Official Interview Review Thread!

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Doctor Bagel

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It looks like this is a yearly tradition. Had my first interview today, so I'll kick it off.

OU-Tulsa
Interview overview

1. food/accommodations -- dinner the night before at a local restaurant in a midtown fancy outdoor shopping area. We had 4 residents and 5 interviewees there, so it was a pretty small, informal group. The program puts applicants up in a Doubletree, and residents are more than willing to drive applicants to the dinner and to the interview, so there's no need to rent a car if you fly in.

2. interview day -- I had interviews with 6 different faculty members. 4 were one on one, and one had 2 faculty members present. No interviews with other students. The day starts with a powerpoint presentation about the program. Interviews are next and then lunch with the residents. The day ends with a tour of the hospital where residents do their inpatient rotations. They generally interview 5 applicants at a session.

Program overview -- this is a small program with 5 residents in each class. There's also a fp/psych program here, that has 2 residents/class. Very collegial program with a resident-friendly schedule. Hospital call limited to 2 months of inpatient primary care medicine your first year.

PGY-1 -- 4 months primary care that can be done in family medicine, pediatrics or internal medicine. 2 months are inpatient and 2 are outpatient. Most residents opt for family medicine, which apparently has a very cush outpatient schedule, and a night float for inpatient. Call on peds inpatient was q4, and probably more grueling than either IM or FM. Call on IM is q5. Your 2 months of inpatient should be the only months of overnight call.

4 months of inpatient at a private hospital. Generally considered to be a very nice psychiatric hospital with good facilities and staff. Call is approx. q3 with alternating weekends between residents (missed how often residents are on call on the weekends). Residents are required to stay and workup patients until 9 pm on call -- then they go home and have home pager call.

1 month emergency psych -- in the psychiatric hospital admission area. This is new.

3 months neuro with private neurologists.

PGY 2 -- 12 months of clinic. You're assigned a psychotherapy supervisor who works with you throughout the year. Live session monitoring for about every 4 sessions. Apparently a pretty strong emphasis both in CBT and psychodynamic therapy. Residents get their own (really nice!) office in the clinic. Residents stressed that they felt psychotherapy education here is a strength of the program.

PGY 3-4 -- consultation/liaison at the largest hospital in town, PACT team month, chemical dependency training through an outpatient intensive rehab program. Child/Adolescent training at a local psychiatric center -- this is also new. Elective opportunities in ECT, eating disorders, geriatrics, etc..

Faculty -- supportive/friendly/well-trained. Apparently very receptive to feedback from residents.

Location -- Tulsa's a small city with bad roads but not much traffic. Cost of living is very cheap. You can get a nice old house in the trendy part of town for less than $200k. A sizeable Native American population. Other than that, not a ton of diversity. Nice parks, decent restaurants, opera, ballet, etc..

Benefits -- free food and parking almost everywhere. Residents seem satisfied with medical insurance. $500 budget for books. $200 in first year for iphone/blackberry.

Program strengths -- very friendly program, and all the residents really are happy to be there. Good psychotherapy training. Nice schedule. Supportive environment for residents. EMR that you can access from home. Easy access to research opportunities. Program just hired some big neuroimaging guy.

Potential weaknesses -- small program so less built in exposure to different areas. No fellowships -- plans on board to have child/adolescent fellowship in ~5 years. Limited diversity and limited exposure to psych EM.

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Thanks for kicking it off, Dr. Bagel! That was a nicely written review. I would personally like to see a section on types of questions you were asked at the interview, especially difficult questions, but that's just me. :p
 
Thanks for kicking it off, Dr. Bagel! That was a nicely written review. I would personally like to see a section on types of questions you were asked at the interview, especially difficult questions, but that's just me. :p

That would be a good thing to include. I really wasn't asked any tough questions. There were some questions about my personal statement, about my work/school background and about my interests. I was asked about both memorable positive and negative patient experiences. I honestly wouldn't expect any of the interviewers to ask really difficult questions of anyone, but this is my home program, so my experiences might be a little different.
 
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Do the applicants who went to NYU on 10/9 have any thoughts about the program? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post. Thanks!
 
I'm interested to hear about NYU as well. I have my interview next week.
Good luck everyone!
 
Hey all, sorry to clog up with a non-review post, but despite being a year away from applying, I've been following this board closely (and probably contributed a couple hundred views to the interview offer thread already! :)).

Because it's so early in the interview game I can see some applicants hesitating to post a review for the sake of complete anonymity. For that reason, I thought I would offer to post reviews if anyone was in that boat and just wanted to PM me.

If you're hesitant to trust a rando member that didn't join until last month, maybe one of the moderators or seasoned attendings will be willing to do the same. Just a thought. I'm excited to see all the activity and hope this thread ends up being as popular as the interview offer thread!
 
I used to do this last year and I'm willing to do it again.
 
I'd be happy to report back on some of mine via a moderator! I'm always wanting as much info as possible about this stuff and I know how much we depend on each other. Anonymity seems like a good plan just since this is such a public board. It will be helpful me too in keeping track of what I thought of programs.
 
SDN already has a Residency Interview Feedback section that is a lot more user friendly to browse than trying to scroll through 10+ pages of differently formatted residency reviews. There are already 25 psych residencies reviewed there so far. And it's anonymous...

You lack the conversation aspect of folks dialoguing, but if folks are going to post by proxy through an anonymous source, you lose that anyway...
 
SDN already has a Residency Interview Feedback section that is a lot more user friendly to browse than trying to scroll through 10+ pages of differently formatted residency reviews. There are already 25 psych residencies reviewed there so far. And it's anonymous...

You lack the conversation aspect of folks dialoguing, but if folks are going to post by proxy through an anonymous source, you lose that anyway...

I'd personally prefer that people use both. Lots of the users of SDN feedback just mark stars and don't fill out any commentary, making the reviews pretty much worthless. I've also found the past reviews here to be more informative than most I've read there. People tend to write more here than they do there. And using the search function here is pretty easy. :)
 
NYU/Bellevue
Interview overview

1. food/accommodations -- lunch at a great Thai place on the interview day. I think there were 10 residents and 9 applicants, so it was an excellent opportunity to ask them a bunch of questions.

2. interview day -- I had one on one interviews with 3 different faculty members. No interviews with other students. The day started with breakfast in a conference room with Dr. Levin (the training director) and two of the chief residents, and was a great overview of the program. A few residents showed up near the end of this to answer any questions we had and to pick us up for a tour of the facilities. After the tour we had our interviews, and then went to lunch. After lunch we had a group discussion with Dr. Levin and Dr. Caligor (associate training director), and then each met with one of them individually for a pretty informal chat about the day and to answer a few questions they had for us. It ended around 4:30 pm or so.

Program overview -- I'm pretty sure everyone left the interview day convinced that NYU is just about perfect. I need to be studying for Step 2 right now, so I won't go into great detail about the program (you can read about it on their website anyways), but I think one of the biggest strengths about this program is that you rotate through so many diverse sites. Residents spend time at Bellevue, the VA, a world-renowned private in-patient unit, a really busy psych ER, a community hospital, a forensic unit, and more, so they get exposed to just about every type of psychiatric patient.

Faculty -- everyone that I met seemed really nice, and the residents provided examples of how the faculty/administration are very open to making changes based on residents' feedback.

Location -- NYU is in a nice area of NYC, right next to the water. Obviously it's not cheap to live in NYC, but the residents all said that it was completely doable as long as you didn't mind a small place or a longer subway commute. Incredible diversity of patients. LOTS of things to do during your time off.

Benefits -- I was a little surprised that residents aren't provided with food money on their badges or credit at the hospital, but the chief resident said their food money is just included in their salary, rather than having to use it strictly for food at a designated place. I think this is actually a good thing (depending on how much extra money goes into their salary) after seeing how great the restaurants all over the city are. I don't know much about the rest of the benefits.

Program strengths -- Bellevue, incredible diversity of patients and rotation sites, everyone I met was really nice and very happy, class size of 16. They provide great training in psychotherapy. By the end of the interview day I felt like this program really must put out some of the most competent clinicians in the US, because it seems like they expose you to everything, and will support you in whatever you are interested in.

Potential weaknesses -- there's the potential to get overwhelmed by rotating through so many different sites, with different computer systems, different ways of doing things, different staff, etc. You have to be adaptable. NYC seems like it might tire you out if you're not used to really big cities.[/QUOTE]
 
Posted for an anonymous applicant by the primate professional.

UT-Houston

Food/Accommodations – Box lunches with two 3rd years and a total of 5 applicants.

Interview Day – One on one interviews with four faculty. No interviews with students. The day started with lunch. Most of the information about the program was gained through questions. There isn't really any dedicated time for a formal informative session about the program. The day was 11:30-4pm. There is a new program director, and he was not present for the interview day. A second year also told us that intern year is very busy and that is why no interns were available to answer questions. Interns are also scattered around multiple hospitals. No dinner the night before.

Program overview – You rotate through LBJ, MD Anderson, HCPC, and a brand-new outpatient center (probably a couple more places that I forgot). The new PD is apparently very big on picking up more research at UT-H. They supposedly have multiple fMRI machines. Child faculty are very likeable, and a majority of residents go into child fellowships. Some are able to grandfather into their program to do both in 5 years, but there are too many residents to accommodate all. Approximately 7 residents/class but it seemed to vary. I didn't understand that well.

Faculty – They are very nice people, but I found them to be uninformed about the program in general. Prepare lots of questions because you get a lot of "I don't knows".

Call – New call system was just put in place. On inpatient psychiatry (1.5 years), there is a night float (approximately 1 month/year split up 1 week at a time). There is also short call from 3pm-11pm I believe q10. Also there is weekend call split up among 1st and 2nd years q5 weekends. Otherwise you don't round on weekends on psych. 3rd and 4th years take some sort of beeper call that I didn't understand. This is how it was presented to me by a 2nd year, but the new system has only been in place about 2 weeks. The 2nd year mentioned that they admit 8-10 patients on average every 12 hour float shift. Her record was 18, so it appears like volume won't be lacking.

Location – Houston medical center. Some residents buy houses, but a majority live in apartments for proximity reasons. Overall Houston has a good cost of living though. If you like humidity, it is a great city. Lots to do.

Benefits – Salary looked a little low compared to some programs I've seen. 2nd year residents get free lunch by way of the inpatient center giving away free vouchers continuously. Otherwise, a 3rd year mentioned that most other residents bring lunch.

Program strengths – Child department was presented as being very strong. Houston is a great city. More research funds becoming available. Night float. Who wouldn't want to rotate through MD Anderson? Kind faculty. Plenty of patients. Outside moonlighting allowed beginning 3rd year.

Program weaknesses – "Psychiatry and pediatrics departments don't get along well" – 3rd year resident. New PD. Tough intern year. Didn't get to speak to interns.
 
Wash U St. Louis -- another anonymous interview review. Keep em coming guys.

Interview Basics
One on one interviews with 5 attendings. Most interviewers were more interested in what questions we had for them. The day started out with a powerpoint presentation from the program director. Then interviews, lunch with the residents and tour, and more interviews. Program validates your parking. You do have to do some walking, so they recommend you wear comfortable shoes. The program coordinator was very nice about making sure we got wherever we needed to go, so you don't have to worry about getting lost.

Dinner/hotel, etcThere's a hotel right by the hospital that costs about $100/night before fees. We met there the night before for dinner with the residents. They took us to a nice restaurant in walking distance of the hotel. Dinner was very informal. Residents seemed happy with the program and stressed the friendliness and approachability of the attendings. It seemed like most upper level residents moonlighted. Residents seemed pretty diverse.

CallIt seems pretty tough for psych first year and second year. On inpatient, call is q4 but works out to be more like q6 because residents have Sunday off. Call is in-house overnight call, and residents cap at 7 patients. The intern is on call alone but attendings are apparently very cool with being called whenever, and there is a senior resident working in the ER who can help the intern. On medicine (4 months of inpatient), call is q4, but interns alternate staying overnight, so it's really only q8 overnight. You cap at 5 patients there. Basically it sounds like you have overnight call pretty much all year. Residents stressed that it is demanding, but they felt like they learned a ton and are better prepared because of it. It didn't sound like people were violating the 80 hour rules. Little to no call 3rd and 4th year.

