"UPENN has a phenomenal emphasis on education. They really put a lot of bank on hiring great educators and great faculty. The faculty have an incorporated score for promotions that is based on their feedback as an educator. They also have a phenomenal hospital system and great sub-specialties in anesthesia. The Chairman is quite a stand up guy and even PICKED US UP in the morning. He could have easily sent someone else to do that for him but he didn't think he was too important to greet the applicants in the lobby. He shows you right away that he is a caring guy. The PD is also phenomenal and incredibly nice. He appears to have a very fatherly presence and the residents had no complaints. The intern year is more surgery than medicine but the interns seem to like it very much. The residents support collegiality amongst the surgeons and anesthesiologist residents. It appears that the Chairman has a huge presence in the hospital and is very well published. This is truly an amazing program to be a part of. Oh and if you're into Peds...CHOP!!!!!! And they have a simulator!!!" | More from this Member | Report Response

"Great name, impressive leadership, outstanding caseload. Smart faculty, bright residents, good support staff. Strongest cinical program I saw. All transplants in good numbers and real trauma. Relatively infrequent call, most weekends off. Strong peds. Department has more of a presence in the hospital than I saw at other places, likely stemming from the chair. Fairly generous internal moonlighting. Alumni in leadership roles everywhere. Dept provides good support for residents seeking jobs/fellowships. Chair seems genuinely interested in the residents/residency and wants it to be the best it can possibly be. He's also very well connected. PD is committed to education and is loved by the residents. Paid for very nice hotel!" | More from this Member | Report Response

"Faculty very relaxed. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"Philly is technically a big city but has such a small city feel to it. The SEPTA SUCKS! I'm sure it is convenient but why does it have so few lines when the population is twice that of Boston?? Even the T has >5 lines. COME ON! I was also negatively impressed by the lack of organization in proper messages by the support staff prior to the interview day. They gave me the wrong times and thus I did not get to book the proper times for transportation back. They did not inform us beforehand about a research meeting. But this is all very minor. Oh I guess one more thing is that they have lots of buildings and it will take a long time to get used it all." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Dinner before the interview wasn't as nice as others, but again, they paid for the hotel. Philadelphia is an okay city with a few nice pockets. Less exciting/nice than New York, Boston, Washington, but better than Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland. More affordable than those first 3 cities and with lots of young people. As with most major programs, regional and didactics could be improved (and reportedly are being improved). " | More from this Member | Report Response

"Not many people had read my application ahead of time. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"there are about 18-20 applicants a day and we are divided into the morning group and afternoon group. Some of us come in by 7:20am and will leave at the end of lunch (around 12:30pm). The afternoon group comes in for lunch (around 11am) and will leave around 3:30. If you are in the morning group, prepare to interview immediately! They gave us 10 minutes to eat some breakfast and we started right away. We had 5 interviews. 3 of them are with various faculty and can last anywhere from 20-40 minutes (depending on how much you talk). Everyone meets with the PD and chairman in a span of 30 minutes for both. They usually have it divided well so that you get the Chairman for 15 minutes and the PD for 15 also. I didn't know this and didn't feel like I got to say everything I wanted with the Chairman so beware!!! After the morning interviews, we had a tour. Some of you will have a one on one tour with the chief residents. This depends on when your break is in between interviews. And then there is a final group of about now 4-5 applicants who take the final tour of that half of the day. Then lunch where the PD and Chairman will give their talk. Do not expect a powerpoint. They are both very animated talkers. Then you can leave afterwards, there is no wrap up. The afternoon group has a similar day but they start with the PD and chairman talk/lunch and then go on to interviews or tours before ending the day." | More from this Member | Report Response

"2 sessions, either early morning or late morning. Chair and PD talk about the program and how they want to train leaders, not just in anesthesiology but also in medicine in general and the community. Interviews with Chair, PD, chief, and 2 faculty. 4/5 were low stress; in the last one I was given a clinical scenario and asked some questions. Not pimping, more of a way to see how I think/defend my thoughts. I had expected worse, so it wasn't bad, but could probably rattle some people. Minimal touring which was great. Lunch had a Philadelphia flavor but could've used a few more residents. Overall day was 4-5 hours." | More from this Member | Report Response

