Penn State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania, January 5, 2008

Ok, ok, I didn't get any pictures of the medical center. I guess I was focused on Chocolate World instead....

The program: So the Penn State program has two years of mandatory research, and they are expanding the options, so you can get your masters or PhD or do outcomes research or whatever. All the attendings were pretty cool, and most of them went to Penn State and have come back to work there. The residents do a good variety of rotations, and the hospital is usually over 100% capacity, meaning there are a ton of cases. The Penn State University Milton S. Hershey Medical Center was started with a $50 million Hershey trust. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey have also done a lot of good things in the community, including start an orphanage (Hershey himself was an orphan), and a k-12 school for orphans and other children with family issues.

The residents: There are four residents per year in this program, with quite a mix of ethnicities. They kept saying how well they all support each other and get along. About a third are single, a third married, and a third married with children. They were very friendly, although there were a few that I thought were lacking personality.

The city: The city of Hershey consistently has one of three odors: chocolate, peanuts, or manure--which one depends on how high the clouds are and which way the winds are blowing that day (or so I'm told). Hershey is 12 miles away from the PA capital, Harrisburg, from which it gets a lot of it's trauma. The city of Hershey is also three hours or less from New York City, Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore. There is also a huge Amish population (aka: farm accidents) that are served by the medical center. Hershey itself is very safe and family-friendly. This leads me to the conclusion that I would be more keen on Hershey if I was married +/- children. As a single person, it's just not as intriguing...