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- Feb 8, 2011
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haha, yes, I agree actually. But idk. Snow greater than 3 inches at once is completely outside of my experience. I'm not sure how much I should or shouldn't be concerned about snow.
2015-2016 Interview Reviews
- Thread starter Rogue Penguin
- Start date
haha, yes, I agree actually. But idk. Snow greater than 3 inches at once is completely outside of my experience. I'm not sure how much I should or shouldn't be concerned about snow.
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2015
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- 52
- Reaction score
- 11
Thank you for this snippet, my concerns echo yours and it's good to have extra perspective!
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- Nov 16, 2010
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- 7,139
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- 11,293
Given the disaster I had trying to commute and park in the ice/slush/rain/snow/giant puddle death combo that flew through the Midwest yesterday, pure snow would have been preferable.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2011
- Messages
- 175
- Reaction score
- 111
For anyone interviewing at U Mass in the future, I would say don't bother with the Beechwood Hotel. They were having "computer trouble" and billed/requested large authorizations on two of my credit cards repeatedly. This happened to another applicant as well. I ended up with both of those accounts locked for 2-3 days and couldn't purchase anything. If I hadn't had a friend with me, I would have been stuck in Worcester and homeless. And when I called the hotel to try to get this fixed, they were extremely rude. Plus, even with the $50 credit from U Mass, the cheapest room there is $130+ after all their secret fees. They give you the most meager continental breakfast I've ever seen but make a big show of it by requiring you to have a "breakfast card" to access it. Not worth it. Stay somewhere less overpriced and pretentious and get an uber to the interview. It will be cheaper.
Get there early. Parking and searching for the oddly placed meeting room made one of my fellow interviewees over 15 minutes late. It took me 10+ minutes to find the room once I got into the building.
I'm going to add this comment into my earlier post.
Get there early. Parking and searching for the oddly placed meeting room made one of my fellow interviewees over 15 minutes late. It took me 10+ minutes to find the room once I got into the building.
I'm going to add this comment into my earlier post.
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2009
- Messages
- 325
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- 226
Recent grad. As a psychiatrist, you can always find a job in Charleston, or pretty much anywhere. However, you have virtually no leverage in terms of salary, non-compete agreements, call responsibilities, and unless you can work in research at MUSC, the jobs are pretty lousy. I left the state and wouldn't trade my job for any that my colleagues took in town. The only place there I might want to work is the VA, but unless you work in something like telepsych or consults, you aren't going to get those positions as a new grad. If you want to open a cash practice, there also is still a market in some of the outer, less glamorous outskirts of town (such as Summerville or North Charleston).
As for the moonlighting, there isn't much of anything in town (you can do exams for the probate court, however), but if you're willing to drive there is plenty of money to be made, in some cases for relatively little work.
Program Name: University of Maryland
Program Communication: No problems with scheduling or communication. Program coordinator was very accommodating.
Accommodations: Many hotels in vicinity.
Dinner: Dinner was at a fancy Middle-Eastern restaurant in downtown Baltimore. Plenty of vegetarian dishes.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Start at 7:45 am with small breakfast (small assortment of pastries, coffee available). All of the interviews took place in the morning. Approximately three 20-30 minute interviews. Then took bus to Sheppard Pratt and toured the hospital. Sheppard Pratt was a beautiful historic psychiatric hospital with sprawling grounds and beautiful artwork. Many specialized units (including “retreat” for patients who pay out of pocket, eating disorders unit, trauma unit, child, adolescent, etc.), ~300 beds. Situated near GBMC (which is a local general hospital) so it is easy to refer patients out for medical appointments. We had lunch back at the downtown campus. Good resident turnout. In the afternoon, split into groups to either tour downtown hospital first or to have an exit interview with the PD. We also toured the gym extensively, which was random and probably unnecessary for most candidates.
Program and Curriculum Overview- PGY1- mix of psych/neuro/medicine. Medicine months are at Mercy Hospital rather than University of Maryland. PGY2- mix of Sheppard Pratt and University of Maryland, VA. Inpatient and consult. PGY3- outpatient- can choose primary site (some were downtown, others were at Sheppard Pratt)
Program Feel and Culture:
Residents seemed very happy overall. Hard to get a feel for the program itself. Did not have a clear ideology and did not feel dogmatic. Difficult to sense if it is a psychotherapy v. biological heavy program. Though historically Sheppard Pratt was psychoanalytic heavy, they seemed to have moved away from the heavy psychotherapy focus at Sheppard due to financial constraints. There are certainly opportunities to pursue psychotherapy training if interested. Two hospitals catering towards different patient populations with very different cultures. Downtown campus with predominantely underserved patients, more run-down, more general units, and more autonomy for the residents. Sheppard Pratt with mixed-income base, beautiful building, special units, and less resident autonomy.
The call schedule seemed more grueling than at most programs (though the residents said they generally keep within duty-hours). Residents are on call q4 (sometimes q3 if someone is out on maternity leave) during 4 months at Sheppard in PGY2 year. Only one resident for the ~300 bed hospital for 24+ hour call cycle (I believe it is close to 30 hours). Residents insisted that they generally only had to take care of minor complaints such as heart-burn, which were manageable, and that it helped to have GBMC closeby.
Location & Lifestyle
Most of the residents at Maryland lived within close proximity to eachother in the city, compared to Hopkins where residents seemed more sprawled throughout the city.
Salary & Benefits
Uncertain, these were not listed in the pamphlet they sent us
Program Strengths
-Opportunity to experience working with diverse patient populations through VA, Sheppard Pratt, and downtown campus
-Specialty units available, if interested
-Program did not seem to have an intense slant towards either biological or psychotherapy
-Basic science and clinical research opportunities
Potential Weaknesses
-Faculty/program directors did not seem to have the same level of passion, motivation that I have seen at other institutions, but this could have just been that I shared more interests with faculty at other institutions
-Intense call schedule especially during PGY2 year at Sheppard Pratt (24+ hour call q4)
-Very few opportunities for research outside of basic science/clinical research
Program Communication: No problems with scheduling or communication. Program coordinator was very accommodating.
Accommodations: Many hotels in vicinity.
Dinner: Dinner was at a fancy Middle-Eastern restaurant in downtown Baltimore. Plenty of vegetarian dishes.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Start at 7:45 am with small breakfast (small assortment of pastries, coffee available). All of the interviews took place in the morning. Approximately three 20-30 minute interviews. Then took bus to Sheppard Pratt and toured the hospital. Sheppard Pratt was a beautiful historic psychiatric hospital with sprawling grounds and beautiful artwork. Many specialized units (including “retreat” for patients who pay out of pocket, eating disorders unit, trauma unit, child, adolescent, etc.), ~300 beds. Situated near GBMC (which is a local general hospital) so it is easy to refer patients out for medical appointments. We had lunch back at the downtown campus. Good resident turnout. In the afternoon, split into groups to either tour downtown hospital first or to have an exit interview with the PD. We also toured the gym extensively, which was random and probably unnecessary for most candidates.
Program and Curriculum Overview- PGY1- mix of psych/neuro/medicine. Medicine months are at Mercy Hospital rather than University of Maryland. PGY2- mix of Sheppard Pratt and University of Maryland, VA. Inpatient and consult. PGY3- outpatient- can choose primary site (some were downtown, others were at Sheppard Pratt)
Program Feel and Culture:
Residents seemed very happy overall. Hard to get a feel for the program itself. Did not have a clear ideology and did not feel dogmatic. Difficult to sense if it is a psychotherapy v. biological heavy program. Though historically Sheppard Pratt was psychoanalytic heavy, they seemed to have moved away from the heavy psychotherapy focus at Sheppard due to financial constraints. There are certainly opportunities to pursue psychotherapy training if interested. Two hospitals catering towards different patient populations with very different cultures. Downtown campus with predominantely underserved patients, more run-down, more general units, and more autonomy for the residents. Sheppard Pratt with mixed-income base, beautiful building, special units, and less resident autonomy.
The call schedule seemed more grueling than at most programs (though the residents said they generally keep within duty-hours). Residents are on call q4 (sometimes q3 if someone is out on maternity leave) during 4 months at Sheppard in PGY2 year. Only one resident for the ~300 bed hospital for 24+ hour call cycle (I believe it is close to 30 hours). Residents insisted that they generally only had to take care of minor complaints such as heart-burn, which were manageable, and that it helped to have GBMC closeby.
Location & Lifestyle
Most of the residents at Maryland lived within close proximity to eachother in the city, compared to Hopkins where residents seemed more sprawled throughout the city.
Salary & Benefits
Uncertain, these were not listed in the pamphlet they sent us
Program Strengths
-Opportunity to experience working with diverse patient populations through VA, Sheppard Pratt, and downtown campus
-Specialty units available, if interested
-Program did not seem to have an intense slant towards either biological or psychotherapy
-Basic science and clinical research opportunities
Potential Weaknesses
-Faculty/program directors did not seem to have the same level of passion, motivation that I have seen at other institutions, but this could have just been that I shared more interests with faculty at other institutions
-Intense call schedule especially during PGY2 year at Sheppard Pratt (24+ hour call q4)
-Very few opportunities for research outside of basic science/clinical research
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Just adding few comments to it. I did rotations at sheppard pratt, maryland, and other programs in the area including with a resident at sheppard in the unit where there was a q4 call.
You do get q4 call for 3 months I believe during PGY 2, but you also have no call for 3 months for consults during PGY 2 so it balances out in the end.
Also, sheppard pratt rotations tend to be lighter compared to inpatient units at the university of maryland medical center. At sheppard, i remember we were capped to 6 patients per team/resident and we were done with rounding by 11 am and then afternoons were pretty light esp compared to university, like having time to get lunch, write notes, go to didactics, etc. Also at sheppard, there's an intern and senior resident coverage for admissions on weekdays until 8-9 pm and no more admissions after 11 pm or midnight. You might get woken up with few minor calls (sprained ankle, give tylenol, etc). Post call, attendings understand you need to sleep, so they tend to round very quickly post call and sometimes wrote notes for residents as well. Anyways, I remember my resident being very well rested/not stressed out during those q4 months.
In terms of overall program philosophy, there's no particular dominating philosophy esp compared to another program across town (hopkins). Very well balanced. Only unifying theme I noticed was the commitment to working with underserved. You do get a good therapy training during PGY3 esp through sheppard (I did some outpatient training there as well).
Fellowship wise a lot of people stay at Maryland. For child fellowships, current residents were interviewing at places like yale, NYU, brown, etc.
Overall, I feel like people will come out with a good clinical training, great attending, not as research oriented, not necessarily because the department doesn't have enough research, but i think we attract residents and attendings who are very clinically oriented.
I had opportunities to interact with a bunch of attendings who were maryland grads in baltimore area and they were all very nice, clinically well trained with no particularly bent between biological vs therapy.
You do get q4 call for 3 months I believe during PGY 2, but you also have no call for 3 months for consults during PGY 2 so it balances out in the end.
Also, sheppard pratt rotations tend to be lighter compared to inpatient units at the university of maryland medical center. At sheppard, i remember we were capped to 6 patients per team/resident and we were done with rounding by 11 am and then afternoons were pretty light esp compared to university, like having time to get lunch, write notes, go to didactics, etc. Also at sheppard, there's an intern and senior resident coverage for admissions on weekdays until 8-9 pm and no more admissions after 11 pm or midnight. You might get woken up with few minor calls (sprained ankle, give tylenol, etc). Post call, attendings understand you need to sleep, so they tend to round very quickly post call and sometimes wrote notes for residents as well. Anyways, I remember my resident being very well rested/not stressed out during those q4 months.
In terms of overall program philosophy, there's no particular dominating philosophy esp compared to another program across town (hopkins). Very well balanced. Only unifying theme I noticed was the commitment to working with underserved. You do get a good therapy training during PGY3 esp through sheppard (I did some outpatient training there as well).
Fellowship wise a lot of people stay at Maryland. For child fellowships, current residents were interviewing at places like yale, NYU, brown, etc.
Overall, I feel like people will come out with a good clinical training, great attending, not as research oriented, not necessarily because the department doesn't have enough research, but i think we attract residents and attendings who are very clinically oriented.
I had opportunities to interact with a bunch of attendings who were maryland grads in baltimore area and they were all very nice, clinically well trained with no particularly bent between biological vs therapy.
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2011
- Messages
- 260
- Reaction score
- 96
Michigan State University
1. Ease Of Communication:
No problems with communication.
2. Accommodation & Food:
No hotel accommodations or pre-interview dinner. They did give tokens for parking and we were taken out for a nice lunch with two residents on the interview day.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
I interviewed with 4 people which were mostly conversational. The residents would try to get to know you at the lunch. We toured Sparrow Hospital (a big nice and new looking hospital) where they do C/L, and their inpatient psych unit which was similar to other inpatient psych units.
4. Program Overview:
This program emphasizes their strengths with their psychotherapy, child fellowship, and offer the opportunity to participate in the rural track which starts in the 2nd or 3rd year of residency. They focus more on clinical medicine.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
I have heard great things about the PD and APD. They taught my psychiatry class in med school and were engaging and fun.
