"Phenomenal caseload and patient acuity. Excellent cardiothoracic volume with single/double-lung Tx, Cardiac Tx, CABG/valves/VADs/circ arrest cases. Great pre-interview dinner with high resident turnout, seemed like a fun group, very happy. Department takes very good care of their residents, top-notch training with strong fellowships in virtually all subspecialty areas of anesthesia. This is a very large residency program (~30/class!), which means call is 3-4x/month, ~1 weekend/month. I did not take notes at this interview (it was my last) so I forget many of the details, but this was the best Harvard program in my opinion and I had a great gut feeling there." | More from this Member | Report Response

"They really emphasize camaraderie here. The program is very large (30+ residents), but they still insist that they treat everyone like family, and it is believable. The residents I met were very happy. The administration is very supportive. As a Harvard program, the reputation is top-notch." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Unbeatable name. Friendly faculty and staff. Definitely the most intelligent and talented residents I encountered on the interview trail. Arranged for me to meet a current resident who is an alum of my med school during a break. High volume of great cases, great OB and peds experiences. Supposedly a better pain program than other big names but I didn't ask much about it. Widespread alumni network. You'll definitely be outstanding coming from here." | More from this Member | Report Response

"- Strong cardiac program with TEE rotation<br> - Strong OB department (this is Brigham & *Women's* Hospital, after all)<br> - Very competent & professional staff (Ms. Stanford is especially nice)<br> - Chair took the time to interview each applicant (very accessible)<br> - Clinical atmosphere seems laid-back, inclusive<br>" | More from this Member | Report Response

"Bright Faculty and Residents, Friendly Staff, They seem to really care about the Residents and their well-being, Great Chairman The program attracts smart, friendly, motivated people and it shows on interview day. The residents work hard but don't seem overworked. Graduates of the program consistently give positive feedback regarding the excellent training and amazing job opportunities through the alumni network. Fellowship opportunities are also very good, esp. given the Harvard name." | More from this Member | Report Response

"see below" | More from this Member | Report Response

"Nice people, pretty hospital, great location" | More from this Member | Report Response

"No liver Tx, low trauma, huge program so possibility of getting lost in the shuffle? Very high competition for fellowship spots means in-house candidates aren't assured spots, nevertheless their candidates always get a fellowship spot somewhere if desired. 2 interviews composed entirely of "form" questions, which I found annoying more than anything." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Boston is expensive, and the weather is terrible. Some people may like Boston, but I'm not a huge fan. Besides the location, this program was easily my favorite." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Possibly too nice? A few residents said the department tried to avoid confrontations with surgery and nursing and didn't always support the residents in disagreements. No livers. No real trauma. Open ICU experience that most/all residents dislike; recently tried some sort of shift system, but are changing back to a call system. No electronic charting (to be implemented soon). Very large program - a senior resident at the dinner didn't know if I was a resident or an applicant. High cost of living in a nice but cold and snowy city." | More from this Member | Report Response

"- Stands in the shadow of sister hospital MGH (less research, on the Green Line train, which isn't as convenient as MGH's Red line)" | More from this Member | Report Response

"High cost of living" | More from this Member | Report Response

"see below" | More from this Member | Report Response

"cramped ICU and labor & delivery areas" | More from this Member | Report Response

"Long day ends at around 5:30PM, with 6 interviews (most I encountered on the interview trail). Assistant PD's quote applicants' LOR's and interesting achievements during a welcome "intro" session, which was unique. Interviewers well-versed in my application. Tour with 15 minutes spent in an OR of your choice (I really enjoyed this opportunity to talk with residents/attendings "on the job"), lots of interviews, then happy hour with the residents with beer/wine & sushi to end the day. PD and chair had good sense of humor and very resident-friendly. Ranked this program very highly despite being completely averse to staying in the Boston area, which indicates how impressive I felt the quality of training was here." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Dinner the night before. Long interview day, starting around 7:30 and ending around 4:30-5:00. Interview day consists of tour with time in OR with a resident, lunch, presentations by several faculty regarding the residency program and research opportunities. There also were a lot of interviews, I think 6. The day ended with a little happy hour-like gathering in the conference room. Cab vouchers provided." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Classy dinner the night before. Stayed at the Best Western at the Brigham rate, not cheap and not a great room. Day started around 7 am, divided into 2 groups. 6 interviews with a break at some point. A few prepared questions but mostly conversational. Low stress and friendly. Lunch with chair and PD presentations, and talks on the PGY-1 year, research, didactics, pain, peds, etc. Change into scrubs for the tour - would've been nicer to change in a room/office rather than the bathroom. Nice facilities, some shiny new buildings and ORs. Had to run outside in the Boston winter to another building - I didn't mind but could tell some other applicants did. Reception around 4 with food and drink, could leave when you wanted. Provided with cab voucher." | More from this Member | Report Response