ScheduleVery flexible. In the first year, you can do either peds, internal medicine, extra inpatient psych or emergency medicine for 2 months. Lots of electives built in after that, and program emphasizes that they do not have tracks. Instead residents can find their own thing, but they do have the responsibility of setting stuff up. Required research months. Outpatient year is in 3rd year where you're mainly at Barnes Jewish but do spent 1/2 day at a community clinic and 1/2 day doing child/adolescent. Residents are very autonomous in this year. Attendings are available, but you only have to consult them if needed. Overall, resident autonomy is emphasized at this program.

PsychotherapyIf you've read about or researched this program, you've heard about the biologic emphasis. Attendings emphasized that psychotherapy is well-taught, but there's a basic understanding that as physicians, psychotherapy probably isn't going to be something we spend all our time doing. Consequently, in clinic, psychotherapy is generally mixed in with medication management. However, since the program is flexible, you can work with attendings who place more emphasis on psychotherapy. Program director specifically said this isn't a great place to be if you want a strong psychoanalytic approach. According to the residents, CBT is more emphasized. Lots of emphasis on having an evidence-based approach to psychotherapy.

AtmosphereVery midwestern. Attendings wear jeans. The chair is ridiculously nice and seems very approachable. Everyone was friendly, and residents said attendings were supportive and approachable. Residents seemed to get along, but I didn't get the feeling that they hang out a whole lot.

St. LouisAgain, very midwestern. Big city but not huge. Low cost of living, and good housing is available close to the hospital. Lots of crime/poverty in parts of the area, so you can get exposure to lots of that while working. Strong African-American presence. Free zoo and museums and lots of parks. The lightrail seemed decently functional and does go to the hospital. Most residents seemed to drive, though. Terrain is green and hilly.

BenefitsSalary seems to be about normal. Free parking, and residents get food discounts and 2 $5 food vouchers for overnight calls. Residents get to use Wash U facilities.

Program strengthsLots of depth in the faculty, and lots of research going on. Very flexible schedule, and residents are allowed to work autonomously pretty early on. Friendly, low key atmosphere. Lots of protected didactics. Mix of public and private hospital/clinic exposure. Program seems very stable. Residents say they are involved in any changes. Larger, diverse group of residents.

Program weaknessesMaybe not the best place if you're really into psychodynamics. Flexibility and lack of pre-defined tracks could be a detriment depending on the person. It seems like residents are expected to be self-motivated. Schedule is hard for psych, and the atmosphere is not as personal as it would be at a smaller program.
 
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University of New Mexico
Interview overview

1. food/accommodations -- Hotel was provided by the University. Continental breakfast on the day of the interview and boxed lunches.

2. interview day -- After arriving at the school there were greetings with the Chairman, Vice Chair for Education and Academic Affairs, and the Residency Coordinator. An overview of the program was provided and we were treated to a continental breakfast. Next we were transported to the VA for a tour and we were allowed to sit in on a portion of rounds. Very cool! We were then transported back to the school. We were given a tour of the University facilities by a resident (PGY-2) and we had box lunches with a group of residents. They were all very positive about the program and they all seemed very happy. There were five interviews with faculty and they all seemed very friendly. There were a lot of standard questions (why psych, why New Mexico, etc.) no stress questions. Overall my impression of the program was very favorable. Be prepared to walk a lot! Wear comfortable shoes! Also, have lots of questions ready.

3. Program overview --
PGY-1 only one month in inpatient IM, the other 3 months can be a combination of inpatient or outpatient IM, FM, Peds, or EM. 2 months of neuro, one month at VA and one month a UNM (adult or peds). 6 months of VA inpatient psych. There is also 12 months of psych primary care at the VA (protected time) 1/2 day. Didactics are every Wed morning (protected time).

PGY-2 6 months at UNM inpatient, 3 months of consults, 1 month pysch EM, 1 month of psych ASAP (outpatient detox), remaining is rural/research/inpatient child/outpatient clinics. Psychotherapy begins this year.

PGY-3 12 months outpatient (adult, dual diagnosis, child).

PGY-4 Mostly elective based on individual training objectives.

4. Faculty -- World renowned faculty one of which is writing (helping to write?) the mood disorders chapter of the DSM-V. Faculty serve as mentors to the residents and work to identify those who struggle early so more one-on-one time can allocated to those individuals. The faculty were very friendly and seemed to really listen to the concerns of the residents. Changes have been implemented based on feedback from the residents. The director of the residency program took us on a driving tour of Albuquerque, which was very nice and greatly appreciated.

5. Location -- Albuquerque is hit or miss. But the mountains are beautiful. There are 300 days of sunshine a year and there are ample opportunities for outdoor activities.

6. Benefits -- Seemed pretty standard, didn't go into too much detail. One thing that stood out is the University pays for Step 3.

7. Program strengths -- Family friendly and seems to emphasized work-life balance as much as is possible in residency. Program seems financially stable and is in the process of constructing a new psych facility and children's hospital. Encourage conference attendance and will attempt to provide educational leave. Resident friendly faculty. Faculty seem to be good teachers based on comments from residents. A course is provided to instruct residents how to teach medical students. Strong telemedicine and rural programs.

8. Potential weaknesses -- Location could be an issue for some. Isolation from the rest of the program in first year due to much of the year being spent at the VA. 2-3 year waiting list for University child care.

All in all, a very impressive program. I could easily see them being at the top of the list when all is said and done.

P.S. Wear comfortable shoes and be ready to walk... a lot.
 
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Interview Nitty-gritty: Programme pays for half of a very nice 4-star hotel. In the morning the very chatty but friendly and super nice programme coordinator picks you up from the hotel and will shuttle you to and from all your interview locations throughout the day (the programme only interviews a single applicant per day). She also takes you on a pretty nice driving tour of Fresno before and after your interviews. Ask her any questions about life in Fresno, she could be a professional tour guide.

Interviews are with 4 faculty, 2 hour sessions, 2 half-hour sessions. Everyone is super nice, no stress interviews. As with most programmes, be prepared with 50 questions to ask them. One of my interviewers asked me questions for the first 15 mins, then spent the next 45 mins expecting to answer questions about the programme. The only question that I struggled with somewhat is, “How do you feel you relate to and interact with patients?” Huh? Very well? :p

Lunch is professionally catered daily for all residents, and as an interviewee you too will partake. There was Mexican food with enchiladas on my day.

Programme Strengths: Small programme with 4 residents per year. The residency programme was built from the ground-up for the sole purpose of training residents. Any call or clinical duties are given only to enhance your education; the hospitals don’t “need” you to be there. Thus “scut work” in the traditional sense is almost nonexistent. If your classmate is sick on a day he/she is on-call, there is no need for you come in. Call in general is minimal; the PD gives you “just enough” for the educational value, and not past the point of diminishing returns. The hospitals have faculty who are paid for that.

Psychotherapy is very strong. Patients are hand-picked for you, and you have a lot of protected psychotherapy time. There is no need to hunt down psychotherapy patients on your own. Neither is there a need to try to try to “finish early” and squeeze in your psychotherapy patients somewhere. ECT training is part of the curriculum, and residents will personally be allowed to perform it. Supervision is abundant. There is free professionally catered breakfast and lunch daily. The residents were all deliriously, almost unnaturally happy to be where they are. All residents are allowed to be on the same track and get to start on internal medicine when starting their training, as is logical since internal medicine here don’t “need” interns year-round and there is no need to stagger the schedule. Training is at a wide variety of sites, including the only level I trauma centre between the Bay Area and LA, a VA Hospital, and various outpatient sites. The patient population very diverse ethnically, as one would expect from any major Californian city.

The programme director is extremely responsive to resident concerns, apparently sometimes to the point of “babying” the residents and sheltering them. When a resident complained of getting slammed on C/L when there are no other residents on, the PD capped C/L to 3 consults per day per resident. Parking is free at all sites, and the best lower-level parking is reserved for residents. Most of the clinical sites have recently undergone massive renovation and are spankin’ new.

Fresno is overall a rather pleasant place to live; with some of the lowest cost of living in the west coast, and some very pleasant sunny weather. It is not quite as good weather as the coastal areas, but still pretty good compared to places like the Midwest or east coast. The streets are wide, logical, easy to navigate, traffic is manageable, and parking is abundant throughout. Very similar feel to a typical LA suburb.

Programme Weaknesses


UCSF-Fresno is very much a clinically-oriented community programme with limited research resources and national/international reputation, but all moot points for someone not interested in research. I was reminded multiple times that if my career goal is to become a world-renowned researcher, this is not the right programme for me. The main teaching hospital has one of the busiest ERs in the nation, but there is currently no dedicated psychiatric ER. It sounds like the programme is trying to start one. Whether it will be set up before my residency is complete is questionable. Psychosomatic medicine appears to be the only fellowship currently available at the programme, and it is a new fellowship. The Child and Adolescent experience seems to be relatively weak compared to other programmes, as residents do not rotate through the local children’s hospital, and get all their child experience from outpatient clinic. Again, if you have no interest in Child Psychiatry this may not be an issue.

Fresno has a bad reputation as a dull, hick town. In some sense it is true; there is not the culture or variety of things to do that one can expect from grand Los Angeles or the Bay Area. The town is sunny and pleasant to live in, but it is very flat and featureless, having neither the natural grandeur and beauty of the Bay Area nor the frenetic bustling excitement of the greater Los Angeles area. However, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Giant Sequoia National Parks are all within ~2 hour driving distance. And the Bay Area and LA themselves are within 3 or 4 hour driving distance.

Residents: all residents I talked to confirmed that the programme is very dedicated to their education, and ridiculously responsive to their needs. They had trouble thinking of bad things about their programme, being so happy there. There is a good mix of “strength” of applicants who have gotten in. There are a few D.O.s and IMGs, but also plenty of residents who graduated from top 10 U.S. medical schools. Overall an eclectic mix, but seemed to get along well.

Overall Impression: Spectacular teaching, mediocre but liveable location, lower reputation. Would be happy to match there, would likely be very happy there, and would love for an excuse to rank it higher, but location and lack of prestige may cause me to rank it below some other programmes that are perhaps not as good in teaching.

Teaching: 9.0
Location: 6.0
Reputation: 4.0
Goodness of fit (personal): 8.5
 
Adding some New Mexico thoughts --

I agree with the review above that it's a pretty impressive program that, yes, seems financially stable and has some great faculty. I'll just add some info from comments from the faculty/residents about strengths and weaknesses. For strengths, it seems like they really pride themselves on clinical training. Research is available, especially the neuroimaging stuff, but I wouldn't think of them as a "research" program. A couple of faculty listed weaknesses as molecular biology and genetics research. One resident also said it might not be a great place to be if you're passion is bipolar research.

Another weakness mentioned is that the residents don't seem to be a fan of the neuro rotation.

All in all a place worth checking out if the location works for you. New Mexico's got it's own thing going. :)

Oh yeah, call is q8 first year and q10 second year. All the residents alternate call, so I guess it's not tied to your specific rotation. Apparently IM call is q4. First year call is at the VA and is "home call" but there's some disagreement on that one. Some residents say you can go home, and some say you can't. Second year call is not home call and busier than first year call. 3rd year call is something like twice a month, and there's no call 4th year. One of the cool things about second year call is that you get $500 if there's no moonlighter to take over after midnight.

Other benefit stuff -- the residents at UNM have a union and have recently gotten some pay increase because of it.
 
Fresno:

Teaching: 9.0
Location: 6.0
Reputation: 4.0
Goodness of fit (personal): 8.5

Awesome, Messer. Appreciate the thorough review. Requesting more California community program reviews. Thanks!
 
Indiana University
Interview overview

1. Food/accommodations -- Hotel was provided by the University; the Crowne Plaza is a very nice hotel, just old. There was also a dinner with four residents (one from each year PGY-1 to PGY-4). It was nice to be able to discuss the entire general residency experience and get the perspectives from a resident in each year. There was a continental breakfast on the day of the interview and lunch was provided as well (sandwiches).

2. Interview day -- The residency coordinator was waiting for us as the hotel shuttle pulled up and she knew all of us by name (very nice personal touch!). The continental breakfast was ready for us as we entered the building. An overview of the program was provided by the residency director and the assistant director chimed in on occasion. The chair was on vacation. After the overview, interviews began. There were four interviewees and they rotated between the four interviewers (director, asst director, one faculty and one chief resident). The interviews were one-on-one and lasted approximately 30 minutes. One interview was relatively stressful as the interviewer went in depth with my CV and personal statement. However, I was able to answer all of the questions and I kind of appreciated that so much of what I had written was looked at in depth. The rest of the interviews were relatively standard questions. The director really only asked if I had additional questions about the program. Afterward, a tour of the facilities was conducted by two PGY4s. Then we had lunch with several upper level residents. Finally, one resident was available to drive you back to the airport if you flew in which was another nice touch.


