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And don't half a million people live in Portland? I wouldn't call that a small city. Don't know much about the program, but I was surprised to read all that about the city.
2013-2014 Psychiatry Interview Reviews
- Thread starter Fenster
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2013
- Messages
- 75
- Reaction score
- 45
Thank you Doctor Bagel for the updates. I clearly must've been misled by the board next to the tram alighting point that suggested that it ran up to 5.30 pm on weekdays, and 1 pm on Saturday with no service on Sunday. Also, as an addendum to the review, let me post the current salary from the link you'd provided:
However, I'm not sure I can agree entirely with the sentiments of the posters above with regard to the city as what I wrote was based on my personal impression. I interviewed on a Monday, but I decided to arrive in Portland as early as Saturday as I figured I'll catch up with my friend from medical school with whom I was staying. So, I had three evenings in the city including a weekend. After having lived in a city for most of my life, the place felt almost rural without much happening anywhere. Apart from a few fancy restaurants, there were very few shops and hangout spots open late. I literally spent my first evening walking across the city searching for a good pub where I could meet people and have an interesting conversation. My mate from medical school who is a current resident at OHSU in a different specialty echoed my sentiments about the city.
All that said, Portland does have very good public transportation. That’s something I forgot to mention in my original review. Even if it’s not as good as NYC or LA or Denver in terms of hours and frequency, it’s still very good.
And, yes, there are some outdoorsy stuff to do here like hiking and skiing on the nearby mount if you like those things. And yes, it is clearly a “hipster mecca”, and yes, the residents do work too hard compared to most programs in psychiatry. None of those are major positives for me, but if you are sure they are for you, that's great!
PGY1 - $51,000
PGY2 - $53,400
PGY3 - $55,900
PGY4 - $58,800
PGY2 - $53,400
PGY3 - $55,900
PGY4 - $58,800
However, I'm not sure I can agree entirely with the sentiments of the posters above with regard to the city as what I wrote was based on my personal impression. I interviewed on a Monday, but I decided to arrive in Portland as early as Saturday as I figured I'll catch up with my friend from medical school with whom I was staying. So, I had three evenings in the city including a weekend. After having lived in a city for most of my life, the place felt almost rural without much happening anywhere. Apart from a few fancy restaurants, there were very few shops and hangout spots open late. I literally spent my first evening walking across the city searching for a good pub where I could meet people and have an interesting conversation. My mate from medical school who is a current resident at OHSU in a different specialty echoed my sentiments about the city.
All that said, Portland does have very good public transportation. That’s something I forgot to mention in my original review. Even if it’s not as good as NYC or LA or Denver in terms of hours and frequency, it’s still very good.
And, yes, there are some outdoorsy stuff to do here like hiking and skiing on the nearby mount if you like those things. And yes, it is clearly a “hipster mecca”, and yes, the residents do work too hard compared to most programs in psychiatry. None of those are major positives for me, but if you are sure they are for you, that's great!
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2013
- Messages
- 75
- Reaction score
- 45
NYU / New York University
1. Communication: Email. Absolutely no issues with the scheduling.
2. Accommodation & Food: None provided. Interview day food was excellent.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview day started at around 8:00 AM with an introduction by the PD who gave a good overview of the program. Some of the residents were present for this session, and all of them were uniformly friendly. The interviews were longer than the usual 30 minute interviews at other programs. That made the schedule seem daunting at first but each interviewer seemed to make it a point to make the interviewee feel comfortable that not one interview felt like it was dragging. No curveballs here, and all the interviewers seemed to have read my application very well. Lunch was with the residents and they all seemed genuinely happy to be at NYU.
4. Program Overview: It’s all about Bellevue. It’s hard to imagine a better place to train in clinical psychiatry than at this hospital. It seems like you will see the entire gamut of psychopathology here. The residents also rotate through plenty of other sites for variety from VA to community clinics. There are plenty of opportunities for research, and is actively encouraged. Psychotherapy training, especially psychodynamics, seems to be solid. PD is also apparently very supportive.
5. Faculty: A very large faculty with very diverse clinical and research interests. Lots of psychoanalytic supervisors. According to the residents, most of the faculty are very friendly and approachable.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Well, it’s NYC. I love it. Some don’t. If you like living in a big city, you will likely like it here. The residents unanimously acknowledged having enough time to have a life outside of the residency so that is a plus.
7. Salary & Benefits: Good salary, tons of moonlighting opportunities, and other benefits. Most are on their website.
8. Program Strengths:
- Fantastic clinical training at Bellevue
- Very good psychotherapy training
- Lots of research opportunities
- Well-respected faculty who are also good teachers
- Good national reputation, if you are looking to go into academic psychiatry
- NYC (if you like the city)
9. Program Weaknesses:
- Not a very cushy residency
- A bit of travel between the various sites
- NYC (if you don’t like the city)
1. Communication: Email. Absolutely no issues with the scheduling.
2. Accommodation & Food: None provided. Interview day food was excellent.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview day started at around 8:00 AM with an introduction by the PD who gave a good overview of the program. Some of the residents were present for this session, and all of them were uniformly friendly. The interviews were longer than the usual 30 minute interviews at other programs. That made the schedule seem daunting at first but each interviewer seemed to make it a point to make the interviewee feel comfortable that not one interview felt like it was dragging. No curveballs here, and all the interviewers seemed to have read my application very well. Lunch was with the residents and they all seemed genuinely happy to be at NYU.
4. Program Overview: It’s all about Bellevue. It’s hard to imagine a better place to train in clinical psychiatry than at this hospital. It seems like you will see the entire gamut of psychopathology here. The residents also rotate through plenty of other sites for variety from VA to community clinics. There are plenty of opportunities for research, and is actively encouraged. Psychotherapy training, especially psychodynamics, seems to be solid. PD is also apparently very supportive.
5. Faculty: A very large faculty with very diverse clinical and research interests. Lots of psychoanalytic supervisors. According to the residents, most of the faculty are very friendly and approachable.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Well, it’s NYC. I love it. Some don’t. If you like living in a big city, you will likely like it here. The residents unanimously acknowledged having enough time to have a life outside of the residency so that is a plus.
7. Salary & Benefits: Good salary, tons of moonlighting opportunities, and other benefits. Most are on their website.
8. Program Strengths:
- Fantastic clinical training at Bellevue
- Very good psychotherapy training
- Lots of research opportunities
- Well-respected faculty who are also good teachers
- Good national reputation, if you are looking to go into academic psychiatry
- NYC (if you like the city)
9. Program Weaknesses:
- Not a very cushy residency
- A bit of travel between the various sites
- NYC (if you don’t like the city)
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2004
- Messages
- 11,775
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- 2,027
Might it be that you're a bit of a snob, in the city department? I don't mean this in an insulting way, necessarily. Portland is a small city, not LA, NYC, or Chicago. It's not going to be an open-all-night kind of place.
But if you couldn't find a decent pub in the country's literal beer Mecca, you might want to consider that you just didn't get to know the city very well. Might be more a matter of the tour guide than what's being toured....
You're really putting your city critic credibility in jeopardy if you're putting LA in the same breath as good public transportation. It's handy when the bus happens to be where you're going, but your really limit your life in LA when you have to depend on public transportation every day.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2002
- Messages
- 10,910
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- 1,154
Hmm, maybe you misread the am part -- here's their website with the schedule. It runs from 5:30 am to 9:30 pm on weekdays. Workable for psych residents, but the surgery folks might have to get in before it starts running.
http://gobytram.com/
Yeah, and Portland is certainly not for everyone. It's not NYC, but I don't think it's exactly a rural outpost either, but I'm not a huge city type of person. Too many people like Portland as it is right now.
About the work part, we do work hard, but I really don't know that our work amounts are outside of normal for non-cushy places (those no to very little call places). The hard work is also concentrated in the first and second years, at least in terms of weekend and evening work. PGY3s are on call no more than ~once every 6 weeks, and PGY4s have no scheduled call aside from 2 in-house 3 hour training shifts each 3 month block (at most).
Your observations about research seem right -- we're not a research powerhouse, and most residents here don't do basic research type of stuff. You could probably find it if you want it, but yeah, it's not a prominent thing here.
Anyway, it sounds like you've found some other programs that you like, so good luck to you in your remaining interviews and rankings.
- Joined
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These are probably true points, too. We've got a ton of pubs. An absolute ton. And yes, our public transportation is better than LA. Another very true thing. It's definitely not as good as pubilc transit in big east coast cities, though.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2013
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- 164
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- 62
Interesting post! Just google-researched this topic and found this: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45125849/
Portland is ranked #2 for public transportation in the country, and LA is #9! But, LA still has 96% of the area accessible by public transportation while Portland has only 83.5% coverage so I guess you can find more buses going to where you want to go in LA than Portland.
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2004
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As long as you have four hours to get from your house to Walmart....Portland is ranked #2 for public transportation in the country, and LA is #9! But, LA still has 96% of the area accessible by public transportation while Portland has only 83.5% coverage so I guess you can find more buses going to where you want to go in LA than Portland.
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
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- 359
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- 76
Fixed that for you.
Portland has great public transportation for its size. But best the way to get around is by bike.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2013
- Messages
- 164
- Reaction score
- 62
Anonymous Review - NYU
1. Communication: Email.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accomodations provided. They did provide a list of hotels, but the couple I looked at one the list were over $400/night.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Begins at 8 with the PD and residents, with a presentation. This was fun and informal. After that, three 30m interviews. I felt really comfortable during the interviews, conversation-style, informal, people knew my application well. We went out to a nice restaurant for lunch, which was great, and then toured the campus and met with the PD briefly at the end of the day.
4. Program Overview: Bellevue is the jewel. I agree with the previous review that this is the core of their residency and a wonderful place to train. That said, they do have a large variety of sites including a VA. The benefits and challenges of this was discussed -- I think it's a personal decision. The different sites are mostly located close together but it does require some dexterity to feel comfortable changing between different hospitals and medical records systems. Research is possible but not a focus.
5. Faculty: Dedicated faculty with particular strengths in geriatric and addiction psychiatry. Especially impressed by the PD.
6. Location & Lifestyle: NYC, more expensive part of the city than other programs and as far as I could tell, little if any subsidized housing available. Fun part of town definitely.
7. Salary & Benefits: Good salary, moonlighting opportunities.
8. Program Strengths:
-Bellevue
-Dedicated faculty
-Variety of interesting locations to work at
-Geriatric, addiction and forensic psychiatry
-Location within NYC is excellent
9. Program Weaknesses:
-Research possible but more difficult to do
-Switching between different locations and systems
-Expensive part of NYC
1. Communication: Email.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accomodations provided. They did provide a list of hotels, but the couple I looked at one the list were over $400/night.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Begins at 8 with the PD and residents, with a presentation. This was fun and informal. After that, three 30m interviews. I felt really comfortable during the interviews, conversation-style, informal, people knew my application well. We went out to a nice restaurant for lunch, which was great, and then toured the campus and met with the PD briefly at the end of the day.
4. Program Overview: Bellevue is the jewel. I agree with the previous review that this is the core of their residency and a wonderful place to train. That said, they do have a large variety of sites including a VA. The benefits and challenges of this was discussed -- I think it's a personal decision. The different sites are mostly located close together but it does require some dexterity to feel comfortable changing between different hospitals and medical records systems. Research is possible but not a focus.
5. Faculty: Dedicated faculty with particular strengths in geriatric and addiction psychiatry. Especially impressed by the PD.
6. Location & Lifestyle: NYC, more expensive part of the city than other programs and as far as I could tell, little if any subsidized housing available. Fun part of town definitely.
7. Salary & Benefits: Good salary, moonlighting opportunities.
8. Program Strengths:
-Bellevue
-Dedicated faculty
-Variety of interesting locations to work at
-Geriatric, addiction and forensic psychiatry
-Location within NYC is excellent
9. Program Weaknesses:
-Research possible but more difficult to do
-Switching between different locations and systems
-Expensive part of NYC
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 21
Tufts Medical Center
1. Communication- Email/Eras
2. Accommodation & Food - Discounted resident rates for hotels nearby. Pre-interview dinner at an Indian restaurant down the street from the hospital. Excellent food with a good turn out of residents. Unfortunately it was a sit down dinner, so it was hard to mingle around and talk to a lot of residents.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) - There were AM and PM interview slots available for the day. The program interviews 20/day once a week. I chose the AM one because I am zoned out after lunch. 0_0. The interview day was from 7:45 am - 2 pm. There were 4 interviews (3 x 25 min. with faculty and chief resident and 1 x 15 min with PD). Most of the interviews were just conversation. I had some questions regarding my initial approach to patients with different psychopathology and what type of questions I would ask and treatment. Also had questions regarding the history of Boston (I was absolutely clueless lol). After interview was a tour of the hospital and then lunch with residents. After lunch there is a "case conference" where a resident presents a case with a faculty member and discusses the rationale for treatment and psychotherapy approaches etc. to get a flavor of how the teaching is at the hospital. Honestly this occurred right after lunch and so I was in a food coma. I enjoyed it because he was very psychotherapy and I honestly haven't had much exposure to examining a case in that view. After that, then you are done for the day. The residents seemed very nice and friendly. I feel there is a larger portion of FMGs and DOs in the program than there are MDs if you were wondering the class comp. I also feel that the residents were more family oriented as kids were mentioned and weddings bands were seen (yes I look at this).