"PROGRAM: Simply extraordinary. 24 residents per class; we were told that 15 would be categorical, and 5 would be for advanced; that leaves 4 spots for switchers. Intern year/categorical program is new, so bugs are still being worked out - Chairman Dr. Fleisher gives it a "B" grade as far as intern years go. Seems like a lot of thought went into the intern year from the anesthesiology standpoint. N.B. there is 4 months of surgery in this intern year, and your "elective" months are chosen for you (although there is no call during said elective time). Program Chair and Program Director report that they are stable for next 5 yrs or so. Accredidation cycle is 4 yrs; no information was given on citations or why it isn't 5 yrs, if you care about those sorts of things. Here you'll (almost literally) do it all - I think they don't do burns - but livers, lungs, double-lungs, hearts, kids (CHOP, baby!), and everything else. Research if you want it. Rotate thru all U Penn system hospitals - HUP, CHOP, VA, and Presbyterian. EXTREMELY impressive program clinically even when compared to the other "big name" programs (Brigham, Duke, CCF, NYU, Hopkins, etc) I've been to. Residents say "We work really hard but we're happy", and do a good job selling the "We work very hard" part. I'd buy the "...we're happy" part too, if I wasn't privvy to body language or facial expressions. Have a friend in the program who toes the party-line as well; he reports 6 am to 530 pm as normal/expected daily work hours in the main ORs; the room relief is pretty much consistenly in to get you out at 530. Call is only reported to be 4x/month, with only one weekend call/month. There is an element called "ECC" - no one knows what it stands for, but it's their version of moonlighting - you are offered the chance to stay late once or twice EACH WEEK until 830 pm, for the price of $100/hr for each hour after 530 pm. This is, as told to us, completely optional and you can turn it down if you don't wanna stay and get the extra cheddar. Hospital is reportedly doing very well financially, so no worries reported by the department on that end. INTERVIEW: Reception the night before in the hotel lobby, with hors d'oveurs and beer/soda; not a true dinner so feel free to grab a bite elsewhere. A bunch of residents came and were quite social, and again & again, repeated the party-line. Interview day had folks split into three groups - a 730, 930, and 1100 group. NICEST hotel this side of that badass Cleveland Clinic one, all free of charge, which was a supernice touch. My group at 1100am got a presentation from the Chairman, the Prog Director, and then some lunch. A few residents stopped by and chatted. Interviews were each about 20 minutes, except maybe 15 mins with the Chair, then 15 min with the Program Director. A personal tour which showed very little hospital (thank god) and no ORs was done with one of the residents as well - good time to ask questions and hear "We work really hard but are happy" again. Interviews generally laid back; some interviewers read the applications much more thoroughly than others, as per usual. One guy scolded me for an answer I gave, and one gave me the familiar "So what questions do you have for me?" interview...although his scheme to evade actually answering the questions was an appreciated new twist. "We have no weakness at Penn - we think of what the weaknesses could be, and then take action to prevent them" was probably my favorite answer. OVERALL: You will be an extremely well trained anesthesiologist upon leaving this program, and have an enormous academic name on your resume. Residents unfailingly said they were happy. The Chairman is a MAJOR player in the hospital, and is influential when the department needs him to be. Program Director is reportedly a saint. I can easily see where the negative rumors/reputation is comes from, so go into this with an open mind; if you can possibly get a curbside consult from a resident on the inside, I'd recommend it. My gut reaction was extremely poor for some reason, so it will be ranked very low on my list." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Relaxed, very pleasant. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"The Bottom Line/Impression: Dude. Fantastic program. This place rocked my world. <p> Lodging/Dinner: Nice on-campus hotel, nice dinner in the hotel “Living Room” = library the night before w/ EtOH, appetizers, pasta, etc. About 10 residents showed up, maybe more, and seemed like a normal, outgoing, young, urban group of people. Even the married ones, even the ones with kids talked about living in the city and going out during the week. I wouldn’t say they were “happy” per se but weren’t unhappy or displeased or felt it was malignant. They say, “we work a lot, it’s worth it.” I buy it. They also, almost universally, said they came to Penn because of the PD and the chair. More on that later. <p>Schedule: Interview day starts at various times but everyone gets a tour, a brief talk from the PD Dr. Gaiser, and a talk from Dr. Fleisher the chair (oh PS the dude’s famous). Dr. Fleisher has an ill-deserved rep for being arrogant, and the institution for being full of themselves – which would be reasonable conclusions if you didn’t buy their argument that they’re awesome. Personally, I do buy their argument that they’re awesome. Breakfast if you’re in the early group, otherwise there’s a Cosi right up the street. Lunch w/ a lot of the same residents, since it’s their 30min break they come and go pretty fast. Then, interviews: Gaiser, Fleisher, 3 other faculty. Some were fairly intense and hard to read but all were well-prepared with very thoughtful questions, but no pimping (as I was warned there could be). Out by 1500.<p> Program info: 24 per year, 16 categorical in the match, 5 advanced in the match, 3 for switchers. Mostly rockstars. Pretty good prelim year, Fleisher gives it a “B”. All rotations in the various hospitals in the University City area (HUP, VA, Presby, CHOP). Level 1 Trauma, Pain suite in Center City, all fellowships. <p>Pros: Reputation/caseload/teaching/size/research. They all go hand-in-hand. It’s Penn! ICU, cardiac, trauma, and livers experience all outstanding. Oh yea…they have this rinky-dink kids’ hospital next door I can’t remember the name of…what's it called again? Vibe: Dr. Fleisher wants his residents to be leaders and to “own” their patients; this place does not train gas-passers. You get the feeling when you go there that you’re gonna be a total anesthesia rock star. Residents are super-bright, work super-hard, learn independently, are motivated; basically they’re residents who woulda been studs in surgery, on the other side of the drape. PD and chair are personally invested in the residents, seem like really earnest people. Hours/call: call schedule 2-3/month (presumably since regular days are long), in ICU pre-call day is OFF, $100/hr moonlighting. Philly, University City, Center City, etc: maybe not a plus for all but I love it, reasonably affordable true big-city living. <p>Cons: Maybe the internship? Maybe the regional experience? (those question marks are there since these are better than most programs already) Handful of CRNAs, so residents = workforce for all but out-of-OR cases. Philly (cost/safety can be a concern for cheap wimps)." | More from this Member | Report Response