As an aside, the interview rooms were extremely hot (as in sauna hot) but this seemed to be a facilities issue and I don't think this can be blamed on the program. But this did cause the interviews to be quite a bit more uncomfortable than they needed to be.

3. Program overview -- There are a lot of sites within this program and this could be a disadvantage to residents who come from outside the program (finding your way around the city and multiple systems to learn) so in some cases the resident will start on 6mo of psych first then do the primary care rotations. They perform semi-annual evals that may include feedback from ancillary staff. They also identify struggling students early and direct them as to what needs to be done to catch up/excel. They also restarted their formal mentoring program with faculty.


PGY-1 There are 4 months of primary care see website for breakdown. Two months of neuro and six months of adult inpatient. Call is Monday through Thursday at the VA only and you have to go to your primary rotation after call to tie up loose ends so you'll be off by 11ish am. All weekends are off. Didn't catch the rest of the call schedule.

PGY-2 Three months of adult inpatient. One month each of the following EM psych, geri, forensic/ECT, adult C/L, and adult or child C/L. Two months of addiction and C&A. During this period you also do 1/2 day long-term psychotherapy and a 1/2 day continuity care clinic.

PGY-3 Full time adult out patient all 12 months. Also during this period you do 1/2 day long-term psychotherapy, 1/2 day continuity care clinic, 1/2 day CBT clinic.


PGY-4 Mostly elective based on individual training objectives. Also during this period you do 1/2 day long-term psychotherapy and 1/2 day continuity care clinic.


The program is undergoing a transition in didactics, call schedule, and pushing all requirements into the first three years.

The program director will be retiring this year and the assistant director will be taking over as the director. To facilitate the transition the current director will become the assistant for a couple of years. The new program director to be will be maintaining her part-time status (Mon, Wed, Fri).

4. Faculty -- Faculty seems very strong. There are several world renowned researchers in the fields of bipolar, autism, and dual diagnosis; they are still actively teaching residents. They are very receptive to creating rotations and special interest clinics based on residents’ interests. There is minimal faculty turnover.

5. Location -- Indianapolis has a low cost of living and is a pretty nice city overall. The Broad Ripple area is said to have good night life. Overall it's a nice Midwestern city that is very livable. Also, Indiana is one of the top five states to practice in according to some literature that was provided during the day.

6. Benefits -- Health, dental, and vision benefits are paid for resident and family and a provided by the house staff of affiliated hospitals. One week per year is provided for educational leave. Three weeks of vacation during PGY-1 and PGY-2 and four weeks thereafter. Overall, the benefits seem very good. Book and travel fund may be used to pay for boards.


7. Program strengths -- Program is very flexible. The curriculum is changing a bit to allow extra flexibility in the fourth year which will be largely elective. The program basically allows you to build your own fourth year experience, if you'd like to try out private practice you can do that, if you'd like to do community medicine you can do that, basically anything you can imagine (within reason of course) you can do as long as you can justify the educational value. The assistant director is beefing up the psychotherapy experience available and this looks like it will be a program strength. There is an autism clinic and the only dedicated borderline clinic in the US. They also have rotations through the state hospital. They also have a strong psych ER experience. General and child psych programs are both accredited for 4 years. The program has a nearly 100% board pass rate. There is a required board prep course in the fourth year. The curriculum is family friendly as well. The program is increasing the number of residents to seven this year and hopefully to eight next year. The residents are a cohesive group and do lots of activities together (co-ed softball, movie night with faculty, retreat, business meetings). Lectures and business meetings are protected time. They also have an academic tract if you are interested in pursuing research or an academic career.

8. Potential weaknesses -- Multiple locations and systems could be seen as a weakness. Program doesn't seem as strong in telemedicine as one would think with Indiana having such a large rural population. Program is in transition and with the program director planning to work part-time this could be a challenging transition. But she seems extremely bright and motivated to keep up with changing the dept for the better, so she may well be able to accomplish the transition as planned. It is something to consider however.
 
these posts are certainly very helpful, but just a nitpick- "location" is obviously entirely dependent on the individual. Whereas things like work hours, research opportunities, call schedule, off service rotations, etc are much different.......
 
another anonymous interview.

AECOM - Montefiore

Food/Accommodations - provided catered breakfast and lunch. Don't know about accommodations as I live in NYC

Interview Day - first met (along with 3 other applicants) with the senior chief resident, over breakfast. Casual, mostly involved the chief talking about the program and answering questions. Had 3 interviews, all 1-on-1, with: program director, deputy program director, and vice chair of education. Applicants were pulled out of the room with the chief for these interviews, in a rotating fashion. Interviews themselves are fairly casual. After the interviews, lunch with a ~10 current residents, an opportunity to ask them all questions. They signed an attendance sheet that included their emails - this was then copied and distributed to the applicants so that we could have each of their email addresses to ask them questions later. The residents were very talkative about the program. After lunch, a brief tour of the facilities, including resident housing. Finally, a brief session with the department chairman (mostly him talking), and a final opportunity to ask questions of the senior chief resident. Day ended around 2:30pm.

Program overview: In addition to the psychiatry at Montefiore, there is a 6-month block during the PGY-2 year spent at Bronx Psychiatric Center, a state-run long-term facility that includes a number of very-long-term residents as well as a significant number of forensic patients. This is an opportunity to have time to practice extended psychotherapy on patients, as there is far less pressure to discharge in this group. There is a significant emphasis on psychotherapies, something the department takes pride in.

Faculty - met with none beyond senior program administration. Reputedly very oriented towards teaching.

Call - no overnight 1st year; overnights (but fewer total calls) 2nd and 3rd year; 4th year is nearly no call at all, except for a few supervisory calls at the beginning of the year, "holding hands" with the new interns.

Location - the Bronx. A nicer part of the Bronx, close to the Zoo and the Botanical Gardens, but still the Bronx. Close to public transport for commuting if you live in Manhattan.

Benefits - high salary, even by NYC standards. Lots of meal tickets. Very (VERY) cheap, decent housing, not-quite-guaranteed for residents.

Program strengths - psychotherapy training. Lots of it. A lot of attention to resident input; there were several examples of resident feedback resulting in prompt changes to didactic and/or clinical curriculum. Many happy residents. Psychiatry department is generally well-respected by other departments within hospital.

Program weaknesses - child & adolescent rotation was weak a couple of years ago; residents complained and they improved it - still awaiting reports. If you're interested in C&A, though, you can substitute peds rotations for your medicine ones during intern year.
 
University of Kansas - Kansas City
Interview overview

1. Food/accommodations -- No accommodations were provided by the program. Interview day started with lunch with four residents (PGY-2, 3, 4 and a Child Fellow). The lunch was at a local restaurant (less than a 1 block walk).

2. Interview day -- After lunch we were taken on a brief tour of the pysch ED, outpatient offices, child inpatient, and adult inpatient unit.


After a 15 minute break interviews began. No program overview was provided prior to interviews. Also, we did not meet the Chair or Program Director prior to interviews.

There were eight applicants and there were four interviewers (all one-on-one) and interviews were 30 minutes long. So as four applicants were interviewing the other four would have 1/2 hour breaks (snacks and beverages were available) and then would switch for the next round of interviews. The interviewers were the Director, Assistant Director, VA Faculty, and Psychology Director. Interview day ended by 5 PM after filling out a feedback form.

3. Program overview -- Program is more biological based and there is not a strong emphasis on psychotherapy or research. One of the facilities is the Topeka, KS VA which is a 40-50 minute drive from Kansas City, KS. Other facilities include the Leavenworth VA (20 minute drive or so), the Kansas City VA, community mental health centers, and KU Medical Center. The Program is in the middle of its five year accreditation. Program seems family friendly.

PGY-1 There are 4 months of internal medicine (didn't ask if there were other options), 2 month of neuro, and 6 months of inpatient psych. Pretty standard. Didn't ask about call.

PGY-2, PGY-3, and PGY-4 Wasn't able to write down the specific breakdown as most of this information was given during lunch with the residents. PGY-2 is mostly inpatient, PGY-3 is mostly outpatient (psychotherapy begins this year as well), and PGY-4 is largely elective. Did get that 3rd and 4th years are only back-up call. Also, if you choose the 5 year C&A track you will not get Child exposure until your 4th (Fellow) year and some call is required during the C&A Fellowship.


4. Faculty -- Faculty seems very nice and residents say they are generally eager to teach. They also let residents join in on their research. The Chair, Adult Director, and C&A Director seem very approachable and seem to sincerely care about the education and wellbeing of the residents. Open to listening to residents concerns and have implemented changes based on those concerns.

5. Location -- Kansas City is a smaller Midwestern city, the Missouri side and Kansas side share a unified government. The area around the school does not seem to be the nicest but quite a few of the residents live there. Others live in Johnson County which is one of the top 10 (supposedly) suburbs in the US and has an excellent public school system. The metropolitan area has a very low cost of living. Summers are said to be humid and the winters are more icy than snowy.


6. Benefits -- Pay seems relatively low but with the lower cost of living that may not be a huge issue. Health and dental insurance available for a "nominal" fee (residents indicated it is a relatively nominal fee). Three weeks of vacation a year. $300 in funds for professional expenses a year. A paid parking permit for the KU Med Center but residents said you need to get there before 8 AM if you don't want a long walk.

7. Program strengths -- One of the less stressful programs but good training, decent diversity regarding patient population and among residents, variety of electives such as methadone clinic, opportunity to moonlight, family friendly, excellent support system, resident friendly, good preparation for PRITE and boards, protected didactics, grand rounds, 1:1 psychotherapy supervision, remote computer access for the university system, opportunities to do telemedicine and teach medical students, have MR adult and child clinics, have pain & methadone clinics, ECT at both VA and university.

8. Potential weaknesses -- less emphasis on psychotherapy and research depending on your personal view, long drive to Topeka VA, location depending on your personal view, lower pay than other programs in the area
 
Adding some New Mexico thoughts --

I agree with the review above that it's a pretty impressive program that, yes, seems financially stable and has some great faculty. I'll just add some info from comments from the faculty/residents about strengths and weaknesses. For strengths, it seems like they really pride themselves on clinical training. Research is available, especially the neuroimaging stuff, but I wouldn't think of them as a "research" program. A couple of faculty listed weaknesses as molecular biology and genetics research. One resident also said it might not be a great place to be if you're passion is bipolar research.

Another weakness mentioned is that the residents don't seem to be a fan of the neuro rotation.

All in all a place worth checking out if the location works for you. New Mexico's got it's own thing going. :)

Oh yeah, call is q8 first year and q10 second year. All the residents alternate call, so I guess it's not tied to your specific rotation. Apparently IM call is q4. First year call is at the VA and is "home call" but there's some disagreement on that one. Some residents say you can go home, and some say you can't. Second year call is not home call and busier than first year call. 3rd year call is something like twice a month, and there's no call 4th year. One of the cool things about second year call is that you get $500 if there's no moonlighter to take over after midnight.

Other benefit stuff -- the residents at UNM have a union and have recently gotten some pay increase because of it.

my understanding of the "home call" for the VA thing is that it's resident dependent whether they stay in house or not. Some people prefer to stay in house even if they don't get any calls, while others will not go in unless they get called and then usually stay the rest of the night (depending on when they get called in) I think if you do call from home you have to be within 15 minutes of the hospital (which isn't hard considering there isn't much traffic in ABQ) and there are some nice places to live not far from the university hospital or VA (or halfway in between)

the whole thing where the 2nd yr resident gets paid if they don't have a 3rd/4th yr moonlighter sounded like something that doesn't happen in most places (but I've only been on 3 interviews so....?) ;)
 
Scott & White – Texas A&M
Interview Overview

1. Food/accommodations – Program paid a portion (set amount) of the hotel stay. There was a dinner the night before at one of the resident’s home (catered Mexican food), it was pretty good. No breakfast was provided but we were aware of that beforehand so I ate at the hotel. The residents took us for Starbucks as soon as we arrived for interviews. Lunch was provided.

