Which California program to drop?

[bookworm2013]

I'm trying to cut down my interviews to a more manageable number, as my dean had my apply to waaaaay too many. I'm deciding whether to cut Cedars Sinai, Scripps Green, Kaiser SF, Olive View, Harbor or UCI. They all seem like decent programs, so it's hard to decide. Does anyone have thoughts about what order I should drop them in? As I go to an East Coast school, the advisers don't know much if anything about these programs. I'm worried that I'm getting bad advice.

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[gutonc]

I'm trying to cut down my interviews to a more manageable number, as my dean had my apply to waaaaay too many. I'm deciding whether to cut Cedars Sinai, Scripps Green, Kaiser SF, Olive View, Harbor or UCI. They all seem like decent programs, so it's hard to decide. Does anyone have thoughts about what order I should drop them in? As I go to an East Coast school, the advisers don't know much if anything about these programs. I'm worried that I'm getting bad advice.

Depends on a lot of things you don't tell us like your future goals (PCP/hospitalist/fellowship), you general stats and what you're looking for in a program (cush, county, research, etc).

If going strictly on reputation and "big picture" issues:

Dropping 1: Kaiser SF
Dropping 2: KSF and OV
3: KSF, OV and UCI
4: ... and Harbor (or Cedars...totally a toss up here)

 

[pntgrd]

I'm trying to cut down my interviews to a more manageable number, as my dean had my apply to waaaaay too many. I'm deciding whether to cut Cedars Sinai, Scripps Green, Kaiser SF, Olive View, Harbor or UCI. They all seem like decent programs, so it's hard to decide. Does anyone have thoughts about what order I should drop them in? As I go to an East Coast school, the advisers don't know much if anything about these programs. I'm worried that I'm getting bad advice.

Drop one of the Kaisers.

harbor and cedars and olive view are the best of that list.

 

[dox2013]

I'm in a similar boat with my question being Kaiser SF versus Santa Clara Valley. I'm leaning towards dropping Kaiser sf because I'm interested in potentially pursuing a fellowship, and it seems like Santa Clara might help me to achieve those goals more than Kaiser SF would, although both seem to be great programs. However, I'm not from there, so it's hard for me to gauge...

 

[disorder]

Loma Linda vs UCR? I know this was similarly discussed in another thread...

 

[gutonc]

I'm in a similar boat with my question being Kaiser SF versus Santa Clara Valley. I'm leaning towards dropping Kaiser sf because I'm interested in potentially pursuing a fellowship, and it seems like Santa Clara might help me to achieve those goals more than Kaiser SF would, although both seem to be great programs. However, I'm not from there, so it's hard for me to gauge...

Keep SCVMC. Nothing "wrong" with KSF but you're going to better off fellowship-wise w/ SCVMC.

 

[DoctorDocere]

Keep SCVMC. Nothing "wrong" with KSF but you're going to better off fellowship-wise w/ SCVMC.

How do the three Kaiser Nor Cal programs compare to each other? I have the vague impression that Oakland>San Francisco>Santa Clara, but I don't know if I'm basing that on anything more than a gut feeling looking at their lists of residents.

And how do those compare to SCV/UPMC/St Marys? (Obviously UCSF and Stanford are the best in the bay, but of the others?)

 

[jdh71]

Loma Linda vs UCR? I know this was similarly discussed in another thread...

If you're going to drop one? Drop UCR - too many unknowns at this point. LLU is a solid, respected, and long running program with a VA as part of the training and every in-house fellowship you could be interested in.

 

[jdh71]

How do the three Kaiser Nor Cal programs compare to each other? I have the vague impression that Oakland>San Francisco>Santa Clara, but I don't know if I'm basing that on anything more than a gut feeling looking at their lists of residents.

And how do those compare to SCV/UPMC/St Marys? (Obviously UCSF and Stanford are the best in the bay, but of the others?)

Have never heard much good about St. Mary's. I'd avoid it.

Cal Pacific (I assume UPMC is a typo) is one of the better known and respected stand alone community programs - some in-house fellowship ops as well.

 

[DoctorDocere]

Have never heard much good about St. Mary's. I'd avoid it.

Cal Pacific (I assume UPMC is a typo) is one of the better known and respected stand alone community programs - some in-house fellowship ops as well.

Yup. Meant CPMC.

So would this be a fairly accurate ranking of the programs in the bay?

UCSF
Stanford
Cal Pacific
Santa Clara Valley
Kaiser Oakland
Kaiser SF (or is it higher than Oakland?)
Kaiser SC
St Marys
Alameda County

 

[bookworm2013]

Yup. Meant CPMC.

So would this be a fairly accurate ranking of the programs in the bay?

UCSF
Stanford
Cal Pacific
Santa Clara Valley
Kaiser Oakland
Kaiser SF (or is it higher than Oakland?)
Kaiser SC
St Marys
Alameda County

Where would UC Davis fall in here? I know Sacramento isn't exactly the Bay, but it isn't too long a drive away.

 

[gutonc]

Where would UC Davis fall in here? I know Sacramento isn't exactly the Bay, but it isn't too long a drive away.

I'd personally rank 'em:

UCSF/Stanford
UCD/CPMC
SCV
KO/KSF
All the rest of them in a heap at the bottom of this list.

