Interview: Scott and White

First Impressions: Scott and White is very generous to its applicants. They provide a hotel suite for each applicant at the Hilton Gardens Inn located across the street from the hospital for free, and when you check in they also give you a mug full of candy (which I've promised to give to Dina since the only candy I like nowadays is Hi-Chew). The beds are pretty comfy but the pillows were too soft; it took me a long time to fall asleep, and other applicants had the same complaint. I saw several family medicine applicants there too, including Liza and Clark.
Pre-Interview dinner: One of the chief residents met about 11 of us at the hotel lobby and drove us to a 2nd year residents' house via van. There was potluck BBQ so we ate our fill and then hung around chatting with residents. One 3rd year told me he'd trained at JPS for 2 years before deciding he liked IM better than FP, and he asked me about the new Patient Care Pavilion and what became of the old ICU and Tele units. Overall the residents seemed happy at Temple, especially with their training; >60% go into fellowship.
Interview Day: The residency coordinator met us at the hotel lobby (all 15 of us) at 7:10 a.m. and we got to the hospital via S&W shuttle. We went to morning report, where the program director introduced us geographically by school (all TX schools were represented except for UT-Houston, to the disappointment of one resident) before launching into a case of renal artery stenosis, which was engaging and fun. Then we had a powerpoint about the program (which is provided online so I'd seen it before) before going to our first interview. I met with a hospitalist whose first question to me was, "Do you have any questions about the program?" She was very nice, but did not ask me many questions, and overall I didn't feel as though she tried to get to know more about me aside from confirming that I was a violinist (she used to play, too). After that interview we hopped on the van and traveled to the VA hospital and then drove around town so we could see neighborhoods where residents usually live.
Noon Conference and beyond: Interviewees were ushered to the front of the line and got to eat first. Today was Cardio board review, so everyone got a keypad and got to vote on answers that were posted on the overhead, CIL-style. I'm glad to say I got several of the answers right. Afterwards, a resident took us on a tour around the (new) hospital. I thought I walked past Delip near the cafeteria but he looked right through me so now I think it might have been his brother instead. After the tour, we had one last exit interview for any last minute questions but I was all questioned-out so it only lasted about 10-15 minutes. *sigh*
Overall Impression:
Pros: Large tertiary hospital, diverse population and pathology, Spanish not required, good fellowship placement, 100% board pass rate for the last few years, emphasis on education
Cons: Temple, less-than-satisfactory interview experience