Picking a residency way in advance... advice?

[magwi11]

Hi folks,
So I am in a bit of a unique situation, I'm an M3 MD/PhD who will be applying in psychiatry next year. However, my husband is applying to medical school now to start in the fall. I'll be trying to follow him to wherever he ends up. He's got some great options so far, and I'm trying to think how I would rank these programs/regions so that we can make a decision that's hopefully going to be good for both of us.

I'm interested in child and adolescent, strongly committed to research, and especially neuroimaging. I'm particularly interested in developmental changes associated with the onset of mood and psychotic disorders, and better characterizing risk markers.

Our Current Options:
Yale
Harvard (and therefore, Boston programs)
Columbia (and therefore, Manhattan programs)
Still Pending:
UPenn (and all of Philly), Cornell (taking us out of Harlem).

I'd love to hear the thoughts of people that went through the process this year/anyone training in any of these places. Suggestions for resources that will help make this decision would also be super helpful. Thanks.
magwi

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

You'll be absolutely fine in any of those places.

 

[Armadillos]

Personally I would choose an option that would leave you 2 (or more) good options for residency so you don't have the stress of having all your eggs in one basket and you get the chance to choose which program you like better than the other when ranking.

 

[Ironspy]

Personally I would choose an option that would leave you 2 (or more) good options for residency so you don't have the stress of having all your eggs in one basket and you get the chance to choose which program you like better than the other when ranking.

Agreeing with Armadillos. NYC has a lot of options for research-oriented psych programs but you have to want to live there. Boston gives you several options plus Umass and Brown if you want to live halfway. I interviewed at both UPenn and Yale and loved both programs but they're both the only thing around that fits your description so you're really putting your eggs in one basket. Good luck!

 

[SmallBird]

Hi folks,
So I am in a bit of a unique situation, I'm an M3 MD/PhD who will be applying in psychiatry next year. However, my husband is applying to medical school now to start in the fall. I'll be trying to follow him to wherever he ends up. He's got some great options so far, and I'm trying to think how I would rank these programs/regions so that we can make a decision that's hopefully going to be good for both of us.

I'm interested in child and adolescent, strongly committed to research, and especially neuroimaging. I'm particularly interested in developmental changes associated with the onset of mood and psychotic disorders, and better characterizing risk markers.

Our Current Options:
Yale
Harvard (and therefore, Boston programs)
Columbia (and therefore, Manhattan programs)
Still Pending:
UPenn (and all of Philly), Cornell (taking us out of Harlem).

I'd love to hear the thoughts of people that went through the process this year/anyone training in any of these places. Suggestions for resources that will help make this decision would also be super helpful. Thanks.
magwi

As OPD said all good options. If you decide that Yale is high on your list (And it certainly seems to fit your interests) it would be worth while reaching out to the PD/APD's to explain your situation - they may be able to offer some advice and help with co-ordinating between you and your husband (they gave my husband an RA position while he was waiting to hear from grad schools, and have helped other people's spouses get connected with fellowships and other opportunities).

Good luck!

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

It looks like you are aiming at programs that are on the high end of the bell curve. As long as you are in the upper quartile of psych programs, the differences in quality are relatively small in general. The nature of the opportunities may differ some, but the presence of opportunities will be fairly universal. Good luck, you will be fine.

 

[SEPsych]

As OPD said all good options. If you decide that Yale is high on your list (And it certainly seems to fit your interests) it would be worth while reaching out to the PD/APD's to explain your situation - they may be able to offer some advice and help with co-ordinating between you and your husband (they gave my husband an RA position while he was waiting to hear from grad schools, and have helped other people's spouses get connected with fellowships and other opportunities).

Good luck!

I'll add that as an applicant this year yale was very helpful getting my spouse into contact with meaningful contacts in her profession in the surrounding area. I was very impressed, felt like I was being considered a possible professional colleague, not some peon.

This isn't to say you should neccesarily choose yale, just pointing out that smallbirds experiences are not unique.

 

[magwi11]

Thanks everyone. I know that there are no bad choices on the list, which is an amazing position to be in.

I do have contacts at most of the programs, and I'll be reaching out more in the coming weeks. I felt a little weird talking to PDs when my husband's applications were still pending, since it is more than a little presumptuous to assume acceptances to any of these places, but obviously it's merited now.

It is especially nice to hear that Yale was helpful. It is pretty high on our list, but obviously does bring up the concerns of "all our eggs in one basket" which makes us a little nervous. (We're living apart now. It's paid off with these med school offers, but we are very *very* sick of it. We don't want to have to make that choice again.) I did talk both to one of our collaborators and one of the PD/APDs from Yale while at a conference in December, and got a very good feeling about them being willing to help us coordinate, but it's good to hear that other people have had good experiences and it's not just a recruitment spiel. We'll see, the decision will be made in a couple of weeks, which is pretty exciting/nerve wracking.