2014-2015 Psychiatry Interview Reviews

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Harvard Longwood- House of God and The Brigham

Again, I'm not going into too many nitty gritty details here and I wouldnt even call this a review seeing as a previous poster seemed to cover most everything. But Ill post my impressions which can sorta show how random stuff impacts how applicants view programs, Im sure the same happens in reverse as well.

Overall, beforehand this was a program I was expecting to be kind of blown away by given the combo of harvard and big name hospitals. First impression is slightly mindblowing if you have never been to the Longwood medical area, in like 5 minutes you walk past the BMS, Brigham and Women's, Dana Farber, Boston Childrens and Beth Israel Deaconess. Unfortunately my initial contact with longwood residents set the tone in my mind and might have colored how I saw the rest of the program.

Either an intern or second year was talking to some other applicant about the medicine rotations and they said. "Medicine can be tough, but they are flexible enough to make it not so bad. For example, when I was on night-float at NW they just let me sleep in the call rooms during the day for the whole rotation so I wouldn't lose all that time commuting" That pretty much exploded my mind on so many levels and who knows, it might not even have been true, but definitely set the stage for how I saw the program as whole. In the same vein, the PD mentioned early in her overview "We used to let people rank medicine rotations, but everyone wanted the same one and would make people unhappy to not get what they want so now we randomly assign them". Left me thinking, dang you know maybe you could just pull the residents out of the rotation nobody wants year after year? Additionally it seemed like some of the residents might have been prepped to advise applicants not to worry too much about intern year when considering programs because intern year is pretty much the same everywhere. (This is just my complete conjecture based on having two eerily similar conversations with 2 different residents, maybe was just luck). Several residents mentioned call schedule being rather grueling at the program compared to others, which I think applicants are letting slide less and less these days so may start hurting their recruitment at some point.

On more positive notes, having these institutions and people as a learning environment makes for an incredible place to learn to become a psychiatrist. The CL experience may be as good as it gets anywhere in the country. The Chief of psychiatry took the time to meet each applicant and seemed extremely excited about psychiatry and the program. Definitely a highlight meeting him compared to the PD who seemed much more the blank slate analyst type and asked about my childhood as first question during interview! WTF? My childhood was basically puppies and rainbows so was a softball question for me, but seems like a strange topic to bring up in a professional job interview???
I also interviewed with Dr Gutheil which was really cool and a testament to the program to have someone like him taking time to interview applicants.

I don't remember many more details than that without consulting the folder of papers they gave me.

This whole review is probably riddled with inaccuracies based almost entirely on a change in mindset caused by a 10 second conversation, this is a strange process isn't it?

Overall Impression: Too much of a good thing

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Anonymous Review: Mt. Sinai

1. Ease Of Communication: Great communication. PD took significant time and several back and forth emails to ensure that I got to meet people within my interests and contacted me directly.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accomodations provided. Pricey close to Sinai but more affordable options (further away, air BnB are available). Drinks at a residents house the night prior (I wasn’t able to attend) with lunch with a ton of residents day of. Coffee, yogurt, fruit and pastries in am. Lunch provided.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview day starts at 730 or 8. Intro by PD and future PD (July) includes changes to curriculum and future visions for program. 5ish interviews, tour. Research track is 2 day interview with 2nd day prior or after. Interviews focused on my interests and interest in Sinai. Interviews were low stress and questions were fair and standard.
4. Program Overview: They’ve recently changed PGY2 to be ½ outpatient in subacute VA setting with emphasis on shorter term CBT/DBT and other modality psychotherapy bc residents complained that 6 months of inpatient wasn’t necessary. PD felt that residents had exposure to most acute (inpatient) and least acute (psychodynamic psychotherapy) but not enough IOP and subacute post inapatient discharge population. Psychodynamic case start 3rd year. They also decreased case load on inpatient psych (to 6 I think). Buildings are beautiful and modern with nice architecture. Huge program.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Really impressive neuroscience research division one of the biggest and best funded in the country.
6. Location & Lifestyle: NYC. Lifestyle seems above average for psych. Program has good education:service.
7. Salary & Benefits: 59K (I think) with heavily subsidized housing that is guaranteed for all residents and based on number of people in household (married + kids get bigger apt). On site day care that’s also subsidized but not easy to get placement in. Free meals on call. Reduced cost entertainment and gym passes.
8. Program Strengths: Drs Simon and New are very approachable, innovative and enthusiastic. Despite NYC location, program is surprisingly family friendly with a number of the residents (M+F) married with kids. Residents have very diverse interests from private practice analysis to research and program seems supportive of this.
9. Potential Weaknesses: NYC if you’re not a city person. Huge program so probably need to take initiative to find mentoring but current research residents do very well and graduates match into top fellowships.
 
Anonymous Review: Harvard South Shore

1. Ease Of Communication: Good communication via eras
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. Free parking. Dinner night after interview which was actually sandwiched btwn 2 interview days so prior to interview for some. Lunch was provided (sandwiches). Building not easy to find as buildings are numbered but not in order.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview day starts at 10:45 and ends at 5ish and is a mix of presentation by PD, tour and interviews. Interviews were low stress and they wanted to know why I applied to HSS and what my interests were. They did ask us to fill out a (non anonymous) sheet at the end explaining why we’d be a good fit for their program and I felt put on the spot.
4. Program Overview: Mostly VA based except for rotations at McLean and a few others. BC of VA base patient population is 85% male so they added a women’s mental health rotation at McLean. Exposure to adolescents at McLean but not a lot of child exposure. Residents are FMGs and DOs who seem bright, happy and like their program. Good lifestyle and standard call schedule. Facilities are standard VA—somewhat outdated but not terribly old. EMR is VA and completely integrated amount psych, primary care and all specialties. Research money is available through the VA and is easier to access than NIH funding if one is interested.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Faculty are involved in VA-based research. PD seems enthusiastic about encouraging residents to take a role in shaping the program but gave me an odd vibe. She was very nice and residents had good things to say but I got an odd vibe. Enthusiastic psychopharm teaching. Numerous faculty gushed about how much they like teaching the residents.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Located in Brockton, MA and residents commute from everywhere (quincy, Cambridge, Boston). Lifestyle seems good with humane call schedule and good VA perks.
7. Salary & Benefits: 61ish salary with better benefits than most programs 2/2 VA.
8. Program Strengths: Good benefits and teaching. Good moonlighting opportunities. Residents match to great fellowships in child, addiction, forensics. Good exposure to addiction and trauma. PD emphasized wanting “nice” residents bc she wanted a supportive training environment.
9. Potential Weaknesses: VA based population means limited exposure to kids and women. Residents live far from each other but say they do hang out outside the hospital. Residents need a car.
 
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Anonymous Review: UVM

1. Ease Of Communication: Good communication via eras and then email.
2. Accommodation & Food: Program pays for one night accommodation in nice hotel overlooking lake and additional nights are $89. No dinner the night before. Lunch is in restaurant in hospital with fresh amazing food.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Relaxed interview day where they are trying to get to know you and your interests. Day runs 7:30-3:30. I did get asked about a difficult experience and how I coped with it but nothing inappropriate.
4. Program Overview: Small program (12 residents+ 2 PGY5 child fellows) in Burlington, VT. Balanced therapy and psychopharm training. Residents come from all over the country. Facilities are nice and very modern with no junk food in hospital. PGY3s get private offices overlooking lake. EMR is EPIC. Patient population is from all over VT and northern NY with moderate diversity as there are a bunch of refugee pockets. Less diverse than NYC but not bad for a rural area.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Small but productive child research division. Program chair is enthusiastic about residents and has the whole dept over his house for a party each fall.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Burlington is beautiful and focused on health, local economy and fresh food. Residents are very outdoorsy, into skiing, mountain biking and long distance running and do these things together. Burlington has an amazing arts and music scene. Cost of living is on the higher side for a rural area but most residents live alone or share a house with one roommate. Excellent schools in VT for those with kids and very safe. Call schedule was standard.
7. Salary & Benefits: 52ish. Vacation and sick days standard. Meal cards for call.
8. Program Strengths: Tight knit happy residents with PD very invested in resident education. Family-like atmosphere focused on health and well-being. Coordinator said that if we matched there and are looking for housing from afar she’d look at the place in person to make sure it’s ok (people are THAT nice). Another resident said that her husband lost his Ipad in the hospital 3x in the last 2 years and it keeps getting returned to him. I get the warm and fuzzies thinking about it.
9. Potential Weaknesses:Small size 4 residents/year 2 combined child. No fellowships in house except child
 
Anonymous Review: UT Southwestern (Dallas)

1. Ease Of Communication: No issues with scheduling interview. Received interview itinerary day of. Communication was with administrative assistant rather than program coordinator, who we met with very briefly on the interview day.

2. Accommodation & Food: None provided. Most applicants seemed to have ties to Dallas so were staying with friends or family. Family style dinner with 3 residents the night before, breakfast assortment and coffee morning of, lunch at the cafeteria (which had a great panoramic view of the city).

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM, with three interviews in the morning (PD, aPD, faculty member, no resident). The day started with an overview of the program by the PD, which was rather tangential. I had a hard time getting a clear idea of the program's mission. Interviews were casual, no unusual questions. The PD was warm, sincere, and seemed to really go out of his way for applicants and residents.

4. Program Overview: The program often gets labeled as biologically-focused on SDN, maybe it was just me but I did not feel this way at all. I actually felt it was rather balanced (and I am coming from a more biological institution). Therapy starts in the second year, with multiple modalities and different supervisors. Good breadth of training sites (Parkland - which will be brand new in Fall 2015?), VA, University Hospital, different university student health centers, and Metrocare which is a mobile community site. All residents raved about the VA rotation. PGY1 has 4 medicine months (2 wards), 2 neuro months (apparently one of these was very hours-heavy and has been restructured), and then a variety of VA, community, and Psych ER months. PGY2 is half inpatient, half community, ER, C/L, geri. Many elective opportunities beginning with 1 month in the PGY2 going up to 10 in the fourth year. Third year is outpatient at multiple sites, including student mental health. PGY4 is 2 months Parkland C/L and 10 months elective.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Chair is big in schizophrenia research. PD is an analyst. Faculty I met with all seemed very intelligent yet grounded. The "5 Nobel Laureates" gets mentioned a lot there.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Dallas - which seems to be a love it or hate it sort of place. I actually liked the city a lot, I felt it was very diverse and welcoming. It isn't for everyone however, not as outdoorsy or walkable. The residents all seemed well-rested and happy. Almost every single person had a reason to be in Dallas or Texas, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your desire to live there/stay in the area after training. The call/weekend schedule was incredibly confusing, but I believe it was q4 home call at Parkland and University Hospital in the psychiatry months (per residents, they hardly have to go in - maybe once a month). VA was in-house. Call-heavy during the medicine months, but there are only 2 ward months. Weekends on inpatient psychiatry, but I didn't learn whether this was just rounding or staying the full day.

7. Salary & Benefits: 56K starting, with no state income tax and relatively low cost of living. 400$ educational allowance.

8. Program Strengths:
-All fellowships besides forensics.
-Great PD - friendly, advocates for residents
-Strong research opportunities
-Multiple training sites (pro or con depending on the individual)
-Is affiliated with Dallas Psychoanalytic Institute
-Strong regional reputation
-Dallas is a very livable city

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-More call? than other programs and a somewhat confusing schedule
-I got the sense that the program was more service-oriented (there was little said about didactics by the residents or during the interview day).
-There is lots of driving to different sites (they are not all walking distance from each other - the VA is about 10 miles from the medical center).
 
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Anonymous Review: Cambridge Health Alliance

1. Ease Of Communication: No issues with scheduling interview, and the PC is very friendly. They had a welcome notice of all the applicants the day of.

2. Accommodation & Food: None provided, the hospital is about 15 minutes from Harvard Square, which is accessible by the T. Dinner at a resident's house (personally I didn't like the setting because we ended up sitting as one big group which didn't permit talking to residents individually). A few breakfast options in the morning of and lunch was boxed sandwiches and chips and cookies. More cookies in the afternoon.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 8:15 AM - 4:30 PM, with two interviews in the morning and two in the afternoon (PD, aPD, faculty member, resident). Overview of the program in the morning by PD and aPD which was great. I felt the interview with the PD was a little invasive, and the residents all seemed a little stoic. The day included a tour of the in-terrible-shape Central Street and the very nice Cambridge hospital. The PD and aPD drove the applicants to the different site.

4. Program Overview: The program is very strong in psychotherapy and allowed for a lot of time in thinking about with patients with great supervision. The website breaks down the different rotation sites and call. Recent funding issues requiring the shutdown of the psych ER. The residents are unionized so no concerns related to them. Regarding PGY1, interns said the program focused on making a unified intern class, which seemed to me the focus was more on medicine and less on psychiatry (a sentiment noted by a resident, though as a positive thing). Strong emphasis on community psychiatry and care of the underserved. Options to do rotations at other Harvard hospitals.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: The faculty I met with all had a shared mission in caring for the underserved.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Cambridge is beautiful and surrounding Boston is a very nice, though expensive city. Residents lived in Somerville for cheaper which allowed for free parking at the hospital due to the resident permit. Call schedule seemed very manageable and residents repeated that they have a very balanced program.

7. Salary & Benefits: 56K but this seems to be from 2012. Salary goes up due to union, and education fund is 1900$ which is tax free if spent, remainder is given at end of year but taxed. No free parking, on call room has fridge for food.

