2013-2014 Psychiatry Interview Reviews

[StECT]

Pyknotic, did you interview at Colorado Denver or UC Davis? If so, I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts as you've gone to a number of places I'm interested in. If not, would you be up for sharing why you skipped on applying to those places?

I'm more interested in this question than almost all of the irrelevant discussion that seems to be happening on this thread lately. Not that I interviewed there - I was put off by Sacramento because of some unhappy childhood memories. But another member had PM'ed me about the program as well, and I'm curious as to how much I might've missed out by not applying there since it certainly seems popular.

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[digitlnoize]

Throw this in to the mix:

I seem to recall a scathing program review posted for San Mateo some time last year. The program went unfilled in the match. There were talks of the review writer intentionally scaring others from the program in order to match there himself. Certainly adds an interesting twist. Take the reviews with a grain of coarse sea salt, I suppose.

Which is why we should have full access to ACGME data on the programs. Not that those resident reviews aren't biased either...no one wants their program shut down while they are there. I take 1 bad review with a grain of salt. When you start getting the same story from 4 or 5 different people though...

Also, keep in mind every program has their problems. Mine is in a small town (which many people find undesirable) and we don't have a strong didactic program (although we are working to improve it), we learn more by doing. As someone who loves small towns and hates sitting in lecture, that was perfect for me. I would have hated NYU or Yale, for example. To each his own.

 

[Nasrudin]

I'm more interested in this question than almost all of the irrelevant discussion that seems to be happening on this thread lately. Not that I interviewed there - I was put off by Sacramento because of some unhappy childhood memories. But another member had PM'ed me about the program as well, and I'm curious as to how much I might've missed out by not applying there since it certainly seems popular.

Haha. Ok. They are extremely high on my list. I think they offer a range of benefits that make them a very attractive program. They're a university program and are the only one in town. So there's a large population they serve. There's not really much health resources to speak of when you go north from Sacramento so they're a very important public institution. Sacramento is extremely diverse with lots of immigrant populations so despite the cow town reputation of the place in comparison to its bigger siblings--LA and SF--you don't loose as much for being a smaller city in terms of patient diversity.

But for resident social life it really doesn't compare to a major urban environment. The flip side of that is it offers one of the best economic packages that I'd seen as Sacramento is much cheaper and you're still making UC pay. The benefits are excellent. And they have early and plentiful moonlighting gigs. Residents are highly recruited by all the rotation sites as possible employees because there's a big shortage of psychs there.

I also think you get a lot in terms of quality of life for the size of the city.

I can't say enough about the program director--super cool, very down to earth. If I match elsewhere I think I'll always wonder what I could've done there under her guidance. She's part of tradition of forensics excellence that is tops nationwide. So if you're somebody who has that as an interest then this place should get a bump up. She endeavors seriously to create a good work culture. I met a few of the outpatient faculty--one I really liked, one I wasn't sure about.

The residents were a very cohesive, chill, and friendly bunch. Some were interested in international work and had done projects while residents in other countries.

Whatever else you want to know? This is just how I think of it.

 

[Nasrudin]

This return to the thread topic and my recent recollection of my interview at UCD got me thinking about how little I can reconstruct or even ascertain about therapy and didactics. I seem to have eliminated them althogether from my ranking schematic. And I have no advice for future classes on how to make judgments about these program assets.

AE-Bronx made it obvious. They give you a whole day of unfettered commitment to academics. I consider that a huge asset as I want to learn the theory and knowledge base behind our field. But most other programs I have no sense of what their commitment to academics is at all.

Secondly I have no idea how to judge proper therapy training. I have read suggestions about how to look at the specifics of supervision but I have no information on that at all. The best I could do in this regard is get a vibe on the disposition of the therapy faculty and to broadly sense their brand of psychotherapy. If a place was psychoanalytic to the bone I considered it a negative. Some applicants would consider it the opposite.

But for future applicants all I can say best of luck with those assesments. As others have indicated, interview day is limited.

 

[pyknotic]

Pyknotic, did you interview at Colorado Denver or UC Davis? If so, I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts as you've gone to a number of places I'm interested in. If not, would you be up for sharing why you skipped on applying to those places?

No, I did not interview at either Colorado or UC Davis. I was very interested in going to UC Davis because I have heard nothing but stellar things (my favorite attending repeatedly said I should try to go there). Ultimately, though, my fiancé said that he really, really did not want to live in Sacramento, so I decided to cancel my interview there as to not waste their time. As far as Colorado, neither of us had any ties there or particular desire to live in Colorado, so we didn't apply.

 

[Fabio001]

Thanks for the replies! Nasrudin, could you go into any detail about the facilities at Davis? What feel did you get from the rotation sites? From their website it sounds like all inpatient (aside from the jail) is done at a county mental health hospital. Is this in fact the case?

 

[Nasrudin]

Thanks for the replies! Nasrudin, could you go into any detail about the facilities at Davis? What feel did you get from the rotation sites? From their website it sounds like all inpatient (aside from the jail) is done at a county mental health hospital. Is this in fact the case?

Ok, sure. He's what I remember. UCD doesn't have an inpatient unit. Instead the residents rotate in the ED there and stabilize and send all their patients to nearby facilities. This sounds worse than it is. Because they rotate at all these facilities. So you're sending patients to program people. So I don't consider that a negative myself. We visited one if the facilities and it was nice--in context.

My experience with psych facilities was as OPD described somewhere--that they all are struggling under budget woes. But the facilities I saw were nice. The interview takes place at the outpatient clinic which is also program HQ. It was fine.

I guess in short nothing was bad or ugly or anything. The jail rotation is reportedly awesome. Particularly if you're interested in forensics. This was a huge plus for me. They also have a big neurological/psych bench research facility that is nice but I didn't see or care to really.

Facilities in comparison to everywhere I've seen we're an 7-8 out of 10 on average--10 being the best. Some places had a few nicer places but also had some worse facilities. So on average they were quite good. I don't know if the place I saw was county, but it was public, so probably that was the county one.

On interviews you're rolling through and your talking to fellow applicants and residents and if you're like me you're either thinking about upcoming interviews or replaying the conversations in your head. So my impressions of places are more like remembered dreams. The one thing I did look out for was if their was ample work stations for residents. At my home hospital computer space is tight and I didn't want to that for residency. But still a minor consideration for me, so sorry if I can't be more thorough.

 

[st2205]

Throw this in to the mix:

I seem to recall a scathing program review posted for San Mateo some time last year. The program went unfilled in the match. There were talks of the review writer intentionally scaring others from the program in order to match there himself. Certainly adds an interesting twist. Take the reviews with a grain of coarse sea salt, I suppose.

At the time I called this person out feeling that it was an applicant who was trying to ensure they match there. That would be interesting as he/she would have been the only person matching there. I think I have a rather good seeking suspicion as to who it was, too.

Also, earlier in this thread someone referenced how Colorado suffered because on one resident who was dismissed. I must note that the idea Colorado was malignant has been discussed on these forums for years, well before that post.

 

[StECT]

This return to the thread topic and my recent recollection of my interview at UCD got me thinking about how little I can reconstruct or even ascertain about therapy and didactics. I seem to have eliminated them althogether from my ranking schematic. And I have no advice for future classes on how to make judgments about these program assets.

AE-Bronx made it obvious. They give you a whole day of unfettered commitment to academics. I consider that a huge asset as I want to learn the theory and knowledge base behind our field. But most other programs I have no sense of what their commitment to academics is at all.

Secondly I have no idea how to judge proper therapy training. I have read suggestions about how to look at the specifics of supervision but I have no information on that at all. The best I could do in this regard is get a vibe on the disposition of the therapy faculty and to broadly sense their brand of psychotherapy. If a place was psychoanalytic to the bone I considered it a negative. Some applicants would consider it the opposite.

