Mayo clinic vs UCSF pediatrics?

[pediatrics2018applicant]

Hi everyone,

I am currently interviewing and leaning towards UCSF and Mayo Clinic as top choices but I still don't know which to rank first. I am wondering if anyone with more info may be able to comment here. I know UCSF is highly ranked (7th in country it appears) but Mayo Clinic is ranked much lower, (around 25th in country). I cannot figure out why this is and I am wondering from current residents or those who may know more.

Thank you so much,
PedsApplicant

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[christmasindr]

Do you have any preference in terms of location, cost, close to your family, etc?

 

[sliceofbread136]

What are your eventual goals?

 

[MEN2C]

This is peds. Go where you want. You will be able to match whatever specialty you want.

With that said, UCSF is certainly a research powerhouse in pediatrics if that's your goal.

 

[Oso]

Knowing absolutely nothing about your interests or preferences, and being only a fellow applicant who did not visit either place ... I would say go with UCSF.

Based on what my advisor told me, Mayo is a very small program where the residents maybe don't get enough volume (again this is one person's perspective). UCSF on the other hand is a huge place that sees tons of pathology from kids that come from all over. It also has every specialty represented and tons of research opportunities.

What's your style though, small closer-knit program (with few fellows) or big program (with lots of fellows)? SF vs Rochester? Stand alone children's hospital vs 'hospital within a hospital' (if this is important to you)? Where do you want to end up eventually? From what I can tell, the two programs and their locations seem very different.

 

[bearded frog]

Mayo is an amazing facility but are not known for their pediatrics. A lot of their patients are from around the country and go to Mayo based on its reputation, but for pediatric patients they would likely choose pediatric hospitals like Boston Children's, so the program doesn't have the volume or research, or ranking/prestige the rest of the institution does.

 

[dextor2003]

Based on what my advisor told me, Mayo is a very small program where the residents maybe don't get enough volume (again this is one person's perspective). UCSF on the other hand is a huge place that sees tons of pathology from kids that come from all over. It also has every specialty represented and tons of research opportunities.

Mayo is an amazing facility but are not known for their pediatrics. A lot of their patients are from around the country and go to Mayo based on its reputation, but for pediatric patients they would likely choose pediatric hospitals like Boston Children's, so the program doesn't have the volume or research, or ranking/prestige the rest of the institution does.

Regarding seeing enough cases..Mayo seems to have the best work-life balance and elective schedule for its residents from any of the programs I've seen so far. And I was actually concerned if residents were seeing enough patients. But apparently their board pass rate ranges from 95-100%? And they have great fellowship matches. So while they certainly have a lower patient volume, I'm not really sure it's an issue. Of course the board pass rate could also be due to the extra study time given to the residents.

 

[mvenus929]

Regarding seeing enough cases..Mayo seems to have the best work-life balance and elective schedule for its residents from any of the programs I've seen so far. And I was actually concerned if residents were seeing enough patients. But apparently their board pass rate ranges from 95-100%? And they have great fellowship matches. So while they certainly have a lower patient volume, I'm not really sure it's an issue. Of course the board pass rate could also be due to the extra study time given to the residents.

It likely comes down to how you learn. People who learn via reading can do well at programs like Mayo. People who learn by seeing patients won't do as well. That's the reason I chose my program--I wanted high volume because I don't learn as well out of a book.

 

[bearded frog]

Regarding seeing enough cases..Mayo seems to have the best work-life balance and elective schedule for its residents from any of the programs I've seen so far. And I was actually concerned if residents were seeing enough patients. But apparently their board pass rate ranges from 95-100%? And they have great fellowship matches. So while they certainly have a lower patient volume, I'm not really sure it's an issue. Of course the board pass rate could also be due to the extra study time given to the residents.

Not sure if board scores correlate to diversity of practice and volume that well, you're going to be referenceing everything out of texts/papers anyway.

 

[dextor2003]

Not sure if board scores correlate to diversity of practice and volume that well, you're going to be referenceing everything out of texts/papers anyway.

I agree. That's why I also mentioned it being possibly related to their extra study time. But their classes also seem to end up with 60/40 fellowship/gen peds matches, which is about the same as most programs (I think?). So maybe we can assume their graduates also feel confident enough from their training to start practicing right away if they wanted?