Wow, i haven't written a thread on this site since the first year of medical school. Joseppi, you have some of the exact same questions that I was asking last year when I was applying to programs. It is true what the other posters were saying, about West Coast programs being relatively new. UW is supposedly "the best" program on the West Coast but they are more heavily involved in research and academics. One of my friends ranked them #1 (he matched at Stanford) and the other ranked them very low (she is going to the East Coast). I was not offered an interview there so I can't comment on them from personal experience.
Loma Linda appears to prefer students from their medical school. My friend is a resident at UCLA and says their program is in flux because their program director is retiring. Lots of students from my school ended up matching at LLU for medicine/FP/peds but had problems arranging rotations there because for some reason they don't like DO students doing sub-Is there but do offer them interviews.
The only programs that I had personal experience with were Stanford and UCLA/VA Health System. I did a sub-I at Rancho Los Amigos as a 3rd year and was offered an interview at UCLA (my last interview). I knew several of the PGY-2s at UCLA. Overall, they are a very intelligent group and know have to have fun (they do a lot of social stuff with each other). They don't seem overworked to me, I don't know if the workload is lighter or if they are super intelligent and very efficient. It appears to me that they have a 50/50 balance of inpatient/outpatient rotations. Rancho is still in financial trouble so I don't know how it will affect resident training.
I matched at Stanford for next year. In general, they take 1 DO a year. Almost all of the sub-Is I met at Valley were DOs besides a UCSF student. All of the students who did a rotation at Stanford were offered interviews, and were given the first interviews of the season. I am convinced that my performance on my rotation and my interviews allowed me to match. Stanford residents have home call for all 3 years, but I don't think it is as "cushy" as everyone thinks. I have the impression it will be more difficult to judge whether or not to see the patient when you are not in-house. I did notice that Stanford residents work very long hours (sometimes over 12 hour days) and have a very heavy patient load. The environment can also be very stressful because some of the patients have acute injuries (especially in the RTC where many patients are on vents). Stanford PM&R is the major "tertiary" center for rehab in Northern California, I remember many of our patients were life-flighted from UCSF and far away places like Modesto, Fresno, and even Sacto.
For me, Stanford had the right mix of academics, didactics, research, and clinical excellence I was looking for in a program. The attendings are very intelligent and well-published. The name is a big plus, most people don't know that Stanford isn't considered the top program in PM&R but Stanford training opens many doors. All of the residents who sought fellowships had multiple offers, but many go right into private practice because they get very attractive job offers in the Bay Area. I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and so Stanford was my top choice in terms of quality and location. A lot of folks put locational concerns first when applying to residency anyways, I know my rank list was based on location mainly.
The out-of-state programs I was really impressed with were Baylor-Houston, NYU, and Baylor-Dallas. Baylor-Houston and NYU are huge programs with impressive research credentials. People from these programs tend to go into academics. Baylor-Dallas seemed to me to be more resident-oriented and smaller (they only take 3 a year). The people I interviewed with were very warm and sincere.
Good luck with your applications. Be sure to send me an e-mail if you have more questions.
just kidding.