8. Program Strengths:
-Great psychotherapy training
-Boston and Cambridge are amazing
-Strong community psychiatry training, and ethnically diverse patients

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Very community focused, which is its mission so can't really call it a weakness per se, but there is lack of VA and tertiary care exposure.
-Not many research opportunities outside of social psychiatry
-I can't really put my finger on it, as an outsider, I didn't get a sense of inclusiveness during the day -- the residents seemed cold and the PD somewhat abrasive.
 
Anyone have any thoughts on UNC vs Duke? I have interview offers to both all of a sudden but only have room to fit in one of them. I need some perspective to decide.
 
Personally, I would take UNC- I think they have a better call schedule and they're really up and coming on the research side of things. But it's a definitely a tough call...really cant go wrong either way.
 
I cannot compare to UNC but did interview at Duke -- there were only a few residents at the dinner and lunch, every resident talked about how hard they work (though did try to put a positive spin on it), how front-loaded the program is, or how the first year used to be impossible but this has changed. There also didn't seem to be any moonlighting opportunities outside the built-in night float 3rd and 4th year which is paid. It is an amazing program though between the academic half-day and the multiple centers in various specific areas of psychiatry, and the facilities were very nice. I personally found it too intense.
 
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Anonymous Review: Harvard South Shore

1. Ease Of Communication: Good communication via eras
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. Free parking. Dinner night after interview which was actually sandwiched btwn 2 interview days so prior to interview for some. Lunch was provided (sandwiches). Building not easy to find as buildings are numbered but not in order.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview day starts at 10:45 and ends at 5ish and is a mix of presentation by PD, tour and interviews. Interviews were low stress and they wanted to know why I applied to HSS and what my interests were. They did ask us to fill out a (non anonymous) sheet at the end explaining why we’d be a good fit for their program and I felt put on the spot.
4. Program Overview: Mostly VA based except for rotations at McLean and a few others. BC of VA base patient population is 85% male so they added a women’s mental health rotation at McLean. Exposure to adolescents at McLean but not a lot of child exposure. Residents are FMGs and DOs who seem bright, happy and like their program. Good lifestyle and standard call schedule. Facilities are standard VA—somewhat outdated but not terribly old. EMR is VA and completely integrated amount psych, primary care and all specialties. Research money is available through the VA and is easier to access than NIH funding if one is interested.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Faculty are involved in VA-based research. PD seems enthusiastic about encouraging residents to take a role in shaping the program but gave me an odd vibe. She was very nice and residents had good things to say but I got an odd vibe. Enthusiastic psychopharm teaching. Numerous faculty gushed about how much they like teaching the residents.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Located in Brockton, MA and residents commute from everywhere (quincy, Cambridge, Boston). Lifestyle seems good with humane call schedule and good VA perks.
7. Salary & Benefits: 61ish salary with better benefits than most programs 2/2 VA.
8. Program Strengths: Good benefits and teaching. Good moonlighting opportunities. Residents match to great fellowships in child, addiction, forensics. Good exposure to addiction and trauma. PD emphasized wanting “nice” residents bc she wanted a supportive training environment.
9. Potential Weaknesses: VA based population means limited exposure to kids and women. Residents live far from each other but say they do hang out outside the hospital. Residents need a car.

As a HSS resident, I think this review is mostly accurate. I would also like to mention that though we are based at the VA, we have rotations at several sites that give us exposure to patients other than veterans. At McLean, we rotate through the psych ER, geriatric unit and short term unit. We often see a more affluent population here. In addition, we rotate at a community mental health clinic solely devoted to women's mental health. Our child psychiatry rotation allows us to see mostly adolescents as part of their partial hospital program, but we also get exposure to child psychiatry through the McPAP consultation service. Lastly, we rotate at 2 DMH (state) facilities, both inpatient and outpatient, where we see patients of diverse economic and cultural backgrounds. As a PGY3, I am very happy with the wide range of patient populations I am able to see and treat thus far.
 
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Any of the stanford reviewers have the actual salaries (including the various additional housing/cellphone/etc allowances?) I'm trying to run some numbers of living in the bay area and I cant seem to track down annual salaries on the GME page anywhere.
 
I cannot compare to UNC but did interview at Duke -- there were only a few residents at the dinner and lunch, every resident talked about how hard they work (though did try to put a positive spin on it), how front-loaded the program is, or how the first year used to be impossible but this has changed. There also didn't seem to be any moonlighting opportunities outside the built-in night float 3rd and 4th year which is paid. It is an amazing program though between the academic half-day and the multiple centers in various specific areas of psychiatry, and the facilities were very nice. I personally found it too intense.


Hey there. I'm a Duke Psychiatry PGY2. I agree we are an intense program in terms of learning, expectations, and caliber. But frankly our call schedule is quite similar to UNC's - the days of hellish call are way over since the duty hours changed 3 years ago. You cannot go wrong with UNC or Duke. I personally loved both programs and it was a hard choice. At the end of the day, I enjoyed the intensity of the program at Duke and wanted to be in that.

There are some really excellent informational videos that you can refer to so that you can learn about the Duke psychiatry program.

And also, we are just plain fun...here is the link to the newly released psychiatry bloopers reel. But from there you can find a bunch of interviews with attendings, our chair, our PD, chief resident, and group interviews with residents answering some questions that you may have.

 
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Reaching end of interview season, created a special account to post my reviews anonymously. I appreciate all the reviews already posted from this year and previous years. Hope mine help! Hope our class will leave more reviews, come on people interview season is almost done!

University of New Mexico

1. Ease Of Communication:
Extremely organized by two wonderful and personable coordinators. Quick email responses and easy to schedule interview. Received interview schedule and names of our interviewers a week in advance.

2. Accommodation & Food: Hotel was reserved and paid for us at this very nice hotel. Had a complimentary shuttle take us from the hotel the morning of the interview to the program. The hotel had free breakfast too. Pre-interview dinner the night before our interview was conveniently located at the hotel on the top floor where the restaurant was. Had sliders and fries and appetizers. About 4-5 residents showed up at our dinner. Note, no breakfast at the program provided. Also, program coordinators gave us a nice UNM reusable fabric bag with magazines on what to do in New Mexico and a ceramic cup. Thought that was a nice touch! :)

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Took free shuttle from hotel to program, I would get on shuttle early as possible since sometimes the shuttle would take people elsewhere and would not be available. Day starts at 8AM and ends at 4PM. Met in morning with program coordinator who was very personable and who showed she had read our application given our hobbies and interests. 8AM, the program director, Dr. Arenella met with us applicants (about 4-5 of us total) for an hour going over the program. She is extremely compassionate, friendly, very easy to talk with. I got the sense that she really wants to make the program even better. She mentioned possibly in the future having more of a team focus as in other specialties on the units. We then were taken to the VA and had an interview there. Then, for about an hour we actually sat in on rounds with the inpatient psych VA team. I was not that impressed with rounds honestly, maybe it was just that day but they said their psychologist was on maternity leave I think and the residents both seemed a bit handsoff and not as impressive. The attending was very friendly though, didn't see to much teaching but again this is just one morning perspective. Had another interview after this, followed by lunch with the residents. About 6 residents showed up and each went over why they came to UNM and what they liked and didn't like about the program. After lunch, we had a walking tour and then followed by our 3rd interview. We then in the afternoon met with the Chair who was trained at MGH and who has a goal of making substance use/ addiction psychiatry and rural psychiatry number one at UNM since those are the major strengths of the program. He seemed a bit intimidating though, nice but serious. Finally, a faculty member drove us in a van for a driving tour of the city for about 90 minutes.

4. Program Overview: Very strong exposure to rural medicine, addiction, diverse patient population and severe psychopathology given that the city and state in general is very poor. Great psychotherapy training given vice chair is focused in this area. Curriculum in PGY1 includes 4 months medicine (1 inpt and 3 mo mix of inpt, outpt medicine, could also pick family medicine or peds or ER), 2 months neuro, 4 months inpt psych, 1 month residential psych, and 1 month C/L. All year PGY1 have a psych primary care clinic. PGY2 has 4 months inpt psych, 1 month community psych and systems of care rotation (pretty neat!), 2 months C/L, 1 month geriatric psych, 2 months ER Psych, 1 month child psych, and 1 month addiction. PGY2 start seeing long term psychodynamic psychotherapy, more forensics and community psych exposure. PGY3 is 12 months all outpatient, and PGY4 largely elective.

5. Location & Lifestyle: Albuquerque is a beautiful city with mountains and the weather is wonderful, not as hot as Arizona, no humidity and doesn't get too cold. Housing is super cheap and very affordable. No traffic. Access to yummy New Mexican Chiles (yes this is a positive). Sante Fe is about 45 minutes away and quite beautiful. Lots of great museums, food, and Georgia O'Keefe!

6. Salary & Benefits: PGY1-PGY4 salary ranges 49-54,000. Cheap parking 40 dollars a YEAR at university hospital lot, but residents said it is a bit of a walk to the psych building.

7. Program Strengths:
- supportive and enthusiastic program director and associate program director, Dr. Arenella and Dr. Khafaja
- strong psychotherapy training as vice chair is psychotherapy focused
- exposure to very underserved community, lots of addiction, substance use, rural medicine, diverse patient population and psychopathology, including large native american populations.
- very organized program coordinators
- chair with clear goals in mind of making rural psych and addiction number one in the country
- Dr. Fawcett mentioned who is renowned for suicide and depression research
- year round experience in VA in a med-psych clinic
- curriculum committees with residents to improve program, program is receptive to change, no major changes though coming up according to PD
- ACT exposure, community psychiatry exposure very strong, can even do 6 months elective in New Zealand
- Center for Rural Health lots of research
- lots of opportunity to testify in court at early stage since on-site court
- inpatient Child psych exposure though we didn't see the facilities, told they are in "cottages" ?
- exposure to telemedicine
- Fellowships in addiction psych, child psych, geriatric psych, and psychosomatic

8. Potential Weaknesses:
- research and neuroscience may not be strong suits of program
- facilities left something to be desired for
- no resident process/support group
- intern year was mentioned by residents as not too hard, could be positive or negative
- felt residents weren't too enthusiastic and rounds witnessed was a bit unimpressive
- unclear how much supervision from psychologist, as theirs was on leave for inpatient at VA
- psych ER was mentioned as a weak point since director did leave in the spring and at the moment they had volunteer faculty doing shifts and a permanent nurse practitioner there, hoping to find a permanent faculty member soon. 6 beds in Psych ER, not incorporated within main ER so patients must be transported from main ER to this one once medically cleared, seemed really inconvenient for the patient in my opinion.

9. Tips/Info:
-Make sure you let the hotel know that you need the shuttle to take you to the program in the morning
-take a snack if you don't eat breakfast at the hotel since no breakfast in morning at the program
-3 total interviews each 30 minutes long
-can bring significant other on the driving tour of the city at end of day just let coordinators know
-hotel paid for :)
-airport is pretty close and not crowded, smaller airport, can schedule flight probably after 530 or 6 PM. Day ends at 4PM
 
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Not sure there's any such thing as "standard" when it comes to salary, vacation, or call schedules. Seems like it varies a lot. Even vacation/sick days seems to vary, depending on program.
 
UTSW / UT SOUTHWESTERN DALLAS

1. Ease Of Communication: Easy to schedule interview, notified over a week in advance regarding our start and end time and where to meet. No interview schedule with who we were interviewing provided until day of interview. Program coordinator seemed a bit distant but friendly. We have to fill out an area of interest form, so if you have a specific area or person you want to speak with make sure you mention it.

2. Accommodation & Food: Long list of hotels with discounts given prior to interview. Pastries, tea, coffee, water provided morning of the interview. Pre-interview dinner was at a nice restaurant, but despite the big program with number of residents only 3 residents showed up. Dinner seemed more casual and conversational as I did not unfortunately get too much information from the dinner. The 3 residents that did show up were all very approachable and nice though. The lunch however the day of the interview I will say had a lot of residents show up, I would say more than 8 to 10 residents. Valet parking for free if you are driving provided in front of the building on day of interview.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Day starts at 8AM and ends at 3PM. Began with an overview of the program for about over an hour with the program director, Dr. Brenner. He had a powerpoint but honestly he didn't really stick to it. He would go off on tangents and sadly this is a great program with great points in the curriculum and he didn't mention any of them. He meant well, seems like a very nice, caring man, but his overview of the program was sadly lacking. Perhaps an associate director could do it next time since we didn't get through the whole powerpoint either. Then had 3 interviews with faculty, one of them with the chief resident, each were 30 minutes each and you did get a couple 30 minute breaks. We then had lunch with the residents, a good number of 8-10 residents showed up, all very friendly, kind, sociable. Had an hour of tour of the old Parkland hospital and the University hospital. They will be opening the new Parkland (the county) hospital soon and it is GORGEOUS and beautiful. Actually all of the hospitals were super new, and beautiful. The neat thing was each of the hospitals (except for the Dallas VA) were connected on this separate road that a shuttle would run to and from each one. Day ended with each of us meeting with a faculty member who was from the area of interest we had filled out prior to the interview. This was not an interview, just information session or chance to ask more questions from this faculty member. Day ended at 3PM. Note, be ready to talk about childhood and growing up if you have an interview with Dr. Brenner. It was a very easy conversation, nothing confrontational or analytic, he just wanted to get a chance to know where you came from.

