Catching up

I am behind on blogging again...by two interviews...oh well...here goes:

SIU:

I liked this program quite because I felt it was a place where I would get ample opportunity and encouragement to pursue my interest in academic medicine.The program director was wonderful...his slide show about the program more than made up for the not so impressive website.The program is one of the 17 programs across the US that have been selected to be part of the EIP. I was very impressed with the PD's interest in resident education .During my interview with him he told me in depth about the system of resident evaluation he had come up with...it was all extremely thorough and unique...he told me about how his scheme had actually made its way out to other programs who had also implemented the same(all the applicants get photocopies of the evaluation structure...apparently applicants had passed it on to other programs).I was also interviewed by the chief of rheumatology...that went quite well too.Its a smallish program...most of the residents are IMGs but there is a lot of diversity ranging from people from Romania,Ukraine,China,Pakistan,Sudan and India.Research isn't really a strong point for this program but there are opportunities available for those who are proactive about it.The interns who took us out for the pre-interview dinner were really nice.I asked them if they'd ranked SIU as number one in their rank order lists...and none of them had ranked it as number one...it was either number 2 or 3(I usually ask the residents what program they had ranked as number two provided the particular program they were at was indeed number one and then ask them about what was it about this program that made them choose it over the other)....so far this question has got me some candid answers and good insight into the program.Anyways,there were no major issues with this program per se that made the interns I talked to rank it lower than their top choice....just the fact that springfield is a small city and their isn't much to do there or they had family in another state far off from Illinois etc.Personally, I would be just fine if I had to live in Springfield...I don't really like big cities and Chicago and St. Louis are a 3 and a 2 hour drive away respectively if one needs to get away.I got a letter from the program director yesterday reiterating their strengths and that they would be ranking me highly and would be delighted to have me come in for a second visit.They probably sent the same letter to all the people they interviewed but it feels good all the same...:)

My interview at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago after this was quite an experience...(trivia...apparently, the county general hospital in the show ER is a factitious representation of this hospital)....more tomorrow(hopefully!).