2016-2017 Psychiatry Interview Reviews

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MGH/McLean
I left my folder at a hotel, so apologize this is all off the top of my head/website.
1. Ease of Communication: ERAS. Fill out surveymonkey after initial invite, with interests and preferred dates.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations. Dinner will be either after your interview day or night before. Best meal I had on the trail. Breakfast at McLean, egg muffins etc. lunch sandwiches.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): This was first year they consolidated interview into one day - met around 0815 @ MGH for shuttle to McLean. Beautiful view of the Charles on the way. After breakfast and presentation by PD and aPD (McLean), 3 interviews 30-45 mins each. Loved all my interviewers that day - everyone had gone through my application thoroughly. Lunch with sandwiches, brief tour of McLean then shuttle back to MGH for tour followed by additional 2 interviews. Wrap up from Dr. Smith (PD) around 430, optional tour of child facilities if so desired. Dinner was around 630.

4. Program Overview:
PGY1: 1 mo elective, 6 mo medicine at either Newton-Wellesley or MGH (you pref one before ranking). 1 mo neuro consult @ MGH, 1 mo neurology elective (one option is at McLean I believe), 1 mo clinical evaluation center (interviewed w/ attending who directs this service, said it's a nice intro into psych interviews/eval, gives you plenty of time to spend with pts), 3 mo inpatient psych at MGH on Blake 11.
PGY2: 3 mo MGH acute psych service (psych ED w/ 9? beds), 3 mo McLean on bipolar/sz unit, other 6 mos split b/t McLean and MGH. Outpt begins PGY2.
PGY3: 4 mo CL @ MGH, 2 mo @ jail, 2 mo McLean partial hosp. addictions, 4 mos electives.

Start your own private practice PGY4 - thought that was unique.

Call: PGY 1: 6 wks NF. PGY2: 6 wks NF + q10-11 24 hr call when not on NF?. PGY3-4: 16 weekend calls per year.
Moonlighting oppys begins PGY3. They now pay you for backup call ($100-$150 per pt?) - evidence of responsiveness to residents' requests.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
The name speaks for itself - I think opportunities for virtually any area of psychiatry can be found here. Neuropsych/neurosciences particularly strong, program in psychodynamics (PiP), research were highlights I remember.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Need a car to commute to McLean. Otherwise MGH is accessible on red line via T. Residents were extremely happy and down to earth. They do work hard, but I didn't get the sense that they were really tired. 16 per year. Boston is well, Boston. Historic, beautiful, expensive, New England charm, however you want to define it. Not for everyone, I personally loved it.

7. Salary & Benefits:

60k starting salary, standard benefits. Again moonlighting starting PGY3, plus get paid for backup call.

8. Program Strengths:
- Opportunities for wherever your interests may lie. Ability to go anywhere after you graduate fellowship wise.
- Location +/-
- MGH, McLean are pretty :)

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- COL in Boston is third only to NYC/SF (~2k for a 1 BR if you want to live in a decent area). Weather?
- Workload, though I doubt it's more than any other top program

Summary: I found the residents to be friendly, brilliant, and quite a cohesive group. A program for those who aspire to be leaders in psychiatry. Supportive faculty, though definitely not a warm and fuzzy/handholding program (unlike CHA). Despite contrary belief, research opportunities available but definitely a superb clinical training residency. That is to say, research isn't emphasized as some believe. Residents stated after APS @ MGH you will be prepared for anything 2/2 both volume and degree of pathology. (this is where backup call is done often)

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Stopped in to see if there were any reviews of UVA. Not so much huh. Good to see you're still using my master post linked review format I made from when I applied so many years ago (5 years now).

One Note: You have WVU listed under Virginia. It's in WEST Virginia. You don't even understand the faux pas you've committed, lol. But they're part of the OTHER Virginia. The WEST one.

Anyways, to the rest of you, stay strong, it'll all work out. Residency will be fine. It's scary, but you know, it works out. It'll fly by and then you'll be scared of leaving residency and entering the "real world", and that'll probably be fine too (or so I'm told).

