Stanford

[guest]

Format: There are 4 major services that subIs rotate through: Vascular, Tumor, Spine/Functional, and Pediatrics. I heard that some months when there were more than 4 subIs, it was an option to rotate at the county hospital in San Jose (tons of traumas), but I did not get that experience.

Call: q4. Basically spend the night with the PGY2. I typically stayed in the ORs until cases ended, and then hung out with the PGY2 seeing consults, taking care of ICU patients, bedside procedures, etc. You have the options to stay post call for clinic or first case, or you can go home and sleep after AM rounds.

Expectations: This was my favorite subI mainly due to the responsibility I had as a subI. I pre-rounded on the ICU patients for the team that was rotating on each week, presented those patients on morning rounds, and wrote the progress notes. The rest of the day was spent in the OR (first priority on any case on your team, but flexibility to scrub into any case not covered by another subI). There were between 4 and 6 first start cases each day (plus 1 or 2 more at the children's hospital, and 1 or 2 more at the county hospital). Impressive open vascular volume (seems like there was an aneurysm being clipped almost daily), and unmatched tumor volume. Between cases, I helped out with consults and management of ICU patients. One day a week, I was assigned to clinic with one of the attendings - saw patients independently, presented them to the attending, wrote the H&P. Good opportunity to get some face time with the senior faculty.

Residents: Overall a great group of residents. Operatively, the senior residents were some of the most technically skilled that I encountered throughout the application process, and juniors got great exposure to both complex as well as "junior-level" cases. The senior resident classes seem a bit fragmented, but still get along well and seem to be very supportive of their junior residents. The junior and mid level residents were a very tight-knit group and incredibly supportive of one another. Definitely a family/life-style friendly program - most of the senior residents are married and many have kids

Pros: Great group of residents, case volume (and case complexity) is on par with anywhere else, research opportunities at Stanford are unparalleled. Palo Alto is one of the most amazing locations to live - beautiful weather all year long, 30 minutes from SF, 30 minutes from beautiful beaches, just a few hours from Tahoe, Yosemite, etc.

Cons: very expensive place to live, not a walk in the park to find housing for your subI month.

[Guest]

For scheduling purposes, does the sub-I end on a Friday, or do you take call the final weekend?

[Guest]

I'm interested in this program but I don't go to a medical school anywhere near Stanford's caliber. I'm a pretty good applicant, 240+ step 1 and 7 publications so far, junior AOA at my school. Do you think it's worth doing an away here even if I don't go to a top med school? It looks like they only take residents from other brand name schools.

[dispo]

My buddy who did an away there said nothing but good things: happy residents, worked his ass off on the Sub-I but got to actually do a lot rather than just stand around. Having said that, you're right that it looks like they only take applicants with serious pedigree. IDK how realistic your chances are (I'm a fellow M3 w/ similar stats but I don't have junior AOA, so I'm not trying to be condescending), but my buddy did say his LOR was very personal and included comments from the residents, so it could certainly elevate your app to have a strong, non-form letter from an academic powerhouse like that, especially if a research-heavy program is what you're shooting for. I would have liked to visit but I already had a decent connection to another place in the west and wanted to spread my sub-I's out.

[Guest]

you have to follow your dreams. subi there.

[Guest]

(04-12-2017, 10:42 AM)Guest Wrote: For scheduling purposes, does the sub-I end on a Friday, or do you take call the final weekend?

Also did a Stanford sub-internship recently.

Re: The OP - I'd strongly agree with just about everything the OP said, and I also had a great experience. But my perception of the volume was that it was a little light. (Vascular volume, as the OP noted, was quite good, but also heavy on EC-IC bypass cases.) Stanford is a relatively small hospital in the shadow of UCSF and Kaiser, and my impression was that the volume was lighter because of this. And on a related note, perhaps because this is a humane program from a lifestyle perspective, there was some un-evenness in the operative skill of senior residents. I'm not trying to denigrate these residents (or the judgement of the OP); just noting a different perspective. These residents were all scary-smart, and solid folks, and the people who were hungry to get good in the OR seemed to be getting good.

Re: Schedule details - My group finished up on Friday afternoon after our exit interview with the boss. This is a program mostly full of reasonable people (weird, right?). Nobody is going to make you take call on the last Saturday before your Sunday flight home.

Re: Interested sub-I from less fancy school - I'd say go for it. As the OP said, residents and faculty will get to know you personally during your sub-I and write a personal letter. While their roster is stocked with people from fancy schools (although, not everyone is from an Ivy, read closely...) I think people here will evaluate you as an individual, and are more likely than average to ignore your less fancy pedigree if you show them you can hang. (No evidence to support this, just my read on the vibe.)

Additional consideration: Historically Stanford only interviews about half of sub-interns. (This was true of my cohort, which I thought was quite strong throughout.) Whether you think this is a respectful and merciful way to save applicants they've ruled out some cash or a slap in the face seems to mostly depend on which half you wind up in. Wasn't a deal-breaker for me, but might be for someone else.