But for future applicants all I can say best of luck with those assesments. As others have indicated, interview day is limited.

Awesomesauce!

 

[StECT]

No, I did not interview at either Colorado or UC Davis. I was very interested in going to UC Davis because I have heard nothing but stellar things (my favorite attending repeatedly said I should try to go there). Ultimately, though, my fiancé said that he really, really did not want to live in Sacramento, so I decided to cancel my interview there as to not waste their time. As far as Colorado, neither of us had any ties there or particular desire to live in Colorado, so we didn't apply.

Holy crap. That was almost ditto to what happened for me! Although it was me who didn't want to live in Sacramento more than my fiancé. We have so much more in common than I initially thought! I hope we match at the same program! Although my #1 is actually in the south/east coast.

 

[notdeadyet]

UCD doesn't have an inpatient unit. Instead the residents rotate in the ED there and stabilize and send all their patients to nearby facilities. This sounds worse than it is. Because they rotate at all these facilities. So you're sending patients to program people. So I don't consider that a negative myself. We visited one if the facilities and it was nice--in context.

This is actually fairly untrue. I'm saying "fairly" because it depends on how you define "have" (I feel like Bill Clinton here).

UC Davis does not have an inpatient psychiatric unit at the UC Davis medical center. Inpatients are kept at the SCMHTC (Sac Co Mental Health Treatment Center). It's a 50 bed inpatient psych hospital located across the street from the UC Davis medical center. Residents do a bulk of their inpatient work there, as well as some VA time. SCMHTC is County, but a lot of good programs do the bulk of their inpatient psych training and county facilities. That tends to be where the inpatient pathology is the most acute.

The jail rotation is reportedly awesome. Particularly if you're interested in forensics. This was a huge plus for me.

Very much. Their forensic program is one of the best in the country and their PD is a graduate of the fellowship.

 

[Nasrudin]

This is actually fairly untrue. I'm saying "fairly" because it depends on how you define "have" (I feel like Bill Clinton here).

UC Davis does not have an inpatient psychiatric unit at the UC Davis medical center. Inpatients are kept at the SCMHTC (Sac Co Mental Health Treatment Center). It's a 50 bed inpatient psych hospital located across the street from the UC Davis medical center. Residents do a bulk of their inpatient work there, as well as some VA time. SCMHTC is County, but a lot of good programs do the bulk of their inpatient psych training and county facilities. That tends to be where the inpatient pathology is the most acute.

Very much. Their forensic program is one of the best in the country and their PD is a graduate of the fellowship.

Thanks for the clarification. See folks, the fumbling recollection of idiots calls forth the truth. And the gossip machine rolls on. Everybody wins.

 

[jno]

Edited out because I misread the post above.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

At the time I called this person out feeling that it was an applicant who was trying to ensure they match there. That would be interesting as he/she would have been the only person matching there. I think I have a rather good seeking suspicion as to who it was, too.

Also, earlier in this thread someone referenced how Colorado suffered because on one resident who was dismissed. I must note that the idea Colorado was malignant has been discussed on these forums for years, well before that post.

I'm guessing San Mateo not filling had more to do with multiple factors rather than this one negative review. I remember the review mentioning a new program director, which might have been a hit. As they have always been super desirable, maybe they didn't make their list long enough. Interesting that you think you know who this reviewer was and that he/she tried to sabotage a match. It sounds like you still think that.

As for Colorado, yeah, you're right. I had heard bad things about Colorado when I applied/interviewed there, and the resident who left was still a resident there at the time. I remember the stories I heard were that people felt like they were grilled by the PD in a less-than-friendly way. She was perfectly nice in my interview with her, but yeah, those reputation rumors were on my mind.

OK, enough digressing from the purpose of this thread.

 

[moonshined]

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[jno]

I remember the review mentioning a new program director, which might have been a hit.

Yeah, this is actually a huge factor. Considering (s)he will be our boss and the one making key decisions, solving problems and cushioning us from consequences whenever something goes wrong, an experienced PD is very important IMO. I realized this during my interview at Maryland when I noticed how unsure the young new program director was. It was not confidence inspiring at all and left me questioning my priorities. In the end, it played a major role when I was drafting my rank list.

 

[jno]

I have a review request. Has anyone interviewed at University of Florida in Gainesville? If so, can you post a review? I'm very confused by it. Thanks.

I'm pretty sure there's one in this thread because I remember reading it recently.

 

[AthensBeth]

Hey Moonshined,
I posted an anonymous review of it early on (November). I'm pretty sure you "liked" the post. Interview-burnout dementia, maybe?

In summary, I had a really good feeling about the program. Happy residents, supportive PD, great facilities.

 

[moonshined]

.

 

[psychresident14]

Yep, I read it pre-interview and forgot about it post-interview!

Thanks for writing the review in the first place, AthensBeth. I'm going to PM you what I'm confused about if that's okay.

I have a good friend in the program at UF, and the PD cherishes her residents like her own kids. I heard from him recently that UF gave a nice reception at an art museum for selected incoming applicants this year as well as paid for their airfare, etc. for their second look. UF is definitely worth considering highly.

 

[Chocochipcookie]

Temple University

1. Communication: Got invitation via email after expressing interest in the program by email; there was also a post-interview reception invitation sent through E-vite with very little details

2. Accommodation & Food: I don’t know about any hotels because I was local, no pre-interview dinner, but there was a post-interview resident reception at a beer garden that was well-attended

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The day started at 8:30 and there were 6 other candidates that day. There was a light breakfast of pastries and bagels. The day started with a talk from one of the third-year residents and he went over some details about the program. We had a group interview with the PD and the chairman of the department where they asked us why psych, why Temple and what our friends/family felt about us going into psych. The group interview was a bit intimidating at first and it seemed like the PD hadn’t read any of our applications. Then we had 2 30-min interviews with one faculty and the chief resident—both were really nice and laid-back interviews. Then we had a tour of the facilities at Episcopal by a PGY2 resident. The psych hospital is nice, the facilities are modern and updated compared to others that I’ve seen and they have a CPEP with extended observation beds. The residents mentioned on the tour that the program is heavy on psychotherapy and the CPEP is very busy with the most volume in the NE after Bellevue. This was followed by a lunch of sandwiches with the residents. There was fairly good resident turnout at lunch. Next, we went to the Temple University Hospital and saw the med school—both were very modern and aesthetically pleasing. The day ended after we returned to Episcopal and had brief exit interviews with the APD.

4. Program Overview: The CPEP has a high volume and they see a lot of PCP usage. The first year call schedule is heavy on night-float with three months of night float with a confusing on-off schedule but there is no additional on call during the weekends for any of the other months. The call schedule for the upper years seemed a lot better with significantly less call, mainly at the Crisis Response Center. The call rooms in each hospital are really nice and big with well-stocked refrigerators. The standard day is 8-5pm on the inpatient psych months and it seems like you get good training because of the volume of patients. PGY1 and PGY2 years have emergency psych rotations and Neuro is in PGY2. 3rd year is all outpatient and every resident gets their own office in Episcopal and the offices are large with windows. They have resident retreats each year in Atlantic City and the residents seemed to get a long really well.

5. Faculty: The PD and chairman are very outgoing and friendly and well liked by the residents. The attending I interviewed with was a graduate of the training program.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Temple is located in North Philadelphia and there is a lot of security in the area because it is unsafe. However, residents stated that there have been no incidents that they have been involved with and security is really good.

