St Clare's Hospital of Schenectady FP Program - masmn

[ArchivalUser]

Any body attended intv. what type of questions. any input pls
thanks

[ArchivalUser]

When is your interview?
i read on the forum that no medical ?s were asked.
all the best!

[ArchivalUser]

Schedule

I had interview in that hospital. They usually started with a morning conference. We attended a morning rounds. At lunch, they took us out with resident and Dr. Petrillo. Hospital tour was also very extensive. They also brought us to the preceptor room in outpatient setting in Cushing center where we met the attendings. I did not have to meet most of the residents during my interview. The PC ( Debra DeCelle ) was also very nice. They usually wrap up at about 2 - 3 pm.

Interview

Then the interview session was informal and very comfortable. No medical questions were asked. They focus more on your plans in the future. They plan to open a geriatric fellowship in 1 - 2 years. If you are interested in geriatrics, it's a very nice topic to discuss with, especially with the PD ( Dr Dunkerley). Dr. Dunkerley is a very pleasant person. Since NY has some issues regarding merging among hospitals, it's also an interesting issue for them since Ellis hospital is their counterpart hospital in Schenectady. They also look closely in your CV and they usually very particular if what you did after graduation. They also want to focus more on the hospitalist aspect of FM. Dr. Dunkerley is very particular with the role of a teacher and learner, so he might ask you about that topic.

The program, overall:

It's an excellent program. The faculty are very knowledgeable. No wonder they have a lot of applicants. They always have an extern and medical student. I tried to get a USCE there but they are fully book.

Goodluck! When is your interview. Just post question in case you want to ask more.

[ArchivalUser]

cherie,
next week when is yours
Gl

[ArchivalUser]

Stockton, congrats u got prematch, I read at other post.
Does this program discuss about prematch or offer.

[ArchivalUser]

Stockton,
what do u mean by the hospitalist aspect of FM. can u elaborate pls

[ArchivalUser]

masmn: next monday. all the best to u!

Stockton: thanks for the info. gl to u!
Can you mention how many in total interviewed u? Which hotel did u stay? Did they provide transportation from the hotel to the program or to the airport/....? thanks a lot...

[ArchivalUser]

Pre-match?

I have a strong feeling that they don't pre-match. But based on the data from last year, they interviewed 100 applicants. They might interview about the same this year, it is also not clear how much quota they have, but I think it's 8 positions. They have a medical student and extern while we observed them in their rounds and they are pretty good when they present cases to the attendings, would they prematch their own externs? Would it be fair if they pre-match somebody who never did an externship with them? They usually label their candidates as "acceptable", "acceptable with reservation" or "unacceptable". They might rank those only with acceptable. And based on my conversation with the PC, they never reach scramble. I sent them a thank you letter but they never reply back, as I wrote an important question there.


Number of interviewers?

Dr. "D" ( Dunkerley ), Dr. Sapio and Dr. Petrillo interviewed us during our time. They were very informal and comfortable. They told us that usually they interview only about one or two applicant per interview day, but unusually we were 3 at that time. I thinks it's better to be interviewed when you are alone by yourself. They will interview you one at a time. There was also a clinical psychologist that will talk to you in an informal interview, he was also very nice, but I think he will also have an influence on the selection process.

If it happen that your hobby is "skiing", it's a nice topic to discuss with Dr D as he probably love skiing. He asked me if I ski and unfortunantely I don't. Read their interest in the website for each faculty surely discuss their special interest with you. It's also interesting and worth mentioning who designed their website, and surprisingly one of the graduates of that program too and it made them very proud about it. I can say they have a very organized and informative website.

Hotel accomodations / transportation:

For me, they never offer any accomodations at all nor any shuttle. I guess because they have a lot of applicants that they can't afford it. And the hotels they suggested were expensive so I never went there. Instead the cheapest I got was in Quality Inn. Quality Inn was a nice place to stay and it took me only about 10 minutes to the hospital, so not a problem. I spend about $63 plus tax there. There were no snow at that time yet, but you might consider snow at this time.

Resident's room:

One unique characteristic about this program is that they have separate rooms (working rooms) for each year level in the Cushing Center (OPD setting). As you progress up to a year level, you will be entitled to one extra window in that room. The first year level's room has no window, second year's room will gonna have one window and third year's room will have two windows. They always laugh about that and they might mentioned it again during the tour.
They also have a very functional library and nice room for on calls. Residents seem very happy. I have a chance to meet both of their chief residents.
Cafeteria in this hospital is excellent!

About the Hospitalist:

Because this program is unopposed. They train you so well, and one of the strength of this program is they train their residents well to become a "hospitalist". I am not exactly sure about the complete definition of the hospitalist for them, but they are the ones who managed the acute care in-patient setting and ER admissions. Dr. Backwani, one their graduates is their hospitalist. And they are very proud about this strength, so I guess it's worth mentioning it during your interview.


In summary, if I was never prematched, I will put this hospital as my number 2. Second to where I was pre matched.

[ArchivalUser]

Thank you very much stockton for your detailed msg. I very much appreciated your reply. All the best in your residency!

[ArchivalUser]

Thank you so much for such a detail information. GL for your residency.