General surgery residency ranking

February 4, 2007 8:48 PM

Looking for an advice on ranking general surgery residencies, specifically University of Pittsburgh vs University of Michigan vs Yale; and UMDNJ New Brunswick vs University of Connecticut vs Brown. Can you suggest any pros or cons to help me rank them?

I am aware of FREIDA, USNews hospital rankings, NIH funding data, and pass rates... any other information that I may consider or any inside information/ personal experience on these programs? Thank you.

posted by banderivec to education (7 comments total)

Well, as an undergrad, Brown's med school just got $100 million. Which seems like a good thing.
posted by awesomebrad at 10:29 PM on February 4, 2007

Personally, I would try to find out which location would have a higher placement rate at the end of the residency. You'll be getting a great education at any of those sites, where do you want to go after? Will you follow up the general surgery residency with a fellowship? Do you want to try to stay at the same place for both programs? Do any of the programs have an instructor you would prefer for mentoring?

Are you interested in research? Which program has the most opportunities for publication?

Do you have family and/or friends near any of these locations? Does that matter to you?

The studies that you mention will give you cold data on the hospital and department (which is a great place to start), but you need to look at these locations as a place to live and thrive for the X years.
posted by blackkar at 5:05 AM on February 5, 2007

I can't give you much about the program, but I can tell you about one of the places.

Pittsburgh is an excellent little city. Or at least I know a number of people who think so, including me. If you come from a huge-er-er city you are likely to think that it is small and boring, but otherwise it is great. Oakland (where the Pitt campus is) is full of people and things and has great access to almost everywhere else in the city (it's about in the middle).
posted by that girl at 5:22 AM on February 5, 2007

Go with quality of life issues. Best, cheapest, closest housing/restaurants/grocerty &c. General surgery really is as engrossing as they say (though not quite as terrible) so make it as easy on yourself as possible. This will be key to keeping your sanity and not turning into a general misanthrope.
posted by jmgorman at 6:35 AM on February 5, 2007

If I am not mistaken Yale's GS had their accreditation taken away in the not too distant past....

There are definitely sites out there that let you compare residencies beyond rank from rotation schedule to a ton of other stuff. Do some googling if you haven't already. At the moment I can't think of any.
posted by sneakin at 9:37 AM on February 5, 2007

Have you been to the Student Doctor forums? If there aren't any residents from those programs posting, there are probably a few people who have interviewed.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:40 AM on February 5, 2007

(add info) Yes, I am aware of SD forums (good source of information, however it is limited due to people eventually competing against each other). There's no much info on general surgery residencies online otherwise. Fellowship placements and location seem to be the most useful criteria at the point when other scores are more or less equal. No magic bullet, huh... thank you :)
posted by banderivec at 2:55 PM on February 5, 2007