7. Salary & Benefits: $51,854-$57,886, they offer 2 weeks paternity leave and the resident said they are very flexible and accommodating with scheduling

8. Program Strengths:

· PD and chairman of the department are really friendly and outgoing—which was really more apparent at the post-interview resident reception, plus they've been with the program for a while it seems

· No weekend day calls during 1st year

· Cohesive resident class

· Facilities were really nice and great outpatient offices

Potential Weaknesses:

· Heavy on ER psych

· Location in North Philadelphia, but many residents lived in Queen Village and other nicer parts and the salary is good for the area, so it’s not a complete negative especially because I really like Philadelphia

· Heavy on night-float

 

[cosmopolitanboy]

Harvard Longwood

1. Communication: Email. Timely, responsive. No issues with scheduling.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations. Hotels in the area were expensive and ranged from $175-225/night. Pre-interview dinner at The Elephant Walk in Back Bay was attended by 4-5 residents. Food was abundant on interview day: breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 8:45AM until 4PM or so. Longwood = Long day. I was SO excited to interview at Harvard Longwood, but the day turned out to be one of my worst nightmares come true: I didn’t click with a SINGLE person (applicant, resident, or faculty). I spent the entire day in a daze; I only felt normal again at a Back Bay Pub upon leaving the interview (cute bartenders cure all ills). The PD, who gave a 2 hour hour talk at the beginning of the day, was expressionless and stone-faced (…I get that she’s an analyst, but can’t she show some emotion when talking about her program?). Everyone talked about the “rigorous clinical training” as if working crazy hours earned them badges of honor. Interviews were awkward all-around. I gushed about Longwood’s C/L program to one interviewer (a C/L attending) and was told, coldly, “well, we’re not ALL about C/L” (…duh? You're a C/L attending, and I want to talk about C/L @ Longwood). The PD was bitterly confrontational and, worse, showed NO facial response to my conversational demeanor. No smiles, no nods, nothing. I was so uncomfortable and texted a gal pal, “welp, just failed that interview.” The residents seemed to fall into two groups: loud and boisterous vs. quiet and unassuming. All were in their own world, none seemed interested in chatting with applicants (particularly those we ran into while touring the floors), and a few seemed very unhappy. My tour guide, a PGY2 or 3, was a cool guy who I can see myself hanging out with outside of work. Lunch was awkward, as all the residents were loudly joking amongst themselves as applicants sat quietly on the sidelines. I managed to find a quiet PGY4 and used the entire lunch-hour to ask her a TON of questions/concerns I had about Longwood. Like my tour guide, she was friendly, too.

4. Program Overview: As the Chair of BIDMC said in his talk to our group, “Longwood’s special sauce is…” (he never finished that thought, although he tried mightily). Longwood is a multi-site program that, on paper, sounds like a fabulous blend of MGH/McLean and Cambridge. In actuality, it feels scattered and all-over-the-place. Residents rotate through several star-studded hospitals, including THE Brigham, BIDMC (House of God, anyone?), Boston Children’s, Mass Mental, and Faulkner Hospital. Medicine is done at either Faulkner Hospital or BWH; these rotations CANNOT be substituted with pediatrics because Boston Children’s doesn’t want psychiatry residents on their inpatient pediatrics wards (similarly, BIDMC doesn’t want psychiatry residents on their inpatient medicine wards. #redflag). Neurology is completed at BWH. There were some changes in the curriculum for the year upcoming, including ALL C/L rotations in PGY2 (as opposed to C/L in PGY2 AND 3) and other changes that’ll help “with work-life balance,” a well-known issue with Longwood. The rest of PGY2 is spent doing inpatient work at BIDMC (including night float), BWH, Mass Mental (partial hospital), and Boston Children’s. PGY3 includes half-time outpatient work at either Mass Mental, BWH, or BIDMC, coupled with a 6-month neuropsychiatry rotation followed by a 6-month selective offering (in HIV psychiatry, women’s mental health, addictions, etc). As for the sites, the two main hospitals are quite different: broadly speaking, BWH is more biological/research oriented, whereas BIDMC is more analytic. Mass Mental is a newly renovated community hospital with excellent training in CBT and DBT (the latter rotation is shared with Cambridge residents). There are fascinating C/L rotations to be had at both BIDMC and BWH, as well as inpatient units at all of the above (including Boston Children’s). Didactics are on Wednesday afternoons, and, from PGY2-4, they include 4 hours of “scholarly work time” that residents can use to conduct research of “publishable quality.”

5. Faculty: Impressively HUGE department. Researchers, analysts, therapists, hospitalists, sub-sub-specialized C/L psychiatrists. You name it, Longwood's got it.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Longwood Medical Area (includes HMS) is situated in Back Bay Boston, a ritzy and expensive pocket that’s well-connected to the rest of Boston (and neighboring areas) via the Green-Line. Boston’s a clean, wonderful city (albeit very, very cold and very, very expensive) with lots of young professionals/grad students, culinary gems, excellent pubs/bars, and an overall vibrant scene.

7. Salary & Benefits: Standard. Boston’s expensive, particularly Back Bay Boston. Residents live in several neighborhoods, including Boston proper (North End, Back Bay, Beacon Hill), Cambridge, Somerville, Jamaica Plains, and South End.

8. Program Strengths:
- Boston (vibrant and fun)
- Truly impressive C/L rotations
- Variety of clinical sites, all with different "feels" and strengths
- PD et al implementing changes to curriculum in an effort to improve work-life balance (residents commented that the changes would be “amazing”)
- Strong in neuropsychiatry
- Plentiful research opportunities
- Exposure to inpatient child psychiatry

9. Potential Weaknesses
- Boston (cold and expensive)
- I didn’t “click” with anyone that day
- HUGE classes (15 or so residents per year) that seem cliquish
- Awkward PD who can’t seem to step out of her role as a psychoanalyst
- Workload (while it may be clinically useful work, I was concerned as a few residents seemed tired and unhappy)
- Psychiatry residents looked down upon by Pediatricians at Children’s and Internists at BIDMC. …why aren’t psychiatry interns able to complete their off-service rotations at these hospitals?! HUGE red flag for me
- Program lacks identity. What is the “special sauce” of Longwood?

 

[Chocochipcookie]

Washington University St. Louis

1. Communication: email—I actually didn’t receive the initial invitation email but a week later I got a follow-up email, which was nice because maybe they thought I wasn't interested but I really didn’t get the first email and I really did want to interview here. They sent a brochure and map of the hospital in the mail.

2. Accommodation & Food: There was a discounted rate at the Parkway Hotel, which is great because it’s connected to Barnes-Jewish and just really convenient. The residents meet you at the hotel the night before for dinner. We went to a charming German restaurant in the Central West End and there were 5 residents and 4 applicants.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The day started at 8am with a PowerPoint presentation by the PD about the program and St. Louis. He went over the ideology of the program mainly teaching residents about the medical model and creating independent thinkers. We then had 4 interviews—one with the PD, APD, various faculty members and the chairman of the department. Everyone was really friendly and the interviews were very conversational. The PD basically just asked what questions I had about the program. We had lunch, which consisted of Panera (or St. Louis Bread Co. which is what Panera is called here) and there was great resident turn out with multiple residents from each year. This was followed by a tour of Barnes Jewish. Barnes-Jewish Hospital is so impressive—it’s just huge! The inpatient unit has an ECT suite and the outpatient offices are brand new and very very nice.

4. Program Overview: Call is covered by PGY1 on a night float system and overnight call during PGY2. There is no call for PGY3 and PGY4 years. PGY1 is standard with 6 months off service and 6 months on service, all at Barnes Jewish. PGY2 is composed of a lot of smaller rotation blocks including chemical dependency, an eating disorder rotation in an offsite specialized eating disorder clinic, geriatrics, CL, interventional psychiatry (TMS and ECT) and elective time. PGY3 is all outpatient with adult as well as child and adolescent clinics. PGY4 consists of supervision, research and elective time. Overall, I think the schedule has a lot of variety and offers training in a lot of different settings like Barnes Jewish to community hospitals to a private ED center. Didactics are strong with various teaching lectures spread throughout the week.

