West Coast programs

[exjersey]

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I'm tryng to make the ol' rank list and am struggling with the west coast programs - I'm not really familair with them since I've been stuck in the garden state since birth and struggling to leave ever since birth....

How do UCLA, USC, OHSU, and U. Washington compare for education, quality of life during residency and clinical training? I don't think I'm looking for to go into a fellowship at this point, so that's not a huge factor for me. Which of these programs are underrated or overrated?

 

[scrub monkey]

if you're not looking to go into a fellowship or research, you may want to pass on programs like ucla, usc, and uw. these programs are extremely tertiary care/academic. (maybe not usc) they tend to be pretty heirarchal and subspecialized. they'll also work you like a dog. if you're looking to be trained to be a strong general internist, i'd suggest you take a look at some of the stronger community programs like harbor-ucla and santa clara valley med. these programs have much better resident autonomy, much better patient populations (county, diverse, and undiagnosed), and they are strong enough to still open doors for fellowships if you later decide to go that route.

 

[exjersey]

I didn't apply to any community programs in California, so I'm really only debating how to rank these four right now. I agree that UW is very academic and tertiary, but it also has a great reputation for primary care/general medicine training. Is there anyone from these schools or who has done away rotations who will share their opinions?

 

[Renovar]

Originally posted by exjersey
I didn't apply to any community programs in California, so I'm really only debating how to rank these four right now. I agree that UW is very academic and tertiary, but it also has a great reputation for primary care/general medicine training. Is there anyone from these schools or who has done away rotations who will share their opinions?

Depends on how you like the city.

Keep in mind UCLA did not fill last year because of some negative image of their program director.

For UW, because of their multiple sites and hospitals across the state, if you are into one site or sites close to each other this is not as convenient. THe academic focus is probably the highest here among the programs you mentioned.

USC is off the map by a country mile as a good program from academic standpoint, but I would imagine it is a good practical place to train. LAC is a high-volume county hospital that sees your typical complement of inner city stuff. I didn't apply there, cannot tell you how the ancillary service is there and how the teaching is there, but I would imagine if you want to go into clinical practice and will want to end up in LA this is a reasonable place to be.

OHSU is a darkhorse in this group. It's not traditionally considered a strong program, and looking at their housestaff list it seems like there are a number of FMG's/DO in the program. How is that a reflection of the training is debatable. People do get fellowships, but hard to convince me it is top-notch. However, according to a few attendings at my school (and my school's PD) it seems to be on the upswing and the medical center is very nice and modern, with everything you'd expect. It more or less is a good program that has a good balance of clinical training and academic training in a setting of a modern and under-rated medical center. (personally I declined interview there for it doesn't fit my schedule).

 

[Southern Hick]

btw, if anyone is still interested...i just noticed that UCLA has put up the last 4 years of fellowship placements on their website.

hmmmm.....