Anna and Aaron: University of Tennessee at Knoxville

The beginning of December marked the start of many residency interviews this month, although MCG's interview kicked off the interview season at the end of November. I had the privilege of traveling with Aaron to Tennessee for his UT Knoxville interview, and it was so much fun! The drive was a little rough getting there (lots and lots of rain that brought some pretty chilly weather with it the next day), but we made it in plenty of time before the Meet-and-Greet Dinner with the residents and spouses. We quickly became friends with a PGY-1 (first year resident) and a PGY-3 and his wife and greatly enjoyed hearing their perspectives of life at the hospital and the incredible community they are apart of in Knoxville. We are so grateful for their honesty!

Aaron spent the next day interviewing with multiple surgical attendings, chatting with the residents (if they had free time...), and touring the hospital. I was invited out to lunch by the PGY-3's wife (we ate at Cafe' 4...I highly recommend it!), and then we went on a quick sight-seeing tour of Knoxville on our way back to the hotel. I am so thankful for her kindness and encouragement, and especially for the time she took out of her day to get to know me more personally.

I liked Cafe' 4 so much, that I took Aaron back there after his interviews finished for coffee and cupcakes before we started on our journey back to Georgia. They have the best cupcakes!! I had a peppermint chocolate cupcake, and he had an eggnog...yes, eggnog..cupcake. Delicious!

Me in front of the Gay Street area

Aaron with his Eggnog Cupcake

Here are some pros that we (really, a lot of these are my pros...) thought really stood out about the surgical residency program and the city itself:

PROS:

The department is a hybrid university-affiliated, community-based. Since the attendings are private-practice physicians, it seems like the residents are able to participate in more team-building functions.
Many of the residents are Christians
Aaron and I get along well with the residents
The community seems very family oriented
UT Knoxville has an MPH in Epidemiology degree (just in case I go back to graduate school)
There is a large forensic lab in the UT hospital (potential job opportunity for me?)
All of the residents get either the week of Christmas or the week of New Year's off
They seem to really like Aaron, who's reputation proceeds him
Approximately half of the residents are married, and they have an incredible spouses auxiliary group
The cost of living in Knoxville is affordable and most residents own a house close to the hospital
Knoxville is home to Boomsday, the largest Labor Day fireworks show in the nation (okay...so not really a pro for the residency, but it would be so fun to go see it)

There are many many more pros, but I can't take the time to list them all here. Believe me when I say that we will have to take all of the pros and cons from every program and discuss them over an excellent fondue dinner, next to a very large dry-erase board that is reserved for big decision making. :)