Interview: University of Illinois at Chicago

First Impressions: This was not my first time to Chicago, and since I had more time to explore, I browsed through Chinatown, went to the top of the Sears tower and walked along Michigan Avenue.
Pre-Interview dinner: This was more of a Happy Hour Q&A at the Illinois Bar and Grill located near the underground campus of UIC. Since I forgot the map and only knew vaguely where it was, I took the shuttle to what I thought would be the closest stop to the bar and started walking. Imagine my dismay when I realized that it was at least a mile's walk from the station, and I was practically an icicle by the time I arrived at the bar (temps were in the low 20s). There were a lot of people in there already, and someone offered me a beer, which I took. It only took a few sips to warm me up. =P

This was definitely the worst pre-interview event I'd ever been to b/c all they offered for food was beer, sodas, onion rings, okra, and chicken strips. I did get to meet a lot of nice people, and we got to chat with one of the chief residents and future chiefs about what UIC was like. It was hard to tell who was an applicant and who was a resident until one girl pointed out that the residents were wearing pagers. After the crowd thinned out, another applicant was kind enough to drop me off at my hotel (he knew that I'd walked from the train station)
Interview Day: This morning I took a cab to the UIC Medical Center, and there I found myself among about 30 other applicants in the same room. This was the largest group of applicants I had ever been with at one time, but it turns out there were a lot of people interviewing that day. Not just categoricals, but also prelims and IM/EM applicants. Of these applicants, there were nine of us from Texas (but I only knew of 2) Morning report covered a patient with what appeared to be a cold but turned out to be something more serious. The PD talked about the program and then the categoricals and prelims were split into groups of two to be taken to interviews and tours, respectively. "Bring your coats," said the chief resident leading the tour, because we were expected to walk outside at some point. The hospital itself was pretty old (it opened in the 1970s) but was very brightly lit, though we didn't get to see the call rooms or cafeteria (at least, not that I remember). We then had to walk outside to the brand new VA hospital (nicknamed the "Taj Mahal"), and the wind was so cold I asked some Chicago natives if that was normal. "Not for December," said one woman from Rush University. "It's usually not this cold until January." At least I was wearing pants; some girls were wearing skirts with only hose to protect their legs from the cold. The VA was beautiful. It was not like any other VA I'd ever seen, and one applicant commented that it didn't even smell like a VA. It looked like a normal hospital, with all rooms private (like the new JPS building). Definitely a selling point for the program.

My two interviews came after the tours. From the start, the program coordinators told us that we were paired with interviewers with whom we'd have something in common. My first interviewer was a pulmonologist/critical care attending whose son is a student at LECOM; he asked me to explain osteopathic medicine to him and when I answered the best I could, he nodded his head as though he's heard the same explanation from his son (I hope that's a good thing). He did say that OMT has its benefits, pointing to his neck as he said so; I imagine he'd been on the receiving end of some HVLA, hehe. He did say that the PD likes to add some variety (i.e. DOs) to the class, so I'm going to take that as a good sign. My second interview was a DO, and he'd been to Texas some months before to interview at our school for a position of some sorts. He asked some application-specific questions and seemed interested when I told him of my background in music. I've found that it's been really useful to bring up my experiences as a violinist; it makes for some good conversation. He ended the interview with, "Do you have any questions for me?" and even though I wanted to ask him my usual questions, I didn't because we were running out of time (I was the last applicant to come out) Hopefully he won't think badly of me for it.

Lunch was delicious, and afterwards we were free to go. I had plenty of time to fetch my luggage and get to the airport, only to find that my flight got delayed by 45 minutes. =(
Overall Impression:
Pros: University, fewer months in general wards, emphasis on specialty medicine, teaching month as a PGY3, sim labs, option of getting an MPH for free, living in Chicago
Cons: None that I can think of at the moment =)

Interview: Washington Hospital Center

First Impressions: No housing provided, so I booked a room at a Red Roof Inn near Chinatown. When I arrived, the desk people found no trace of my reservation, but still gave me a room at a discounted price. After lunch in Chinatown I visited the Holocaust Museum (which was really good) and walked toward the Capitol before turning around and trying to find the White House. It was cold and drizzly, and my feet got tired so I gave up at 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue (2 blocks away) and just went back to the hotel to rest. Still, from what I saw DC is a beautiful city downtown, and there's lots of museums to visit for free.
Pre-Interview dinner: None, so I went to a sushi restaurant across the street from the hotel.
Interview Day: I had to wake up at 5:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. in Texas, ugh) to get ready, check out, and arrive at the Metro station by 6:30 to take the train to the station closest to Washington Hospital Center. There I joined others in boarding a shuttle bus to WHC. The hospital itself is HUGE (800+ beds if I remember correctly), the largest in the DC area and has the 13th highest patient volume in the US. There were about 18 of us total, prelims and categoricals combined, and I noticed that most of the categorical applicants were IMGs while the prelims were all US grads. Morning report was done on a tablet laptop that was then projected onto the screen, so we got to watch the chief resident go through the differentials with us. They also ranked differentials in terms of greatest likelihood, which I thought was interesting. Afterwards we were split in groups of three to follow the teams on attending rounds. My assigned "attending" was also the chief resident who gave morning report. We only saw about two patients with him before he left, and when I asked why, the residents said that the attendings round on the patients admitted to the teaching service, but the residents are on their own when taking care of the private patients. And there's no pre-rounding, which sounded a bit odd to me.

