Hi Adam and MAPKinkster,
I'll try to answer some of your questions/concerns regarding UCSF. Here it goes:
However, after visiting the CORNELL/SKI/ROCK program, I saw many issues:
It is good that you are comparing different programs. That is exactly what you need to do to see where you fit best.
1) GEOGRAPHY: The Mission Bay expansion will split the campus in the near future, putting medical and graduate faculty on opposite sites of SF. I'm more attracted to Tetrad faculty, which I believe will be moving away to Mission Bay. During medical school years, it may be difficult to keep a foot in research (attending lab meetings, seminars, etc.)
**Maybe VADER can give us his THOUGHTS on this MISSION BAY issue...=)**
Everyone here (at UCSF) feels that Mission Bay will provide extraordinary opportunities in terms of expansion of the basic and clinical sciences, recruitment of new faculty members, establishment of innovative research programs/institutes, and connections with biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. It is the largest and most ambitious academic building project in the nation, a several billion dollar effort. There will be increased lab space available for new faculty, which will increase the number of collaborations available. In terms of faculty movement, it is true that many Tetrad faculty will be moving to the new campus. However, strong connections will be maintained despite this. For transportation, there will be regular shuttles between Parnassus and Mission Bay (and other sites). One thing to realize is that UCSF is already a multi-campus unversity (i.e. Laurel Heights, SFGH/Gladstone, Parnassus, Mount Zion, etc) which has components in different parts of the city. San Francisco is relatively small in area and you can get around from place to place very easily.
2) HOUSING: Housing is a pain in the butt in SF...they don't subsidize great housing like NYC.
Actually, the housing situation has gotten MUCH better in San Francisco due to the economic decline. I have seen plenty of for rent signs up, which you never used to see in the past. All of the students were able to find housing, and most people live within a few blocks of campus. I decided to live down by Ocean Beach because you can generally get more for your money here. The MSTP stipend is definitely more than enough to live comfortably on.
3) LENGTH: I'm still unsure how I feel about this because I think the length of PhD is directly proportional to how well I'll do after the MSTP. (i.e. SHORT PhD = LONG postdoc) Everyone I spoke with told me straight up that it program would at least EIGHT years minimum...no one was trying to SELL the SEVEN years.
MSTPs from UCSF have always done very high-quality PhDs. There have been cases in which students have spent a long time, but this has usually been due to marriage, kids, and other life circumstances. The longest times to graduation have come from the Tetrad program, mostly because people who choose the program generally don't know what they're specifically interested in and thus take time to decide. Tetrad also has more course requirements than other programs (like other PIBS programs such as Neuroscience, or the BMS program). For example, no MSTP student who did Neuroscience has taken longer than 8 years to graduate from UCSF. Most take 7. At UCSF there is really no one who will pressure you out the door. The philosophy is that you will graduate when you are ready. The problem is that students often don't realize that there isn't someone hounding you to finish and think they should just go on and on in the lab. Recent efforts have been made to ensure timely progression, however, such as regular thesis committee meetings, letters from the MSTP to faculty, etc. But what it really boils down to is knowing your own goals, becoming your own advocate throughout your education, and working hard. There is nothing preventing you from taking 7 (or even 6) years. In my case, I want to take no more than seven years total, so I've done a rotation already and will do one next summer (only 2 rotations are required for MSTPs in Neuro). That way, I can start my thesis work the summer after the second year of medical school (and hence finish earlier).
On the flip side, UCSF has the great faculty (some MSTP student told me to think of the NATURE/SCIENCE/CELL-publication-to-faculty ratio), great weather, great students...(and for me, CLOSE to HOME).
The publication record of the faculty across the board is amazing... that was one of the things that really distinguished UCSF from other schools for me. Not only are the faculty great, but everything is very personalized here and you get abundant opportunities to interact with them. The collaborative atmosphere here facilitates this.
I want to re-emphasize that ultimately you'll be deciding based on a variety of factors (i.e. location, quality of medical school, faculty, graduate programs, lifestyle, family, social support, and many others). You'll have to figure out which ones are most important to you and see where you fit best. Just make sure that you go where you'll be happiest--because that will allow you to be the most productive and successful.