Whoops!! LOL I will change that. Definitely not winning any favors with the Virginians.


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UCLA - Semel Institute

1.Ease of Communication: Program coordinator was accessible and provided an interview schedule (including my interviewers) the night before interview day.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations, breakfast was a mixture of pastries, fruit and other carbs. Lunch was a catered buffet style setup. Food and cocktails were provided at the happy hour.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): We started off in one of the rooms in Semel with an introduction and program overview from the chief residents. There were also speakers from the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiative since I attended one of the days geared towards applicants interested in health equity. Dr. Spar, the PD spoke with us briefly before everyone was directed to their first round of interviews. The interviews were pretty chill with nothing too out of the ordinary. There was the usual lunch with residents followed by tours of the West LA VA hospital, the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital and the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. The day was concluded with a happy hour attended by residents and the program directors. There was a pretty big resident turnout (15+) including at least 4 or 5 interns.

4. Program Overview:
PGY1 – 13 blocks: 1 month of inpatient IM at the VA, 2 months of ambulatory medicine at Sepulveda VA, 1 month of ER at VA, 1 month of inpatient Neuro, 1 month of Neurobehavior, 1 month of emergency psych at Harbor ER, 2 months of Geri Psych, and 2 months of Inpatient Psych at VA, 2 months of night float/vacation

*Note: The intern that matches into the Harbor track will spend their entire first year at UCLA-Harbor and rejoin the resident class automatically during PGY2

PGY2 – 15 blocks: 5 months of inpatient psych at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center (divided into 2 months of psychotic disorders, 2 months of mood disorders, and 1 month of dual diagnosis), 3 months of inpatient psychiatry at VA, 1 month of psych ICU at VA, 2 months of C&A at UCLA Ronald Reagan, 3 blocks of consults at UCLA Ronald Reagan, 1 block of night float

PGY3/PGY4 – I copied this from the website:

All clinical work in the PGY3 and PGY4 years occurs in the outpatient setting.

Must complete 3 of the following 4 core clinic requirements: 1. General Outpatient Clinic or Geriatric Evaluation Clinic. 2. Mood Disorders Clinic. 3. Psychosis Clinic. 4. Anxiety Disorders Clinic.

Must complete 1 of the following 2 specialty or consultation clinic requirements: 1. Specialty Populations Clinic, such as Women’s Life Clinic. 2. Consultation or Substance Abuse Clinic.

Must complete 1 community mental health clinic.

Psychotherapy: at least 2 patients for at least 42 sessions each.

*Note: There are many established electives (40+) to pick from during 3rd and 4th year and lots of support for residents to create their own

Call
PGY1 - Roughly q5 at VA or UCLA Medical center while on Neurobehavior, Neurology, Ambulatory, Geri Psych, VA PICU, and VA Dual Diagnosis. Call is usually 5-10PM on weekdays and 5PM to 8AM on weekends at UCLA and VA (except Sundays at VA which are 3-10PM home call) ; 2 - blocks of Night float (2 weeks)/vacation (2 weeks) working 6PM-8AM 5 days/week

PGY2 - Roughly q7-8; 5PM-8AM at VA on weekdays and 8AM-8AM on weekends. 5pm-8AM at UCLA occasionally on Fridays; 3 weeks of night float (10PM - 8AM)

PGY3 - Roughly q14; until 10PM at UCLA

PGY4 - No call

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Several distinguished faculty members, I particularly noted Dr. Stephen Marder, a schizophrenia expert who is still fairly involved with resident education. The faculty seemed very supportive of residents and there is large volunteer faculty association (PCFA) that is involved with psychotherapy education.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
The program is in Los Angeles which can be a positive or negative depending on what you want out of a city during residency. The city is large and diverse with plenty of activities to do. The downside would be the traffic and the sprawl for some people. I personally don’t mind either since I’m relatively used to both. In terms of lifestyle, the residents seemed very happy and felt there was plenty of time to pursue outside interests. There are also many opportunities to hang out with co-residents and faculty with events like the intern psychotherapy retreat, cinema nights, and mixers.