4. Program Overview- Honestly, I didn't know what to think of the program initially when I got the invite since I'm new to the northeast and there were not too much information regarding the program through SDN. I am actually very impressive with the program. The interview day was very efficient and did not drag out the whole day as some programs do. The residents seemed down to earth and friendly. The work load is very manageable (5-6 patients on psych inpatient) with work times around 8:45 - 5:00 pm. Medicine rotation is actually reasonable for those who do not enjoy inpatient medicine (1 mo medicine consults, 2 mo inpatient medicine, 1 mo EM) or you can swap those for pediatrics if you are interested in child psych. EMR (notes are typed in word documents and put on computer, and orders are electronic). Research is not a focus here, but a scholarly activity is required. Overall, I sensed a excellent vibe from the place and was pleasantly surprised. Definitely ranking this program higher on my list then I intended to.
5. Faculty - AMAZING! All the ones I met were very approachable and all the residents agree. They are all very well respected in the field and have such extensive training. They give you a listing of all the faculty and their bios. It's pretty impressive.
6. Location & Lifestyle- Great location near Boston Common. My first time to visit Boston and I had a walk around after the pre-interview dinner and really enjoyed what was around that area. Residents say they do not feel overworked even though they have a small class size of 5-6. The program applied for a grant to increase the number of residents to 7 but they are waiting to hear back.
7. Salary & Benefits -$51,148 PGY1, standard benefits.
8. Program Strengths
- Location is great!
- PD is amazing
- Many residents were present at dinner - friendly and interactive
- Really only 2 months inpatient medicine
- Can get by without car with the exception of 1 rotation in PGY2
- "Balanced" per PD/residents, but feels a little psychoanalytic-ly
- Program responds to resident input (residents meet 1x/week with PD to discuss issues)
- Subway system very conveinient
- DT location ~ variety of populations(close by china town so see a lot of the asian population and by financial district in which you get some higher functioning individuals)
- Triple board program for peds
- Hospital seems updated/renovated
- Scholarly project (+/-)
- Small class (+/-)
9. Potential Weaknesses
- No real cafeteria in hospital as there are a lot of 3rd party vendors and food can be $$
- No VA, more limited sites
- Decreased exposure to substance abuse vs other program per resident
- No eating disorder unit, but eating disorder individuals are seen throughout inpatient psych
- No child inpatient unit in Tufts - need to go offsite for it
1. Communication- Email/Eras
2. Accommodation & Food - Discounted resident rates for hotels nearby. Pre-interview dinner at an Indian restaurant down the street from the hospital. Excellent food with a good turn out of residents. Unfortunately it was a sit down dinner, so it was hard to mingle around and talk to a lot of residents.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) - There were AM and PM interview slots available for the day. The program interviews 20/day once a week. I chose the AM one because I am zoned out after lunch. 0_0. The interview day was from 7:45 am - 2 pm. There were 4 interviews (3 x 25 min. with faculty and chief resident and 1 x 15 min with PD). Most of the interviews were just conversation. I had some questions regarding my initial approach to patients with different psychopathology and what type of questions I would ask and treatment. Also had questions regarding the history of Boston (I was absolutely clueless lol). After interview was a tour of the hospital and then lunch with residents. After lunch there is a "case conference" where a resident presents a case with a faculty member and discusses the rationale for treatment and psychotherapy approaches etc. to get a flavor of how the teaching is at the hospital. Honestly this occurred right after lunch and so I was in a food coma. I enjoyed it because he was very psychotherapy and I honestly haven't had much exposure to examining a case in that view. After that, then you are done for the day. The residents seemed very nice and friendly. I feel there is a larger portion of FMGs and DOs in the program than there are MDs if you were wondering the class comp. I also feel that the residents were more family oriented as kids were mentioned and weddings bands were seen (yes I look at this).
4. Program Overview- Honestly, I didn't know what to think of the program initially when I got the invite since I'm new to the northeast and there were not too much information regarding the program through SDN. I am actually very impressive with the program. The interview day was very efficient and did not drag out the whole day as some programs do. The residents seemed down to earth and friendly. The work load is very manageable (5-6 patients on psych inpatient) with work times around 8:45 - 5:00 pm. Medicine rotation is actually reasonable for those who do not enjoy inpatient medicine (1 mo medicine consults, 2 mo inpatient medicine, 1 mo EM) or you can swap those for pediatrics if you are interested in child psych. EMR (notes are typed in word documents and put on computer, and orders are electronic). Research is not a focus here, but a scholarly activity is required. Overall, I sensed a excellent vibe from the place and was pleasantly surprised. Definitely ranking this program higher on my list then I intended to.
5. Faculty - AMAZING! All the ones I met were very approachable and all the residents agree. They are all very well respected in the field and have such extensive training. They give you a listing of all the faculty and their bios. It's pretty impressive.
6. Location & Lifestyle- Great location near Boston Common. My first time to visit Boston and I had a walk around after the pre-interview dinner and really enjoyed what was around that area. Residents say they do not feel overworked even though they have a small class size of 5-6. The program applied for a grant to increase the number of residents to 7 but they are waiting to hear back.
7. Salary & Benefits -$51,148 PGY1, standard benefits.
8. Program Strengths
- Location is great!
- PD is amazing
- Many residents were present at dinner - friendly and interactive
- Really only 2 months inpatient medicine
- Can get by without car with the exception of 1 rotation in PGY2
- "Balanced" per PD/residents, but feels a little psychoanalytic-ly
- Program responds to resident input (residents meet 1x/week with PD to discuss issues)
- Subway system very conveinient
- DT location ~ variety of populations(close by china town so see a lot of the asian population and by financial district in which you get some higher functioning individuals)
- Triple board program for peds
- Hospital seems updated/renovated
- Scholarly project (+/-)
- Small class (+/-)
9. Potential Weaknesses
- No real cafeteria in hospital as there are a lot of 3rd party vendors and food can be $$
- No VA, more limited sites
- Decreased exposure to substance abuse vs other program per resident
- No eating disorder unit, but eating disorder individuals are seen throughout inpatient psych
- No child inpatient unit in Tufts - need to go offsite for it
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2008
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 6
MUSC Charleston, SC
1. Communication- normal, friendly
2. Accommodation & Food- no accommodation but affordable hotels walking distance w musc rates. Dinner night before at awesome intimate Italian place- you get to order whatever you want. breakfast of croissants and fruit. Lunch you get to order- highly recommend Asian salad with tuna (lightly seared filet of tuna).
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences)- started at 8am with overview by PD and chief then 3- 30min interviews with someone who matches something about you (religion or psych interests). Interviews very conversational and fun they just want to sell the program and the city. No unusual questions or even "why Psyxh". After interviews lunch and then tour. Early day over at 2. Two interns gave our tour so we didn't see any hospital rooms or inside the psych wards.. Just the gym and locker rooms(nice tho).
4. Program Overview- very awesome schedule with no call. Because night float starts 5pm and covers weekends too (kinda like ER shifts you can stack night float)
5. Faculty- no idea seem real nice
6. Location & Lifestyle- charleston- beach not too far and cute downtown. Southern town but not as quirky as savannah (prob cuz no art school running the city).
7. Salary & Benefits- low salary
8. Program Strengths- schedule, PD, happy residents, elective choices, top 10 nih funding but no research required
9. Potential Weaknesses-the city
Although beach is a huge plus, working at VA, tourist takeover in winter
1. Communication- normal, friendly
2. Accommodation & Food- no accommodation but affordable hotels walking distance w musc rates. Dinner night before at awesome intimate Italian place- you get to order whatever you want. breakfast of croissants and fruit. Lunch you get to order- highly recommend Asian salad with tuna (lightly seared filet of tuna).
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences)- started at 8am with overview by PD and chief then 3- 30min interviews with someone who matches something about you (religion or psych interests). Interviews very conversational and fun they just want to sell the program and the city. No unusual questions or even "why Psyxh". After interviews lunch and then tour. Early day over at 2. Two interns gave our tour so we didn't see any hospital rooms or inside the psych wards.. Just the gym and locker rooms(nice tho).
4. Program Overview- very awesome schedule with no call. Because night float starts 5pm and covers weekends too (kinda like ER shifts you can stack night float)
5. Faculty- no idea seem real nice
6. Location & Lifestyle- charleston- beach not too far and cute downtown. Southern town but not as quirky as savannah (prob cuz no art school running the city).
7. Salary & Benefits- low salary
8. Program Strengths- schedule, PD, happy residents, elective choices, top 10 nih funding but no research required
9. Potential Weaknesses-the city
Although beach is a huge plus, working at VA, tourist takeover in winter
Glad your interview day went smoothly. One of the interviewers got really strange with me and asked me weird questions about my application.... and he was a strange person overall.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2013
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 13
OHSU
1. Communication: ERAS and email
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. I stayed at the Inn @ Marquam Hill, a cutesy B&B that’s affordable ($98/night) and a brisk 15-minute walk from the psychiatry building. On the interview day, a bare-bones breakfast was served (definitely eat a little something beforehand) but followed-up with a heartier lunch of wraps, salad, and brownies, enjoyed with 4-5 super chill residents. We then enjoyed a post-interview dinner with 3 residents @ A Cena, an adorable and dimly-lit SE Portland Italian restaurant.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 8AM-3:00PM. Introduction to the program and the city given by program coordinator (a NJ transplant who kept gushing about Portland) and program director (who emphasized the program’s “Bio-Psycho-Social” approach), which was followed-up with a half-hour presentation and hour-long tour of the BEAUTIFUL campus by a friendly PGY4 chief resident. Four-30 minute interviews were interspersed throughout the day, with 2 before lunch and 2 after lunch. The interviews were all relaxed, although I found myself confronted rather brusquely with “So… WHY ARE YOU HERE?” question by two of the interviewers. I guess not many people from my school apply to OHSU? Of note: another reviewer mentioned this, and I’ll agree with him/her in that I don’t think the PD read my application; he first asked, rather blithely, “What do you want to talk about?” (Seriously?)… and he seemed puzzled by some of the experiences I referenced in my discussion that were clearly referenced on my ERAS. Oh, well.
4. Program Overview: Nothing stood out to me, really, so I’ll talk about what I found most salient and most interesting. OHSU is big into “community” psychiatry (whatever that means?) and referenced a few electives that could be taken in the PGY4 year. You can venture as far up as Anchorage, Alaska, and as far down as rural Oregon should you wish for either experience. Telepsychiatry training is available. There are opportunities to train in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, as a resident and fellow, through the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center. Also, I didn’t know this (and have yet to verify), but Portland is the go-to place in the USA for transgendered individuals seeking hormonal or surgical therapy (psychiatry is frequently if not always consulted), which would make for an extremely unique consult-liaison experience. Moreover, there are groups for newly-homeless LGBTQ adolescents who are adjusting to life after being “kicked out” of their homes by right-wing parents. College mental health is HUGE at OHSU, and residents often rotate at Reed College, Portland State University, and Lewis & Clark College during PGY4.
5. Faculty: Responsive, chill, FRIENDLY (most of the faculty I met were Midwestern transplants), more into clinical work than research.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Portland is BEAUTIFUL. I’m a nerd at heart and took the Gondola up and down Marquam Hill not once or twice but THREE times, taking in the gorgeous views of the mountains, the city, and the OHSU campus. The commute is like no other: the program PAYS you to ride your bike to work (parking it via BIKE VALET at the Gondola, which takes you from sea-level to OHSU). On the other hand, Portland is also BORING. The city SHUTS DOWN at 8PM and doesn’t seem to have much going on outside of beer festivals and outdoor activities. I went to a local beer festival in the HEART OF PORTLAND (Pioneer Square) from 7-9p and couldn’t find an open restaurant in the immediate vicinity after leaving the event. I know people are going to argue with me on this fact, as they did the prior poster, but PLEASE tell me of some late-night establishments (bars, clubs, restaurants) that I could’ve visited at 9:15PM on a weeknight; I’m all-ears. Portland is also the “Hipster Mecca of the World”, which I didn’t mind at first but then began to feel like a fish out of water after awhile (I'm MUCH more "prep" and into GQ-style fashion). Oh, and supposedly it rains a lot. They say it's "easy living" in Portland, but it may not be the most exciting.