2. Interview day – After we got coffee we were taken on a driving tour of Temple and Belton. This was a very nice touch and gave the applicants an opportunity to get a feel for the community and the housing situation in the area.


Applicants were allowed to sit in on grand rounds and had a sandwich for lunch.

There were three interviews (one-on-one) which were scheduled for 30 minutes back to back. The interviewers were the program director, associate program director, and one faculty.

We did not have a general overview of the program or the interview day upon arrival. We also did not meet the chair of the department.

3. Program overview – Program is family and resident friendly. All of residents seemed very happy. The program is currently developing a child-track. Program seems balanced between biological and psychotherapy.

PGY-1 – Six months of primary care of which 2mo is inpatient internal med (can substitute one month of inpatient peds), two months neuro, and two months from a combination of inpatient peds, inpatient IM, outpatient FM, outpatient peds. Residents said that it is possible to do impatient FM too. Call inpatient IM is q4 with no overnight call (ends 8 PM), neuro has no overnight call but some weekend work is required, inpatient peds is q4 with overnight call, outpatient FM has no call or weekends, outpatient peds has no call or weekends.


Four months of inpatient psych (two months adult and two months chemical dependence care), One month of ER psych, and one month inpatient adult at Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood. Though the website mentions Ft. Hood one of the residents mentioned that they no longer rotate through the army medical center. I could not however confirm that. Call schedule is q7 and most of it is home “pager” call. One call day per month is a 24-hour Sat. or Sun. call. Overall, the call schedule seems very reasonable.

PGY-2 – Two months of inpatient adult psych at Scott & White, one month geri at Scott & White, one month of adult psych at the Waco VA, one month of outpatient PTSD at the Temple VA, and one month of community psych at the Waco VA.


Finally, three months of C&L at Scott & White and two months of outpatient C&A at Scott & White (C&A track).

-Or-

Two months of C&L at Scott & White and three months outpatient C&A at Scott & White (General Psych track).

Call schedule in general is all home “pager” call. Post call day begins at 8 AM the following day after hand off of work. From July to December there is one overnight call per week with one 24-hour Saturday or Sunday call a month (approximately). From January to June the call schedule is approximately 3 days per month.

PGY-3 – Two and a half days a week are continuity care at Scott & White, one day a week is EM psych, and one day a week is continuity care at Temple VA. One afternoon per week is protected time for didactics, a nice benefit is that residents are never post-call on their didactic day.

Psychotherapy also begins this year and there will be a minimum of 2 patients per week up to as many patients as the resident would like (subject to scheduling limitations).

Call schedule in general is all home “pager” call. Post call day begins at 8 AM the following day after hand off of work. From July to December there are three overnight calls per month with one 24-hour Saturday or Sunday call in two out of every three months (approximately). Call ends after the first sixth months of your 3rd year.

PGY-4 Two months of inpatient psych (mornings at inpatient clinic and afternoons at the continuity clinic) at Scott & White, two months of inpatient psych at the Waco VA, and eight months of electives. The electives include ECT, administrative psych, community psych, research, psychotherapy, forensic psych, psychopharm, geri, or create your own.

Also of interest is that Scott & White basically lets you be a junior attending in your fourth year.

4. Faculty – Faculty is very resident friendly and seems eager to teach. There didn’t seem to be as many faculty members as some of the other programs I’ve interviewed at but those that I met seemed engaging. They seemed to be a flexible bunch who allows residents to pursue their interests and allow residents to join in on their research.

5. Location – Temple has a strong community feel. You can buy a 3 bed 2 bath 1,500 sq ft house for approximately $110-120k. Houses in Belton are cheaper and the school system is better but it is a farther drive (approximately 20 minutes). Couldn’t get a good sense of the town from the driving tour but there are approximately 50,000 residents so it seems very small. Austin is about an hour away and residents go there for entertainment and Dallas is about two hours north.

6. Benefits -- Pay seems relatively high for the Texas schools (only UTSW is higher for the schools I’m interviewing at). Health insurance is paid by the institution for the resident. Premiums for dependents and for the dental insurance seem very reasonable. Parking at S&W is free and close (which is a benefit to me after walking far during medical school!). Meal card for on call days. Discount gym membership for resident and spouse. Mileage reimbursement for travel to offsite facilities.

7. Program strengths – Program is extremely family and resident friendly. The call schedule is the best I’ve seen. Psychotherapy starts in the third year and can be started earlier. Psychotherapy seems to be a point of emphasis for the program. There is board review twice a month. Program is very flexible and allows you to create an elective in your fourth year. There seems to a variety of experiences and the patient population seems to be fairly diverse (people come from other states due to reputation). Program has a system in place to ensure that interns are ready for overnight call before being allowed to go it alone. Residents seem happy and seem to have a strong bond with each other. Scott & White has an electronic medical record system that allows easy off site access. A self-defense class is available (mandatory?) when you start the program. Residents have the opportunity to teach lectures if they are interested. 360 evaluations given semi-annually.

8. Potential weaknesses – Multiple locations that are 20 – 30 minutes away. No C&A inpatient unit at Scott & White. Possibly less resources than some of the larger programs. Jobs for spouse as the Temple area does not have the economic diversity of a Dallas, Austin, Houston, or San Antonio. Entertainment options are limited but Austin is relatively close. No designated psych beds in the ER (depends on your point of view whether this is a weakness or not).
 
Interview basics They only interview one person a day. My day started at 8:30, but I think that's variable. Since there's only one person, there's no dinner or anything like that. I interviewed with the PD, the chair, an attending, one of the chiefs and then had lunch with a PGY-2. Parking is free, and the hospital is easy to find.

Facilities I thought I'd start here because this part makes a big impression. The hospital is built on an old naval base and still has barracks and trailers for all the outpatient clinics. The hospital itself was probably built in the 60s or so, and you have to go through a metal detector to get in. However, once inside, it's not that bad. Residents have charming if small offices in the clinic that they get to keep from their second through their fourth year. The psych units were normal looking psych units, and the call rooms were fine. They don't have EMR but do have labs on a computer system. Residents said the psych nurses are all really good and that ancillary services are not as lacking as you'd think.

Schedule/Call, etc. Residents are on call first and second year, and the call is just split up by the number of residents, so it's close to q7 (7 residents). Generally an intern, senior resident and moonlighter who's also a resident are on call together, and they divide up the shift, so everyone can conceivably sleep for some part of the call. Also, the senior resident gets to go home. It sounds like all upper residents moonlight.

Primary care months consist of only one month of IM wards -- the rest is clinic (either peds or IM -- peds is recommended by the residents) and EM. 4th year is pretty much all electives, and a lot of residents opt to go to the main UCLA clinics then. 2nd and 3rd year are unique in that residents do outpatient clinic and other rotations at the same time. Basically they start seeing patients for 1/2 days during the second year and keep that up through the next 2 years. So you might be doing inpatient or c/l or whatever in the morning and then clinic in the afternoon. The idea is that you have continuity between patients where you might treat the same patients both inpatient and outpatient.

Setting/Location/CultureIt's a county hospital in LA -- that sums up a big chunk of the setting. Patients are all indigent, and pretty much all the inpatients are there involuntarily. Very diverse patient group. The residents I spoke with felt like they have really good social work support, and it sounds like LA in general does a better job for funding of care for the mentally ill than other areas, so you wouldn't be frustrated all the time at being unable to get care for the patients. Pretty much no geriatric patients at the hospital because they have insurance, but there is a geriatric rotation at another location. Residents also get to see insured patients at Kaiser and at UCLA clinics later on in the program.

The hospital's in Torrance, but most of the residents (especially upper levels ones who moonlight) live in places like Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Long Beach, etc.. It's LA, so there's traffic, but it sounded like most residents did not have a really long commute.

On culture, the residents said that the attendings are approachable and friendly, and that the smallness of the program produces a cohesiveness in the class. It had the general west coast feeling of informality.

Benefits Free parking, and I think it's free to eat at the hospital. You work for the county, so health insurance and retirement might be better, but I didn't ask. Pay the first year looks a little lower than average. As I mentioned above, there are in-house moonlighting opportunities, and the residents all seem to do that.

Strengths Hard core county hospital with amazing patient diversity. In spite of that, the residents didn't seem overworked and said supervision was still really good. Unique clinic schedule (could be good or bad) and getting your own office for the last 3 years of residency. Psych EM is supposedly top-notch, and residents from the main UCLA program rotate there. Faculty are all UCLA employees. Great exposure for public psychiatry. Also program takes psychotherapy seriously. Residents seem to have a pretty awesome lifestyle living by the beach.

Weaknesses Kind of a duh statement but not as much exposure to insured patients. Smaller program and not a big research powerhouse even though research both there and at NPI is available.
 
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Interview Basics:Residents took us to dinner at an Italian restaurant the night before. You have to buy your own booze due to some Washington state law. The interview day starts at 8:30 in the UW hospital. A light breakfast is served, and the PD gives you a powerpoint about the program. Then the chair met with us to talk about program strengths/assets. We then got a tour of the UW hospital. After that, we all took a shuttle to Harborview for another tour. Some applicants stayed there for interviews, and some of us were driven to the VA for a tour and interviews. Interviews and tours are also available at an outpatient clinic and at Children's Hospital. Lunch was either at the VA or Harborview depending on where your interviews were, and it was with residents at that site. In all, I had interviews with an intern, a chief resident, one attending and the PD. Everyone meets with the PD, but the other parts are variable. The last person was done by around 6 pm, but some people are done by 4 pm.

Program Basics:This is a big program! There are more than 70 residents, and residents do not always know residents who aren't in there class. Class cohesiveness seems to vary year to year. Also, residents are coming and going throughout the 4 years because they take on 5 PGY-2s, and then the Boise and Spokane people leave for their 3rd and 4th years. The faculty list is huge, and they have a lot of research going on. On top of the Boise and Spokane programs which are listed separately by ERAS, the program has several unofficial tracks where people can be lined up with other people in the program with similar interests. There's no formal commitment involved in joining one of these tracks.

Schedule:Inpatient work is divided up between 3 hospitals -- UW, Harborview and the VA. UW has more private patients, and Harborview is a county hospital with all public patients. All 3 systems have a night float, so the only call is weekend call. Call is 12 hour shifts, and it's home call at UW and the VA. You have call all 4 years, but is decreases markedly 3rd and 4th year. The 3rd and 4th year residents are doing training call where they're instructing the interns. When you're not on call, you get the weekend off on inpatient months.

Primary care recently changed from 4 months of wards to wards mixed in with ambulatory, EM and c/l months. I forget the exact breakdown -- you also have the option of doing peds months. From what I heard, IM and peds wards are intense.

You start 1/2 day of continuity clinic 2nd year, but 3rd year is your full clinic year. Residents continue their continuity clinic and then get to choose from various clinical spots. It sounds like most residents go to a different clinic regularly, so you don't have a set office where you get to keep your stuff. Some residents set up their schedule where they're alternating sites in the same day, but you don't have to do that.

4th year is mainly electives, and it sounds like lots of residents do the child fast track option. You also have to do a "scholarly project," but it sounds like there are a ton of different options for this.

I got the feeling that very few residents did moonlighting. The residents mentioned there aren't a ton of opportunities, and there are no in-house options.

Location: It's Seattle -- I don't know how much more to say about that. It doesn't rain all the time, but it's maybe not the best place if you really love sunshine. It's a big city with OK but not fantastic public transit. Very striking geography, lots of urban stuff and lots of outdoor stuff nearby.

Benefits:PGY-1 pay looked a little higher than average. Health care seemed cheap, and you can join a good gym for like $18/month. Parking is free at the VA but expensive everywhere else. No free food.

Strengths:It seems like a place that pretty much has everything (well, except, eating disorders). Residents felt they were well-respected, and it sounds like the PD is really receptive and open to feedback and changes. They also have things like a call committee to ensure that work duties are divided up fairly. You get to rotate in 3 pretty different psych settings in Seattle, and there are rotations available in other WWAMI states even if you aren't in the Boise or Spokane tracks. Chair and PD are here to stay.

Weaknesses:The size could be a problem for some people. The PD said that they specifically look for people who are more assertive because they tend to do better in that large of an environment. Apparently weak eating disorder training. Call all 4 years, and you do have to move around between different sites frequently.
 
My home program.