7. Salary & Benefits:
PGY1 – $53,947
PGY2 – $55,736
PGY3 – $57,925
PGY4 – $60,211

Vacation: 20 work days (4 weeks)
Sick Leave: 12 days per year

Additional perks I noticed:
· $1,100/year meal stipend during PGY1 and 2 and $600 during PGY3

· $800 academic enrichment fund that can be used for books, computers, travel, exams, etc.

· Health insurance for resident and family at no cost. Additionally, no copays, prescriptions fees, or imaging/labs/tests fees etc. if you utilize UCLA facilities, doctors, and pharmacies

· Resident Psychotherapy program: residents can receive psychotherapy for $35/hr and funds are put back into the program to fund retreats, movie nights and other resident activities

· Option to participate in backup call where you would come in if there were consults in the ER to see. You would receive $200/consult which would go towards your academic enrichment fund.

· Ample moonlighting opportunities throughout LA. Wages range from $120-150/hr

· $2500 moving allowance

8. Program Strengths:

· A variety clinical settings (I personally wanted exposure to the VA patient population)

· A balance of autonomy and supervision

· Seemingly limitless pre-existing options and opportunities for residents to take advantage of plus the option to create more

· Cohesive group of impressive residents and very responsive faculty/administration

· The Resident Council that meets weekly and provides residents with a way to voice concerns and check in with one another

9. Potential Weaknesses:

· Possibly the didactics at some of the rotation sites

· The expensive cost of living in LA

. Call may be a bit much for some (plus for me personally)

10. Overall Impression: I enjoyed my interview day and I loved the program. It is an excellent place to train with very few if any weaknesses. I think it is a great fit for those looking for formidable clinical training in a supportive and amiable environment. I did not discuss it much but there are also plenty of research opportunities if one desires. Overall, I would be ecstatic to match there.
 
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Case Western/UHCMC (but mostly UHCMC?)


East of Communication
: No issues

Accommodation/Food
: Provide a list of hotels with discounts, but they were all a bit expensive and I don't think they were very close to the interview site. I used AirBnB and stayed 10 minutes to interview site for less money. Dinner the night before was at a local restaurant - there were 4 applicants and 4 residents present, which was a really nice number - not too big, not too small.

Interview Day: Started at 9am with a light breakfast and overview by the PD, who I think is relatively new to the PD position but did her residency at Case and was APD for awhile after that. She seems VERY down-to-earth. After the overview, we each had 4x30 minute interviews. Mine were nicely tailored to my area of interest. No unusual questions, all my interviews were very pleasant.

Program Overview
: The website provides a reasonable overview, so I'll just mention some things that stood out to me.

One thing that residents mentioned multiple times is that the faculty are not overly instructive, i.e. they let you try different things and really want you to establish your own professional identity. They don't make you do things "their way". Also, the program was described as "hands on".

The call schedule is reasonable, although the structure might change if duty hour restrictions are lifted and allow interns to do 24-hour shifts. The current PGY-1 call is 6 weeks of NF (3, 2-week blocks). It might change to more traditional q9-ish, 24-hour shifts depending on resident input, etc. The residents seemed to prefer NF.

There is 6 weeks of elective time in PGY-2. The didactic schedule was just re-vamped, which the PD was very excited about. Didactics are 1/2 day for PGY-1 and PGY-2 and a full day (two half days) for PGY-3.

They have all the accredited fellowships plus four non-accredited fellowships including Community (they really like this a lot!), Women's Mental Health, College Mental Health, and Research.

The program is growing (incoming class will be 9, previous was 8), UHCMC is buying up smaller hospitals.

The goodie bag at the end of interview day contained a hand-written, personalized note from one of the residents who was at dinner, which I thought was a nice touch. There was also a mug, which I feel like I will have to actively get rid of if I don't match there, otherwise it will haunt me from the dark recesses of my mug cabinet forever, lol.

Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Seem to have well-known faculty in several areas (obviously especially forensics). I thought everyone I met was great, and the residents had nothing but good things to say about the faculty.

