Stanford vs UCSF vs UCLA decision time

[mgaer001]

Hi I recently went to second look at stanford and I must say it was amazing. Dr. Salvatierra has to be, hands down, one of the most amazing physicians I have ever met. At this point I am leaning towards Stanford due to the wide diversity of opportunities that it presents outside of medicine that compliment its medical program (i.e. the access to business school, law school, engineering etc.). I would like to know if any one can offer some reasoning behind what sets UCSF apart from Stanford. I asked the Stanford students and many of their answers, I felt, were somewhat biased in most cases. As for UCLA, I do not have as many questions about it but any insight there would be appreciated as well. I am attending the second look for UCLA this weekend and for UCSF at the end of the month on the 29th. BTW FYI I am not trolling simply asking for information to become better informed when I go to make my final decision. The financial aid at Stanford and UCLA is looking about the same except for the fact that Stanford allows you to TA and receive money for doing research which gives them a slight edge in that department. UCSF hasn't packaged me yet so I'm still in the dark with them.

P.S. if you don't have any input to assist me in making a more informed decision please refrain from replying to this post, my other two threads had enough grumpy posters.

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[Baller MD]

Stanford.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

You have 14 posts. Every single one of them begs SDN to make your school decision for you. You have gotten lots of great input, more than you really deserve. Make you own decision for chrissakes. You are the one that has to live with the decision, not the random, anonymous posters to these threads.

 

[UbuntuGM]

^ harsh much?

 

[Wermz]

I totally agree with Pons here.

That said, Los Angeles is where it's at! I'd go to UCLA.

 

[Frazier]

Didn't read your jumbled paragraph, OP.

But if you are referring to medical schools -- you are a fool to pass up... *deep breath* <3 Stanford <3

 

[slatermd]

Didn't read your jumbled paragraph, OP.

But if you are referring to medical schools -- you are a fool to pass up... *deep breath* <3 Stanford <3

I tried reading the jumble. OP make the decisions after your second looks at the state schools. Try to consider more factors than location and financial aid. What other things matter to you?

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

angela is out. she's an LA girl so she's high maintenance, and honestly, it sounds like you're not that into her.

that leaves stan and fran. both are really hot and, even though stan sounds like a man and fran sounds like a grandma, you can't go wrong with either. they can both make all of your wildest fantasies come true. so...

let's say tails for stan and heads for (from?) fran. do it.

 

[CougarMD]

Moving to School Specific. Good luck.

 

[BarcaBest23]

saddening to see people getting into these schools yet unable to make a decision. Hope your medical career doesn't follow suit. Oh yeah, and Stanford.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

^ harsh much?

Pot, kettle...

nga plz... stop with the "i wanna stay in cali plehz"

 

[DoctwoB]

Stanford = suburban, better basic science research, better for integration of medicine/business/venture capital/law etc., not as good residencies/probably not as good clinical research as UCSF.

Based on that assessment, I'd go with Stanford if you want to do basic science research or Md/MBA, and UCSF if you want a more clinical route.


I wouldn't take UCLA though. Not as strong in research as either, and residencies are pretty equivalent to Stanford's and generally not as strong as UCSF

 

[mjscal]

I do not think I am going to help you very much but if you want to get picky I would rank basic research strength as Stanford>UCSF>>UCLA although if you add UCB to UCSF I would rank UCSF first. It is however department specific and there is not much separation between them. Clinical strength UCLA>UCSF>>Stanford. A few decades ago I would have put UCSF first but UCLA is probably stronger now with Ronald Regan, Cedars Sinai, Santa Monica, Harbor General, Olive View, Wadsworth and Mattel over UCSF, the General and the Va. Stanford and UCLA both on their respective campuses for what thats worth. I think this is more important from an undergraduate perspective than a medical student perspective. I see no benefit to being close to departments of law or business etc unless you are going to do another degree along with your MD. Do not need a car in San Francisco but you do for both UCLA and Stanford.
I would find San Francisco or LA a lot more interesting than Palo Alto. Most of my experience with these schools is rather dated but I do visit UCSF often and sometimes visit Stanford and UCLA. I think you would be happy at any of these choices.

 

[mgaer001]

You have 14 posts. Every single one of them begs SDN to make your school decision for you. You have gotten lots of great input, more than you really deserve. Make you own decision for chrissakes. You are the one that has to live with the decision, not the random, anonymous posters to these threads.

