How to be richer, happier, and keep your car from getting stolen:
My advice is take a program away from either coast where the cost of living is excellent, the pay in residency is several thousand more a year, and the traffic is not near as hard on your nerves. I can tell you from personal experience that living in California is not the promised land that everyone east of there seems to think it is. It's a great place to visit but an increasingly worse place to live. The average cost of a home in CA is $560,000 and I will tell you that some real crappy places in very crappy areas are selling for upwards of $300,000. How a resident survives there is beyond me. Spend the extra money you'll make in residency and the money you'll save from the cost of living elsewhere and take your vacation in California. Good luck.