Stanford Vs. UCLA

[pmr77]

I am a PM&R applicant that is looking to stay in California. I am having trouble choosing between Stanford or UCLA to rank first and second. I was wondering if anyone else has an opinion on Stanford Vs. UCLA.
-what are each programs strengths and weaknesses
-which is the stronger program
-which has a better reputation
-which will prepare you better for a career in pain/spine/sports
-which will help you find a better fellowship in pain/spine/sports

Thank you

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[topwise]

Stanford is strong for inpatient, moderate for sports and EMG, and weak for pain/spine. If your goal in residency is to get in a lot of injections, Stanford will probably disappoint you in that regard. If you'd like to see a lot of acute spinal cord injury patients, then Stanford is a great place to go. In general, the residents usually do well in terms of getting fellowships.

 

[ampaphb]

Stanford is strong for inpatient, moderate for sports and EMG, and weak for pain/spine. If your goal in residency is to get in a lot of injections, Stanford will probably disappoint you in that regard. If you'd like to see a lot of acute spinal cord injury patients, then Stanford is a great place to go. In general, the residents usually do well in terms of getting fellowships.

MSK- Fredrickson is amongst the best and the brightest
Pain/Spine-Mitra is still a significant presence in the anesthesia pain fellowship, Derby is down the road and still affiliated, and residents can attend the yearly cadaver course. The Sauls are still in the area, as are Yeung Chen, Conner O'Neil, Jerrome Schofferman, and Garrett Kine. There is no shortage of spine opportunities for those who seek them out.

 

[topwise]

MSK- Fredrickson is amongst the best and the brightest
Pain/Spine-Mitra is still a significant presence in the anesthesia pain fellowship, Derby is down the road and still affiliated, and residents can attend the yearly cadaver course. The Sauls are still in the area, as are Yeung Chen, Conner O'Neil, Jerrome Schofferman, and Garrett Kine. There is no shortage of spine opportunities for those who seek them out.

I agree Fredericson is one of the best for sports. Mitra is great for pain/spine, but the presence of the Stanford pain fellow means that the pain resident does not get the first crack at most injections. I'm not saying that there is no experience, but you won't get to do 100's of injections like at some programs. I think it's a very good program, but you have to have realistic expectations or you won't be happy there... if your expectation coming in is that you'll do 100's of injections, that will likely not happen unless there are some changes in the program.

 

[GQPMR]

I agree Fredericson is one of the best for sports. Mitra is great for pain/spine, but the presence of the Stanford pain fellow means that the pain resident does not get the first crack at most injections. I'm not saying that there is no experience, but you won't get to do 100's of injections like at some programs. I think it's a very good program, but you have to have realistic expectations or you won't be happy there... if your expectation coming in is that you'll do 100's of injections, that will likely not happen unless there are some changes in the program.

So it seems from when I rotated at Stanford to now (4 years ago), things haven't changed much as far as the interventional experience goes.

 

[joseppi]

at stanford (two years ago) it used to be that you had to choose either sports or interventional, you could not do both. And the interventional exposure was limited, I think one month. There were Stanford fellows and UCSF fellows with Mitra. (seems like I remebmer 4 fellows and one resident)
Now that the are changing thing around with a new PD, hopefully things would change more for the better. I also got the feeling that it was... well "Stanford" and for the reason things weren't changing that rapidly. Also (not from experience, but from others have relayed) the status of Stanford/ and their sports affiliation with the Nike running farm team did offer much hands on because of "elite-ness" of their relationship.
I think residency needs to be all hands on- how else are you going to fine tune your skill-set. 😀

 

[ampaphb]

Also (not from experience, but from others have relayed) the status of Stanford/ and their sports affiliation with the Nike running farm team did offer much hands on because of "elite-ness" of their relationship.
I think residency needs to be all hands on- how else are you going to fine tune your skill-set. 😀

That seems to me to be a choice every applicant needs to make - publicly funded program with lots of service patients aford you the opportunity for lots of hands-on exposure, while private institutions (HSS, Stanford, etc) tend to treat what we used to refer to at Northwestern as the "golden slippers", who are a far more elegant patient populaton,l but also much more likely to be folks you watch your attending care for first hand