UPMC Medical Education-PA

too much fun

the Parker>Patel thing was pretty good tbh

Panda no likey <XD

lol Schlomo UPMC

I'm just glad we can talk candidly about Penn now

annnnd the kodachrome station was awesome x3

kodachrome station was super gentle and chill. wouldn't call it aggressive pimping by any means

A lot of our interviews had tough/intense questions but that doesn’t deserve a name and shame, derm applicants are top tier - we can handle it ;)

totally disagree now is the time to do nothing but name and shame ;P

Yeah, at least on my interview day. -- Thank god! Good for Pitt, Vanderbilt said the same thing. More programs should say this and mad respect to Pitt and Vandy for being direct about this!

Yes, also said specifically no thank yous on my interview day too

how about some context for the rest of us? Please share!!! It consisted of 3-4 clinical cases that you are asked to describe then talk about pathophysiology/treatment/etc. Very straightfoward and was honestly refreshing to do

< Didn't love it either but it was easy x2

I did not like the idea, but it was relaxed and executed well by them

< Great, and the future of interviews imo. Way better than uncomfortable behavioral questions

I didn't mind it. Thought it was a relaxed way to show clinical thinkling.

Don't think it's very accurate, based on how much my upperclassperson likes it there. // residents there seemed happy on interview day

I heard its intense, but didn't hear the word malignant used. Faculty their said "their training is way harder than mine (at OSH) was"

at least one fellowship from each

Doesn’t matter. All about your instagram presence at that point< HAHA

100% true

depends on how many giveaways/month

This may be dumb to say but maybe Stanford since the population may be most like private?

<<Dude, NYU for sure

NYU wasn't one of the OP's posted programs

< is Pitt considered a top program? What is it known for

don't think they're really known for anything lol

are you kidding me? lol Mohs... Zitelli

he isn't involved in the residency though. other than a couple days with him

Favorite: HF, Least Favorite: Broward (Florida) << curious, why Henry Ford? << Same question, one of my least favorites so far.

Not the original poster to the left, but Henry Ford was super impressive. Very happy residents and all the resources of a top program. Detroit wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined, or at least not the area where the residency is

~1pm (you can leave a little earlier, lunch is 12-1)

thanks!

They say those programs are malignant so you rank them lower, and then they can match at them, lol

I think there's a lot of people who state something with authority when either they don't really know themselves or when they're just being malicious and stating false stuff, but from my own limited personal understanding, these programs are the ones that repeatedly -- year after year -- are cited as "malignant." But I think people are using a broad definition of malignant and the reasons for being listed as "malignant" are different for each program -- NYU has been stated to have unhappy residents who do a lot of scut (as can be said about Columbia) with not the nicest attendings; Pitt has been stated to have somewhat uncaring attendings; USC is broadly a scandal-ridden school so not particularly dermatology department-related; Michigan has supposedly improved; UMiami they just work you hard eg, 7:00 am daily lectures (as can be said about UCSF). So I think malignant in derm programs is not like general surgery malignant, I think just one or more of hard working/unhappy residents/not very nice or caring attendings.

<<well said. I a lot of the "malignant" rep just means your are working a little harder in some way relative to some other programs. However, some of these top programs are top programs because they work you a little harder...forcing you to learn a little more. -- Agreed --> I would disagree slightly. Sometimes "working harder" doesn't mean learning more. It just means working harder. x3

<lol someone said lower that malignant means having morning lectures. Very broad range of definitions here

I think people have the expectation that derm residency should be a 9-5 cush job...? << I don't think that person was conflating 7 AM lectures with malignancy, I think it was a separate question

7 am lecture is a special type of torture but not malignant, agree.

idk I equate malignant with people (attendings, coresidents, PD, chair, etc) being actively mean and malicious. Like not caring about the residents or caring that they are unhappy. Long hours, early lecture = sucks but not necessarily malignant if people know about it in advance and sign up for it.

NYU - residents there hate it. early lectures, lots of scut work <did an away, residents seemed very happy. FALSE, NYU is one of the best programs in the country, n =2 but I know a previous and current resient who both absolutely loved it there

heard bad things about Pitt program. Lots of driving in between sites, faculty don't really care, etc

Heard really bad things about UTSW

I forgot about UTSW!!! Yes apparently they have weekly graded quizzes and also some of the faculty are super mean?? Can someone confirm?? x2

Faculty all really nice. True about weekly quizzes which may not be for eveyone but they keep you on track and ensure you are very well trained.

<< there's a reason why UTSW has a reputation of producing the strongest clinically trained dermatologists. The residents seemed really happy there. Doesn't seem like there's much scut work. x2

<what scandal? x2 (☉Д☉)

<-some resident posted online about how much they disliked the program, bad-mouthing it, etc. turns out the person was a problem resident in other ways so people took their rant with a grain of salt. UMichigan addressed it during interview day and told everyone they were taking steps to make their program less malignant. IIRC PD also just changed recently. (lurking derm resident). Thread: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/malignancy-at-michigan-dermatology.1296049/

< wish more programs would come to terms about their malignancy ;)

Ok, I will come out of lurking. I am a resident at UM. I'm not going to answer a ton of questions but wanted to chime in and say the online badmouthing was regarding conditions that are now totally different and the PD really made an effort to hear grievances/change. That person who did the posting was a sour character who was unhappy in general. There were also some blatant lies like our PD discourages people from getting pregnant (I think 9 people have had kids in the past 2 years). Is our program perfect? Of course not. Am I happy here? Yes I am. Did someone pay me/threaten me to post this, definitely not. If you come and interview here please ask quesitons about this - we will be 100% transparent with you. <Thank you for this!