Location/Lifestyle: I personally liked Cleveland. Cost of living is low, several residents mentioned buying houses. They don't all live in one specific area. There's plenty of stuff to do in Cleveland (sports, cultural events, etc). It snows and gets cold in the winter. You have to have a car (sites can be up to a 30-ish minute drive, maybe farther depending on where you live). Also, the hospital/psych department building are not downtown - that might matter for people who absolutely must live downtown in order to be happy.

Salary/Benefits: http://www.uhhospitals.org/cleveland/education/incoming-residents-and-fellows/stipends-and-benefits

Program Strengths:
  • Solid academic program that has every fellowship + four extra ones
  • Flexible with lots of opportunities...I feel like this program could start you off on any career you could possibly want
  • Cleveland has a low cost of living
  • Very DO-friendly (the vast majority of current interns are DOs, and they don't make you take USMLE)

Program Weaknesses:
  • Cleveland is not for everyone
  • Maybe not the strongest psychotherapy? But there's a psychoanalytic institute and a psychotherapy chief position, so the opportunities certainly exist, but they might not be as built into the curriculum as some other places

Overall Impression: Solid top Midwestern program with a reasonable work-life balance and relatively high degree of flexibility.
 
Should be piecing more of mine together in next few [days, weeks] from earlier notes. My apologies for the lateness; procrastination is one of my strengths.

Dartmouth

1. Ease of Communication: via both ERAS and email. PC very responsive and friendly. Gave plenty of directions for how to get to everything, provided hotel list w/prices and phone numbers. Exact parking lot they suggested was difficult to find but honestly, you can park in another lot and it will be OK.


2. Accommodation & Food: No paid accommodations, but Dartmouth does get discounts with some local hotels/motels and there are plenty of options. The pre-interview dinner was at Molly’s in Hanover and was really tasty; then we walked to a nearby gelato place that was divine. No real breakfast on interview day, just snacks. Lunch was burritos.


3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Very organized and easy. Took place at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, with something like 12-15 of us; we spent the day based out of one conference room, and interviewers picked us up and dropped us back off there. The day started with a welcome & overview presentation. Interviews were four 30-min 1:1 interviews with PD, aPD, a senior resident, and some other faculty member. These were broken up by sessions of sitting in on C/L rounds, resident-led tours of DHMC, and multiple long breaks where you were welcome to chill in the conference room or go explore the hospital. Interviews were all very straightforward, no unusual or uncomfortable questions; everyone was super friendly. They really work at selling the location. The psych dept Chair stopped by at the end of the day to say hello.


4. Program Overview: Fairly standard, with heavier C/L requirement in PGY2 than some (6mo), and 6 weeks or so of probably-elective time in PGY2 (apparently, if another resident needs to take some leave unexpectedly - medical, family emergency, etc - and your elective time is scheduled then, you’ll get pulled in to cover for them). 3 main training sites - DHMC (unlocked units), New Hampshire Hospital (state hospital w/locked units), and White Junction VA. Broad exposure; they have most fellowships except neuropsych, C/L, and forensics (though they have good training in the former 2); they’re getting another fellowship soon (community MH); exposure to ECT, TMS, & DBS if you want; and lots of options for outpatient clinics and electives in PGY4. Not a lot of ethnic diversity, and pretty small homeless population, but DMHC ED does see high acuity cases, and their catchment area is pretty much all of NH and parts of VT. Truly protected didactic time (1 half day/week, plus additional sessions depending on rotation and year). Though some residents said that PGY1-2 call schedule can get brutal and that they didn’t always have as much oversight as they would’ve liked during intern weekend calls, they also said they learned a lot from those experiences. Call is front-loaded but you do take call all 4 years.


5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Faculty here are described as being very smart and great at what they do but at the same time, very approachable, friendly (including the medicine attendings!), and all are invested in residents doing well. My meetings with faculty seemed consistent with this; everyone was really friendly and down to earth, and had chosen to work at Dartmouth after doing residencies and fellowships at places like MGH because of the more chill vibe here. Great research engine; they used a competitive grant to start up their “Synergy” program, which from what I understood is intended to provide additional shared resources and workspace to researchers, and facilitate collaboration.


