Any past rotators mind posting their experience(s) here. Thanks.

people that did it a few years ago enjoyed it, although the residents didnt seem very happy.

I heard that some sub-i’s this year witnessed some kind of fist-fight in the ICU between two residents?

is that true??

I’m a current resident at Northwestern, and as someone who has spent quite a bit of time working with sub-i’s in the last couple years, I would like to think we work hard to make the experience extremely educational, fair, and pleasant for the sub-i’s who rotate with us.  We’ve matched a significant majority of rotators in the last few years (although by no means exclusively rotators), which I hope reflects well on the sub-i experience.  Also, with a number of our faculty being very involved in the neurosurgery community, I think our rotation provides a great opportunity to obtain nationally recognized letters of recommendation.

For anyone who’s spent a significant amount of time working with us, I’m sure the idea residents fist fighting is basically laughable.  We’re a close knit group who get along well, and work hard together.  I can’t necessarily comment on several years ago, but our current group of resident’s are proud of our program and really enjoy working here.

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Current M3 here, I know a couple of M4’s from my school who rotated at Northwestern, had very positive things to say about their sub-i experience and recommended that I rotate there next year. They pretty much said you’ll definitely be working hard, but they keep you involved in cases, let you get your hands wet surgically, and manage to do a lot of teaching. Plus your call nights are fun and busy and you’ll get to see a lot of traumas, other cool stuff. Definitely didn’t hear anything about a fist-fight.

I would be very wary of Northwestern. There is great dissent among faculty and this trickles down to the residents. Don’t be fooled by the plush location and facilities.

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I would caution against placing too much weight in random rumors and stories. Moreover, the true question to ask while interviewing at programs is which program is the best fit for YOU. If you take all the programs in the country and eliminate those that may not offer you the best training (however that is defined), then you should be left with programs that should all be considered. Think about the following questions (which are just a few of the many you could ask):

Is the program more academic or clinical/private practice?
How big is the program (# of residents, faculty, cases, hospitals, etc.)?
Where is the program?
What are the residents like there, and can you see yourself working with them, learning from them and...becoming like them?
What are the subspecialties that are well- and under-represented at the program?

Then see if those answers correlate well with your own preferences. A program like Northwestern may be more work-centered, but, at least from an objective standpoint, they have very well-known faculty and a strong case-load. Some people flourish in that type of situation.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a mid-level resident at a different Chicago program.