5. Faculty: PD was awesome and really friendly and APD is a forensic psychiatrist. Residents spoke well about the attendings and said they get a lot of autonomy in making decisions and there is a lot of teaching on rounds.

6. Location & Lifestyle: The hospital is in a really nice part of St. Louis—the Central West End is very quaint with charming little shops and great restaurants and bars. St. Louis is a big city geographically and incredibly affordable—the average rent is less than $1000 for a two bedroom.

7. Salary & Benefits: $49,931-$56,978 but only 3 weeks of vacation/year

8. Program Strengths: biological psychiatry, lots of research opportunities, great group of residents with AMGs, IMGs and DOs well-represented, amazing hospital facilities and ECT suite on the inpatient floor, exposure to interventional psychiatric and transmagnetic brain stimulation, the program coordinators were super nice and friendly, the PD was just really sweet and funny and I enjoyed my conversation with him

9. Potential Weaknesses: less psychotherapy exposure, I wasn’t crazy about St. Louis but it is a big city and there are a lot of non-medical jobs if you have a SO that will move with you, 3 weeks of vacation, spread-out didactics instead of just one day

 

[Chocochipcookie]

University of Maryland/ Sheppard Pratt

1. Communication: Invitation by phone, email about dinner including directions

2. Accommodation & Food: provided discounted rates at nearby hotels for $100+ but I stayed with a friend; pre-interview dinner was at Lebanese Taverna in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore and there was pretty good resident turnout, the dinner was very relaxed and informal and lots of fun

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): There was a light breakfast of bagels and pastries and there was a PGY-3 resident that stayed with us the whole day. She even emailed us all prior to the interview to see what our interests were and if had anything in particular that we wanted to discuss. The day starts at 7:45am with an overview with the PD where he goes over common questions asked by applicants in the past. This is his second year recruiting for the match so he’s pretty new at this but he did graduate from UMD and did his training at UMD as well. He emphasized that the department encourages residents to feel ownership over their program. This talk was followed by two interviews of 45 mins each with faculty. Both conversations were pleasant and very friendly. Both of my interviewers had been residents at UMD themselves so they could offer a unique perspective. After the interviews, we traveled to Sheppard Pratt in a van and the driver took us through a scenic route so we could see more of Baltimore. At Sheppard Pratt, we sat with an attending who gave us a history of SP and then we got a tour. Following the SP tour, we boarded the bus back to UMD and we had lunch with residents at 1pm, which was kind of late in the day. The resident turnout at lunch was weak but the food, chicken parm, was good. After lunch, we were divided up into two groups; one group went on a tour of UMD’s university hospital and the other group had 15-min exit interviews with the PD. UMD’s hospital is very aesthetically pleasing! The exit interview with the PD was a little rough, he did interrupt me a couple of times when I was talking but it may have been because of the limited time. He didn’t really seem to warm up to me and I felt he was a little cold.

4. Program Overview: The schedule seemed pretty standard. The 6 months off-service are at Mercy Medical Center where all meals are included and the university hospital, with one month of neuro at the brand new shock trauma unit. The on-service months are at SP and the state hospital with one month of Psych ER at the university hospital. In PGY-2, you can do 2 months of selective rotations at specialized units at SP (i.e. eating disorders). Call is at SP and since there is a large resident pool (15 residents per class), it means switching call is relatively easy because you can always find someone to cover. PGY-3 is all outpatient at SP with your own office or at various community sites around Baltimore. PGY-4 is mostly elective time and continuing psychotherapy with long-term patients. There are a lot of electives to choose from because UMD provided almost every fellowship in house, which to me is a huge plus.

5. Faculty: A lot of the faculty seemed to be UMD training program grads themselves, which speaks to the ownership sentiment that the PD had mentioned. One of the attendings I interviewed with was heavily involved in research, in particular, research ethics in schizophrenic patients. He really championed resident research, however he stated that a lot of residents don’t get involved in research and the program only requires a scholarly project that can be done in groups. My other interviewer was an associate training director who is currently involved in a 5-year psychoanalytic training program with the Baltimore Psychoanalytic Institute, which the program has a partnership with.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Baltimore seemed nice to me during my limited exposure to it. It is a city of neighborhoods and of course some are bad and some are better. The actual campus is located in a nicer part of town but one of the residents mentioned that everything in the area closes down at 5pm so it’s not a great place to live. Nicer parts of Baltimore include Fells Point, Hampden, Locust Point and Federal Hill. Anything west of the hospital and UMD area is not so great and unsafe. The inner harbor area is really nice with lots of shops and restaurants and a great aquarium.

7. Salary & Benefits: $49,688-$56,760, 15 days vacation in PGY1 and 20 days PGY2-4

Program Strengths: Sheppard Pratt, large class size makes switching call relatively easy, almost every fellowship in house, psychiatry seems to be well respected at UMD, didactics on a single day, tons of research opportunities, lots of selective time early on, good forensics exposure, meals covered on medicine months

Potential Weaknesses: a lot of sites to rotate through, call all four years, Baltimore has a high crime rate, new PD

 

[Chocochipcookie]

St. Luke’s Roosevelt

1. Communication: ERAS/email, after the initial invitation email the email confirming the actual interview date was very delayed (maybe more than a week) and there was no reminder about the interview beforehand even though there was a substantial gap between when I actually scheduled my interview and when my interview took place

2. Accommodation & Food: I don’t know about hotels since I’m local, there was no pre-interview dinner and lunch was at Community—a nice organic restaurant close by, breakfast of croissants and coffee

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The day started with a short talk with the PD where he went over a PowerPoint about the program and what the merger with Icahn means and a refreshingly frank conversation detailing the Match algorithm from his end. He showed us the grading rubric the interviewers use to give us a numerical score and then he and the interviewers get together while the applicants are out to lunch and discuss their experiences. He said he had less say in the process because he doesn’t formally interview anyone and he trusts the faculty that do the interviews and their impressions. Then we had two interviews—I had one interview with a faculty member and then one with a chief resident. Both were pretty laid back interviews but the first interviewer was honest about not having read my file and the chief resident interview was a lot of fun because we talked about my interests outside of medicine. Then two residents gave us a tour of St. Luke’s hospital but we didn’t get a chance to see Roosevelt hospital, which is located in midtown. The hospital is ok, a little bit dated but nothing terrible. Then we had lunch at Community with 4 residents and each PGY class was represented. After lunch we each had a short exit interview with the PD—more like a brief conversation rather than a formal interview.

4. Program Overview: The PD told us about the merger with Icahn and stressed that nothing will really change with the program itself but it will increase elective opportunities and research opportunities. The prior affiliation with Columbia was a mere affiliation but being under the Icahn umbrella is a more substantial association. I don’t remember the call schedule so I can’t comment on that. A couple of unique things I found was the opportunity to have outpatients starting in PGY2 so there’s a great chance of continuity in care, a personality disorders clinic, a lot of focus on substance abuse, a research track and an education track.

5. Faculty: The PD is great and one of the residents at lunch stated that she chose the program because she was so impressed with the PD. The residents were less effusive about the APD.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Great location in Manhattan with St. Luke’s in the upper west side/Morningside heights and Roosevelt in midtown. There’s a shuttle that runs between the two but I assume the subway is just a s convenient since both hospitals are on the west side. Housing is guaranteed and one of the residents showed me pictures of her apartment and said you can really decorate it/paint it anyway you like. The housing is located near Roosevelt, in midtown Manhattan.

7. Salary & Benefits: The salary is high compared to other programs—I think it was $60+. The residents are unionized and have great benefits.