7. Salary & Benefits: Mid-$50Ks, with moonlighting opportunities that range from $67-200/hour (depending on location). Even without moonlighting, it's enough to live WELL in Portland.
8. Program Strengths
- Portland is a beautiful city that’s EXTREMELY affordable and has a high quality of life (being paid to bike to work... and enjoying those views of the mountains EVERY DAY!?) and an efficient public transit system
- Facilities are brand-new and, together with the natural backdrop, aesthetically STUNNING
- People are VERY friendly and laid-back
- Exposure to psychotherapies, particularly psychodynamic psychotherapy
- Plentiful opportunities (albeit ONLY in the PGY4 year) to work with LGBTQ youth and college students from all walks of life
9. Potential Weaknesses
- Portland’s a (sometimes) boring and difficult city for single 20-somethings
- Program director seemed a little TOO chill
- Rigid program with VERY FEW opportunities to pursue electives until PGY4
- The RAIN
- Gut feeling that I wouldn't fit-in with the hipster culture of Portland (sounds strange, I know)
- Whispers that call is "extremely intense"
- I have absolutely NO connection (family, friends, otherwise) to Oregon
1. Communication: ERAS and email
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations provided. I stayed at the Inn @ Marquam Hill, a cutesy B&B that’s affordable ($98/night) and a brisk 15-minute walk from the psychiatry building. On the interview day, a bare-bones breakfast was served (definitely eat a little something beforehand) but followed-up with a heartier lunch of wraps, salad, and brownies, enjoyed with 4-5 super chill residents. We then enjoyed a post-interview dinner with 3 residents @ A Cena, an adorable and dimly-lit SE Portland Italian restaurant.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 8AM-3:00PM. Introduction to the program and the city given by program coordinator (a NJ transplant who kept gushing about Portland) and program director (who emphasized the program’s “Bio-Psycho-Social” approach), which was followed-up with a half-hour presentation and hour-long tour of the BEAUTIFUL campus by a friendly PGY4 chief resident. Four-30 minute interviews were interspersed throughout the day, with 2 before lunch and 2 after lunch. The interviews were all relaxed, although I found myself confronted rather brusquely with “So… WHY ARE YOU HERE?” question by two of the interviewers. I guess not many people from my school apply to OHSU? Of note: another reviewer mentioned this, and I’ll agree with him/her in that I don’t think the PD read my application; he first asked, rather blithely, “What do you want to talk about?” (Seriously?)… and he seemed puzzled by some of the experiences I referenced in my discussion that were clearly referenced on my ERAS. Oh, well.
4. Program Overview: Nothing stood out to me, really, so I’ll talk about what I found most salient and most interesting. OHSU is big into “community” psychiatry (whatever that means?) and referenced a few electives that could be taken in the PGY4 year. You can venture as far up as Anchorage, Alaska, and as far down as rural Oregon should you wish for either experience. Telepsychiatry training is available. There are opportunities to train in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, as a resident and fellow, through the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center. Also, I didn’t know this (and have yet to verify), but Portland is the go-to place in the USA for transgendered individuals seeking hormonal or surgical therapy (psychiatry is frequently if not always consulted), which would make for an extremely unique consult-liaison experience. Moreover, there are groups for newly-homeless LGBTQ adolescents who are adjusting to life after being “kicked out” of their homes by right-wing parents. College mental health is HUGE at OHSU, and residents often rotate at Reed College, Portland State University, and Lewis & Clark College during PGY4.
5. Faculty: Responsive, chill, FRIENDLY (most of the faculty I met were Midwestern transplants), more into clinical work than research.
6. Location & Lifestyle: Portland is BEAUTIFUL. I’m a nerd at heart and took the Gondola up and down Marquam Hill not once or twice but THREE times, taking in the gorgeous views of the mountains, the city, and the OHSU campus. The commute is like no other: the program PAYS you to ride your bike to work (parking it via BIKE VALET at the Gondola, which takes you from sea-level to OHSU). On the other hand, Portland is also BORING. The city SHUTS DOWN at 8PM and doesn’t seem to have much going on outside of beer festivals and outdoor activities. I went to a local beer festival in the HEART OF PORTLAND (Pioneer Square) from 7-9p and couldn’t find an open restaurant in the immediate vicinity after leaving the event. I know people are going to argue with me on this fact, as they did the prior poster, but PLEASE tell me of some late-night establishments (bars, clubs, restaurants) that I could’ve visited at 9:15PM on a weeknight; I’m all-ears. Portland is also the “Hipster Mecca of the World”, which I didn’t mind at first but then began to feel like a fish out of water after awhile (I'm MUCH more "prep" and into GQ-style fashion). Oh, and supposedly it rains a lot. They say it's "easy living" in Portland, but it may not be the most exciting.
7. Salary & Benefits: Mid-$50Ks, with moonlighting opportunities that range from $67-200/hour (depending on location). Even without moonlighting, it's enough to live WELL in Portland.
8. Program Strengths
- Portland is a beautiful city that’s EXTREMELY affordable and has a high quality of life (being paid to bike to work... and enjoying those views of the mountains EVERY DAY!?) and an efficient public transit system
- Facilities are brand-new and, together with the natural backdrop, aesthetically STUNNING
- People are VERY friendly and laid-back
- Exposure to psychotherapies, particularly psychodynamic psychotherapy
- Plentiful opportunities (albeit ONLY in the PGY4 year) to work with LGBTQ youth and college students from all walks of life
9. Potential Weaknesses
- Portland’s a (sometimes) boring and difficult city for single 20-somethings
- Program director seemed a little TOO chill
- Rigid program with VERY FEW opportunities to pursue electives until PGY4
- The RAIN
- Gut feeling that I wouldn't fit-in with the hipster culture of Portland (sounds strange, I know)
- Whispers that call is "extremely intense"
- I have absolutely NO connection (family, friends, otherwise) to Oregon
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2013
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 13
AECOM-Montefiore
1. Communication: Email. I was offered only one interview date that, luckily, worked perfectly with my schedule.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations and no pre or post-interview dinner/happy hour. I stayed in Manhattan and drove to the interview (beware of the FDR Drive and Jerome Avenue during rush hour!). Parking is available in a structure ~2 blocks from the psychiatry administration building, and they validate it! Breakfast consisted of coffee, mini-bagels, pastries, and fruit. Lunch was take-out from a local Chinese eatery; something like 15 residents showed up!
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): My shortest day on the trail, running from 9am-2pm. A wonderfully vivacious chief resident met us in a conference room at ~8:45am and gave us a brief overview of the program; she was available the entire day to answer questions about anything and everything related to Montefiore, living in the Bronx, and the like. As the morning progressed, we were pulled, one-by-one, by different interviewers for three 30-minute interviews. Not to scare anyone, but the interviewers were all trained analysts and the interviews PROBED… for what exactly, I do not know. So, my experiences were “analytic” in the sense that I discussed my childhood, relationships, and inter/intrapersonal conflicts much more than I did at other programs. As an aside, I never know how much to divulge in situations like these (particularly given the dynamics of being an interviewee…), but I usually let it all out. I tell myself that “hey, at least it’s free therapy?” Lunch was spectacular: residents (and one fellow) from all years (and many different cities/states) showed up and enthusiastically talked about what drew them to Einstein. After lunch, the Program Chair stopped by for a brief talk on Einstein’s philosophy and divulged how/why the program believes in “personal development over all else.” More on that below. Then, we went on a resident-guided tour of Montefiore Hospital and one of the Montefiore residential towers.
4. Program Overview: The resounding theme of the program, it’s even on the website, is that “the entire psychiatry department could operate without residents.” Therefore, the residency experience is all about education and a work-life balance that weighs heavily on the latter (AKA this program is CUSH). The program chair even said “we want you to get to know YOURSELF during residency, as knowing yourself is the key ingredient to getting to know others.” Didactics are 100% protected. Residents talked about having time for children, moonlighting, and exploring Manhattan and the other boroughs in the truest and most idiosyncratic sense. Are you into sports events? Museums? Fashion? Are you a ‘foodie’? Then spend time at Yankees games, the Met, SoHo/Fashion’s Night Out, and Danny Meyer’s latest restaurant, respectively. You can even pursue residency “part-time” for as long as you need should “life get in the way.” I should note that there are interesting opportunities to rotate at Fordham University Counseling Center and the renowned Children's Hospital of Montefiore (including a unique Child C/L elective). Graduates go on to pursue tons of fellowships in a number of specialties. The child/adolescent exposure is robust, too.
5. Faculty: Program Director is warm and friendly! I didn’t get a chance to meet many other faculty members.
6. Location & Lifestyle: The neighborhood seemed sterile and uninteresting, though I didn’t have enough time to explore it fully enough to conclude all that definitively. Residents openly talked about their distaste with the Bronx, and many had moved or were looking to move to “the city” (meaning Manhattan). One resident mentioned that her life “improved, like, 600%” since moving to the Upper East Side of Manhattan from her “dorm at Monte I.” (I wrote that down). On that note, there is a green-line subway train that’ll get you to Grand Central (and the Upper East Side) in 30-40 minutes.
7. Salary & Benefits: Salary in the mid-$50Ks range, with moonlighting opportunities available in the Bronx and Westchester Hospital systems. Affordable, subsidized residency housing immediately adjacent to Montefiore (2 buildings) and in Riverdale, Bronx (1 building). I found these apartments to be small and oddly reminiscent of my freshmen dorm. Meal stipend of $15/day to spend at any eateries/coffee houses in the hospital.
8. Program Strengths:
- Work/Life balance that leans toward “CUSH” (caps for emphasis), unique for a New York program
- FLEXIBLE program that appears to place a unique importance on livelihood and personal happiness of its residents
- Genuinely happy and down-to-Earth people
- I always say that it’s the “little things in life that make a difference”, and the $15/day food stipend counts as one of those things
- STRONG child/adolescent psychiatry program, including a Child C/L elective and a college counseling elective @ Fordham
- Proximity to Manhattan via express bus and green-line subway
- HEAVILY psychodynamic and psychoanalytic (both a strength and a weakness)
9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Location, location, location
- …did I mention location?
- Few (if any?) research opportunities
- When I left AECOM that day, I got this really weird feeling about the program that’s tough to describe: remember in high school when it used to be seen as COOL to slack-off and just-get-by and UNCOOL to be proactive and hard-working? For some reason, I got the sense that the dynamics are the same for this program as they were in high school...
- HEAVILY psychodynamic and psychoanalytic (again, both a strength and a weakness)
- At the end of the day/four-years, do you really see enough clinically as a resident?
1. Communication: Email. I was offered only one interview date that, luckily, worked perfectly with my schedule.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations and no pre or post-interview dinner/happy hour. I stayed in Manhattan and drove to the interview (beware of the FDR Drive and Jerome Avenue during rush hour!). Parking is available in a structure ~2 blocks from the psychiatry administration building, and they validate it! Breakfast consisted of coffee, mini-bagels, pastries, and fruit. Lunch was take-out from a local Chinese eatery; something like 15 residents showed up!
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): My shortest day on the trail, running from 9am-2pm. A wonderfully vivacious chief resident met us in a conference room at ~8:45am and gave us a brief overview of the program; she was available the entire day to answer questions about anything and everything related to Montefiore, living in the Bronx, and the like. As the morning progressed, we were pulled, one-by-one, by different interviewers for three 30-minute interviews. Not to scare anyone, but the interviewers were all trained analysts and the interviews PROBED… for what exactly, I do not know. So, my experiences were “analytic” in the sense that I discussed my childhood, relationships, and inter/intrapersonal conflicts much more than I did at other programs. As an aside, I never know how much to divulge in situations like these (particularly given the dynamics of being an interviewee…), but I usually let it all out. I tell myself that “hey, at least it’s free therapy?” Lunch was spectacular: residents (and one fellow) from all years (and many different cities/states) showed up and enthusiastically talked about what drew them to Einstein. After lunch, the Program Chair stopped by for a brief talk on Einstein’s philosophy and divulged how/why the program believes in “personal development over all else.” More on that below. Then, we went on a resident-guided tour of Montefiore Hospital and one of the Montefiore residential towers.