Thanks, I have a lot of great offers and I will investigate them further. I never did research on any of these schools prior to interviewing at them, I simply knew I wanted to be a doctor. I ask for assistance not in making a decision but in hearing about the programs from the view of people that have spent their college lives researching them. I was never pre med, I wanted to pursue a PhD after graduation but my love of patient care drew me to medicine. I apologize if my indecision is unsettling or annoying, all I know about them is that they are good and I wanted to hear from the community why they are. Thanks again.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Thanks, I have a lot of great offers and I will investigate them further. I never did research on any of these schools prior to interviewing at them, I simply knew I wanted to be a doctor. I ask for assistance not in making a decision but in hearing about the programs from the view of people that have spent their college lives researching them. I was never pre med, I wanted to pursue a PhD after graduation but my love of patient care drew me to medicine. I apologize if my indecision is unsettling or annoying, all I know about them is that they are good and I wanted to hear from the community why they are. Thanks again.

I'm not mad, no worries. I just want you to own this decision. You're obviously a very smart person who is capable of considered decision making. You will be much happier if you are invested and fully own the decision of where you will spend the next four+ years of your life. They are all good schools, with different "feels". You should have picked up on that. No one here has matriculated and attended any two of those schools, most likely. So no one can really give you an accurate comparison.

 

[mgaer001]

I have been to both second looks and am still undecided. I think this one might come down to location, I think that the clinical experience at UCLA may be better, yet the research and study abroad opportunities at Stanford might be superior in that they are encouraged and best of all funded better. Still a tough choice, now off to USC this weekend and UCSF on the 29th wish me luck.

 

[mgaer001]

I do not think I am going to help you very much but if you want to get picky I would rank basic research strength as Stanford>UCSF>>UCLA although if you add UCB to UCSF I would rank UCSF first. It is however department specific and there is not much separation between them. Clinical strength UCLA>UCSF>>Stanford. A few decades ago I would have put UCSF first but UCLA is probably stronger now with Ronald Regan, Cedars Sinai, Santa Monica, Harbor General, Olive View, Wadsworth and Mattel over UCSF, the General and the Va. Stanford and UCLA both on their respective campuses for what thats worth. I think this is more important from an undergraduate perspective than a medical student perspective. I see no benefit to being close to departments of law or business etc unless you are going to do another degree along with your MD. Do not need a car in San Francisco but you do for both UCLA and Stanford.
I would find San Francisco or LA a lot more interesting than Palo Alto. Most of my experience with these schools is rather dated but I do visit UCSF often and sometimes visit Stanford and UCLA. I think you would be happy at any of these choices.

Thanks a lot this is all good info.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I have been to both second looks and am still undecided. I think this one might come down to location, I think that the clinical experience at UCLA may be better, yet the research and study abroad opportunities at Stanford might be superior in that they are encouraged and best of all funded better. Still a tough choice, now off to USC this weekend and UCSF on the 29th wish me luck.

I think another thing to consider, depending on your desires, is how many students at Stanford take >4 years to finish. So many students there take a year or more off for research or another degree that it has to be something of a program goal, even if unstated.

 

[mgaer001]

Yeah I'm pretty much sold on stanford. I am going back to ucsf next weekend for my last second look. UCLA was cool, so was USC but Stanford is where my heart is at. Thanks for all the great info, I am owning this decision, congrats to the future doctors of America!

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Yeah I'm pretty much sold on stanford. I am going back to ucsf next weekend for my last second look. UCLA was cool, so was USC but Stanford is where my heart is at. Thanks for all the great info, I am owning this decision, congrats to the future doctors of America!

Congrats, mgaer. You really couldn't have gone wrong which ever direction you took. Feel free at some point to perhaps write up a bit of your philosophy that made you so successful in-state. I'm sure a lot of the future CA applicants would appreciate it. Enjoy Palo Alto - it's awesome, and don't let anyone complain to you that it's too "slow."

 

[mgaer001]

slow is what I need right now. I could be way too distracted in los angeles, plus if stanford is lacking the clinical experience I'll make up for it in free clinic on my boring saturday. As for my philosophy I am a very non traditional applicant in many respects so I doubt that my story will be replicated. Come hell or high water we shall prevail.

 

[MVKC7210]

UCSF is better if you wanna do either pure clinical work (patient background is much more diverse both racially and socioeconomically than Stanford), true translational research (balancing both true clinical and basic science research) or want an MD/MPH (UCSF has a phenomenal school of public health).

Stanford is better if you wanna do true basic science research (a.k.a if you wanna pusue a MD/PhD with more emphasis on the PhD) or you are interested in pursuing an MD/JD or MD/MBA

However, both are fantastic schools with a lot to offer a talented medical student. Both seem to have tremendous atmospheres as well which encourage a highly collaborative style of learning. Also the location of both schools are tremendous.

