Posted anonymously:
---------------------------------------
Stanford: This seems like a truly amazing place if you are interested in academic subspecialty pediatrics. The hospital seemed very much a quaternary care referral center where you would see every complex care subspecialty issue that you could think of. The schedule was very flexible to allow you time to explore your subspecialty and outside interests of choice (ie research for fellowship). It did seem that this strength of subspecialty came at the expense of the general pediatrics experience at times (small hospital without much bread and butter), although they are working to improve this weakness (new rotation at community hospital ER for example). Overall intensity seemed to be in the high medium range with an average of ~8 patients. The faculty that I was in contact with seemed very open to teaching and were overall friendly, however I did hear you run into some faculty that are very full of themselves. The PD herself was absolutely amazing. She had a very motherly personality and seems to have dedicated her career to medical education innovation. I see her as the main strength of this program. The other program directors did not seem as super, but not terrible. The residents themselves were some of the most insightful and impressive that I saw on the trail, yet still very supportive. It made for an environment where everyone was pushing each other to do their best. I liked the academic concentrations in combination with the mentoring system. I was not a fan of palo alto as I prefer urban areas and it was very expensive. However, there were quite a few things to do within an hours drive. Overall I was very impressed and will be ranking highly
Pros: Great PD and residents, strong subspecialty and complex care exposure, innovative curriculum
Cons: Suburban and expensive, poorer general pediatrics
University of washington: This struck as an intense program that churned out truly excellent and fearless clinicians. Patient load was HIGH (someone told me average ~12) with a combination of subspecialty/complex care and bread and butter gen peds. Interns seemed swamped and I was told there wasn't as much time that some would like for teaching/research. However the process seemed to generate residents who really knew their stuff, especially after doing the rural WWAMI program. 2nd/3rd did seem to leave more time for outside interest, and I was very impressed with the resident projects. As I said above the residents were overall very impressive, however they did seem a bit cliquey to me. This impression may be off base as I was only there for 24 hours, however I really did NOT like my resident interviewer which just made me feel out of place. The faculty however seemed incredibly supportive and were very nice. Two of the PDs came by and expressed interest, the chairmen gave a quick nice talk and the coordinators were very friendly. Faculty interviews were great. As far as area goes, Seattle is ok. I prefer more urban areas, and this city just lacks that feel but still comes with the downsides such as terrible traffic and high expenses. Weather just seemed disgusting. If hikes are your thing then this is the place to be I guess, but not really for me. Overall I liked this program and I think the training would be excellent, just did not get that good fit feel from here.
Pros: Intense clinical training in both gen/subspecialty peds, supportive PD and faculty, residents seemed to really know their stuff
Cons: area, residents seemed cliquey, higher stress intern year (can also be a positive)
WashU: The PD introduced the program by saying "I am going to tell you how we are just like everyone else" which really set the tone for the whole day. Nothing really stuck out to me as great here. It did seem like a medium intensity program where you get good clinical training, but no other effort was made to really get you good opportunities in other areas which very much left it on you. The residents did seem to know their stuff but were not quite as amazingly impressive as some of the other programs that I visited. The residents I interacted with seemed to either be married with kids or very party hard singles with no in between overall making the class feel not very close. There were some cool planned activities, though some residents seemed to view them as a chore. The area surrounding the hospital was actually pretty cool and felt safe, however the rest of the area was not great. I can see where St. Louis gets its rep. The hospital itself was alright, and they were planning on expanding it to move L+D closer to the NICU. Faculty seemed alright, PD was overall very friendly. Overall I think this is a pretty good program that just doesn't really stick out in anyway. I wouldn't mind ending up here, I just think there are other programs that I would like better.
Pros: Good clinical training without much stress, area around medical center is nice, $80/hour moonlighting
Cons: St. Louis, not many outside activities, class didn't seem close
UCSF: I am very conflicted about this program. Part of me wants to love it and rank it very high, part of me wants to rank it very low. I'll start with what I saw as the positives. It seemed like a very intense clinical program where the faculty and staff went out of their way to ensure that you would become a strong general pediatrician. You also got great subspecialty/complex care exposure. Being at multiple hospitals seemed like it gave a very versatile experience. The resident morning conference was very impressive and the residents seemed to really know their stuff. The PLUS residents really added to the discussions and seemed to improve resident education on social issues. The curriculum plans seemed to really allow you to jump deeply into one outside interest of your choice and seemed like it would support my interests well. Obviously lots of opportunity for research. The staff seemed nice and were dedicated to your learning. Now for the negatives. The biggest here is the logistics. SF is INSANELY expensive. It seemed to me it would be harder to live here than both palo alto and new york, and finding apartment would be quite a task. Every resident I talked to went over their adventure of finding an apartment on craigslist or some shady internet deal OR talked about their hour long commute. The public transport seemed non-existent which combined with very high traffic and EXPENSIVE parking made it seem like getting to work would difficult. This in combination with the multiple hospitals seemed STRESSFUL.. I asked some residents about this issue and alot of them said they take ubers to and from work (lol WHAT). I'm sure once you figure everything out in your routine these would be less of an issue, but I just really don't want to deal with these things. The closeness of the residency class did seem to be pretty variable based on how much effort each class put in since they are all rotating at different sites. The PD was nice, but I could see him not being quite as supportive as I would like in a PD. As I said above, the pathway/track curriculum did seem like it would fit my interests well, but I could see it being constrictive for people with interests that do not fit a certain mold.
Pros: Intense and quality clinical education, impressive residents and faculty, pathways allow you to get great experience in one outside interest
Cons: rent/transport, variable closeness, possibly constrictive curriculum
)