4. Program Overview: The resounding theme of the program, it’s even on the website, is that “the entire psychiatry department could operate without residents.” Therefore, the residency experience is all about education and a work-life balance that weighs heavily on the latter (AKA this program is CUSH). The program chair even said “we want you to get to know YOURSELF during residency, as knowing yourself is the key ingredient to getting to know others.” Didactics are 100% protected. Residents talked about having time for children, moonlighting, and exploring Manhattan and the other boroughs in the truest and most idiosyncratic sense. Are you into sports events? Museums? Fashion? Are you a ‘foodie’? Then spend time at Yankees games, the Met, SoHo/Fashion’s Night Out, and Danny Meyer’s latest restaurant, respectively. You can even pursue residency “part-time” for as long as you need should “life get in the way.” I should note that there are interesting opportunities to rotate at Fordham University Counseling Center and the renowned Children's Hospital of Montefiore (including a unique Child C/L elective). Graduates go on to pursue tons of fellowships in a number of specialties. The child/adolescent exposure is robust, too.
5. Faculty: Program Director is warm and friendly! I didn’t get a chance to meet many other faculty members.
6. Location & Lifestyle: The neighborhood seemed sterile and uninteresting, though I didn’t have enough time to explore it fully enough to conclude all that definitively. Residents openly talked about their distaste with the Bronx, and many had moved or were looking to move to “the city” (meaning Manhattan). One resident mentioned that her life “improved, like, 600%” since moving to the Upper East Side of Manhattan from her “dorm at Monte I.” (I wrote that down). On that note, there is a green-line subway train that’ll get you to Grand Central (and the Upper East Side) in 30-40 minutes.
7. Salary & Benefits: Salary in the mid-$50Ks range, with moonlighting opportunities available in the Bronx and Westchester Hospital systems. Affordable, subsidized residency housing immediately adjacent to Montefiore (2 buildings) and in Riverdale, Bronx (1 building). I found these apartments to be small and oddly reminiscent of my freshmen dorm. Meal stipend of $15/day to spend at any eateries/coffee houses in the hospital.
8. Program Strengths:
- Work/Life balance that leans toward “CUSH” (caps for emphasis), unique for a New York program
- FLEXIBLE program that appears to place a unique importance on livelihood and personal happiness of its residents
- Genuinely happy and down-to-Earth people
- I always say that it’s the “little things in life that make a difference”, and the $15/day food stipend counts as one of those things
- STRONG child/adolescent psychiatry program, including a Child C/L elective and a college counseling elective @ Fordham
- Proximity to Manhattan via express bus and green-line subway
- HEAVILY psychodynamic and psychoanalytic (both a strength and a weakness)
9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Location, location, location
- …did I mention location?
- Few (if any?) research opportunities
- When I left AECOM that day, I got this really weird feeling about the program that’s tough to describe: remember in high school when it used to be seen as COOL to slack-off and just-get-by and UNCOOL to be proactive and hard-working? For some reason, I got the sense that the dynamics are the same for this program as they were in high school...
- HEAVILY psychodynamic and psychoanalytic (again, both a strength and a weakness)
- At the end of the day/four-years, do you really see enough clinically as a resident?
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2012
- Messages
- 176
- Reaction score
- 73
^Great reviews cosmopolitanboy. Very indepth, thank you
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2013
- Messages
- 164
- Reaction score
- 62
This.
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 21
University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt
1. Communication – Email/ERAS. Program coordinator emails you a form that allows you to be paired up with interviewers based on interest.
2. Accommodation & Food – Hotels are discounted across the downtown area close to the university. I believe I saw rates of $98/night. Parking is validated. Pre-interview dinner was AMAZING. You can either meet the residents at 5:45 pm at the education office and they will drive you there or you can meet them at the restaurant. It is a Lebanese restaurant that had a great ambiance, amazing food (3 course meal) and wine paid for by the program. There were about 4 residents that showed up and about 6-7 applicants.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) – Starts at 7:45 AM with continental breakfast consisting of bagels, pastries, coffee, orange/apple juice etc. A chief resident was there throughout the whole day, which was great if you had any questions! At 8:00 am there is an overview of the program by the PD. No PowerPoint is given and he just talks casually to the group and answers common questions other applicants had in the past. From 9:00-11:30 AM there are 2x 30 min interviews with psychiatry interest faculty and either a chief resident/program director/associate program director. I was asked standard questions regarding my application and nothing out of the ordinary. I enjoyed that they matched based on your interest as I could ask them more questions regarding that area. Traveled to Sheppard Pratt from 10:30 to 11 AM. Tour of Sheppard Pratt was given from 11:30-12:15 with introduction and history of psychiatric facility with an associate PD. I enjoyed her PowerPoint presentation. This psych facility is BEAUTIFUL with TONS of history. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, which was guided by another chief resident. Sunrise is used here. From 12:15-12:45 PM we returned to the original location where the education office is. At 12:45 to 1:45 PM was lunch with the residents. There was GREAT food consisting of lasagna, pasta, salad, desert, etc. There was a resident of each year there at the lunch and we were able to ask questions as a group. At 1:45 – 2:30 PM, the group is split for exit interviews with the PD or a tour of the University of Maryland Hospital. UM has an amazing aesthetic! Well designed and beautifully decorated than most hospitals I’ve interviewed at. We saw the inpatient psych floors here. From 2:30 to 3:15 PM we switched groups and once we were down with the PD we were able to leave.
4. Program Overview – Overall, I had an amazing experience at this program. The facilities were amazing. Residents work at multiple facilities including the VA, community sites, and state inpatient. The PGY-4’s felt they were well trained. The research is phenomenal with various opportunities to get involved. The university gets a high amount of NIMH grants. Residents seem down to earth and nice. You have the opportunity to teach medical students. Psychiatry is very respected and it shows because the chair is in charge of the Brain Sciences Consortium involving fields of neurology, neuroscience, and psychiatry faculty. I would have liked to speak with more interns. There was none at the pre-interview dinner and only 1 in the resident lunch with the PG2-3-4 mostly dominating the conversation. (probably because of more experience with the program, but would have liked to hear more from the intern)
5. Faculty - Residents felt the attendings love to teach and are very nice. One resident mentioned that the CL team attendings at times are difficult to work with as you have to manage their different personalities.
6. Location & Lifestyle – Located in downtown Baltimore. Residents say they feel safe here and haven’t encountered any problems. It has a small-big city feel. Rent directly in that area is about $1100-1300 for 1 bedroom per resident. Residents live in the DT area and suburbs.
7. Salary & Benefits – PGY 1$49,688 with parking paid for. Additionally, get paid extra money if psychiatry intakes/dispo (something) are done early (?). Program helps with costs of housing if located near the University of Maryland area (like closing costs) but I do not know more information.
8. Program Strengths
- Residents very friendly and down to earth
- Friendly PD – he is fairly new to the director position because the previous training director moved to SA because his wife acquired a position with a museum. Current PD used to be in charge of the CL psychiatry, so he has been there since after his residency and has a great deal of experience.
- HIV clinic and psychiatry opportunities (not so much research in this area though)
- GORGEOUS facilities
- AMAZING research opportunities
- Large variety of sites
- Many fellowships except for geriatrics
- LARGE class size (+/-) ~15 positions
- All medicine rotations are done consecutively
- LGBT friendly
- Has a psych ER
- Protected didactics
- Highly responsive to resident input per residents
- Psych boot camp prior to PGY1
- Moonlightning opportunities
- Parking is PAID FOR
- MEALS FREE on medicine rotation at Mercy hospital (medicine inpatient)
- Hold around 6-8 patients on inpatient university of Maryland
- Baltimore residents feel safe
9. Potential Weaknesses
- EMR) All EPIC for outpatient psych, SUNRISE for sheppard pratt, and POWERCHART for orders and PAPER notes for UM – however PD says all should be EMR by Dec 2014
- Recently new program director but seems very pleasant and is experienced in training
- Mostly women in the program, I think there was only 2 males/15 residents in the PGY-1 class. Diversity of ethnicity is represented.
- Location
- Limited ethnicity in population - Mostly treat African American
- LOTS of substance abuse (+ if that’s your thing)
- You NEED a car!!!!
- High patient load and less autonomy on sheppard pratt - attending writes own notes ( you do yours as well) but sometimes attending does not fill resident on some details per resident
- PGY-2 much harder than PGY-1 (forgot why) but mentioned by resident
- Didactic lectures are sometimes repeated and not too well organized per resident
- Scholarly project require (+/-) and apparently attending in charge is very particular per resident
- Neurology can be INTENSE per resident ( you do stroke service and apparently high patient load)
- PGY-3 - All outpatient is at ONE facility. Possible pilot program to have multiple sites per PD.
1. Communication – Email/ERAS. Program coordinator emails you a form that allows you to be paired up with interviewers based on interest.
2. Accommodation & Food – Hotels are discounted across the downtown area close to the university. I believe I saw rates of $98/night. Parking is validated. Pre-interview dinner was AMAZING. You can either meet the residents at 5:45 pm at the education office and they will drive you there or you can meet them at the restaurant. It is a Lebanese restaurant that had a great ambiance, amazing food (3 course meal) and wine paid for by the program. There were about 4 residents that showed up and about 6-7 applicants.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) – Starts at 7:45 AM with continental breakfast consisting of bagels, pastries, coffee, orange/apple juice etc. A chief resident was there throughout the whole day, which was great if you had any questions! At 8:00 am there is an overview of the program by the PD. No PowerPoint is given and he just talks casually to the group and answers common questions other applicants had in the past. From 9:00-11:30 AM there are 2x 30 min interviews with psychiatry interest faculty and either a chief resident/program director/associate program director. I was asked standard questions regarding my application and nothing out of the ordinary. I enjoyed that they matched based on your interest as I could ask them more questions regarding that area. Traveled to Sheppard Pratt from 10:30 to 11 AM. Tour of Sheppard Pratt was given from 11:30-12:15 with introduction and history of psychiatric facility with an associate PD. I enjoyed her PowerPoint presentation. This psych facility is BEAUTIFUL with TONS of history. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, which was guided by another chief resident. Sunrise is used here. From 12:15-12:45 PM we returned to the original location where the education office is. At 12:45 to 1:45 PM was lunch with the residents. There was GREAT food consisting of lasagna, pasta, salad, desert, etc. There was a resident of each year there at the lunch and we were able to ask questions as a group. At 1:45 – 2:30 PM, the group is split for exit interviews with the PD or a tour of the University of Maryland Hospital. UM has an amazing aesthetic! Well designed and beautifully decorated than most hospitals I’ve interviewed at. We saw the inpatient psych floors here. From 2:30 to 3:15 PM we switched groups and once we were down with the PD we were able to leave.
4. Program Overview – Overall, I had an amazing experience at this program. The facilities were amazing. Residents work at multiple facilities including the VA, community sites, and state inpatient. The PGY-4’s felt they were well trained. The research is phenomenal with various opportunities to get involved. The university gets a high amount of NIMH grants. Residents seem down to earth and nice. You have the opportunity to teach medical students. Psychiatry is very respected and it shows because the chair is in charge of the Brain Sciences Consortium involving fields of neurology, neuroscience, and psychiatry faculty. I would have liked to speak with more interns. There was none at the pre-interview dinner and only 1 in the resident lunch with the PG2-3-4 mostly dominating the conversation. (probably because of more experience with the program, but would have liked to hear more from the intern)
5. Faculty - Residents felt the attendings love to teach and are very nice. One resident mentioned that the CL team attendings at times are difficult to work with as you have to manage their different personalities.
6. Location & Lifestyle – Located in downtown Baltimore. Residents say they feel safe here and haven’t encountered any problems. It has a small-big city feel. Rent directly in that area is about $1100-1300 for 1 bedroom per resident. Residents live in the DT area and suburbs.
7. Salary & Benefits – PGY 1$49,688 with parking paid for. Additionally, get paid extra money if psychiatry intakes/dispo (something) are done early (?). Program helps with costs of housing if located near the University of Maryland area (like closing costs) but I do not know more information.
8. Program Strengths
- Residents very friendly and down to earth
- Friendly PD – he is fairly new to the director position because the previous training director moved to SA because his wife acquired a position with a museum. Current PD used to be in charge of the CL psychiatry, so he has been there since after his residency and has a great deal of experience.