The PD then gave us a 1-hour long presentation about WHC and highlighted all its positive traits before interviews began. I was the first person to get interviewed by the PD, and we had a nice chat about what I'm looking for in a program and my past orchestra experiences (she'd overheard me and another applicant talking about being violinists when she came to get me). She said she'd always wondered what a conductor's gestures meant, and since I took a conducting class before I gave some examples of what a conductor does and how essential he is to the success of a performance. She thought that was interesting. My second interview was with a cardiologist who focuses on cardiac MRI. His first question was, "What can I tell you about the program?" but he really didn't have any questions for me. He did say that he liked my personal statement, so I tried to play up on that and told him about my hobbies including having perfect pitch, which has helped me in hearing heart sounds and murmurs (again, playing up to his cardiology background). He plays guitar so he seemed genuinely interested in that and said that if I ever come back to WHC, I should play for him. Unfortunately this breakthrough took place in the last 10 minutes of the interview, and if we're judged by the first 5 minutes of the interview, then it was too little too late.
Noon and beyond: We had lunch with the residents, all of whom seemed very friendly and genuinely liked being at WHC, before going on a tour around the hospital. The cafeteria was nice, and they had a Sim Lab (which I feel is a plus in most programs) and private call rooms, plus an on-site gym. There was also a portion of the hospital that looked like a 5-star hotel (for the patients willing to pay for it) but we couldn't see it b/c it was closed. There were also lots of cath labs; cardio seems to be big at this hospital. Afterwards, at the closing, we were asked to go around the room and each name something we learned about WHC and whether or not we had any concerns about the program. Since I was one of the last people to give my thoughts, it was a bit awkward to come up with something no one else had already said. A lot of the IMGs from India were concerned about whether or not they could take the 4 weeks of vacation all at once b/c if they're going to travel to India, they want to be there for a good amount of time.
Overall Impression:
Pros: Highly ranked hospital, large patient volume, decent program size (about 24 residents per class), good fellowship placement and research opportunities on site, q9 call on wards, 1 month elective in PGY-3 devoted to teaching (which I think I might be interested in), sim lab, faculty mentors (I think), Washington DC.
Cons: Not a university program, has non-teaching services with private attendings (which may or may not be a problem since private attendings usually tell residents what to do), >50% IMGs

Interview: UTMB-Austin

First Impressions: No housing provided, but they did sent out a list with hotels with discounted prices. Dina had an interview the same day as me so we shared a hotel room at the Ramada Inn near Highland Mall.
Pre-Interview dinner: None, so I went to Mimi's Cafe with friends from undergrad. Dina didn't arrive until after 9 pm because ob-gyn had a dinner.
Interview Day: The morning started off with the PD telling us about the latest changes with the hospital, namely the negotiations between Seton, UTMB, and UTSouthwestern for UTSW to take over sponsorship of the hospital b/c UTMB is currently having a financial crisis with the hurricane and all. But even without the hurricane there were already plans for UTSW to assume control; I knew of this way back in August. The PD seemed confident that the residency itself shouldn't be affected, only the name.

I interviewed with the PD and another hospitalist, and I don't know if I was able to impress the PD or not. I asked several questions about fellowships and UTMB-Austin's attempts to get them started at the hospital, as well as the impact UTSW would have once it takes over, but not much more. I did get a few questions about my time here (the PD said she was sorry she didn't get a chance to meet me in August, as she was on vacation part of the time), and I told both of them about a case of disseminated gonorrhea I saw at Brackenridge. My 2nd interviewer asked me about research from undergrad, and I stupidly said I didn't remember much about the project. Afterwards, we went to morning report and then snagged a team to go on rounds with. Another applicant, Yessica, and I ended up joining the post-call Red team; one of the interns, Joe, was someone I'd worked with on my very last day of my AI, and he sort of remembered me. The attending was Dr. D, the ID doc who always dressed casually; today was no exception since she had on boots and a denim skirt. I did see Dr. C during morning report and was surprised to see him in a suit. My whole 3 weeks with him, he always wore slacks and a polo shirt, never a suit. I wondered what the occasion was.