6. Location & Lifestyle: East Lansing is mostly a college town. Most residents live in East Lansing or Okemos. It is a great location for undergrads, but I'm not sure I would fit in well at the stage of residency. The residents didn't seem overworked or anything. They have a very light call schedule. I think they said you're on call an average of 1 day every 8 weeks. Most of the residents were already from East Lansing and wanted to stay.
7. Salary & Benefits: PGY-1 salary is around 47k.
8. Program Strengths: Great for psychotherapy and great for those who want to do a child fellowship. It is also a university-affiliated program so it is pretty reputable in quality of training.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Being in a college town.
1. Ease Of Communication:
No problems with communication.
2. Accommodation & Food:
No hotel accommodations or pre-interview dinner. They did give tokens for parking and we were taken out for a nice lunch with two residents on the interview day.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
I interviewed with 4 people which were mostly conversational. The residents would try to get to know you at the lunch. We toured Sparrow Hospital (a big nice and new looking hospital) where they do C/L, and their inpatient psych unit which was similar to other inpatient psych units.
4. Program Overview:
This program emphasizes their strengths with their psychotherapy, child fellowship, and offer the opportunity to participate in the rural track which starts in the 2nd or 3rd year of residency. They focus more on clinical medicine.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
I have heard great things about the PD and APD. They taught my psychiatry class in med school and were engaging and fun.
6. Location & Lifestyle: East Lansing is mostly a college town. Most residents live in East Lansing or Okemos. It is a great location for undergrads, but I'm not sure I would fit in well at the stage of residency. The residents didn't seem overworked or anything. They have a very light call schedule. I think they said you're on call an average of 1 day every 8 weeks. Most of the residents were already from East Lansing and wanted to stay.
7. Salary & Benefits: PGY-1 salary is around 47k.
8. Program Strengths: Great for psychotherapy and great for those who want to do a child fellowship. It is also a university-affiliated program so it is pretty reputable in quality of training.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Being in a college town.
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2011
- Messages
- 260
- Reaction score
- 96
Pine Rest/MSU
1. Ease Of Communication:
No Problems
2. Accommodation & Food:
There was a pre-interview dinner which about half of the residents attended. No hotel accommodations, but Grand Rapids is a pretty cheap place to get a hotel or AirBnB.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
We did tours of the campus first which was totally amazing! We saw about 4 different inpatient units and the outpatient clinic. Everything was beautiful, spacious, and new. They even had a mother-baby unit and there are only 3 of those in the country. The facilities were literally the most amazing facilities I have seen in my life. Their resident lounge is like a 5 star hotel suite and there is even a swimming pool.
The interviews were with the PD, APD, and two residents. They were conversational and mostly about getting to know your personality. They really emphasize finding a good group of residents to mesh with.
4. Program Overview:
It is a new program with two classes of residents so far. They seem to offer really high quality training and have the best facilities. Everyone is super happy. The PD seems really great and definitely takes resident opinions into consideration. He is dedicated to making this program as awesome as possible. Their child fellowship will start in 2016 and they are trying to start up more fellowships in the future. This program is definitely a hidden gem. They will definitely have no problems with accreditation.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
The faculty and staff all seemed super nice and enthusiastic. They really love working with residents and teaching.
6. Location & Lifestyle:
Grand Rapids is a pretty cool city. Lost of artsy and nature stuff going on and has the best breweries. Downtown is pretty busy. Cost of living is very affordable. The only thing I don't like is that Grand Rapids gets more snow than Detroit, which makes driving more difficult.
The residents have a great lifestyle. They all seemed super happy and enthusiastic about their programa nd had nothing but good things to say. Their call schedule is pretty light. They say they get treated like celebrities.
7. Salary & Benefits:
Salary for PGY-1 was around 47k. Incoming residents get a free iPad.
8. Program Strengths: Best facilities, great faculty, great work hours, great location for folks into nature and art.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Located in a city with a lot of snow. Not for people who want to live in big cities or warm weather.
1. Ease Of Communication:
No Problems
2. Accommodation & Food:
There was a pre-interview dinner which about half of the residents attended. No hotel accommodations, but Grand Rapids is a pretty cheap place to get a hotel or AirBnB.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
We did tours of the campus first which was totally amazing! We saw about 4 different inpatient units and the outpatient clinic. Everything was beautiful, spacious, and new. They even had a mother-baby unit and there are only 3 of those in the country. The facilities were literally the most amazing facilities I have seen in my life. Their resident lounge is like a 5 star hotel suite and there is even a swimming pool.
The interviews were with the PD, APD, and two residents. They were conversational and mostly about getting to know your personality. They really emphasize finding a good group of residents to mesh with.
4. Program Overview:
It is a new program with two classes of residents so far. They seem to offer really high quality training and have the best facilities. Everyone is super happy. The PD seems really great and definitely takes resident opinions into consideration. He is dedicated to making this program as awesome as possible. Their child fellowship will start in 2016 and they are trying to start up more fellowships in the future. This program is definitely a hidden gem. They will definitely have no problems with accreditation.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
The faculty and staff all seemed super nice and enthusiastic. They really love working with residents and teaching.
6. Location & Lifestyle:
Grand Rapids is a pretty cool city. Lost of artsy and nature stuff going on and has the best breweries. Downtown is pretty busy. Cost of living is very affordable. The only thing I don't like is that Grand Rapids gets more snow than Detroit, which makes driving more difficult.
The residents have a great lifestyle. They all seemed super happy and enthusiastic about their programa nd had nothing but good things to say. Their call schedule is pretty light. They say they get treated like celebrities.
7. Salary & Benefits:
Salary for PGY-1 was around 47k. Incoming residents get a free iPad.
8. Program Strengths: Best facilities, great faculty, great work hours, great location for folks into nature and art.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Located in a city with a lot of snow. Not for people who want to live in big cities or warm weather.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2011
- Messages
- 175
- Reaction score
- 111
I didn't get the heavy work load vibe at all, but I've never heard it suggested that the place is malignant either. It's interesting how people are going to the same places and getting completely different ideas about them. Dr. Nemeroff talked a lot about "working like a dog" but when I talked to the residents they said they don't feel it was that bad. More like it used to be really work heavy 5-10 years ago. My "source of the inside" says they've never worked longer than 7-5, usually leave by 4, and leave earlier than that about 1/3 of the time. My pal really, really loves the program. I talked to one of the chiefs at dinner and he said that there are so few residents at the dinner because they want the dinner to be at a nicer place that's more uniquely "Miami". Like the program used to buy applicants drinks, they quit doing that to use the money to bring more residents to the dinner and move the dinner to a more unique venue. There were 4 residents at the dinner when I was there. On the actual interview day, there was this one weirdly malcontent resident who seemed very checked out in general; it seems that you met him as well. He was the only one I met that didn't seem happy to be there. To me the most impressive thing about the program is the exposure to so many patients in so many settings, early and heavy ECT exposure, and the diverse fellowship opportunities. I heard about a fair number of research opportunities as well. They get impressive and interesting Grand Rounds speakers. Dr. Nemeroff pointed out to us where graduates have gone and how he has connections to get people where they want to go for fellowship. I'm not sure what to think about him and his history or if it matters. He comes across as very likable and well-meaning. If I hadn't been on SDN, I never would have heard about the Emory controversy. It's certainly complicated my view of the program.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2011
- Messages
- 175
- Reaction score
- 111
Does anyone have any thoughts on Harvard South Shore or Tufts?
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Messages
- 7,139
- Reaction score
- 11,293
Does Pine Rest do any work at Spectrum downtown?
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2011
- Messages
- 260
- Reaction score
- 96
They only do one month of neuro at spectrum downtown. Two months of IM at Pine Rest. Three months of FM and peds outpatient.
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Messages
- 7,139
- Reaction score
- 11,293
Where's their CL at?
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2011
- Messages
- 260
- Reaction score
- 96
St. Mary's
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2015
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 2
Very chill program. Their IM is done on their inpatient psych wards, just doing H&Ps on new admits and dealing with any acute conditions (rashes, colds) that may arise. Very different from most other programs where you are essentially an IM intern. Facilities are out of this world, as are psych resources and faculty. Def a hidden gem!
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Messages
- 7,139
- Reaction score
- 11,293
that seems...almost concerningly unrigorous.
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2013
- Messages
- 2,542
- Reaction score
- 4,260
According to the ACGME, this wouldn't meet RRC requirements. The medicine RRC requirements state:
IV.A.6.a).(4).(a) a minimum of four months in a clinical setting that provides comprehensive clinical care; and, (Core)
IV.A.6.a).(4).(a).(i) This requirement should be met in a primary care specialty setting. (Detail)
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2015
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 2
They do some FM outpatient...I am likely mistaken then as this program does meet ACGME standards but I'm just quoting what the residents told me. They said IM is the easiest month (vs at other programs it being the hardest) and that it is when most take Step 3.
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- Joined
- Mar 13, 2013
- Messages
- 2,542
- Reaction score
- 4,260
I think everyone should do at least one month of wards. FM outpatient is probably closer to what skills you will continue to use as a psychiatrist.
And just because I can't help myself, hard and worst aren't exactly synonymous.
And just because I can't help myself, hard and worst aren't exactly synonymous.
Yeah, I agree, PD may pretend to be very weird, I feel not very comfortable with that, especially the residents said she was very nice. Anyway, I still make my judgement based on the overall comments about this program.
I agree with most of the above. However, from my understanding, there is actually quite a range of psychopathology at the Boston VA with the increasing number of female veterans as well as the OEF/OIF veterans with exposure to first episode psychosis, mood disorders, and eating disorders. The McLean rotations (emergency psychiatry, geriatric, inpatient psychiatry, partial hospital, and child/adolescent psychiatry) and Department of Mental Health rotations (inpatient psychiatry, women's mental health, forensics, outpatient psychiatry) broaden the experience through a wide range of demographics.
In addition, the PGY3 year is mostly based at the VA but the residents also manage an outpatient clinic within the Department of Mental Health. One of the sites also gives residents an opportunity to do home visits.
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2012
- Messages
- 222
- Reaction score
- 170
UIC
1. Ease Of Communication: Quick responses, everything through e-mail
2. Accommodation & Food: I'm from Chicago so I drove in. Continental breakfast, sandwich lunch which was decent. Dinner the night before at a nearby restaurant which was pretty good.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Standard presentation in the morning after breakfast, 4 total interviews including program director Dr. Marvin (awesome dude), chief resident, and two clinical faculty. I felt one of the clinical faculty kept attacking one of the places I did my psych clerkship at which was odd, saying it wasn't a good experience etc. This kinda turned me off to the program, but I'm trying to not let this one experience ruin my overall view of the program which I found to be excellent. Tour of parts of UIC hospital and psych units. A manic pt ran up and talked to us for about 5 minutes which was fun.
4. Program Overview: Unique points - research track, new teaching track
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Marvin is young but seems pretty awesome and supportive. One of my favorite interviews on the trail actually.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Heart of Chicago's med block, and lots of the resident's live nearby and seem social which I liked.
7. Salary & Benefits: Standard fare
8. Program Strengths: Strong research funding and ties to neurology (same building, the building is structured like two halves of the brain). The teaching track really made this program stand out to me,
9. Potential Weaknesses: Nothing significant, although one of the clinical sites is apparently a decent drive to get to. But the residents said it wasn't a big deal.
Overall: Great clinical+research+teaching program in an amazing city.
Vanderbilt
1. Ease Of Communication: Fast responses to e-mails, and Shana Scanlin (program coordinator) was friendly on the phone.
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with relatives in the area. Dinner the night before with residents which I liked a lot, continental breakfast, Panera sandwich lunch which was good.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Breakfast, presentation from PD+APD, then 5 interviews+ breaks between 15-30 minutes each. They matched me up really well with people who shared my clinical and personal interests, everyone really did a good job selling the program and activities in the area and how they match my interests to me. We were always running behind, so those 15 minute interviews ended up being closer to 10, which was a bit too short to get much out of an interview IMO. Tour of Vandy medical campus which is huge!
4. Program Overview: What is unique is several blocks in the schedule for "coverage" in 1st and 2nd years where you can pursue your interests. One 3rd year was saying how he did C/L rotations during coverage so he got an extra month or two of experience there.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Heckers the psych chair is a world renowned expert on psychotic disorders. Everyone else seem very accomplished, albeit young.
6. Location & Lifestyle: In the heart of Nashville so however you like that big-city-but-still-small feel.
7. Salary & Benefits: Standard
8. Program Strengths: HUGE tertiary center in the South that sees serious pathology from 5+ states. Solid clinical training and great research funding and support. I feel like there is a wide variety of options in terms of what kind of psych you want to pursue here. Strong procedural training including ECT, TMS etc.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Lots of faculty turnover. 4th years say it hasn't affected them much, but who knows. All the faculty except for the APD are from out of state, and have only been with Vandy for <5 years, so I get the feeling people come here, get the Vandy name and then move on.
Overall: Great training, amazing research, OK city.
Loma Linda
1. Ease Of Communication: Interview invite from program director which was very personal; he and the coordinator were very quick to reply and arrange things.
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with family in the area. Continental breakfast (yes they had coffee), Italian lunch with residents which I liked a lot.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview with PD, APD (30 mins each) Chief, and clinical faculty (1hr each). Only place i had 1 hour interviews, but I got along with the chief really well and the clinical faculty was matched to my clinical and personal interests, so it was easy to fill the hour. Tour of Loma Linda VA, and LLU psych hospital.
