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Applications for CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service are open through June 5, 2026.
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Know your story. Ask yourself, why do I want to be a psychiatrist? What did draw me to this work? What do I like about it? What don't I like about it? What do I want to do in X years? What things are I interested in learning more about or exploring?

If you know yourself I feel like it doesn't matter what questions you get asked.
 
Related question: is it okay to talk about your favorite (working) part of psychiatry? I was thinking it may sound picky. Or is this where the "in 10 yrs" thing comes in. For example, I reeeeeally like dealing with severe MI. There is nothing quite like "good morning" from a pt who was acutely psychotic 2 days ago. I appreciate their struggle. I appreciate their family's struggle. And I can totally see myself working inpatinet with my own set of duckling students. ... so...does that come off as someone who really doesn't care much about doing outpatient? Is that a problem?
 
valid username said:
Related question: is it okay to talk about your favorite (working) part of psychiatry? I was thinking it may sound picky. Or is this where the "in 10 yrs" thing comes in. For example, I reeeeeally like dealing with severe MI. There is nothing quite like "good morning" from a pt who was acutely psychotic 2 days ago. I appreciate their struggle. I appreciate their family's struggle. And I can totally see myself working inpatinet with my own set of duckling students. ... so...does that come off as someone who really doesn't care much about doing outpatient? Is that a problem?
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No--not a problem at all.
(In fact, at many programs, a refreshing change...)
 
WOW! That is very surprising. Very. I am in outpatient rotation right now but another attending is "borrowing" me 2 days a week for inpatient. The people in the outpatient clinic are very nice, but there's so much of a single office a person can handle.
 
valid username said:
Related question: is it okay to talk about your favorite (working) part of psychiatry? I was thinking it may sound picky. Or is this where the "in 10 yrs" thing comes in. For example, I reeeeeally like dealing with severe MI. There is nothing quite like "good morning" from a pt who was acutely psychotic 2 days ago. I appreciate their struggle. I appreciate their family's struggle. And I can totally see myself working inpatinet with my own set of duckling students. ... so...does that come off as someone who really doesn't care much about doing outpatient? Is that a problem?
Click to expand...

The question I would be tempted to ask if I was interviewing you and you said that would be "so a good chunk of the patients you are describing at our institution will hate you while inpatient and view you as a jailer. You will be sitting across a table from them on a regular basis and explicitly testifying about why they are severely mentally disabled and don't deserve a fundamental right at the moment. How will you reconcile yourself to that?"

...but then I'm someone who was a little disappointed that I never actually witnesses stress interviewing techniques while on the application trail.
 
LOL! I have grown children. I am immune to this. Nah, seriously. I will work on a better answer in case someone asks me that. I will certainly think about in the next few morning rounds.
 
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