 

[jdh71]

Yup. Meant CPMC.

So would this be a fairly accurate ranking of the programs in the bay?

UCSF
Stanford
Cal Pacific
Santa Clara Valley
Kaiser Oakland
Kaiser SF (or is it higher than Oakland?)
Kaiser SC
St Marys
Alameda County

I'd say that's fairly accurate. Can't disagree much with gutonc's groupings either.

 

[disorder]

what makes CPMC such a "great" program?

 

[LoudBark]

what makes CPMC such a "great" program?

It is not. There is a huge drop from numbers 1 and 2 to the rest.

 

[disorder]

It is not. There is a huge drop from numbers 1 and 2 to the rest.

but on the order if it being equal to UCD? i know there is a gigantic gap between UCSF/Stanford and pretty much anything else in CA (and west coast for that matter).

 

[jdh71]

but on the order if it being equal to UCD? i know there is a gigantic gap between UCSF/Stanford and pretty much anything else in CA (and west coast for that matter).

UCSF and Stanford aren't far off from UW or UCLA, in fact, I think in my "official" rank list I put UW above Stanford.

Cal Pacific is simply a well respected training spot. The fact that gutonc put it in the same kind of "tier" as Davis, speaks more about how Davis is seen than how "great" Cal Pacific is.

But come on . . . why is any program that "great" compared to another . . . the difference on many levels are that of degrees.

This is all general gestalt kind of stuff. The collective consciousness seems to think that Cal Pacific is a solid place to train. It's not an academic powerhouse - you won't be able to do knock-out mice neutrophil studies there but so what . . .

 

[pntgrd]

Stanford is not higher than UW or UCLA... Probably lower in terms of clinical training.

 

[jdh71]

Stanford is not higher than UW or UCLA... Probably lower in terms of clinical training.

It's all opinion my friend, yours is as good as the next ass hole's . . . though it matters little , when it comes to hard core research, research dollars, and academic reputation nationally, Stanford wins over UCLA. Hardly my fault.

 

[kjamess]

Stanford is not higher than UW or UCLA... Probably lower in terms of clinical training.

I remember you from pre-allo a few yrs back when you were UCLA cheerleader. Things havent changed.

 

[lndrybskt]

K-SF is getting a lot stronger especially because it gets better residents as the city is more attractive to live in than Oakland. If you want a cardiology fellowship, K-SF is ideal because they take an internal resident each year for fellowship. Another popular fellowship is critical care because the ICU experience is strong since the PD is a critical care doctor.

 

[dox2013]

Which 1 (or 2) would you drop out of these programs? Not to be too repetitive or anything, but it's a little bit different of a combo.
Scripps Green, UCLA-Olive View, Santa Clara Valley, Cal Pacific

 

[gutonc]

Which 1 (or 2) would you drop out of these programs? Not to be too repetitive or anything, but it's a little bit different of a combo.
Scripps Green, UCLA-Olive View, Santa Clara Valley, Cal Pacific

I would go to CPMC and Scripps. You could make a rational argument for dropping any combination of those programs though.

 

[jdh71]

Which 1 (or 2) would you drop out of these programs? Not to be too repetitive or anything, but it's a little bit different of a combo.
Scripps Green, UCLA-Olive View, Santa Clara Valley, Cal Pacific

drop SCV for sure

now ask yourself where you'd prefer to live

since I will never live anywhere very near the godforsaken city of san francisco . . . I'd keep Scripps Green and UCLA-OV . . . but YMMV . . . so . . .

I'd pick San Diego vs LA vs SF in this instance. Let the city decide.

 

[dox2013]

drop SCV for sure

now ask yourself where you'd prefer to live

since I will never live anywhere very near the godforsaken city of san francisco . . . I'd keep Scripps Green and UCLA-OV . . . but YMMV . . . so . . .

I'd pick San Diego vs LA vs SF in this instance. Let the city decide.

Any particular reason you recommend dropping SCV out of that bunch? Or is it mostly based on location? Just curious. They seem to have have some pretty great fellowship matches. I know that one could make arguments to keep/drop any of them really.

 

[jdh71]

Any particular reason you recommend dropping SCV out of that bunch? Or is it mostly based on location? Just curious. They seem to have have some pretty great fellowship matches. I know that one could make arguments to keep/drop any of them really.

Mostly it's just my impression that Cal Pacific is the "better" program. That probably doesn't mean too much ultimately, but it's probably a common impression. We're really splitting hairs here.

 

[P Diddy]

Which 1 (or 2) would you drop out of these programs? Not to be too repetitive or anything, but it's a little bit different of a combo.
Scripps Green, UCLA-Olive View, Santa Clara Valley, Cal Pacific

I disagree with the above. Would drop CPMC before SCV. SCV has great primary care training and an equal fellowship match to CPMC (good pipeline to Stanford for less competitive fellowships). They also have great benefits due to their resident union.

p diddy

 

[gutonc]

I disagree with the above. Would drop CPMC before SCV. SCV has great primary care training and an equal fellowship match to CPMC (good pipeline to Stanford for less competitive fellowships). They also have great benefits due to their resident union.

p diddy

Outside of CA though, CPMC has the better rep.

That said, as jdh pointed out, we're splitting hairs trying to separate those two programs.