8. Program Strengths: PD—Dr. Singh, subsidized housing, the Personality Disorder clinic, happy residents, great location in Manhattan, a lot of exposure to substance abuse, the Icahn merger brings more elective/research opportunities

9. Potential Weaknesses: little exposure to forensics, it’s New York City so it is expensive and crowded, smaller program on the whole

 

[Chocochipcookie]

Tulane

1. Communication: ERAS/email

2. Accommodation & Food: The program offered a discount at Le Pavillon hotel but the discount could not be extended for extra nights and since I stayed in New Orleans longer I ended up picking a different hotel in the area. There was a pre-interview dinner at Emeril’s restaurant and there was so much food and alcohol and it was a lot of fun. Breakfast the day of the interview was sparse but there was a huge spread for lunch.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The day started with everyone meeting at Le Pavillon hotel where a PGY2 resident picked us up and drove us to East Jefferson Hospital, which was about 30 minutes out of New Orleans. There we were greeted by the PD and received a tour of the hospital by him. The hospital is nice and updated. We sat in on a patient interview done by one of the residents. After that we headed to Tulane University Hospital in the heart of New Orleans, where we had 4 interviews with the PD, an inpatient attending, the chief resident and the APD. The interviews were incredibly relaxed and laid-back and the attending gave me great tips on what to do and see in New Orleans. We also sat in on a grand rounds presentation with all the residents followed by lunch with all of the residents.

4. Program Overview: There are a lot of sites to commute between! Call was completely odd—it’s home call but for the first year, the PGY2 resident is called and they relay the message to the intern basically. Even though there are so many sites to rotate between, you can basically phone in orders at Jefferson instead of going all the way there. Even though the residents spoke highly of how relaxed their call schedule is, I feel that it’s detrimental in a training program to not experience the stress and responsibilities inherent with taking call. The VA experience is in Mississippi for now while the VA in New Orleans is being constructed and the commute is about an hour and a half each way so there are facilities to stay overnight on the VA campus. Overall, there are just a lot of sites that you have to rotate through. A lot of the residents are Tulane med school grads so I think that speaks to a strong psych curriculum and maybe a good experience that leads to a lot of students interested in psych to stay on at the training program.

5. Faculty: The attending I met was really sweet and the PD was very laid-back and welcoming. The APD was young and a former grad of the program.

6. Location & Lifestyle: So it’s New Orleans—I’d never been there before but there was just so much to do and places to eat and drink. Overall, it seems like a city in a perpetual 24/7 party. Also, I was there in December and I remember the weather being in the 80’s and incredibly humid. My SO was with me for the interview and while he enjoyed visiting NO for the first time, he was not enthused about living there for four years. The residents seem to have a lot of time outside of work.

7. Salary & Benefits: 40s, don’t remember the exact details

8. Program Strengths: resident cohesiveness, easy call schedule and good work-life balance, forensics fellowship

9. Potential Weaknesses: too many sites, VA in Mississippi, a lot of construction going on to create new facilities but they won’t be ready until 2016 I believe, call is too lax, New Orleans may not be the ideal place for some to live for 4 years

 

[croc818]

Washington St. Louis

1. Communication: Email mostly. Also sent a brochure and thank you note in the mail. No problems

2. Accommodation & Food: Took the train from the airport to Barnes' campus (easy and cheap). They suggested a list of hotels to stay in, so I picked one really close to campus and then walked on interview day. Also walked to where the residents met us, and then they took us to dinner at a swanky pasta place. AMAZING food, and drinks were provided.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences)
Overview of the program, then 4 interviews. Staff took everyone to their interviews, so stress free. They try to match you with at least one person of your interest, some people complained they didn't get matched into their correct interest (but I did). Faculty were really nice, engaging, no "unusual" questions. Definitely stressed all the research opportunities. Seems like every faculty has an intense research interest.

4. Program Overview
VERY biologic, not much variation in the first year (4 mo med, 2 mo neuro, 6 mo inpt psychiatry) and second year seemed to have a lot of addiction rotations. They stress that people don't need to be research oriented to go here. Reputation of a very tough intern year- Wash U has a great med school rep in the Midwest and they take that seriously.

5. Faculty
LOVED the PD. Quirky, fun, and engaging. Everyone was really nice otherwise.

6. Location & Lifestyle
I do think St. Louis gets a bad reputation, but it seems to have changed a lot over the past few years. You can tell they are a foodie city, residents have a good lifestyle bc property is so cheap. Seems to be a fair amount to do and a lot of festivals.

7. Salary & Benefits
Standard as far as I remember

8. Program Strengths
Biologic, easy to do research, ECT/TMS exposure

9. Potential Weaknesses
Some people may feel location is a weakness (I just realized I didn't want to live in the midwest), don't go here if you don't appreciate the program strengths

 

[croc818]

Cincinnati

1. Communication
Email, no issues.

2. Accommodation & Food
Had to take a cab from the airport to the hotel. They provided a list of hotels, wasn't terribly close to med campus. Probably would have rented a car if I did this trip again. Food was at a bbq place (I'm vegetarian so I wasn't that impressed), there was only one psych resident there and not many applicants so it was just strange and forced. Breakfast was not provided the day of interview. Lunch was really good- salads and sandwiches ordered in.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences) No unusual questions, around 4 interviews, they assisted navigation between interviews and drove us to the hospitals to get tours.

4. Program Overview
I honestly don't remember all the details of the curriculum, but they made it very clear that they are flexible and work around your interests. Cincy has a very strong psych program but they probably don't attract as much caliber bc of location, so they try to make up for it in other areas. I think if you are smart and go here, you would get lots of attention and people going out of their way to help you succeed academically.

5. Faculty
Loved the faculty, they are definitely the selling point of this program. Friendly and helpful, I'm sure they would be a pleasure to work with/for.

6. Location & Lifestyle
Just location as far as I could tell

7. Salary & Benefits
Standard

8. Program Strengths
Great child program (2nd ranked peds hospital in country), faculty, and facilities. Flexible schedule, and one of the best programs in the Midwest. Faculty are overwhelmingly nice, friendly, and smart. Also, they have the faculty and the money to support resident research, so there are lots of opportunities here if you want to pursue research (but you aren't expected or forced to like some other places.)

9. Potential Weaknesses
Location. While Cincy has improved, it's just not that great IMO. I don't want to live somewhere that is all chain restaurants.

 

[croc818]

Oregon

1. Communication
Email, no problems

2. Accommodation & Food
List of hotels was supplied. I stayed downtown, and took public transportation from the airport to/from the hotel, and then took a bus on interview day to go to the hospital. Probably the best public transpo I've used in a long time. Dinner was the night of the interview, at an italian restaurant owned by a resident spouse. Dinner was fine, drinks were not paid for (which I always think is weird), and there were not enough vegetarian options to feed the whole table. Snacks and coffee were provided the morning of, and a sort of taco bar for lunch that was pretty good. The food I ate while I was exploring Portland was bomb though.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences)
I had quite a few interviews as I was interested in their child program. The child faculty in particular were incredible, (seems they have all trained at big name programs like MGH and UW), whip smart, and very friendly. I thought the PD and one of the assistant PD's I met with were nice and asked standard questions (Why Portland?, what are you looking for in a program, what are your strengths/weaknesses). One weird interviewer asked me a bunch of random questions and in particular wanted to talk about the future of psychiatry (which I know nothing about) but I liked all the faculty otherwise. Only complaint about the arrangement of the day was that you have to navigate between sites by yourself, which is annoying IMO. Residents were nice overall, although I didn't really connect with any of them. They seem happy, albeit a little overworked.

4. Program Overview
I was very struck by how much they stress that it is a community program. The PD said "we train people to stay and practice in Oregon." All the sites seem to be close together which is a plus, and there is a tram that goes from the hospital to the bottom of the hill into developments, so the "commute" could be really easy. Also have some random refugee populations which adds to the diversity.