4. Program Overview: Standard schedule, although the call schedule seemed the most intense of all programs I interviewed at (covering several different facilities), and the residents agreed that call was a bit overwhelming, especially the 3rd and 4th years although the interns said they decreased the intensity a bit and added support.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: PD and APD are new, but the residents love them. From my interviews with them I felt they really work hard at making this program supportive to resident education and life.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Inland empire isn't exactly the most exciting place, although its fairly cheap and less traffic than the exciting parts of California, and you're only an hour or two from the beach/LA/SD etc. for day trips.
7. Salary & Benefits: The usual
8. Program Strengths: Lots of pathology - the Inland Empire is a huge area with very little medical coverage, so you see some serious pathology here.
9. Potential Weaknesses: While coffee exists at the nurses stations, the religious stuff does permeate through everything to various degrees. While most of the residents I spoke to aren't 7th day Adventists and said it didn't affect their lives too much, they did admit that when you're used to dropping in to the hospital starbucks between patients and stuff like that, it can be a little disconcerting for a while. The resident class is very diverse so you will have people to go to bars with and the like.
Overall: LLU definitely has an obvious "character" which isn't for everyone, but I feel overall this is an excellent training program with average research.
Harbor-UCLA
1. Ease Of Communication: Emails were replied to quickly
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with friends nearby and drove in, although parking was very difficult to find. No breakfast, but lunch was Pho across the street which I loved.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Begin with a presentation with Psych chair in his office with the most amazing view I have seen on a psych interview (8th floor looking out towards all of LA, and the chair got to know us and pointed to things from the view based on our interests). Interviews 30 mins each with PD, intern, and clinical faculty. Tour of Harbor psych units including psych ED!
4. Program Overview: Some of the strongest psych training in the country it felt like, with the very busy psych ED not to mention the huge catchment area of Harbor. 1 month of neurology in 2nd year instead of having both in 1st year, PD said this is because a resident many years ago failed the neuro part of boards so they pushed a bit of neuro back so it stays fresh in your mind. Start psychotherapy picking up your own patients in 2nd year and followed through the rest of your training which stood out.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Although its affiliated with UCLA, Harbor's strength certainly isn't research as they'll freely admit, but the faculty are all very accomplished people. Many are graduates are UCLA-Semel.
6. Location & Lifestyle: The vast majority of the training, including inpt and outpt clinics are done on the Harbor campus, which is great. They added some rotations at Kaiser in Palos Verdes (super affluent area) to give some diversity in the training experience.
7. Salary & Benefits: Seems standard, although from what I understand the health benefits aren't as good as the other UCLA programs (Semel, SFV) despite having the UCLA name.
8. Program Strengths: I felt like I would see the most challenging psych pathology here among all the program I interviewed at. Even though its county, apparently its pretty well funded and the support for residents is excellent. Residents are busy but felt the training was solid and they never really felt overwhelmed. One resident was saying he had a manic pt from Turkey, and since Harbor's coverage area includes LAX he had to escort the patient back and the program basically let him make a 10 day vacation out of it.
9. Potential Weaknesses: County experience isn't for everyone. Even though they added Kaiser for training diversity, it is still less diverse than many programs. Weak research although its affiliation with UCLA and elective opportunities at Semel mean the possibility and support are there.
Overall: Absolutely amazing training, good location, weak to OK research, but overall I loved this program.
UC Irvine
1. Ease Of Communication: Emails, fast
2. Accommodation & Food: Drove from parents house who live nearby. Continental breakfast, but LOTS of residents came to talk to us during this breakfast and this really stood out to me and I learned quite a bit.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): After breakfast, presentation by chief resident. Then 4-5 interviews, including PD, APD, chief, and clinical faculty (who just graduated from the program last year, so it felt like talking to another chief). The PD interview is definitely the oddest interview I've had on the trail. Basically he just asks a bunch of ethics/moral questions and writes down your response to them. Maybe a brief discussion 1-2 mins, but usually he'd just ask another question. Maybe 5-10 minutes of "do you have any questions for me" after that. But the rest of the interviews were chill and I liked Dr. McNagny, the APD a lot. Tour of UCI medical center + psych wards.
4. Program Overview: Standard
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Preda, the PD is really big on research and apparently the UCI has a huge glob of money earmarked for it.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Orange County, Irvine are amazing places to live although expensive and a good amount of traffic. Most of your training is at the UCI med center and the Long Beach VA, but the residents say the commute isn't bad.
7. Salary & Benefits: the usual
8. Program Strengths: Good training, more relaxed call schedule then most programs, apparently strong research potential soon.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Leadership in flux right now, Dr. Preda (current PD) is great despite the weird interview, but we will see where things end up. Residents say this hasn't affected their training.
Overall: Solid program in a great area, good clinical training, research TBD although exciting potential.
UCLA-Semel
1. Ease Of Communication: Everything through email, responded quickly.
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with friends. Continental breakfast, amazing Mediterranean lunch with residents! Then dinner/drinks at a swanky bar in Westwood with residents, PD and APD's.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Morning presentation by chiefs, then 3 30 minute interviews including a PGY3, clinical faculty and PD. Other applicants interviewed with one of the two APD's, and at dinner, the PD or APD you didn't interview with talked to you a bit which felt like an informal 4th and 5th interview. Lunch with lots of residents, the chiefs read my file and were quickly able to talk to me about my interests which was awesome.
4. Program Overview: Good mix of VA and UCLA itself so a fairly diverse population, although probably not as diverse as somewhere like Harbor (but opportunity for Harbor track or electives if that is your interest). Very research focused, and psychopharm focused without psychotherapy until 3rd year, although interested residents said they were able to push for getting it earlier.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Its UCLA... some of the most accomplished faculty in the world are here.
6. Location & Lifestyle: West LA is plagued with traffic, but otherwise west LA is awesome. Opportunity for residents to live in grad student housing.
7. Salary & Benefits: Salary is OK but apparently the UCLA health+dental+vision benefits is unmatched.
8. Program Strengths: Tons of research opportunities, strong clinical experience, world renowned faculty.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Patient diversity may be a bit lacking. Some residents said although the faculty are very supportive, sometimes the residents felt a bit coddled and not as directly involved in the patient's care as they wanted to be.
Overall: Amazing research and location (not for everyone), and solid clinical training. Loved it.
1. Ease Of Communication: Quick responses, everything through e-mail
2. Accommodation & Food: I'm from Chicago so I drove in. Continental breakfast, sandwich lunch which was decent. Dinner the night before at a nearby restaurant which was pretty good.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Standard presentation in the morning after breakfast, 4 total interviews including program director Dr. Marvin (awesome dude), chief resident, and two clinical faculty. I felt one of the clinical faculty kept attacking one of the places I did my psych clerkship at which was odd, saying it wasn't a good experience etc. This kinda turned me off to the program, but I'm trying to not let this one experience ruin my overall view of the program which I found to be excellent. Tour of parts of UIC hospital and psych units. A manic pt ran up and talked to us for about 5 minutes which was fun.
4. Program Overview: Unique points - research track, new teaching track
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Marvin is young but seems pretty awesome and supportive. One of my favorite interviews on the trail actually.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Heart of Chicago's med block, and lots of the resident's live nearby and seem social which I liked.
7. Salary & Benefits: Standard fare
8. Program Strengths: Strong research funding and ties to neurology (same building, the building is structured like two halves of the brain). The teaching track really made this program stand out to me,
9. Potential Weaknesses: Nothing significant, although one of the clinical sites is apparently a decent drive to get to. But the residents said it wasn't a big deal.
Overall: Great clinical+research+teaching program in an amazing city.
Vanderbilt
1. Ease Of Communication: Fast responses to e-mails, and Shana Scanlin (program coordinator) was friendly on the phone.
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with relatives in the area. Dinner the night before with residents which I liked a lot, continental breakfast, Panera sandwich lunch which was good.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Breakfast, presentation from PD+APD, then 5 interviews+ breaks between 15-30 minutes each. They matched me up really well with people who shared my clinical and personal interests, everyone really did a good job selling the program and activities in the area and how they match my interests to me. We were always running behind, so those 15 minute interviews ended up being closer to 10, which was a bit too short to get much out of an interview IMO. Tour of Vandy medical campus which is huge!
4. Program Overview: What is unique is several blocks in the schedule for "coverage" in 1st and 2nd years where you can pursue your interests. One 3rd year was saying how he did C/L rotations during coverage so he got an extra month or two of experience there.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Heckers the psych chair is a world renowned expert on psychotic disorders. Everyone else seem very accomplished, albeit young.
6. Location & Lifestyle: In the heart of Nashville so however you like that big-city-but-still-small feel.
7. Salary & Benefits: Standard
8. Program Strengths: HUGE tertiary center in the South that sees serious pathology from 5+ states. Solid clinical training and great research funding and support. I feel like there is a wide variety of options in terms of what kind of psych you want to pursue here. Strong procedural training including ECT, TMS etc.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Lots of faculty turnover. 4th years say it hasn't affected them much, but who knows. All the faculty except for the APD are from out of state, and have only been with Vandy for <5 years, so I get the feeling people come here, get the Vandy name and then move on.
Overall: Great training, amazing research, OK city.
Loma Linda
1. Ease Of Communication: Interview invite from program director which was very personal; he and the coordinator were very quick to reply and arrange things.
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with family in the area. Continental breakfast (yes they had coffee), Italian lunch with residents which I liked a lot.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview with PD, APD (30 mins each) Chief, and clinical faculty (1hr each). Only place i had 1 hour interviews, but I got along with the chief really well and the clinical faculty was matched to my clinical and personal interests, so it was easy to fill the hour. Tour of Loma Linda VA, and LLU psych hospital.
4. Program Overview: Standard schedule, although the call schedule seemed the most intense of all programs I interviewed at (covering several different facilities), and the residents agreed that call was a bit overwhelming, especially the 3rd and 4th years although the interns said they decreased the intensity a bit and added support.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: PD and APD are new, but the residents love them. From my interviews with them I felt they really work hard at making this program supportive to resident education and life.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Inland empire isn't exactly the most exciting place, although its fairly cheap and less traffic than the exciting parts of California, and you're only an hour or two from the beach/LA/SD etc. for day trips.
7. Salary & Benefits: The usual
8. Program Strengths: Lots of pathology - the Inland Empire is a huge area with very little medical coverage, so you see some serious pathology here.
9. Potential Weaknesses: While coffee exists at the nurses stations, the religious stuff does permeate through everything to various degrees. While most of the residents I spoke to aren't 7th day Adventists and said it didn't affect their lives too much, they did admit that when you're used to dropping in to the hospital starbucks between patients and stuff like that, it can be a little disconcerting for a while. The resident class is very diverse so you will have people to go to bars with and the like.
Overall: LLU definitely has an obvious "character" which isn't for everyone, but I feel overall this is an excellent training program with average research.
Harbor-UCLA
1. Ease Of Communication: Emails were replied to quickly
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with friends nearby and drove in, although parking was very difficult to find. No breakfast, but lunch was Pho across the street which I loved.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Begin with a presentation with Psych chair in his office with the most amazing view I have seen on a psych interview (8th floor looking out towards all of LA, and the chair got to know us and pointed to things from the view based on our interests). Interviews 30 mins each with PD, intern, and clinical faculty. Tour of Harbor psych units including psych ED!
4. Program Overview: Some of the strongest psych training in the country it felt like, with the very busy psych ED not to mention the huge catchment area of Harbor. 1 month of neurology in 2nd year instead of having both in 1st year, PD said this is because a resident many years ago failed the neuro part of boards so they pushed a bit of neuro back so it stays fresh in your mind. Start psychotherapy picking up your own patients in 2nd year and followed through the rest of your training which stood out.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Although its affiliated with UCLA, Harbor's strength certainly isn't research as they'll freely admit, but the faculty are all very accomplished people. Many are graduates are UCLA-Semel.
6. Location & Lifestyle: The vast majority of the training, including inpt and outpt clinics are done on the Harbor campus, which is great. They added some rotations at Kaiser in Palos Verdes (super affluent area) to give some diversity in the training experience.
7. Salary & Benefits: Seems standard, although from what I understand the health benefits aren't as good as the other UCLA programs (Semel, SFV) despite having the UCLA name.
8. Program Strengths: I felt like I would see the most challenging psych pathology here among all the program I interviewed at. Even though its county, apparently its pretty well funded and the support for residents is excellent. Residents are busy but felt the training was solid and they never really felt overwhelmed. One resident was saying he had a manic pt from Turkey, and since Harbor's coverage area includes LAX he had to escort the patient back and the program basically let him make a 10 day vacation out of it.
9. Potential Weaknesses: County experience isn't for everyone. Even though they added Kaiser for training diversity, it is still less diverse than many programs. Weak research although its affiliation with UCLA and elective opportunities at Semel mean the possibility and support are there.
Overall: Absolutely amazing training, good location, weak to OK research, but overall I loved this program.
