I liked this idea from last year, so I'm bringing it back! Plus it should be a respite from the Top5 thread =) 2010 Interview Season Awards (answer as you wish, add your own categories if you want)Biggest surprise: the program that had it all together and beat all your expectations Biggest disappointment: great reputation, but it turned out to be undeserved Best food: they pulled out all the stops to show you a good time, and it showed Worst food: it can be a fancy restaurant or take-out, but the food sucked Best organized: comfortable schedule, low pressure, fun to be there Worst organized: Who’s in charge of this place, anyway? Best interview: after 20 minutes, you felt like you had a chance to shine Worst interview: you just couldn’t get out of that room fast enoughBest (or Worst) Overall Interview Season Moment
Biggest surprise: Miami. I think it used to be malignant so nobody I talked to had much to say about it but I was really surprised when I interviewed. Well-organized day, residents were cool, liked the faculty, strong clinical training... Their (infamous?) chairman has stepped down & while they're looking for a chairman (they almost got Mani Menon) they're still growing, they've hired 3 new faculty this year & the new chair will probably bring at least 1 more. In general I felt like this is a program on the rise and though I wasn't psyched to go there initially, ended up ranking them pretty well. Best food: lunch at UTMB (Galveston, TX) at this super nice latin american restaurant, we could order whatever we wanted & it was GOOD. OSU wins an honorable mention for ordering more food than I've ever seen, I think every appetizer on the menu was ordered (some multiple times) & we still got drinks, entrees, and dessert (not that anyone had room for it). Worst food: every place that did open bar + appetizers w/o dinner; went home hungry every timeBest interview: UCSF, the questions were more introspective, felt like they were really trying to get to know me beyond my application & I could talk about something beyond my stock answers about my research/hobbies/etc. Worst interview: one of my Cincinnati interviewers spent the entire interview talking about how religion is stupid, false, & evil. It's also the cause of all human conflicts and w/o it there would be no racism/sexism/etc. Spent a lot of time nodding and smiling and waiting for the knock on the door.Best (or Worst) Overall Interview Season Moment:Best: any time I got to have drinks (and/or dinner) with my fellow interviewees after the interview day, it's great to know there's so many cool people going into the field!Worst: one of the residents at a mid-tier midwest program got smashed at the dinner & was ridiculous: he interrogated the people around him & would say "is THAT what you think?" in response, turned to the person next to him and said something like "f**ing med students, I'm so sick of this shit," hit on the waitresses, and all in all was a total class act. Thankfully not reflective of the program as a whole from the rest of my time there.
Biggest Surprise: Pitt - overall great program. Definitely better each year. A top program these days, in my opinion. Great operative experience. Great research. Terrific chairman. Only show in town.Biggest Disappointment: no comment.Best Food: Cleveland Clinic - open bar, gourmet, tasted great.Worst Food: Northwestern - not a fan of deep dish. No options.Best Organized: Baylor - structured interviews with very interesting questions. quick and to the point.Worst Organized: Jefferson - we seemed to wander over to some bar awkwardly after the day was done.Best Interview: Lahey - varied questions. I felt like I did well. UCSF maybe Worst Interview: Tie Ohio State/Stanford - awkward interviews with multiple attendings. Strange questions.Best moment: Showing up to a particular interview and knowing every single other applicant from previous interviews.
Biggest surprise: UAMS Biggest disappointment: UIC (not sure how great their reputation is) Best food: Tie between, UAMS and Rochester. Both had superb dinners, breakfast & lunch... with snacks in between. Worst food: Lets just say a small NYC community program: Bagels and Pizza, enough said. Best organized: First program that comes to mind is Rochester, the coordinator is suberb- very professional- everything from A-Z was taken care of in full style & class. She anticipated everything- and was just great overall. Worst organized: The bagel & pizza NYC program had us carpooled around to another site 25 minutes away, far from public transportation- making it expensive & difficult to get home. On the other hand, at Rochester handful of the interviewers were absent (sick, OR, vacation etc) and the reshuffling caused alot of confusion (i.e. I go into a room and they mistake me for another candidate whose app is on top of their pile). Best interview: (Not all interviews were 20 min!!) Worst interview: UIC: rude, disinterested & unprepared interviewers. *Except for Dr. Deane, he was great.
