Mount Sinai School of Medicine Program Individual Response

What is your in-state status?:

Out of state

On what date did the interview take place?:

2/1/2008

How do you rank this residency among ALL other residencies?:

7 out of 10

How do you rank this residency among other residencies to which you've applied?:

7 out of 10

What is your ranking of this program's facilities?:

8 out of 10

What is your ranking of this program's location?:

8 out of 10

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?:

8 out of 10

What was the stress level of the interview?:

2 out of 10

How do you think you did?:

8 out of 10

How did the interview impress you?:

Positively

How long was the interview?:

15 minutes

How many people interviewed you?:

3

What was the style of the interview?:

One-on-one

What impressed you positively?:

- Dr. Levine is a great program director and I believe the biggest asset to the program. If he ever decides to leave, I don't think it would be as attractive of a place to be <br> - The facilities are very nice and the department will pay for many things (free dinners while on call, meetings, moonlighting, etc) <br> - Residents seem happy to be there. Report as inappropriate

What impressed you negatively?:

- Doesn't have the name recognition of Ivy league programs such as Columbia or Cornell so outside the tri-state area, it wouldn't give you much pull. Some private hospital groups I know only hire ivy-league trained attendings so this would make it hard to break into those types of groups<br> - Though they offer pain as a fellowship, the word on the street is that its a pretty malignant program and gives a questionable pain experience<br> - Have to go to another hospital for the trauma experience<br> - For grand rounds, the CA-1s sit in front of the auditorium and get pimped about the article that was designated for the week - in front of faculty, students, upper levels, nurses, etc. Not sure whether it turns out to be malignant. Most residents get through it but don't look forward to it. <br> - Forced to wear scrubs when it is completely unnecessary - I was told this is so that we can go into the ORs and spend time with some attendings but the tours are brief (you definitely don't spend time in the OR with attendings) and done as a group so bunny suits could have worked just as well Report as inappropriate

How was your interview day? Please summarize.:

From what I was told, they interview approximately 150-170 individuals for the 18 positions they offer. No FMG/IMG's at their program. <p> 8:30am - Arrive and change into scrubs immediately after being given a locker to put your belongings in. You are given a folder with information about the program to peruse while waiting for the day to start <br> 9:30am - 11:30am - Continental breakfast followed by the PD talking about the program addressing most of the questions that others applicants typically ask in the past. <br> 11:30-12:30 - Lunch and greet with residents. Some residents seem more keen on eating and staying within their own respective circles. Others were conversing more with the applicants who had done aways there and not discussing much about the program. I think the free food was more of a lure than anything else <br> 12:30-1:15 - Get a tour of the facilities by some of the residents <br> 1:30 - 5ish - 3 sets of interviews with the chair, PD, and a faculty member. All informal. They typically will sit down and read your application for 10 minutes prior to coming out and getting you for the interview. Everyone interviews with Dr. Levine (PD) <p> The day is very informal as far as interviews go but one thing could be changed. The PD definitely likes to get to know everyone during their interview but I noticed some people would go in for 10 minutes while one individual was in there for a good 35-40minutes (both from what I remember had done away rotations). Could be a moot point but one applicant jokingly mentioned about the length of interview correlating to the PD liking the person more. The chair mostly judges the candidate more on objective scores while the PD looks more at the personality (as per residents). <P> Report as inappropriate

What was your primary mode of travel?:

Train or subway

What was your total time spent traveling?:

2-3 hours

Where did you stay?:

Hotel