Pls Help! UWash vs. Stanford

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314159

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I keep changing my number 1 choice between U Washington and Stanford. I think I would enjoy either city. I want to do fellowship and future academia in likely ID vs. HemeOnc vs. Pulm CC. UW has great programs in all those areas which make me lean toward it. However, it sold itself poorly on the interview day and I got a much better feel at Stanford (which is no slouch in any of the above fields either).

Recommendations, esp. from people who visited these programs?

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Based on your stated interests, I don't think you can go wrong with either program. Depending on where you are in your life and, more importantly, where you will be in 2-3 years when you are applying to fellowships (assuming you aren't short-tracking), you will have excellent fellowship opportunities coming out of either program.

I interviewed at both programs and felt they were roughly comparable. Here are my thoughts in a nutshell:

UW
Good patient diversity, good 3 hospital system
Seattle is a cool city
PD seemed nice but a bit tired on my interview day, is retiring.

Stanford
Excellent patient diversity, 3 hospital system (sort of) but it's not integrated since SCVMC has it's own residency program
Bay Area is a great place to live, more expensive than Seattle and you're not in the heart of a big city if that is a priority
PD is outstanding, probably my favorite PD from all programs I visited

Based on the brief bit you said, it sounds like you might be happier with Stanford. It's an exciting place and it is definitely in the heart of a lot of exciting scientific and medical advances. I don't think you can go wrong with either place...good luck!
 
UW is definitely stronger in Pulm/CC. Some would also argue that ID and Heme/Onc are stronger at UW as well. The Heme/Onc Department is much larger at UW, but I think the quality of work done at Stanford is equally as strong among the fewer faculty that are there. I don't think ID and Pulm/CC are departments that Stanford is well-known for, in contrast to Cardiology and Heme/Onc.
 
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I agree that PulmCC and ID are probably stronger at UW. Fred-Hutch is a powerhouse too in the Heme/Onc world.

UW is definitely stronger in Pulm/CC. Some would also argue that ID and Heme/Onc are stronger at UW as well. The Heme/Onc Department is much larger at UW, but I think the quality of work done at Stanford is equally as strong among the fewer faculty that are there. I don't think ID and Pulm/CC are departments that Stanford is well-known for, in contrast to Cardiology and Heme/Onc.
 
The two programs have similar overall caliber.

As already mentioned, Stanford is better known for cardiology and heme/onc, though I wonder about heme/onc sometimes. They are very strong in oncology research. However, without the NCI CCC designation (and the patient referral base that comes with it), I wonder how heme/onc clinical training is at Stanford. Not a huge impact on resident education, but does make one wonder about being a heme/onc fellow there. UW, stronger in ID and P/CC. Especially P/CC. Having said all this, you will do just fine being from either program when applying for fellowships.

Location-wise, both are pretty sweet, but Bay area is more expensive. Money issues aside, I think both locations are also suitable for raising a family (if that is a factor for you). Nightlife is available at both places, but will be farther if you are at Stanford.

Don't forget about group dynamics. Stanford is a smaller program; residents do seem fairly tight-knit. UW is larger, so you probably won't get to know everyone as well, but it also means that you are more likely to find colleagues who share similar interests. For what its worth, alumni network will be larger coming from UW, and that may help you down the road with job finding.

One last thing. UW may not present itself well on interview day, but people still seem pretty happy overall (same at Stanford). My "big sib" from med school is now an intern at UW, and he is enjoying his experience with no complaints.

Good luck. You are in an enviable position either way.
 
you can't go wrong with either one. fellowship placement will be comparable. the big question is seattle vs. palo alto.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I decided to rank UWash #1.

Best of luck.
 
just wanted to thankfully mention that this thread really helped me in the final hours this past wednesday- i'd struggled quite a bit w/ my top 2- UofC vs. UW. my career interests currently are in academic heme/onc and possibly GI.


The issue of large program size had deterred me from UW, mainly b/c i place such high importance on being a part of a cohesive group in which i'll know everyone somewhat personally- i'm still unsure whether having an intern class of 75 may limit this. but the following was really helpful re: this

UW is larger, so you probably won't get to know everyone as well, but it also means that you are more likely to find colleagues who share similar interests. For what its worth, alumni network will be larger coming from UW, and that may help you down the road with job finding.

really excellent points- these are probably things i'd considered along the way, but hadn't thought of recently amidst the pre-match spinning mental gerbal wheel state i've found myself in. i also found the overall UW presentation on interview day somewhat slack, whereas UofC seemed to have one of the best, most personable interview days.

at the end, at 8pm est on 2/21, the following concept led me to change UW to #1 and UC to 2:
you can't go wrong with either one. fellowship placement will be comparable. the big question is seattle vs. [chicago].


thanks again for all of the posts. best of luck to everyone, and to '314159', i hope that we end up in the same intern class in seattle!
 
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