I never saw Greg or Zach (probably a good thing in the case of Greg), but I spotted Yan in the elevator and we exchanged cheerful hellos. "You're back!" she said. "For interviews?" Yup. After she left the elevator I explained that I'd done my AI here, and Dr. D said, "No wonder you look a bit familiar." During rounds we saw a group of people in white coats with SETON on the pocket walking around, and we wondered if they were board members inspecting the hospital. "No wonder Dr. C's wearing a white coat," said one of the interns (yup, he changed his suit for a white coat by the times rounds started), and Dr. D grumbled why no one warned her, as she was dressed way too casually. I called Dr. C's name as he passed by (our teams were going in separate directions) and he waved back, calling out, "Good to see you!" We finished rounding early so Yessica and I went to the 4th floor workroom and chatted with Ulka, the resident, about the program. Then one of the future chiefs, Manpreet, took us back to the IM offices to wait for Jeff (one of the chiefs) to take us on a tour. Knowing that we'd rounded with the teams, he showed us the ER, the library, the dining room (with Odwallas) and the clinics (which look VERY nice) before turning us over to two residents to take us out for lunch.
Noon Conference and beyond: Two residents, a third year named Rachel and a prelim intern named Justin, took us to the Brick Oven for lunch. I ended up sitting closer to Justin than Rachel, so I heard more about him telling the other two prelim applicants about what prelim year is like rather than Rachel telling the others about what categorical IM is like. Food was definitely good though; too bad I didn't know about Brick Oven in undergrad.
Overall Impression:
Pros: Austin, laid-back atmosphere, free breakfasts and lunches (Odwalla fridge, hehe), friendly people, "easier" program due to a cap of 18-19 patients per service, decent pathology.
Cons: Variable fellowship placement (depends mostly on the applicant; IMGs have more difficulty getting fellowships), questionable research opportunities, not challenging enough.

Interview: UTHSCSA

First Impressions: Like Scott and White, UTHSCSA is very generous to its applicants. They provide a hotel room for each applicant at the La Quinta Inn located not far from the hospital, and when you check in they also give you a gift box containing shortbread cookies, chips, and salsa (very San Antonio-ish) Even though I went to bed earlier, I still had trouble falling asleep; I don't think I sleep well on king-sized beds b/c there's too much room. Needless to say I was sleep-deprived in the morning but tried not to let it show..
Pre-Interview dinner: About five residents met us at Mamacita's, a Tex-Mex restaurant next to the hotel. The IM program paid the bill, which included the entree of our choice and a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory to go. I sat near two applicants and two residents, but sadly none of us were particularly talkative. I ended up chatting with the applicant beside me (who was from Taiwan) most of the time.
Interview Day: One of the chief residents met us at the hotel lobby at 7:00 a.m. and we took the La Quinta shuttle to the hospital. We were escorted to a little classroom where we got breakfast and the PD spoke to us about the program. Then we went to morning report, where we had the most interesting case I've ever seen to date. A 58-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer presented to the hospital with nausea, vomiting, diffuse abd pain, and lethargy for the past two days. The differential ranged from everything from gastroenteritis to bowel infarct to hypercalcemia (which some of the attendings were quite certain of, until the calcium levels were found to be low). Then the powerpoint went up with a picture of a snake at the bottom, and one resident behind said, "Oh, is this the one who eats snakes?" As it turned out, rattlesnake eggs are a folk remedy cure-all in Mexico, and the patient's husband had been giving her the eggs to keep her cancer at bay. As a result she developed Salmonella arizonae, a type of Salmonella not usually found in humans. Wow.

After morning report, half of us went on a tour of the university hospital and VA (me) while the other half went to their interviews. I recognized a TCOM grad (intern) at the VA. My interviews, I thought, went very well. My first interviewer, one of the assistant program directors, said that she liked my personal statement and most of the questions she asked me were specific to my application; we even talked about sudoku. My second interviewer was interested in my past as a violinist (he was impressed when I told him about caroling at Plaza), and we even chatted about Joshua Bell (famous violinist) for a few minutes. It was a very comfortable conversation with both interviewers and I went back to the common area with a smile on my face. Hopefully they thought favorably of me.
Noon and beyond: Lunch was catered to us and dessert was...pumpkin cheesecake, which I'd normally be happy about if I hadn't had the same pumpkin cheesecake at Mamacita's last night. I shared a table with two students whom I'd also be seeing tomorrow at Austin, and the resident at our table was very nice and helpful. I ended up liking this program more than I originally thought.
Overall Impression:
Pros: Top rated university hospital, diverse population and pathology, Spanish heavily spoken but nurses are good about translating if need be, good fellowship placement (UTHSCSA likes to take their own residents), emphasis on teaching and educatoin
Cons: Hospital appears old, no Spanish interpreters (yes, I worry about that), not sure if I want to live in San Antonio

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