Interview basics: The day starts with a meeting with the PD, Dr. Bennett, who gives a short presentation about the program and answers questions. Then there are interviews with the PD and three other faculty members in the morning, which was followed by lunch with the residents and a tour of the hospital and clinics. All of the interviewers were friendly and relaxed. Typical questions.

Facilities: University Hospital - typical teaching hospital with three general psych wings on the 8th floor. VA Hospital - adult psych inpt unit, day treatment, substance abuse, etc... you know, typical VA stuff. Christ Hospital - one month of family med here. It's a very pretty more private type hospital, but you won't see it on the tour because it's a mile or two away. Cincinnati Children's Hospital - you get the opportunity to do optional peds months here. This is one of the top children's hospitals in the country and they have a child fellowship. Central Clinic - outpatient psych facility where the resident offices are located. The offices are very nice and in a neat older building.

Schedule: Inpt day is typically 7:45am to around 4-5pm depending on admissions and how fast you work. Outpt clinics average from 7:30-5:00pm Call is Q5-6 on inpt months on psych as PGY-1 - no weekend rounds unless on call. Call improves as a PGY-2 and is 6 weekend PES (psych emergency services) calls PGY-3 year and no calls as a PGY-4. Calls can vary from busy to quiet, but usually residents get 2-4 hours of sleep. Medicine is at UH where you have a short call/long call system and nightfloat. Manageable but long calls are q3 which is still hard (at least I think so from my experience) despite getting to go home at night. It's only 2 months and you'll survive. 1 month of family at Christ and 1 months of ED. 2 months of neuro - one inpt and one CL.

Setting: Cincinnati is a mid-size Midwestern city. It is what it is. There are some nice things about the area: Oktoberfest in Covington across the river, lots of music festivals all summer, Riverfest with fireworks on Labor day, and lots of green spaces and parks in the city. We have all kinds of theatre and cultural events in the city. That being said, it's still not a hotbed of culture if you're looking for a NY or Chicago lifestyle. The public transportation is TERRIBLE. However, it's very inexpensive to live here and you could easily afford a house on a single resident salary.

Benefits: Ave salary, 4 weeks of vacation. Typical stuff.

Strengths: Great research with lots of NIH funding, the residents are wonderful, Dr. Bennett is super and very pro-resident. Nice offices and early exposure to psychotherapy 2nd year. Psychoanalytic Institute offers reduced cost classes to residents.

Weaknesses: No glaring negatives, I think the big drawback is Cincinnati itself.

Overall: Great program in a city with very reasonable cost of living. :)
 
My home program.

However, it's very inexpensive to live here


I guess everything is relative. I have an uncle who lives in cincy and if you want to live in a nice/decent area of cincy it is *much* more expensive than anywhere I've ever lived. OTOH, it's not anything like(obviously) nocal, socal, nyc, or even chicago.

But still, there are much cheaper places to live(even with residencies) than a decent/good part of cincy.
 
Interview: (Thursday) The day started by meet with Dr. Thrall in the AM for a short QA with the dept head, then off to class with the residents for case-based learning. This was followed by a tour of the hospitals and Duke campus, which is absolutely gorgeous. There were 4 interviews (2 before lunch and 2 after), including one with Dr. Thrall. Everyone was very,very nice and there were no hard questions - just the typical stuff. I really felt they were interested in getting to know me and were trying to sell me their program rather than press me into explaining why I was good enough for them. Had lunch with the residents who came across as very happy, bright, and well-rounded people. After the interviews were over, we met at the office building and went with the residents to the PGY-3 family studies program. It was a long day from 7:30am-6:30pm, but you really got to see a lot and meet tons of the residents.

Facilities/schedule: (PGY-1) Duke hospital: 1 month of med/psych, 2 months inpt psych (Williams ward) and 1 month of inpt neuro. VA hospital: 2 months outpt med, 3 months inpt psych, and 2 months of emergency outpt psych. Durham Regional: 1 month inpt med. Call - med and neuro Q4, psych Q6 except 2 months on the Williams Ward, which is known for it's very long days despite no call. Protected Academic half-day.

PGY-2 call - 4 months of q5 on inpt psych and 2 months of nightfloat
PGY-3 call - long call 8x per year
PGY-4 call - long call 6x per year

Setting: Durham is a nice, smaller city with little traffic, nice weather, and affordable cost of living. It's part of the research triangle and there are lots of jobs for spouses in medicine/biotech/etc.. 2 hours from the beach and 4 hours from the mtns.

Benefits: 3 weeks vacation plus a week at Christmas or New Year's. Typical benefits package.

Strengths: Fantastic faculty and support staff, Dr. Thrall, psych is a huge dept and there is a lot of respect for psych residents, family studies program, case-based learning (for some people anyway), the dept has $$, tons of research, family friendly, and if you really want a particular elective experience during your training - they will make it happen.

Weaknesses: It's a hard program, so make no mistake you will work your butt off. This can be a big thing for people with families and are still working an intern-like schedule as a PGY-2. Durham is a small city and isn't for everyone.

Overall: Absolutely fabulous program that's harder than most, but the residents are great and the area is beautiful. Likely to be a top choice on everybody's list. ;)
 
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My home program.

However, it's very inexpensive to live here


I guess everything is relative. I have an uncle who lives in cincy and if you want to live in a nice/decent area of cincy it is *much* more expensive than anywhere I've ever lived. OTOH, it's not anything like(obviously) nocal, socal, nyc, or even chicago.

But still, there are much cheaper places to live(even with residencies) than a decent/good part of cincy.

Probably true, but I've lived all over Cincinnati. I now have a 1400 sq.ft 3 bedroom apt. with hardwood floors and 2 fireplaces for $800 in a nice area of town. I also had a studio with all utilities included and private parking in the very desired Hyde Park/Oakley area for $425, and a one-bedroom with a balcony and hardwood floors in the trendy Gaslight district for $600. I don't think it's expensive to live here, but it's all perspective. You can get even cheaper housing if you can put up with carpeting, but I have to stick with hardwood floors because of my cats.
 
Interview Day: Casual dinner with residents the day before. The applicants met in the program office early the next morning for a brief orientation to our schedules for the day. 4 interviews - two before lunch and two after lunch. Everyone was extremely nice and most interviews were conversational; no hard or awkward questions. Also, the usual tour of the hospital/offices and lunch with the residents - about 8-9 residents were at lunch and were very open and honest about the program.

Program: Very interested in resident education with protected lectures each week. Weekly inpt case conferences and process group with a therapist. Residents said they felt very supported and had a good quality of life and work/life balance. The program is basically a large, public university program with exposure to everything. Call is Q5 first year and you cover the university hospital, the VA and ER - so it can get quite busy, but you really learn a lot fast. The usual medicine and neuro months - probably similar to most places with Q4 medicine call. The psych dept is 40 bed inpt unit with 4 teams: mood/anxiety, psychosis, women's health, and neuropsych. Unique child exposure on a unit that only has wards of state - it could be very emotional to work with these kids, but also really cool that you get this special opportunity.

The residents are a super friendly, smart, supportive and honest crowd. It's a larger program with 10 residents per year, so you really have quite a few colleagues to find common interests with and hang out outside of residency. Residents seem to live all around the city and a few in the burbs. Most do not own due to high Chicago prices, but they are able to find decent housing on a resident salary.

Benefits: 4 weeks vacation, typical healthcare and insurance benefits but no free parking and fewer perks.

Setting: Chicago - great city with good public transportation, but high cost of living and will not likely be able to afford to buy a home. You won't have the disposable income that you would have in smaller cities.

Program strengths: Larger program (plus or minus depending on what you want), inner city hospital with exposure to "everything," great research opportunities, Chicago is pretty sweet with great nightlife/culture/free events, the residents are great, the faculty are very pro-resident and approachable, and there are lots of opportunities for individualized electives during 4th year. There's a new gym on campus. Nice resident offices.

Weaknesses: Well, it's a public program which has it's downsides: it lacks some aesthetic appeal and the program itself is on a tight budget, so you don't get little perks such as free parking and personal call rooms. The Chicago winters are pretty hard too.

Call/Hours: Can't remember all the details, but generally Q5 intern year with hours varying between 50-65 on psych depending on the service. Obviously, life gets better each year.

Overall: This is definitely a solid, well-rounded program with great training in a very cool city. The residents would be fun to work with and I am really happy I got the chance to visit the program. Two big thumbs up. :)
 
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Interview Day: Everyone met in the lobby and we went to the main psych offices where we did 4 short interviews in the AM. Then we had a tour of the hospital and lunch with the residents. The interview questions were mostly pretty standard, but I was asked to present a patient and explain the MSE during one interview. I wasn't expecting this question and got really nervous and flubbed up a bit, but this was the only hard question I had all day.

Program: The psych residents pretty much stay at Lutheran General for their entire 4 years - with the exception of 2 off-site rotations during PGY-1. Typical intern schedule. Good exposure to all areas of psych and a nice variety of pts - both public and private. Protected class time. Supportive faculty that values the residents as junior colleagues and administration that is very open to the residents finding independent learning opportunities that match their personal interests. Residents work at the day-hospital across the street as part of their
continuity of care clinics.

3 residents per year. Everyone gets along and is very supportive of each other. Right now they are dealing with one resident on extended medical leave and everyone is very understanding of the situation. Everyone was very positive about the program and happy they matched here. Resident suggestions and complaints are taken very seriously by faculty, so the residents feel they are really seen as colleagues by their attendings.

Setting: Large, well-respected community hospital in the northern Chicago suburbs. Chicago is 45 min away driving or 20 min by metra. You can live in the city, and some residents do, but you will have a commute.

Benefits: 3 weeks vacation plus lots of holidays. Competitive benefits package. Free gym and pool on site. Nice call rooms and a great hospital cafeteria.

Call/Hours: PGY-1: Q5 call - but no weekend ER call on Saturday or Sunday. There are still Saturday work rounds so you're not entirely free on weekends, but you usually get out by 2pm and get one full weekend off per month. Hours are generally in the 50-65 range.

Program Strengths: Small class size with close-knit group of residents who are very happy, hardworking, and intelligent (again, the size depends on the individual re plus or minus), very close interactions with faculty, no traveling all over the city for rotations, all the psych units in one place with very patient friendly atmosphere, supportive faculty, fabulous gym and swimming pool in the hospital free for residents, nice call rooms, and close enough to Chicago to live there or go out as you please. Everyone seems very happy to be in this program - it was really the first choice of most residents.

Weaknesses: This is a small class and if somebody ends up taking an extended leave, it really will affect your colleagues. Minimal research - even though you are encouraged and will be assisted in finding research opps if you would like them. More limited electives than what would be offered at a larger university hospital. Chicago weather and if you live in the city rather than near the hospital, you will face traffic.

Overall: I think it's all about taste on this one. If you're looking for a small, intimate program with a mostly clinic focus and opportunity to work in a community-setting, this is the perfect place for you. The residents are very close and have a lot of one-on-one attending time. I think it's a strong program and applicants should definitely keep this place in mind when looking at Chicago. A very sweet program! :thumbup:
 
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Interview Basics: The day starts at 8:15 with continental breakfast, coffee and juice. This is when you get your detailed interview schedule. Then there's a presentation from the PD and assistant PD. Next you have interviews or a tour (the group is split up into half with half doing the tour first and the other half interviewing). Then lunch with the residents -- about 5 showed up. Then an interview and a wrap up with the PD. You have 4 30 minute interviews, and everyone interviews with the chair and the PD. The last person was done by 3 pm. I'll note that this was one of their general interview sessions, so I don't know how the format will be for the research days or child days.

Interviews are held on Thursdays and Fridays, and there's a dinner Thursday night for interviewees on both days. There's a fixed menu with vegetarian options -- if you're a vegan or have other food restrictions, it might be a good idea to let the coordinator know in advance. The program recommends 2 hotels in walking distance that cost about $100/night before taxes. They do not validate parking, and parking in that area is really expensive.

Schedule/call: Unique features of the schedule include all residents doing neuro and medicine (with peds as an option) during the first 6 months. They all start psych rotations together at the 2nd half of first year and have a ceremony to mark the start of psych rotations. IM and peds rotations are all wards, and peds is supposedly more busy (it seems like that's true everywhere). IM has a night float, so there's no overnight call, and residents said they did not go over 80 hours/week. Still it's usual IM wards with only one day off a week that's usually not a weekday. Residents do 3 months of IM and or peds along with one month of EM. Neurology is wards based with the residency service, and I missed the call schedule on that one.

