Hey everyone,
I'm a CA-1 (first year of anesthesia) here at Stanford. I saw the numbers in the above posts and was quite impressed. They are way better than mine were. I only scored a 226 on Step I and a 224 on Step II. I was not AOA. I did not perform phenomenally at the University of Washington in med school, but got a few Honors consistently. I did a crappy research project that got published. I did spend 5 years as an Army Ranger, however, and that's what we talked about at my interview. I think I'm the dumbest person in my class here on paper.
Stanford's program rocks. When you read the standard anesthesiology texts, you notice that so many of them are written by the docs here. If you do a Google search on Jaffe, Brock-Utne, Fischer, Saidman (former president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists), Pearl, Mihm, etc. you'll find out how famous they are. I worked with Dr. Jaffe this morning and I said, "So I was reading your book last night and,..." His book is Surgical Procedures for Anesthesiologists, a text famous around the world. I can't get over how many docs here are cited in nearly every article I read. And they're very friendly.
I will say that we get worked pretty darn hard here. An average day starts at 6:00 AM and ends anywhere from 5:30-8:00. We also work at two other hospitals--the VA which is very cush, and Santa Clara Valley where you get worked like a 6-year old boy in an offshore Nike factory. So it gets to be a grind. I sort of think that you'll learn good anesthesia wherever you go as long as you get enough cases. With that said, I encourage people to choose their residency based on WHERE THEY WILL BE HAPPIEST. Location, location, location. Operating rooms look the same at Stanford as they do in the Midwest. A ruptured appendix looks the same at Stanford as it does in the Northeast.
I will say that the weather here is awesome, and the cost of living is very overstated. I live extremely comfortable here and money is NOT an issue whatsoever. If the cost of living is a reason why you might not consider Stanford, forget it! You will have no problem making ends meet here. Also, Stanford has about the highest salary in the nation for residents. On top of that, the hospital gives you $3000 lump sum to move here (you do NOT need to provide receipts; you just get $3000 in your August check) and the department here gives you $2400 each year for cost of living. All told, you will make about $50,000 as a CA-1. Plus, the department funds all kinds of things. We did a class trip to a winery, had a night out after the Boards (we drank $2000 worth of beer and drinks, all on the department), and they got us a luxury box at an Oakland As game--all free! They also pay for a skiing retreat at Tahoe each spring. We're very comfortable here, but when it's time to work--we work hard. Oh, and we get a $250 PDA stipend and $1500 each year for books and educational stuff.
My fellow residents are really cool. No one is snobby-everyone is very friendly. People here are extremely bright, but also self-deprecating. I am amazed how intelligent these people are, but I have to pry it out of them with a crowbar.
Good luck to all of you in your residency search. I also encourage you to take a look at Stanford. I am extremely happy here. Hope this helps.
Eric Smith
CA-1, Stanford