4. Program Overview: Chair of program, Dr. Tamminga is well known schizophrenia and neurobiology researcher and program director, Dr. Brenner is psychodynamically trained. We did not meet the chair on our interview day. Program director is very nice, approachable, and genuinely shows interest in resident well-being and education. He does go off on tangents with his talks but I think he means well honestly. He also was all about change for the better as an ever evolving program is a good one. Got the sense from the residents that the faculty are all very approachable and very into teaching. Training is strong and this institution is particularly strong in research if that is your interest. Highlights of the curriculum I thought included PGY1 one month of Palliative medicine, 1 month of geriatrics (home health, nursing home), two months of medicine which could be pediatrics if you wanted and two months of neuro which one could be peds neuro if you wanted. PGY1 also has a great community psych/ homeless services team for a month rotation, can also do street outreach and work at shelters through Metrocare services (the cities underserved services in mental health). PGY1 also get 2 months psych ER at Parkland (county hospital) which is a dedicated psych er where you can also manage a lot of medicine, 1 month of addiction and two months inpatient psych where you also start getting exposure to ECT. Residents said they can do a lot of ECT and can become certified too. PGY2 was notable for having a month to do an elective with a bunch of options from methadone clinic to pain clinic to child to eating disorders to womens health. They also have great exposure to forensics and doing 2 months of community psych again in pgy2 at Dallas County Jail and the ACT team, with 3 months C/L in child and adult psych. They also have a process group for residents starting in PGY2 year called T group. Starting psychotherapy patients too in PGY2 year. PGY3 is outpatient 12 months with a lot of exposure as well to child psych inpt and outpt and PGY4 can also work with the Dallas psychoanalytic institute which is housed within the psych building but is a separate entity so they get a lot of supervision also from these folks. Residents also have a senior project they must complete. There are also designated tracks if you want in womens health, community psych and a clinician educators track, and research track and PD said can create one for yourself too or combine them. Psychotherapy is also a strength of the program with exposure to DBT, eating disorders, evidence based psychotherapy from CPT to IPT and even a rape crisis center. Strong exposure to Child psychiatry too with an inpatient unit, outpatient clinics, day treatment programs and a school based programs. New Autism center and new depression center too.

5. Location & Lifestyle: Dallas is very affordable, not as humid in summers as Houston, and traffic isn't too bad. Diverse community, lots of good food too actually. Two airports to fly into.

6. Salary & Benefits: see website

7. Program Strengths:
- exposure to diverse clinical sites (University, VA, Children's Hospital, Parkland County, Dallas Jail)
- diverse patient population
- strong in bench research with research track
- strong in community, child, women's health
- kind and supportive program director
- sociable and happy residents, residents also have a psychiatry resident's organization (pro) for social activities
- T group aka resident process group starts as PGY2
- innovative curriculum with required rotations in palliative medicine, geriatrics, community services/homeless program/act, Dallas County jail,
- tracks in community psych, womens health, clinician educator, research
- program receptive to resident well being and change
- beautiful, new hospitals University and new County Parkland hospitals
- strong teaching at VA said by many residents
- fellowships in public psych, psychosomatic/ C/L, geriatric psych, child psych, addiction psych, sleep medicine and forensics (is under construction according to our handout)

8. Potential Weaknesses:
- only 3 residents showed up for dinner despite 8 showing up for lunch given it being a large program, could just be the way they schedule things though, but would have been nice to get more perspective at the dinner.
- larger program 15 residents a year could be a pro or con for anyone
- didn't meet the Chair
- city of Dallas leaves something to be desired for, I wasn't a huge fan since there were no mountains, seemed very flat to me
- living in Texas comes with more conservative attitudes and political beliefs
- HIV Psychiatry a weakness, not so much exposure
- didn't get to see the VA though heard from residents the best teaching happens here

9. Tips/Info:
- Starts 8AM ends 3PM
- Dallas airport very close to the hospital less than 10-15 minutes away, this is if you fly out of Love Field. The Fort Worth airport is farther and you have to deal with more traffic to get there. I highly recommend flying into and out of Love Field, smaller airport, not as a busy and super close to the hospital.
- end of day have chance to meet a faculty in your area of interest, this is not an interview, so if you have a preference to meet someone tell the program coordinator when you schedule your interview
- JFK was brought to and died at Parkland Hospital, great to see this part of the hospital for historical interest
 
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University of Washington Seattle

1. Ease Of Communication: pretty easy to schedule the interview, no issues. No actual schedule with named faculty given until day of interview. Organized otherwise. List of hotels sent out nearby.

2. Accommodation & Food: This is a pretty large program with a large number of residents, but sadly only 1-2 residents showed up for the pre-interview dinner. Not sure if that is a good sign. Also, on our interview day, I only had an interview with a resident and the lunch we were at a lunch time lecture/ talk so there were a bunch of residents obviously but can't really talk when a lecture is going on :) . There was a Q/A session but it with the residents but it was pretty lackluster and I didn't gain anything I didn't know already. No hotel or accommodations provided but parking was paid for if you drove. Bit confusing though finding the building on day of interview, so I highly recommend doing a drive by the night before as UW is huge! Light breakfast was provided.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Day starts around 8AM and ends around 4PM. Day starts out with a program overview with the program director, Dr. Cowley, however she is going to be vice chair of education and there will be a new program director, Dr. Murray taking over. We met them both during the day but honestly, I got a very cold, negative vibe from both of them. Not sure if this is what they call the Seattle Freeze, but I just did not feel comfortable and would question myself coming to them if I needed support. This is odd and a juxtaposition to the raves I heard about Dr. Cowley and on these forums. Also, the Chair spoke with us briefly too, who seemed very nice but from my understanding he is new and in the position for about a year now, I think they recruited him last year. Seems program has some change ongoing in the administration obviously. We then had Dr. Cowley come with us on the shuttle to Harborview for three total interviews, and one later on with a resident. During our shuttle, Dr. Cowley came with us but she sadly just sat there and stared at us with occasionally answering questions. It just seemed really uncomfortable being in her presence. The interviews were all pretty easy going though, except one who faculty member who would ask me a question and then after I answered there would be this long silence. Awkward! But the resident interview was very friendly and sadly seemed like the only resident perspective I got from the program. We got a tour of the facilities, and we also went to Seattle Children's Hospital where some of us had interviews with Child Psych folk. What little I got from the residents seemed there was not as much class cohesion between classes given its large size and also heard each year they add several second year residents. At the lunchtime lecture I did not get a good sense of residents being too chummy chummy with each other either. Day ended around 4PM.

4. Program Overview: Curriculum includes exposure to a variety of clinical sites. Of note PGY1 year includes 3 months inpatient Psych at county hospital Harborview, and 2-3 months inpatient psych at either VA or UW and within these you get exposure to ECT and court hearings and Psych ER. Rest of year is medicine or pediatrics and neurology. PGY2 year has inpatient psych for 3-4 months at either VA or UW, strong exposure to C/L with 4 months, 1 month of Psych ER and 1.5 months of nightfloat. You start in PGY2 year with half day a week of psychotherapy training with a client, also two months of selective/elective available with choices from child, community, research, teaching. PGY3 is 12 months outpatient psych with also exposure to community mental health clinics, with I believe only 2 calls a month. PGY4 year elective year mainly and I believe only 1 call a month. Good range of exposure to different psychotherapy modalities too with wide ranging electives. Of note in Child Psych it is at Seattle Children's one of the premier children's hospitals in the country and has a 20 bed inpatient psych unit, with also an Autism center, and exposure to a juvenile justice facility and community health clinics. Patient population not as diverse as other large cities in the US, but do have some exposure to native american populations, and rural health with away electives in WWAMI region.

5. Location & Lifestyle: Seattle is a beautiful city, however if the rain and clouds get to you, it might not be your cup of tea. The summers are sunny and beautiful, but rest of the year is pretty overcast and cloudy. It rains but not downpour, just that ever present cloud overhead. It is cheaper than large cities like SF, Boston and NY, but I would say its not cheap either. Lots of cute cafes, Starbucks was born here and Microsoft has a large facility here too.

6. Salary & Benefits: PGY1-4 I believe was 53-60,000

7. Program Strengths:
- variety of clinical sites to rotate at (university, harborview county, VA, Seattle Children's)
- can do away rotations in the WWAMI region : Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana
- Idaho track available too but seemed a bit limiting in terms of exposure and diversity of patients seen
- strong Child Psych exposure including 20 bed inpatient unit at Seattle Children's
- strong community exposure with ACT team, HIV and a community leadership track
- variety of tracks you can choose from to get early exposure in an area of interest, include teaching scholar pathway
- DBT originator on faculty, Marsha Linehan
- emphasis on integration of psychiatry within primary care services/clinics
- Fellowships in Child, Addiction, Geriatrics, C/L, Primary Care Psych, Community, VA fellowship in research, and MPH at UW available too

8. Potential Weaknesses:
- program director Dr. Cowley becoming vice chair of education and NEW incoming program director, Dr. Murray, both who seemed very cold and distant and I would personally be uncomfortable coming to them for support or advice
- fairly NEW Chair
- only got to really get resident perspective from 1-3 residents, one being my interviewer and other two at the dinner
- few residents showed up to the dinner despite it being a large program with large number of residents
- patient diversity is lacking
- need to drive between the sites since there are several
- lack of inter-class cohesion and interaction
- Seattle can be depressing with its weather

9. Tips:
- when driving into Seattle note that speed limit changes (thought that was pretty neat)
- airport is a good 20-30 minutes away (15 miles), very nice airport though
- do a drive by the night before as its confusing to find the building the morning of interview
- if you have an interest in Child Psych let program coordinator know so one of your interviewers can be with a child psych person at Seattle Children's
 
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Just to address some of the questions raised about the Brown program

1. Multi site: I agree that it can be a bummer, sometimes it makes my life harder and I see less frequently my co-residents. That said, it gives me the chance to see different perspectives in dealing with psych patients. Every Tuesday afternoon, all residents are together for didactics and we typically go out for drinks and dinner after...

2. Moonlight: the request for moonlighters is almost non stop!!

3. Pager: first year you can turn off your pager after 5pm since we are not supposed to be unsupervised. From Second year, you can receive overnight pager but this typically don't happen. The unit tend to page directly the attending.

4. Junior attending: it really depends who is the attending working with you. You can have a situation where you lead the entire treatment plan alone and just run by the attending at the end of the day. Or there are attending that just treat you as a more senior resident just increasing your census. By the way, the census is capped at 6 patients and it is generally well respected.

5. Junior attending is completely voluntary and some fourth years don't do it. Residents in the research track do not do it for example.
 
Vanderbilt University

1. Ease Of Communication: great communication with program coordinator, organized and friendly. We received our schedules with the individuals we would be interviewing with prior to the interview day which was really nice.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. I booked a hotel that was walkable to the program and dinner which was nice. I believe you can get a discount if you say you have an interview at Vanderbilt. Pre-interview dinner was at a nice restaurant close to the hospital and a good number of residents showed up, I would say about 8 residents showed up. The nice thing was midway through the dinner the residents all switched seats so that applicants could get a different perspective. All the residents were super friendly and seemed happy.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Day starts at 730AM and ends at 2PM. We had croissants and pastry and tea and coffee ready for us in the morning. Each of us was also given this nice zip up pocket folder and usb with more info. Day started with an overview by the program director who is new this year, Dr. Cowan (the old PD Dr. Heckers became the Chair) and the assistant PD Dr. Fleisch. Dr. Cowan, the PD went over a powerpoint and to me he did not seem too enthusiastic. I mean I would be super excited if I was just starting as a new program director, and since he's a researcher particularly in neuroimaging and neurophysiology I felt he kind of lacked a warm, social personality. After this overview, we had 3 interviews that were each 15 minutes each (yes, only 15 minutes) with the PD, assistant PD and Chair and then after these 3 interviews, we had 2 additional interviews that were 30 minutes each with a resident and someone in Psychology. There were 2-3 breaks in between these 5 interviews. Given that the first three interviews were so short, I just felt that these were super rushed and the program barely gets to know much about you and at best they can answer maybe one question. I mean, yes, the main admin meets every applicant this way, but I would have appreciated a 30 min interview with one of the program directors at least. Dr. Cowan again in the interview just seemed very unenthusiastic and I did not get the sense that he was too thrilled about his position. He just was not personable to me. Dr. Fleisch, the assistant PD on the other hand was in your face, she seemed very serious and a bit self-absorbed to me as she talked about all her accomplishments during the first half of 15 minutes. I just really didn't feel comfortable with her as she seemed a bit intimidating to me. The Chair, Dr. Heckers, on the other hand was super personable and kind and seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me and also giving me the strengths of the program. I kind of wish he was still the PD. The other two interviews I had, one with resident and other with a psychologist were very friendly and welcoming. After this series of 5 interviews we had lunch where actually a very good number of residents showed up, I would actually say most of them. However, I didn't get the sense that they were there to answer questions or show off the program, it was more of a required thing to be there. After lunch we all went with faculty and residents to a case conference, which was unimpressive and was a bit taken aback by the lack of compassion from the presenter regarding a patient. Also, Dr. Fleisch seemed very aggressive in asking questions from residents too. Overall though, I did get the sense that residents got along with each other and they were jovial and happy. After the case conference ended we had a tour of the facilities which were all very nice and day ended around 2PM.

