How competitive are West Coast academic programs?

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Hey guys,

I'm a med student interested in anesthesia. I want to go to a strong West Coast program (USC, UCSD, UCLA) because my family is moving there but my PD doesn't know much about these programs or have any connections. My program has a lot of inbreeding so most of my attendings are recruited locally.

Do these programs prefer their own applicants? What kind of Step scores / research do they look for? Should I do an away?

Thanks!

A surprising number of California programs didn't fill in the match this year. I forget which ones, but you can look them up in this year's copy of Charting Outcomes in the Match. They probably got overconfident and didn't rank as many applicants as they should have, but it does show that things can't be too horribly competitive there. Trying to live on 50k a year in an area in places like San Francisco where houses start at ten times that probably has something to do with it.
 
They are competitive. It looks like you are looking at the big SoCal programs which are going to be tough. If you look outside of that area things get a bit more soft (Davis, Irvine etc). Most CA programs prefer that you have a connection to California. Although if you are a strong applicant, that can be overlooked.

Whether you have to do an away depends on you as an applicant. If you are a mid-range applicant with no strong/obvious ties to CA then I would say that you would need an away. So if you have a Step 1/2 of 237/249 or similar with no clear ties, then yeah do an away. If you are AOA, then an away is probably not necessary.

My belief about the programs not matching is an artifact of strong programs not adjusting to the shifting landscape of anesthesia competitiveness. It happened to a few programs over the last couple years. They just didn't interview/rank enough ppl. So while in previous years they can do 6:1 they have to do 8:1 as an example.

There are a bunch of postings on West Coast programs in this subforum if you want to dig.
 
Most CA programs prefer that you have a connection to California.


This is definitely not true. Just look at the resident rosters. The only connection that matters is if you went to the affiliated medical school. Most of the better CA programs have residents from every corner of the country. Also, my program specifically discouraged audition months.
 
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