I just want to add a little comment regarding LA Kaiser program. I think, before you decide which program to go to, consider:
1. Academic vs private practice: Face it, eventually; you will have to decide whether you want to work in the real world or cont. on in academic practice. If you want to be a professor at UCLA/USC, then obvious those places will be great for you to continue your academic research interest etc... but, for the rest of us who want to work in private sectors, you have learn how to practice in a private setting and unfortunately that is not something these academic centers will teach you. Working at Kaiser, i can tell you that our residents are heavily recruited by private hospitals around southern California. However, all of us are basically guarantee a job after graduation at Kaiser in almost anywhere. I can tell you that a lot of our attendings (younger ones) are from UCLA, USC etc..., so what is the point? going to a hardcore, malignant academic program to bust your head and end up working for Kaiser? Why not just start off in the system?
2. So you want to do fellowship? A lot of people decided that private hospitals such as Cedars, Kaiser, Scripps can't offer you that fellowship opportunity at academic places.. However, this goes back to the first question, what do you want to do eventually? Academic vs private practice. Do you want to do bench research for 7 years in the STAR program? or do you want to do Nephrology for 2 years, and come out practicing? Choices are yours, but you have to start planning a head. IF you are interested in going to private practice, then why not Kaiser LA? They offer 3 spots in Cardiology, 3 spots in Nephrology and 2 spots in GI and you only have 9 people to compete against. They have 10 cat. spots and 8 fellowship spots! That is pretty good odds compare to a bigger program where is there is bound to have more people interested in competitive fellowships. Ask around on your interviews, how many fellowship spots they have and most importantly, how many INTERNAL candidates did they take! Your best shot of a competitive fellowship is where you do your residency at.
3. Finally, what type of life do you want to have? Do you want to be so busy that you don't have time for your regular life? study? read? and most importantly for fellowship, research time? Again, the choice is up to you. Somebody posted the board pass rate, i would look at that very closely. How would a program like Kaiser have 100% pass rate where USC only 83%? Is it because they have more time to study? or better training?
Just some food for thoughts....
My impression of most of my fellow residents that they're happy overall. I know that all things considered, I'm happy here. I love the attendings and my classmates and the intern class in general (categoricals, prelims, and transitionals) is pretty tight. There are times, however, when I feel that the prelims get the short end of the stick - especially in some recent scheduling stuff that's been going down. And the cafeteria food, while essentially free, is nothing to write home about.