4. Program Overview: Curriculum in PGY1 includes of note ALL interns starting together on Psychiatry, which allows for class cohesion. 3 months of med/peds, 3 months inpatient psych, 1 month addiction, 1 month child inpatient, 1 month of regular er, and 2 months of neuro. I believe there is an elective month in PGY1 too. In PGY2, have outpatient psychotherapy clinic throughout the year, with 4 months adult inpt psych, 1 month of c/l child, 2 months adult c/l, 3 months of psych er with nightfloat, and one month community psych. PGY3 year is outpatient and PGY4 elective. Training sites include the designated psych hospital with 88 beds, the university hospital, children's hospital, the VA (albeit no psych inpatient unit), and a rehab center. Research is strong here with programs in psychotic disorders, mood disorders with ECT, TMS, DBS, center for cognitive medicine, and a Kennedy Center for Human Development. Dr. Fleisch created a new homeless outreach program, which sounded pretty neat where they do care in the streets, literally and they also count homeless people too in the city at night. There is also opportunity to be involved with medical students at the free clinic psychiatry night at Shade Tree.

5. Location & Lifestyle: I was surprised by the city, which seemed very clean, newer, not much traffic and was said to be very affordable according to residents. Also, there are a good number of people from the music industry who live there given the large music scene there. Diversity though is lacking as we are in the south and conservative politics and ways do seem to reign but much more liberal in Nashville than surrounding areas.

6. Salary & Benefits: PGY1-4= 51-57,000.

7. Program Strengths:
-
very friendly Chair who used to the be the program director, Dr. Heckers
- organized program coordinator
- very collegial, happy residents with large number showing up at both the dinner and at lunch
- Nashville is a great, lively city, affordable
- strong in juvenile justice and school based programs
- Institute for Global Health- though no clear Psychiatry programs or opportunities
- very strong child exposure from early phase, inpatient and outpatient, C/L
- homeless outreach with Dr. Fleisch
- weekly process group for residents from PGY2 and up
- all interns starting on psychiatry together for class cohesion
- monthly meets with PD, and with chiefs
- no traveling between sites as all hospitals in one location
- Fellowships in Child Psych, C/L, and Geriatric Psych

8. Potential Weaknesses:
- NEW program director, Dr. Cowan who was not too enthusiastic
- assistant program director, Dr. Fleisch who seemed a bit aggressive
- wish more time spent with one of the program directors as only given 15 minutes with each
- no inpatient or much exposure at the VA (only do inpatient medicine at VA, no inpatient Psych services)
- intern year described as "easy" guess could be positive or negative
- not a super diverse patient population (although lots of rural health seen, addiction, conversion disorder)

9. Tips:
- airport is about 10 miles from hospital, about 20 minutes away. If you are not driving, have a taxi driver number handy as the program coordinator didn't provide one. I would have gotten a rental car in hindsight since taxi cost just as much.
- day starts at 730 AM and ends at 2PM
 
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Weill Cornell University New York Presbyterian

1. Ease Of Communication: Pretty easy in scheduling interview. No schedule of interview with named faculty given until day of interview. Social chairs (residents) did email all applicants to tell us about parties they were hosting on different dates for applicants. Interview day included folder with schedule and also usb with more info on it.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodation provided. Sadly no pre-interview dinner, though there were different dates for parties we could attend to meet residents, which from other applicants I heard were well attended. Juice and coffee and I believe pastries were available in morning. We did each also receive a book called Approach to the Psychiatric Patient, which was a nice touch :)

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Day starts at 8AM and ends at 5PM. Day started with a very informal meeting with the 2 chief residents, who tried to answers questions we may have had and to refute any stereotypes or rumors we may have heard about Cornell versus the other NYC programs. I thought that both of the chief residents seemed a bit snooty for my taste and were not as warm and friendly as residents I have seen and met at other programs. This 30 minute period to me was honestly not very useful since there was no formal presentation or formal points that were covered and it seemed a bit off to start off the day with chief residents instead of someone from the program administration, like a program director. After this we went and met with the vice chair as a group and again it was a bit awkward as we all felt forced to ask a question. The vice chair though seemed very nice and he went over some of the strengths of the program. I think one of the things we got reiterated by the chiefs and vice chair is that Cornell does not just cater to affluent populations but that about 1/3 of their population is actually medicaid and can see a more underserved population with elective at Lincoln Hospital. After this we had 2 interviews that were 30 minutes a piece, one was with the program director who was incredibly engaging, kind, enthusiastic given her new role as PD. We then as a group had a tour of this neat Library which houses many books and articles regarding the history of Psychiatry. We then had a 30 minute group meeting with a faculty member discussing biological psychiatry and research opportunities. We then had a brief tour of the hospital, but unfortunately we did not get to see any of the inpatient unit. Also, the other hospital, Westchester is about 45 minutes away and we did not see that hospital either. There is no VA. We then had lunch at the Faculty Club which was this ritzy looking room with faculty all decked out and we had a buffet style lunch. About 5 residents showed up, but unfortunately they didn't rotate as it was difficult in this faculty club to switch seats. I would have appreciated a less formal place to eat lunch so that we could get more perspective from residents. The residents were semi-friendly, to me they seemed distant like the chiefs. After lunch we had a group meeting with the program director Dr. Penzner who went over the strengths of the program, no powerpoint or anything, but it just seemed ill fitting that this part of the day was after lunch. After this we had 3 more interviews that were 45 minutes long, one which was a resident interview. So total of 5 interviews each about 30-45 minutes long. Day ended around 5PM. No closing session or anything, just free to leave after last interview.

4. Program Overview: Curriculum includes PGY1 which has 6 months of psych, most at the Westchester division which is the second oldest free standing psych hospital in the US, with 250 psych beds for all ages. 6 months of psych include geriatrics/ect, psychotic d/o, psych er, substance abuse, night float and a selective which you can choose from inpatient child, inpatient adolescent or inpatient eating disorders. The Psych ER rotation though is at the Payne Whitney Clinic which is the Manhattan Cornell NY Presbyterian campus. 6 other months of PGY1 includes 3 months IM, 2 months Neuro and 1 month ER, all at the Manhattan NY Presbyterian campus and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. PGY2 year includes 4-5 months of inpatient psych and 1 month Psych ER, 3 months C/L, 1 month partial hospital program all in Manhattan, 1 month personality disorder unit in Westchester. On the personality disorder rotation also do afternoon a week of ACT team. Also have a 1 month of nightfloat and one month selective in PGY2. In PGY2 also start with the E Group- experiential group for residents to learn about group process and task of becoming a psychiatrist. Also as PGY2 paired with an off unit supervisor to oversee your interviewing techniques and also get a research and scholar supervisor for mentorship around your interests. PGY3 is outpatient at the Payne Whitney Clinic in Manhattan, strong supervision and training in all modalities.

5. Location & Lifestyle: a concern living in NYC of course is the cost as rent is very expensive and you get to live in a tiny apartment. However, you do not need a car and you get to live in one of the most lively, culturally diverse cities in the world.

6. Salary & Benefits: PGY1-PGY4= 58-67,000. Guaranteed housing too which is a great plus given the expense of living in NYC. Wish they had talked about this more since I know its a concern of many.

7. Program Strengths:
- enthusiastic and supportive NEW program director, Dr. Penzner
- Westchester Hospital, second oldest free standing Psych hospital, many different specific units
- diverse NYC patient population even if it is Cornell
- strong psychotherapy training, particularly Psychodynamic (previous PD Dr. Auchincloss psychodynamic trained) and CBT (all Beck certified from Philly)
- can do electives at other NYC programs
- inpatient eating disorders unit and inpatient child and adolescent exposure
- strong exposure to C/L and particularly psycho-oncology given rotations at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- weekly E group/ experiential group for residents starting as PGY2
- rotate in day treatment program, partial hospital program, ACT team and personality disorder unit
- exposure to transcranial magnetic stimulation and virtual reality treatment
- Fellowships in Child Psych (joint with Columbia), Psychiatry and Law (joint with Columbia), Geriatrics, Psychosomatic and Psycho-oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering

8. Potential Weaknesses:
-
NEW program director could also be a pro vs con. I must say Dr. Penzner was very enthusiastic and more approachable and friendly than the previous PD, Dr. Auchincloss who is now the vice chair of education.
- residents seemed distant, bit unfriendly (especially the chiefs) and not exposed to many during the day
- didn't really see much of the hospital or psych section as we weren't taken to the inpatient unit and obviously couldn't see the other major site of training, Westchester unless you come back for second look
- no VA exposure
- no real county hospital exposure
- Westchester Hospital, free standing Psych hospital is about 30-45 min drive from Cornell but told shuttle takes residents there so don't need a car. Also sounded like this hospital caters to more affluent people.
- competition and multitude of other programs in the city makes you wonder how much exposure do you really get in terms of patients and psychopathology
- super expensive city to live in
- wish the actual interview day was more cohesive and organized in a logical manner with more resident exposure, possible exposure to Westchester division (MGH does a 2 day interview, maybe do something similar?), lunch in a less formal atmosphere as Faculty Club was difficult to talk to residents, program overview was done toward end of day would appreciate it at the start and if it is to start with chief residents have some structure or friendlier residents to present. Also did not see the point in touring a very small library wherein I would have appreciated actually seeing the inpatient psych unit, which we did not.

9. Tips:
- day starts at 8AM and ends at 5PM
- try not to land during rush hour as traffic is insane.
- for long distance taxi or cab drives make sure you ask the cab driver if its a flat fee or not, because if you get stuck in traffic and its not a flat fee then the meter keeps adding up. I would recommend against a rental as parking is scarce in the city and if you park at a hotel it will cost you at least 50 dollars a night for valet.
- try to schedule your interview around the dates the residents have a party that way you can meet them as not every week has a party scheduled
 
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University of Washington Seattle

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Day starts around 8AM and ends around 4PM. Day starts out with a program overview with the program director, Dr. Cowley, however she is leaving and there will be a new program director, Dr. Murray taking over. We met them both during the day but honestly, I got a very cold, negative vibe from both of them. Not sure if this is what they call the Seattle Freeze, but I just did not feel comfortable and would question myself coming to them if I needed support. This is odd and a juxtaposition to the raves I heard about Dr. Cowley and on these forums. Also, the Chair spoke with us briefly too, who seemed very nice but from my understanding he is new and in the position for about a year now, I think they recruited him last year.

Too bad you had that experience with Dr Cowley. She is a peach. She is warm, empathetic, and takes a genuine interest in all of her residents. Dr Murray was a hire from within and they could not have picked a better person to succeed Dr Cowley.

Dr Unutzer is a new chair but he has been a UW lifer so there should not be any issues with him knowing the department. He has an expansive vision for where he wants the department to be, and he was a natural choice to succeed Dr Veith.

There is no Seattle Freeze, at least not at UW Psych.
 
California Pacific Medical Center CPMC in San Francisco

1. Ease Of Communication: Easy to schedule interview. Program coordinator once confirms interview sends an ERAS email that details the time and location of interview day. However, did not receive a reminder email a week prior to the interview which was surprising. However, the day of the interview was very organized and the program coordinator was in fact the nicest I have met on the interview trail.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. Parking paid for if you are driving in a parking structure for the hospital a block away. Lunch at a cute restaurant in Pacific Heights area, usually resident just picks a place. Sadly no pre or post interview dinner with residents and no lunch conference to meet residents so even though its a small program, I do wish there was more exposure to residents. I was surprised actually that there was no dinner prior to the interview given I kept hearing how much of a family the program is.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Given that this is a very small program, there maybe 1-2 other applicants on your interview day. Day begins at 9AM and ends at 430PM. No breakfast provided so eat before if you get hungry. Day starts with a welcome with the program coordinator and then a 30 minute overview of the program with the program director who is also the chair, Dr. Newman. Dr. Newman is the new PD this year and he used to the be PD at Georgetown. The previous PD at Cal Pacific retired and it was a very well thought out process in picking his successor and so its been a smooth transition. Dr. Newman is trained in Forensics. Very kind and approachable and is very enthusiastic about being the new PD and about the new programs and curriculum he has implemented and will be implementing in the future. After the overview, we had 2 interviews each 30 minutes each, one with a PGY4. Then we went to Grand Rounds which was a great lecture by a guest speaker and all the faculty and residents, including people from the Clinical Psychology Program showed up. We then had lunch in the Pacific Heights neighborhood which the hospital is situated in at a cute eatery with a couple residents who were very friendly and were happy with the program. Had a brief tour of the hospital, and then had 2 more interviews that were 30 minutes each, including one with the program director. So total 4 interviews for the day each 30 mins each. Dr. Newman then had a quick wrap up session with us and to answer any follow up questions. Day ended around 430PM.

4. Program Overview: PGY1 year includes 6 months of inpatient psychiatry of which 1/3 of this time is spent in the psych ER. There is then 2 months of neuro, one at CPMC which is more stroke focus and the other month is at an offsite hospital called Alameda County in Oakland which is outpatient based, very busy hospital, one of the busiest ERs in the nation and very underserved population. 2 months then of inpatient medicine at CPMC, one month of primary care outpatient medicine at the SF Free Clinic, and 1 month of adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital of Oakland (now part of UCSF). PGY2 year has 3 months of C/L at CPMC, 6 months of inpatient psych at CPMC, and 3 months which includes inpatient child psych at an offsite location called Willow Rock and the onsite child outpatient site at CPMC which is the child development center, and also exposure to neuropsychiatry. PGY3 is outpatient 12 months at CPMC. PGY4 year, Dr. Newman said he wants to incorporate exposure and weekly rotations in addiction, forensics/tele medicine at San Quentin Prison, and ACT team. Program is also very much driven by EPIC and utilized for data and assessments of faculty. Dr. Newman also stated they had just recruited someone from Harvard who specializes in dementia and geriatrics. CPMC is actually building a new hospital in the heart of the city which will be built by 2020. CPMC has a total of 4 sites in SF, Pacific, California, Davies, and St. Luke. I was unclear if we get to go to these different sites.

