Does UCSF have a good ACTA program?

[gggggg2]

I am a Canadian and would like to come to the United States to do an ACTA fellowship because of the much higher number of bigger cases going on there. We have TGH in Toronto doing good volumes, but still lots of centres in the USA still exceed their numbers. I do see lots of posts however about some fellowships being more supervisory and others more hands on. I would like to be hands on. I have also read good things and less good things about UCSF on this forum. Curious about the quality of their ACTA program. I would like to live somewhere warm for a year, snow in late April gets old.

Tempted to write the USMLE to go down on a H1B visa, but that seems like a lot of work to do in a year.

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[anaesthetic]

Look at their previous matches from the past few years. If I remember correctly, they almost exclusively take internal candidates (UCSF residents). Good luck.

 

[Urzuz]

I would like to live somewhere warm for a year, snow in late April gets old.

I can’t comment on the ACTA program, but you have another thing coming if you are imagining a stereotypical California sunshine with sandy beaches etc in San Francisco. You have to go much further south in California for that.

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”

 

[gggggg2]

Haha, yes for sure I have noticed it is colder than lots of other places. But much better than most the year 32-45 f and a decent third around 14f where I currently am.

 

[DesiredMemberName?]

Opinion: UCSF has a great reputation for many things. ACTA is not one of them. If you want NorCal, look at Stanford. If you want SoCal, look at UCSD or UCLA.

 

[DrN2O]

Location: There is a big difference between SF and SoCal (LA & SD). The latter is warmer, sunnier, and more spread out, so a car is a must. Even a big difference between SF and Stanford (Palo Alto), which is 40 minutes away and probably 5C warmer. CNN can tell you all about SF downtown.

Program: UCLA is clearly #1. UCSD does PTE. UCSF lung transplant is one of the tops in the U.S, and now doing a lot more heart transplants. Stanford is busy.

For Cali: I would train (cardiac) at UCLA, live in SD, party at SF, and get a job at Stanford. But you should probably apply to all of them. You just won't know until that zoom interview whether each has what you want.

 

[Beeftenderloin]

The real deal “hands on” fellowships are at duke and Cleveland clinic. Less desirable locations, but unmatched in training and reputation.

 

[Dr. Rude]

The real deal “hands on” fellowships are at duke and Cleveland clinic. Less desirable locations, but unmatched in training and reputation.

Which of those did you go to?

 

[Beeftenderloin]

Which of those did you go to?

Lol, neither! Just an unbiased third party. Did my ACTA fellowship elsewhere. Interviewed at both and know/work with people that graduated from both. You are solo about 80-100% of the time at those programs with pathology flown in from every corner of the globe. You’re gonna work like a resident though, which is what it sounds like OP is looking for. I wanted a fellowship with a little more of a split in supervision/solo days to have some time to really just worry about echo and not getting up early hanging drips and placing art lines in pre-op.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

The real deal “hands on” fellowships are at duke and Cleveland clinic. Less desirable locations, but unmatched in training and reputation.

only one of them is second to none though.

 

[pgg]

You’re gonna work like a resident though,

That's the truth.

5 PM on June 30th of my fellowship they had me in an OR. They definitely extracted maximum labor out of us.

Around mid January I was asking myself WTF was wrong with me that I gave up my cushy attending life to go there. But I saw everything and did everything, a bunch of times. Great experience.

 

[Dr. Rude]

only one of them is second to none though.

Some prefer Filet Mignon. Some like a NY Strip.

 

[Beeftenderloin]

I had my second peds anesthesia rotation recently (3 more to go). I really enjoyed it but our site is not very large - so only a few more major cases involving bowel resection, peeling kidneys off major vessels, and neuro case in neonate. A fellowship in peds seems appealing to me - but my prior paediatrics exposure is low. Clerkship was all outpatient and not much of it (no picu or nicu). My residency has been 2 weeks peds ER and then just Peds anesthesia. I just worry that my baseline pediatric knowledge won’t be enough to actually do pediatric anesthesia. I don’t feel even close to being comfortable dealing with sick neonates. For that reason something like cardiac anesthesia seems like a more appealing albeit more narrow fellowship to pursue - as so much of our training prepares us for it.

I am a Canadian and would like to come to the United States to do an ACTA fellowship because of the much higher number of bigger cases going on there. We have TGH in Toronto doing good volumes, but still lots of centres in the USA still exceed their numbers. I do see lots of posts however about some fellowships being more supervisory and others more hands on. I would like to be hands on. I have also read good things and less good things about UCSF on this forum. Curious about the quality of their ACTA program. I would like to live somewhere warm for a year, snow in late April gets old.

Tempted to write the USMLE to go down on a H1B visa, but that seems like a lot of work to do in a year.

Looking forward to next weeks thread inquiring about pain fellowships.