UC Irvine
1. Ease Of Communication: Emails, fast
2. Accommodation & Food: Drove from parents house who live nearby. Continental breakfast, but LOTS of residents came to talk to us during this breakfast and this really stood out to me and I learned quite a bit.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): After breakfast, presentation by chief resident. Then 4-5 interviews, including PD, APD, chief, and clinical faculty (who just graduated from the program last year, so it felt like talking to another chief). The PD interview is definitely the oddest interview I've had on the trail. Basically he just asks a bunch of ethics/moral questions and writes down your response to them. Maybe a brief discussion 1-2 mins, but usually he'd just ask another question. Maybe 5-10 minutes of "do you have any questions for me" after that. But the rest of the interviews were chill and I liked Dr. McNagny, the APD a lot. Tour of UCI medical center + psych wards.
4. Program Overview: Standard
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Preda, the PD is really big on research and apparently the UCI has a huge glob of money earmarked for it.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Orange County, Irvine are amazing places to live although expensive and a good amount of traffic. Most of your training is at the UCI med center and the Long Beach VA, but the residents say the commute isn't bad.
7. Salary & Benefits: the usual
8. Program Strengths: Good training, more relaxed call schedule then most programs, apparently strong research potential soon.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Leadership in flux right now, Dr. Preda (current PD) is great despite the weird interview, but we will see where things end up. Residents say this hasn't affected their training.
Overall: Solid program in a great area, good clinical training, research TBD although exciting potential.
UCLA-Semel
1. Ease Of Communication: Everything through email, responded quickly.
2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with friends. Continental breakfast, amazing Mediterranean lunch with residents! Then dinner/drinks at a swanky bar in Westwood with residents, PD and APD's.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Morning presentation by chiefs, then 3 30 minute interviews including a PGY3, clinical faculty and PD. Other applicants interviewed with one of the two APD's, and at dinner, the PD or APD you didn't interview with talked to you a bit which felt like an informal 4th and 5th interview. Lunch with lots of residents, the chiefs read my file and were quickly able to talk to me about my interests which was awesome.
4. Program Overview: Good mix of VA and UCLA itself so a fairly diverse population, although probably not as diverse as somewhere like Harbor (but opportunity for Harbor track or electives if that is your interest). Very research focused, and psychopharm focused without psychotherapy until 3rd year, although interested residents said they were able to push for getting it earlier.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Its UCLA... some of the most accomplished faculty in the world are here.
6. Location & Lifestyle: West LA is plagued with traffic, but otherwise west LA is awesome. Opportunity for residents to live in grad student housing.
7. Salary & Benefits: Salary is OK but apparently the UCLA health+dental+vision benefits is unmatched.
8. Program Strengths: Tons of research opportunities, strong clinical experience, world renowned faculty.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Patient diversity may be a bit lacking. Some residents said although the faculty are very supportive, sometimes the residents felt a bit coddled and not as directly involved in the patient's care as they wanted to be.
Overall: Amazing research and location (not for everyone), and solid clinical training. Loved it.
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OK now my keyboard is on fire from typing all that so I'll do the rest later by editing this post. I interviewed at most of the so cal programs so if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to try and answer them.
- Joined
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I had the same experience at UC-Irvine. The whole "behavioral style interviewing" or whatever they called it was really odd. Curious how you could say the PD was great despite the weird interview. Regarding the recent change in PD from last year to this year, one of the female residents said to half of the group of applicants at dinner "I don't think the program director really matters. You hardly interact with them on a day to day basis. The emphasis of program director is overstressed, in my opinion." I think this is very different from what I hear at literally every other interview dinner. When you ask residents "What brought you to this program?," I would say (in my experience) that you get at least a comment about the PD 80-90% of the time. Something like, "Well this PD is amazing. Huge reason why I'm here." Whether that's true or not, it's commonly said by residents at dinner. The fact that Irvine residents downplay the importance of a PD strikes me as odd. I guess I interviewed on a different day (mid-December) but my applicant group only met 3-4 residents total between breakfast and lunch, combined. I thought that was odd too. When you factor in some of the nasty reviews about Irvine that you see here on SDN in previous years, something about my interview day just screamed "Damage control." The day started with the PD asking, "Have you heard about behavioral style interviewing?" and we all said No, he said "Ahhh, ok. I guess word of mouth hasn't spread yet." Maybe I'm going way out on a limb here but I heard that and thought "Rumors about this program are being spread via word of mouth." Also, the previous PD that was the subject of that nasty UC-Irvine review last year here on SDN is now the program chair....
But who cares. People are going to consistently rank it high because it carries the UC-Irvine name, is located in SoCal and has a chill call schedule. I went into this interview REALLY wanting to like it. Like you said, the aPD was an awesome interview. Probably one of my favorite interviews all season.
No clue where it's going to fit into my rank list.
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Your PD is insanely important, but rarely for the reasons that you'll be able to appreciate during the interview trail (or even for things that current residents will necessarily be able to appreciate). Until my chief year I didn't realize how much BS my PD needed to deal with in the background.
University of New Mexico
I will just add few comments to lockian's great review.
Interview day/accomodation: A good resident turn out with happy hour at the hotel night before the interview as well as the lunch. I felt residents were all nice and chill, but definitely on older side- several with families looked like they were in their 40s. But there are several singles as well. In the morning, you sit around the table and PD asks you to introduce and then allows us to ask questions. Then the coordinator drove us to the albuquerque VA which was super nice with old pueblo buildings, nice outdoor areas, and renovated indoors. We interviewed with faculty members there (30 mins), no stressful questions, and then we sat on a round. Nothing abnormal, a good social work support. Then we came back (about 10 minute drive) to be interviewed by another faculty member. Lunch and then another interview with a faculty member. NO resident interview. interviews are chill, but they will definitely ask you why new mexico over and over again so be prepared to answer that question. A tour- we got to see a stand alone psych building that houses inpatient units and outpatient clinics, but didn't get to see the main hospital. You have a short session with the chair with a similar setup as the PD session in the morning- why New mexico? Introduce yourself, etc. At the end of the day, a faculty member drives you around ABQ to see housing options, different neighborhoods. Since you do get a free hotel room, I recommend getting a rental car (it's only $20/day and since ABQ has a small airport/rental car facility, you can get and return your car quickly) and exploring the day before- great hiking trails and I definitely wish I had more time to explore the city. ABQ has great weather all year around- not quite as nice as california, but usually very sunny with some mild winter and dry climate. Nice cute restaurants, bars, etc, and mexican food. A great place to live overall and decent sized city, but it does feel little bit isolated.
Program Overview: I will just mention some unique features- a lot of rural psychiatry emphasis, but enough pathologies since it's the state's only referral center. I felt like a longitudinal psych primary care clinic during PGY 1 year was unique- it's not a primary care consult unit, but you actually treat patients with both psych and med problems and precepted by both psych and medicine attendings. PGY-2 year is standard with a mix of subspecialty psych rotations and elective as well. PGY-3 is a mixture of various rural, community, and specialized clinics such as substance clinic, child clinc, psychosis clinic, etc. Decent research opportunities in all areas of psych and also a bunch of research opportunities in health services and expanding psych into primary care, rural telepsych, etc. They also have a PGY4 6 month long elective in New Zealand, a specialized child addiction service, and therapy training in CBT, psychodynamic, couple/family therapy. Overall, a decent program with well rounded training experience with emphasis on rural and community psychiatry with very friendly attendings, nice, but bit older residents with families. I don't recall exact call schedule, but very light (one of lightest I have seen in the interview trail). Seemed like residents had a lot of free time.
Program strengths:
very friendly attendings
community/rural psychiatry/telepsychiatry
nice weather/hiking/nature
low cost of living
friendly residents
opp to work with a lot of underserved patients
Program weaknesses
probably mostly it was me, but my personality was different from their residents- but they are all very pleasant and most of the class are US allopathic grads with decent/big name out of state schools with few DOs and IMGs mixed.
ABQ could be a boring city for singles
I will just add few comments to lockian's great review.
Interview day/accomodation: A good resident turn out with happy hour at the hotel night before the interview as well as the lunch. I felt residents were all nice and chill, but definitely on older side- several with families looked like they were in their 40s. But there are several singles as well. In the morning, you sit around the table and PD asks you to introduce and then allows us to ask questions. Then the coordinator drove us to the albuquerque VA which was super nice with old pueblo buildings, nice outdoor areas, and renovated indoors. We interviewed with faculty members there (30 mins), no stressful questions, and then we sat on a round. Nothing abnormal, a good social work support. Then we came back (about 10 minute drive) to be interviewed by another faculty member. Lunch and then another interview with a faculty member. NO resident interview. interviews are chill, but they will definitely ask you why new mexico over and over again so be prepared to answer that question. A tour- we got to see a stand alone psych building that houses inpatient units and outpatient clinics, but didn't get to see the main hospital. You have a short session with the chair with a similar setup as the PD session in the morning- why New mexico? Introduce yourself, etc. At the end of the day, a faculty member drives you around ABQ to see housing options, different neighborhoods. Since you do get a free hotel room, I recommend getting a rental car (it's only $20/day and since ABQ has a small airport/rental car facility, you can get and return your car quickly) and exploring the day before- great hiking trails and I definitely wish I had more time to explore the city. ABQ has great weather all year around- not quite as nice as california, but usually very sunny with some mild winter and dry climate. Nice cute restaurants, bars, etc, and mexican food. A great place to live overall and decent sized city, but it does feel little bit isolated.
Program Overview: I will just mention some unique features- a lot of rural psychiatry emphasis, but enough pathologies since it's the state's only referral center. I felt like a longitudinal psych primary care clinic during PGY 1 year was unique- it's not a primary care consult unit, but you actually treat patients with both psych and med problems and precepted by both psych and medicine attendings. PGY-2 year is standard with a mix of subspecialty psych rotations and elective as well. PGY-3 is a mixture of various rural, community, and specialized clinics such as substance clinic, child clinc, psychosis clinic, etc. Decent research opportunities in all areas of psych and also a bunch of research opportunities in health services and expanding psych into primary care, rural telepsych, etc. They also have a PGY4 6 month long elective in New Zealand, a specialized child addiction service, and therapy training in CBT, psychodynamic, couple/family therapy. Overall, a decent program with well rounded training experience with emphasis on rural and community psychiatry with very friendly attendings, nice, but bit older residents with families. I don't recall exact call schedule, but very light (one of lightest I have seen in the interview trail). Seemed like residents had a lot of free time.
Program strengths:
very friendly attendings
community/rural psychiatry/telepsychiatry
nice weather/hiking/nature
low cost of living
friendly residents
opp to work with a lot of underserved patients
Program weaknesses
probably mostly it was me, but my personality was different from their residents- but they are all very pleasant and most of the class are US allopathic grads with decent/big name out of state schools with few DOs and IMGs mixed.
ABQ could be a boring city for singles
Review: University of New Mexico
Excellent review here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/interview-review-thread-2010-11.775229/#post-10429368), so as above, I'll just hit some highlights
Disclosure: Once again, I was suffering from altitude sickness (fun fact: ABQ is at a higher altitude than even Denver), and it was cold and had snowed (!!!), which put me in a rather bad mood.
1. Interview accommodations/food -- Got put up at a really nice hotel near campus with shuttle service to airport and interview (!) I didn't even need a rental car for the visit. Pre-interview dinner was hors d'oerves at the hotel bar, but it was enough food for a dinner if you're not a big eater like me. Lunch with residents was catered and delicious, featuring local delicacies such as enchiladas and green chile.
2. Interview day -- Interviews were staggered with tours of facilities, which gave us some nice breaks. There were three interviews with faculty as well as a group interview with the PD. There were only four applicants, so we all went around and talked about where we were from, what made us interested in psychiatry, and what brought us to New Mexico. Then we got to ask questions. Personally, I didn't really like this setup -- I couldn't help comparing myself to other applicants and wondering if I stood out enough. Later, we got driven around by the program coordinator and her assistant to the various interview and tour sites, so I got the impression that things were a little scattered. But even so, the driving wasn't bad -- 10 minutes max from location to location -- and probably speaks more to the organization of the interview day than your actual working experience.
3. Program overview -- Strengths include psychotherapy including group and family, child and adolescent services, and addictions research (Meth jokes appreciated, but bigger problem-drugs are actually opiods). As others have said before me, this is a great academic program if you're interested in Native American and Latino populations. There are ample opportunities to do rural work and telemedicine, as well as a dedicated rural track. In the city, there's a sizable Vietnamese and Somali immigrant/refugee population. Overall, the catchman area is huge, including some of Colorado and West Texas. The only significant weakness was that there isn't much dedicated forensic exposure apart from the routine competency hearings, but they are instituting a relationship with the county corrections facility starting next year, and a forensics fellowship has been greenlighted.
4. Faculty/people -- Very involved in publishing and medical education. They recognize that you're there to learn and on didactic days will take over ALL your work, including note-writing. One of my interviewers said her goal is to get residents to call her by her first name.
However, I had an interview with the child and adolescent fellowship director, and she struck me as strange. Half the time, she looked at me like she was in pain. It only got less awkward toward the middle of the interview. It might've been my fault, though, idk.
The other slight red flag was that there wasn't much of a resident turnout either at the reception before or the lunch. At the former, there was one resident from each year, and at the lunch, there were three third and fourth years.
Another weakness is that supervision in past years was described as "stretched thin" due to an insufficient number of attendings per resident. A few years back, they lost several faculty due a combination of conflicts with the department chair and personal/family/health issues. However, new attendings are actively being hired, including recent program grads.
