university of southern cal vs. east coast school

[southerncal]

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Anyone with input if I should leave Southern California (home town) and rank programs such as Columbia, MGH, Michigan over University of Southern California or Loma Linda for Anesthesiology.

 

[USMan22]

Anyone with input if I should leave Southern California (home town) and rank programs such as Columbia, MGH, Michigan over University of Southern California or Loma Linda for Anesthesiology.

Yeah....I think you should leave sunny southern california....I interviewed at Boston...and WOW!!!!! The weather was amazing.....hahhahah..sike!!!

 

[keysersoze]

Anyone with input if I should leave Southern California (home town) and rank programs such as Columbia, MGH, Michigan over University of Southern California or Loma Linda for Anesthesiology.

Southern California-

Pros: Beautiful weather. Good programs.

Cons: Everyone from Cali is stuck up and insane (you let OJ off, etc.).


New York-

Pros: Good programs. Incredible variety of cultural activities/things to do.

Cons: You can't afford any of the cultural activities/things to do. Weather sucks year-round. Pay $2000/month to live in your neighbor's armpit, then scurry like the rest of the rats into your tunnels to go to/leave work. Young attendings are manning the corner hot dog carts instead of practicing medicine since "everyone wants to be in New York" for some unknown reason.


Boston-

Pros: Good programs. Baked beans. Larry Bird played here.

Cons: Baked bean farts everywhere. Weather sucks...but you do have a beautiful 7-week summer. Pay $1600/month to live in your neighbor's somewhat more spacious armpit.


Tough decision. Good luck. 😉

 

[N2b8]

I'm right there with you, my friend (SoCal vs New England vs Florida).

I think I'll see what CompMatrix tells me: http://anesthesia.mc.duke.edu/compmatrix/

I've been soul-searching high and low for help on this one. Family is way too biased to keep you near home, and I've found that even boyfriends are completely useless. Please let me know if you come across something that helps.

 

[ripped cheese]

hmmm...if it was between ucla vs. columbia/mgh, i think that would be a difficult choice, but usc and the east coast programs? i think unless you cannot leave the west coast, the prestige, training, connections of columbia and mgh easily outweigh usc.

i'm in a similar situation with texas programs and east coast. to me, cold weather isn't all too bad and the lure of mgh/b&w/cornell etc. easily outweigh ut-houston, baylor, galveston...

 

[fuzzy_wuzzy]

If you didn't hate the General i'd say absolutely rank that as you will be set for life if you do residency there. As for Columbia vs West coast, i'd say if you plan on practacing in Cali, then I would choose W coast over Columbia (i do NOT love new york).

Do you all think UCSF stands up to the big names on the E coast prestige wise?

 

[N2b8]

I don't know -- I think Miller, Gregory, Gelb, and Rosen are some pretty damn big names.

If you didn't hate the General i'd say absolutely rank that as you will be set for life if you do residency there. As for Columbia vs West coast, i'd say if you plan on practacing in Cali, then I would choose W coast over Columbia (i do NOT love new york).

Do you all think UCSF stands up to the big names on the E coast prestige wise?

 

[MedicinePowder]

it all depends where u u plan to practice in the future. usc in general has an ok name in california. however, it won't carry u far if u want to go elsewhere. no usc student stays at usc for anesthesiology--i think that's suspecious of a weak program since they have such a big class. u may want to ask dr. patel or dr. amaya why they have zero of their own students.

 

[USMan22]

Anyone with input if I should leave Southern California (home town) and rank programs such as Columbia, MGH, Michigan over University of Southern California or Loma Linda for Anesthesiology.

WHASSSUUPP Southerncal......Go to MGH....Its just down the 99...It's really close to you...hahaha..

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

no offense, but usc is considered a joke both on the east coast and in los angeles. dude, if you can go to a big time east coast program...go there!!! if it were between an east coast program and say ucla, stanford, ucsd, or ucsf, the decision to stay would be much easier. but usc??? were talking about medicine, not football.

 

[MedicinePowder]

no offense, but usc is considered a joke both on the east coast and in los angeles.

,

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

dude before you trash a program, you should really know what u're talking about. u can easily chip away at a program's reputation for no good reason or evidence.

yeah you're right. i re-read my post and it was way too harsh. sorry.

 

[ripped cheese]

my take is this: give yourself the best chance possible by going to the better program. you may want to end up settling in southern california after residency, but you will have no problem getting jobs there from any of your east coast schools. but it seems as if getting a job outside of southern california with the USC contacts would be more difficult. i say don't limit yourself by "settling" on a program...

 

[cric1]

no offense, but usc is considered a joke both on the east coast and in los angeles. dude, if you can go to a big time east coast program...go there!!! if it were between an east coast program and say ucla, stanford, ucsd, or ucsf, the decision to stay would be much easier. but usc??? were talking about medicine, not football.

With all due respect I think you have that wrong Milhouse. I lived in LA for 3 years doing a PhD and dealing with a ton of USC and UCLA academics, students and alum. USC has a big name across the board in Southern Cal. Overall, and including all faculties, even bigger than UCSD or Irvine (although that may differ for particular faculties and specialities). For most students it is considered a very strong second place to UCLA.

The most accurate post that corresponds with my experience is the post by medicinepower. USC a very good name in SoCal, although no-one else in the country seems to rate it much. But with the money and power in the LA area, USC with its rep can afford to ask - who cares?

 

[blocks]

😉

 

[perforations]

Anyone with input if I should leave Southern California (home town) and rank programs such as Columbia, MGH, Michigan over University of Southern California or Loma Linda for Anesthesiology.

I'm a fourth year who did a rotation there and spoke with alot of the residents. I'm from arizona but wanted to check it out myself. As you know, they were previously on probation. It's going to take more than a few years to make it an ok residency. The vast majority of the attendings are FMG with hard to understand accents who for the most part have a poor rapport with the residents and require deep probing to teach anything. Some of the residents don't have much respect for the attendings. The lectures border between poor and ok and are mostly power points put together by the residents themselves. I don't know about you, but I rather get pearls of wisdom from a practicing anesthesiologist than someone at my same level. The EM refuses to invovle anesthesiology in the ER even for tough intubations and EM run all codes in the hospital. Another thing, the chair is very pompous. I thought I was the only one who thought he was a snob, but others shared the same view.

Lastly, I think a good measure of a program is if their own students stay for residency since they know more how the deparment and the hospital itself function. Both last year and this years class have zero usc students and you have to consider they have a big anesthesiology class. Personally, i think that's not a good sign. This is just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt if you wish.

I personally liked Loma Linda. I was impressed with the place. Everyone who does a rotation there in the end want to go there. Another sign of the quality of the program is the number of their own students who want to stay there.

 

[jennyboo]

Anyone with input if I should leave Southern California (home town) and rank programs such as Columbia, MGH, Michigan over University of Southern California or Loma Linda for Anesthesiology.

Totally up to you. Depends what your priorities are. Do you want to be in a "this is hot stuff" residency, or do you want to have a comfortable job in your desired location? And they can both come together, though most often they don't.

Keep in mind that most interviews take place in December and January. Weather will be decent in southern California and the South, and icky in the North/Northeast. When I asked residents what other programs they really appreciated, lots of them said, "Duke!" Well, when I interviewed there, it was beautiful, sunny and warm in January, so of course it looked great. When I interviewed in Boston in January, of course it was gray and dreary. Weather changes at different times of year. 😛 But that says nothing about the program itself, the location, or whether it's a place that could make you happy.