5. Location & Lifestyle: San Francisco is a beautiful city, very diverse communities, and if you are a foodie, you will be in heaven. However, it is one of the most expensive cities to live in as well. You don't really need a car which is great as the public transportation system from BART (subway) to MUNI is great.

6. Salary & Benefits: PGY1-4- 55-66,000

7. Program Strengths:
- New program director, chosen by previous PD who retired and thus its been a smooth transition. Dr. Newman who was the previous PD at Georgetown and who has already implemented positive changes to the program. He has a lot of wonderful ideas that he is in the middle of implementing like more exposure to Forensics given that is his expertise and training, particularly at San Quentin Prison nearby.
- very cohesive, family feel to the program given its small size
- very diverse patient population given San Francisco
- intern year rotation at SF Free Clinic
- strong training in psychotherapy given the close supervision and also there being a Clinical Psychology program at the hospital
- new super large hospital being built in the heart of the city by 2020
- EPIC driven (electronic medical records)
- Institute for Health and Healing- not clear what residents exposure is here, but seems like for outpatients there is opportunity for meditation, massage, psychotherapy

8. Potential Weaknesses:
-
Program director is also the Chair, no separate position or people for the two positions. Not sure if that is a pro or con.
- no VA exposure
- no technical county or university style hospital exposure, but this academic community hospital could be seen as a combination of the two
- small program, only 4 residents a class, and so coverage may be an issue if needed
- sadly their faculty who did DBT passed away and they are in the process of hiring a new faculty member in that arena
- no inpatient child psych exposure at CPMC itself, they have a rotation off site
- small number of faculty so may be difficult if you have a very specific interest, especially in research
- very expensive city to live in, lack of parking too, but public transportation one of the best in the country
- wish we had met more residents, highly recommend for the program to have a pre-interview dinner, sadly there was none.
- no psychiatry fellowships

9. Tips:
-
Day begins at 9AM and ends at 430PM
- eat a snack or breakfast in morning as none is provided morning of interview
- make sure you give yourself over an hour to get to hospital if you are having to cross the Bay Bridge from Oakland or Berkeley and make sure you have cash/change since it costs 6 dollars in the morning to cross toward SF. Lots of traffic at the toll pay area. Also be careful as I believe the carpool lane in the mornings is 3+ people instead of 2.
- for out of state folks, know that you can fly into either SFO in San Francisco or Oakland Airport, one might be cheaper for you
- If you park in the hospital parking structure, the program coordinator will give you a validated yellow ticket. Make sure you take that to the pay station on the first floor of parking to get your parking ticket validated before going to your car as there usually isn't someone at the exit booth.
 
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Too bad you had that experience with Dr Cowley. She is a peach. She is warm, empathetic, and takes a genuine interest in all of her residents. Dr Murray was a hire from within and they could not have picked a better person to succeed Dr Cowley.

Dr Unutzer is a new chair but he has been a UW lifer so there should not be any issues with him knowing the department. He has an expansive vision for where he wants the department to be, and he was a natural choice to succeed Dr Veith.

There is no Seattle Freeze, at least not at UW Psych.

Thank you for posting a reply. I would have loved to have heard this example of the PDs and Chair and makes me feel better that they are supportive and warm faculty as I did hear wonderful things in reading the posts on SDN, however during my interview day I just did not get that reception. Sadly, its so hard to judge with just one day of exposure to a program. Glad to get resident perspective on here about the program. Thank you for posting.
 
University of Colorado

1. Ease Of Communication: Thought the mode of communication was really a nuisance that the program coordinator only communicated via ERAS, not by phone or email. Moreover, I felt that she was very slow in replying back to messages. Also, the program gave out more invites that spots and so it was a bit of a free for all for those who were placed on a wait-list. My friend who interviewed as well told me that an ERAS message was sent to all on a wait-list and whoever responded first got the spot. Seems a bit disorganized and a free for all. Otherwise beyond this initial part, we actually were sent a very organized interview day schedule including names of who would be interviewing us prior to the interview which was really nice.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Snacks and drinks were provided the morning of interview. No accommodations provided. In the morning, we were all given this very expansive menu of options for lunch and it was ordered for us and prepared and waiting in the cafeteria when we arrived for lunch. That was very nice, delicious food too. There was also an interview dinner closer to Downtown Denver which had a good number of residents show up, and it actually included applicants from two days of interviews.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Day begins at 845AM and ends at around 4PM. Prior to the overview starting, the Chair, Dr. Freedman came and casually sat with the applicants and got to meet us briefly, but he didn't talk about the program at all, which was odd. We had a welcome and powerpoint overview with the program director, Dr. Giese for about 30 minutes. I had read on these forums that she seems distant and cold, and some people who interviewed with her said the same that day, but I only met her during this brief overview period and she seemed sociable but very business oriented, bit serious. Would not characterize her as warm but I also wouldn't say she is super distant and cold, just serious. After this overview, we had 3 interviews, each 25 minutes long, with one being a resident. I thought the interviews were casual and kind, except I felt my resident interviewer was a bit apathetic and disinterested in the whole process. We then went to the cafeteria which was super nice where our food was already waiting for us as we had ordered it in the morning, with our names labeled on the box. Sadly though this was an opportunity at lunch to meet with residents but only 3 residents showed up, which were the same 3 residents who had interviewed us. Unfortunately, I did not get much out of the lunch session, and also it was set in a busy cafeteria which was super loud so could barely interact and listen to each other. After lunch we took a van to tour Denver Health which is the County hospital. We sadly did not tour the nice University or Children's Hospital which was in the same location as the Psych admin building given that there are no inpatient services at the University Hospital. Denver Health was repeatedly stated that the faculty and people who work here are very passionate about caring for the undeserved and it was actually a very nice hospital. We toured the designated Psych ER at Denver Health, which was very nice, had a big center room where nurses and doctors were and told that they also do a lot of medicine here too to clear patients. We also toured the inpatient Child Psych unit at Denver Health, which had a great basketball court for kids too. After our tour we had one more interview for 25 mins, this came to a total of 4 interviews for the entire day 25 minutes each. We then returned back to the university campus and day ended around 4PM.

4. Program Overview:
PGY1 includes 4 month of medicine and 2 months neuro but can do Pediatrics and peds neuro instead given that there is a child interest track. 6 months of psych includes 1 month nightfloat at Denver health, two months inpt at Denver Health, 3 months inpatient psych at VA, and you also have a weekly outpatient clinic at either Denver health or VA. PGY2 includes 2-4 months of C/L could be at any of the three hospitals, note C/L only psych services done at the University hospital as there is no inpatient psych at University hospital. 1 month of night float at VA, 3-5 months of inpatient psych at Denver health and VA and 2-4 months of electives which could be child, addiction, residential PTSD, C/L, forensic, research. PGY2 also get weekly supervision in your psychotherapy continuity clinic. PGY3 is outpatient, and of note supervisors dont see their own patients, they only supervise you while there. Electives that are established range from HIV to tele-psych to mind-body group therapy to DBT to integrated primary care to child, women's health and more. PGY4 more outpatient and electives. Call system of note pgy4 and pgy1 have a buddy system at beginning for transitioning which is nice, no overnight call in PGY3 with avg 1 call a month, same as pgy4. PGY2 call is a month of nightfloat with avg 1-2 calls a month, and pgy1 on psych theres a month of nightfloat and 2-3 calls per month in house 12 hours only. For those interested in research there is a integrated research track with dedicated time. Other tracks include child interest track, psychotherapy scholars track, and career program track (where you do a service year in the community between your pgy3 and 4 year and are paid a stipend). Of note, the program also has strong collaboration with Mental Health Center of Denver which has multitude of clinics in the community and serves a more undeserved population and rotations and electives are possible.

5. Location & Lifestyle:
Denver is a nice city, from hipster areas to more suburb looking places. I was surprised by actually how old the city looked with lots of old mansions around. The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains and weather is told is always sunny even if its cold. Nearby you also have a great city as Boulder (45 mins away) too. The city is also very affordable and we noticed lots of new apartment buildings being built everywhere. Great city too if you are a foodie and good music scene too. Lot of flannel wearing hipsters too :) Denver has amazing outdoor activities too.

6. Salary & Benefits:
PGY1-4 - 51-58,000.

7. Program Strengths:

-Chair seemed friendly though I wish I heard from him about the strengths and what is up and coming. Dr. Freedman is also the editor in chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry and a schizophrenia researcher and has been chair for more than 10 years.
- lots of funding for research, and VA ranks highly in mental health research, also strength in addiction research, developmental psychobiology and schizophrenia
- infant mental health program
- eating disorders program and exposure
- rehab center called cedar which is for addiction rehab, geared more toward more affluent population though
- variety of training sites from University Hospital, Children's (a leader in Peds in US), VA (6 miles from main campus), and county Denver Health ( 10 miles from main campus). New VA to be built at the university campus.
- Super nice new facilities too
- Free parking at every site
- strong exposure to community and underserved psych through Mental Health Center of Denver
- designated tracks in child psych, psychotherapy and public psych/career psych
- strong child psych program and exposure including inpatient, outpatient, C/L and eating disorders
- Fellowships in Child Psych (very strong program), Addiction, Forensic, Neuropsychiatry, and Psychosomatic

8. Potential Weaknesses:
-
did not meet as many residents as had hoped. Dinner time a good number showed up but they weren't as personable as I had hoped. The 3 different residents who interviewed us were the only ones to show up for our lunch which was set in a loud cafeteria.
- Program director, Dr. Giese is not as warm and friendly as you would hope for in a program director
- No inpatient psychiatry services at University Hospital (only a C/L service)
- need car to travel among different sites
- Denver seemed a bit old to me, Boulder is nicer
- unclear if there is an actual resident support or process group as not mentioned or on website either

9. Tips:
- day begins around 845AM and ends around 4PM
- parking at the hospital was 5 dollars for the whole day, the program does not provide parking, however given directions on which lots to park in. The parking lots are facing the back of the building, so FYI when enter the psych building note this as it was not mentioned and some applicants couldn't find their way.
- try to schedule on an interview day as a Friday so that you can go to the pre-interview dinner on Thursday evening. The Thursday interview day applicants came to the Thursday evening dinner too, but I know some people have to catch a flight usually after an interview
- note airport in Denver is about 15 miles from the medical campus, about 20 mins away, pretty huge airport. Make sure you have time once you get there because you have to take these fast trams once you have passed security to get to your gate.
 
I will add my 2 cents on UW to correct some of the strengths/weaknesses above

pros
- THE place for consultation liaison psychiatry, collaborative care, primary care psychiatry

This is the part I don't get about these threads here. People who are in the programs saying that their program is the best for something. Why? Because you go to that program and you are planning on doing a fellowship in that field? How would you know anyway? How do you compare?

My impression of UW-Seattle from my interview there and talking to people is that the program is decent at a lot of things, but not fantastic at anything. The medical school is competitive to get in, but not the psychiatry program, regularly having to take IMGs (not saying that IMGs don't make good residents; they do - I'm just referring to the competitiveness of the program). As mentioned before, the new PD is also a concern, but not a very big concern in my book as the new PD seems quite nice and capable from my brief interactions.
 
This is the part I don't get about these threads here. People who are in the programs saying that their program is the best for something. Why? Because you go to that program and you are planning on doing a fellowship in that field? How would you know anyway? How do you compare?
Good point. You're probably right in taking a heaping grain of salt when folks say this program is #1 in this and #2 in that and #3 in that. There are no rankings, so advertisement of rankings (particularly in things like specific psychotherapy modalities or practice environments) should be viewed with suspicion.

You can say programs are weak, okay, strong, and potentially national leaders in modalities, approaches, and environments. And even with categories like that you'll get debate (anyone with a strong department will consider themselves national leaders and anyone weak in something will consider themselves okay). But there are no rankings of #1, #2, and #3 in anything, so it's just personal viewpoint, not to be seen as a real thing.
 
Good point. You're probably right in taking a heaping grain of salt when folks say this program is #1 in this and #2 in that and #3 in that. There are no rankings, so advertisement of rankings (particularly in things like specific psychotherapy modalities or practice environments) should be viewed with suspicion.
.
edited duly
 
The medical school is competitive to get in, but not the psychiatry program, regularly having to take IMGs (not saying that IMGs don't make good residents; they do - I'm just referring to the competitiveness of the program). As mentioned before, the new PD is also a concern, but not a very big concern in my book as the new PD seems quite nice and capable from my brief interactions.

Oh those poor programs that are so hard up they "have" to take IMGs. are you for real? of course there are some programs that are IMG sweatshops but the top programs have exceptional IMGs that they choose to rank above US seniors. If you want to avoid programs that have any IMGs in the past 6 year or so you would probably have to avoid MGH, Columbia, Cornell, UCSF (not sure about this one but they certainly had one IMG a few years ago), UCLA, UCSF, Yale, WPIC and Penn too. UW has 3 IMGs out of 66 residents (and there are none in the PGY-1/2 classes). They were so hard up they had to take these poor IMGs with their additional experience in psychiatry, long lists of publications, numerous awards and strong board scores. When in the program these residents outperform their AMG colleagues, and/or get heavily involved in research, teaching, leadership roles, win numerous national awards, and score in the 99th percentile on the PRITE. I feel really bad for them.

