Interviewed at a bunch of community programs this year.
In California, Cedars is obviously the strongest, stronger than the "formally affiliated" UCLA-Olive View in my opinion. Other than that, CPMC and SCVMC are great programs. CPMC has more of a private hospital feel, while SCVMC is county. Objectively, I think the two places are quite comparable overall. SCVMC has a better match list, but there are issues with the program (unstable leadership, scut work, questionable teaching quality). CPMC has fantastic teaching and the location in the middle of SF can't hurt. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that UCSF is so well established in San Francisco, CPMC could be a "lower-tier" academic program in its own right as I felt it was stronger than some lower Philly programs.
I felt Kaisers (went to every one except Kaiser SC and Fontana) were a step down from those above. Kaiser Oakland comes the closest but is still too small in my own opinion. They have great access to research though and the program director is amazing. I also went to Scripps Mercy, and I was the least impressed with this program. Great location, but the hospital is antiquated (similarly their medical record keeping system) - teaching was so-so from the rounds that I saw, and the residents didn't seem to have much work at all. Fellowship match was mediocre. The major plus is simply the fact they are located in sunny and gorgeous San Diego.
I also interviewed at Houston Methodist and Mount Auburn this year - Methodist is fantastic and I think in 5-10 years they could be like CPMC/SCVMC and attract 100% US MD/DOs. Very strong cards match for a community program. Mount Auburn has an affiliation with Harvard, but I felt the hospital was tiny (certainly smallest at all the community programs I went to) and that pushed it a few notches down in my mind. However, most of the residents do research at one of the Harvard hospitals (usually BIDMC) and (as a result?) they have a strong fellowship match for a community program.
I ended up not ranking Kaiser Santa Clara, Scripps Mercy, and (almost) Mount Auburn, for reference.
No mention of Scripps Green in La Jolla? (Not the same as Scripps Mercy). It was briefly mentioned above, but here's a bit more information:
Small program (12 residents a year)
Tertiary referral center, liver transplant center, bone marrow transplant center, fecal transplant center, and there is also now research going on regarding stem cell transplants for the treatment of heart failure. Dr. Schatz is also at Scripps Green, who is best known as the co-inventor of the first coronary artery stent.
Fellowships:
Interventional cards
Cardiology
Gastroenterology
Hem/Onc
Rheumatology
Endocrinology
Scripps Green Fellowship Match List:
http://www.scripps.org/sparkle-assets/documents/alumni_information_2014.pdf
The most recent year (2014-2015) had 3 match into cards, 4 match into hem/onc, and 1 into GI
Also, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is attached to the hospital. Home of Eric Topol, editor and chief of medscape and voted the most influential people in healthcare in 2012, as well as 4 nobel laureates. It's extremely easy to get involved with clinical research here, and while I don't have experience with it, pretty easy to get involved in bench research as well from what I hear.
Downsides - small hospital, but we are expanding over to Scripps Memorial Hospital down the road, which is bigger than SGH. You will be seeing a primarily insured population but we rotate at Balboa Naval hospital which offers a different kind of training experience. Depending on the attending there may be more oversight than you may expect compared to a county hospital. But hey, you're in La Jolla.
Scripps Green is often mistaken as "just a community hospital," but similar to CPMC, it's a small hospital with the feel and the resources of a large academic institution. We just don't have a medical school attached to us.
Feel free to message with questions
The only shots you miss 100% are the shots that you don't take.
