I've interviewed at NSU an Emory. Bottom line is both said that close to if not all of their seniors had a couple of job offers before they graduated the programs. Emory is more expensive. I think Emory is changing for 24 months to a 27 month program, which is the same length as NSU. Emory is a more established program and has better name recognition for whatever that is worth. Both have a classroom, labs, and simulator operating room setups. Does anyone know if either program is better in any significant way? For example, are the professors better, are the clinical rotation opportunities better or more numerous, is the caliber of student peers better, is the program curriculum better etc.? Is there a general consensus that one program is better than the other or are all the programs more or less putting out the same quality anesthesiologist assistants?
Re: Are there any differences between the programs?
I'm interested in hearing others opinions on Case Western vs. the other programs. I feel like there is a lot of talk about South, Nova and Emory, but nothing on Case Western.
I think one thing with Nova is the lack of clinical experience early on. With Nova you do lots of classes the first 6 months and then start the clinical learning. This could be good or bad for you depending on how you learn. For me I like the classes and clinicals intertwined so Nova wasn't my top choice. Emory's class sizes are large and you have to compete for some of the "sub-specialty" anesthesia rotations. Emory's staff also seems to be less friendly with their students which means that a lot of your success there is based on what you put in. They aren't going to help you find jobs or rotations as much as the other programs, so you have to be self motivated to get what you want there. South and Case still promote their 100% job placement, but Emory doesn't. I was told on my interview there that some of their students don't have job offers and the ones that do only have 1.
South and Case are much smaller class sizes and my interviews with both showed a really friendly environment where the teachers really cared about the students and want them to exceed both personally and professionally. Also, I was told during my interviews that most of the students have multiple job offers and typically do their final school rotations at the hospital where they will be hired.
With all that said I think cost is something that's important as well. From what I've been able to discern Case>Emory>South>Nova is the order of most expensive to least. I think the names of Case and Emory along with the teachers and rotations make up for the cost though. What do you guys think?
I typed all of this on my iphone so please excuse errors...and commas.
Re: Are there any differences between the programs?
Thanks for your thoughts. Sorry I didn't apply to Case so I don't know much about it. Yeah I'm not sure if the front loaded didatic portion for NSU is good or bad. On the one hand, if you don't know any book stuff, a lot of the clinical rotation experiences might go over your head. But on the other hand, its during the clinical experience where you really learn. BUt I think that is the way it is in med school you gain a foundation of physiology and anatomy for 4 years and then you do 4 years of residency where you really "learn." But there is a difference between AA and med school students... they have a strong foundation of base line knowledge so that when their clinical preceptor tells them something then they get it without having to start from square one. I'm not saying that in the 6 months at NSU didactic portion that you'll know everything there is to know to truly understand the "why" certain things are done in anesthesia, but at least it's something. I mean I don't work in an OR right now so my shadowing was the first time ever, and I'll be honest, even though the anesthesiologist tried to explain things to me, alot went right over my head because I don't have that baseline understanding. At Emory I was told that pretty much everyone had 1 or 2 job offers before graduation but not 4-6 like a few years ago. I was told the same at NSU, the main reasons being: low class rank and inflexibility as to where people want are willing to work. There are jobs you just have to be willing to go where they are. Emory class size is about 40 and nsu is about 50. I really don't know, I wish that there were clearer differences among the programs or who knows maybe they are all more or less the same and equal.
Re: Are there any differences between the programs?
At one of my interviews, a current student as well as one of the interviewers mentioned how things can be overwhelming in the OR for first semester students. Maybe they are working with a topic they haven't yet studied or their supervisors may not be familiar with what has and has not already been covered in classes so they stressed the need to not only study for your classes but study independently for clinical situations in which they find themselves. Maybe the delayed introduction to clinicals can be an upside in that regard. Nova is newer, maybe they saw that as a weakness in other programs and decided they could improve it.