If most of the residents at a program are IMGs (or don't seem to be able to speak English), that is likely a sign that the program cannot recruit strong US students, but if there are a few, at a strong academic program, these are likely residents who would wipe the floor with their US counterparts, precisely because there is a bias against IMGs. American Psychiatry would be all the poorer for not having IMGs. Rest assured, attitudes like yours make some programs think twice about taking IMGs so you probably won't have to "slum it" with those dirty foreigners.
 
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thanks for the great reviews, very thorough although there errors in all of them that people will hopefully correct. hopefully others will be encouraged to post reviews too. I will add my 2 cents on UW to correct some of the strengths/weaknesses above

pros
- THE place for consultation liaison psychiatry, collaborative care, primary care psychiatry
- strong in addictions, geriatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, community psychiatry, health services research, mental health policy, epidemiology, global mental health -fellowships in palliative care, sleep, and pain also psych resident friendly in addition to standard (and these are elective opportunities for residents too)
- incredible flexibility to do what you want, can't think of anywhere else with as much flexibility except maybe yale
- you can have lots of time off for educational leave
- residents good at getting awards, leadership positions, scholarships: including APA Minority Fellowship, APA public psychiatry fellowship, NIMH outstanding resident of the year (only one of 3 programs to have a resident win the past 3 years), AADPRT IMG Fellowship, BRAIN conference scholarship, PRITE Fellowship, APM scholarship, AAGP scholarship, American Psychoanalytic Association Fellowship...APA member in training trustee (two consecutive years) ...you get the picture
- you can have elective time from PGY-1 including ability to do WWAMI electives and international electives, teaching electives, opportunitity to teach undergrads at UW, ridiculous amount of electives at a bunch of sites include in prisons, state hospital, several community mental health clinics, and tons of selectives for requirements (e.g. for child can do inpatient, outpatient, consults, juvenile justice, state hospital)
- strong 1:1 supervision including in psychodynamic therapy, CBT, DBT, integrative therapy, hypnosis
-probably best DBT training in the country
- one of the strongest CBT trainings
- good mix of destinations for graduates (fellowships, research fellowship, clinician/educator, research track faculty, private practice, psychoanalysis)
- volunteer faculty will meet with you and mentor you for setting up private practice, talk about how much they earn, how to establish practice including cash, insurance, med mx, psychotherapy only practice etc
- new chair will revitalize department, expand portfolio, get new money to hire new faculty
- program directors very supportive - bend over backward to accommodate resident interests/life crises/schedules
- excellent patient diversity from very wealthy pts, college students, senior faculty, professionals, medically complex transplant and oncology pts, to homeless, indigent, refugee/asylum seeker populations, lots of cultural diversity, lots of sexual minorities, to standard VA population. Also great case mix including weird and wonderful pathology like Capgras syndrome, Ganser syndrome, catatonia, delirious mania, De Clerembault syndrome, dissociative identity disorder (whether you believe in it), weird neuropsych cases, autoimmune limbic encephalitis etc

cons
- no forensics fellowship
- no first episode psychosis or psychosis prodrome program
- uw outpatient clinic is fairly small for such a major academic center. most of the o/p mental health services are at harborview
-peds is brutal - residents often go over 90hrs a week. but its optional anyway and good if you really really love peds
- neuro inpatient - the neuro program is malignant. however inpt neuro is also optional. you can do peds neuro, neuro rads neuropsych, outpatient neuro which are all much more useful and highly rated (and more chill)
-faculty can't do private practice, no tenure track, and pay is meh. as a result there has been some attrition and some of the senior faculty have retired. on the plus side it means faculty are always available because they dont all disappear into private practice in the afternoon unlike some programs that shall remain nameless
- there might be a little too much hand holding PGY-1 (lots more autonomy from PGY-2 onwards but attendings available for support)
- it is hard to find good patients for expressive psychotherapy (but this is true pretty much everywhere outside of NYC and Boston and even those programs have a hard time because who comes to a resident clinic?)
- the didactics are often straight lecture rather than drawing on adult learning theory. the psychodynamic seminar, CBT, motivational interviewing and psychopharm didactics are excellent however
- funding for alaska electives is going as they are developing their own residency program. likewise montana also developing their own residency
- people in seattle are passive aggressive


Dear Splik,

Thank you very much for posting your personal insight and perspective for UW given that you are a resident there. We as applicants greatly appreciate this since we sadly only get a half a day on interview day.

However...
1. I do not appreciate you stating that my impressions and reviews of the programs "have errors in all of them." I actually spent many hours typing my impressions out, taking information from the folders and presentations and notes we were given regarding each program's curriculum and with speaking with faculty. I took thorough notes on each program at my interviews and I actually have two other friends who I have been comparing notes with.

You actually messaged me privately to offer your insight into the program and you even mentioned that when you first met Dr. Cowley you did not get a warm feeling either, however she has shown she is a great PD who truly cares about her residents. I even told you you should post this on the forum since we do not get a full representation on interview day.

2. My reviews of each program have positives and things to improve on all of them. No program is perfect.

3. These reviews are after all "impressions" and they are subjective and individual. Every single person on this forum has a right to his or her own perception of what was represented on interview day. I sadly did not get a warm feeling from the residents or program directors at UW, however I did not bash the program or state any errors in my reviews. I even compared my notes with my two other friends who interviewed there and they shared the same opinions. However, there will be people who interview who will have different views based on what they see that half day. I actually have listed multiple positive things about UW and I think its a great program and I think it would have been represented more so if more residents like yourself showed up to the interview dinner to give us your very thorough and kind perspective of the program. I would have greatly appreciate it for sure. Perhaps, one thing that you could bring up to the program would be more time with residents. I think all of these programs should allow applicants to benefit from more time with residents to get a good broad perspective from all years. I think UW is a great program and training there would make you a brilliant Psychiatrist, as I feel training at most programs will. Its more about the fit and if you felt at home.

4. I hope that my reviews are helpful in the end as I also added my own Tips part which I personally would have found useful for traveling, parking, and other useful tips when attending these interviews.

5. Regardless, we are all future colleagues here and I respect everyone on here and I cannot wait to join this wonderful field. I will be posting more reviews soon as the 7 I posted took my entire day off from wards to do. These forums have given me a lot of insight and perspective but again I think every post on here should be taken with a grain of salt and realize its all subjective and if you truly want to know what a program is like you need to go experience it yourself. After all, only each of us can make the decision whether a program is the right fit for him or her.
 
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I didn't mean to offend you I think your reviews are great and very detailed and it's good you're posting them. You obviously put a lot of time into them. I am not talking about your impressions they are your own but there ARE factual errors/omissions which is understandable given how many interviews you have gone on. I didn't have time to mention them

For example you mention all these UTSW fellowships but not forensics. You said dr heckers was the new chair at candy but he's actually been there a while but was also PD contemporaneously. You said Cornell had strong CBT training but they best know for heavy psychodynamically oriented training. You said dr. Cowley was leaving UW when she is staying on as vice chair of education and that dr unutzer was a new hire but he was vice chair for years before becoming chair. These are factual errors/omissions. I would never criticize anyone for posting their impressions or negative reviews as I am very opinionated myself and very much encourage this kind of discussion. I apologize if my phrasing have you wrong idea or made it sound like your impressions aren't appreciated - they very much are.

No worries Splik. I am not offended honestly and appreciate your insight.
 
I didn't mean to offend you I think your reviews are great and very detailed and it's good you're posting them. You obviously put a lot of time into them. I am not talking about your impressions they are your own but there ARE factual errors/omissions which is understandable given how many interviews you have gone on. I didn't have time to mention them

For example you mention all these UTSW fellowships but not forensics. You said dr heckers was the new chair at candy but he's actually been there a while but was also PD contemporaneously. You said Cornell had strong CBT training but they best know for heavy psychodynamically oriented training. You said dr. Cowley was leaving UW when she is staying on as vice chair of education and that dr unutzer was a new hire but he was vice chair for years before becoming chair. These are factual errors/omissions. I would never criticize anyone for posting their impressions or negative reviews as I am very opinionated myself and very much encourage this kind of discussion. I apologize if my phrasing have you wrong idea or made it sound like your impressions aren't appreciated - they very much are.


Just FYI I corrected the things you mentioned above in my reviews. Thanks
 
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They were so hard up they had to take these poor IMGs with their additional experience in psychiatry, long lists of publications, numerous awards and strong board scores.

I have a long list of publication, numerous awards and strong board scores too. Why is additional experience in psychiatry an asset in a residency program that is supposed to train you in psychiatry? If anything, you'd be older and considered "less trainable"?

Anyway, I clearly touched a nerve there. Are you by any chance an IMG yourself? I also said that I don't think IMGs perform any worse than AMGs in residency. But if you think a top program would prefer IMGs with an unknown quality of training over AMGs with equivalent qualifications, you must either be dreaming or in denial.

When in the program these residents outperform their AMG colleagues, and/or get heavily involved in research, teaching, leadership roles, win numerous national awards, and score in the 99th percentile on the PRITE.

Okay.
 
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Anonymous Review: Tufts

1. Ease Of Communication: Good communication via email. Only program I interviewed at that never bothered with eras messaging.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Snacks and drinks were provided the morning of interview. No accommodations provided. Lunch was gourmet sandwiches-best lunch I’ve had on the interview trail. There was also an interview dinner in a function room of a current residents’ nearby building with 6ish residents for 12 applicants.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Interviews were in 2 shifts, one starting at 745 and another at 1045. 745 start ended at 2. Interviews with PD were 10-15 min. I also interviewed with one of the chiefs, a fellow and faculty member and each of these interviews was 30 min and all within one hallway. PD seemed genuine and warm and very invested in residents. Numerous residents described him as very supportive both personally and professionally. Didn’t meet chair since he is current APA president and traveling for this role. Interviews were mostly low stress with standard questions. The faculty member I interviewed with was a bit arrogant but ok overall. Tour of facilities was pretty standard and day ended with a 1 hour psychodynamic case conference (for morning group, pm group had interviews after).

4. Program Overview:
See website for specifics. PGY1 includes 4 month of medicine and 2 months neuro but can do Pediatrics and peds neuro at floating childrens hospital instead given that they have a C+A fellowship. One month of Medicine at Shattuck, a prison hospital which residents said had a lot of interesting pathology. Peds is at Floating Hospital which is a free standing children’s hospital on site. Inpatient c+a at Metrowest in Framingham. You do one month of medicine on a consult service which residents really liked. psych includes rotations at tewskbury, a long term site as well as forensics. Most residents don’t have cars. No night float and call system is long call (until 8 I think) and overnight so residents get a lot of weekends off since most calls are long v overnight. PGY2 also get weekly supervision in psychotherapy. Tufts is very psychodynamically oriented with a lot of dynamic and analysts on faculty and less psychopharm than some other places I saw. They are next to the financial district and get a lot more high functioning intelligent types coming for lunch time therapy than other academic programs. They are also next to Chinatown so they see a large Asian population. Facilities are older in hospital. Medical school on site is nice and new. Residents have good social work and case management support and aren’t scutted out with PD stepping in to protect residents when needed. Many of the current residents are DOs and several applicants were IMGs.

5. Location & Lifestyle:
Boston is a great place to live but higher cost of living than some other cities. Residents don’t need cars. A lot of residents are married with kids.

6. Salary & Benefits
See website for salary and vacation info which was pretty standard as is vacation which you can schedule. Of note, many of the female residents have kids and they are given 8-12 weeks off with good support from PD.

7. Program Strengths:

-Chair seemed friendly, well-established and supportive of residents.
-Good child exposure with free standing childrens hospital and inpatient c+a rotation
- Tewsbury site provides access to long term patients.
-Good long term psychodynamics with supervision and diverse patient population
- variety of training sites
- strong exposure to community and underserved psych through nearby Chinatown and bus station
- strong child psych program
- Fellowships in Child Psych
-residents seemed happy, not overworked
-no need for a car
-Boston is a great place to live
-smaller medical center (6-700 residents total) means they get to know residents from other specialties.
-Every resident has to complete QI project
-Residents have diverse interests and destinations (around half do fellowships and many of those stay at Tufts for Child.
-Good social work and case management
-Residents have access to moonlighting but not in house. Several residents I spoke with did this.

8. Potential Weaknesses:
-Older facilities
-smaller medical center
-Very dynamic, less emphasis on CBT and other therapeutic modalities (still meets requirements). IPT and DBT are taught but I didn’t get the impression that residents has experience using these.
-Less emphasis than some other programs on psychopharmacology. Residents I met said that they did have exposure using TCAs, MAOIs, ECT.
-Small faculty (12 full time)
-Not a lot of research within psychiatry. 1-2 psych researchers but can collaborate with people in pharmacology, medicine or nutrition if really motivated.
-Boston is expensive

9. Tips:
- Give yourself plenty of time if driving, Boston traffic is intense. I recommend public transportation if possible.
 
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But if you think a top program would prefer IMGs with an unknown quality of training over AMGs with equivalent qualifications, you must either be dreaming or in denial.

Well thats not really a reasonable way to frame the argument. IMG's end up at top programs because they stand out as being excellent candidates. As such, having IMG's in a program is not a metric for the programs competitiveness, which is something you cited as a reason to consider UW as being less competitive.
 
Agreed related to IMGs, its pretty basic economics. If a firm discriminates against any population they will be missing out on some percentage of the most productive employees. Its part of the reason so many big companies are trying to hire more diversely. Its not just a moral problem they are trying to correct, they have realized your shooting yourself in the foot if you artificially constrain your talent search to certain populations.
 
Why did you delete your post splik? You speaking in such absolutes was interesting to say the least.