As an aside, I found it interesting that the residency has 2 dedicated second year spots for people transferring in from other specialties or re-training. I met some cool folks including an anesthesia convert and a man who had had a whole career in pulmonary critical care before making the switch over. I think this adds some nice diversity to the program.
5. Location, lifestyle, etc. -- ABQ is an interesting city: quite architecturally homogenous with a unique pueblo-inspired style. I'm told there is a Breakin Bad bus tour if anyone is a fan.Cost of living is below average nationally, and there are lots of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, including skiing and hiking. There's a new mall with some nice stores, great Mexican food, Broadway shows that come though, and a local opera in the open air, which is supposed to be breathtaking to watch during sunset. Overall, though, the high-brow stuff is not as in plentiful as some other places.
6. Benefits: $1-2 K lower than most programs, shared cost health and dental (Blue Cross Blue Shield, which I believe pays for everything 80/20 and has a deductible). Parking isn't free, but cheap. Overall, a decent setup given the low cost of living. Some of the residents have even purchased houses.
7. Facilities -- The university outpatient facility made me cry... cinderblocks galore. However, the VA was amazing as far as VA's go: lots of windows, a garden, and custom architecture reflecting Native American and south-of-the-border influences.
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Georgetown
Accommodation & Food:
There's a resident dinner but I didn't go, but heard it was very nice and they also arranged an informal hangout before dinner as well. No hotel, breakfast with coffee, bagels, yogurt, etc. Nice sandwich for lunch with residents (more senior residents). You don't meet at Georgetown, but at the psych office building that is about 10 minutes away from the main campus. Definitely budget in extra 20-30 minutes since garage is tricky to find and traffic around the office is atrocious.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Breakfast, then intro by PD dr. Akil and APD Dr. Liao. 4 faculty interviews in the morning (20-30 minutes long), everyone has interviews with PD and APD. Really friendly interviews, mostly do you have questions for me or what are looking for in a residency program. Then we take the shuttle bus to main georgetown campus, a tour by a senior resident, and then back for lunch. Then we have a short meeting with the chair and then an optional info session by a child psych PD or any additional faculty interviews if you missed some faculty interviews in the morning due to scheduling, etc. Should be done by 2:30 pm.
Program Overview:
I don't understand why Georgetown has had such negative interview day review/program review in the past, but I feel like things have gotten better since Dr. Akil's arrival couple years ago. They also have made recent curricular changes. PGY-1: 4 months of medicine at gtown and virginia hospital center. 2 month of neuro at gtown, 1 month of addiction psych at VA, and 2 months of inpatient psych at gtown and 3 months of inpatient at the VA. PGY2: 2 months of night float at the va, 2 months of inpatient psych at gtown, 4 months of consult at gtown followed by 2 months of consult at washington hospital center. 3-4 months of VA selectives in geriatrics, primary care/psych integration, and case management. PGY-3: I think this where most changes have been made- 2.5 days of outpatient continuity clinic at georgetown office where we go for the interview. Then 2.5 days mixture of various specialized rotations in eating disorders, child, forensics, community psych, and electives at gtown, VA, a forensic hospital in Maryland, and dominion. PGY-4: various electives including student mental health and NIMH. Call schedule wise, didn't get too much details, but basically in medicine months, you run upto the workhour limit and psych months you will work 60-70 hours/week including calls, but going down as you progress to PGY-3. No call PGY-4. Residents told us that calls are definitely manageable and you do get some time to rest. Overall, it's a smaller department/program where you will get a lot of individualized attention with nice PD and APD. Residents mentioned consult being one of its strength. Emphasis on community psychiatry and underserved patients esp for inpatient side and maybe more upscale for outpatient side. I interviewed with psychologist faculty members and they felt like gtown gives residents good training in therapy. Research is not one of its strengths, but they recently received a $6 million grant in early childhood social interventions and Dr. Akil worked at NIMH for few years before her current position so you can certain find research opportunities at NIMH. Facilities at Gtown is run down, but residents say hospital is more resident run so you get a lot of responsibilities and you have a mixture of sites including VA, washington hospital center, and other community settings. Department is very education focused so a plenty of opportunites to get involved in medical student teaching.
Location & Lifestyle: DC is obviously very nice and I liked how the hospital is connected to the georgetown undergrad campus and you have a food court both for undergrads and med school folks- interesting set up. Housing is pricy, so residents commute from Northern Virginia or Maryland side. A lot of young professionals and coming from the area, DC is a big attraction for a lot of residents here.
Salary & Benefits: Standard- starts around 53000 and goes up 2k each year.
Program Strengths:
Consult
Community psych
Med student education
DC location
Dr. Akil and APD who are warm and dedicated to teaching
A small department where you will get lots of attention and help
Resident focused hospital
Good child fellowship placements and their grads do very well in academia, private practice- I have worked with few georgetown grads who are in fellowships or current faculty members since I am from the area- definitely can vouch for their clinical training and they were all satisfied with their training.
Opportunities to do research at NIMH
9. Potential Weaknesses:
Run down hospital, a small psych unit, but mitigated by a mixture of other rotatioins
DC housing cost/commute/traffic
No specialized units and smaller clinical sites/depts compared to local programs- GW, Maryland, Hopkins, etc.
Call schedule/work hour is on a higher end
Intense medicine months
Accommodation & Food:
There's a resident dinner but I didn't go, but heard it was very nice and they also arranged an informal hangout before dinner as well. No hotel, breakfast with coffee, bagels, yogurt, etc. Nice sandwich for lunch with residents (more senior residents). You don't meet at Georgetown, but at the psych office building that is about 10 minutes away from the main campus. Definitely budget in extra 20-30 minutes since garage is tricky to find and traffic around the office is atrocious.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Breakfast, then intro by PD dr. Akil and APD Dr. Liao. 4 faculty interviews in the morning (20-30 minutes long), everyone has interviews with PD and APD. Really friendly interviews, mostly do you have questions for me or what are looking for in a residency program. Then we take the shuttle bus to main georgetown campus, a tour by a senior resident, and then back for lunch. Then we have a short meeting with the chair and then an optional info session by a child psych PD or any additional faculty interviews if you missed some faculty interviews in the morning due to scheduling, etc. Should be done by 2:30 pm.
Program Overview:
I don't understand why Georgetown has had such negative interview day review/program review in the past, but I feel like things have gotten better since Dr. Akil's arrival couple years ago. They also have made recent curricular changes. PGY-1: 4 months of medicine at gtown and virginia hospital center. 2 month of neuro at gtown, 1 month of addiction psych at VA, and 2 months of inpatient psych at gtown and 3 months of inpatient at the VA. PGY2: 2 months of night float at the va, 2 months of inpatient psych at gtown, 4 months of consult at gtown followed by 2 months of consult at washington hospital center. 3-4 months of VA selectives in geriatrics, primary care/psych integration, and case management. PGY-3: I think this where most changes have been made- 2.5 days of outpatient continuity clinic at georgetown office where we go for the interview. Then 2.5 days mixture of various specialized rotations in eating disorders, child, forensics, community psych, and electives at gtown, VA, a forensic hospital in Maryland, and dominion. PGY-4: various electives including student mental health and NIMH. Call schedule wise, didn't get too much details, but basically in medicine months, you run upto the workhour limit and psych months you will work 60-70 hours/week including calls, but going down as you progress to PGY-3. No call PGY-4. Residents told us that calls are definitely manageable and you do get some time to rest. Overall, it's a smaller department/program where you will get a lot of individualized attention with nice PD and APD. Residents mentioned consult being one of its strength. Emphasis on community psychiatry and underserved patients esp for inpatient side and maybe more upscale for outpatient side. I interviewed with psychologist faculty members and they felt like gtown gives residents good training in therapy. Research is not one of its strengths, but they recently received a $6 million grant in early childhood social interventions and Dr. Akil worked at NIMH for few years before her current position so you can certain find research opportunities at NIMH. Facilities at Gtown is run down, but residents say hospital is more resident run so you get a lot of responsibilities and you have a mixture of sites including VA, washington hospital center, and other community settings. Department is very education focused so a plenty of opportunites to get involved in medical student teaching.
Location & Lifestyle: DC is obviously very nice and I liked how the hospital is connected to the georgetown undergrad campus and you have a food court both for undergrads and med school folks- interesting set up. Housing is pricy, so residents commute from Northern Virginia or Maryland side. A lot of young professionals and coming from the area, DC is a big attraction for a lot of residents here.
Salary & Benefits: Standard- starts around 53000 and goes up 2k each year.
Program Strengths:
Consult
Community psych
Med student education
DC location
Dr. Akil and APD who are warm and dedicated to teaching
A small department where you will get lots of attention and help
Resident focused hospital
Good child fellowship placements and their grads do very well in academia, private practice- I have worked with few georgetown grads who are in fellowships or current faculty members since I am from the area- definitely can vouch for their clinical training and they were all satisfied with their training.
Opportunities to do research at NIMH
9. Potential Weaknesses:
Run down hospital, a small psych unit, but mitigated by a mixture of other rotatioins
DC housing cost/commute/traffic
No specialized units and smaller clinical sites/depts compared to local programs- GW, Maryland, Hopkins, etc.
Call schedule/work hour is on a higher end
Intense medicine months
I will add few comments to freddie mercury's review.
Loma Linda
Accommodation & Food: Had dinner with residents the night before at a Thai restaurant- a full 3 course meal, it was really good thai food even by southern california standards. Residents are super nice and friendly. Seniors really do take care of interns/juniors. Even during our conversation, one of senior residents came back to talk to an intern towards the end of the dinner and caught up asking how the intern was doing and they arranged for a meet up/dinner later, etc.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): No difficult questions. Dr. Pereau (APD) does ask more pointed questions, but most questions are about helping you find opportunities within loma linda related to your goals and some interesting clinical/patient experiences, etc. Tour of the facilities- Loma Linda has separate inpatient and outpatient buildings that are relatively new that's within 10 minute drive from the main hospital/VA.
Program Overview:
More heavy inpatient experiences with inpatient continuing into PGY-3 (outpatient clinics do start PGY-3). They don't have child fellowship, but up to 4 months of child rotations during PGY-2 and 3 and they do fine with socal child fellowship placements. Talked to a child faculty member who did adult training here and child elsewhere, she said her training prepared her really well for child. Inpatient psych PGY-1 is at the VA, but then you move to more specialized psych inpatient mostly done with Loma Linda. Some minimal traveling when you rotate through SAC (community outpatient psych site), but mostly all of your sites are within 10 minutes of each other. Some minimal research mostly involving quality improvement and medical education. Emphasis on medical education with 20+ Loma lind grads going into psych (i have ran into a bunch inside and outside of socal during the trail and they had very nice things to say about the program). Cool electives for PGY-4 including whole person care, spirituality and religion, and disaster relief. They recently started a global health track not just for psych, but for all residency programs at loma linda- Adventists own a bunch of hospitals throughout the world and loma linda is their world HQ, so as a resident you can rotate in any of their health systems. Call is on a heavier end compared to socal psych programs, but still seemed manageable or just slightly above the average compared to east coast programs (probably nowhere as bad as hopkins, duke, etc). Patient population- more underserved (san bernardino is one of poorest counties in US) with addiction issues, but more upscale patients from other parts of inland empire. Residents were strengths of this program in my opinion. They are all super nice and felt like...they were very geeky and sweet in a good way! You don't need to be a christian or an adventist to do a residency here. A plenty of jews, atheists, etc in their class.
Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Lee was really nice, chill, but Dr. Pereau is more intense, but residents say they make a good pair.
Location & Lifestyle: Really cheap housing ($700/month for 1-2 bedroom) with housing within walking distance (but of course, being in socal, ppl would still drive). Upland where we had dinner was more upscale and nice. a typical socal suburbia.
Program Strengths
-Strong clinical program with lots of underserved
-Socal location with cheap housing. 1-2 hour drive for most socal locales
-Global health
-Integration of spirituality and religion with psychiatry (PD told me how he would approach this when discussing cases- pretty cool)
-A cool group of residents who actually hang out a lot together, good class cohesion/interactions between classes.
Program Weaknesses
-Higher than average call schedule by socal standard
-Little or no research
Loma Linda
Accommodation & Food: Had dinner with residents the night before at a Thai restaurant- a full 3 course meal, it was really good thai food even by southern california standards. Residents are super nice and friendly. Seniors really do take care of interns/juniors. Even during our conversation, one of senior residents came back to talk to an intern towards the end of the dinner and caught up asking how the intern was doing and they arranged for a meet up/dinner later, etc.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): No difficult questions. Dr. Pereau (APD) does ask more pointed questions, but most questions are about helping you find opportunities within loma linda related to your goals and some interesting clinical/patient experiences, etc. Tour of the facilities- Loma Linda has separate inpatient and outpatient buildings that are relatively new that's within 10 minute drive from the main hospital/VA.
