Questions about Yale psychiatry

[mxns]

From what I have read and heard, Yale psych sounds extremely appealing. I've browsed through some older threads, but still have a few questions:

in terms of career prospects, if I hope to ultimately work in the NYC area (academics), am I better off training at a NYC residency?

New Haven sucks, but is it safe enough to have a family there? Do residents have families, on average? Is it possible to live closer to NY (perhaps not during PGY1, but in later years)?

I've heard once or twice that residents are given the opportunity to take classes at the university. Can anybody give me more information on this?


Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[slappy]

in terms of career prospects, if I hope to ultimately work in the NYC area (academics), am I better off training at a NYC residency?

Absolutely unequivocally yes.

New Haven sucks, but is it safe enough to have a family there? Do residents have families, on average? Is it possible to live closer to NY (perhaps not during PGY1, but in later years)?

The commute takes over 2 hours.

 

[scudiera]

New Haven sucks, but is it safe enough to have a family there? Do residents have families, on average? Is it possible to live closer to NY (perhaps not during PGY1, but in later years)?

Thanks!

No, most people's families are abducted Taken-style within the year I've lived in some pretty rough places and if you're thinking of someday living and working in NYC then New Haven shouldn't cause you or your family any worries. As a white guy, I'd say that it's "White person scary," not legitimately unsafe. I've only visited a few times for conferences and meetings though, but growing up in a Mid-Atlantic suburb it seemed just fine to me.

 

[asdf0987]

New Haven is surprisingly pretty nice, GREAT restaurants, very family friendly depending where you live.

 

[VMSmith]

in terms of career prospects, if I hope to ultimately work in the NYC area (academics), am I better off training at a NYC residency?

Absolutely unequivocally yes.

I wouldn't go that far. Yes, training in NYC will allow you to make a lot of connections and you'll probably be able to get a job at your home institution after graduating if you want one, but it's not as if people from Yale are shut out of academic settings in NYC.

Yale is well regarded in NYC (and everywhere else) and if you want to work in NYC in an academic setting, you will be able to do so. You'll be at a disadvantage in terms of personally knowing who in NYC to talk to about jobs, but your residency director will be able to make appropriate introductions on your behalf when the time comes. Also, if you are interested in fellowship training (whether clinical or research) there are plenty of options to get you into the city.

If you feel that Yale will offer you the best fit for your interests then I think you should go for it.

 

[SmallBird]

Absolutely unequivocally yes.



The commute takes over 2 hours.

Regarding getting jobs in New York city - the proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and two of our recent graduates got jobs at Mt Sinai and Columbia. I don't want to tell you that you won't be better off at a New York program if that is where you want to be eventually, but if you feel that Yale would offer you the best residency experience I would (personally) think it makes sense to try and match here. I haven't heard of anyone struggling to find jobs in academic departments wherever they want to be. Also helps to think about lifestyle. Our stipends are very competitive (starting at 68k, plus full health insurance for your family at no cost) and the cost of living is lower in New Haven.

Although I live in New Haven, like it very much, and have no concerns about safety, a number of residents live in surrounding towns with families. Towns towards New York in Fairfield county (like Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford) are very nice, safe, and easily commutable to New Haven with a number of residents living in each of these places. Towns in the other direction are further from New York but more affordable and also very safe.

Regarding the commute - MetroNorth to grand central varies from around 95 to 105 minutes. We drive to Brooklyn often and can get there in 75 minutes.

The longer I am here the happier I get. Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[manly_man246]

Regarding getting jobs in New York city - the proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and two of our recent graduates got jobs at Mt Sinai and Columbia. I don't want to tell you that you won't be better off at a New York program if that is where you want to be eventually, but if you feel that Yale would offer you the best residency experience I would (personally) think it makes sense to try and match here. I haven't heard of anyone struggling to find jobs in academic departments wherever they want to be. Also helps to think about lifestyle. Our stipends are very competitive (starting at 68k, plus full health insurance for your family at no cost) and the cost of living is lower in New Haven.

Although I live in New Haven, like it very much, and have no concerns about safety, a number of residents live in surrounding towns with families. Towns towards New York in Fairfield county (like Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford) are very nice, safe, and easily commutable to New Haven with a number of residents living in each of these places. Towns in the other direction are further from New York but more affordable and also very safe.

Regarding the commute - MetroNorth to grand central varies from around 95 to 105 minutes. We drive to Brooklyn often and can get there in 75 minutes.

The longer I am here the happier I get. Let me know if you have any more questions.

How is New Haven in terms of socioeconomic and cultural diversity? I've only been there once. It seemed fine, but I currently live in a very diverse major metro and am worried it's going to be a step down in these areas. I ultimately envision myself returning to some place like the city I'm currently in and working with a lot of refugee and minority populations and I'd really like it if my training environment reflected this in some way. I believe that NYU has something akin to what I'm interested in but I want to apply fairly broadly.

 

[slappy]

Regarding getting jobs in New York city - the proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and two of our recent graduates got jobs at Mt Sinai and Columbia.