- HIV clinic and psychiatry opportunities (not so much research in this area though)
- GORGEOUS facilities
- AMAZING research opportunities
- Large variety of sites
- Many fellowships except for geriatrics
- LARGE class size (+/-) ~15 positions
- All medicine rotations are done consecutively
- LGBT friendly
- Has a psych ER
- Protected didactics
- Highly responsive to resident input per residents
- Psych boot camp prior to PGY1
- Moonlightning opportunities
- Parking is PAID FOR
- MEALS FREE on medicine rotation at Mercy hospital (medicine inpatient)
- Hold around 6-8 patients on inpatient university of Maryland
- Baltimore residents feel safe
9. Potential Weaknesses
- EMR) All EPIC for outpatient psych, SUNRISE for sheppard pratt, and POWERCHART for orders and PAPER notes for UM – however PD says all should be EMR by Dec 2014
- Recently new program director but seems very pleasant and is experienced in training
- Mostly women in the program, I think there was only 2 males/15 residents in the PGY-1 class. Diversity of ethnicity is represented.
- Location
- Limited ethnicity in population - Mostly treat African American
- LOTS of substance abuse (+ if that’s your thing)
- You NEED a car!!!!
- High patient load and less autonomy on sheppard pratt - attending writes own notes ( you do yours as well) but sometimes attending does not fill resident on some details per resident
- PGY-2 much harder than PGY-1 (forgot why) but mentioned by resident
- Didactic lectures are sometimes repeated and not too well organized per resident
- Scholarly project require (+/-) and apparently attending in charge is very particular per resident
- Neurology can be INTENSE per resident ( you do stroke service and apparently high patient load)
- PGY-3 - All outpatient is at ONE facility. Possible pilot program to have multiple sites per PD.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2002
- Messages
- 10,910
- Reaction score
- 1,154
OK, so I'm a boring old person who likes to be at home well before midnight most of the time, so I'm admittedly not an expert at late night stuff in Portland. Since I'm probably in the minority in my program with my old, boring ways, I asked around to get examples of later night stuff happening in Portland and here are some responses that I've gotten --
- Doug Fir (+ there's music)
- Mississippi Studios (same)
- Bye and Bye, Night Light, plus a ton of other stuff on the east side
- Life of Riley, Oven and Shaker (really good late night happy hour)
- Muumuu's, north 45, pretty much all of that part of NW 21st
- Any of the gay bars in the down town area (CC's, embers, etc)
- I think the area right around pioneer square is probably the worst (even during the weekend), but departure is right there, Hubers is also fun and is only a few blocks away
More general comment about life in Portland --
I can barely make it home after work without going somewhere - sometimes I just accidentally find myself riding my bike home from work into a random establishment.
And here's an older article about brew pubs, which we have a ton of. Once you live here, you start to think beer in the rest of the country is for lightweights and that it sucks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/travel/escapes/13beer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Here's yelp's page on nightlife here.
http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=nightlife&find_loc=Portland,+OR,+USA
I think one unfortunate thing for interviewees is that a good deal of the cool stuff in the city is on the east side, which is a part of town you don't often see when you're just in town for a day or two.
Anyway, sorry for the long message, but I hope that gives an idea that there are indeed things to do late at night here. About call, I can only remember one to two overnight calls in my entire time here where I felt slammed and where I didn't have any downtime or opportunities to sleep. Short calls can be pretty busy, but they're only 3 hours. Not to say we're not busy, but from reading here, it sounds like other residents have busier calls than we do.
- Doug Fir (+ there's music)
- Mississippi Studios (same)
- Bye and Bye, Night Light, plus a ton of other stuff on the east side
- Life of Riley, Oven and Shaker (really good late night happy hour)
- Muumuu's, north 45, pretty much all of that part of NW 21st
- Any of the gay bars in the down town area (CC's, embers, etc)
- I think the area right around pioneer square is probably the worst (even during the weekend), but departure is right there, Hubers is also fun and is only a few blocks away
More general comment about life in Portland --
I can barely make it home after work without going somewhere - sometimes I just accidentally find myself riding my bike home from work into a random establishment.
And here's an older article about brew pubs, which we have a ton of. Once you live here, you start to think beer in the rest of the country is for lightweights and that it sucks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/travel/escapes/13beer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Here's yelp's page on nightlife here.
http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=nightlife&find_loc=Portland,+OR,+USA
I think one unfortunate thing for interviewees is that a good deal of the cool stuff in the city is on the east side, which is a part of town you don't often see when you're just in town for a day or two.
Anyway, sorry for the long message, but I hope that gives an idea that there are indeed things to do late at night here. About call, I can only remember one to two overnight calls in my entire time here where I felt slammed and where I didn't have any downtime or opportunities to sleep. Short calls can be pretty busy, but they're only 3 hours. Not to say we're not busy, but from reading here, it sounds like other residents have busier calls than we do.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2013
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- 164
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- 62
Anonymous Review - Beth Israel Medical Center
1. Communication: email, no problems
2. Accomodation & Food: No accomodations provided. The chief resident contacts you directly to invite you for a happy hour/light appetizer type thing at a local bar. They don't pay for your drinks but there's really good drink specials so its definitely affordable. Breakfast is donuts and coffee, and Lunch day of is catered from local Thai restaurant. I have to say, it was a nice change from the usual sandwiches and chips. At the end of the day they serve really nice cookies and coffee again, which was a nice touch!
3. Interview Day: 2 45 minute interviews, and 1 10 minute exit interview. I knew one of my interviewers personally because I did a rotation here, so that interview went smoothly. The other main interviewer wasn't as chatty so I felt like I had to talk a lot more and explain more of my app. Exit interview was very chill, more of an opportunity to ask questions. Overall, the interview day wasn't stressful at all. It's pretty chill and the faculty are all really open and honest.
4. Program Overview: The PD addressed some of the concerns about the recent merger with Sinai, said that housing and benefits would not be affected, and that now residents can do electives & research at all the partner hospitals in PGY-4 year. So really its a huge benefit. There is protected time for research or scholarly project in PGY-4 Year. Call schedule seems really light (q7 in first year, q10 in second year, 6 calls in 3rd year and none in 4th year). They do have a nightfloat system in PGY-1/2 year. In PGY3 year you can choose to do a week of nightfloat or 6 separate calls. Very broad patient population, they serve pretty much all of lower manhattan. You get a ton of high-functioning middle class college kids all the way to underserved immigrants from Chinatown. Other than that the program seems pretty standard. All their slideshows and schedules are on the website so check there for more info. The residents were all really cool and friendly. All of them socialized with the interviewees and genuinely seemed to like each other and the program overall. They could really articulate WHY they chose BIMC over other programs.
5. Faculty: All seem really approachable and friendly. The PD was especially friendly and welcoming.
6. Location and Lifestyle: East Village of Manhattan. Very cool neighborhood. All the residents say they have plenty of time to enjoy life in NYC and persue hobbies/families/etc.
7. Salary and Benefits: starting at high 50s I think. Subsidized housing (pretaxed!!!) in a number of buildings (some right across the street, some a few blocks away). Studios start at approx $1300. They show you one of the apartments thats right across the street. They are not the nicest or most spacious but if decorated properly and organized well its definitely doable. Plus you can't beat the location. East Village IMO is one of the cooler, more fun neighborhoods of Manhattan. Lots of bars, restaurants, hangouts for young people, and very safe. The housing is guaranteed for all residents and fellows. They will give you a log-in to their benefits page online where you can view more details about the housing including pics and floorplans.
8. Program Strengths: easy call schedule, very happy and friendly residents, great location in Manhattan, diverse patient population
9. Program Weaknesses: hustle/bustle of NYC, cost of living
1. Communication: email, no problems
2. Accomodation & Food: No accomodations provided. The chief resident contacts you directly to invite you for a happy hour/light appetizer type thing at a local bar. They don't pay for your drinks but there's really good drink specials so its definitely affordable. Breakfast is donuts and coffee, and Lunch day of is catered from local Thai restaurant. I have to say, it was a nice change from the usual sandwiches and chips. At the end of the day they serve really nice cookies and coffee again, which was a nice touch!
3. Interview Day: 2 45 minute interviews, and 1 10 minute exit interview. I knew one of my interviewers personally because I did a rotation here, so that interview went smoothly. The other main interviewer wasn't as chatty so I felt like I had to talk a lot more and explain more of my app. Exit interview was very chill, more of an opportunity to ask questions. Overall, the interview day wasn't stressful at all. It's pretty chill and the faculty are all really open and honest.
4. Program Overview: The PD addressed some of the concerns about the recent merger with Sinai, said that housing and benefits would not be affected, and that now residents can do electives & research at all the partner hospitals in PGY-4 year. So really its a huge benefit. There is protected time for research or scholarly project in PGY-4 Year. Call schedule seems really light (q7 in first year, q10 in second year, 6 calls in 3rd year and none in 4th year). They do have a nightfloat system in PGY-1/2 year. In PGY3 year you can choose to do a week of nightfloat or 6 separate calls. Very broad patient population, they serve pretty much all of lower manhattan. You get a ton of high-functioning middle class college kids all the way to underserved immigrants from Chinatown. Other than that the program seems pretty standard. All their slideshows and schedules are on the website so check there for more info. The residents were all really cool and friendly. All of them socialized with the interviewees and genuinely seemed to like each other and the program overall. They could really articulate WHY they chose BIMC over other programs.
5. Faculty: All seem really approachable and friendly. The PD was especially friendly and welcoming.
6. Location and Lifestyle: East Village of Manhattan. Very cool neighborhood. All the residents say they have plenty of time to enjoy life in NYC and persue hobbies/families/etc.
7. Salary and Benefits: starting at high 50s I think. Subsidized housing (pretaxed!!!) in a number of buildings (some right across the street, some a few blocks away). Studios start at approx $1300. They show you one of the apartments thats right across the street. They are not the nicest or most spacious but if decorated properly and organized well its definitely doable. Plus you can't beat the location. East Village IMO is one of the cooler, more fun neighborhoods of Manhattan. Lots of bars, restaurants, hangouts for young people, and very safe. The housing is guaranteed for all residents and fellows. They will give you a log-in to their benefits page online where you can view more details about the housing including pics and floorplans.
8. Program Strengths: easy call schedule, very happy and friendly residents, great location in Manhattan, diverse patient population
9. Program Weaknesses: hustle/bustle of NYC, cost of living
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2013
- Messages
- 164
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- 62
Anonymous Review - Virginia Commonwealth Univ
1. Communication: mostly by email
2. Accomodations and Food: they pay $50 towards a local hotel. I stayed at one the historic inns as opposed to a Holiday Inn, which was very cozy and cute. They offer dinner the night before or night of at a local restaurant. Richmond is well known for it's unique restaurants and craft beer industry so this is a nice way to show off the city. Coffee for breakfast the day of, and boxed lunches with sandwiches and chips.
3. Interview Day: 4 30 minute interviews (2 faculty, PD, 1 chief resident). The PD asks hard-hitting questions and was a little more serious during the interview. The other faculty members and chief were super friendly and more conversational. Then all the interviewees meet with the chair of the department together for about 15 mins. I thought this was more of an opportunity to hear what he had to say about the program. And he did give us a little talk but he also asked us interview-like questions. Kind of awkward because you are all sitting together. I mean he didn't ask anything too hard-hitting ( just the basics like where are you from, why psych). Stuff you should be able to talk about anyways but my reason for going into psych was little personal so I felt kinda weird. But he was really pleasant and friendly.
4. Program Overview: Can substitute pediatrics for IM (like you don't have to do ANY adult medicine if you don't want to). All the residents kept mentioning how its really busy in the ER and while you are on call, but its worth it because you see a lot. They have a loooot of underserved, very sick patients in Richmond. Big emphasis on community psychiatry. They have the university hospital with inpatient units, a crisis stabilization unit, and also a VA and a childrens treatment center with inpatient/outpatient child psych. THey are building an even bigger, nicer children's treatment center. They are also affiliated with a state mental hospital for forensics rotations. And for anyone else that likes working with prisoners or finds them interesting...VCU has a whole unit in their hospital thats built like a jail, for actively incarcerated people who need inpatient hospitalization (for whatever reason not just psych). It's pretty cool. Prisoners get brought in from all over the state and you might have to do consults down there. The university hospital is huge and beautiful. Very bright, clean, modern, well-lit. Oh and theres ample research opportunities. They have some big name researchers in fields like TMS and DBS. Because this hospital has literally EVERYTHING, there are so many elective opportunities in things like HIV clinics, Cancer clinics, undergraduate student health clinics, LGBT clinics, etc. They will give a 17 page document of electives. The opportunities here are just impressive. The residents in general were very friendly. The few I all talked to were married with kids so they didn't really speak to night-life and social events but it seems like some of the residents do hang out. The program is very FMG heavy and when I asked why they chose VCU i kinda got the impression that they didn't really CHOOSE it. They didn't really care where they matched. Like no one could really articulate why they chose VCU in the first place, but I guess they seemed happy to be there overall. They all raved about the ability to raise a family in Richmond. One last thing that really stood out to me - the moonlighting opportunities. All in house. $500 for a friday night ER shift, $150 for taking over night home call in inpatient peds and $150 for every patient you go back in to see..basically they pay REALLY well.