Program Overview:
More heavy inpatient experiences with inpatient continuing into PGY-3 (outpatient clinics do start PGY-3). They don't have child fellowship, but up to 4 months of child rotations during PGY-2 and 3 and they do fine with socal child fellowship placements. Talked to a child faculty member who did adult training here and child elsewhere, she said her training prepared her really well for child. Inpatient psych PGY-1 is at the VA, but then you move to more specialized psych inpatient mostly done with Loma Linda. Some minimal traveling when you rotate through SAC (community outpatient psych site), but mostly all of your sites are within 10 minutes of each other. Some minimal research mostly involving quality improvement and medical education. Emphasis on medical education with 20+ Loma lind grads going into psych (i have ran into a bunch inside and outside of socal during the trail and they had very nice things to say about the program). Cool electives for PGY-4 including whole person care, spirituality and religion, and disaster relief. They recently started a global health track not just for psych, but for all residency programs at loma linda- Adventists own a bunch of hospitals throughout the world and loma linda is their world HQ, so as a resident you can rotate in any of their health systems. Call is on a heavier end compared to socal psych programs, but still seemed manageable or just slightly above the average compared to east coast programs (probably nowhere as bad as hopkins, duke, etc). Patient population- more underserved (san bernardino is one of poorest counties in US) with addiction issues, but more upscale patients from other parts of inland empire. Residents were strengths of this program in my opinion. They are all super nice and felt like...they were very geeky and sweet in a good way! You don't need to be a christian or an adventist to do a residency here. A plenty of jews, atheists, etc in their class.
Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Dr. Lee was really nice, chill, but Dr. Pereau is more intense, but residents say they make a good pair.
Location & Lifestyle: Really cheap housing ($700/month for 1-2 bedroom) with housing within walking distance (but of course, being in socal, ppl would still drive). Upland where we had dinner was more upscale and nice. a typical socal suburbia.
Program Strengths
-Strong clinical program with lots of underserved
-Socal location with cheap housing. 1-2 hour drive for most socal locales
-Global health
-Integration of spirituality and religion with psychiatry (PD told me how he would approach this when discussing cases- pretty cool)
-A cool group of residents who actually hang out a lot together, good class cohesion/interactions between classes.
Program Weaknesses
-Higher than average call schedule by socal standard
-Little or no research
North shore-LIJ Hofstra (now "Northwell")
Accommodation & Food: A great dinner with a bunch of apps/entrees to share and wine. A bunch of residents showed (almost 1 to 1 ratio with applicants). They do give some light breakfast with coffee, bagels, fruits, pastries. Lunch was also very nice- sandwiches, salads, pasta, chips. Afternoon "snack" with a bunch of deletable desserts.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Mostly faculty interviews with one resident interview. Faculty interviews were chill, just asking few questions about my app. Resident one is little more pointed and intense, but it could've been just one resident. Lunch- a lot of residents showed up including several interns we didn't see at the dinner. For me lunch was useful because for some reason, during the dinner, I didn't get a good vibe with senior residents (either too intense or disengaged with applicants), but when i met with interns, they were a lot better- seemed relaxed, they were having a good time, and seemed very bright.
4. Program Overview: I got a sense that this department has a lot of $$$ and the health system overall as well. Zucker hillside built a whole new psych inpatient building with specialized units including young adult/college student unit, women's unit, geri unit, adult mood disorder unit, adolescent unit, and a variety of other specalized units and clinics. Long Island Jewish Hospital is also right next to the psych hospital (literally over a fench)- also brand new, large. Very light call schedule-- PGY-1: Night float 2 weeks, 1 weekend day call/month, 2 evening short calls/month. PGY-2: 1 month of NF. no PGY-3 or 4 call. PGY-1 mostly inpatient psych with some consult rotations at north shore hospital. 4 months of inpatient medicine with options to substitute with peds which is an eating disorder unit. Neuro is a consult service to the psych hospital. PGY-2: More specialized inpatient units at zucker hillside, 2 months of CL and LIJ, 1 month of ED (including innovative telepsych for community hospital EDs that are referred to the northwell system). Outpatient starts pgy-2 1/2 day a week of protected time for therapy/med management. You get "pathways to expertise" where residents are encouraged to develop their own expertise. You get 3 months off for that PGY-2 and 20% off time during PGY-3 and more time off during PGY-4. so far residents developed med ed and women's health pathway, but you can pretty much create anything you want. You can use that time for research track as well. PGY-3: various specialized clinics including child, addiction, and geri clinics along with continuity therapy clinics that continue into 4th year as well. Another special feature is college track where they have a partnership with over 20+ area universities to refer students when they have a major psychiatric crisis for inptatient (they have a separate unit for them) and then follow up outpatient as well.
I think biggest strength in terms of program is $$ and the new PD Dr. Young from UCSF. He's very chill and he says he specially moved here to be a part of Hofstra which is one of most innovative med school curriculum wise in the country. Older residents who got to experience both old PD and new PD says while old PD was nice as well, new PD is super chill and relaxed and helps out residents a lot. He is actually given power and $$ to make important changes. Dr. Young mentioned he wants this program educationally focused vs service oriented. To back that up, he reduced the residency size from 18 to 12 and then signficantly reduced the call burden (and he says he plans to lower it more next year). He continues to hire faculty members (a day before the interview day, he hired a CBT guy from Columbia because he says he wanted more therapy ppl) and has developed a well thought out curriculum. Interns voluntarily mentioned and gave specific examples how Dr young responded to their feedback and changed things for them immediately.
I also got to meet with Dr. John Kane who is the chair- a very well known schizophrenia researcher who's the PI for the RAISE study. I think when i was interviewing, the NY Times article regarding his study came out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/health/talk-therapy-found-to-ease-schizophrenia.html?_r=0
He says department is well resourced and the health system wants the department to expand into more primary care integration/consult study. A decent research portfolio- a bunch of researchers doing genetics, health services, imaging related to schizophrenia, some research areas in use of tech in medication adherance, detaching early signs of psychosis using social media, addictions, some mood disorder. Residents say it's easily get involved in research and get into research track even without previous research experience. They also offer classes in research methods, epi, stat, etc.
7. Salary & Benefits: really high salary (68k to 75K) with subsidized housing literally right next to the hospital (700-1000 for 1-2 bedroom everything included)
8. Program Strengths:
Probably most innovative curriculum i have seen so far- the whole department seems very innovative
Good research support
Pathways to expertise
Really nice facilities
High salary, subsidized housing
Truly diverse patient population (even compared to socal)
College mental health
Great PD and Dr. Kane, one of leaders in schizophrenia research
Great child fellowship placements in NYC and northeast- NYU, Brown, Columbia, etc
9. Potential Weaknesses:
Residents: as acyl chloride said, based on my limited interaction during lunch and dinner, interns seemed a lot brighter/personable compared to senior residents. Maybe the program has improved a lot past couple years so they are recruiting higher quality residents now vs 2 years ago
Reputation: obviously not as well known esp compared to big name new york programs, but i anticipate this will change next few years
Research: innovative research esp in schizophrenia, but not as broad as larger academic departments
Location: on the border of queens and long island, but i guess a negative for ppl who really want to live in Manhattan
Accommodation & Food: A great dinner with a bunch of apps/entrees to share and wine. A bunch of residents showed (almost 1 to 1 ratio with applicants). They do give some light breakfast with coffee, bagels, fruits, pastries. Lunch was also very nice- sandwiches, salads, pasta, chips. Afternoon "snack" with a bunch of deletable desserts.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Mostly faculty interviews with one resident interview. Faculty interviews were chill, just asking few questions about my app. Resident one is little more pointed and intense, but it could've been just one resident. Lunch- a lot of residents showed up including several interns we didn't see at the dinner. For me lunch was useful because for some reason, during the dinner, I didn't get a good vibe with senior residents (either too intense or disengaged with applicants), but when i met with interns, they were a lot better- seemed relaxed, they were having a good time, and seemed very bright.
4. Program Overview: I got a sense that this department has a lot of $$$ and the health system overall as well. Zucker hillside built a whole new psych inpatient building with specialized units including young adult/college student unit, women's unit, geri unit, adult mood disorder unit, adolescent unit, and a variety of other specalized units and clinics. Long Island Jewish Hospital is also right next to the psych hospital (literally over a fench)- also brand new, large. Very light call schedule-- PGY-1: Night float 2 weeks, 1 weekend day call/month, 2 evening short calls/month. PGY-2: 1 month of NF. no PGY-3 or 4 call. PGY-1 mostly inpatient psych with some consult rotations at north shore hospital. 4 months of inpatient medicine with options to substitute with peds which is an eating disorder unit. Neuro is a consult service to the psych hospital. PGY-2: More specialized inpatient units at zucker hillside, 2 months of CL and LIJ, 1 month of ED (including innovative telepsych for community hospital EDs that are referred to the northwell system). Outpatient starts pgy-2 1/2 day a week of protected time for therapy/med management. You get "pathways to expertise" where residents are encouraged to develop their own expertise. You get 3 months off for that PGY-2 and 20% off time during PGY-3 and more time off during PGY-4. so far residents developed med ed and women's health pathway, but you can pretty much create anything you want. You can use that time for research track as well. PGY-3: various specialized clinics including child, addiction, and geri clinics along with continuity therapy clinics that continue into 4th year as well. Another special feature is college track where they have a partnership with over 20+ area universities to refer students when they have a major psychiatric crisis for inptatient (they have a separate unit for them) and then follow up outpatient as well.
I think biggest strength in terms of program is $$ and the new PD Dr. Young from UCSF. He's very chill and he says he specially moved here to be a part of Hofstra which is one of most innovative med school curriculum wise in the country. Older residents who got to experience both old PD and new PD says while old PD was nice as well, new PD is super chill and relaxed and helps out residents a lot. He is actually given power and $$ to make important changes. Dr. Young mentioned he wants this program educationally focused vs service oriented. To back that up, he reduced the residency size from 18 to 12 and then signficantly reduced the call burden (and he says he plans to lower it more next year). He continues to hire faculty members (a day before the interview day, he hired a CBT guy from Columbia because he says he wanted more therapy ppl) and has developed a well thought out curriculum. Interns voluntarily mentioned and gave specific examples how Dr young responded to their feedback and changed things for them immediately.
I also got to meet with Dr. John Kane who is the chair- a very well known schizophrenia researcher who's the PI for the RAISE study. I think when i was interviewing, the NY Times article regarding his study came out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/health/talk-therapy-found-to-ease-schizophrenia.html?_r=0
He says department is well resourced and the health system wants the department to expand into more primary care integration/consult study. A decent research portfolio- a bunch of researchers doing genetics, health services, imaging related to schizophrenia, some research areas in use of tech in medication adherance, detaching early signs of psychosis using social media, addictions, some mood disorder. Residents say it's easily get involved in research and get into research track even without previous research experience. They also offer classes in research methods, epi, stat, etc.
7. Salary & Benefits: really high salary (68k to 75K) with subsidized housing literally right next to the hospital (700-1000 for 1-2 bedroom everything included)
8. Program Strengths:
Probably most innovative curriculum i have seen so far- the whole department seems very innovative
Good research support
Pathways to expertise
Really nice facilities
High salary, subsidized housing
Truly diverse patient population (even compared to socal)
College mental health
Great PD and Dr. Kane, one of leaders in schizophrenia research
Great child fellowship placements in NYC and northeast- NYU, Brown, Columbia, etc
9. Potential Weaknesses:
Residents: as acyl chloride said, based on my limited interaction during lunch and dinner, interns seemed a lot brighter/personable compared to senior residents. Maybe the program has improved a lot past couple years so they are recruiting higher quality residents now vs 2 years ago
Reputation: obviously not as well known esp compared to big name new york programs, but i anticipate this will change next few years
Research: innovative research esp in schizophrenia, but not as broad as larger academic departments
Location: on the border of queens and long island, but i guess a negative for ppl who really want to live in Manhattan
Washington University in St Louis/Barnes Jewish
Accommodation/Interview Day: Really nice 3 course dinner- we could order whatever we wanted including alcohol at a nice restaurant in central west end. One tip- Barnes Jewish hospital is humongous and it can take awhile to find the residency office so i would schedule additional time to walk from parking garage to the office. Most questions involve trying to find out whether an applicant will be a good fit with the program and vice a versa. Not stressful at all and opps to ask questions back.
Program Overview: Inpatient medicine and psych first year and second year- a bunch of specialized rotations with rooms for electives- child, research, etc. third year- outpatient fourth year- electives (including a rotation at the washu college counseling center). Call schedule is front loaded, but manageable- PGY-1: q5 call with alternating night float. PGY-2: q7 night call (you rotate which day each month based on your rotation- ex. 1 month you may have q7 call on tuesday and next rotation q7 call on sunday, etc obviously with postcall day off). No call pgy-3/4. Opportunities to work with primarily underserved populations. you can pick anyone in the faculty as a supervisor (I believe starting from pgy-2?) so if you have more psychological leaning vs biological, you can pick a psychologist as a supervisor. It's the home of the medical model/DSM III with important historical role in psychiatry. A lot of evidence based medicine incorporated into practice. A lot of research opportunities- they will find a way to fund you with T32 or K grants. On my interview day, I met with a faculty member in child who was very well funded and supported by the department. A lot of research opportunities in all areas of psych- one of top funded departments in the country. opportunities to collaborate with their school of social work/public health and other departments. I got a sense that if you are interested in research, they will find a way to find a mentor and give you funding. Surprisingly only 1-2 residents/class do research so lots of resources if you are interested.
