Ok so I'm struggling with , in alphabetical order.
A. CHA
B. MGH
C. Penn
D. Yale
I know these are all great programs and I will be happy wherever I end up. But a list must be made. I haven't settled on my long term goals of private vs. academics, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice the option of being an academic renowned psychiatry. I am a married male with 1 child on the way and possibly another one during residency. My wife will have a full time job/similar hours to me during residency. I have no geographic preference. My interests in psychiatry are neuroimaging, community psychiatry, and the concept of the medical home. My research interest are the effects of depression in the medically ill.
I would appreciate honest feedback.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I perceive those programs as being very different from each other. Of course they're all strong research places, but I generally associate CHA with strong community psychiatry, MGH/McLean with the best classical/psychological psych and inpatient psych, Penn with very biological/medical-oriented psych, and Yale with just generally strong balanced training.
In terms of your preferences:
1. "The option of being an academic renowned psychiatrist" - I think any of those programs will do fine in that regard, but MGH/McLean certainly has some name recognition that might give you an infinitesimal head-start.
2. "Married/child" - I think that might be a point against Yale, since New Haven probably has fewer job options for your wife. Also, it doesn't have a reputation for being the best place to raise a family. Also - I'm sure things have changed in the last couple of decades, but after reading "Mount Misery", I'd be scared to do a residency at McLean (or anywhere in Harvard, for that matter) while having a family. I'm not a big fan of Boston (expensive, bad traffic, bad weather, etc.), but they do have good schools. Philly is one of my favorite cities in the US (traffic/weather/cost is better than Boston but all of the heritage is still there, more centrally-located, more easy-going people).
3. "Neuroimaging" - Penn is known for biological and imaging research. MGH is deeply involved in the Human Connectome Project, although the bulk of that work is happening at WashU.
4. "Community psychiatry" - CHA will probably give you the most exposure, McLean is probably just as good but will offer you less exposure, Penn is probably the weakest of the four (but still strong)
5. "Medical home" - that sounds like a Harvard sort of thing, but I don't know about specific research
6. "Effects of depression in medically ill" - I'd say Penn would be the best there, or maybe Yale. Again, I think Longwood would probably be the best of the Harvard programs in that regard, since McLean doesn't have medical patients and CHA is mostly outpatient.
Did you apply to Mayo? I know they're not as well-known in psych as MGH, but I think they're pretty good at those above 6 points.
If I were in your position, I'd probably rank MGH/McLean #1, since you're interests are so diverse and they're good at pretty much everything (even if they're not the best at certain things). Then it would probably be a toss-up between CHA and Penn, depending on whether you care more about community psych or neuroimaging and the effects of depression in the medically ill. Actually, I'd probably rank Penn higher because it'll still give you good community training, while CHA might not offer you the same diversity of experience. On the other hand, CHA might give you access to Harvard research resources. Yale would probably be #4 mostly because of location, but there's a Yale resident who occasionally posts on here, so he might be able to shed more light.