Time Marches on...

For whom the bell tolls...

What a great song. Anyhow, the interview season marches on. I had my interview at Loma Linda this past Friday.

In general, it's gotten to the point where all the programs look the same. They all have good faculty and staff, good operative experience and the residents in general seem pretty happy. A lot of it is about where you'd fit in and be happy. Anyhow, I rolled in for my interview around 6am. After hopping back and forth across the country, I was freaking tired. I went to the cafeteria for a cup of joe. All they had were two big pots of decaf...those darn 7th day adventists. What a cruel joke. Anyhow, the day went by ok. On a sidenote, it's funny watching people on interview. Initially, everyone looks nice in their suits and stuff, but it becomes immediately apparent who is used to dressing up and who isn't. Case in point. There was a nice, but rather husky russian gal in a skirt. She walked, talked and sat like a man. Nothing wrong with that, but you don't want to be leaving a sharon stonesque impression when you're interviewing at a highly religious institution...or do you?

My impression:
Facilities: 4 - nice to work in a university, county and VA hospital.
Faculty: 3.5 - generally very nice. No full time peds faculty member.
Residents: 3.5 - easy to get along with. They seemed pretty happy.
Location: 3 - san bernardino mountains and riverside. If you're from LA, you know what I mean. I mean, they don't even have santa's village anymore.
General gestalt: solid program.

On a side note, it's kind of weird going into urology. Seriously. Once my dad's friends in church found out I was going into urology, they kept asking me questions about their problems with urination and their prostate. You know, sometimes a man just wants to eat his sunday turkey in peace. Oh well. I guess now that I'm being placed in a position where I can help others, I've kinda got to resist the temptation to only help myself.

-bender