UCSF vs UCLA

[incase99]

Hey all. I'm stuck between UCLA DGSOM and UCSF SOM. I feel super fortunate to have such wonderful options. I've been leaning UCLA, but have been pretty conflicted overall. I've been talking to my mentors and such about it, but thought some other opinions/perspectives could help. Both will be financially the same (ie no scholarships), with UCSF being a little more expensive due to higher cost of living in SF.

UCLA:

Pros:
-I'm from the Bay Area, so the change of scenery is pretty exciting and hugely attractive to me. I enjoyed my time in Westwood and like West LA, and also have some good friends there
-Centralized campus; close to undergrad and other grad campuses
-amazing hospital system, Ronald Reagan right across the street
-mildly cheaper housing. Better system where you get to live with other grad students
-enjoyed Second-Look day. Faculty and current students seemed great and supportive
-new medical school building, nice facilities
-little brother will be going to college closer to here
-weather

Cons:
-less prestigious?
-unsure if equally well known for residencies across the US (not bent on staying in california for life)
-mildly larger class


UCSF:

Pros:
-Amazing reputation/prestige, locally and nationally
-SF General seems amazing
-SF is a beautiful city of live in
-Students seem very happy here, very supportive faculty and personalized attention
-New, interesting curriculum with lots of clinical exposure
-projects and CMC seem very interesting
-amazing residency programs (contacts?)

Cons:
-unsure how new curriculum correlates to Step1 scores (in its first year)
-have lived in Bay Area entire life, so I know the city pretty well -> kinda personally boring in that aspect
-campuses spread out across city, and no centralized campus
-older facilities (although Mission Bay is beautiful)
-was not able to attend Second-Look


I'd appreciate any input!

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[libertyyne]

What are your career goals? UCSF and UCLA are excellent choices. UCSF obviously has the better ranking, but it may or may not matter based on what you want to do in the future.

 

[neekzg]

Looks like you'd be much more excited to live in LA than SF for the next four years. I don't think going to UCLA will close any doors to you.

 

[yungspleen]

Super interesting that location is your main pro for UCLA. I lived in LA and hated the city, while SF seems awesome after my few visits. But I guess the grass is always greener and people have different preferences.

I would 100% choose UCSF as I think it's better in literally every way, but if you want to be close to your brother and friends, then go for it. But UCSF is definitely a better school although you can't go wrong with either.

 

[incase99]

What are your career goals? UCSF and UCLA are excellent choices. UCSF obviously has the better ranking, but it may or may not matter based on what you want to do in the future.

I'd like to be involved with global health and teaching alongside my clinical practice - so most probably in an academic setting. Specialty wise I see myself going into ENT or potentially a subspecialty in medicine (cardio or onc are appealing) - but nothing set in stone yet of course.

 

[kneeshoe]

Go for UCSF.

 

[Radiata20]

I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed our Second Look Weekend at UCLA! Hopefully you had a chance to meet Dr. Miller to talk about global health during your time here

They're both excellent schools, and there isn't a wrong decision here. You'll be just fine going down either road.

You mentioned teaching, so I thought I'd talk about that briefly. I have always loved mentorship and teaching, can't imagine a career without a large component of both, and am looking forward to the incoming MS1 class matriculating so I can help make their time here a little easier and a little more enjoyable, as best I can. In the meantime, though, even as an MS1 I've enjoyed the fact that we are attached to a large university campus, full of undergraduates who are more than happy to accept any med student help they can get. There's actually three (or maybe four?) events I'm signed up to help with in just the next month, and I'm also involved in a big institute on campus that holds year-round events staffed by professors, postdocs, professional students, grad students, and undergrads to help educate students of all levels.

I don't think I'm capable of being happy unless I'm helping someone whose shoes I was just in a few years ago, so I've also been keeping in close contact with my underclassman friends from my own undergrad. But being able to help out the students here in person has also been one of the biggest ancillary benefits--along with our centralized Weyburn housing where almost the entire MS1 & MS2 classes live--of being at UCLA.

 

[incase99]

Super interesting that location is your main pro for UCLA. I lived in LA and hated the city, while SF seems awesome after my few visits. But I guess the grass is always greener and people have different preferences.

I would 100% choose UCSF as I think it's better in literally every way, but if you want to be close to your brother and friends, then go for it. But UCSF is definitely a better school although you can't go wrong with either.

It's heavily influenced by the novelty of living in a new area. SF is definitely pretty awesome!

 

[incase99]

I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed our Second Look Weekend at UCLA! Hopefully you had a chance to meet Dr. Miller to talk about global health during your time here

They're both excellent schools, and there isn't a wrong decision here. You'll be just fine going down either road.

You mentioned teaching, so I thought I'd talk about that briefly. I have always loved mentorship and teaching, can't imagine a career without a large component of both, and am looking forward to the incoming MS1 class matriculating so I can help make their time here a little easier and a little more enjoyable, as best I can. In the meantime, though, even as an MS1 I've enjoyed the fact that we are attached to a large university campus, full of undergraduates who are more than happy to accept any med student help they can get. There's actually three (or maybe four?) events I'm signed up to help with in just the next month, and I'm also involved in a big institute on campus that holds year-round events staffed by professors, postdocs, professional students, grad students, and undergrads to help educate students of all levels.

