Please help me decide which CA interviews to cancel...

[spumoni620]

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I have (may have) interviews thus far at:

USC
UC-Irvine
UCLA-Olive View (San Fernando Valley)
Huntington Hospital (Pasadena)
Scripps Green
(Scripps Mercy)
(UCSD)
(UC-Davis)
(Kaiser SoCal)
(Santa Barbara Cottage)

Kaiser SF
Kaiser Oakland
Kaiser Santa Clara
Alameda County Hospital (Oakland)
(St Mary's )
(Cal Pacific )

I'm looking for solid training that would not close the door to a fellowship, definitely want to remain in the academic world, right now thinking public policy/primary care/underserved type work. Also don't want to kill myself during residency training and want as much of a life as possible outside of residency. My top priority after good training, education, camaraderie among residents, etc. is weather and # sunny days (I know, it's weird, but after 10 years in the freezing winds of the north, I have decided I hate, hate, hate the cold.) I don't care about prestige, only insofar as it helps get a fellowship if need be...

Based on this...

1. Which programs on this list would you give up?
2. NorCal or SoCal in terms of living, coolness of cities, outdoorsy stuff, weather?
3. Which of the Kaiser interviews are worth keeping between Oakland, SF, Santa Clara?
4. Which county/community programs are worth keeping between St Mary's, Alameda County, Cal Pacific, Scripps, Huntington?

I'm really struggling without an "insider's view" into these programs...any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[imim03]

1. It is difficult to say what programs to drop since I don't have any idea about the competitiveness of your application. Based on your criteria (location, fellowship, etc), though, if this were my application, I would rank Huntington and Alameda lower. Consider dropping USC if you don't think you can handle a crazy crazy county experience.

2. NorCal, LA, and San Diego all have high costs of living. LA is year-round warmer and more temperate than NorCal. Traffic can really be a pain in LA though. San Diego is a really cool beach town with great weather. You can do outdoorsy things in all these places.

3. Don't know. I think Kaiser SF is the only NorCal one with in-house fellowships, but I'm not sure...

4. Scripps Green is a laid back community program with its own fellowships. Scripps Mercy seems like a good place to train (residents are happy, they seem to be able to get fellowships). Not sure which St. Mary's you are referring to, but the Long Beach one seems to provide a decent experience (the SF one is a small program). Cal Pacific is in a cool location, and it has its own fellowships that takes its own residents.

I have (may have) interviews thus far at:

USC
UC-Irvine
UCLA-Olive View (San Fernando Valley)
Huntington Hospital (Pasadena)
Scripps Green
(Scripps Mercy)
(UCSD)
(UC-Davis)
(Kaiser SoCal)
(Santa Barbara Cottage)

Kaiser SF
Kaiser Oakland
Kaiser Santa Clara
Alameda County Hospital (Oakland)
(St Mary's )
(Cal Pacific )

I'm looking for solid training that would not close the door to a fellowship, definitely want to remain in the academic world, right now thinking public policy/primary care/underserved type work. Also don't want to kill myself during residency training and want as much of a life as possible outside of residency. My top priority after good training, education, camaraderie among residents, etc. is weather and # sunny days (I know, it's weird, but after 10 years in the freezing winds of the north, I have decided I hate, hate, hate the cold.) I don't care about prestige, only insofar as it helps get a fellowship if need be...

Based on this...

1. Which programs on this list would you give up?
2. NorCal or SoCal in terms of living, coolness of cities, outdoorsy stuff, weather?
3. Which of the Kaiser interviews are worth keeping between Oakland, SF, Santa Clara?
4. Which county/community programs are worth keeping between St Mary's, Alameda County, Cal Pacific, Scripps, Huntington?

I'm really struggling without an "insider's view" into these programs...any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[PayingMyDues]

USC....too much work for the price...pass
UC-Irvine...have not heard good things about this program...
UCLA-Olive View (San Fernando Valley)...small program...not too good of a shot at a fellowship
Huntington Hospital (Pasadena)...pass...dont waste your time
Scripps Green...good , kick back program and + fellowships...GO
(Scripps Mercy)..not sure
(UCSD)...can you handle an old hospital...GO
(UC-Davis)...Great program...but no life...SF is like 11/2 hours away..cows
(Kaiser SoCal)...Great choice....I love it...and in house fellowships...GO GO
(Santa Barbara Cottage)...WT?...pass

Kaiser SF...Too small of a program...and SF weather sucks..
Kaiser Oakland....pass
Kaiser Santa Clara...good place...chances to do research at Stanford..GO
Alameda County Hospital (Oakland)...another USC...PASS
(St Mary's )...PASS....too many FMG's
(Cal Pacific )...Have not heard

 

[Dreemer005]

1. Which programs on this list would you give up?

The only program on the list I looked at was UCSD. I thought they had a great program, and probably match the best for fellowships out of the programs you have listed. From what I heard, the residents work hard, but that is typical of most major academic programs with a strong reputation.

The others on the list I have heard about, although have not personally seen:

USC -> Have heard mostly negatives, their IM program seems to be in a state of flux. It's also in a sketchy part of So. Cali.

UC-Irvine -> Have not heard much about this program, except that it is a county institution predominantly (even though it's in a really nice area). The area around the hospital is very nice and family oriented, and it's about 45 min. away from the trendy parts of L.A. without traffic (although with traffic, expect to sit on the 405 for 2 hours).

UCLA-Olive View (San Fernando Valley) -> They are a small program and residents seem to really like it there. Much more relaxed compared to UCLA, most residents seem to match into fellowship areas of choice, although not typically into the most prestigious centers.

UC Davis: They have a great reputation and their residents match well into fellowships. The only drawback, as someone mentioned above, is that it is in Sacramento and there isn't much to do around the medical center. The program has been more clinical than research based, although they are focusing more on research over the last several years.

The other programs you might want to consider in California would be UCSF, Stanford, UCLA, Cedars Sinai, Harbor-UCLA and Kaiser Sunset (largest of the CA Kaisers).

2. NorCal or SoCal in terms of living, coolness of cities, outdoorsy stuff, weather?

No. Cali tends to be milder, but more overcast. So. Cali is more sunny year round and can get hot but is almost never humid. So. Cali is great if you prefer beaches, surfing, biking and No. Cali probably offers more camping and hiking.

 

[spumoni620]

thanks everyone for the input...very valuable. I think based on this i'll drop my interviews at USC and a couple of the kaiser programs (maybe Oakland or SF). I also have a feeling i'm more of a SoCal person despite this notorious traffic I keep hearing about. San Diego just may be my perfect compromise/heaven-on-earth....

for imim, i think i have a decently competitive application, of course applied very broadly, so we'll see what happens.