Inpatient psych is done both at Northwestern (they're building a new facility that will be open 2011) and at a local VA. They used to do rotations at Evanston Hospital, but they don't anymore. Again, I missed the call schedule, but there's no call for the last year and a half of the program.

The other unique feature is that residents do half days of psychotherapy every week for 30 months, starting in 2nd year. They get 3 hours of supervision each week and are encouraged to work with multiple supervisors. The program prides itself on providing strong psychotherapy training and seems to have a bit more of a psychodynamic bent.

Facilities/patient population: As I mentioned above, the inpatient psych unit is going to be replaced and is a little dated right now. The other facilities at Northwestern are really nice and located in downtown Chicago. We didn't tour the VA, so I don't know how that looks. There's a shuttle between Northwestern hospitals and the VA. Lots of residents don't have cars, and most don't drive to work -- they either use public transit, walk or ride bikes.

Also, the people at the program were very quick to reassure us that they don't only see wealthy patients. The catchment area includes all of downtown, so they get a mix of patients, including plenty of indigent patients. They have an active community health center, and do not turn patients away due to lack of insurance or inability to pay.

Culture/vibe/direction: The program has a new chair who came from Wash U. His goal is to beef up the academic reputation of the program and to really increase research activities. However, I was reassured that there's no plans to reduce training in psychotherapy, and the program traditionally has a strong psychotherapy/clinical reputation. Everyone I talked to was positive about the new chair, but they did mention that there has been some turmoil that always goes along with new leadership. The PD has been there 10+ years and says she's not leaving.

The program also appears to have lots of money along with Northwestern in general. They're planning on starting a forensics fellowship next year.

It seemed like the residents were pretty close knit, and the PD is very involved with the residents and seems to know them very well. The PD also seemed very involved in the psychiatric community in general and seemed like a person who lobbies for her residents to get good fellowships, etc.. There are 7 residents (or maybe 8, I forget) in a class, so they're smaller but not super small.

Location: Chicago. BerlinNeuro has done a pretty good job of describing it. Northwestern is downtown just north of the loop and right by the water. Some residents live right by the program but a lot live in the central area but farther north, south or west. As mentioned above, most walk or use public transit to get to work. Chicago's a huge urban city with lots of stuff to do and is apparently a great place for singles.

Strengths: It seems like an upward moving program with lots of money and a new chair. Still very solid psychotherapy training, but research seems readily available now, too. Full day protected didactics, and a good size, imo (I know that really depends on the person). Involved PD. Friendly faculty. Solid if intense IM training. Wide diversity in patients.

Weaknesses: New chair -- that can always cause issues. Traditionally, research/academic focus hasn't been that strong, but as mentioned above, the new chair is working on changing this. Might be too small for some people. More intense schedule first and second year than some other programs.
 
Interview basics They paid for one night’s stay at a Sheraton which was a nice downtown hotel. There was a dinner at a resident’s house the night before (not catered). Interview day began with a light breakfast and no formal overview of the program was given. Five applicants were interviewed. There were 6 interviews back-to-back and all but one of them were one-on-one. I interviewed with the Training Director, four faculty, and four resident (one from each year). We were then driven to a restaurant for lunch (burger/pizza type of place). Finally, there was a walking tour of the facilities.

Facilities The first year seemed to be largely split between the OU Medical Center and the VA. Both of these facilities seemed about average, nothing super special and nothing too bad either. Outpatient is in the Williams Pavilion which again seems about average for most of my interviews. The Children’s Hospital at OU is a very nice facility but I’m unsure how much time is spent there as the outpatient portion of C&A is out of the Williams Pavilion (as I understand it). All of the hospitals are connected via a skywalk which is nice as you don’t need to drive between sites. But this could pose an issue with the way call is set up (see below).

Schedule/Call, etc. As there are only 4 residents per year the call schedule seems heavier than other programs where I’ve interviewed. There is a night-float system (Mon-Thurs) which is split up between PGY-I and PGY-II which covers 8 months of the year (one month each). Even when you’re not on night float you can still have short call and weekend call. The other four months of the year are q8 (or so). This schedule can change year to year due to people leaving the program or being out for extended periods of time. I’m not sure about the call schedule for PGY-III and IV.


Didn’t get in to too much of the schedule.

Setting/Location/Culture This is a University program but it has fewer residents than your typical University program. This could be a good or a bad thing (one-on-one attention vs. heavier call schedule).


OKC is a smaller city with minimal traffic. Most of the residents live general vicinity (Edmond) and most seem to own houses. I was told there were a lot of restaurants in the Brickyard district. I didn’t really get to see much while I was there so I can’t really say anything more.

The program seemed to be a little on the work heavy side versus work-life balance. This seems to be mainly due to its small size. The Vice Chair for Clinical Services is trying to protect the faculty and residents from increasing demands from other departments. As far as the faculty… some were friendly and engaging (couldn’t really get a good feel for this group). I was told that there have been recent changes based on resident feedback so the program seems relatively resident friendly. I was told the program is family friendly but the small size of the program has me questioning how accommodating they can truly be. I also noted that all of the PGY-I group were OU grads, not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Benefits Seemed pretty standard, nothing particularly stood out.

Strengths Individual office spaces for PGY-III and PGY-IV depending on how many residents leave for fellowships. Buddy call with a PGY-III for the first two months of PGY-I.

Weaknesses Increasing demands on department by other departments. Small size. Seems like residents need to be “creative” to make better work conditions for themselves. No remote access. No call room. Felt like residents were giving lip service about being happy but didn’t get the feeling that they truly were happy.


Overall Didn’t feel as comfortable at this program as I did at some others. Program was too small for my tastes and the call seemed a little burdensome. I was also concerned about the Vice Chair having to protect against some of the increasing demands as the Vice Chair may not be able to stem the tide forever.
 
Interview basics They paid for one night’s stay at the downtown Courtyard by Marriott which was a nice hotel (coordinator said she previewed the hotel personally). The hotel is very close to Omaha’s Old Market area which is a bunch of old buildings/warehouses that have been converted to bars, restaurants, and shops. So no dinner was provided but there were plenty of options in the general vicinity. No breakfast was provided so I ate at the hotel. The Program Coordinator picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the medical center. The Program Coordinator seemed to really have her stuff together and was rather impressive. There were five interviews and all were one-on-one. I was interviewed by the Program Director, four faculty, and an Associate Chief Resident. We then had lunch at a restaurant (which was very good) with a few of the residents and a fellow. Afterward we were driven to the VA, UNMC, and Lasting Hope (the tour was quick & efficient and showed all pertinent areas). Finally, the Program Coordinator drove us back to the hotel.

Facilities The main training site for psychiatry is the Nebraska Medical Center. Training during the primary care months is at the Creighton University Medical Center this is also the site for C&L services. Residents also rotate through the Omaha VA for EM, inpatient, substance disorders, and outpatient. Rotations through Alegent Health-Immanuel Medical Center include inpatient, C&A, and geri. All of the facilities were about average compared to other programs the new Lasting Hope facility seemed very nice though.

Schedule/Call, etc. There are currently 6 residents per year. However, there has been a recent grant that will increase the slots by 2 per year but they are not sure how this will implemented at this time.


All call is home call and an average night is 3-4 admits. Call covers two sites (UNMC and the VA) which are not next to each other but are a short drive apart. There is a call room available at UNMC if you prefer to stay at the hospital. All I caught was that first year call is approximately q5 and with that being home call it seemed pretty reasonable.

Setting/Location/Culture This is kind of a unique program as it is shared between two universities. It looks to me like the program is mostly run through Creighton (residents have Creighton e-mail addresses and the accreditation is through Creighton as well) but the majority of the psychiatry rotations are run through the Nebraska Medical Center. The program seems to run seamlessly between the two universities (at least to me).


As far as location, well it’s Omaha. It’s hot in the summers and cold in the winters. The cost of living seems very reasonable and you can rent a 3 or 4 bedroom house close to the medical centers for $700-1000 a month. Apartments can be found for $500-600 a month close to the sites as well. The Old Market area seems like a nice place to go grab a drink and the restaurants look to be very nice as well. But again it’s Omaha and it’s probably not for everybody, we’d be fine there though.

As far as culture the residents seemed very happy and the faculty seemed very approachable. The residents all agreed that the program is very family friendly and they seemed very sincere about it. The faculty all seemed like they really enjoy teaching and the program seemed very resident friendly. There is a lot of flexibility in electives the fourth year. Research opportunities are available but not required in general psych (it is required for C&A but it seems flexible). The C&A program is strong and there are 4 spots per year for psych and they have a test program with 2 spots for peds.

Benefits The benefits are some of the best I’ve seen. The PGY-I pay is the best of any of the programs I’m interviewing with and remains close to the top throughout all years. There are four weeks of vacation and ample sick time. The healthcare, dental, and vision all seem very competitive. There is a discounted membership to the Creighton gym, which I was told is amazing by the residents. Also, an added perk is that the program’s malpractice insurance covers moonlighting anywhere within the State of Nebraska, so you won’t have to worry about this as long as you moonlight within the state (very nice perk). A lot of the residents moonlight in the program and they said the pay is roughly $100 an hour in the Omaha area but it can be significantly more if you are willing to travel a bit further (they declined to reveal how much though).

Strengths Psychotherapy begins early. The program is extremely flexible. The program provides formal teaching classes for residents if you are interested in teaching medical students. There is adequate diversity of patient population in the area (Hispanic, German, and Asian were mentioned specifically). The C&A program seems very strong. Program seems very family and resident friendly. Ample moonlighting opportunities with malpractice paid by the program! There was a recent grant to increase telepysch. Buddy call for first 3 nights. Can start your own continuity clinic. You can do a primary care rotation through One World clinic. There is in a new facility called Lasting Hope (acute care and transitional). Training from faculty of two universities.

Weaknesses Winters can be quite cold. Two sites to cover on call.


Overall Seems to be a family friendly and resident program. The program offers a broad and balanced training. If you can get over the fact that it’s in Omaha it might be a good choice.
 
Interview basics They paid for one night’s stay at the downtown Courtyard by Marriott which was a nice hotel (coordinator said she previewed the hotel personally). The hotel is very close to Omaha’s Old Market area which is a bunch of old buildings/warehouses that have been converted to bars, restaurants, and shops. So no dinner was provided but there were plenty of options in the general vicinity. No breakfast was provided so I ate at the hotel. The Program Coordinator picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the medical center. The Program Coordinator seemed to really have her stuff together and was rather impressive. There were five interviews and all were one-on-one. I was interviewed by the Program Director, four faculty, and an Associate Chief Resident. We then had lunch at a restaurant (which was very good) with a few of the residents and a fellow. Afterward we were driven to the VA, UNMC, and Lasting Hope (the tour was quick & efficient and showed all pertinent areas). Finally, the Program Coordinator drove us back to the hotel.


Doesn't a person like this make all the difference in how you ultimately regard a program? Just deserves highlighting the importance of those program coordinators...
 
Doesn't a person like this make all the difference in how you ultimately regard a program? Just deserves highlighting the importance of those program coordinators...

Couldn't agree more, my wife and I were just discussing this today actually. There have been a few other PC's who really stood out as being excellent. There are also a few that were not so impressive. I wonder if programs truly realize how important this position is as this person is the first representative of the program an applicant is likely to meet. My wife certainly notices when they are organized and the personal touches they do or do not provide. So kudos is rightfully deserved.
 
Couldn't agree more, my wife and I were just discussing this today actually. There have been a few other PC's who really stood out as being excellent. There are also a few that were not so impressive. I wonder if programs truly realize how important this position is as this person is the first representative of the program an applicant is likely to meet. My wife certainly notices when they are organized and the personal touches they do or do not provide. So kudos is rightfully deserved.

It's almost a mark of a good program that they do recognize it and cultivate that role, ultimately making them a better, more attractive program. Whereas those that don't recognize it will neglect the role and allow their aura of disorganization and malignancy to be perpetuated.
 
A program coordinator is very important, and will have a great impact on your morale and peace of mind at a program.

If the pc during the interview process is good, usually that's a good sign he or she will do a great job while you're at the program.

This does matter. Getting your vacation forms filled out appropriately, backing you up on things where people may say "hey you forgot to do this", reminding you of specific paperwork etc...These things are important.

