Note: this is my last post on SDN. It has been a pleasure meeting all of you along the trail and wish all my future colleagues best of luck come January 14th. I encourage other applicants to please post their opinions about programs they visited. This site is a great resource that has helped us all, and the least we can do is give back something to help future applicants.
Interview Experience:
-Very nice dinner the night before, not mandatory but I would definitely try to make it, the residents really fed us well!
-Interview day started with almost all important faculty coming in one-by-one and talking about their role in resident training. Really speaks well of the program.
-Tour of Stanford hospital
-3 two-on-one interviews and interview with chair
-Easily toughest interview on trail, really grilled on everything from research to motivations to the healthcare system
-Lunch with faculty and residents
-Driving tour of Valley County, VA, and new eye center under construction
Pros:
-Happy, happy residents, up there with Wills, Casey
-Nicest facilities you will find. Best VA in the country, Valley County looks like a private hospital, and Stanford hospital is nice too. Plus they have a new free-standing eye center being built.
-$$$$: department is well-funded and it shows with the simulators and such they get for resident education
-Didactics: Bay Area Ophthalmology Course
-Faculty are very, very nice down-to-earth people who are still among the best in their respective fields, stems from the chair's attitude
-Few fellows, so residents spend a lot of one-on-one time with faculty
-Solid volume, enough for the expansion to 4 residents/year
-Good preparation for comprehensive
-Fellowship match on par with the best programs (e.g. class of 2007-2009 2 retina at BPEI, retina and glaucoma at UCSD, oculoplastics NYEEI, retina JSEI, and retina UMich)
-Palo Alto is gorgeous and has beautiful weather to boot
Cons:
-Calls were the only negative cited by residents about the program. But when is call ever fun? With the addition of an extra resident it should be more manageable. You have to cover multiple hospitals, however, and driving between them is not that short (although there is not much traffic)
-Smaller program and reputation-wise not a 'top-top' program
-Question of how diverse the pathology is with such a wealthy population
-Palo Alto can be very expensive, although select residents can get greatly subsidized housing
-Not that close to the nearest big city, SF. Close enough you will go once a week if motivated.
Overview:
I almost cancelled my Stanford interview and at the last minute decided to go and see the place. It was the best decision I made all season. I got a great vibe from residents and faculty. This is a program that flies under the radar a bit but matches extremely well for fellowship. Many of the faculty are among the best in their field (e.g. Blumenkranz, Ta) and there are research opportunities available, although most residents do not seem to pursue substantial projects.
The most important component for me was how happy the residents seemed. They seemed to be enjoying life as residents rather than merely tolerating it and after interacting with faculty and seeing the facilities they work in it is easy to understand their attitude.
I compared Stanford favorably to the other California schools I visited and ranked it appropriate to that mindset. I would advise all applicants to take a long, hard look at applying and interviewing here despite the lack of 'name'.