I don't think I'm capable of being happy unless I'm helping someone whose shoes I was just in a few years ago, so I've also been keeping in close contact with my underclassman friends from my own undergrad. But being able to help out the students here in person has also been one of the biggest ancillary benefits--along with our centralized Weyburn housing where almost the entire MS1 & MS2 classes live--of being at UCLA.

Thanks so much for all of your input!

I did get to talk to Dr. Miller, he's pretty great

The mentoring aspect with undergraduates is definitely a big plus for me, and it's good to hear that you can be so involved there. I also love the centralized housing situation - although I'm not entirely sure if that's lacking at UCSF?

 

[Radiata20]

If you have time, you might take a closer look at all of the possible housing situations. I'm not advocating for choosing a school based on its housing options--because that'd be silly--but it was pretty clear to me that UCLA had the best setup of any of the institutions I applied to: guaranteed choice of studio or two-bed/two-bath, renewable for a second and third year with the option to petition for a fourth, in the same apt complex as ~80% of my classmates, <10 minute walk from school/our hospital & clinics/Trader Joes/Target/Ralphs/Whole Foods/tons of restaurants & cafes/movie theater/gas station/barber shop, included parking spot in locked garage under the building, school bus stop right outside the entrance for the rare rainy days.

But again, UCSF is an awesome school, and you can't go wrong there. A little over a year ago, I almost chose to matriculate there instead of here, so it's going to come down to your personal priorities and how they line up with your options.

 

[neekzg]

Thanks so much for all of your input!

I did get to talk to Dr. Miller, he's pretty great

The mentoring aspect with undergraduates is definitely a big plus for me, and it's good to hear that you can be so involved there. I also love the centralized housing situation - although I'm not entirely sure if that's lacking at UCSF?

I went to UCLA for undergrad and got some great mentorship from med students (especially through Mobile Clinic). I can also say that there are certainly opportunities to mentor undergrads at Berkeley and SFSU (also typically through free clinic environments but elsewhere as well) if you choose to go to UCSF. I would say that Parnassus is our central campus at UCSF, but you're right that it lacks a bit of the same feel that UCLA has--although I never found the CHS buildings to be impressive or inviting, I think they've done quite a bit of construction (as always) and modifications in recent years. The housing situation at UCSF is much more scattered than grad student housing at UCLA by far, especially since the majority of students do not live on campus housing.

 

[incase99]

I went to UCLA for undergrad and got some great mentorship from med students (especially through Mobile Clinic). I can also say that there are certainly opportunities to mentor undergrads at Berkeley and SFSU (also typically through free clinic environments but elsewhere as well) if you choose to go to UCSF. I would say that Parnassus is our central campus at UCSF, but you're right that it lacks a bit of the same feel that UCLA has--although I never found the CHS buildings to be impressive or inviting, I think they've done quite a bit of construction (as always) and modifications in recent years. The housing situation at UCSF is much more scattered than grad student housing at UCLA by far, especially since the majority of students do not live on campus housing.

Thank you for the insight, I really appreciate it! Do you feel like there is still a strong community within your class, and that people get to spend time/hang out often?

 

[incase99]

If you have time, you might take a closer look at all of the possible housing situations. I'm not advocating for choosing a school based on its housing options--because that'd be silly--but it was pretty clear to me that UCLA had the best setup of any of the institutions I applied to: guaranteed choice of studio or two-bed/two-bath, renewable for a second and third year with the option to petition for a fourth, in the same apt complex as ~80% of my classmates, <10 minute walk from school/our hospital & clinics/Trader Joes/Target/Ralphs/Whole Foods/tons of restaurants & cafes/movie theater/gas station/barber shop, included parking spot in locked garage under the building, school bus stop right outside the entrance for the rare rainy days.

But again, UCSF is an awesome school, and you can't go wrong there. A little over a year ago, I almost chose to matriculate there instead of here, so it's going to come down to your personal priorities and how they line up with your options.

That all sounds pretty enticing! Do you get a lot of interaction with other UCLA graduate students?

 

[Radiata20]

That all sounds pretty enticing! Do you get a lot of interaction with other UCLA graduate students?

It depends on what you mean by a lot--since I spend about 95% of my social time with my classmates and upperclassmen--but there are a good number of opportunities so you can essentially get what you want from it! I wouldn't say there is too much interaction with the grad students just in Weyburn itself for the most part, so the interaction comes through more formal events on campus. For example, we have grad mixers every 2-3 months, just had a grad wine bar, and grad games (sports). I also work with them through one of my extracurriculars, which involves science education & outreach events run by professors, postdocs, grad students, professional students, and undergrads from many different schools within UCLA. We also always run into dental, especially when they were working in the small room of the anatomy lab across from us for the first half of the year. At least one of my classmates is dating a grad student too.

 

[neekzg]

Thank you for the insight, I really appreciate it! Do you feel like there is still a strong community within your class, and that people get to spend time/hang out often?

absolutely yeah! The environment and community is one of my favorite things about UCSF by far. Medical school is always busy but people are always finding time to hang out and plan events. SF is an incredible place to spend your young adult life but I'm not sure how much of it you've experienced from living in the Bay Area already.

 

[Ebayit]

Not sure if you made your decision or were looking for any more input, but if I were in your circumstance, I'd be going to UCSF if the price tag is relatively the same (but that may just be me.) Barring any major mishaps or you are extremely unqualified and are going for a competitive specialty, you're likely going to be getting a interview at their prestigious affiliate home programs when it comes to residency time which I think is really nice. Besides that, you obviously can't go wrong with either choice as both are great programs. Best of luck to wherever you end up!