Anyway, here's my reply:

None of the schools you'd mentioned, except two, report their trainees statistics to FREIDA. Here are the statistics from two that do:

UW-Seattle:
%US .. %IMG .. %DO .. %F .. %M
90.8 --- 5.8 ---- 3.3 -- 60.1 - 39.8

Brigham/Harvard:
%US .. %IMG .. %DO .. %F .. % M
99.4 ---- 0.0 --- 0.0 --- 62.6 - 37.3

If there are many IMGs who outqualify AMGs, why aren't the percentages consistent between the two schools? Are you saying there are IMGs who are able to outqualify AMGs who qualify for selection at UW but not outqualify AMGs who qualify for selection at Harvard? If so, does that not automatically tell you about the relative competitiveness of the two programs? (Also, this is not to ding exceptional grads who want to stay in either program for geographical regions; I'm assuming the two numbers cancel each other out here.)

And, for the third time, I never said IMGs aren't as good as AMGs. All I'm saying is that IMGs being able to outqualify AMGs at a program is indicative of the quality of AMGs the program is able to attract, because all else being equal, a program will pick the known quantity over the unknown 10 times out of 10.
 
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I deleted my post as I don't see the point in getting into an argument about this. you can have a look at the websites of the programs I mentioned and they probably list the residents and where they went to med school.

Okay, I did one: http://columbiapsychiatry.org/residency/current_residents

1 out of 47 had gone to a foreign medical school. That's much lower than the number you'd mentioned on that deleted post. Not to mention that this person has two years of research experience at Mount Sinai, four years of research experience at Columbia University, and a resume that is many times better than that of the average top-tier IMG applicant.
 
Stay on target, folks. Create your own masturbatory thread.
 
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Freud was an IMG +pity+
 
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Vanderbilt University

VANDERBILT
8. Potential Weaknesses:

- NEW program director, Dr. Cowan who was not too enthusiastic
- assistant program director, Dr. Fleisch who seemed a bit aggressive
- wish more time spent with one of the program directors as only given 15 minutes with each
- no inpatient or much exposure at the VA (only do inpatient medicine at VA, no inpatient Psych services)
- intern year described as "easy" guess could be positive or negative
- not a super diverse patient population (although lots of rural health seen, addiction, conversion disorder)

Hi,

Vandy resident here. Just wanted to clarify some of the above posters comments. Dr. Fleisch was single-handedly the best recruit of Dr. Heckers in all of my years as a resident here. She is the least aggressive and most approachable person I know, so this post actually made me laugh. Her passion is treating the underserved and homeless populations, and she has developed a whole curriculum in not only in psychiatry but also in the medical center addressing the psychiatric needs in the homeless. She is a resident advocate, mentor, and incredible teacher. The residents love her, so I'm not exactly sure what happened in your interview. We also really like Dr. Cowan! He has a dry sense of humor and perhaps that came across as lack of enthusiasm but he is quite excited about his new role. He was med student clerkship director for 3 yrs prior and has several years in administration. He has already helped us in many ways and even invited us over to his house for tacos! Both Drs. Cowan and Fleisch are really great, and we are pretty happy that they are the leaders in the training office.

About 1/2 of 3rd year is at the VA, but it is in the outpatient setting, not the inpatient setting. There are several inpatient psych services at the VA, but we don't have any mandatory psychiatry rotations there. If you want to do an elective at the VA, you can do this in your PGY-4 year or during your 1/2 day elective in PGY-3 year.

I wouldn't say intern year is easy. :) Fortunately, we have multiple levels of support while on call, etc. Our residents really do enjoy training here and are happy.

We actually are a tertiary care referral center and see the most complex patients across the state of TN. I suppose it depends on what kind of diversity you are talking about, but the pathology is pretty remarkable.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify the above. Feel free to let me know if there are any questions.

Thanks!
 
Hi,

I messed up the above posting, but I was trying to comment on one of the Vanderbilt posters comments. I will try again.
Dr. Fleisch was single-handedly the best recruit of Dr. Heckers in all of my years as a resident here. She is the least aggressive and most approachable person I know, so this post actually made me laugh. Her passion is treating the underserved and homeless populations, and she has developed a whole curriculum in not only in psychiatry but also in the medical center addressing the psychiatric needs in the homeless. She is a resident advocate, mentor, and incredible teacher. The residents love her, so I'm not exactly sure what happened in your interview. We also really like Dr. Cowan! He has a dry sense of humor and perhaps that came across as lack of enthusiasm but he is quite excited about his new role. He was med student clerkship director for 3 yrs prior and has several years in administration. He has already helped us in many ways and even invited us over to his house for tacos! Both Drs. Cowan and Fleisch are really great, and we are pretty happy that they are the leaders in the training office.

About 1/2 of 3rd year is at the VA, but it is in the outpatient setting, not the inpatient setting. There are several inpatient psych services at the VA, but we don't have any mandatory psychiatry rotations there. If you want to do an elective at the VA, you can do this in your PGY-4 year or during your 1/2 day elective in PGY-3 year.

I wouldn't say intern year is easy. :) Fortunately, we have multiple levels of support while on call, etc. Our residents really do enjoy training here and are happy.

We actually are a tertiary care referral center and see the most complex patients across the state of TN. I suppose it depends on what kind of diversity you are talking about, but the pathology is pretty remarkable.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify the above. Feel free to let me know if there are any questions.

Thanks!
 
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USC UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTY KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

1. Ease Of Communication:
Program coordinator was very organized and emailed us a confirmation of our interview day and she also sent us an email a week prior with information on time, where to park and the general organization of the day. We were not given a full detailed schedule with our interviewer names until the day of the interview.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided. Pre-interview dinner was in Downtown LA from 6-8PM at an Italian restaurant and since USC has few interview dates in total, they interview about 20 applicants on each date. I believe they have a total of 4 or 5 interview dates. So we had a good number of applicants there but it was truly matched by the number of residents there, literally from all years of training, including the chief. I would say there was at least 10- 15 residents there and probably 10-15 applicants who made the dinner. What I really loved was that every 20-30 mins, the residents all switched seats so that they could talk to as many applicants as possible. Everyone was incredibly friend, fun, full of personality, and they seemed sincerely happy in the program. This has probably so far been the best interview dinner I have been to with a large number of residents showing up and really making an effort to talk to all applicants. Parking was also validated at the restaurant if you drove there.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Day begins at 830AM and ends at 330PM. We meet in the Psychiatry building which is close to the University hospital. Since we were a group of 20 applicants, we met in a large conference room. The program director, Dr. Lagomasino, the Chair, Dr. Pato and the two associate program directors and the Vice Chair of Education were all there in the morning. We each went around and introduced ourselves and our interests and then each of the main faculty there introduced themselves and spoke about the strengths of the program. I was quite impressed that all of them showed up to speak about the program. They then showed us a 2 minute youtube video which had pictures about working at USC, which was neat. Then each of these faculty members went through our spiral bound pamphlet we got regarding the program, speaking of the curriculum, research, strengths, rotations. After this orientation we were split into 2 groups of 10 applicants. Half of us did interviews, the other half went on tour. There are a total of 4 interviews, each 30 minutes long, each person had one of the program directors, one of the chairs (Dr. Pato and his wife M. Pato), another faculty member, and a resident interview. Each of the interviews were incredibly friendly, no difficult questions. It was really a chance to get to know you. I thought Dr. Lagomasino was an ABSOLUTE DELIGHT, super COMPASSIONATE. I think she is one of the nicest PDs I have met on the interview trail. I think she would be an amazing mentor to have and I could easily see myself going to her for any issue. For the tour, we toured the LA County Hospital which is brand new, cost 1 billion to construct, which we went to the Psych ER which is near the main ER, but its separate and has great number of beds. However, there is no inpatient unit on campus, the inpatient Psych unit is in Compton that residents rotate at. There is a med-psych unit but it is not enclosed or like a traditional psych unit. We also toured the med school campus area, and the old county hospital which on the first floor they actually have free cooking classes, free exercise, meditation, yoga for the community and residents can also partake in. We even got to go to the roof of the hospital which had a spectacular 360 view of all of LA. The really great thing about the tour was that it was led by 5-6 residents which allowed for more time to get perspective. Note between interviews and the tour we had lunch, which was in this large room and tables were set out with names of faculty and interests so that we could sit where we had an area of interest to speak with faculty there. Many residents again showed up and also many faculty showed up. This again showed how dedicated and transparent the program was and also how enthusiastic the entire faculty and residents were about their program. After lunch there was a resident only panel, which had at least 2 residents from each year and we had the opportunity again beyond lunch and the pre interview dinner to ask more questions. Again, I thought this was great and novel since I hadn't had such a panel at other places. The residents were all again expressing how happy they were, were very up front and honest about the program and any questions we had. At the end of the day we had a wrap up session with one of the program directors and it was a nice send off to a wonderfully organized and thoughtful day.

4. Program Overview:
Before delving into rotations, some of the things I heard over and over from residents and faculty included great psych er training, as USC has the 2nd busiest Psych ER behind Bellevue in NY. The great thing about it is that even though its super busy, residents work on shifts (M-F 8am-5pm, weekends off and 3PM-11PM if on night-float) while there and they have enough attendings there to cover the ER. Therefore, the ER is not dependent on residents and the focus for residents is to take time, see as many patients as comfortable, spend time with patients, and learn from faculty. All the residents said this is the funnest rotation and you learn a lot. I also heard many times that the patient population in terms of diversity and the psychopathology you see is unbeatable. Residents also spoke very highly of the PD, Dr. Lagomasino and said she is very friendly, and is your advocate and wants to make sure your education is tailored to your interests and career path. Residents also said, especially from 4th years that they feel incredibly confident to see anything in the future and have no issues getting positions. Residents also mentioned they are not overworked and always have an attending present on site if any questions arise, 24/7 even on night float and in the ER. Faculty are approachable and great teaching too. Great forensics exposure as well, they have Court where all cases are seen. The inpatient unit called Hawkins is in Compton, off site about 18 miles (per booklet) south of USC with 62 beds, 10 of which are for adolescents, with an internist in house, court on site, seeing a lot of underserved patients who may have been denied at other hospitals, sickest of sick patients, residents average 5-7 patients here each with 2-3 new each week, multidisciplinary team, and patients have outside patio facility with basketball, pingpong, and upcoming exercise equipment. At Hawkins there is also a night-float team. We saw Hawkins in the video shown that day, didnt actually go see it. At the main USC hospital there is no inpatient psych unit, however there is a joint med-psych unit where residents say they see very unique and diverse cases. This is a 24 bed ward co-managed by IM and Psych. You get your C/L experience here and also at the University Hospital where you get exposed to transplant, oncology and outpatient ECT.

In summary there are following hospitals: LA County on USC campus, Keck Hospital- private, Norris Cancer Center, Hawkins inpatient Psychiatry Unit in Compton, and West LA VA. Also residents can do rotations at the LA County department of mental health, the largest department in the US, and see how mental health systems work, and can also rotate at Long Beach Village on the ACT assertive community treatment teams.

Rotations: PGY1- 4 months of either inpatient medicine or pediatrics or a mix of both, two blocks neuro (one consult, one wards), 4 blocks of inpatient psych at Hawkins, 2 blocks psych ER at LA County USC, 1 block Quality improvement or research. Said that in intern year you switch every 2 months to different block and during ALL rotations throughout year have 3 hour lectures each week. PGY2- 4 months inpatient psych, 1 month psych er, 3 months C/L, 1 month Keck C/L, 1 month adolescent inpt psych, 1 month VA geriatric Psych at West LA VA, 1 month outpatient VA addiction psych. PGY3- 12 months outpatient at LA County USC adult outpatient clinic and 5% at Keck Outpatient clinic. PGY4- 1/2 month community psych, 1 month child C/L, 3 months core service, 7.5 months electives

Psychotherapy training- have 3 different supervisors for either CBT, Psychodynamic and med management. See 1-2 patients weekly in ambu psych and ongoing caseload 75 patients, residents carry 4-6 psychotherapy cases that are ongoing.

5. Location & Lifestyle: see below

6. Salary & Benefits:
Cannot beat living in one of the best cities in the world. Los Angeles is full of culture and life. Yes, there is traffic but you get used to it. You live in a city that is year round perfect sunny weather. Cost of living is not high as in other cities since there are multiple neighborhoods and nearby cities you can live in that are affordable. Many residents mentioned living in Pasadena, Downtown, Silverlake, Los Feliz, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Echo Park and more. Salary PGY1 in the booklet states 46,00 but each year expands a lot, pGY2 is 52,000, PGY3 56,000, and PGY4 60,000. There are moonlighting opportunities too and as long as you are in good standing with the program and it doesn't interfere with your training, you can do it. From my understanding the moonlighting opportunities are not at USC but there are multiple hospitals in LA that you can do it.

