Help me rank these southern CA programs please!

[AbominablePain]

Greetings fellow SDNers,

Come rank list crunch time, I seek your brutally honest input regarding ranking my favorite southern CA programs: UCLA/OVH, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and Kaiser San Diego --- especially from anyone familiar with them. I'm lucky to know I'd be pleased with any of them, but can't help scrambling the order around every so often. My current goal is most likely community medicine while working at a teaching hospital at least part time. I'm also prioritizing 3 yrs >> 4 yrs, LA > SD, teaching opportunities, (some) elective time, less opposed procedural opportunity, and a diverse range of acuity and patient population. Secondarily, I'm also trying to minimize 12 hr shifts, traffic, COL.

And a few more targeted questions:
1. How influential would the UCLA name be with respect to teaching job prospects in SoCal? And would a 4-yr grad with no fellowship (should I choose not to do one) be able to land a clinical faculty position?
2. On the flip side, how handicapped, if at all, would I be graduating from such a new program like UCR?
3. With all the concerns out there about HCA and other CMGs and how that will affect future market conditions, would this influence your decision to attend an HCA residency (e.g. UCR)?
4. Are the acuity and procedural experiences at Kaiser SD sufficient to come out confident?

I know there is a lot to unpack here, but any input you could offer (via PM if you would prefer) would be more than appreciated! Thanks!

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[westdescartes]

From what I've heard from PDs throughout the interview trail, it is increasingly so that academic faculty positions in sought-after cities (SD, LA, Seattle, Bay area, etc) go to only fellowship-trained attendings. You could probably do a few shifts at an academic place but not a "faculty" position coming from a 4 year program. There are some rare cases I've seen (looking at where residents go) that you can go to a faculty position from residency, but usually to less sought-after places. Or you could go straight to a community place that participates in training residents.

So I think it would be helpful to clarify for yourself:
Faculty position vs. just working with residents at a place
Academic hospital vs. Community hospital that also trains residents

Also, a lot of it is what you do with your time in residency. You could be a resident that uses tons of elective time in medical education, publish in med-ed, become a national speaker or leader in med-ed via EMRA or whatever, and then that will set you up so much more for a teaching position after residency.

 

[Frazier]

Greetings fellow SDNers,

Come rank list crunch time, I seek your brutally honest input regarding ranking my favorite southern CA programs: UCLA/OVH, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and Kaiser San Diego --- especially from anyone familiar with them. I'm lucky to know I'd be pleased with any of them, but can't help scrambling the order around every so often. My current goal is most likely community medicine while working at a teaching hospital at least part time. I'm also prioritizing 3 yrs >> 4 yrs, LA > SD, teaching opportunities, (some) elective time, less opposed procedural opportunity, and a diverse range of acuity and patient population. Secondarily, I'm also trying to minimize 12 hr shifts, traffic, COL.

And a few more targeted questions:
1. How influential would the UCLA name be with respect to teaching job prospects in SoCal? And would a 4-yr grad with no fellowship (should I choose not to do one) be able to land a clinical faculty position?
2. On the flip side, how handicapped, if at all, would I be graduating from such a new program like UCR?
3. With all the concerns out there about HCA and other CMGs and how that will affect future market conditions, would this influence your decision to attend an HCA residency (e.g. UCR)?
4. Are the acuity and procedural experiences at Kaiser SD sufficient to come out confident?

I know there is a lot to unpack here, but any input you could offer (via PM if you would prefer) would be more than appreciated! Thanks!

UCLA is def the biggest name on the list. It is a 4 year, so that is HUGE of you arent gung-ho on going that pathway. As alluded to above, 3 years + fellowship gets you in the same general spot (but 200k ahead). LA = pricey.

UCI is a solid program no doubt. Been around for awhile. 3 years. Nice area. Can be pricey.

UCR is a new program, but sounds to be pretty groundbreaking in some of their features. I know a resident there, they have a ton of procedures intern year. Also they have a scholarly track program where you write your own ticket -- which is usually a 4 year program feature. Cheap COL.

Kaiser is in San Diego, cool city. Can be pricey. 3 years. You will be able to easily transition to other kaiser hospitals for employment (as you will already know the kaiser way of doing EM and their unique culture). I'm still waiting for someone to comment on their acuity and procedure volume from that thread on here months ago.

This would be my rank by name:
UCLA>UCR>UCI>Kaiser

This would be my rank by procedure/acuity:
UCR>UCI>UCLA>Kaiser

This would be my rank by city:
Kaiser>UCI>UCR>UCLA

This would be my rank by being able to bring something new to the program:
UCR>UCI>UCLA>Kaiser

Regarding your HCA question, that sounded to be something peddled by a few people on here over and over and over, leading it appear as an issue. The spreadsheet noted from someone that interviewed that the ED isn't even HCA but rather CEP. So people don't even seem to know what they are talking about more often than not.

Out of the 4, with your goals, I'd be torn between UCLA and UCR.

All great programs, congrats.

 

[AbominablePain]

Thank you very much for your insightful responses. I think the biggest concern of mine at this point is how much stock to put in name brand or age of the program. Though community medicine will most likely be my primary role, I do want to maintain academic chops should I choose to pursue that avenue, be it a part-time attending or core faculty. I realize it might be hard to quantify, but what doors would an established program like UCLA open that a new program like UCR would not? Would I be at a disadvantage by not putting in that fourth year at a name-brand program in spite of it not being the most cost-effective route?