A bad PC can greatly worsen your experience in the program. Where I did one of my medical rotations as a medstudent, the PC played favorites with the residents and medical students, staff split, falsely accused people and did other things such as strategically lose your papers that took you several hours to fill out--on the day you needed them sent out to other programs during the application process.
 
Interview basics The day began with a light breakfast (a few doughnuts and bagels) and there was an overview of the program with the Chief Resident. There were five interviews which were spread throughout the day. I interviewed with the PD, 3 faculty, and a resident. The interviews were all one-on-one. We were driven to the VA for a quick tour and an interview with one of the VA faculty. We also went to lunch with residents at a restaurant which was very very good.

Facilities The University Medical Center is the primary site of training which just got a new emergency room (2 “dedicated” psych beds). The UMC is about average otherwise. Another site is the VA where residents rotate through neurology, IM, and psychiatry the architecture of the building is beautiful. The facilities within are like your typical VA but there is a new outpatient psychiatry building which looked nice. The other site I noted was the University Physicians Healthcare Hospital which supports the public mental health system in Pima County. Residents do electives and inpatient at UPHH. We did not get a tour of UPHH so I can’t say anything about it.

Schedule/Call, etc. PGY-I is four months of primary care (at least two months IM and the option of peds/EM for the other two months), two months of neuro, three months of adult inpatient, two months EM psych, and one month night float.


PGY-II is three months of inpatient (includes one month of geri), two months of C&A, two months of C&L, two months of geri, two months of addiction, and one month of night float.

PGY-III is 12 months of outpatient (includes three-month blocks of one-half day a week in forensics and community psych).

PGY-IV is one month ECT/forensic, two months of addiction, and nine months of electives.

As you can see there is night float during PGY-I and PGY-II which is from 7PM to 7AM. Otherwise call is approximately q10 where you cover the University Med Center, VA via phone, and you also cover children older than 10 from 11PM-6:30AM. This can be home call if you live within 30 minutes. Call on IM is q5. Unsure of call for PGY-III and PGY-IV.

Setting/Location/Culture This is a smaller University program with 6 residents a year. There is a new children’s medical center set to open (is open?) which is called the Diamond Children’s Medical Center.


Tucson is a small southwestern city that is on the edge of the Sonoran Desert. It looked pretty brown but there is over 300 days of sunshine a year. There is adequate patient diversity (Asian, German, Spanish, Mexican, and Native American were mentioned specifically). Everyone said it was a family friendly city with a lot of outdoor activities. Phoenix is about 2 hours away but the locals thought Tucson was more cultural than Phoenix. You can get a nice one bedroom apartment for $700-800. I was told that the south side of the city was patchy and should probably be avoided (unfortunately you only see the south side between the airport and medical center).


Program seems resident friendly and I was told that the PD has an open door policy which the residents were not afraid to actually use. I was told the program was family friendly but I wasn’t able to get as good of a feel for this as I was able to at other programs. The faculty seemed accommodating and there was a relaxed atmosphere (relaxed enough that residents and faculty were on a first name basis). The faculty also welcomes resident interest in research. The residents seemed to have good camaraderie, especially evident among the single residents.

Benefits The pay seems to be on the higher end of the scale. The healthcare insurance seems reasonable. Four weeks of vacation. There is an $800 book allowance (this increases to $1,800 for chief residents). There is on call $. Free parking. There is also a tuition waiver for the resident and dependents which makes attending the university ridiculously cheap. Residents can use the U of A fitness center for $300/yr.


Strengths Program provides a neuro anatomy class. There is a buddy call system. ECT training is provided at the UMC and VA. The new VA outpatient building should be a nice place to work. There will also be a new psych building which is scheduled to be finished in 2011. VA detox program is said to be “excellent.” There is an opportunity to do telepsych with Spanish speaking populations. The residents have movie night and there is a yearly departmental retreat. You begin psychotherapy and didactics on therapy topics at the end of 2nd year. There is an opportunity to work at a county facility call the Sambeck (sp?) Crisis Center. The new ED should help to fill in a training gap in the program, there is a social worker in the ED as well. Program provides prep for PRITE. The program also has a good board pass rate.


Weaknesses There is no women’s mental health clinic currently but it is hoped it will be back next year. No primary care/psych combo outpatient rotation currently but they are trying to bring it back. Three residents left the program relatively recently (one because of age and two left for a more academic program [both UCSF]). Only a couple of the people I met had outgoing personalities the rest had relatively modest enthusiasm. I question if there may be a little too much therapy as people within the program drew a lot of attention to it and then proceeded to defend it. I also question the variety of 4th year electives (there don’t seem to be as many as other programs I’ve interviewed with).


Overall The surrounding area (especially the mountains) and weather are beautiful. The program seems very resident friendly. From speaking to the residents I think if you go to this program you will be very well versed in therapy. This program also sees a very diverse patient population which I see as a positive. Residents will have the opportunity to do research if they like but will not have it forced upon them. The faculty also seems to be eager to teach.
 
Adding a couple of thoughts to the post about OU-OKC. I didn't apply there and haven't rotated there, but I have some minor familiarity with the program and have lived in OKC. About OKC, it's really cheap and looks like a typical midwestern city. Bricktown is kind of a neat areas, but it's really not booming with great restaurants.

Also, I've talked to people who rotated there, and they said they didn't feel like it was super intense, but I really don't know. I'd think that OU grads would be less likely to stay there if they were worked too hard. Other thoughts -- I don't know if small programs are generally harder, but I know it's not always true. OU-Tulsa has 5 residents/class and has about the friendliest schedule that I've seen so far.
 
I didn't interview there but thought I might add a bit of info, as I grew up Manhattan Beach, nearby. Harbor General Hospital is in a pretty bad area of Torrance. It is THE main hospital for the uninsured in about a 15 mile radius, which is a lot of people. But within about 1 mile west it get's better, quickly. There are many different types of housing, and neigborhoods all within 10-15 minutes drive. but most would want to live nearer the beach probably, and one room is going to be around 900$. IT can take 15 minutes to get to the ocean in Redondo (closest beaches) to get some waves early morning or whatever, or it can take 30-40 minutes in rush hour. Rush hour is from about 2:30 pm until 6pm. Traffic is an understatement. I'd say it's probably topped only by New York. It takes FOREVER to get up to Hollywood, Westwood (Wilshire), or L.A. area for entertainment, forever can literally be 3 hours in rush hour. So, freeways crawl from about 3-6pm, every day. All that said, So. Cal is nice in many, many ways, and the main factor that affects cost of living is real estate, with other factors being 20% or so above average (groceries, private schools for kids, gas, car insurance, property taxex, etc... IT'S NOT LIKE NY). Once training is done, there are many less expensive, yet fine places to live near the coast, especially towards San Diego.
 
Adding a couple of thoughts to the post about OU-OKC. I didn't apply there and haven't rotated there, but I have some minor familiarity with the program and have lived in OKC. About OKC, it's really cheap and looks like a typical midwestern city. Bricktown is kind of a neat areas, but it's really not booming with great restaurants.

Also, I've talked to people who rotated there, and they said they didn't feel like it was super intense, but I really don't know. I'd think that OU grads would be less likely to stay there if they were worked too hard. Other thoughts -- I don't know if small programs are generally harder, but I know it's not always true. OU-Tulsa has 5 residents/class and has about the friendliest schedule that I've seen so far.

Fair enough, I think she was thinking that there may be a bit of the "better the devil you know..." type of situation. But perhaps not.

Thanks for the added insight though.
 
Another anonymous interview...somewhat delayed. Sorry guys. I'll add that when i interviewed last year I was extremely impressed with Dr. Brenner who was extremely warm, so much so that I had to check and make sure that he was an analyst. I also get the feeling Dr. Brenner would not have left a program in the lurch when he left.
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UTSW
Food/Accommodations – Dinner the night before at a great restaurant, and lunch provided the day of at the nicest restaurant/caf on campus (surely – it was great).

Interview Day – One on one interviews with three faculty + you are given the opportunity to meet with a 4th faculty member in any area of interest (optional). No interviews with students. The day started with an informational ppt with Dr. Brenner. Interviews are over by lunch time. The day was 8-2:30. The afternoon involved a lengthy tour through multiple sites (wear walking shoes). The day ended with a meeting with a faculty member in your specialty of interest, assuming they have one available for you.

Program overview – You rotate through many many sites. It seemed like almost every month was something completely different and new. I think this is both a plus and a minus. The plus being a surplus of opportunities to take advantage of, and the minus being that you are constantly moving/using different EMR's. Depending on whether continuity is important to you, that might not be a minus at all. Electives begin in your 2nd year of residency and so does therapy sessions. Intern year is a mix of tough and more relaxed months. Neuro is known to be extremely tough hour wise, but very informative. I was told to expect to count your hours well because you will likely push 80hrs/weekly on tough months.

Faculty – They are very nice people, and I found them to be well informed about the program. Interview questions were a little more complex than some of my other interviews. A point was made at the beginning of the interview day that they were specifically looking for students they believed would be future leaders of their respective field in psychiatry (whatever that ends up being). Faculty also seemed to really care about their residents, and the residents agreed. All of the faculty I met were faculty that I would really like to work with as colleagues – very intelligent people and extremely kind.

Call – Highly confusing in my opinion. I already mentioned that you rotate through many different sites, and each site has different call schedules. Intern year you take call with whatever rotation you are on. IM is q4-5. The VA (1st and 2nd year) has overnight call. You do one full month of night float at the psych ER (all at once) during intern year. Both the psych ER and regular ER are extremely busy, and they often call for back-up/moonlighters. Most other rotations have home call. You take at least some home call throughout all 4 years of residency. I think 4th year is only 2 months of home call though. Still, residents did not seem overworked, and most were relatively happy with the system.

Location – The most popular residency living area was in Uptown. Compared to other areas of TX, housing is obviously costly near the med center.

Benefits – Salary was recently increased. Some meals are provided. I didn't pay too much attention to this – probably should have though.

Program strengths – Opportunities everywhere. Electives start early. Faculty is very responsive. Residents are very kind. Many fellowships. Opening a community psych fellowship in the next 1-2 years. Research seems particularly strong.

Program weaknesses – Multiple sites for rotations with different systems could be stressful/aggravating depending on the type of person you are (I actually like it). For the south, traffic is busier than most (also larger than most cities so makes sense). If you are interested in forensics, the fellowship is currently closed. The forensics fellowship is accredited, but there is no faculty to run it.
 
University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt
Interview overview

1. Food/accommodations -- Dinner the night before at a nice restaurant (Cinghiale) in a pretty nice area of Baltimore (with free valet parking). Regular restaurant menu (no special menu). Pasta, meat, etc. Good variety. None of the residents ordered a drink so none of the applicants did, but I have a feeling if someone had no one would have cared. Lasted about 2 hours. No accommodations. There is a hotel near the university that I think is like $100/night. I pricelined something nearby and got a better deal, but traffic can be bad so make sure you give yourself enough time. It took me about 20 mins to get 2.5 miles the morning of the interview. Retrospectively I'd recommend staying closer, especially if you don't have a car.

2. Interview day – Started off with pastries/juice/coffee and an intro to the program from the program director. Followed by 2 interviews, ~30 mins each, with faculty and/or a chief resident. My interviews were pretty friendly, hardly asked me any questions actually. Mostly just wanted to know what I was interested in and asked if I had any questions about the program. Then they take you over to Sheppard Pratt (the private psych hospital) for a tour. You return for lunch with the residents. Then you tour UMaryland hospital. Then everyone meets individually with the PD for a ~5 min wrap up session. Ended around 3:00-3:30.

Program overview -- this is a fairly large program with about 12-15 residents per class. They also have fellowship programs in every board-certified psych fellowship that there is. The residents rotate through Sheppard Pratt, a private psychiatric hospital, UMaryland, the VA and one of the state hospitals.

PGY-1 – 3 months IM at Mercy Medical center, which is a private hospital nearby. All of their IM residents are prelims, not categorical, which the residents said creates more of a camaraderie between the psych and medicine residents because no one is going into IM and everyone is just trying to get through the year. Everyone seems to have actually enjoyed this rotation. 2 months of neurology (apparently one is stroke and one is everything else). 1 month of adult or pediatric EM. 4 months inpatient psych. 1 month emergency psych. 1 month addictions at BVAMC. Call seems to average ~q5. Call is done at Sheppard Pratt (to be honest I wasn't entirely clear if it was all done at Sheppard Pratt or if some of it was done at UMaryland…); the intern caps at 3 admissions and that is all they are responsible for. The second year is responsible for fielding all medical calls from the nursing staff.