7. Program Strengths:

- Compassionate, amazing, dedicated program director, Dr. Lagomasino
- Chair and Vice Chair who want to make USC even better and a research powerhouse
- Super happy, enthusiastic residents as evidenced by multiple showing up at pre-interview dinner, lunch, tour, and resident panel
- transparent program as evidenced by interview day
- organized and kind program coordinator
- dedicated faculty who showed up to lunch to share their thoughts
- 2nd second busiest Psych ER behind Bellevue in New York
- see the sickest of the sick, including rare and unusual conditions
- living in Los Angeles with amazing weather
- moonlighting opportunities (though off-campus)
- one of the better Forensics Fellowship and get a great exposure to it during training
- strong training in medicine and pediatrics (can choose how many months of each you want during intern year)
- board review series every year before PRITE exam
- amazing community psychiatry exposure
- one of the most diverse and underserved communities you will be exposed to
- PGY1 month for orienting to research and career planning
- Minority Services Research Group - research on underserved communities
- strong HIV Psych exposure at Rand Schrader Clinic
- rotations at LA County Department of Mental Health
- curriculum meetings 2 times a month with 2 representatives from each class and yearly retreat
- USC Institute for Creative Technologies doing mindfulness meditation research to virtual reality exposure therapy
- USC Adolescent trauma training center - research program
- great faculty sponsorship of research by residents
- Fellowships in Forensics, Child, C/L

8. Potential Weaknesses:
-
Little VA exposure (one month geriatric psych at West LA VA and one month outpatient addiction)
- LA traffic
- Travel to inpatient psych unit in Compton as no on site inpatient unit except for the med-psych unit. Surprising that they spent 1 billion to build a new hospital and couldn't have an inpatient psych unit? I don't get that at all
- intern year medicine or pediatrics exposure only inpatient
- no inpatient addiction exposure
- tough inpatient medicine months which admit every day this is during intern year, super busy internal medicine service
- only pgy1 and pgy3 have process group, I think they want to add it for pgy2 too (think since pgy2 is a busy year)
- child psych may not be a strong suit though 10 adolescent beds at Hawkins and can take elective at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and there is strong research being done in adolescent trauma

9. Tips:
- Los Angeles has multiple airports you can fly into, LAX which is a huge airport and super busy, I think 3rd busiest in US, and you could also fly into Burbank airport Bob Hope which is smaller airport but is also convenient for going to USC area. Long Beach is 20-30 mins south of LAX so maybe convenient if you wanted an alternative airport for Harbor-UCLA interview and John Wayne Airport in Orange County and is 30-40 mins south of LAX which is convenient if you are interviewing at UC Irvine for example but not for USC. Ontario airport also is way too far in San Bernandino County and too far for USC, that would be more useful for maybe Loma Linda interview or UC Riverside or Kaiser Fontana.
- If you are driving in the morning, LEAVE EARLY, give yourself at least 2 hours because LA traffic is crazy.
- If you are going to get a hotel, I would not book one near USC hospital as that area is not too safe, but there are lots of nice hotels in Downtown LA (but be weary some streets as in any Downtown area are not safe at night, especially 4th and 5th street). Studio City where Universal Studios is has a lot of hotels too as does Hollywood.
- I would recommend getting a rental car if you are coming out of state only because public transportation in LA is really poor.
- Day begins at 830 AM and ends at 330 PM
 
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- best Forensics Fellowship in country and get a great exposure to it during training
If you're interested in forensics, you might want to recalibrate your impressions of USC's forensics program. It's not the best in the state, let alone the country. It's better than UCI's but I don't think most folks would compare it favorably to UC Davis or UCSF. Jail exposure does not a forensics program make.

Very thorough review otherwise, psychiatry4me. Glad you liked USC. It's a program that's bouncing back.
 
Anonymous Review: Harvard Longwood

1. Ease Of Communication: Great communication. Coordinator was very responsive.
2. Accommodation & Food: Own accommodations. Dinner night before interview at a nice restaurant. Pastries and coffee in the am and wraps for lunch.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview dinner night before ran late (after 10 pm). Day started at 7:30 or 7:45. 5 interviews each 30 minutes or so. I was escorted to interviews (didn’t have to find rooms/buildings on my own). All my interviews focused on my interests within psychiatry and opportunities at Longwood. No unusual questions. Of note, I did not interview with any analysts but heard from other applicants that some faculty do analytic style interviews.
4. Program Overview: Busy program at BID and Brigham. Call schedule is brutal (q7-8 24h PGY2 and q14 24h call PGY3) but being changed to night float for next year. Of note, there is already 3 months of nights float in the first 2 years so unclear if it’ll now be 4 months of night in 2 years or is some of that will be distributed to upper classes. Residents seem to like each other and have good camaraderie. Program has track record of being supportive to residents personal leaves, maternity leaves etc. Current PD is interim and unsure what the timeline for finding a permanent PD is. Intern year includes 4 months of inpatient medicine with medicine call.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Lots of exciting research and big names under one roof.
6. Location & Lifestyle: The toughest call schedule I’ve seen by far with more nights and more inpatient medicine. Residents don’t seem worn down or burnt out.
7. Salary & Benefits: Standard salary (mid 50s I think). Parking $150/month. Maternity leave paid 12 weeks. Good health insurance vacation and sick time standard.
8. Program Strengths: Neuro at the Brigham and child C/L at Boston Children’s. Access to leaders in their fields with a lot of exciting research (if you can find time to pursue it). Everyone does a scholarly project. Mass Mental seems like a good community psych experience. Good psychotherapy training. A lot of analysts. A lot of the residents are involved in personal therapy.
9. Potential Weaknesses: The amount of call makes this a very service heavy program. Medicine at NWH or BID so might need car to get to Newton Wellesley (can take train but D line is slow and you’re adding commuting time to medicine intern’s day).


So as a current resident, I feel obliged to make a couple corrections. Our PD is certainly not interim....not even sure where that came from! Also our medicine is at NWH or BWH, not BID, and both sites get great reviews from us each year. You end up learning a lot and feeling very comfortable understanding and ruling out medical reasons for psychiatric illness. Definitely time to do research and connect with amazing faculty. So much research here, from ACA type work to nueroimaging and everything in between, that you have some fantastic opportunities as a resident. As to the call, it is actually pretty par for the course if you break it down! Anyway, I am happy to answer other questions here or send me a message!
 
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Harvard Longwood- House of God and The Brigham

Again, I'm not going into too many nitty gritty details here and I wouldnt even call this a review seeing as a previous poster seemed to cover most everything. But Ill post my impressions which can sorta show how random stuff impacts how applicants view programs, Im sure the same happens in reverse as well.

Overall, beforehand this was a program I was expecting to be kind of blown away by given the combo of harvard and big name hospitals. First impression is slightly mindblowing if you have never been to the Longwood medical area, in like 5 minutes you walk past the BMS, Brigham and Women's, Dana Farber, Boston Childrens and Beth Israel Deaconess. Unfortunately my initial contact with longwood residents set the tone in my mind and might have colored how I saw the rest of the program.

Either an intern or second year was talking to some other applicant about the medicine rotations and they said. "Medicine can be tough, but they are flexible enough to make it not so bad. For example, when I was on night-float at NW they just let me sleep in the call rooms during the day for the whole rotation so I wouldn't lose all that time commuting" That pretty much exploded my mind on so many levels and who knows, it might not even have been true, but definitely set the stage for how I saw the program as whole. In the same vein, the PD mentioned early in her overview "We used to let people rank medicine rotations, but everyone wanted the same one and would make people unhappy to not get what they want so now we randomly assign them". Left me thinking, dang you know maybe you could just pull the residents out of the rotation nobody wants year after year? Additionally it seemed like some of the residents might have been prepped to advise applicants not to worry too much about intern year when considering programs because intern year is pretty much the same everywhere. (This is just my complete conjecture based on having two eerily similar conversations with 2 different residents, maybe was just luck). Several residents mentioned call schedule being rather grueling at the program compared to others, which I think applicants are letting slide less and less these days so may start hurting their recruitment at some point.

On more positive notes, having these institutions and people as a learning environment makes for an incredible place to learn to become a psychiatrist. The CL experience may be as good as it gets anywhere in the country. The Chief of psychiatry took the time to meet each applicant and seemed extremely excited about psychiatry and the program. Definitely a highlight meeting him compared to the PD who seemed much more the blank slate analyst type and asked about my childhood as first question during interview! WTF? My childhood was basically puppies and rainbows so was a softball question for me, but seems like a strange topic to bring up in a professional job interview???
I also interviewed with Dr Gutheil which was really cool and a testament to the program to have someone like him taking time to interview applicants.

I don't remember many more details than that without consulting the folder of papers they gave me.

This whole review is probably riddled with inaccuracies based almost entirely on a change in mindset caused by a 10 second conversation, this is a strange process isn't it?

Overall Impression: Too much of a good thing


So as a current resident, going to make a couple corrections. Sure medicine is tough - but both sites, BWH and NWH, get great reviews each year. Heck, two psychiatry residents were nominated for medicine intern of the year at NWH last year! I think the commuting anecdote is unfounded because in this day and age of duty hours, residents have to leave the hospital after their shift...plus their is ample free/fast or public transport to each site. Anyway, point being medicine here is a good experience for everyone and both sites get good reviews each year. On a brighter note, meeting rather famous faculty like Dr. Gutheil happens on the interview day...and that continues as a resident. The number of outstanding faculty you can work with and do projects with is outstanding...and yes there is ample time to actually make that happen. Anyway, I am happy to take more question here of send me a message!
 
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So as a current resident, going to make a couple corrections. Sure medicine is tough - but both sites, BWH and NWH, get great reviews each year. Heck, two psychiatry residents were nominated for medicine intern of the year at NWH last year! I think the commuting anecdote is unfounded because in this day and age of duty hours, residents have to leave the hospital after their shift...plus their is ample free/fast or public transport to each site.

Thanks for the critiques, I think it would be really helpful if more residents like yourself helped applicants out in this manner, I really appreciate it.

As some follow up
If the NWH anecdote it not true, then there is a certain PGY1 or 2 that is brazenly lying to applicants during the interview day (which would be just as concerning as the anecdote itself). We were told the commute to NW is ~40 minutes from the longwood area and that while on night float there several residents have arranged "under the table" to sleep in call rooms during the day so that they would have enough time for sleep instead of losing 1.5 hrs a day commuting.

I find it hard to believe NWH is getting great reviews, as Dr. Sams directly stated that interns don't get to choose which location they rotate in because "all the interns would choose the same one" and universally residents we talked to said NWH was the less desirable rotation.

Granted in the end, none of this is particularly important seeing as its only a few months on an off service rotation that we are talking about. Longwood is obviously a premier residency program.
 
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NWH is far from MGH and longwood, but it is considered a strong hospital with good reputation. It is overall a mixed experience for my psych co residents, but some who enjoy medicine really do enjoy it. Others dread it.

Longwood program is very strong in psychosomatics, so just like MGH the psych residents typically have strong medicine backgrounds.
 
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Thanks for the critiques, I think it would be really helpful if more residents like yourself helped applicants out in this manner, I really appreciate it.

As some follow up
If the NWH anecdote it not true, then there is a certain PGY1 or 2 that is brazenly lying to applicants during the interview day (which would be just as concerning as the anecdote itself). We were told the commute to NW is ~40 minutes from the longwood area and that while on night float there several residents have arranged "under the table" to sleep in call rooms during the day so that they would have enough time for sleep instead of losing 1.5 hrs a day commuting.

I find it hard to believe NWH is getting great reviews, as Dr. Sams directly stated that interns don't get to choose which location they rotate in because "all the interns would choose the same one" and universally residents we talked to said NWH was the less desirable rotation.

Granted in the end, none of this is particularly important seeing as its only a few months on an off service rotation that we are talking about. Longwood is obviously a premier residency program.

I'm also a Longwood resident (4th year) and I can chip in as someone who was at NWH the year we started there and then has watched others follow in subsequent years...

I'll start off with my impression of NWH from 3 years ago, which was that it was probably the hardest I've worked throughout my training, but that I also learned more than in any other 4 month period in either medical school or residency. The residents I worked with there were among the most accomplished people I've every worked with and had a dedication to their field that I found pretty astounding and admirable. They work very hard and expect a similar commitment from us. When I was there, it was both the first year of our relationship with them and the first year of duty hour changes, so there were kinks to work out. There were moments where the work was very demanding. My understanding is that it is still a challenging experience, but from what I've heard from speaking with others in the program that have followed, it seems that some of the service demands have improved from when I was a PGY1 (our program directors are strong advocates for us and took our feedback seriously when we felt that at times the demand on us was heavy). Others that have followed me have also commented on how much they learned during this period. Overall, I think simplifying to say that we loved or hated it would be overly simplistic. Speaking for myself at least, I think there were wonderful things about it, as well as things that I think could have been better - which has been at least partially (and probably more than partially) addressed, by my understanding.

I believe fully believe that a resident chose to sleep there on nightfloat (in fact I think I know who you're speaking about), but please be clear that that is the exception rather than the rule. I can tell you that prior to the changes in our requirements there, I only ever slept over in the hospital one night - and that's because I chose to live much further away than the Longwood area during my first year.

Anyway, just thought I'd give what I consider to be a pretty balanced view of the situation with NWH and our experience there. I'm happy to discuss more either by PM or this forum if needed.

Overall, I think my most resounding endorsement for the program stems from the fact that I feel extremely well prepared to be entering my career now as am I applying for jobs. For that, I fully credit what I consider to be the excellent training I received at this program - and while I know that there many other wonderful programs which, depending on one's priorities may be better fits, I would also encourage consideration of our program if it does seem like a fit.
 
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MGH residents have a reputation of becoming leaders in the field of psychiatry. One big reason is Ye type of applicants that it attracts, but equally important of not more so are the opportunities that come from 500+ faculty that can serve as career mentors and supervisors for residents. I feel that I learned how to do scut work in pgy1, how to become a psychiatrist in pgy2, how to be thoughtful in pgy3, and how to be a leader in pgy4. Now everyone has their own track, and MGH has a steep learning curve that demands residents work hard, be smart, or ideally be both to stay ahead of that curve lest the slope become too steep
 
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