Mass General Brigham-MA

Loma Linda internal medicine program in CA has in the past

Saint Louis university

mount auburn

BIDMC does for sure I asked apds this exact question

Q

what are the programs

Not really wanting to share but one is T15 but in less desirable city where I have family connections, other one is ~T60 program in more desirable city with friends

does high or low ranking in derm matter to you? QOL so much more important than ranking of derm program.... in my opinon up you have to figure that out for you

it matters but its not top of list> do you want go into academics or private practice? because if the training is the same at both prograams, prestige would only matter if you're applying to be faculty or wanting grants + 1

> OP, I'm in a similar situation! It's tough because my mentors have been pushing me to rank the T10/T15 program in a less desirable city for me (have never lived there before, only know one friend lol) higher than the T30/T40 program in a city where I have family and friends, but I think I'm leaning towards prioritizing the program where I know people and will personally be happier. Residency is tough, and I've heard it can be very isolating if you don't end up clicking with your co-residents (and derm residency classes are so small). I don't feel very strongly about pursuing a career in academics though

if you care about prestige, you are lame af. 95% of us going prviate practice regardless of whatever BS academic reason you are telling yourself now. everyone focuses on name, but you can put a dumbass at harvard derm and they'll still graduate a dumbass. the training will always be what you the individual make of it

derm resident - middle tier in a top tier location is better than top tier in a shit location. Your QoL will be better and you'll still get good training; UNLESS you want to do high-level academia. In that case, you may wanna just tough it out

tysm for your input! that makes me feel better about my decision

prolly not

Each year at least 40-50 people apply to med derm for 1-2 spots per program, and three of the programs being Harvard, Penn, and NW definitely doesn't make it any easier. I'd say more competitive by numbers alone ~45 applicants for 8 total spots)

except most people who are med-derm typically also apply to regular derm spots too

for this reason my PD told me that it is likely less competitive that matching derm alone, but probably not by much

idk about that that's 6ish applicants per spot while derm has 1.6 applicants per spot (at least for USMDs as far as I remember)? meaning med-derm would be more competitive in that regard

you'll drink the koolaid at any of these programs. within derm, penn is the premiere program. harvard's name externally carries weight, but there's a cost to that (working ~10 hours more on average per week). no difference to future career prospects. yale is smallest chill

keep in mind that the advice on here is HEAVILY biased by people who are also ranking these programs, and often, playing games in that regard... imo the best advice is pick place where you'll be happiest whether that's location or culture (if you did an away/interview vibes) or something else

<- lol, I've been told things that deeply conflict advice at left + just look at the rank list < is the rank tally affecting your decisions tho < def no. each program interviewed 30+ people and like 10 have listed the "rank" on the tally? < sorry I meant look at the rank list to see the likely COI at play here

and as big a name as Harvard. >> most non-derm people don't know that Penn is a good program

id argue that while it is lesser known than harvard, the average person would understand that penn is at least "good" lol

also consider COL (a studio in boston proper ~2k)

Also impressed by Penn, Harvard, Yale, Northwestern

also, I wonder how far the Harvard/Yale name can take someone.

I'm more curious about Arkansas> home??

yeah lots of us low/mid tier applicants try to avoid this spreadsheet as it makes us more stressed, the high tier applicants have tons of interviews and their stress is probably more about where they are matching while for some of us, we are stressed about matching at all!

we all are stressed about matching

great school with great residents! I'll be ranking them high!!

there were a couple interactions that had me legitimately laughing like quoting them to my friends afterwards. culture is great (from what I saw) and it seems that USC faculty have a knack of finding a great group of applicants personality-wise. seemed to vibe well with most. Harvard and USC are very good at picking cool people.

my classmate interviewed there and said it was all women applicants

facts

slayyyyy queens

where is a program to ensure I only have male applicants/residents?

Stanford has an unmatched brand name and is, non-negotiably, a top program. Anyone who tries to convince you not to go there likely has ill intentions

agreed. same with UCSF, Penn, NYU, Harvard, etc.

the person was asking Stanford vs ucsf and others commented they'll be ranking Stanford over ucsf. Felt like several people said that

I think patterns are very shady, OP. haha.

lmao

imagine being in the position to get to choose ucsf or stanford COULDNT BE ME must be nice

A lot of mental masturbation and obsession over what the top programs are and comparing them. As a derm resident, I will say to be grateful if you match anywhere and be extra grateful if you match at one of your top choices/place you really liked + 10002

everyone says do a TY

Dont be deluded and choose an intense prelim (something akin to MGH) thinking it will make you a better dermatologist or help you if you want to do academics. Honestly I feel 6 months would be enough for a prelim/TY to get a solid foundation on general medicine.