PGY 2 – 2 months geriatric psych, 6 weeks psychotic disorders unit at Sheppard Pratt, 3 months consult liason (which is divided into teams that cover different services, so you do 1 month of each – can include shock trauma, surgery teams, various medical specialties, etc), 1 month Emergency Psych, 6 weeks of an elective (can be child if you're interested in that). Call q5-6.

PGY 3 – all outpatient. They have several sites (including Umaryland, Sheppard Pratt, VA). Everyone ranks the sites they want based on the experience they want. You have several different advisors (one for med management patients, one for family therapy, one for psychodynamic therapy, one for child therapy, one for CBT, etc. Not everyone has advisors in every group, you just have a few based on what you'll be doing). Most people get their first choice but if you don't the PD makes it up to you by giving you first choice of your advisors, first choice on your fourth year electives, or some other system to make it more fair. Backup call only.

PGY-4 – Electives, backup call only

Location – I was actually surprised by Baltimore, given its bad rep. I stayed in a nice area of the city and the hospital was also in a nice part of the city. Some residents live in the city and some commute from the suburbs. Seems like the sites are somewhat far from each other, so there's not necessarily an advantage to living right next to the hospital. The residents say that there are definitely areas to stay away from but if you do that it's a pretty good place to live. Cost of living is ok - ~$900-1000 was lower end for a studio/1 bedroom apartment. I'm sure housing prices vary depending upon where you buy. Close to DC.

Benefits -- free food when on call and free parking everywhere.

Other stuff:
-Research track – can squeeze in research into 4 years or do 5.
-Moonlighting available for all 4 years, but mostly done in PGY-3 and PGY-4. Can be done PGY-2 in the C/L months. Has to be within the 80 hour work week.

Program strengths – family friendly (they really stressed this), residents seem happy, the PD seemed somewhat flexible in accommodating individual's interests and really wanted to make sure the residents got the best learning experience possible. Good training in psychotherapy and community psychiatry as well.

Potential weaknesses – seems like 2nd year may be a little bit more intense here than other programs, with more frequent call. Sites seemed kind of far away from each other so at some point you're going to end up commuting. Obviously location (Baltimore) is a personal thing.
 
Fair enough, I think she was thinking that there may be a bit of the "better the devil you know..." type of situation. But perhaps not.

Thanks for the added insight though.

Definitely, and it's always good to share any type of feel you get for the program because multiple people can be right and still have really different opinions about a place. It's all how it rubs you.
 
UC Irvine

Interview basics
The day started at 8:00 with some coffee and pastries, Chief Resident then took us into her office to give us a slide show about the program, which was pretty thorough. We then had 4 45 minute interviews. I interviewed with the chair, PD, and 2 residents). Interviews were all laid back (why psych, why irvine, where do you want to see yourself in 10 years, etc). We then had lunch with the residents, followed by a tour. We then had the option of sitting in on child rounds, a teaching session, or going to clinic. We all sat in on rounds (it was completely optional to stay for any of these)

Facilities Main psych facility is on the UC Irvine med center campus, with acute ward, med/psych ward, child/adolescent ward. They also have an adolescent partial day program. You also rotate at the VA, which is in Long Beach. Outpatient clinics are at the med center and the VA, with options to also rotate at other sites in SoCal.

Schedule/Call, etc. PGY1 is 4.5 months inpatient psych, 6 weeks nightfloat, 4 months medicine (which can be combined as med/peds/ER and inpatient and outpatient). Both neuro months are outpatient. Call works out to 6 Friday overnights, 6 saturday 24 hr shifts (apparently some residents divide it into 2 12 hr shifts and split it, which is fine) and 1 holiday overnight per year, as well as 2-3 short calls (5p-10p)
a month.

PGY-II is a mix of child/adolescent inpatient, C/L, geriatrics, etc. There is no overnight call, 2-3 short calls a month, q2 month Sunday call.

PGY-III is all outpatient, no call. PGY-IV is outpatient and electives.


Setting/Location/Culture The hospital is in Orange County, which has no county hospital, so UCI catches a fairly diverse population of patients. VA seemed unique in that it has a fairly large program for women's mental health. Brand new main UCI hospital is beautiful, very spacious with great views. The psych wards are older, but still seem modern compared with other.

Orange County has great weather and is close to beaches and a lot of things to do. Traffic can be pretty bad, but most the residents said that they didn't have to spend too much time commuting. It seemed like residents lived all over the place, some living walking distance from the hospital, some in LA, and all over in between. Cost of living is higher than a lot of places, but not as bad as SF.

Residents were all really friendly, they all seemed really happy to be at UCI and I think most of them ranked it first. Perhaps a little more personal than other UC schools. Program gives residents a lot of flexibility to determine their own path in training. Residents also get free training for the psychotherapy institute in orange county during their 3rd year.

Benefits
I honestly didn't pay much attention, pay seemed standard. One of the residents mentioned that their health insurance was really good.


Strengths
Strong focus in psychotherapy. Friendly, laid back residents, administration seems very resident-centered. Nice location with good weather year round. Flexible schedule that can be molded to resident's interest.


Weaknesses: You can love or hate southern california ( I personally fluctuate depending on when I'm there). Cost of living fairly high. Not the strongest school for research, if that's what you're looking for, though it is definitely available.

 
OHSU

Interview basics
Started at 8 with coffee, pastries, etc. We were given a slide show by one of the chiefs then went on a tour of the facilities. We had 4 interviews total, 2 before lunch and 2 after, with some downtime in between. I interviewed with PD, associate training director, a professor, and a chief resident. Very conversational interviews, all the interviewers seemed to know my info well. Lunch was with 4 residents, one from each class. There was also a dinner with residents after the interviews, but I couldn't attend.

Facilities Most your time is spent on the OHSU campus, as EVERYTHING seems to be there (main hospital, childrens hospital, VA, psych wards, clinics, etc). The hospital and VA were very nice and modern. There are skyways connecting a lot of the buildings, and the main hospital is connected to the riverfront by a ski-lift like tram. Our resident said the general psych wards are older, but they seemed pretty nice and spacious. No child/adolescent wards, but you can rotate at the hospital where the fellows go if you are interested.

Schedule/Call, etc. PGY1 is 6 months inpatient psych at the VA and OHSU, 2 months inpatient neuro, 2 months medicine, 1 month ER and one of ambulatory med. Call depends on what hospital you're at, OHSU has short call and night float, VA is about q5. Weekend call is about every other weekend. You have call during 1st and 2nd year
.

PGY-II is 6 weeks inpatient at OHSU and 6 weeks at VA, 6 weeks each of geri and ER psych, 3 months C/L and 3 months inpatient at Oregon State hospital, which is more long term patients. You also start seeing outpatients 1/2 day a week at OHSU. Therapy training starts during the 2nd year.

PGY-III is all outpatient, no call. You get 12 months of outpatient child psych, as well as 6 months each of community and substance abuse. You get to go to Vancouver, CA for a couple days during community psych to see how Canadian clinics run, which is pretty cool. PGYIV is outpatient clinic and electives.
Didactics are every Tuesday afternoon for all classes.

Setting/Location/Culture

The majority of rotations are at OHSU, which is in Portland. The campus itself is up on a hill overlooking the city, river and mountains, and is gorgeous. Facilities themselves seemed very nice. The whole hospital has EMR.

Portland is great if you are into any kind of outdoor activities. There are parks everywhere and you're close to both mountains and beaches. It's very bike friendly, the hospital actually pays people if they bike to work. Residents said there are a lot of cool neighborhoods to chose from and that there's no "bad" area of town. Lots of breweries in town, and wineries nearby. Cost of living is less than just about every major west coast city. Very environmentally conscious city.

The residents were all friendly and seemed happy with their choice. Most chose OHSU because they liked Portland, they seemed to be from all over the country. Seemed to socialize a lot within their classes.

Benefits
I never pay much attention to this. About average. Opportunities to moonlight in 3rd and 4th year. There's a free wellness program for residents with free, confidential psychotherapy, as well as a weekly psycho therapy group. Discounted classes at Oregon psychoanalytic center.

Strengths Seemed to be balanced in therapy and biopsych. PD is an analyst, chair is more bio-based. Faculty were geniuinly friendly and easy to talk to. PD seemed honestly concerned with having a program that was strongly resident run. Early outpatient and therapy training. Unique cultural psych program working directly with different ethnic populations in the community. Residents raved about the child psych program and the training you get 3rd year. Beautiful city, I personally really like Portland.

Weaknesses: No
t a research powerhouse. Diversity in patient population may be limited by the diversity of Oregon (or relative lack thereof). I was concerned that there was no inpatient child experience, but it sounds like they can make that happen if you are interested.

Overall:

I was really pleasantly surprised by this program. I got a really good feeling about it during my interview day. I didn't really think I would rank this program highly, but its now up in the list of my top couple programs to decide between in Feb.
 
Interview Basics: The day starts at 9 am on the UCLA campus. Coffee, juice, pastries and bagels are provided. Both the chiefs met with us and one of them gave a powerpoint presentation about the schedule and all that good stuff. 5 people were interviewed on my day. It sounded like they have separate interview days for research track people, so I don't know how that day would go.

We all had 3 interviews, one with the pd or assistant pd, one with a resident (it seemed like usually a chief) and one with an attending. We each had two interviews after the presentation, then lunch with the residents (and a ton of residents seemed to show up), a tour of the VA, one more interview, a tour of the UCLA hospital and then happy hour at a Westwood restaurant with the residents. The pd and one or two attendings also showed up briefly. Overall a pretty laid back day.

Schedule/call, etc.: The program is definitely front-loaded with a challenging first and second year followed by a pretty relaxed 3rd and 4th year. For primary care months, residents do one month IM wards, one month EM and 2 months clinic (either peds and IM or just IM). The inpatient psych experience in first year is in geriatrics. On rotations other than EM and IM wards, residents are on psych call q6. IM call is q8 long call and q4 short call, and EM is 12 hour shifts 6 days a week. Interns are on call with senior residents and have protected sleep time during the night. Interns also do 2 months of night float with 2 week vacations during each of these months. Residents also do one month at the Harbor psych ER.

2nd year is psych inpatient, c/l, child, etc. (the schedule is listed on their website). As I recall, psych call is still about q6, again with protected sleep time. 3rd and 4th year are clinic years with limited call 3rd year and no call 4th year. They have a ton of different clinics, so residents really have the option of shaping their own clinical experience with of course required training in CBT and psychodynamics. They said they have one hour of supervision weekly during these years. It seemed like most of the 3rd and 4th years did moonlighting.

Benefits: Pay scale seems about average, and LA is a more expensive city. However, their health care coverage is great. They pay 100% of the premiums for the residents and dependents, and residents pay nothing for any health care services, including medicines, hospital stays, office visits, surgeries, etc.. So you should spend $0 in health care while there. They did say university child care was expensive, and I didn't ask about parking but am guessing it's not cheap. Residents do get a food stipend.

Setting/culture/vibe: It's definitely a bigger program, but it seemed very cohesive. A lot of the residents showed up at lunch and at the happy hour and seemed like a pretty happy and sociable crew. It's definitely a big research place, but I met plenty of residents who had no interest in research. The program also has lots of opportunities for residents to give feedback, including weekly residents' meetings and various committees.

Being in California, the program seemed a little more informal than expected for such a big institution. The program coordinators were really nice, and the facilities were fine. The new hospital at UCLA is pretty spiffy, and the VA is fine. Residents also have their own offices in the clinic starting at least 3rd year.

Location: It's LA. UCLA is located in a nice, expensive area. Residents seemed to live in Brentwood, Santa Monica, West Hollywood areas and said rent isn't that horrible. University housing is available, but I'm guessing there's a waiting list. It sounded like driving is pretty much a necessity, but some of the residents did take the bus or walk sometimes. Biking can apparently be a little dicey in LA.

Strengths: Pretty much unlimited research and clinical opportunities with a diverse patient population in a big, sunny city by the ocean. Collegial, happy residents. Good reputation. Fellowships in everything.

Weaknesses: LA could be either a pro or a con. It's definitely more expensive and trafficy. UCLA clinic patients are generally insured and live in the area, meaning they're probably of a higher economic status. However, you do have the option of doing VA clinics. Internship year sounds challenging.
 
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