I've heard of Ventura and that it's an excellent training program, but have also read that it has kind of an arrogant reputation. I'm sure it's a great program, but personally I am hesitant about California schools for many reasons - California is crowded, polluted, high crime, high cost of living, traffic, etc.
Wow. That's an impressive list of generalizations about a state as large and diverse as California. I can't report back on every town in this state, and there certainly are areas that fit one some of that description. But maybe you are confusing "California" with "South Central LA" or something?
Crowded: yes, some places in California do indeed have a higher population density than, say, Nebraska (23.9/sq mile). Some, but not all. 15 counties are actually less dense than Nebraska. 9 are less dense than South Dakota. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population_density,
http://www.usa.com/rank/california-state--population-density--county-rank.htm). Ventura doesn't feel crowded to me at all, especially given that we are minutes away from hundreds of hiking trails, state forests, national forests, national parks, the entire Pacific ocean and that you can walk from the actual hospital up to a popular hiking trail ("Two Trees".) That's in addition to the hundreds of acres of agricultural land around here - citrus, strawberries, greens, etc.
Polluted: yup, there is haze over LA that you'll see if you fly into the airport. But there's a small mountain range between us and them that keeps most of it over there as far as we are concerned. California has smog laws and stronger environmental laws than many places in the country. You won't find massive factory farmed hog or cattle sewage lakes, mining tailings, industrial lead pollution, oil encrusted shorelines etc, in this town like you might in the midwest, in the mountain states, the east coast, or the gulf coast. Is it perfect? No. But the air and water feel good here. I've lived places where you don't want to breathe through your nose; that's not the case here.
High crime: I have lived in places where people were killed on my block and people were mugged coming home from work and things were stolen unless, and even if, they were bolted down. Ventura isn't like that. There's drug crime here like almost everywhere. But I often leave my front door or basement door unlocked, have no bars on the windows (that don't have screens and which I leave open most of the year.) No one I know has been robbed. I feel safe walking alone at night.
High cost of living: residency isn't going to make you rich anywhere, but there are certainly places that your buck will go farther than here, true. Gas is more expensive than in many places (though many of us walk or bike to work), and home prices are higher for sure. That said, you can live a block from the beach on a resident's salary, or live farther away or with friends and save money while being here. No one I know is struggling to make ends meet here. In fact, people routinely take international vacations and clearly have cash to spare.
Traffic: it exists in the state. It doesn't exist much in our town. "Traffic" for me in Ventura is if it takes more than one light cycle to get through a traffic intersection, or if my regular trips around town take an extra 2-3 minutes more than I expected. I do sometimes run into traffic on the highway near LA or coming back from Santa Barbara on a weekend or during rush hour. But in my day to day life, it's way less of an issue than I had feared, especially after having spent time in some other higher traffic areas in northern parts of the state.
Arrogant: maybe the above sounds arrogant? I don't intend for it to be. I do find this town way more pleasant than I had expected moving here. The weather is super year round, people are friendly, it's beautiful almost all of the time. It's a pretty nice place to live. Do I think it's better than everywhere else? No, there are awesome things about other places I've lived too. Each spot has its own flavor. Is the residency arrogant? Doesn't feel that way to me. I'd encourage you to actually come meet folks out here and decide for yourself. We do work really hard, and are proud of the work we do, the community we serve, and the skills we build. We're also really proud of Family Medicine and get a huge amount of respect/support at our hospital and community. People are also friendly, grounded, supportive of each other, not stuck up.
This might not be the program that is the right fit for you (despite the fact that it is independent minded, affiliated with UCLA, high academic standards, intense procedural experience, universal h/o resident employment after graduation in accordance with their desires, super friendly people who get along, in a town <200k, alongside mountains which were things you were interested in), BUT please try not to paint us in a corner based on broad generalizations about the state.
A lot of folks at this program also looked at Klamath Falls and Grand Junction. I didn't; hopefully other SDN folks can give you more info about those programs. Good luck in your search!