. The guy baited me with very vague (guess what I'm thinking you stupid little med student) questions about the nature of orthopedics and randomized controlled trials, waited for me to paint myself into a corner and spent twenty minutes telling me how wrong I was. This seems to be an exception there though.
UTMB in galveston: fun interview day, one on one interviews mostly. standard questions. highlight was a forty minute session with four other candidates and one attending where we split into teams and play trivial pursuit. my team kicked @#$ so it was fun.
UT Southwestern: two thirty minute sessions. there are teams of interviewers in each room. mostly standard questions, but the trauma team will ask you some interesting stuff about your favorite books, movies, etc. I could see why people would say its a rough interview, but I knew what to expect so it was pretty easy overall. Just relax and answer questions frankly and have reasons for your answers.
Ortho2002
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 118
(12/17/01 5:42:24 pm)
Reply Wayne State
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had 9 interviews (30 min each). over lunch, we got a "survey" which turned out to be a FOUR PAGE WRITTEN ORTHO TEST!!! nice huh? if you are going next, have fun!
OrthoResident
OSRR Intern
Posts: 8
(12/17/01 7:53:09 pm)
Reply Re: Long Island Jewish, others
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My take on a few you listed:
LIJ: It was horrible. The research station pimped me about how my research paper would not be published in JBJS - I just wanted to tell them to got to h$%& or ask them what made them such experts/how many articles they had published in JBJS or CORR - not many from my understanding. Anyways when I thought the interview experience sucked! We had a med student (who wasn't even going to do ortho) give us a crappy tour. No residents, except for two starving junior residents that came for the food and took off. I thought it was a complete waste of time and money. I ranked them # 21 (I was probably in a good mood). Don't go to this program, save your time and money.
Southwestern: Excellent program. The chair, Dr. Bucholz is great. The trauma guys... well that's a different story. Despite not enjoying my interview there, I still thought it to a very strong program, just not my cup of tea. A buddy of mine who was a fellow there, said their operative experience was minimal for the first three years. Parkland sucks (just inundated with trauma). I think the weakness of the program is that it is so jaded by the trauma experience that you can't appreciate the stellar faculty there. Oh yeah and Dallas traffic is no joy.
UTMB: Solid Program. A little weak on Trauma and Recon, but tons of staff (I believe three hand, three spine, three sports, two foot/ankle, two pedi, two research, 1 recon). It's a laid back program with good faculty. I don't know if many people like Galveston (a cross between a Ghetto/muddy beach/historic city). But if you interview there say hi to Kathy, the program coordinator - she is awesome. You'll get X-mas/ holiday greetings, and other nice messages from her
bmp2002
OSRR Intern
Posts: 18
(12/19/01 12:14:32 pm)
Reply yale, jefferson
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both very laid back, residents seemed like great guys. jeff has a tough 2nd year but then clear sailing after that. very confident that they produce country's best surgeons. very strong in joints and spine. interview consisted of meeting with 2 seperate interviewers for about a half hour each- very informal
yale- program on the rebound, residents seemed very happy, a real nice group of guysweakness right now seems to be spine. city has a bad rap but didn't seem too bad. interview was very laid back met with 4 seperate interviewers about 20-25 min each. very pleasant just wanted to find out who you are, what you like
BoneWax
OSRR Intern
Posts: 6
(12/23/01 12:45:59 pm)
Reply Allegheny General
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They had 7 rooms, all interviews were one-on-one. 5 attendings and 2 chiefs. Overall, a very positive experience. Dr. Baratz's interview was interesting to say the very least -- he gave me a case, asked me to read the film and then do a physical exam on HIM (!!!) based on the film. A little nerve-wracking but everyone survived it.
All other rooms were more conventional, interview type questions. Very nice faculty. Residents are pretty cool.
