hey everyone, so i'm having a very tough time choosing between UCLA and Davis. i'd really appreciate some feedback on where you would choose to go if you were interested in primary care for underserved populations, health disparities, HIV and reproductive health research (NOT basic science research, but public health research), health policy and advocacy. i've been trying not to care about rankings, but can someone confirm that UCLA is ranked higher overall and for research, but Davis is ranked higher for primary care? does this mean anything? thanks so much for your help!
Where should I go: UCLA or UC Davis for primary care?
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Does UCDavis have a school of public health? I know that UCLA has an excellent one and you may find more programs geared to your interests, and possibly classes and professors geared to your interests if your medical school is affiliated with a School of Public Health which jives with the areas you want to study.
Both medical schools will provide you with plenty of primary care opportunities. Eventhough UCLA is in a relatively well-to-do area, one of its chief teaching hospitals is a "county" hospital: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center so you would find indigent care opportunities there, certainly. But I am not sure if it is strong in reproductive or HIV care.
Also, UCLA has the Geffen School and the Drew School of Medicine. Drew is much more involved with serving the underserved populations and I imagine if that is the SOM you are considering at UCLA, then MLK Hospital would provide you with plenty more opportunities.
Both medical schools will provide you with plenty of primary care opportunities. Eventhough UCLA is in a relatively well-to-do area, one of its chief teaching hospitals is a "county" hospital: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center so you would find indigent care opportunities there, certainly. But I am not sure if it is strong in reproductive or HIV care.
Also, UCLA has the Geffen School and the Drew School of Medicine. Drew is much more involved with serving the underserved populations and I imagine if that is the SOM you are considering at UCLA, then MLK Hospital would provide you with plenty more opportunities.
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Go to UCDavis 😀 🙄
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Davis is also has a focus on underserved communities.LuisitoMD said:
Both are great schools. If you're going in to primary care, I'd make my choice mostly on where you want to live. LA and Sacramento are VERY different cities and it's not too likely you'd be equally happy at both.
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Jupiter05 said:
cause thats where he is going next year, obviously, thats why i say go to davis!
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4th year at UCD. Screw the rankings. They really are BS. You might not even decide to stay in "primary care" by the end of it. Remember IM is considered "primary care" but leads to many other specialties through fellowship. Can't tell you the number of "enlightened' Primary care BS'rs who ended up matching into radiology, anesthesiology, and derm I have met.
Go for location and what best suits you.
I chose UCD over UCSF based solely on location and what was important to me.
For what it matters UCLA is probably a better overall school, but in the end it won't really matter much as your board scores and performance in school are what make or break your residency application. That is assuming California will be your alma on graduation- that is the key to enhancing a Calif. residency.
Look at my previous posts regarding this.
Go for location and what best suits you.
I chose UCD over UCSF based solely on location and what was important to me.
For what it matters UCLA is probably a better overall school, but in the end it won't really matter much as your board scores and performance in school are what make or break your residency application. That is assuming California will be your alma on graduation- that is the key to enhancing a Calif. residency.
Look at my previous posts regarding this.
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I would go with UCLA because overall, it is a much stronger school in pretty much every area of clinical medicine, research, and teaching. My reasoning for using this quality as the basis for choosing stems from the fact that, to me, the overall quality of my medical education is more important than it's strength in a certain subspecialty that I think I might want to do my residency in. As such, I would still recommend this choice even to people who only want to go into rural medicine (which is probably the one area where UCD actually is on par/better than UCLA). Since the OP doesn't even show interest in rural med, this last consideration is mute in his case.Jupiter05 said:
The only reasons I could see for someone going to UCD over UCLA would be subjective ones like (as some of the other guys have pointed out) if someone had strong family/etc. reasons for needing to stay in the Sac area.
thanks for all your feedback, guys i really appreciate it. i do have personal reasons to want to stay in the bay area (family and boyfriend of 5 yrs live there and i've lived there all my life); actually i'm waiting to see if a waitlist at UCSF-JMP will pan out and that would be most ideal, but i have to choose between these 2 schools in the meantime. i went to the davis visit day and really liked it. they seem very supportive of students, have great free clinics and it's a short drive to the bay area... so i think i'm leaning towards davis for now. really thanks for all the advice, it is really helpful and i can use all the advice i can get! 😉