5. Faculty
Faculty were very nice during my interviews. Child faculty seemed amazing.

6. Location & Lifestyle
I loved Portland. Awesome food, coffee, public transpo, book stores, close to skiing, dog friendly. I think you can tell whether you are a Portland type or not just by wandering around the city for a day.

7. Salary & Benefits
Standard as far as I can tell. The program seems to have more call than a lot of its counterparts.

8. Program Strengths
Community-based, refugee/trauma

9. Potential Weaknesses
Probably not the best choice to go here if you want to enter academics, but seemed like a good program overall.

 

[StECT]

Oregon

I had quite a few interviews as I was interested in their child program.

I hope you noticed that they have no inpatient child unit. The child and adolescent experience there is purely outpatient which is obviously quite limiting.

 

[croc818]

I hope you noticed that they have no inpatient child unit. The child and adolescent experience there is purely outpatient which is obviously quite limiting.

Yes. I didn't feel like getting into the child thing on this thread but there is that and also clinical duties are spread between an extremely small class size.

 

[StECT]

Yes. I didn't feel like getting into the child thing on this thread but there is that and also clinical duties are spread between an extremely small class size.

Isn't the class size 8? I wouldn't call that extremely small. But if you are saying small class size relative to the number of sites they cover, then I'd agree.

 

[croc818]

Isn't the class size 8? I wouldn't call that extremely small. But if you are saying small class size relative to the number of sites they cover, then I'd agree.

Nope, it's 3 (per year). :/

 

[StECT]

Nope, it's 3 (per year). :/

Oh, for child. Sorry, my bad!

 

[croc818]

Dartmouth

1. Communication: ERAS/email, sent a follow-up letter in the mail

2. Accommodation & Food: Provided with a list of places to stay. I stayed at a hotel with a shuttle to the medical camps (< 2 miles away) but the shuttle only ran starting at 8. Cabbies are unreliable here- I waited 45 min for one that I had pre-arranged to get to the airport. Dinner the night before was americana and decent. The best part was the company- I really enjoyed meeting the residents and their significant others. You can tell that they know each other well, and they were a good mix of bantering with each other and making us feel welcome. Snacks and coffee provided in the morning, lunch was salads and pizzas in the conference room. Getting to Dartmouth could be difficult during bad weather- the airport is tiny. Maybe less risky to take the bus from VT or MA in?

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Had three non-stressful interviews, only question they consistently asked was "why dartmouth?" Seemed like they really try to get to know their applicants. PD was really nice, very good at answering any questions you may have about the program. Only weird part of the day was that they showed us a long video of grand rounds, it seemed like the applicants were all super bored. Tour of the hospital was really nice, and the coffee was AMAZING for a cafeteria (I am usually a coffee snob), and the residents raved about the quality of the hospital food (lots of organic choices and really good seafood, plus it's cheap).

4. Program Overview: Intern year is pretty standard, 4 mo medicine (1 ER, 1 outpt, 2 inpt), 6 mo inpatient psych, and 2 mo neurology. PGY2 seems like a good balance including elective time and exposure to child and adolescent. They have the teaching hospital, a state hospital, and a VA so all the bread and butter. Call seemed normal, residents say program is def front loaded but manageable and well-supported (ie faculty always available for supervision).

5. Faculty: The PD was nice. The attending I interviewed with was a graduate of my home institution, and they also matched another one of my interviews with my career interests.

6. Location & Lifestyle: I think Dartmouth is great because you get to live in the mountains of NH, but it is still an academic institution. The upstate NH is apparently really safe and no one locks their doors. Mixed bag about whether there are good restaurants (faculty say yes, residents say no) but no one can deny that the dairy farms and local produce are amazing. Less cultural experiences available than most other places, but you have awesome hiking, skiing, good place to raise a family.

7. Salary & Benefits: Hanover itself is expensive to live in (bc of alums), but apparently there are lots of close places nearby with cheap property value. Healthcare is apparently ridiculously cheap, one of the residents told me she paid $5 for all of her pregnancy and birth related medical visits.

8. Program Strengths:
- Major draw is if you want an academic & rural institution.
- Large faculty, seem to be very involved in education, and very nice!
- Really friendly residents, faculty are numerous and accessible
- Some flexibility for specific interests, but still has all the bread and butter psych you need

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Fairly small class so you may lose selective time if other people in your class have babies/take time off.
- You have to want to live in Hanover (dream for me, nightmare for others), no night life
- Seems like you can get involved in research, but not to the extent at other top institutions
- Very limited patient racial diversity

 

[cosmopolitanboy]

Harvard Cambridge

1. Communication: Email. Extremely responsive at all hours (the PC, Bob, is a remarkable man!). Absolutely no issues with scheduling.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations. I stayed at a relatively affordable B&B on Cambridge Street ($99/night) between Harvard’s campus and The Cambridge Hospital (TCH). Delightful pre-interview dinner at a resident’s apartment that was well-attended by residents and their partners. Food was plentiful on interview day: light continental breakfast, boxed lunches, and an afternoon snack of cookies and coffee were served.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The day began with an overview of the program by the PD, Marshall Forstein, at The Macht Building. We were driven to the outpatient clinic (Center Street), where we had two 50-minute interviews. We returned to TCH for lunch with residents, followed up with a tour of TCH and the Macht Building by a PGY4. After the tour, we finished the day with two additional 50-minute interviews and a wrap-up with the PD. All interviews were laid-back and conversational; two of the four were analytic (but not oppressively so). Dr. Forstein asked some personal questions (e.g. “have you ever been in love?”), but he’s so warm and so caring that it didn’t feel at all intrusive.

4. Program Overview: CHA is a special place with a rich history of rebelling against the status-quo. Since its inception, CHA has led a ground-breaking trend of integrating psychiatry with primary care. The hospital system, made up of TCH, Somerville Hospital, Whidden Hospital, and Center Street Outpatient Clinic, serves the communities of Cambridge, Somerville, and Everett, MA. It’s plugged into the Harvard and Tufts network, too, and the program is now officially affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which will allow for a more seamless transfer of patients from primary care to tertiary care centers as well as opening up doors for additional elective opportunities for residents. Overall, the program is extremely flexible and nurturing. Call consists of overnight shifts in a free-standing psychiatric ER and begins in the PGY2 year (though a buddy-call system is in place during the second half of PGY1) and q11-12d through the end of PGY3. Residents mentioned that call is busy but an overall “wonderful educational experience.” There’s a back-up pool in place should on-call residents feel at all overwhelmed (of note, residents who are called in as back-up are paid handsomely… something like $125/hour). The program is remarkably solid and offers incredibly rich training in psychotherapy (likely the best in the country), particularly psychodynamic psychotherapy. Due to its location, the patient population in theory would be remarkably diverse (including, for example, Harvard and MIT students/professors and businessmen), however, residents mentioned that the majority of patients were lower-functioning, homeless, and/or complete with multiple psychosocial issues. CHA overwhelmingly emphasizes social and community psychiatry; there are literally dozens of outpatient C/L rotations to explore, from LGBT to HIV (@ the Zinberg Clinic) to Asian, Latino, and African clinics. There’s overlap with the Longwood program, too, as CHA residents rotate with the DBT team at Mass Mental during PGY2 and also have the option of pursuing a psycho-oncology elective at Dana Farber Cancer Institute as a PGY3. Residents often rotate through Harvard, MIT, and Tufts College Counseling Centers.

5. Faculty: PD, Marshall Forstein, is truly one of a kind. He’s been at the helm of CHA for over 20 years. Other faculty members I met were warm, analytic (mostly), and not at all narcissistic or hierarchical (attendings encourage residents and applicants to call them by first-name, for example).