Currently a big academic prelim program where I'm basically a categorical intern. This year has made me so tired, affected by mental health and physical health. I wish I had done an "easier" prelim or TY.

yeah this is what i'm scared of - i hope you can find some time to recoop

Im currently in a TY program known for being "chill" and I feel more than competent in my medical knowledge and clinical responsibilitues, ive rotated through wards multiple times, done ICU, more consult heavy subspecialty rotations but still get really nice blocks of chill elective time with garunteed weekends. I def feel the burn out when on wards/ICU but the lighter months make it bareable and even enjoyable. If you can do a "chill" TY

food for thought, if you were to hypothetically not match in derm this cycle (hopefully this won't be the case!!) and end up only matching to an intern year, being in a prelim year and not a TY program might set you up better to dual apply the next time around (if you should choose to do so) - so it's kind of a specific hypothetical scenario that doesn't apply to everyone, but definitely something to consider!

your supplemental ROL can be different order and then you can rank them separately at the bottom in case you don't match

People need to stop deleting

no tea just loved my BI interview. And thought those people loved what they were doing. Personally know a few current residents that absolutely love the program

just go somewhere chill bro it's fully not worth it

heard from MA people BI is nicest/chillest, then MGH=BWH or some said MGH>BWH

MGH def most malignant of the 3, and the only one that still does 24 hr shifts

Not sure if that's true. I think BWH does too

BWH does 28s (interviewed there last season)

anybody got tea on BWH, BIDMC or MGH prelim programs?

yes, every weekend except the 6-8 you're on call PGY2

> not OP but i also have a question im too scared too ask in case it comes off as too dumb lol but what exactly is call? like you're wokring in clinic the full day and then at night time you might also be called in for consults? or youre not working/waiting at home to see if you're gonna get consults all day? or is it like 24 hours on call? >depends on the rotation. Sometimes you're in clinic all day but also carrying the pager and you see consults in between or after clinic, this is usually for less busy call services. You can also be on inpatient consults and just on 24 hour call not seeing patients in clinic otherwise for the week. Someone else usually takes over on the weekend.

<current derm res: every program does it differently. At my program you are on normal clinic during the full day and then starting after clinic is over, you take over all the pagers and see any consults that come in overnight until the next day. You still have to work in clinic the next day. Usually weekday and weekend residents are different (split up).

except if you match at Harvard? i guess?

will NOT be matching @ Harvard lol thanks guys for the responses :-)

also don't be afraid to ask residents about call - it's super important to know

friendly reminder that you can check things like average hours/week and average days off/week on Residency Explorer! some programs are surprising!!

harvard has an average amount of call ~12 weeks but more consult time compared to most programs

isn't it just a review of some of their program offerings? Like we signed up for various interests to learn more about

im so embarrassed from today i almost do not want to show my face there again lol

same LOL

i've only got two brain cells left after that interview day hopefully it's just a presentation of sorts. i'm still replaying my PD interview like sir please give me something here :(

PD room was by FAR my worst, as fate would have it

hopefully the other interviews save us or we're just a horrible judge of performance

same those questions were rough >had to take anxiety meds to stop repeating the PD room in my head

for me the PD + APD rooms were the worst lol

next time someone asks me to tell them about a time that failed i have new inspo> this is frying me

do you think the dress code is similar to resident social?

yah business casual?

think so

oops im posted up in my sweatshirt whatever

ur good i think a lot of us were haha

honestly worst interview experience so far. Wonder how much this is reflective of the program culture as a whole and them being on a high horse just because they are Harvard>nah bro dont tease. what was the question

pls spill tea

no one is here to share the questions, why are people even asking lol

it was just tough

there are no more interviews, why does it matter if people share the questions? Also people are gonna ask if you post about it

oh no :( i'm scared now there's one more group

lol seeing this while in the interview waiting room. RIP

we got this

Will check in EOB for the tea. But to everyone interviewing, you got this!! You’ve worked insanely hard, and if you’re interviewing, you have a good shot at matching

it's tough for everyone, stay positive!

They're so weird FR

was thinking the whole time wow these are my people lol

The questions were just really odd, specific behavioral ones. Every single one of them was a question I had never been asked / haven't been asked since and I've had a good number of derm interviews so far. Just kind of threw you off and you end up rambling. Probably was their goal so i guess they achieved it. But the questions weren't like unprofessional or anything

Agreed with the left, they were specific where you couldn't really fit your prepped examples to the question, so you're left trying to come up with an example on the fly. Sometimes I felt like I didn't really have a good example that would make for a reasonable story

if you thought harvard was bad you shouldve seen mayo MN

perfectly stated!!

ok i'm n = 1 but i disagree with this one i don't think it's odd specific behavioral but maybe i've had some overlapping interview q's. also the attendings are good vibes

i blacked out for mine. i remember the first and last room

it's my dream to blackout these memories but instead im haunted by the memories of the regrettable nonsense i shared

I rambled so much and half the time didn't answer the actual question :/

some i literally did not even give a story, they got me.

BUT YOU STILL TRIED

for the past like 3 months i've been talking with my BF/GF about stuff related to this dang journey and how i've been processing some of the more difficult things that happened, and legit about 4 of the questions' answers just came from those discussions. those questions were HARD though but the attendings were so nice that you didn't feel like you did badly lol

i did both, and hope to never think of them again

omg was Mayo worse than this because I thought Harvard's was brutal

personally thought harvard was worse but might be recency bias

I thought mayo was way worse, questions felt like the hunger games and at least harvard people were nice after you answered the question