anyone have thoughts on California schools?

expensive living AF

regardless of reputation, a lot of them are super desirable because of their location (and many of them are really good, too) and will be ranked highly by many applicants based on geography alone. Though all relatively highly competitive, UCSF and Stanford are some of the top programs in the nation (in many respects). USC is also a well-respected program with excellent clinical diversity given its county hospital and is a program that is known to give residents great autonomy

Are there any "weak" derm programs in CA? Maybe Loma Linda. Doesn't matter, everyone wants to live in California so they'll all be competitive for that reason alone.| The UC programs are all considered very competitive and strong programs. UCSF is considered a top 5 but has the reputation of being very malignant

From speaking to UCSF residents it actually sounded to me like changes have been made to address some of the issues residents were having - did not get the impression that it was a malignant environment but if someone has some inside info please share!

what was making the program malignant? just the sheer amount of work or interpersonal conflicts? I'm not concerned about the amount of work, but interpersonal conflicts would influence my ranking

Definitely hours and work volume. In the past, on previous spreadsheets, UCSF derm residents seemed pretty exhausted & a little late by the time they got to the applicant pre-interview dinner & it was quite noticeable. I don't believe any of it was interpersonal conflict related. I mean it's UCSF so maybe people just accepted it as is.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/preliminary-transitional-year-interview-thread-2016-2017.1222021/