5. Faculty: Many of them trained at VCU for med school or residency so it says a lot that they came back. Other than that they were pretty normal. Friendly, accomplished, etc. Their C/L guy, Dr. Levenson, is pretty famous in psychiatry, hes written a few textbooks.
6. Location and Lifestyle: Richmond, Virginia - in central virginia, about 2 hrs from Washington, D.C. Very low cost of living, mild weather, lots of history in the area. Not too far from the mountains or the beach. Craft beer industry is huge. There's a few neighborhoods in Richmond that are known for its "younger" population with lots of bars, cute restaurants, boutiques, etc. I guess i'd call it a medium-sized city?
7. Salary and benefits: average i think. but more than enough to live in Richmond. Many of the residents can afford to buy houses, esp if they have a working spouse. Discounted parking garage that's connected to the hospital.
8. Program Strengths: research, electives, big gorgeous hospital, cost of living, peds instead of Medicine
9. Program Weaknesses: not a big city, busy ER and calls
1. Communication: mostly by email
2. Accomodations and Food: they pay $50 towards a local hotel. I stayed at one the historic inns as opposed to a Holiday Inn, which was very cozy and cute. They offer dinner the night before or night of at a local restaurant. Richmond is well known for it's unique restaurants and craft beer industry so this is a nice way to show off the city. Coffee for breakfast the day of, and boxed lunches with sandwiches and chips.
3. Interview Day: 4 30 minute interviews (2 faculty, PD, 1 chief resident). The PD asks hard-hitting questions and was a little more serious during the interview. The other faculty members and chief were super friendly and more conversational. Then all the interviewees meet with the chair of the department together for about 15 mins. I thought this was more of an opportunity to hear what he had to say about the program. And he did give us a little talk but he also asked us interview-like questions. Kind of awkward because you are all sitting together. I mean he didn't ask anything too hard-hitting ( just the basics like where are you from, why psych). Stuff you should be able to talk about anyways but my reason for going into psych was little personal so I felt kinda weird. But he was really pleasant and friendly.
4. Program Overview: Can substitute pediatrics for IM (like you don't have to do ANY adult medicine if you don't want to). All the residents kept mentioning how its really busy in the ER and while you are on call, but its worth it because you see a lot. They have a loooot of underserved, very sick patients in Richmond. Big emphasis on community psychiatry. They have the university hospital with inpatient units, a crisis stabilization unit, and also a VA and a childrens treatment center with inpatient/outpatient child psych. THey are building an even bigger, nicer children's treatment center. They are also affiliated with a state mental hospital for forensics rotations. And for anyone else that likes working with prisoners or finds them interesting...VCU has a whole unit in their hospital thats built like a jail, for actively incarcerated people who need inpatient hospitalization (for whatever reason not just psych). It's pretty cool. Prisoners get brought in from all over the state and you might have to do consults down there. The university hospital is huge and beautiful. Very bright, clean, modern, well-lit. Oh and theres ample research opportunities. They have some big name researchers in fields like TMS and DBS. Because this hospital has literally EVERYTHING, there are so many elective opportunities in things like HIV clinics, Cancer clinics, undergraduate student health clinics, LGBT clinics, etc. They will give a 17 page document of electives. The opportunities here are just impressive. The residents in general were very friendly. The few I all talked to were married with kids so they didn't really speak to night-life and social events but it seems like some of the residents do hang out. The program is very FMG heavy and when I asked why they chose VCU i kinda got the impression that they didn't really CHOOSE it. They didn't really care where they matched. Like no one could really articulate why they chose VCU in the first place, but I guess they seemed happy to be there overall. They all raved about the ability to raise a family in Richmond. One last thing that really stood out to me - the moonlighting opportunities. All in house. $500 for a friday night ER shift, $150 for taking over night home call in inpatient peds and $150 for every patient you go back in to see..basically they pay REALLY well.
5. Faculty: Many of them trained at VCU for med school or residency so it says a lot that they came back. Other than that they were pretty normal. Friendly, accomplished, etc. Their C/L guy, Dr. Levenson, is pretty famous in psychiatry, hes written a few textbooks.
6. Location and Lifestyle: Richmond, Virginia - in central virginia, about 2 hrs from Washington, D.C. Very low cost of living, mild weather, lots of history in the area. Not too far from the mountains or the beach. Craft beer industry is huge. There's a few neighborhoods in Richmond that are known for its "younger" population with lots of bars, cute restaurants, boutiques, etc. I guess i'd call it a medium-sized city?
7. Salary and benefits: average i think. but more than enough to live in Richmond. Many of the residents can afford to buy houses, esp if they have a working spouse. Discounted parking garage that's connected to the hospital.
8. Program Strengths: research, electives, big gorgeous hospital, cost of living, peds instead of Medicine
9. Program Weaknesses: not a big city, busy ER and calls
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2013
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- 13
- Reaction score
- 13
Thanks for the input, DoctorBagel (love the name, btw!)! I really appreciate it.
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2013
- Messages
- 75
- Reaction score
- 45
Doctor Bagel,
I wanted to PM you this question before I realized the answer could benefit everyone. This is something that was not revealed to me on my interview day at OHSU, even though I did ask the question directly to a resident.
And this is about the attrition rate at your program. It's by sheer chance that I stumbled upon this thread you'd posted a year ago:
Can you comment on this issue, and if you've figured out the real reasons behind the high attrition rate (in the last post on that thread, you'd hypothesized that it could be happening because of the difficult PGY-1 & PGY-2 years)?
Thanks.
I wanted to PM you this question before I realized the answer could benefit everyone. This is something that was not revealed to me on my interview day at OHSU, even though I did ask the question directly to a resident.
And this is about the attrition rate at your program. It's by sheer chance that I stumbled upon this thread you'd posted a year ago:
Can you comment on this issue, and if you've figured out the real reasons behind the high attrition rate (in the last post on that thread, you'd hypothesized that it could be happening because of the difficult PGY-1 & PGY-2 years)?
Thanks.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2002
- Messages
- 10,910
- Reaction score
- 1,154
Yep, attrition. It happened, and sucked. Reflecting back on it now, I think it was mainly the result of some recruiting mistakes mixed in with a challenging work schedule. Some people were selected who were great people with lots of abilities to do well but who weren't up to performing well as an intern in a program where we do work harder (again, not that we work harder than most programs, but we're probably in the 50% of harder programs). I think that we've started to think about these issues in recruitment, and all of our interns and second years are still here. Aside from that, we had two big disasters, one foreseeable and one not so foreseeable, and that created significant morale issues in one of our classes. I got misled by one of the people involved in these disasters and felt very angry at the program, hence my post, but now realize that what happened had more to do with the person involved than with our department. So recruiting issues and bad luck, and there you go.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2002
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Yes! And the dream of the 1890s. I need to get out my flannel.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
- Messages
- 3,511
- Reaction score
- 2,603
Awesome! Let's form a band!
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 21
Georgetown University
1. Communication – I received an invitation to interview at program through email. Eventbrite was used to schedule the interview with 4 slots per date. If you did not answer within about 30 min to 1 hour of getting the invitation, you are left with maybe 2 dates to pick from in my experience. You can check regularly to see if there are any open dates, but I didn’t find any periodically until the interview. All the information for the interview is located on that Eventbrite invitation. Two weeks before interview, an email was sent out to make us aware that residents have a pre-interview dinner at someone’s house and that they work very hard to make these happen. It was mentioned in the email that a chief resident will email you closer to the interview date regarding the pre-interview dinner. One week before the interview, there was a reminder sent regarding the interview date.
2. Accommodation & Food – No accommodations. Although a prior email said that residents work very hard to make these pre-interviews happen, we were never emailed by one of the chief residents regarding any details (not even if there wasn’t going to be one). Light breakfast consisting of bagels and coffee was served in the morning. Lunch was in a conference room and served an impressive, nicely staged meal that included meatloaf, mashed potations, salad, and desert. Excellent meal. On days where grand rounds were available, they serve fruit and salad around 4:00 pm.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) – The day started at 8:00 am. The program coordinator did not get there until about 8:20 am. The ancillary staff there directed us where to get coffee as we waited for the program coordinator. We got settled into the conference room where there breakfast was available. We received our schedule, packet of information regarding the program (No Folder >_<) and the PC talked about the benefits (salary etc) and explained the map of the department. After getting settled in, the PD came in around 8:45 am (schedule says 8:30 am). He is a really nice and funny PD. Very casual as he discussed the program, which seemed like at lightning speed though since he had 15 minutes until our first interview session at 9 am. There are 2 interviews, 2 x 30 min with a faculty member and PD separately. The PC and PD alerted us that there will be a structured part of the interview regarding medical ethics to look objectively at our thought processes. They said casual interviews did not show any data in regards to resident performance. This was a first for me regarding this. All applicants felt they had very different experiences regarding the “structured interview”. Mostly open ended questions regarding scenarios, but some close-ended questions regarding what you would do next in a situation. After the structured interview was over, the conversation became casual and relaxed. Breaks were provided between interviewers based on previous feedback. I had a “break” of about 1 hour and 20 min. between interviews. At 11:30 am was a tour of the outpatient facility, where we were currently at, by the PC. We had lunch at 11:45 pm. Residents didn’t appear until about 12:20 pm and we were wondering if anyone would show up. There were about 5- PGY3’s who attended the lunch because they were there at the outpatient clinic. Good information from them, but it seemed that the information they were telling us was outdated regarding scheduling. The conversation was dominated by 2-3 of the 5 PGY3. Some just got lunch, introduced themselves, ate and left. After they left at 1:00 pm, we waited until 1:20 pm in which we were scheduled for a shuttle to the Main Campus. It was about 1:35-1:40 where we wondered if we were forgotten. After talking to the PC, there was a miscommunication and the chief resident would meet us soon. We wondered at that time if we will ever meet any other residents from different classes, but alas a PGY-1 and a chief resident appeared on the tour. After a confusing tour, it was clear to the applicants that the residents had no idea what they should show us and how to navigate the hospital. We got tour of the GME office (?), the undergraduate food area (where residents say they never go to), the psych floor, random hallways and paintings that were unmentioned. Fortunately, along the way we were able to ask them questions throughout the tour. After the tour, we decided to stick around for grand rounds. We were actually very fortunate because all the interns and residents were there to greet us and ask questions. Grand rounds are only on certain interview dates. Afterwards we were free to go.
4. Program Overview – With being close to the end of my interview trail, and specifically that we really only get 1 day to know the program… I was not impressed and we were all very frustrated. Should I judge a program based on how the interview day flowed vs. the content of the program and residents? Probably not, but it really got very frustrating for the applicants with people being late to the agenda, stating of a pre-dinner that residents work hard to put together and not being notified at all regarding the status, no folder, wondering during lunch if we were ever get to see a resident that day, miscommunication between residents and PC, the confusing tour of the hospital, noticing that it was only PGY-3’s who were only in the same outpatient clinic the lunch was in – where were the other classes? I felt like either they were working too much to even make it to the interview lunch, the program was hiding something, or that the other residents really didn’t care about the applicants? I don’t know, but I left with an uneasy feeling for the interview day. Some applicants even regretted going to grand rounds because the interview day was that bad and just wanted to leave. Overall, the program content seems OK. There are really two main facilities you train at, Georgetown and the VA. There is NO psych ER rotation and patients at Georgetown are all VOLUNTARY. The population is very unique as it is diverse and often get patients with delusions in regards to the capital/president/etc. Residents liked the faculty and felt that everyone got along very well. Some of them said that faculty feel “busy” and don’t have enough time to teach residents. The PD is very open to resident input and the resident say that he responds to input. Resident did not like the didactics as they felt it was very disorganized and overlapping at times. You do 4 months of inpatient with no opportunities to switch to peds if interested in CAP. Overall, the program seems OK. The location is desirable because Georgetown is very historic and located in DC. Not easily accessible through the station, so most people have a car. PD states program is financially secure.
