Thanks for your responses!
Can you comment on your own or your colleagues decisions for attending UC riverside over some of the more "big name/competitive" California programs? With a goal of becoming a well trained and competent EM physician who will likely work community medicine I have a strong interest in a program such as UC Riverside. Unfortunately, in my discussion with advisors and others have been told to favor interviews at the other "big name" schools over programs such as this due to the lack of reputation, questionable off service, general question marks of the program. I will be keeping my interview here because I personally have a strong interest in the program, but would be interested in the thoughts of you or others in your program. I was hesitant to originally post this because I in no way mean to say that this program is any less strong than others.
Also. If you could comment on life in Riverside in terms of housing and general lifestyle that would be fantastic. Thanks again for all your time.
These are real questions on a lot of applicants' minds! You're in good company.
It all comes down to knowing yourself and your long term goals.
Let me explain further while, hopefully, answering your questions...
In emergency medicine there's a lot of factors that go into getting a job (you know this). All those same factors + luck come into play for your dream job. Do you know what that dream job looks like? Probably not exactly at this level (I know I sure as heck didn't). With each passing month in the ED, that image will become more clear. However, I bet you do have some very good approximations of where you see yourself in 3-5-10 years. Community? Big name university? Small town? Big city? Purely clinical? Research? Administration?
If you see yourself with certainty going down the road of wanting to be a Professor at Denver, USC+LAC, Cinci... pumping out that research, etc. I have no reason to mislead you -- going to one of "those sorts" of programs indeed might serve you better to achieve that goal.
[That said, we do have research. In fact, one of our residents was selected to present their research from here at Cal/ACEP. Do we have the breadth of research that those programs above have? No. But, if you want to do projects, you certainly can with the program's full encouragement.]
If you want to be a community doc that can just about see and do it all, doing the years of residency at a community or county program where you
actually have to do it all puts you in good order to achieve it. Want to work in an efficient community shop? Some programs will get you that much more exposure to "how things work in the community". By no means am I saying the academic university programs don't prepare residents for community, but do they prepare residents for the community EM experience
better than community EM programs?
As a side note, a decent percentage of grads end up practicing in the region they did residency. If you MUST live in SoCal, try to do residency in SoCal. (Connections.)
Do you see yourself working purely clinical or implementing in some administration? If the latter, do you agree that it would behoove a resident to attend a program where they can get involved in the business aspects of medicine and ED administration from day 1?
Knowing yourself today will only benefit your decision tomorrow.
For myself and at least a few of my co-residents, we happen to have strong interests in administration. I remember on my interview day (wow, roughly a year ago now!), sitting in the interview with the PD and literally saying
"I like to build things. I like making things. I want to keep doing it. You're the boss, but let me tell you I want to help you build this program."
Small chance you are going to match at Denver and
"build the program". Chances are you aren't going to match at USC+LAC and play a pivotal role in
drastically changing the way things are done. In all likelihood, you are not going to match at Cinci and look back and feel your hands starting intern year helped to mold it for what it is today (being there during the formative years helps).
Therein lies one of the beauties of a new program. If you like to build, if you want to be a go-getter, a leader, someone that helps
make the path rather than follow one already laid out for them -- a new program is the type that potentially might quench that thirst.
I say "
potentially" because each new program is different. Some departments might be less inclined to give their new residents big responsibilities. I can't speak for all new programs because I only know mine.
RCH/UCR gives autonomy and meaningful responsibility, I can say that with certainty because I've been living it.
Not all of my co-residents are interested in administration -- but all of them are interested in emergency medicine. All are interested in taking charge. All are interested in being an excellent physician.
RCH/UCR will permit for all those goals. We have the faculty. We have the patients. We have the acuity. We have the facility. We have the faith.
Your advisor wasn't crazy. There are wrinkles to be ironed out during those first several years. Some people like this type of ironing! And there are question marks: Off-service rotations, Consultant relationships, No senior residents (scary!).
I addressed the major hiccups in an earlier post, so I won't belabor that. I will say, that when your cohort matriculates, you will have a group of second years above you that are 100% interested in teaching and helping you during your intern year as much as possible.
We're all in. It's not by chance. The administration literally made their match list last year selecting for this stuff -- so that's what they got.
Riverside housing is excellent. If you are single income, you will have a nice apartment in some of the nicest neighborhoods in the city. If you have a roommate or dual income, you can comfortably unlock very nice homes to rent. I'm taking 3 car garages and in-ground pools.
For residency, our lifestyles are pretty nice actually. For amenities of Riverside, it isn't the same city it was decades ago. There's a good supply of things to enjoy - from shows, to nature, to nightlife.
You made the right decision keeping your interview. How you decide to rank us compared to the other CA and "big name" programs depends on you. But at least that decision will be an informed one. And no one can fault you for that -- whatever you might decide.
Keep the questions coming! Fantastic!
PS: I write this late at night in an almost stream-of-consciousness fashion. Wording could be further perfected, but I think my overall points get across. There is not a
universal best program. Your goal this cycle is to find the best program
for you. RCH/UCR might be that program, it might not be. No matter where you go, you picked a good specialty and are going to do good things. Congrats!