6. Location & Lifestyle: Cambridge is a cute, smart, bustling college town that’s accessible to Boston via buses and the T lines. There are tons of college and graduate students and tons of bars/restaurants/shops that cater to them. It feels like Brooklyn Heights and Center City Philadelphia. While not as expensive as Boston, real estate is pricy in the area. Most residents live in Somerville, a more affordable neighborhood to the north of Cambridge (albeit more suburban).

7. Salary & Benefits: Incredible! Standard base salary, however there are several opportunities for in-house moonlighting that can go so far as to double one’s salary. Residents are part of a union and enjoy the added benefit of stability in an ever-changing world. 4 weeks vacation and, in addition, 15 sick days per year that can roll-over from one year to the next and be used to attend conferences. Additional benefits include: extremely subsidized psychotherapy; unlimited taxi vouchers for post-call commutes; gym/restaurant discounts; $700 to cover USMLE Step III; a $1,900/year “educational fund” that can be used to purchase books, laptops, cell phones, and airline/AMTRAK tickets to academic conferences; and a junior faculty appointment at Harvard, which, like Yale, allows for residents to take advantage of Harvard amenities/facilities/classes.

8. Program Strengths:
- Boston/Cambridge (vibrant and fun)
- Exquisite psychotherapy training (particularly dynamic therapy)
- Warm, nurturing, supportive, non-hierarchical work environment (epitomizes “warm and fuzzy”)
- Happy, well-rested, and diverse resident classes
- PD Marshall Forstein and aPD Matt Ruble make an excellent team
- Elective opportunities available as early as PGY1 (6 weeks during that year alone)
- Excellent outpatient C/L exposure
- Inspiring commitment to community health
- Incredible benefits, including a resident union, in-house moonlighting, sick days, and ample funds allotted for conferences and USMLE
- College mental health opportunities at MIT, Harvard, and Tufts

9. Potential Weaknesses
- Boston/Cambridge (cold and expensive)
- Per residents, patient load on the lower side (some carry only 1-2 patients on inpatient rotations) and patient population may be somewhat skewed towards homeless and lower functioning individuals
- No VA and, up until recently, only very little tertiary exposure (despite a recent affiliation with BIDMC, uncertainty remains about how difficult it will be to get tertiary C/L experience)
- Research not immediately available on-site, though one could apply for a fellowship through the Harvard system if so desired
- Overnight call, although only q11-12d, can be disruptive to quality of life, particularly when mixed with daytime rotations

 

[croc818]

Colorado

1. Communication: ERAS/email

2. Accommodation & Food: Provided with a list of places to stay. Definitely rent a car, because the airport is far away from the medical campus. Hotel they recommended was 15 min away from medical campus and 30 min away from where we ate dinner. Dinner was american with a limited menu, small portions but very good. Have to buy your own drinks if you want them. Downtown Denver is gorgeous, and vibrant. Snacks and coffee provided in the morning that were very good, lunch was on campus at a panera-esque place and was very good.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): I have to say, this was my least favorite interview set of the entire season. I loved the chair (he was very friendly, accessible, smart, and informative), but I found my interviewees to be the opposite. They didn't ask me any questions about myself, just wanted to know why I was interested in the program and what questions I had. I think I just had a weird day because everyone who interviewed me was super awkward (including a resident) and my career interests were not matched at all. I felt like every one of my interviewers had not read my application. I also thought it was bizarre that we did not meet the PD the whole day- made me feel like there was a disconnect. Driving tour of Denver which was nice at the end of the day, as well as getting to see the facilities. New VA scheduled to open in 2016(?) They had people to take you to each of your interviews which was stress reducing.

4. Program Overview: Seems to have a good range of clinical sites, and because of the research reputation I think you would be well prepared for academics or community practice. PGY1 is 4 mo medicine (can switch 2 for peds), 2 months neuro, 5 mo inpt psych, and 1 mo night float.

5. Faculty: Loved the chair.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Denver is great if you want skiing < 2 h away, good hearty mountain food, beer, etc.

7. Salary & Benefits: Standard, but cost of living is cheaper than most of the west coast programs.

8. Program Strengths:
- their Center for Dependency, Addiction, and Rehabilitation literally looks like a ski lodge (is on the main campus) and seem to have great substance abuse training
- they have research training track and some weird public health track that seemed pretty cool

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- the legalization of marijuana apparently has drawn a lot of people to denver and it sounded like their ER censuses have bumped up recently because of it
- I heard from other med students that colorado sometimes is off putting because of organization within the residency department... and I definitely was left with that taste despite Denver being awesome and it is a good program!

 

[splik]

Harvard Cambridge

8. Program Strengths:
- Boston/Cambridge (vibrant and fun)
- Exquisite psychotherapy training (particularly dynamic therapy)
- Warm, nurturing, supportive, non-hierarchical work environment (epitomizes “warm and fuzzy”)
- Happy, well-rested, and diverse resident classes
- PD Marshall Forstein and aPD Matt Ruble make an excellent team
- Elective opportunities available as early as PGY1 (6 weeks during that year alone)
- Excellent outpatient C/L exposure
- Inspiring commitment to community health
- Incredible benefits, including a resident union, in-house moonlighting, sick days, and ample funds allotted for conferences and USMLE
- College mental health opportunities at MIT, Harvard, and Tufts

9. Potential Weaknesses
- Boston/Cambridge (cold and expensive)
- Per residents, patient load on the lower side (some carry only 1-2 patients on inpatient rotations) and patient population may be somewhat skewed towards homeless and lower functioning individuals
- No VA and, up until recently, only very little tertiary exposure (despite a recent affiliation with BIDMC, uncertainty remains about how difficult it will be to get tertiary C/L experience)
- Research not immediately available on-site, though one could apply for a fellowship through the Harvard system if so desired
- Overnight call, although only q11-12d, can be disruptive to quality of life, particularly when mixed with daytime rotations

great review. i would say the psychotherapy training is extremely strong in psychodynamic psychotherapy but not in other modalities as a result of the strong emphasis on psychoanalytic approaches. the outpatient C/L exposure is limited to psych-oncology and HIV psychiatry and C/L is probably the weakest aspect of the program inpatient or outpatient. they have amazing benefits. there ARE research opportunities avaiable on site in child psychiatry, addictions, and cultural psychiatry to name a few. the other ? that hangs over is why they only filled 5/8 spots back in 2012, seemingly deliberately, as they kept them unfilled and then had 3 PGY-2 spots that they filled last year.

 

[splik]

So, on that note -- if you want to continue to use SDN after you're a resident, don't let people know where you are.

actually I applied to OHSU (I didn't even know where oregon was!) because of you! also it is impossible for people to not know where you are, or even WHO you are (I have gotten PMs where people who I haven't given my name to address me by name!) I know who all the regular posters on SDN are whether they have given their names or not. This is NOT an anonymous forum if you post regularly, and it doesn't matter a jot. I would encourage people to keep posting after you match.

Whilst it is unfortunate that Doc Bagel has made it sound like Portland is where depressed cats go to die, it is actually a solid program, and most of the grievances she has raised could apply to a resident at ANY program. Fact: despite what you might be convinced of during your interviews and dinners residency sucks everywhere. Now, I love psychiatry and I love my program but like everyone else, I would like to get paid more than the offensive sum you get paid during residency, not taken for granted, and not have to take call. You will ALL have days when you have to vent, are angry, upset, hurt, or just plain tired, especially early in residency - it doesn't matter where you end up. She has been honest enough to vent her frustrations and if anyone takes this as a reason to reject OHSH they may be missing out. Don't get me wrong, I am sure my own program is vastly superior and I am still bitter OHSU rejected me without a second thought but it's probably a really great program for some people and I think Doc Bagel's posts should not be read as an indictment of the program, but residency in general.