Oh I'm sure. But that does not mean it's not easier to get a job in NYC if you do your residency at one of the big academic programs in NYC.

 

[SmallBird]

Oh I'm sure. But that does not mean it's not easier to get a job in NYC if you do your residency at one of the big academic programs in NYC.

Agreed!!

 

[SmallBird]

How is New Haven in terms of socioeconomic and cultural diversity? I've only been there once. It seemed fine, but I currently live in a very diverse major metro and am worried it's going to be a step down in these areas. I ultimately envision myself returning to some place like the city I'm currently in and working with a lot of refugee and minority populations and I'd really like it if my training environment reflected this in some way. I believe that NYU has something akin to what I'm interested in but I want to apply fairly broadly.

Well, from a socioeconomic perspective New Haven is extremely diverse... I think this is in fact something that some people don't like about New Haven. I stay in a beautiful apartment building downtown but it is right next to some lower income areas. Walking through downtown you will go past some very nice, upscale restaurants and then after two or three minutes things will have a very different feel with wig shops and family dollar... If you like that kind of mixed bag New Haven certainly embodies that. If someone was looking for a manicured downtown with only nice restaurants and zero litter I would honestly tell them that they might find New Haven disappointing.

Culturally, I have been very satisfied but I guess it depends what you are looking for specifically. The cuisine is really great, being affordable and diverse, with everything from great street food to more upscale french, spanish, malaysian, etc. My partner and I love classical music and enjoy the free concerts offered at Yale but we do also go up to Tanglewood in Massachussets or down to New York city from time to time. The Yale Rep puts on very high quality plays although I have to say I have only been once and can't claim to be an expert in judging them at all.

From the perspective of clinical diversity, I honestly think you will be quite satisfied. My inpatient work has been diverse, including working with veterans, uninsured/medicaid populations, and on research units. I have had ample exposure to minority populations and refugees on the consult service, and in the psychiatric emergency room. I chose to work with a more privileged population for most of my outpatient work (at the Yale student health service) but other residents have chosen experiences in community health, working at the hispanic clinic, working in the drug diversion clinic, etc.

 

[InvegaSustenna]

Hi SmallBird,

I PM'd you a while back. Do they interview/rank DOs at Yale? Would I have any shot at an interview with decent stats and no red flags? It doesn't look like they have any DOs currently. Thanks.

 

[SmallBird]

Hi SmallBird,

I PM'd you a while back. Do they interview/rank DOs at Yale? Would I have any shot at an interview with decent stats and no red flags? It doesn't look like they have any DOs currently. Thanks.

Sorry for not replying sooner! I really have no idea - you are right there are no DO's currently but I'm not sure how that is approached.

 

[mxns]

Well, it is reassuring to know that I won't be shut out of NYC if I do residency at Yale. I still need to do more research on the NYC programs, but so far I have a highly favorable impression of Yale culture. I just don't know if "culture" is a good enough reason to choose on residency program over another, especially when all I'm going on is what I've read on these forums and things from upperclassmen.

What about the level of integration with the rest of the university? The yale psych residency website seemed to suggest that residents have the opportunity to engage with the rest of the university, but does this end up happening in practice? Do residents actually take advantage of the whole university? (I am asking this because my impression is that this integration isn't emphasized at Columbia, which is another program I am looking at.)

 

[HarryMTieboutMD]

Yale seems to produce more department chairs than any other program in the country. Two of NYC's most prominent psychiatrists, Mount Sinai's Eric Nestler and Wayne Goodman, the chairs of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, respectively, trained at Yale.

 

[SmallBird]

Well, it is reassuring to know that I won't be shut out of NYC if I do residency at Yale. I still need to do more research on the NYC programs, but so far I have a highly favorable impression of Yale culture. I just don't know if "culture" is a good enough reason to choose on residency program over another, especially when all I'm going on is what I've read on these forums and things from upperclassmen.

What about the level of integration with the rest of the university? The yale psych residency website seemed to suggest that residents have the opportunity to engage with the rest of the university, but does this end up happening in practice? Do residents actually take advantage of the whole university? (I am asking this because my impression is that this integration isn't emphasized at Columbia, which is another program I am looking at.)

Residents take advantage of this in various ways (and to varying extents!). I run an LGBTQ discussion group which we do with the Yale Office of LGBTQ resources, and we get speakers from different departments in the university to come to these events. Socially/recreationally residents will go to some of the grad student social clubs in New Haven, and make use of the different campus libraries, gyms, the Yale Outdoor Education Center, concerts at the School of Music, etc. It is certainly possible to get involved in research with faculty in different departments if there is a compelling reason to do this - people are very open to meeting with residents and exploring these types of opportunities. Residents who chose to do their 3rd year at University Health have additional opportunities to work both clinically with Yale students but also engage with deans, freshman counsellors, etc. Our graduation ceremony takes place in one of the residential colleges and many faculty are fellows of different residential colleges on campus. I hope that helps!

 

[mxns]

thanks, SmallBird, this is really helpful!!