I saw this in another forum where it was a popular feature and wondered if folks here would be interested in filling it out (takes 2 seconds & you can be anonymous besides you're already matched! Feel free to add your own categories):Biggest surprise: the program that had it all together and beat all your expectationsBiggest disappointment: great reputation, but it turned out to be undeservedBest food: they pulled out all the stops to show you a good time, and it showedWorst food: it can be a fancy restaurant or take-out, but the food suckedBest organized: comfortable schedule, low pressure, fun to be thereWorst organized: Who’s in charge of this place, anyway?Best interview: after 20 minutes, you felt like you had a chance to shineWorst interview: you just couldn’t get out of that room fast enough
I suspect this won't be as anonymous as you might think since we've all heard each other's interview stories, but here goes.....Biggest surprise: Case Western Reserve University. I hadn't heard much about it other that the fact that it had been in turmoil for a few years, but they really did have it together. I was just about sold by the end of the interview.Biggest disappointment: LSU-Shreveport, but I have to qualify that by saying that I was expecting a different type of program that what it is. It's a great place to operate, it's just not an academic powerhouse. Best food: University of Wisconsin or Indiana. Not because of the food, but because they both did events the night after that (supposedly) had no impact on the rank process. I felt like both of them just did them as a gesture to the applicants. They weren't trying to sell the program to you and you could let down your guard. Worst food: Medical College of Georgia. I'm not a fan of gyros and the only other option was lettuce in a pita. Best organized: Medical College of Wisconsin. Ran like a machine, you still got to talk with everyone a decent length of time, and somehow you felt like you'd spent most of the day just hanging out with the residents. Worst organized: University of Arkansas. A little more pre-interview contact would have been nice, but once I got there it seemed like a good place.Best interview: William Beaumont. It's near the end, so I felt like I was really on my game. It was one of those where I felt like I'd had a different conversation in every room I went in instead of just repeating the same jokes over and over again. Worst interview: University of Nebraska. I actually liked the residents there a lot, but I had an interview with one attending that was unpleasant.
Biggest surprise: LIJ- The day went smoothly, residents seemed very friendly, very impressed with the faculty Biggest disappointment: Wake Forest- having the research year first just didn't fit what I wanted Best food: BU- great food, fun atmosphere, and sangria! Worst food: Syracuse- lunch was not good and it was hosted by a medical rep Best organized: UNC- low pressure interviews, coordinator very organized Worst organized: Syracuse- enough said Best interview: University of Pittsburgh- felt like I related to the faulty and residents, different conversation with each one Worst interview: University of Rochester- held interview in the operating room... wierd and uncomfortable
Biggest surprise: UT-Knoxville - Didn't know anything about the program, after the interview it ended being one of my favorite places. It is truly a hidden gem. Biggest disappointment: Penn State- I had high expectations, the interview day was kinda of awkward and unimpressive. Best food: Tulane- Nobody can beat the Big Easy for food. Worst food: Oklahoma- I would consider "no lunch" as the worst possible lunch. Best organized: Tulane- I was surpirsed at how quickly and efficiently the day went. Worst organized: Memphis- I love interview days that last from 7am until 6pm for no good reason. Best interview: MCG- Just had a great all around feeling from all of the facutly and residents, everyone seemed very happy. Worst interview: Oklahoma- Hands down the worst interview day for may reasons, the staff overall was not friendly. The chair in particular was wierd and uncomfortable.
Biggest surprise: UC Davis. Great place.Best food: Cleveland Clinic. Dinner at some fancy French place with tons of cheeses. Saw the bill: it was like $150/person! Awesome.Worst food: Columbia. The "dinner" before the interview day was disappointingly an open bar (and absolutely no food), and they had greasy sandwhiches the day of the interview.Best organized: Baylor. Their coordinator is amazing and knows all the folks ahead of time.Best interview: Vanderbilt. Got to meet tons of faculty without feeling rushed.Worst interview: Columbia vs. WashU. Half day interviews barely made the visit worth it.
Nobody else?
Biggest surprise: University of Colorado - Denver. All I'd ever heard was how miserable the 2 years of gen surgery were but that has changed. Its now only 14 months of gen surg and the gen surg program is on probation for duty hour violations so its now a lot friendlier and better staffed. I also really liked the faculty, residents and facilities too.Best food: Scott & WhiteWorst food: Oklahoma - no lunch after they told us not to book our return flights home until after 5pm. We were done around 11. Warm up interview, I guess. Best organized: University of Chicago - they made sure to have their residents there for most of the time (who were quite entertaining) for us to be able to ask them our questions. They also had a brutal schedule for the interviewers and they did a good job staying on it with built in breaks. Best interview: University of Chicago - it was a long day of interviews but I got to meet every faculty member and remember having a great time, possibly because the other applicants there were awesome (many of whom I had already met)Worst interview: University of Illinois - Chicago. This interview was one of my first and was very frustrating. Most of the faculty just wanted the applicants to ask questions the whole time. In fact, it was hinted in the beginning that the quality of applicant questions was an important factor in ranking. Kind of frustrating to have to be on the gun to ask questions the whole time. Especially by the last few interviews when you've run out of questions. I was in the afternoon group, maybe they just wanted to hear themselves talk by then.