Spirit Mike OSRR Junior Posts: 26 (11/30/01 9:01:59 am) Reply Advice . . . Any of you in this boat? I think it kind of goes along with another thread asking for advice where the author was wondering which of two programs to choose given that he got a letter from and rotated at one program but hated it and got an interview offer on the same date from a program he would actually go to. My problem is that I have an interview in the midwest on one day in January with an interview in Los Angeles two days later and my home school FINALLY decides to tell me it would like to interview me on the day in between the two. Given today's airlines and airports, I seriously doubt being able to jet back home in between these two interviews I've already had planned for a while. I also don't want to cancel these two interviews I've set up but the home school is supposed to be a great "safety" because of the home school advantage, doing a sub-I there, and their already knowing you. I've known people before who didn't match having gone on 15 interviews so I guess the home school interview can be important, but so far they haven't told me alternate dates, and I'd have to give up two other interviews just to go to this one. Anyone have any thoughts? Oh, and if you want to know, I would rather match out of state but would not be unhappy if I matched at my home program. Just so you know what kind of boat I'm in, I have 17 interviews set up already, 7 rejections, and 7 programs I had to reject due to scheduling conflicts. Mike IamNikolas OSRR Senior Posts: 60 (11/30/01 9:12:41 am) Reply re: I think you can make all 3...just got to spend a little cash on plane tickets... your first interview won't last later than 4-5 pm i assume, so if you catch a flight at around 8 pm...you can get home in time for the next day. Do the same thing on the 2nd day. My experience traveling to Chicago and ohio was not bad...i mean, yes...there is a longer wait...but you CAN get there that night. My return flight from chicago was cancelled due to FOG of all things...and i had to stay overnight at a hotel...but you cannot predict such things...i would schedule my flights accordingly and make all 3!!! It is possible! tbone OSRR Intern Posts: 24 (12/2/01 8:56:06 pm) Reply Multiple interviews, long distance I agree with Iamnikolas. You can make all 3. I have 3 interviews coming up on 3 consecutive days, 1 in New Jersey, the 2nd in Los Angeles, and the third in NYC. I got a flight to LA for $300 with no Saturday night stay. It's going to be rough coming back on the redeye to interview 2 hours later, but I guess maybe this is what call prepares you for...I would rather lose a few hours' sleep than not match. For good fares, try www.orbitz.com. I've had good luck there- even got a $300 fare to Chicago 2 days before I went. tbone OSRR Intern Posts: 25 (12/2/01 9:01:15 pm) Reply Home School Interview To add to my last post- I have heard that it is political suicide to turn down your home program for an interview. Apparently programs will call your chairman to ask about you, and if you've turned them down they might be less than flattering. It's probably better to cancel one of the other ones if you don't want to go to them all. SoCalOrtho OSRR Intern Posts: 8 (12/2/01 10:58:08 pm) Reply Baylor Sprit Mike, I received an invitation to interview at Baylor, and I am deciding whether or not to go. What is your opinion of the program, and the city? Also, what do you think of the ethnic diversity of the city? Thanks, SoCal orthohopeful OSRR Junior Posts: 41 (12/3/01 3:45:37 pm) Reply Baylor I'm not from there, but I am from a texas school and know some people who rotated there so here is the low down. baylor is without a chairman currently. they have an interim chair, but have been turned down by multiple recruits to whom they have offered the job. The interim chair is not good and not well liked. A Baylor student told me at another interview that soon after the interim chair came in, he took away some of their lifestyle perks and the residents revolted. They threatened to all quit, so he backed down and supposedly they all got cash to stay. I know this sounds like the stuff from bad rumors and legend but I trust the sources. One of my very good friends did a month there and polled the residents about their happiness with the program, 13 of 14 said they were unhappy there. They get next to nothing in the way of supervision at Ben Taub (big county hospital), and they are not treated well by attendings. All that being said, Baylor is tied into one of the busiest county hospitals in the country, the biggest childrens hospital, the top cancer center (MD Anderson), and a couple of very good private hospitals. The residents get tons of cases and experience. You will get good training there, but you might not have fun doing it. Houston is very ethnically diverse in my opinion. I've been there many times and you will run into people from every walk of life (you pretty much have to in a city of five million people though). I don't really know about organized communities of certain peoples though, if that's what you mean (like churches, community groups, etc.) Houston is a great town, but it is huge (bad traffic), and the weather sucks (hot and humid). I hope that helps. If anyone disagrees I welcome retorts. Please do note my disclaimer of second hand info above. I have not been there (and I won't, I turned down the interview offer). Spirit Mike OSRR Junior Posts: 29 (12/3/01 8:40:50 pm) Reply $0.02 Hmmmm, Okay Baylor. I agree with a good amount of what's already been said. However, having not worked directly with Dr. Lindsey, I don't know it he's "good" or not and using what criteria. They have made offers to several people to become chair and haven't found anyone yet as far as I know. It has had a reputation for being malignant, especially Ben Taub and the call schedule. However, in all honesty some of the residents there are the smartest and coolest group of guys I've ever worked with but I guess that's not hard to find in orthopedics. There are some bad attendings and there are some wonderful attendings to work with. Supposedly there have been rumors that Dr. Lindsey was brought in to shake up the program, make some changes that needed to be made to make the program better . . . but then when he became unpopular, the program would pick someone else to ride in like a white night, keeping the changes but being more popular. They've gotten a little warmer and fuzzier though, giving everyone a $2000 bonus, and a book stipend as well as trying to make the call schedule easier. As of last year they implimented a more transitional type intern year which is good because general surgery can be brutal and malignant. You will get a great operative experience though given the number of hospitals you rotate at, but you will WORK for it. I would think its kind of like USC in that respect. Any more questions? Michael OrthoResident OSRR Intern Posts: 6 (12/11/01 10:49:28 pm) Reply Re: Baylor Baylor has and always will have a rep - given the associated hospitals and the quality of the other residency programs. Nonetheless, it may not be the best place to receive an ortho training at this point in time. It has always been and will always be 'malignant' that's the nature of the beast - true for most big city/high volume/big rep programs. So you have to way the true educational quality and personality of a program and its constituents (staff, residents, etc) versus the rep factor. I personally go for the best 'supervised', 'teaching oriented', supportive, and friendly program - and for me, that was not Baylor. tbone OSRR Junior Posts: 39 (12/17/01 9:10:36 am) Reply Follow-up: 3 interviews, 3 days- I'm tired, but it worked I just wanted to follow up on this earlier post now that I've done the 3 interviews across the country in 3 days. I think I only got about 6 hours total sleep for the 3 days, most of it on airplanes, but all of my flights worked out just fine, and I don't feel like I suffered any adverse effects. My conclusion is that it _is_ possible, and not really that bad, especially after all that we've been through during 3rd year. Total expenses for the trips were about $500, which isn't bad for 3 interviews.