2010 Interview Season Awards (answer as you wish, add your own categories if you want) Biggest surprise: If it wasn't in Winston-Salem, Wake Forest would be much higher on the list. Excellent research potential, great, well respected faculty. Biggest disappointment: Indiana. Residents seemed completely overworked. Why do a thousand RPLNDs when they historically all go into private practice. Best food: Lunch at the W (UCLA), Dinner at L'Albatros (CCF) Worst food: UColorado. Pizza for dinner and following lunch. Best organized: Duke. 12+ interviews but the day was super smooth. Best interview: UCLA. Faculty were all interested Best (or Worst) Overall Interview Season Moment: Indiana--wild night at the brewery.
2010 Interview Season Awards (answer as you wish, add your own categories if you want)Biggest surprise: SUNY Downstate, knew nothing about the program, nice residents that seem happy and new chairman was very nice, lots of open surgeryBiggest disappointment: UIC, unimpressed, unenthusiastic faculty and residentsBest food: UK, took us to a steak restaurant, had a $30 steak and drinks/ LSU/Ochsner-dinner was nice catered new orleans fare and shrimp Po-boys for lunchWorst food: UT memphis, lunch was horrible sans cakeBest organized: UABWorst organized: UT memphis- had 2 interviews in the afternoon session with 4.5 hours between themBest interview: WashU, Worst interview: UICBest (or Worst) Overall Interview Season Moment being 30min late to interview because of cancelled flight the night prior after getting up at 3am for a 5am flight
Biggest surprise: Nebraska - Didn't really know what to expect going in, but the residents seemed very happy with their training and the faculty were great. Plus, Warren Buffett has poured a great deal of money into that hospital, so the facilities were second to none. Biggest disappointment: UIC - Agree with other candidates' assessments. Best food: Ole Miss - Pretty good pizza place the night before followed lunch at a really nice Southern restaurant after the interview. Worst food: Can't really remember a place that was that bad. Best organized: Wash U - 11 or 12 interviews in a 3-4 hour span. Almost all the faculty and residents were there. Day moved very smoothly and efficiently. Worst organized: LSU Shreveport. Best interview: Tie between Wash U and Baylor. At both places, I got questions I hadn't heard before and faculty seemed genuinely interested. Worst interview: Maryland - Faculty were in and out. One attending had to leave interviews for an emergency case which was understandable, but another left for a dentist's appointment. Residents really weren't present on day of interview. Best Overall Interview Season Moment: Party with the Indiana residents after the interview was a lot of fun.
The Belagio Hotel, Motel, HOLIDAY INN?
Biggest surprise: Mayo AZ. I'm not sure what I expected, but I liked it a lot, lot more than I thought I would!Biggest disappointment: I was very excited about Maine, and found the whole process a bit strange. We had to bring or buy our own breakfast, for example. The hotel that most people stayed at gave out a breakfast, but mine did not.Best food: U of Arizona! They had amazing Mexican food for lunch!Worst food: There were so many places who had an "event" that lasted from 6-9pm...dinner hour...and then didn't give us any dinner! Kansas comes to mind as a terrible offender. Liked the program, liked the bbq lunch, but dinner the night before did not exist (and we were out for ALL of the dinner hour!)Best organized: Stanford had a great feel to it.Worst organized: Henry Ford. Half of the group waited for three to four hours before having any interviews, but had to come at the same time as everyone else. Also, Columbia had 5-7 minute interviews with 3-4 interviewers per room...felt like you didn't get to say anything at all.Best interview: I never think I interview well. But I enjoyed the day at Mayo AZ a lot.Worst interview: I got a weird, weird vibe at Ohio State.Best Overall Interview Season Moment: So many funny moments that cannot be shared...
Biggest surprise: Cleveland Clinic, program is so great it trumps geography for me. Biggest disappointment: I was excited to see BWH but found the day kinda rough after taking a red-eye to get there from an interview out west the day before and then only interviewing with 2 faculty it was really hard to get a feel for the place. Also was pretty let down by a program in the southwest where the PD had a very strange and confrontational personality and seemed to have very little respect for the residents. Best food: U of Arizona, Cleveland Clinic and University of Rochester Worst food: Pitt had us in a smoky cigar bar and my clothes stank for a week which sucked being on the trail and packing light. Best organized: WUSTL, was like speed dating but worked well Worst organized: Any program that felt the need to start at 7am and keep us till 5pm, any program with tour lasting longer than 20 mins. The best is when you get exposure to residents the night before with a mingling type dinner, then have efficient interviews with 5-10 faculty one-on-one or two-on-one, have a brief tour (or better photo tour mixed with city life presentation by residents) and the whole official day lasts no more than 7 hours. Best interview: U Mich, I think I nailed them (except the wiki leads grilling) Worst interview: Rochester, first one of the season and wasn't prepped Best Overall Interview Season Moment: Dinner in Tuscon with fellow applicants after the interviews