5. Faculty – Apparently well liked by residents, but can be too “busy” to teach. Resident said she brought this up with PD and saw change. Other residents said they “LOVE” the people that we interviewed with but unsure if exaggerating or genuinely sincere.
6. Location & Lifestyle – Georgetown is very scenic and nice per residents, faculty, and during brief time I was there. Residents say they are able to “have a life” outside of residency. No call during neurology. No overnight call during intern year. Apparently, PGY-2 is TOUGH in regards to call schedule and medicine rotation referred to being very tough as well. You can look up the call schedule as they have it on the website…too tired to look it up right now.
7. Salary & Benefits – Standard benefits - $50,800 PGY-1. Residents feel they are able to live in area for this salary.
8. Program Strengths
- PD is amazing, funny, and nice!
- Location
- Residents seem to get along well with each other
- Opportunity to apply to NIMH for a PGY-4 year for research
- Diversity of patients
- Strong forensics fellowship
- Opportunity to do international rotations for 1mo in Kenya/Chile/New Zealand (work in progress)
9. Potential Weaknesses
- Poorly executed interview day
- If there wasn’t grand rounds where all the residents attend, you would only meet PGY-3’s , a chief resident and maybe 1 intern (!!??)
- No real cafeteria in hospital
- Not too much diversity in training sites
- Will likely need a car to get around (although one resident says she doesn’t have a car and can get around by bus/metro)
- Left with an unsure feeling regarding the program
- No psych ER
- No ER rotations (+/-), all 4 months of medicine are inpatient
- Medium class (+/-) – will have about 8 residents instead of 7
- Scholarly project required (+/-)
- Emphasized clinical work is priority while research is on the lower end (but option is available)
- Georgetown is only voluntary patients
Edit: On the website, the "current residents" are from 2 years ago. On the pamphlet given, they are from 1 year ago.
1. Communication – I received an invitation to interview at program through email. Eventbrite was used to schedule the interview with 4 slots per date. If you did not answer within about 30 min to 1 hour of getting the invitation, you are left with maybe 2 dates to pick from in my experience. You can check regularly to see if there are any open dates, but I didn’t find any periodically until the interview. All the information for the interview is located on that Eventbrite invitation. Two weeks before interview, an email was sent out to make us aware that residents have a pre-interview dinner at someone’s house and that they work very hard to make these happen. It was mentioned in the email that a chief resident will email you closer to the interview date regarding the pre-interview dinner. One week before the interview, there was a reminder sent regarding the interview date.
2. Accommodation & Food – No accommodations. Although a prior email said that residents work very hard to make these pre-interviews happen, we were never emailed by one of the chief residents regarding any details (not even if there wasn’t going to be one). Light breakfast consisting of bagels and coffee was served in the morning. Lunch was in a conference room and served an impressive, nicely staged meal that included meatloaf, mashed potations, salad, and desert. Excellent meal. On days where grand rounds were available, they serve fruit and salad around 4:00 pm.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) – The day started at 8:00 am. The program coordinator did not get there until about 8:20 am. The ancillary staff there directed us where to get coffee as we waited for the program coordinator. We got settled into the conference room where there breakfast was available. We received our schedule, packet of information regarding the program (No Folder >_<) and the PC talked about the benefits (salary etc) and explained the map of the department. After getting settled in, the PD came in around 8:45 am (schedule says 8:30 am). He is a really nice and funny PD. Very casual as he discussed the program, which seemed like at lightning speed though since he had 15 minutes until our first interview session at 9 am. There are 2 interviews, 2 x 30 min with a faculty member and PD separately. The PC and PD alerted us that there will be a structured part of the interview regarding medical ethics to look objectively at our thought processes. They said casual interviews did not show any data in regards to resident performance. This was a first for me regarding this. All applicants felt they had very different experiences regarding the “structured interview”. Mostly open ended questions regarding scenarios, but some close-ended questions regarding what you would do next in a situation. After the structured interview was over, the conversation became casual and relaxed. Breaks were provided between interviewers based on previous feedback. I had a “break” of about 1 hour and 20 min. between interviews. At 11:30 am was a tour of the outpatient facility, where we were currently at, by the PC. We had lunch at 11:45 pm. Residents didn’t appear until about 12:20 pm and we were wondering if anyone would show up. There were about 5- PGY3’s who attended the lunch because they were there at the outpatient clinic. Good information from them, but it seemed that the information they were telling us was outdated regarding scheduling. The conversation was dominated by 2-3 of the 5 PGY3. Some just got lunch, introduced themselves, ate and left. After they left at 1:00 pm, we waited until 1:20 pm in which we were scheduled for a shuttle to the Main Campus. It was about 1:35-1:40 where we wondered if we were forgotten. After talking to the PC, there was a miscommunication and the chief resident would meet us soon. We wondered at that time if we will ever meet any other residents from different classes, but alas a PGY-1 and a chief resident appeared on the tour. After a confusing tour, it was clear to the applicants that the residents had no idea what they should show us and how to navigate the hospital. We got tour of the GME office (?), the undergraduate food area (where residents say they never go to), the psych floor, random hallways and paintings that were unmentioned. Fortunately, along the way we were able to ask them questions throughout the tour. After the tour, we decided to stick around for grand rounds. We were actually very fortunate because all the interns and residents were there to greet us and ask questions. Grand rounds are only on certain interview dates. Afterwards we were free to go.
4. Program Overview – With being close to the end of my interview trail, and specifically that we really only get 1 day to know the program… I was not impressed and we were all very frustrated. Should I judge a program based on how the interview day flowed vs. the content of the program and residents? Probably not, but it really got very frustrating for the applicants with people being late to the agenda, stating of a pre-dinner that residents work hard to put together and not being notified at all regarding the status, no folder, wondering during lunch if we were ever get to see a resident that day, miscommunication between residents and PC, the confusing tour of the hospital, noticing that it was only PGY-3’s who were only in the same outpatient clinic the lunch was in – where were the other classes? I felt like either they were working too much to even make it to the interview lunch, the program was hiding something, or that the other residents really didn’t care about the applicants? I don’t know, but I left with an uneasy feeling for the interview day. Some applicants even regretted going to grand rounds because the interview day was that bad and just wanted to leave. Overall, the program content seems OK. There are really two main facilities you train at, Georgetown and the VA. There is NO psych ER rotation and patients at Georgetown are all VOLUNTARY. The population is very unique as it is diverse and often get patients with delusions in regards to the capital/president/etc. Residents liked the faculty and felt that everyone got along very well. Some of them said that faculty feel “busy” and don’t have enough time to teach residents. The PD is very open to resident input and the resident say that he responds to input. Resident did not like the didactics as they felt it was very disorganized and overlapping at times. You do 4 months of inpatient with no opportunities to switch to peds if interested in CAP. Overall, the program seems OK. The location is desirable because Georgetown is very historic and located in DC. Not easily accessible through the station, so most people have a car. PD states program is financially secure.
5. Faculty – Apparently well liked by residents, but can be too “busy” to teach. Resident said she brought this up with PD and saw change. Other residents said they “LOVE” the people that we interviewed with but unsure if exaggerating or genuinely sincere.
6. Location & Lifestyle – Georgetown is very scenic and nice per residents, faculty, and during brief time I was there. Residents say they are able to “have a life” outside of residency. No call during neurology. No overnight call during intern year. Apparently, PGY-2 is TOUGH in regards to call schedule and medicine rotation referred to being very tough as well. You can look up the call schedule as they have it on the website…too tired to look it up right now.
7. Salary & Benefits – Standard benefits - $50,800 PGY-1. Residents feel they are able to live in area for this salary.
8. Program Strengths
- PD is amazing, funny, and nice!
- Location
- Residents seem to get along well with each other
- Opportunity to apply to NIMH for a PGY-4 year for research
- Diversity of patients
- Strong forensics fellowship
- Opportunity to do international rotations for 1mo in Kenya/Chile/New Zealand (work in progress)
9. Potential Weaknesses
- Poorly executed interview day
- If there wasn’t grand rounds where all the residents attend, you would only meet PGY-3’s , a chief resident and maybe 1 intern (!!??)
- No real cafeteria in hospital
- Not too much diversity in training sites
- Will likely need a car to get around (although one resident says she doesn’t have a car and can get around by bus/metro)
- Left with an unsure feeling regarding the program
- No psych ER
- No ER rotations (+/-), all 4 months of medicine are inpatient
- Medium class (+/-) – will have about 8 residents instead of 7
- Scholarly project required (+/-)
- Emphasized clinical work is priority while research is on the lower end (but option is available)
- Georgetown is only voluntary patients
Edit: On the website, the "current residents" are from 2 years ago. On the pamphlet given, they are from 1 year ago.
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Interviewing has been a real eye-opening experience. Many of the programs that I thought would be at the top of my list have moved to the very bottom. It seems the more prestigious a program is, the more malignant.
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A little reframe maybe?
The more prestigious a program, the more likely it will supply residents with a wealth of clinical material to learn from. The only distinction between a malignant program and a truly excellent program is the perception of the quality of teaching associated with a lot of hard work. All of the very best programs work residents fairly hard in my opinion.
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Well, idk. I can't speak for top programs because I didn't interview at any. But I think it's more of a mixed bag than you're implying in that there are great non-top programs that provide a superb level of high volume clinical training that might lack the research funding and regimen of what usually constitutes the most renown programs. I don't think that the latter necessitates superiority in the former. Furthermore, the more the recruitment oriented a place is the better the accomodations are in some cases. The assumption at top places as well as top specialties in medicine is that you're lucky to be on the roster rather than them being glad to have you.
You can make the case that this is an essential ingredient of rigor and therefore superior education, but I don't agree. If I wanted to hang out with surgical personalities I would have applied to them. Watch all the top program sdn'ers come to argue this....being competitive as they are...being wrong isn't an option. But, personally I take a step back from those and their culture which is what happens when a bunch of top people at a top place are trying to be tippy tops.
I want to work hard. I want good clinical training. And while I agree that all the top programs have high volume clinical training I don't think they have dominion over it. And what else they have I tend not to like.
--non-top applicant with an uppity out of his place opinion.
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For me, I'm having trouble reconciling location with quality of the program. All of the programs I like are in a undesirable location. And I don't really like the programs that are in a desirable location.
That being said I understand nothing in life will be 100% perfect, but I don't know what to sacrifice - location, or a few things I really wanted out of a program. I think I'm leaning towards to choosing location over quality of program. Is that a terrible idea? I mean none of the places I'm interviewing at are bad programs, they are just missing a few things I would want.
That being said I understand nothing in life will be 100% perfect, but I don't know what to sacrifice - location, or a few things I really wanted out of a program. I think I'm leaning towards to choosing location over quality of program. Is that a terrible idea? I mean none of the places I'm interviewing at are bad programs, they are just missing a few things I would want.
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Yeah I'm running into this conundrum as well. Complicated by locations where my SO can flourish personally and professionally. My favorite program which has my interests covered in spades is in a just ok location. I have it ranked #3 right now. Opting for good high volume clinical training without any flare in my specific interests but in a sweet location for my whole unit, being my top 2. Not a bad compromise. But one that OPD and others endorse. Happy family = happy life sort of thing.
It seems like the natural process of ranking is making compromises. Hahaha. I imagine I'm somebody's compromise too.
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^True. It is all about compromises. And we can't all match at our #1s. I'm just going to try and remind myself that I can adapt to anything. If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years its that the people around you make everything better. I'm a Carib grad and moving to the islands for 2 years was definitely tough but once I made friends it was actually fun and I didn't mind it at all. I keep reminding myself of this everyday, to prepare for the event that I don't match at any of my top choices. It might be hard starting over in a new place, but definitely doable.
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Yeah. If you can adapt to what you have already and keep a good attitude, then you're going to be fine. I'd be happy at my top 6 and I'd be fine at all of them too. It's remarkable the number of programs that are quite good in psychiatry. Breadth of sub-specialists is the only thing that the medium to smaller programs lack or maybe pioneers in those fields too. Those things are certainly awesome and programs should be proud of them. But I don't think you compromise too much of a general education by not having them. Unless your goals are very academic. If you don't have those goals or at least have them to a lesser extent then programs become very similar. And location can ride shot gun on your ranking adventure.
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Nasrudin describes my situation perfectly - I have minimal academic or research interests; maybe not exactly zero, but it is not a primary concern. I am simply looking for clinical variety in a reasonable work load environment with pleasant, supportive, and friendly colleagues, all based in a geographic location with reasonable cost of living and decent weather along with varied diversions in the town and region for days off.