 

[splik]

I hope you noticed that they have no inpatient child unit. The child and adolescent experience there is purely outpatient which is obviously quite limiting.

is it? child inpatient units are often warehouses for children who have no place else to go. it is rare to find a unit where any meaningful therapeutic work happens. most child psychiatrists do not do inpatient child psychiatry, and in fact most do not want to. during general residency, there is probably more value from a developmental perspective to doing an oupatient child rotation where you follow patients and their families over the course of a year or more than a discrete inpatient rotation. for C&A fellowship, this is going to depend, but many residents deliberately choose a program that is heavily outpatient focused because they know that is what they want to do, and some inpatient units exploit child residents for cheap labor.

i would rather gouge my eyes out than do child psychiatry, so child folks please feel free to correct me if i said anything egregious

 

[moonshined]

.

 

[moonshined]

.

 

[st2205]

actually I applied to OHSU (I didn't even know where oregon was!) because of you! also it is impossible for people to not know where you are, or even WHO you are (I have gotten PMs where people who I haven't given my name to address me by name!) I know who all the regular posters on SDN are whether they have given their names or not. This is NOT an anonymous forum if you post regularly, and it doesn't matter a jot. I would encourage people to keep posting after you match.

Good points. Most people don't come out completely openly the way people like Fonz do, but every regular poster, sans an incredibly small few, has identified themselves in one way or another whether or not they realized it. I think the idea of fear continues to perpetuate this imbalance of power and a lot of people get very cautious.

 

[jno]

great review. i would say the psychotherapy training is extremely strong in psychodynamic psychotherapy but not in other modalities as a result of the strong emphasis on psychoanalytic approaches. the outpatient C/L exposure is limited to psych-oncology and HIV psychiatry and C/L is probably the weakest aspect of the program inpatient or outpatient. they have amazing benefits. there ARE research opportunities avaiable on site in child psychiatry, addictions, and cultural psychiatry to name a few. the other ? that hangs over is why they only filled 5/8 spots back in 2012, seemingly deliberately, as they kept them unfilled and then had 3 PGY-2 spots that they filled last year.

Are you sure about this with Cambridge?

 

[jno]

Harvard Cambridge

5. Faculty: PD, Marshall Forstein, is truly one of a kind. He’s been at the helm of CHA for over 20 years.

He's truly one of the biggest strengths of the program. And so is the associate director.

 

[Nasrudin]

Good points. Most people don't come out completely openly the way people like Fonz do, but every regular poster, sans an incredibly small few, has identified themselves in one way or another whether or not they realized it. I think the idea of fear continues to perpetuate this imbalance of power and a lot of people get very cautious.

I agree most heartily. Anyone who comes to this thread with information and defense of their program should be welcomed because they fulfill what the best intentions this tradition could strive for--information and power to the people.

Medicine has been a secretive guild system where you had to know the right people for too long. Talk to any african-american physician from decades past if that sort of closed circle was preferable. The internet isn't just for porn. Well ok...it's mostly for that....I'm trippin. But this type of information sharing represents its promise.

 

[jno]

most child psychiatrists do not do inpatient child psychiatry, and in fact most do not want to.

Although I'm not a child psychiatrist in the making, I have incredible respect for the child inpatient department at my home institution, and I know the attendings on the unit are here by choice and would not trade their job for any other job in the world. Most of them don't even see private patients on the side.

I guess this is mostly a matter of opinion, but wouldn't it be better to have a child inpatient rotation during residency to at least know what that's like rather than not have it at all? Sort of how I'm now happy that I rotated through the surgical and medical rotations in medical school even though I entered medical school only to become a psychiatrist. It just feels like a more complete education (and I also know for sure now that I wouldn't like the surgical specialties as much). If I didn't do those rotations now, when would I ever? If I don't do inpatient child during residency, when would I ever? Maybe I might even end up liking it. I'd never know if I didn't even do it right?

 

[StECT]

Good points. Most people don't come out completely openly the way people like Fonz do, but every regular poster, sans an incredibly small few, has identified themselves in one way or another whether or not they realized it. I think the idea of fear continues to perpetuate this imbalance of power and a lot of people get very cautious.

Fonz?

 

[MedJosh]

University of Colorado
1. Communication: No problems, very nice and easy to deal with

2. Accommodation & Food: Nice dinner the Thursday night of interviews (meaning if your on Friday you have dinner before your interview) no accommodation, need to rent a car as noted before, but they drive you around the day of.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): I interviewed on a thursday so I got to meet the infamous PD. She interviews only on Thursdays and the APD only on Fridays. My other interviewers were thrown together at the last minute it seemed and one told me that he only had 15min and didn't read my app. Everyone was nice though and my fellow interviewees were pretty awesome! No strange questions. Oh and the PD- She is a nice woman, who seems short and to the point. Kind of cold for a psychiatrist. From what I gather she has some business type background (like was the CEO of health care or insurance company) and you could tell. She was all business and once she was done with your interview she was done with you! (no eye contact, smile or acknowledgement if/when you bumped into her again)

4. Program Overview: All online but it covers all the bases and they offer everything you could want research or fellowship wise. Of note, the PD mentioned that there was no inpatient unit at the U of Colorado Hospital and that she was glad because it was less call for the residents and less work for her (seemed odd that a University campus as impressive as Anschutz would not have an inpatient unit). You do get plenty of inpatient experience at Denver Health and the VA though. I have a classmate who did a sub I at U of Colorado in psych and from what I gather as long as you love the mountains or have family ties to the area you will be fine. There is no love (camaraderie, family feel) in the program, so if your looking to feel supported you might want to grow-up, stop complaining and get to work.

5. Faculty: Nice, Accomplished - The guy that wrote the DSM V interview book is there, as well as the Editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry

6. Location & Lifestyle: Denver is amazing, awesome, cool, hip - but I hear the new pot freedom enjoyed there has changed the population demographics a bit as well as the frequency of cannabis induced ED visits (I asked). Lots of Cannabis induced psychosis, withdrawal and exacerbation of other mental health issues.

7. Salary & Benefits: Avg, not very flexible with schedule I hear.

8. Program Strengths: Perfect on paper, lots of great faculty, lots of opportunity, DENVER!!!!!

9. Potential Weaknesses: Not a program with a lot of camaraderie. Spread out 20-30min from each of your different hospitals where you spend lots of time separated from the main hub of the psychiatry department. Not the best mental health support in Colorado.

 

[shan564]

Hey, good summary - just have to clarify a few points to prevent misconceptions from forming:

Washington St. Louis

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences)
Overview of the program, then 4 interviews. Staff took everyone to their interviews, so stress free. They try to match you with at least one person of your interest, some people complained they didn't get matched into their correct interest (but I did). Faculty were really nice, engaging, no "unusual" questions. Definitely stressed all the research opportunities. Seems like every faculty has an intense research interest.

There is definitely an abundance of research faculty, but the bulk of the attendings with whom you will work directly are mostly clinical. My last few attendings on psych rotations, in reverse order, have been a full professor who hasn't done any research in decades, another full professor who hasn't done any research at all (I think), a new younger faculty member who has never done any research, a forensics expert who doesn't do any research, and a C/L+inpatient+eating disorders specialist who does a bit of research on the side. The PGY2 rotation coordinators and the PGY3 outpatient coordinator are also mostly not involved in major active research projects at the moment. There are also lots of faculty members who spend most of their time doing research, but you definitely won't be stuck with an attending who spends most of his/her time in the lab and doesn't know the clinical stuff very well.

4. Program Overview
VERY biologic, not much variation in the first year (4 mo med, 2 mo neuro, 6 mo inpt psychiatry) and second year seemed to have a lot of addiction rotations.

There is a total of 2 addictions rotations, 1 month each. The PGY2 here is probably more diverse than almost any other place you'll find.