Location/life style: St. Louis is very affordable. Central west end is few miles away from downtown and well contained so it's pretty safe. A lot of new condos full of washu residents and med students. We walked around the neighborhood at night and we felt safe. Surprisingly good Asian food. I had a chance to explore different neighborhoods including near washu undergrad campus and southern parts of the city- great asian food/boba.
Program strengths
Research, research, research
Evidence based medicine
A nice, chill group of residents who are very smart and friendly.
Rigorous clinical training
Low cost of living
No call pgy-3/pgy-4
Program weaknesses
Decent therapy exposure, but not as strong as other programs
Somewhat heavier pgy-1 call schedule
rigorous medicine months
Lack of access to more upscale/higher functioning patients
Lack of diversity in patient population (asians, hispanics, etc)
Emphasis on dsm/medical model
Accommodation/Interview Day: Really nice 3 course dinner- we could order whatever we wanted including alcohol at a nice restaurant in central west end. One tip- Barnes Jewish hospital is humongous and it can take awhile to find the residency office so i would schedule additional time to walk from parking garage to the office. Most questions involve trying to find out whether an applicant will be a good fit with the program and vice a versa. Not stressful at all and opps to ask questions back.
Program Overview: Inpatient medicine and psych first year and second year- a bunch of specialized rotations with rooms for electives- child, research, etc. third year- outpatient fourth year- electives (including a rotation at the washu college counseling center). Call schedule is front loaded, but manageable- PGY-1: q5 call with alternating night float. PGY-2: q7 night call (you rotate which day each month based on your rotation- ex. 1 month you may have q7 call on tuesday and next rotation q7 call on sunday, etc obviously with postcall day off). No call pgy-3/4. Opportunities to work with primarily underserved populations. you can pick anyone in the faculty as a supervisor (I believe starting from pgy-2?) so if you have more psychological leaning vs biological, you can pick a psychologist as a supervisor. It's the home of the medical model/DSM III with important historical role in psychiatry. A lot of evidence based medicine incorporated into practice. A lot of research opportunities- they will find a way to fund you with T32 or K grants. On my interview day, I met with a faculty member in child who was very well funded and supported by the department. A lot of research opportunities in all areas of psych- one of top funded departments in the country. opportunities to collaborate with their school of social work/public health and other departments. I got a sense that if you are interested in research, they will find a way to find a mentor and give you funding. Surprisingly only 1-2 residents/class do research so lots of resources if you are interested.
Location/life style: St. Louis is very affordable. Central west end is few miles away from downtown and well contained so it's pretty safe. A lot of new condos full of washu residents and med students. We walked around the neighborhood at night and we felt safe. Surprisingly good Asian food. I had a chance to explore different neighborhoods including near washu undergrad campus and southern parts of the city- great asian food/boba.
Program strengths
Research, research, research
Evidence based medicine
A nice, chill group of residents who are very smart and friendly.
Rigorous clinical training
Low cost of living
No call pgy-3/pgy-4
Program weaknesses
Decent therapy exposure, but not as strong as other programs
Somewhat heavier pgy-1 call schedule
rigorous medicine months
Lack of access to more upscale/higher functioning patients
Lack of diversity in patient population (asians, hispanics, etc)
Emphasis on dsm/medical model
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2011
- Messages
- 175
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Right? I don't think most of the people, other than the APD, care at all about Nashville as a community or Vanderbilt as an institution. They're just there to build their resume. I wouldn't say this is limited any particular department. As someone with many loved ones in the area, it is very frustrating.
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Hi everyone! New member here... These forums have been very helpful to me as I decided where to apply and interview, so I wanted to give back by adding some information on programs I haven't seen as many reviews about.
Boston University
1. Ease Of Communication: Invitation sent via ERAS, was given choice of four Saturdays to interview and asked to schedule via phone call or email. I got my first choice of date and received a conformation email from the program coordinator, Maria, that day.
2. Accommodation & Food: Extensive listing of hotels provided, some with discount for interviewing at BMC. Parking is validated the day of your interview. We were given breakfast (pastries, fruit, coffee, juice) and lunch (sandwiches, chips, cookies) on the day of the interview. Lunch was a bit awkward, as there were no residents in attendance and there's only one very small table in the cramped room we were sitting in, so the majority of people ate their food on their laps. There is an evening "gathering" the night of your interview at a faculty member's house, but I was unable to attend.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Day started at 8:30 am with an overview of the program from the new chair of the department as well as the two APDs. The PD is retiring before the new residency class will start, and they're currently undergoing a national search to find the new program director. She didn't address the group as a whole although she did conduct interviews.
There were a total of 6 interviews, 30 minutes each, along with one break. I had my break first, unfortunately, and then it was back-to-back interviews all located on the same floor of the building- definitely an interview marathon! Very tiring, but all the interviewers were pleasant, no difficult or unusual questions. Two of my interviewers were residents, as I mentioned above, which ended up being good because aside from them, I only got to meet and talk to one other resident.
This was a very different interview day experience for me- because they only interview on 4 Saturdays, there were 30 candidates, which was almost 3 times more than I'd experienced anywhere else! As a result, it felt very impersonal. I left without feeling like I had a good sense of the program (this also might be because there were no residents at lunch so my only opportunity to interact with residents were the 2 who interviewed me and the one who led the tour).
4. Program Overview:
Rotations outlined very well on website (http://www.bumc.bu.edu/psychiatry/residency-2/rotations/). Of note, many of the inpatient psychiatry rotations take place at the VA since there is no inpatient psychiatry unit at BMC.
There are half-day didactics once/week in PGY 1, and twice per week in PGY2-4.
Call: PGY1- 10-12x/ year in form of 4 hour buddy call. PGY2- 6 weeks total night float (3 sets x two weeks with one day off/week) + day float on weekend shifts (3 total for year + 1-2 holidays). PGY3- cover CL and emergency at BMC or Boston VA. 36 shifts/year- 12 weekend days (24 hours starting 8am), 24 weekdays (6pm- 8am). PGY4- no call
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Seem to have a wide variety of interests, especially in community psychiatry as BMC’s population is largely underserved. The new chair, Dr. Henderson, just came over from MGH and brought with him MGH’s global health program, which is now joint between MGH/BMC, as well as an NIMH T32 global mental health clinical research training fellowship. Also have renowned faculty in addictions.
6. Location & Lifestyle: BMC is located in the South End of Boston, but the rotations seem to be spread through the greater Boston area (Bedford, Brookline, etc). The two residents I asked said most residents live in the South End. For me, the location in Boston is a plus but it does mean having a relatively high cost of living. The residents said they felt like they have a good work-life balance, but I think I missed out on hearing a lot about the lifestyle piece by not attending the dinner.
7. Salary & Benefits: PGY1: 57,826 --> PGY2: 60,013 --> PGY3: 62,835 --> PGY4:65,794. Also get extra on-call pay if you have to cover for someone - $250 for a night float shift, $400 for a 24hour shift. There's an $850/year educational allowance. 4 weeks vacation, 12 weeks maternity leave, 2 weeks paternity leave. Residents do need to pay for their own parking. Moonlighting is allowed PGY4 year, but the resident I asked didn't know much about the opportunities there. They are part of the CIR union.
8. Program Strengths:
-Major emphasis on the underserved - great for community psychiatry and cultural psychiatry. At BMC, they said 70% of the patients are underserved, and 30% of patients are non-English speaking. They have access to interpretation in >150 languages.
-Strong in addictions
-New global health program brought over by chair from MGH
-Unique elective opportunities including international work, BU has a national center for PTSD, a Center for anxiety and related disorders, Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights
-The residents I talked to said there were a lot of good changes in the pipeline and seemed optimistic about the new chair and new program director
9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Transitioning PD. Current PD Dr. Osterman is leaving this month, I believe. It's hard to be excited to go to a program when you don't know who your training director will be
-In the ED, residents said they have a lack of social work support and have to find all their own beds for patients
-No inpatient psychiatry unit at Boston Medical Center
-Not overly impressed with the interview day itself
I've heard rumors from classmates that this has traditionally been a "malignant" program but no one could name any specific reasons. I didn't sense any major red flags on interview day and cannot get a grasp on whether the program is, in fact, malignant. The faculty and residents I met seemed kind and happy, it but my interactions were limited to interview day only, when there weren't many residents around to talk to besides in my interviews themselves.
Boston University
1. Ease Of Communication: Invitation sent via ERAS, was given choice of four Saturdays to interview and asked to schedule via phone call or email. I got my first choice of date and received a conformation email from the program coordinator, Maria, that day.
2. Accommodation & Food: Extensive listing of hotels provided, some with discount for interviewing at BMC. Parking is validated the day of your interview. We were given breakfast (pastries, fruit, coffee, juice) and lunch (sandwiches, chips, cookies) on the day of the interview. Lunch was a bit awkward, as there were no residents in attendance and there's only one very small table in the cramped room we were sitting in, so the majority of people ate their food on their laps. There is an evening "gathering" the night of your interview at a faculty member's house, but I was unable to attend.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Day started at 8:30 am with an overview of the program from the new chair of the department as well as the two APDs. The PD is retiring before the new residency class will start, and they're currently undergoing a national search to find the new program director. She didn't address the group as a whole although she did conduct interviews.
There were a total of 6 interviews, 30 minutes each, along with one break. I had my break first, unfortunately, and then it was back-to-back interviews all located on the same floor of the building- definitely an interview marathon! Very tiring, but all the interviewers were pleasant, no difficult or unusual questions. Two of my interviewers were residents, as I mentioned above, which ended up being good because aside from them, I only got to meet and talk to one other resident.
This was a very different interview day experience for me- because they only interview on 4 Saturdays, there were 30 candidates, which was almost 3 times more than I'd experienced anywhere else! As a result, it felt very impersonal. I left without feeling like I had a good sense of the program (this also might be because there were no residents at lunch so my only opportunity to interact with residents were the 2 who interviewed me and the one who led the tour).
4. Program Overview:
Rotations outlined very well on website (http://www.bumc.bu.edu/psychiatry/residency-2/rotations/). Of note, many of the inpatient psychiatry rotations take place at the VA since there is no inpatient psychiatry unit at BMC.
There are half-day didactics once/week in PGY 1, and twice per week in PGY2-4.
Call: PGY1- 10-12x/ year in form of 4 hour buddy call. PGY2- 6 weeks total night float (3 sets x two weeks with one day off/week) + day float on weekend shifts (3 total for year + 1-2 holidays). PGY3- cover CL and emergency at BMC or Boston VA. 36 shifts/year- 12 weekend days (24 hours starting 8am), 24 weekdays (6pm- 8am). PGY4- no call
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Seem to have a wide variety of interests, especially in community psychiatry as BMC’s population is largely underserved. The new chair, Dr. Henderson, just came over from MGH and brought with him MGH’s global health program, which is now joint between MGH/BMC, as well as an NIMH T32 global mental health clinical research training fellowship. Also have renowned faculty in addictions.
6. Location & Lifestyle: BMC is located in the South End of Boston, but the rotations seem to be spread through the greater Boston area (Bedford, Brookline, etc). The two residents I asked said most residents live in the South End. For me, the location in Boston is a plus but it does mean having a relatively high cost of living. The residents said they felt like they have a good work-life balance, but I think I missed out on hearing a lot about the lifestyle piece by not attending the dinner.
7. Salary & Benefits: PGY1: 57,826 --> PGY2: 60,013 --> PGY3: 62,835 --> PGY4:65,794. Also get extra on-call pay if you have to cover for someone - $250 for a night float shift, $400 for a 24hour shift. There's an $850/year educational allowance. 4 weeks vacation, 12 weeks maternity leave, 2 weeks paternity leave. Residents do need to pay for their own parking. Moonlighting is allowed PGY4 year, but the resident I asked didn't know much about the opportunities there. They are part of the CIR union.
8. Program Strengths:
-Major emphasis on the underserved - great for community psychiatry and cultural psychiatry. At BMC, they said 70% of the patients are underserved, and 30% of patients are non-English speaking. They have access to interpretation in >150 languages.
-Strong in addictions
-New global health program brought over by chair from MGH
-Unique elective opportunities including international work, BU has a national center for PTSD, a Center for anxiety and related disorders, Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights
-The residents I talked to said there were a lot of good changes in the pipeline and seemed optimistic about the new chair and new program director
9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Transitioning PD. Current PD Dr. Osterman is leaving this month, I believe. It's hard to be excited to go to a program when you don't know who your training director will be
-In the ED, residents said they have a lack of social work support and have to find all their own beds for patients
-No inpatient psychiatry unit at Boston Medical Center
-Not overly impressed with the interview day itself
I've heard rumors from classmates that this has traditionally been a "malignant" program but no one could name any specific reasons. I didn't sense any major red flags on interview day and cannot get a grasp on whether the program is, in fact, malignant. The faculty and residents I met seemed kind and happy, it but my interactions were limited to interview day only, when there weren't many residents around to talk to besides in my interviews themselves.
Last edited:
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I interview here as well. Review to come. That said, not entirely true that there is no call R3. Dr. Young brought this up the day of our interview and stated there is call just not overnight.