Thus far I am finding that most of the programs on my list are suitable with minor differences between them, so I am focused a bit more on locational aspects to the point that the final ranking will probably be driven more by location than by program. Ideally, my #1 program will be in my #1 location, and so on, and right now I can honestly say that my top 3 programs are in the top 3 geographic locations with only the slightest differences between them preference-wise, so my greater challenge will be ranking the rest of the programs where there is more divergence in preference for location.
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Sounds like a nice predicament to be in. You should do fine. Other specialties might have you trying to decide if the weather in North Dakota is all that bad.
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So for you guys picking based on location, Portland was placed on the top of these people's list. Not sure what this means, but apparently we're pretty good at being nerdy and eating meat and other important things like that.
http://www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/best-cities-in-america-2013/
http://www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/best-cities-in-america-2013/
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Funny you should mention that because just today I was reading up about the social aspects of the various cities!
Guess there are always two sides of a coin because according to these people, Portland isn't the place for single guys: http://www.returnofkings.com/8320/6-reasons-why-portland-sucks-for-single-men
Just mentioning it as a counterpoint.
Guess there are always two sides of a coin because according to these people, Portland isn't the place for single guys: http://www.returnofkings.com/8320/6-reasons-why-portland-sucks-for-single-men
Just mentioning it as a counterpoint.
Thats a good thought, unfortuantely however it seems people are posting far fewer reviews this year, so we might end up not having any opinions on the vast majority of programs if we did that.
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I don't know. Like psychotic I'm an sdn psychiatry nerd archivist. And people were saying the same thing in early 2000's. There's never been a lot of reviews. Probably why they have so much punch in this scene. You might be right. Maybe there was an uptick when Dr. Bagel or Splick or notdeadyet were posting their's but not by enough to call it much of a trend. I'm gonna crank out a few more. Personally, I lost faith in their validity when I started interviewing and began to doubt the efficacy of my own impressions. I tend towards thinking of everyone who takes the time to tell me about their program and buy me lunch as being perfectly swell. I don't have the critic's acerbic tongue. You could summarize mine as here's some really neat people in psychiatry. Yay!
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I agree. I've noticed a sharp decrease in reviews this year too. In fact, I know we've interviewed a crapton of people, but I have yet to see a review...sigh. How else am I supposed to know what people think of me if they aren't posting reviews about how awesome I was at the dinner? Sheesh
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Maybe this review thing should let go of any pretense of validity. Since there is no way out of the selection bias thing, maybe this should just become the yelp of psychiatry. SDN can charge programs to have good reviews float to the top and have the bad reviews be emphasized for those deadbeat programs that will not pay ransom. A little reaching out to miserable residents could easily supply the bad reviews, and programs can write their own good reviews. Isn’t capitalism grand?
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BU vs Tufts:
Together because if you've interviewed at one you're likely to interview at the other and they are the 2nd tier options in Boston that are perhaps as much similar in that regard than different vis a vis the powerhouse programs of the Harvard affiliation and also the other programs which are not as good as them. Harvard Southshore might be part of this discussion too but I didn't go there. I submit this classification system for review by the Boston locals.
1. Communication – Email. Both Ms. McGuigan at Tufts and Ms. Nunez at BU were very gracious and fluid communicators of all the details of each visit. They're both a great asset to their programs.
2. Accommodation & Food – No accommodations at either. Excellent food at both. All day. At tufts an exquisite Indian meal the night before, the residents showed up in force and all were very cool. BU does theirs on a Saturday which has its advantages if you need to miss days of your rotation. They had a party at the addiction service director's house that night which I'm sure would've been replete with amazing food and company, but I was headed out of town and didn't go.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) – Tufts does theirs in 2 groups a morning and an afternoon group with overlap. At first I was like....awesome I get to sleep in...but then I realized all my interviews were late in the afternoon after a big delicious lunch. So I recommend taking the morning option. I started mid morning and went to 5 or so. BU goes from 830 till 330 or so. Both had tours lunches with residents and a handful of interviews. Both sit you down for a 15 min interview with the PD's. Tufts gave us an example of their case based didactics which was excellent. BU had a presentation given by the PD.
4. Program Overview – Both programs involve a similar amount of driving--BU more if I recall. They both have multiple sites given that their smaller programs and need to diversify the resident exposure. I think Tufts might be a little smaller by a few residents per class, perhaps the reason it felt more intimate to me. BU is located in a less ritzy area of downtown and might get a little more County type patient population and tufts is in the center of downtown right next to Chinatown getting more business class clientele and an asian population although a fair amount of the former as well.
5. Faculty - Both PD's were exceedingly warm. BU has a big deal addictions person. If that's an heavy interest you should go there. Tufts had a more analytic roster. But not in a way that bothered me as someone creeped out by psychoanalysts. Somehow the opposite. I really, really liked the PD at tufts. I felt cut from the same mold as him in the sense that he left MGH to do his own thing at Tufts and never left. He seems to have deliberately set a different tone--support, warmth, community and friendliness over achievement and academic rat races. Are you feeling my selection bias yet? Good. The BU PD is a very nice lady who conveys a maternal, protective sort of vibe as well. Personally, I liked more of the faculty at tufts better and connected with my interviewers more. So for me, tufts had the faculty edge.
6. Location & Lifestyle – Boston is cold and new Englandy although somewhat of an exception with regards to its surrounding culture in that it is a super young super smart place with plenty of cosmopolitanism. Although they seem to have somewhat of a complex. Being from San Francisco and having lived there for a year I could tell it was particularly hurtful to not like their Mecca of awesome as much as they did. But to people who favor SF or NYC, or at least to me, Boston retains its emotionally constipated new englandiness as well as some of its exclusionary ultra whiteness. I don't mind the weather though too much. They get the city working quickly after heavy snowfall. Massachusetts is highly organized but highly burdensome and invasive in governmental style. Don't try to park on the street with out state tags, if you move there expect to transfer all your information and licensing and such. The commutable neighborhoods are essentially the same for both programs. Both involve some necessary driving. There are some residents who don't drive but they have a ridiculous commute on several rotations at each program for going without. The subway system there is great but not all sites are accessible by it.
7. Salary & Benefits – Tufts has better benefits but BU has better pay. A push in my calculations but favoring BU possibly if you're young and single. 50's I think. Moonlighting opportunities are better at tufts. The hours are a bit lighter at tufts.
8. Program Strengths
BU--high volume, county type population, wide ranging pathology, HIV psychiatry, refugee work that is totally unique and amazing, bigtime addictions
Tufts--great didactics, warm supportive faculty, good therapy training, diverse SES with high functioning spectrum of illness.
9. Potential Weaknesses
BU--lacks social work support in its very busy ED, so you'll be finding all your own beds....not cool. If I wanted to be a social worker I would've trained to be one, it's not a translatable skill to other work places. I'm interested in emergency psych and I didn't like the feel of this unit or it's supervisors. So that's a big negative for me.
Tufts--small program that has to be creative to get you exposed to different sites and training--I think they address this weakness pretty well though. I didn't get the sense that there was heavier call from the program being smaller, but I suppose it's always a risk at smaller programs if they were to loose a resident or multiple residents get pregnant etc.
Overall I'll be ranking tufts significantly higher based on my gut feel.
Together because if you've interviewed at one you're likely to interview at the other and they are the 2nd tier options in Boston that are perhaps as much similar in that regard than different vis a vis the powerhouse programs of the Harvard affiliation and also the other programs which are not as good as them. Harvard Southshore might be part of this discussion too but I didn't go there. I submit this classification system for review by the Boston locals.
1. Communication – Email. Both Ms. McGuigan at Tufts and Ms. Nunez at BU were very gracious and fluid communicators of all the details of each visit. They're both a great asset to their programs.
2. Accommodation & Food – No accommodations at either. Excellent food at both. All day. At tufts an exquisite Indian meal the night before, the residents showed up in force and all were very cool. BU does theirs on a Saturday which has its advantages if you need to miss days of your rotation. They had a party at the addiction service director's house that night which I'm sure would've been replete with amazing food and company, but I was headed out of town and didn't go.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) – Tufts does theirs in 2 groups a morning and an afternoon group with overlap. At first I was like....awesome I get to sleep in...but then I realized all my interviews were late in the afternoon after a big delicious lunch. So I recommend taking the morning option. I started mid morning and went to 5 or so. BU goes from 830 till 330 or so. Both had tours lunches with residents and a handful of interviews. Both sit you down for a 15 min interview with the PD's. Tufts gave us an example of their case based didactics which was excellent. BU had a presentation given by the PD.
4. Program Overview – Both programs involve a similar amount of driving--BU more if I recall. They both have multiple sites given that their smaller programs and need to diversify the resident exposure. I think Tufts might be a little smaller by a few residents per class, perhaps the reason it felt more intimate to me. BU is located in a less ritzy area of downtown and might get a little more County type patient population and tufts is in the center of downtown right next to Chinatown getting more business class clientele and an asian population although a fair amount of the former as well.
5. Faculty - Both PD's were exceedingly warm. BU has a big deal addictions person. If that's an heavy interest you should go there. Tufts had a more analytic roster. But not in a way that bothered me as someone creeped out by psychoanalysts. Somehow the opposite. I really, really liked the PD at tufts. I felt cut from the same mold as him in the sense that he left MGH to do his own thing at Tufts and never left. He seems to have deliberately set a different tone--support, warmth, community and friendliness over achievement and academic rat races. Are you feeling my selection bias yet? Good. The BU PD is a very nice lady who conveys a maternal, protective sort of vibe as well. Personally, I liked more of the faculty at tufts better and connected with my interviewers more. So for me, tufts had the faculty edge.
6. Location & Lifestyle – Boston is cold and new Englandy although somewhat of an exception with regards to its surrounding culture in that it is a super young super smart place with plenty of cosmopolitanism. Although they seem to have somewhat of a complex. Being from San Francisco and having lived there for a year I could tell it was particularly hurtful to not like their Mecca of awesome as much as they did. But to people who favor SF or NYC, or at least to me, Boston retains its emotionally constipated new englandiness as well as some of its exclusionary ultra whiteness. I don't mind the weather though too much. They get the city working quickly after heavy snowfall. Massachusetts is highly organized but highly burdensome and invasive in governmental style. Don't try to park on the street with out state tags, if you move there expect to transfer all your information and licensing and such. The commutable neighborhoods are essentially the same for both programs. Both involve some necessary driving. There are some residents who don't drive but they have a ridiculous commute on several rotations at each program for going without. The subway system there is great but not all sites are accessible by it.
7. Salary & Benefits – Tufts has better benefits but BU has better pay. A push in my calculations but favoring BU possibly if you're young and single. 50's I think. Moonlighting opportunities are better at tufts. The hours are a bit lighter at tufts.
8. Program Strengths
BU--high volume, county type population, wide ranging pathology, HIV psychiatry, refugee work that is totally unique and amazing, bigtime addictions
Tufts--great didactics, warm supportive faculty, good therapy training, diverse SES with high functioning spectrum of illness.
9. Potential Weaknesses
BU--lacks social work support in its very busy ED, so you'll be finding all your own beds....not cool. If I wanted to be a social worker I would've trained to be one, it's not a translatable skill to other work places. I'm interested in emergency psych and I didn't like the feel of this unit or it's supervisors. So that's a big negative for me.
Tufts--small program that has to be creative to get you exposed to different sites and training--I think they address this weakness pretty well though. I didn't get the sense that there was heavier call from the program being smaller, but I suppose it's always a risk at smaller programs if they were to loose a resident or multiple residents get pregnant etc.
Overall I'll be ranking tufts significantly higher based on my gut feel.
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While I agree who am I to deny people the subjective nonsense they want. I read them all. Only now do I doubt their validity having written them. But I will churn the rest of mine out out of pressure to be a good citizen more than out of belief that anyone should listen to me.
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Alright, I've been holding out because I was worried about the whole revealing who I was thing and all that... but I don't really have anything overwhelmingly negative to say about any of the programs I've visited, so I'll go ahead and post some reviews. I have to agree with Nasrudin - it's hard to say how "accurate" all of these are. Either I'm easily impressed (which is totally possible) or I just interviewed at mostly decent programs, but I felt like I could be happy with - or at least okay with - any of the programs I've seen (some more than others, of course).
Now with that disclaimer out of the way... I'll go hunt down the reviews I've been drafting on my travels.
Now with that disclaimer out of the way... I'll go hunt down the reviews I've been drafting on my travels.