They operate a ton. I was surprised by downtown Pittsburgh -- very nice place.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 59
(1/4/02 5:43:25 pm)
Reply UMKC
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Hmm, where to start... The chairman comes in and give you this fire and brimstone speech, basically says he does not want to be your friend, and that he WILL socially embarass you and is not afraid to fire you. So after that cheery start there were 5 interviews all of which were pretty normal except for the one with the chairman who asks a lot of ethical questions. Others included what do you do that annoys people, what is you biggest mistake, etc. They seem to have a preference for people who did not match the year before and are doing an internship already, in fact that is all he used to take. The hospital is a county hospital and is kind of hole, even according to the residents. The childrens hospital and the private one are better, but you still spend 8 mo in pgy2 and 4 thereafter at truman, mostly with the previously mentioned chairman. I was kinda disappointed and will rank it but mostly likely at the very bottom of my list.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 60
(1/4/02 5:46:48 pm)
Reply U of Missouri
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kinda wierd day, as we sat around all day just waiting to do three interviews. The dinner the night before was good and the residents are all a cool bunch of guys. They have 3 spots but one is a 6 year research spot. Call seemed to be pretty benign. They spend 4 mo in st louis at shriners for more peds time. VERY nice attendings and interviews, kinda like sitting around and talking to your grandpa. Overall this one surprised me and i will rank it much higher than i had expected to .
OrthoStud
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 86
(1/6/02 10:34:59 am)
Reply UMDNJ Newark
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Day started out with Chairman (Behrens) giving us a talk and iintroduction to their program. real nice guy and he was very candid -- basically told us that we should find a place where we would be happy, and to look at his program to see if we fit in. I talked to him a little bit and he's a true gentleman. Interviews were with 3 faculty and one chief, all 1-on-1. 3 of the 4 were laid back, 1 attending pimped the &*%@ out of me on my research, but I survived it. The tour was fine. One thing I did not like was that we didn't meet too many residents. Only 3 of them (out of 30!!!), so that was disappointing. But the hospital seems pretty okay, Newark is a true dump with absolutely no redeeming qualities but the residents do not live there...they live 20-30 min away in the suburbs...some areas around there are actually highly desirable places to live due to proximity to NYC. They rotate through 4 other sites that are within 20 min driving distance to mother institution. There are PLENTY of research opportunities here...from basic science to cadaver studies, to animal models, or clinical stuff. This is the one thing that surprised me the most about umdnj.
Overall, a positive experience. I was pleasantly surprised as I had a negative impression of Newark (and still do)...but the program itself is a good one. The only thing my visit did was move it up a little on my rank list.
bonedoc2be
OSRR Senior
Posts: 61
(1/6/02 8:24:37 pm)
Reply Washington University
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All I can say is wow what a great program. They seem to have everything you could want, from top faculty in every area, to great facilities (they are buliding a large new resident lounge and work area, and a HUGE new buliding solely for trauma/ER stuff with dedicated OR's, etc) and a nice group of residents. They seem to be very responsive to input. Example, their pgy2 year used to be pretty rough and now they have institued a night float so that for 2 (non-continous) months you are M-F overnight, weekends off, and then everyone else (juniors) does not take overnight call except weekends when they are at Barnes. They also have put together an impressive core curriculum lecture series and have as many research opportunities as you can handle if that is your cup of tea. Previous to this I thought Mayo was the most impressive place I would be interviewing. Not anymore. Of course I want to stay in St Louis, but even if I did not there would be no way you could not be impressed with this place. Ohh and all those nasty rumors about residents not operating and all the attendings being mean, well I did not see ANY of that when I was there.
Bone Jock
OSRR Intern
Posts: 10
(1/8/02 5:38:06 pm)
Reply Harvard Combined Residency Program
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This program is Fat, er huh, I mean PHAT!!!! Truly phenomenal. If you don't mind working your @#$ off, this program has very little to no weaknesses. Residents were happy. Staff physicians were down to earth and easy to talk to. Extrememly strong in Peds, Joints, Tumor, Hand and very solid in the other subspecialties. The myth about the program having a million fellows bumping residents out of cases is false. The place gets so much volume that it's more than enough to go around. Didn't see much malignancy here either (another prominent rumor). Pretty diverse program. Resident's were cool as h$%&. Can't even complain about the location. It's Boston!!! Cost of living is high, parking sucks, but other than that it's a world class city. There seems to be a strained relationship with one of the hospitals in the system (Beth Israel), but Dr. Herndon (Chair) seems dedicated to making the residents happy. Two of the four hospitals in the system are among the top 15 ortho hospitals in the nation (Mass Gen. #3, and Brigham No. 13). How impressive is that.
The interview was pretty laid back. Very long day though. There were 2 groups. One group interviewed in the a.m. and toured in the p.m. and the other group vice versa. 3 rooms with 2 docs each doing the tag team thing. 1 room with the Heads of each hospital firing questions at you. 1 room with 5 of the Chief residents chatting with you. All were really laid back. No horror stories. Just casual conversation. Trying to get to know the applicant and sell the program. I was extremely impressed.