USC program

[UscGhost]

I am a recent graduate (last 5 years).
Alot has changed...new director..new chairman. Heavy input and resident led changes in the time that i was there.

Benefits are the same as they always were. Autonomy and clinical experience is fantastic. You can read the book on your own, but if you want to do well in PP, you really need that autonomy.

Work hours werent bad. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and i could handle anything coming out. I couldnt care less about research or being force fed book info from an attending who hadnt seen PP in a decade. But the program gices you freedom and if you are lazy, they won't hold your hand as much as other programs.

Residents there are much stronger now. Usc no longer accepts FMGs due to competitiveness of the program.

If you want to become a faculty or researcher, than USC probably isnt where you want to be. Its a clinical powerhouse though

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[GaseousClay]

Any new information on this program? Thanks in advance!

If want to be in california then apply. The fact that they train SRNAs there though was a big problem for me. Sharing a case with an SRNA is unfathomable to me. I put it on bottom of my CA rank list.

 

[UscGhost]

If want to be in california then apply. The fact that they train SRNAs there though was a big problem for me. Sharing a case with an SRNA is unfathomable to me. I put it on bottom of my CA rank list.

When I was there, somewhat recently, the SRNAs were more of a ideological problem than a real one. We were rarely, if ever, in the same cases. We did the big cases, trauma, etc and they were relegated to the basic stuff until they clocked out at 3pm. So it didn't adversely affect my training.

The SRNAs tended to be assigned to the CRNA rooms.

My personal preference is to work solo and i have zero interest in supervising. Given that preference..I didnt have any issues there.

 

[rakotomazoto]

Not considered the strongest CA program. I only say that based on reputation, not a knock on you if you personally trained there. I am sure you're awesome sauce.

I did an away rotation once upon a time, don't want to be too specific since it has been five years, I am sure many of the small things might have changed. To summarize my experience, the culture of being a county facility permeated the program, even though you also rotate and work at USC's private hospital, too. At that time, they were just transitioning to their surgical-based categorical year and from speaking with other people in my year that ended up going there, it was not a smooth transition. Hopefully, that part has been improved by now. Teaching/attending supervision was poor in my brief weeks there. They do have daily morning lectures, which are hit or miss. Hard to have a slam dunk lecture every single day. Some of them were residents doing key word review, hastily assembled powerpoints with a few questions copied and pasted in there with a few review slides.

However; not the weakest CA program, either. Others have mentioned the SRNA issue, that was a big problem for me, too.

 

[dchz]

However; not the weakest CA program, either. Others have mentioned the SRNA issue, that was a big problem for me, too.

what is the weakest program? UC Irvine?

 

[nimbus]

what is the weakest program? UC Irvine?

Definitely not Irvine. It’s a tossup between Kaweah Delta and Riverside.

 

[DrOwnage]

Definitely not Irvine. It’s a tossup between Kaweah Delta and Riverside.

Don't forget Harbor-UCLA who piggy backs off the UCLA name but has no affiliation besides a once small med school connection.

 

[UscGhost]

It entirely depends on what you are looking for in a program, as not all programs are strong and weak in all the same areas.

USC-
Autonomy- excellent. Good mix of tight supervision early on with a long leash and autonomy as you prove yourself later.

Teaching - lots of lectures in AM before cases Many are attending led. Some are resident led. Question and oral board reviews.
autonomy, some fantastic Attendings, some average ones, some bad ones. They aren't aggressive about forcing you to go to some of the voluntary Q reviews as some other programs may be. I didnt really see this as a weak area.

Case variety - excellent. Mix of private and county patients. Trauma, transplant, cardiac, etc. Peds is done at chla. OB can be done at cedars. So you can get exposure to a lot of high acuity places.

Quality of life - excellent. Not malignant as far as work hours or call burden.

Categorical - I did the transitional year elsewhere before most california programs transitioned to 4 year programs. So I can't speak to the nature of the current intern year.

Reputation and faculty influence - the county side is run by anesthesia. The private side is run by surgeons. Not the greatest relationships between the surgical and anesthesia departments on the private side.

Overall I enjoyed my time and wouldnt have wished to have trained anywhere else.