Should I do an away at UCSF or UCSF-Fresno?

[Signifier]

Hi all, I am trying to decide between these two away rotations. I have no particular geographical attachments to either place - I know living in Fresno for a month would be significantly cheaper than living in SF for a month, but other than that I don't have any strong feelings. I'm mainly interested in what experiences people have had at them, whether there are any big reasons that come to mind for preferring one or the other.

My hope is to do EM in California. I'd be fine at either an academic or county EM program. I'd really appreciate any suggestions, experience, wisdom. Thank you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[brabbit2222]

Had friends who rotated at Fresno and had a fantastic experience. It might also be an easier residency to get into if you impress the people there as Fresno is nowhere near as popular as SF.

 

[TheComebacKid]

UCSF Fresno is a baller program. It would have been my number 1 choice if I could have convinced the SO to give up her life and move to the cesspit of smog in the central valley for 4 years.

 

[TrailRun]

Isn't Fresno where Jess Mason from EM-Rap is? She seems like a fantastic teacher

 

[EMapplicant2017]

Do you want a more county vs more academic experience?

Geography aside, those are the big differences.

Sent from my SM-G955U using SDN mobile

 

[DrDrummer]

Do you want a more county vs more academic experience?

Geography aside, those are the big differences.

Since you said you'll be fine with either county or academic settings, I'll throw out there that students doing a rotation at UCSF (San Francisco) will spend half their time at the county hospital, which (while in a beautiful brand-new building) is pretty "county" and is the only trauma center in SF, and the other half at the university hospital where you see the prototypical patient with two transplants + a hematologic malignancy + they have some other zebra condition you've never heard of type of right alongside the undifferentiated AMS brought in from Golden Gate Park or Haight St. -- both are busy, fun departments with their own flavor of pathology, but a lot of overlap in between.

I haven't rotated at Fresno, but from what I have seen at our Northern CA EM events and heard, the residents at our sister program are incredibly clinically strong and are exposed to an amazing volume/breadth of pathology. They also are a really fun bunch of people, and have incredible faculty. That said, I love UCSF and think our rotators have a good time and get to see and learn quite a bit. Probably can't go wrong either way and both are quite popular, so consider applying to both and see where you can get into for a month! If you truly have to choose between them, get perspectives from people who have actually rotated and weigh their experience alongside your interest in the two programs. Feel free to PM me with any questions about the UCSF program, or post them here and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

 

[nimbus]

Hmmm a month in Fresno vs a month in SF.....

 

[Signifier]

Nimbus: seems to be advantages/disadvantages to both. Fresno is in the valley, but a lot cheaper housing... SF is the city, but expensive as all hell. What's your view?

DrDrummer: thanks so much, I will follow up.

 

[IH8ColdWeath3r]

I rotated at UCSF Fresno last year. I also rotated in the midwest and down south. IMHO, UCSF is one of the best EM programs in the country. The acuity there is so incredibly high. Just from a purely clinical perspective, you will get phenomenal training. Their residents and faculty were incredibly friendly as well. I really enjoyed my time there and felt like I learned a ton.

Yes, Jess Mason was doing an educational fellowship there. I am not sure if she is still there or not, perhaps call and ask to see if she is on faculty? Their didactics were great as well. I did not need housing, but I do believe that they offer housing as well that was very reasonably priced for the entire month. Only downfall of the program IMO is that it is 4 years and as someone mentioned, Fresno is not the cleanest place and their air quality is quite poor.

 

[docdragon]

Fresno is most excellent.

What do you want to get out of this rotation? Is this an audition, a LOR, a trial, a "do EM while living somewhere awesome"? And do you have a pre-existing preference for your ultimate residency location? Do you want easy access to outdoors stuff with low traffic, or do you want an expensive, high density, high resource location?