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George Washington University
Another program I couldn’t find many reviews on, so here goes…
1. Ease Of Communication: Interview invitation sent via ERAS. Further information sent via email by PC Tory, who was very responsive.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. I stayed with a friend, but I believe the PC included a link to local hotels in her email. Note- eat breakfast and drink coffee before you go on interview day! They leave a few granola bars on the table and tell you in an email you’re welcome to bring your own breakfast. There’s no water or coffee in room. Lunch was provided and was good, but breakfast was definitely lackluster.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The schedule of interview day was very manageable. It went from 8:15am -1:50pm since there are no grand rounds on Tuesday (I think on other interview days it can be longer), and included 3 thirty minute interviews. For each of us, one interview was with the PD, one with the APD, and one with the chief resident. They were all conversational, pleasant, nothing tricky. There were only 4-5 of us interviewing that day. The interview dinner the night before was at a good restaurant in Foggy Bottom and we could order anything off the menu, except wine/alcohol. There were 2 residents and 4 applicants all sitting at a round table, so it was easy to converse. It got a little awkward when one resident started bad-mouthing other programs she called “malignant” but otherwise was fine.
4. Program Overview: PGY1 – 6 months of inpatient psych (2 months at GW, 4 months at INOVA Fairfax in VA which residents seemed to like better), 2 months neuro, 3 mo medicine at GW, 1 mo of medical ER at GW. While on medicine, short call q5. While on neuro and psych, on call ¾ weekends doing one 12 hour shifts either all day Sat, Sun, or overnight. No didactic day PGY 1, which was a complaint voiced by residents. In the information they gave us, didactics are listed as happening 12-1pm on Wednesday but we were told they have them 2-3 times a week.
PGY2- CL service at least 2 months. 1 mo adolescent, 1 mo child. 1-2 months of addictions, 1-2 months geriatrics, 1-2 months partial hospital program. Also rotate at state facility, NVMHI- the # of months you do of each rotation depends on which schedule you get? I'm not clear on all the details, sorry! Starting PGY2, all day protected didactics on Thursday. I didn’t catch call frequency PGY2 and 3, but they mentioned they’re 24-30 hours each and you stay overnight after being at your normal rotation, then get a post-call day off.
-PGY3- all outpatient. Have resident clinic at GW, group therapy 1 hour/week, supervision 4 h/week, community mental health center 1 day/week, psychosomatic clinic ½ day/week (ex women’s health, cancer. Or subspecialty such as college mental health, refugee mental health in North Virginia, HIV/AIDs, suboxone). Also have a health policy rotation where you get to take field trips, sounded interesting.
-PGY4- 2 days at community clinic, 1 day didactics, and the rest is elective.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Pretty small department, but if you’re interested in global health, the faculty connections are wonderful. Also well known for CL.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Seems like a very call-heavy program, maybe due to the small class size. A few different residents mentioned that the first year is very tough because you’re isolated from your co-interns and there’s a lot of call, but they also said this gets easier each year. Several residents mentioned that they are "collegial" with each other but do not tend to socialize together. We were told the first year is largely about "fatigue management." Hmm.
7. Salary & Benefits:
PGY1: 55, 749 --> PGY2: 57,712 --> PGY3: 60,677 --> PGY4: 63,120
$6 meal vouchers when on call. 12 weeks maternity leave. No education stipend. I asked a resident about moonlighting and she says it’s on a case-by-case basis(?).
8. Program Strengths:
-Location in DC
-Emphasis on humanism in psychiatry and seemingly diverse patient population
-Strong CL department
-Opportunity to get your MPH during residency, 90% paid for
-Amazing global health opportunities. Their residents have done some pretty amazing things globally; one started a clinic in Palestine, one went to Greece to do a needs assessment for Syrian refugees, one was just returning from Nigeria
-Full day didactics starting PGY2
-Very cool subspecialty clinics available to take part in- HIV/AIDS, women’s health, college mental health, refugees, oncology
9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Residents didn’t seem very happy, and they didn’t seem to like each other. One applicant asked a couple different people how they got along with their co-residents and they said things like “we’re cordial” and “we do our own thing.”
-No psych ER. Psych patients wait in the hallway of the medical ED.
-Small class size
-In the overview, we were told “this is not the place for you if you’re interested in research.”
Overall Thoughts: I went into this interview thinking I would absolutely love the program, but was a little disappointed. The residents' answers to questions were somewhat sketchy and evasive, and I was left wondering if there are issues under the surface? Just my two cents... I hope I'm wrong!
Another program I couldn’t find many reviews on, so here goes…
1. Ease Of Communication: Interview invitation sent via ERAS. Further information sent via email by PC Tory, who was very responsive.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. I stayed with a friend, but I believe the PC included a link to local hotels in her email. Note- eat breakfast and drink coffee before you go on interview day! They leave a few granola bars on the table and tell you in an email you’re welcome to bring your own breakfast. There’s no water or coffee in room. Lunch was provided and was good, but breakfast was definitely lackluster.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The schedule of interview day was very manageable. It went from 8:15am -1:50pm since there are no grand rounds on Tuesday (I think on other interview days it can be longer), and included 3 thirty minute interviews. For each of us, one interview was with the PD, one with the APD, and one with the chief resident. They were all conversational, pleasant, nothing tricky. There were only 4-5 of us interviewing that day. The interview dinner the night before was at a good restaurant in Foggy Bottom and we could order anything off the menu, except wine/alcohol. There were 2 residents and 4 applicants all sitting at a round table, so it was easy to converse. It got a little awkward when one resident started bad-mouthing other programs she called “malignant” but otherwise was fine.
4. Program Overview: PGY1 – 6 months of inpatient psych (2 months at GW, 4 months at INOVA Fairfax in VA which residents seemed to like better), 2 months neuro, 3 mo medicine at GW, 1 mo of medical ER at GW. While on medicine, short call q5. While on neuro and psych, on call ¾ weekends doing one 12 hour shifts either all day Sat, Sun, or overnight. No didactic day PGY 1, which was a complaint voiced by residents. In the information they gave us, didactics are listed as happening 12-1pm on Wednesday but we were told they have them 2-3 times a week.
PGY2- CL service at least 2 months. 1 mo adolescent, 1 mo child. 1-2 months of addictions, 1-2 months geriatrics, 1-2 months partial hospital program. Also rotate at state facility, NVMHI- the # of months you do of each rotation depends on which schedule you get? I'm not clear on all the details, sorry! Starting PGY2, all day protected didactics on Thursday. I didn’t catch call frequency PGY2 and 3, but they mentioned they’re 24-30 hours each and you stay overnight after being at your normal rotation, then get a post-call day off.
-PGY3- all outpatient. Have resident clinic at GW, group therapy 1 hour/week, supervision 4 h/week, community mental health center 1 day/week, psychosomatic clinic ½ day/week (ex women’s health, cancer. Or subspecialty such as college mental health, refugee mental health in North Virginia, HIV/AIDs, suboxone). Also have a health policy rotation where you get to take field trips, sounded interesting.
-PGY4- 2 days at community clinic, 1 day didactics, and the rest is elective.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Pretty small department, but if you’re interested in global health, the faculty connections are wonderful. Also well known for CL.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Seems like a very call-heavy program, maybe due to the small class size. A few different residents mentioned that the first year is very tough because you’re isolated from your co-interns and there’s a lot of call, but they also said this gets easier each year. Several residents mentioned that they are "collegial" with each other but do not tend to socialize together. We were told the first year is largely about "fatigue management." Hmm.
7. Salary & Benefits:
PGY1: 55, 749 --> PGY2: 57,712 --> PGY3: 60,677 --> PGY4: 63,120
$6 meal vouchers when on call. 12 weeks maternity leave. No education stipend. I asked a resident about moonlighting and she says it’s on a case-by-case basis(?).
8. Program Strengths:
-Location in DC
-Emphasis on humanism in psychiatry and seemingly diverse patient population
-Strong CL department
-Opportunity to get your MPH during residency, 90% paid for
-Amazing global health opportunities. Their residents have done some pretty amazing things globally; one started a clinic in Palestine, one went to Greece to do a needs assessment for Syrian refugees, one was just returning from Nigeria
-Full day didactics starting PGY2
-Very cool subspecialty clinics available to take part in- HIV/AIDS, women’s health, college mental health, refugees, oncology
9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Residents didn’t seem very happy, and they didn’t seem to like each other. One applicant asked a couple different people how they got along with their co-residents and they said things like “we’re cordial” and “we do our own thing.”
-No psych ER. Psych patients wait in the hallway of the medical ED.
-Small class size
-In the overview, we were told “this is not the place for you if you’re interested in research.”
Overall Thoughts: I went into this interview thinking I would absolutely love the program, but was a little disappointed. The residents' answers to questions were somewhat sketchy and evasive, and I was left wondering if there are issues under the surface? Just my two cents... I hope I'm wrong!
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Hey guys, does anybody have any feedback on Tufts psych residency? I went to interview there and really liked the program--seemed solid. For some reason, people don't seem to know a lot about the program? Do the Tufts residents get good job/fellowship placements after the residency? One thing that was interesting was that it was a small class size (5-6 people) and every class had a few IMG's and DO's. Not sure if that's because they have trouble recruiting american allopathic or because they really do value diversity. Thoughts?
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Welcome to the solid Mid-range, where "valuing diversity" means that we give interviews to a lot of really good DO and IMG candidates who get shut out of the name-brand 'Top-tier' programs. They rank us, we rank them, and they fill in the 42.8% of psychiatry positions not taken by US allopathic seniors. (Point being that really, we have very little control over what kind of "mix" we'll end up in the Match.) So Tufts? Good, solid program. Overshadowed by its neighbors. Don't judge programs automatically on their proportion of DOs and IMGs.
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Thanks for this. I think sometimes we forget how much of Psychiatry positions go untaken by US MD's. In your experience, does it matter much at all in terms of fellowship placement/job recruitment whether you went to a "solid mid-range" program like Tufts vs. a program like Cornell or MGH?
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Not much. Psych Fellowships are typically there for the taking (except Forensics) if you've trained at any decent program.
And the recruiters will start emailing and phoning from about an hour after your name appears on your state's list of licensed physicians.
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Man...
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Forgive them Dharma, for they know not how they sound. Most allopathic medical students have an awareness of IMGs being out there, but it isn’t uncommon to know nothing about the DO world out there as an allopathic medical student. It is more ignorance than Xenophobia.
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I know that freudianslipp probably wasn't trying to say that DOs and IMGs are inferior. I, too, am sometimes unsure how I'm supposed to interpret a program's residents' backgrounds. However, the SJW in me feels like ranting about this to no one in particular.
Most of the IMGs I've met have been people who were already practicing physicians in their home country but needed to move to the US for some reason. They speak excellent English and seem incredibly intelligent. Not to mention they bring a unique perspective to a program. I think it's really cool to include them.
We can't all be born into rich American families. I don't want to start to a fight, but I'd be interested to see the socioeconomic background breakdown of DO school students versus MD school students... in particular "upper tier" private MD schools. Maybe there's no difference, but I'd be surprised. I don't think it's even close to fair as far as who is able to get into a fancy pants MD school and who isn't. It's way easier to get into Harrrvarrrd if dr. mom and dr. dad have been coaching and teaching you since birth and buying every prep program available the whole way through than it is if you're an orphan and you had to work a full time job during college. Regardless of all that, taking truly excellent DO applicants shouldn't be viewed as a sign of weakness, imo. It should be viewed as a sign of not being idiotically elitist. Why exclude a brilliant applicant with outstanding accomplishments just because of the school they went to? Aren't you kind of shooting yourself in the foot?
That said... Idk how an applicant can tell if a program is getting the residents they want or being forced to take whoever they can get.
Most of the IMGs I've met have been people who were already practicing physicians in their home country but needed to move to the US for some reason. They speak excellent English and seem incredibly intelligent. Not to mention they bring a unique perspective to a program. I think it's really cool to include them.
We can't all be born into rich American families. I don't want to start to a fight, but I'd be interested to see the socioeconomic background breakdown of DO school students versus MD school students... in particular "upper tier" private MD schools. Maybe there's no difference, but I'd be surprised. I don't think it's even close to fair as far as who is able to get into a fancy pants MD school and who isn't. It's way easier to get into Harrrvarrrd if dr. mom and dr. dad have been coaching and teaching you since birth and buying every prep program available the whole way through than it is if you're an orphan and you had to work a full time job during college. Regardless of all that, taking truly excellent DO applicants shouldn't be viewed as a sign of weakness, imo. It should be viewed as a sign of not being idiotically elitist. Why exclude a brilliant applicant with outstanding accomplishments just because of the school they went to? Aren't you kind of shooting yourself in the foot?
That said... Idk how an applicant can tell if a program is getting the residents they want or being forced to take whoever they can get.
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Plus not everyone can be from the Great Lakes region where DOs are running around everywhere.
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I'd say that's a pretty big red flag, even if it is just limited to the ED. I wouldn't want to be trying to find beds for patients (on my own) in Boston.
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I'm kinda "meh" on that issue, but also because I came from a program without night social work and it was never a major complaint for me. Not sure how it'd be in Boston but where I was at the residents learned tricks and resources to get people placed fairly quickly.
From what I hear, they have really brutal work hours, lots of changes, essentially the worst program in California. I haven't interviewed there, but I'm curious if things have changed (or will change hopefully for the better) with their new PD.
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Yeah, I know. Still makes me cringe a bit. But that's my problem...
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Does anyone have thoughts or insight on the program in Las Vegas or JPS Fort Worth?
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