Applicant sentiment — from 150 anonymous posts, 2016–2027
5.5 / 10
What anonymous posters said
Anonymous posters frequently discussed the interview process, including timing of invite calls, rejections, and Step 2 score requirements before rank lists. Several commenters described the program as highly regarded for clinical training and subspecialty exposure, though opinions on workload and culture varied, with some calling it demanding and others disputing negative characterizations. Multiple posts noted few internal candidates remain for residency and suggested California ties may be helpful in admissions.
Match termssan franciscosan francisco dermuc san franciscoucsf
Fame & Shame
2025–2026 Derm
4 entries
❌1. Elitist (to no one's surprise), and many faculty give preferential treatment to rotating medical students from more prestigious schools. As much as they emphasize being socially attuned and progressive, at the end of the day, they're just another ivory tower institution masquerading as a social justice warrior.
❌1. You don't actually HAVE to be a former pediatrician to apply for this and be considered. Wish I knew this earlier, I would have applied.
❌2. Interviewer made disparaging comments about where I went to school
💬1. It does say on their website "preferred but not required;" I wonder if they've taken applicants w/o previous peds residency. > guess we will find out soon > this is the first year of the track and it seemed like everybody was an MS4 during the interview +1
Does no one seriously have any Penn or UCSF interview day impressions? Not specific questions, just how the day went lol< people are scared to comment on UCSF because there aren't as many applicants interviewing. They can be easily tracked down. // How many do they interview per position at UCSF Derm?< they interview like 25 people for 6-7 spots (clinical track) < UCSF's interview day last week was amazing! Very comprehensive. You get a great sense of the program, residents, and faculty. It lived up to the hype for me! < same! the 1st yr residents that gave the intro talk were hilarious and approachable, totally sold the program to me
UCSF is up there with Dr. Frieden. Hardvard doesn't offer the best peds derm training in derm residency. I think you only do 2 months of peds derm your entire time there (and none your first year).
Is it easy, moderate, or hard to match to a T10 derm program (specifically NYU or UCSF) from a T20 med school (specifically Mt. Sinai)? Will the name, faculty, and other elitism-rel. < Name doesn't seem to matter at NYU based on my interview < lol go check the med school distribution of the current residents and you'll see how much it matters < or maybe it's just a natural progression - the most competitive students end up at these schools, and they progress to the most competitive residencies? who knows < isnt this the program the chair told us they took a student from the state school UCSF? you're telling me you dont think there have been compettive students not in those schools that they seem to keep taking? < yea the "competitive students end up at competitive programs" is a cop out, especially considering that a lot of brilliant students often choose state med schools over top places for scholarships/lower tuition < I'm pretty sure that calling UCSF a "state school" was an inside joke. UCSF has a top tier derm program. The Derm people at NYU aren't stupid. < where you there? no it wasn't. may he is just that out of touch < i was there, it definitely wasnt a joke
are the harvard residents actually friends? < no< the truth is most derm residents are NOT really close friends but they are close colleagues. I would not use it as my differenitating factor to rank my programs < that is honestly sad to hear, i want happy hour buddies x2. < Colleagues can be happy hour buddies < got to ucsf. they are genuinely friends. the first years that gave the program info talk were SO friendly and obviously friends. < lol jokes if you think i got an ii there lmaoooo happy for you tho < is that really true. I feel like many programs ive interviewed at they seem very friendly but then others that dont seem to stand out in a bad way
Do you think top programs (T5-T0) are going to take mostly home students or outside students this year? I think there's data out there showing that more people last year matched at home programs with virtual interviewing but not sure what people are predicting this year. aka wondering if i have a chance or not if i see a ton of internals on my interview day lol // It's always been the case that your best chance of matching is at your home derm program.< well if you did away rotation, you would have better chance < Even with an away rotation that's not necessarily true. See all the people who do audition electives at NYU or UCSF. < not op but what if you didn't get invited to your home program but got a bunch of interviews elsewhere lmao < I would like to point out that NYU and UCSF take a majority of non-home students. < NYU & UCSF take a lot of people who have never rotated there before as an audition elective. Same with Penn.
Can we get a T10 tab going? The T10 interviews are picking up now. < yassss < we are not having a separate sheet for T10s.< Ok. Don't get salty and get HTN with all the incoming NYU, Stanford, UCSF, Penn, Harvard etc discussions < there have already been discussions about Harvard and Penn and no one got salty, stop projecting< trying to keep the main chat more inclusive; I imagine it can't be fun for people who didn't get II from their dream programs to be reading about the privileged few who collected them like Thanos collected the infinity stones <well such is life and we need to stop glorifying these programs anyway. a derm program is a derm program.
Which programs are known to treat their residents as work horses in terms of call, poor benefits, etc.? << Many of the top tier academic Derm programs in terms of hours, which isn't surprising. You have 3 years to try to learn as much Dermatology as you can, and you learn best with high volume and repeated exposure as a resident until you're finally out on your own as a full-fledged attending. There's a reason places like Harvard, NYU, UCSF, Penn, UTSW, U Miami, etc. have really well-trained residents which sets them up well for fellowship programs, if they decide to do one. < there are alot of solid mid tier programs that do the same without the malignancy. we need to stop making excuses for these top places
Any thoughts on Harvard v Penn v NYU v Yale? And then UCSF v Stanford, and how to weigh these two west coast programs vs Northeast? Anything other than geographic preference that one should think about?< It comes down to autonomy and ancillary support. Some of these programs give more than others. Some lack things the other have. No program is 100% complete, it just needs to check the most boxes on your list.