 

[mgaer001]

Lol @ classof2015. The med students at stanford gave us a talent show which I would say was comparable, the trojan marching band came out for keck second look, ucla was barneys beanery and this weekend I get to go to yosemite with the good folks at ucsf. Maybe ill fall in love with san fran no one knows. I'm still losing my mind over this decision.

 

[Frazier]

Lol @ classof2015. The med students at stanford gave us a talent show which I would say was comparable, the trojan marching band came out for keck second look, ucla was barneys beanery and this weekend I get to go to yosemite with the good folks at ucsf. Maybe ill fall in love with san fran no one knows. I'm still losing my mind over this decision.

Let me assist you: Stanford.

Hope that helps.

 

[omenee]

It looks like UCLA is out for you, and the real decision is between Stanford and UCSF.

Honestly, I do not know why people blindly respond "Stanford" without reasoning through both equally gifted schools in the interests of the applicant. If UCSF had a prestigious private undergrad, perhaps it too would win the hearts of many college pre-meds as the obvious best medical school of the two.

But again, something has to be said for UCSF to have done so well, in terms of funding and reputation, for being a stand alone graduate school just for the health sciences. So much so, that US News does what it traditionally does not do and placed this state school on the map--something these old rankings are generally too proud to admit. It is definitely a force to be recognized.

There are already too many threads debating on these two, and it is nonsense to keep starting a new one. So here is a link to one that was written recently, and in it I lay out my argument for UCSF: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=801008

I hope this helps, and good luck with your decision. You should be blessed for your fortune regardless of what happens

 

[mgaer001]

Thanks a lot I do feel blessed, it's surreal I only applied to UCSF and Stanford because they were in California. I applied to much less prestigious schools all over the country and only a few dream schools. Some how, I got into many more than I ever thought I would have. Now I have to decide between some great schools, when honestly I would have been happy with anything six months ago. Great blessing to have great choices but my naivety with this process leaves me somewhat unsure as to how to make the best decision. Pro Con List don't fail me now. I attended Stanford's admit weekend and I must admit that I was very impressed. I felt that I developed a good rapport with the students there. The program seems to have a strong emphasis on research and taking an extra year, I think they said 60% elect this option. My only concern is regarding the clinical experience since SF does have much more diversity on many different levels. Stanford however has access to many different schools and with that brings the opportunity to branch far outside of medicine and bring things back from law, business, anthro, psych etc. that you might not get at UCSF. another thing I picked up at stanford during second look was the closeness of the class. Having only 86 students, they all seemed like best friends. Finally, Dr Abraham Verghese and Dr. Oscar Salvatierra stand alone through their inspiring talks and they are both at stanford. I am attending UCSF's second look this weekend and will go and see for my self. I got a really good vibe during interview day and am hoping to see what they have to offer during this three day event. I also want to see if I love the city or the suburb more. The financial packages at this point are comparable so money won't decide.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

There are already too many threads debating on these two, and it is nonsense to keep starting a new one. So here is a link to one that was written recently, and in it I lay out my argument for UCSF: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=801008

For everyone's benefit, I snipped out the important part of the post you linked, omenee:

Obviously I am biased

Just saying.

 

[Wermz]

Palo alto is boring. Cities are best for medical training IMO.

 

[5280]

For everyone's benefit, I snipped out the important part of the post you linked, omenee:



Just saying.

This is taken out of context. Just saying.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

This is taken out of context. Just saying.

Indeed it is. But adding context doesn't change anything. Is your point that omenee not biased towards UCSF? I feel like I can back up an assertion that he/she is. Are you wiling to take up the other side of that argument? The OP is already "pretty sold" on Stanford, so it's all moot regardless.

 

[Duon89]

Standford has synchrotron facility for X-ray crystallography!!!! For protein crystals!!!!

you can do MAD phasing!!! ahhhhhh

Multi-wavelength Anomalous Diffraction

You can get a high resolution= better data! oh my god!!

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Standford has synchrotron facility for X-ray crystallography!!!! For protein crystals!!!!

you can do MAD phasing!!! ahhhhhh

Multi-wavelength Anomalous Diffraction

You can get a high resolution= better data! oh my god!!

I'll have one of what Duon's having

 

[wrathofgod64]

standford has synchrotron facility for x-ray crystallography!!!! For protein crystals!!!!

You can do mad phasing!!! Ahhhhhh

multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction

you can get a high resolution= better data! Oh my god!!

Spartaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mgaer001]

So I went with stanford final decision thank you all for your help and advice.