mdeast, hoping you comment on this!
I was just talking to a friend of my parents who taught at Stanford a few years ago. She tells me that she felt med students did not get enough clinical exposure because Palo Alto could not provide it. She also felt that the people in the city were very "power driven". It was always a hassle to get a table for dinner, etc. I was surprised to hear this from her because even though she is from the North East she has lived in California forever. Eventually she ended up working at UCSD.
I think this is a common misconception about Stanford and an image that Stanford has been trying to shake off for a while. Yes, Stanford is a huge research institution with an amazing number of interdisciplinary programs acros the many graduate schools. If you're at all interested in something outside of strict clinical medicine (science research, policy work, community health advocacy, engineering, business, etc.)...Stanford is basically "Candyland".
BUT, what I will refute is that the clinical training for med students is poor here. First off, Stanford is a small school in which students are generally treated with a lot of respect and are given a ton of attention (they act as the main focus of the school, there's a reason why we wear long white coats instead of the typical "short" med student coats). You have ample opportunities to see patients your first two years: we have 2 free clinics (Arbor Clinic at the VA Palo Alto and Pacific Free Clinic in San Jose), shadowing opportunities, formal classes (early experience in "your favorite specialty here"), longitudinal experiences (childhood chronic illness, "mommy's to babies"...where you follow patients over a long time), etc. We have a POM class where we spend twice a week practicing clinical skills with standardized patient actors (about twenty 1.5 hour sessions this semester). Second year POM also adds practicum. As a first year you and three other students are placed with a Educator 4 Care, usually a primary care practicing physician who acts as your personal advisor, teaches you clinical skills, arranges shadowing if you're interested. In addition to your E4C, you also have an academic advisor who will set you up with other clinical opportunities as well. Formally, you can take specialty elective courses on anything from orthopaedic surgery to ultrasound to "internal medicine". I recently learned percussion from Dr. Verghese, who was recently featured in the NYTimes about his quest to bring back the popularity of using the physical exam in clinic.
Stanford hospital itself is a wide-based tertiary care center, so it draws patients from all over the Bay Area, California, and the country. It's also normally ranked in the Top 10 of all US hospitals....meaning it has great docs, fellows, residents, etc.. The hospital itself is old, but there's a long-standing plan to build an entirely new hospital barring hurdles from the Palo Alto City Council. The patients are diverse from the make up of the area...yes Palo Alto is wealthy, but we're close to East Palo Alto, San Jose, etc. which all contain a high immigrant population many of whom take the trip to Stanford for care. I've heard of some grumblings about certain departments (mainly that working in the ER at Stanford is boring)...but you have to remember that you also have access to complete rotations at the Palo Alto VA (best VA in the country), County Hospital, Kaiser-Permanente, etc. Having said all that, Palo Alto isn't NYC for instance. You'll get a different patient population and their just entirely different environments to practice medicine in.
Remember though, you're not practicing medicine yet...you're just learning the basics and seeing what field you want to go into.
So.... don't get too hung up on the clinical education between medical schools. Every school will provide you with the opportunity to try out a ton of specialties and learn at least the "bread and butter" of medicine. The majority of your clinical training comes from residency. So you really should be picking medical school on the environment, geography, curriculum, research opportunities, P/F grading, etc. at every school.
In terms of the area....Palo Alto is a wealthy suburban town. I usually don't go out to eat there because things are over-priced, though there are a few local bars I frequent, including a wonderful english pub. I honestly spend most of my "fun" social time in Berkeley or SF, or doing more low-key events around campus and the Penisula. Though, there is a decent selection of more affordable places on Castro Street in Mountain View that I do try and head to. I've never had trouble getting a reservation...but maybe it's because I don't frequent $50/plate restaurants
🙂
. Since so much will change in the next month of my life, should I update the schools that I applied to once this all goes down? If so, who do I contact?