"- presentation by chair of department, residency program director, and research director.<br> - 6 interviews<br> - tour of facilities<br> - tour of operating rooms (actually placed in an OR for ~20 minutes)<br> - good lunch<br>" | More from this Member | Report Response

"6 interviews. Of those, 1 was with the Chairman, 4 with faculty and 1 with the Chief Resident. Lunch with a Chief Resident. Cab voucher back to the airport." | More from this Member | Report Response

"PROGRAM: 33+ residents per class (CA1 class has ~38 residents); 50 ORs providing 45,000+ anesthestics/yr. 3rd largest OB program in USA (11,000 births last year; 25% of those were high risk); the OB experience and hours are supposed to be wonderful. Critical care is the one thing the residents consistently complained about - hours were "into the 80's"; those will be (reportedly) changing from Q3 overnight call to Q4 in one ICU, and then to shift work in two other ICUs - you do thoracic ICU (they do big-ass lung cases at a very high volume here), SICU, and Burn/Trauma ICU. All are semi-closed, so without stating so directly, the residents seemed to imply that you are the slave to at least two masters (anesthesia attending and surgical attending), and you supposedly round with both, separately. New building for Cardiovascular stuff (Shapiro building - I think it's the same Shapiro that just lost a gang of money in the Madoff Ponzi scheme thing, so that will be fun to watch) has new ORs and is beautiful. Level I trauma center here, but we were told "all the real big trauma goes to Boston Medical Center". No livers. ADMINISTRATION: Chairman was one of my favorite people so far on the interview trail...candid, funny, kind. He, along with his two brothers, were the guys that figured out how to put a human ear on the back of a mouse, if you've ever seen that picture. He's stable. Residents report his ultra-responsive to resident concerns, although not overbearing in the residency program. Program director and associate director are very clear about what they're looking for and how things go. Program coordinator is a gem, and by rumor, holds incredible power within the program. DIDACTICS: Be clear about this when you interview; they make no bones about this. Vice-Chair for education's direct quotes: "This is a reading-directed program", and "There will be no attempt to lecture you on each and every keyword". It's up to you if you think this is important. Some residents made this an issue, and very recently, a "sunrise rounds" program was started - this was resident created, and it is a keyword lecture, given by either residents or faculty from 0630 - 0650 twice a week. CALL SCHEDULE/HOURS: this sounded almost too good to be true - all the residents I met say "We do work pretty hard", and when I asked the question, they said 58-62 hrs/wk while in main ORs...but they take maybe 4 calls a month, and only ONE weekend call per month - so 3 of 4 weekends are "golden". Nice. BENEFITS: a total of $1500 for education for all three years, but they do give you some of the foundational texts for the field. Can get one week educational time for conference, but as CA2 and CA3 only. They'll pay for written boards if you do well on the intraining exams. INTERVIEW DAY: 0720 - 1600, but the time flies. 6 interviews, all one on one, and everyone interviews with the same people, including the chair and program director. Group splits into two for tour and interviews; tour group changes into scrubs. Residents very content. The interview day ends with cocktails, in the room where all the applicants gather, with wine and beer (Sam Adams, natch) and sushi...freakin' awesome. Great dinner the night before. Hotels in the area pricey, and mine sucked. OVERALL IMPRESSION: I got a great gut feeling here. I mean REALLY GREAT. Harvard name, happy and very cool residents. Seemed like great caseload. Residents felt respected and got good autonomy. Will rank VERY highly." | More from this Member | Report Response

"continental breakfast with presentations by PD and education director, then interviews (6 in a row with a break between 4th and 5th interview), lunch, changed into scrubs and tour of hospital by CA-3, left in OR with resident performing a case for 20 or so min to "really" discuss the program, then small group session with fellows to discuss fellowship options, then a happy hour with sushi, drinks with various residents and faculty. Given cab vouchers to airport or back to hotel." | More from this Member | Report Response