Well this should be a good lesson learned for UMichigan. Often, we as applicants will get overlooked because of something on our application and programs (especially top tier) can just go to another applicant for an interview who checks all the boxes. The justification given (rightfully) is that they should not have to settle since they can get an applicant who has it all. Well UMichigan, while these rumors might not be true or the issues have been addressed, I can just rank a program that is not filled with drama and doesn't have people getting so worked up that they post online. X2

This "well well well michigan, i'm too good for you" post is the saltiest shit i've read on here. I'm not derm but i'm couples matching with derm and I hope you don't end up in my partner's program

take it for what it's worth, but I have friends who are current residents at the Michigan program. 1 loves it, 2 can't wait to get out

I think this would be true of many big programs or maybe that is overly pessimistic of me.

Or they matched residents who fell so low on their rank list that they're happy to "end up" at Michigan. I don't think it's anyone's number 1 program. << nahhh UM is definitely a backup school

<< there are some wayyyyy worse (toxic) programs than UM that are bragged about as being good. UM's just the one that people keep talking about because it's already out there in rumors. They honestly have improved considerably<what are some of the other toxic programs? x2

Miami, Pitt, USC

<-- in what way has USC been/is toxic?

probably Harvard. Not sure who else has telederm

A lot of other schools have strong telederm programs << like who? <emory< a lot of programs have integrated it at one of their sites. VA commonly has telederm at a few programs across the country.

Iowa, BU, Michigan, mizzou, etc

ok but which one is best? how is Pitt?

not sure which is best, but some google searching may tell you. I hear Mizzou's is strong

Top tier: UPenn Harvard UCSF NYU Mayo Michigan, Emory, Henry Ford?) and Michigan and Mayo are not top tier. Would add Stanford, Hopkins, and UCLA instead)

would also add UTSW https://www.mdedge.com/dermatology/article/157864/practice-management/us-dermatology-residency-program-rankings-based/page/0/1 <<what is the difference between this article and the doximity rankings? Is there more validity to one vs the other? << lol, someone put UCLA in top tier (UCLA isn't even a Department, it's a Division) >> lol UCLA low tier for sure << realistically, probably middle to low, great overall health system but will always have hands tied and no real ability to grow

UCLA is a solid program, strong surgical training, lacks the super complex patients of some more intense programs but it depends on what you are looking for in your training << I don't think anyone's saying it's a bad program, just not a top tier, that's kind of silly

UCLA is the perfect example of a low-to-mid tier program that is nonetheless quite competitive given it's in California. Again, there's often a disconnect between prestige/quality of training and competitiveness. Location, location, location.

No way that Hopkins and UCLA would be top tier over Michigan and Mayo

Mid-tier: OHSU, Iowa, Minnesota, UPMC >> Would probably put MN as low tier? >> Thoughts? Why? >> Minnesota would probably be in same tier as OHSU, Iowa, UPMC. Iowa has great faculty, but I think it does suffer from being in a relatively non-diverse, predominately white, smallish-city in Iowa. Minnesota, OHSU, and UPMC are in more urban environments with at least UPMC and Minnesota having more ethnic / racial diversity, (Portland is super white as well). Also, no one should trust that MDedge nonsense x5

To be fair they tried to make an objective measure. Many of the opinions here leave out some good programs and add in top medical schools that are not top derm programs

MN, Iowa as med-high tier? Would drop UPMC to low tier (just feel like no residents really enjoy it there but maybe that's just me lol)? And Iowa usually as a top 20 program on almost all ranking systems (though you cant always trust these things so who knows). I think its one of those places that suffers in many peoples minds because they have a not-so great med school and its in the mid west, but the derm program is actually extremely well-respected independednt of those facts

1. Penn 2. UCSF 3. NYU 4. Harvard 5. Stanford 6. Northwestern 7. Emory 8. UTSW 9. Hopkins 10. Wash U 11. Mayo 12. Michigan 13. Iowa 14. HF 15. OHSU 16. Colorado 17. Minnesota 18. Utah 19. Cornell 20. Vanderbilt

<-What is this list based on? Its totally inaccurate. Hopkins and Vanderbilt are mid tier programs at best. No Yale? No UW? No Wisconsin? No Miami? No Sinai? Cornell over Columbia? UPMC is definitely mid to top tier. Also, tiers maybe, but I dont understand how you can possibly rank 1 vs. 3 vs. 8 off the cuff << yeah, 1-3 is pretty standard, gets messy with next 5 I was about to post how accurate this list is. Some of the programs listed above are no way in the conversation. You can maybe disagree with Wash U/Cornell to the left tho. I'd agree Vanderbilt too high too

<Yale for sure. x4 . Think that list is pretty accurate for top 20 minus Wash U, Cornell, and Vanderbilt. Would replace with Yale and Columbia. And Cleveland Clinic maybe. <<I question the order of some of these too. Hopkins is not a top 10 (but it is a top 20 probably). I agree that Sinai, miami, Columbia would also be top 20. Vandy should not be on that list and neither should a few others.

<How good are the following programs: UPMC, Hopkins, UCSD, Miami.

I think those are all decent programs (mid-top tier?). I would say that I typically view Hopkins as a mid-tier program (they don't have a lot of diversity in terms of training sites, though Hopkins itself is a great hospital). Miami is typically considered a Top 10 program - but they also are quite disorganized, old facilities, longer hours (Saturday clinics). UPMC takes a lot of MD/PhDs and has great Mohs training, though I never found their program actually attracts people who want to be there. UCSD is solid, somewhat basic-science focused. It's outshined by other programs in California (e.g. Stanford, UCSF, USC) and San Diego has great weather / beaches, though admittedly isn't the most exciting place to live / lacks a lot of arts / culture compared to most bigger cities in the United States.

name me a state with better Mexican food tho