Faculty were very engaging with medical students and actually remembered my name. I felt they were welcoming and enjoyed teaching. They gave me an opportunity in the OR and handed the drill after getting to know me.
Didactics / Teaching
Theres a morning conference almost daily. It was always led by the head of the department of each subspecialty. Definitely a strength here.
Operating Experience
As a medical student, I was able to scrub any case I wanted and was almost always helping suture when closing. I was impressed by how involved junior residents were in cases and the confidence they had operating. On trauma, the senior would run his own room with a junior.
Clinic Experience
It pretty much what you expect from clinic...
Research Opportunities
Not a research heavy program, but the chairman seems to be working on improving. Funding didnt seem like a problem for resident research.
Residents
I definitely felt welcomed and respected by the residents. They seemed like a very tightknit group and always hanging out together when not working. Probably 2/3rds of the guys were married, most upper levels had kids. The non-married guys seemed to definitely enjoy the nightlife of Chattanooga when they had weekends off.
Lifestyle
Chattanooga is a pretty cool city. Plenty of great restaurants and fun bars downtown and in the northshore area. Kinda reminded me of Austin in a smaller way. The river runs through the city with mountains on both sides so definitely an outdoorsy type city when it comes to peoples hobbies.
Location / Housing
Most residents live in the suburbs and the others lived in the northshore area close to the river and downtown.
Limitations
I didnt really come across any. I'd say most of the residents are from the southeast but looks like the PD and chairman want to add some diversity.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
I had a really fun time rotating. This program is sleeper but definitely a jewel in the south. I'd be very happy to end up here.