6. Location & Lifestyle: Make no mistake, this is a small college town, albeit in a lovely rural area. It sounds like there are decent local restaurants, a performing arts community, lots of nearby small-town-type festivals and activities, plenty of yoga studios, local artisans/crafters and maker spaces, facilities at the college for various hobbies and activities, and several farmers markets… but your choices are always going to be limited, and there is ~0 nightlife. Theoretically, you could do weekend trips to Montreal, Boston, or NYC, but let’s face it, how often are you really going to do that? There are tons of outdoor activities, of course, and the area is gorgeous, there’s little to no traffic, and cost of living is really affordable. Residents either live right in Lebanon/Hanover, or 20-30min away in houses with some land that they are able to buy. It goes without saying that this is inland New England, so you have to love or be able to adapt to the climate (cold, snowy winters, with warm/hot humid summers, lots of rain, mud, and confusion in “spring,” and heartbreakingly gorgeous autumns).


7. Salary & Benefits: $52ish-59ish, but that will go farther in this area. 15 days vacation, 5 days sick time. Parking on campus is free, but is in a lot I think (because I didn't see a garage), so there will be days when you'll need to shovel out your car.


8. Program Strengths: Friendly people, strong training, tight-knit welcoming group of residents; overall very supportive atmosphere. The program is large enough to be robust but small enough that no one gets lost. Great research opportunities. Your salary will go a long way in this area. If you’re the outdoorsy or small-town type, you’ll love the lifestyle here.


9. Potential Weaknesses: Self-admittedly weak forensics experience. Call schedule may be on the heavier side, which could be a plus if you're a masochist. Location could be a strength or weakness depending on your personal opinion.


Overall: Small but strong academic program with pretty chill people in a beautiful rural college town with colder New England climate. Bit of a workhorse program, though. Strong C/L exposure, though no in-house fellowship available.
 
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Iowa

1. Ease of Communication:
ERAS + email. In the top three in terms of organization. I didn’t have many questions pre-interview but email I got answered everything I would have thought about.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Put us up in a Sheraton nearby. Shuttle brought us from the hotel to the hospital where the PC was waiting for us. Dinner was at a really nice restaurant the night before. Breakfast was with the chief resident as he gave us an overview of the program. Lunch was at the hospital cafeteria and we were joined by a huge number of residents.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):

Very well organized. Started with a presentation of the program by the chief resident. Then had a meeting with the department chair where he asked us all about our interests and then played up the aspects of the program in line with those interests. I interviewed with 4 faculty members. We stayed in a conference room and were walked to the faculty member we were interviewing with. There was always a person in the conference room (PC or resident) for us to talk to and get out any more questions that came up. I interviewed with the PD and he definitely came across as cold. However, looking at previous reviews, this seems to be the typical impression students have of him. The residents told us he’s actually a very enthusiastic educator. He did give me handy tips for the interview trail (had this interview early). It was clear all the faculty members had read my application and were prepared with questions. No weird questions.



4. Program Overview: Very solidly put together. Their off-service months seem to be all somewhat psych related. For example, instead of being on medicine wards, they spend time on a med-psych unit. They have a robust ECT service and are planning on starting up TMS soon. Met with lots of residents between dinner and lunch and they were all friendly and seemed cohesive. Definitely have opportunities for research but didn’t get the impression that someone without research interest would have a hard time fitting in. They did mention that they are focusing on psychotherapy as that has been a weakness in the past. This was my first interview so I didn’t have much to compare it to but at the time, the psychotherapy curriculum seemed solid.



5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Didn’t write this down but they mentioned some people who are big names. Seems that more than one faculty member has written mainstream books. Makes sense considering the literary background of Iowa City. Residents who went to fellowships all seemed to land big name fellowships.



6. Location & Lifestyle:

For me, this was the biggest drawback. It’s a pretty small town. The fact that it’s a college town makes up for that somewhat but….it’s still a town of less than 100k. In terms of lifestyle, residents said they had a good balance.


7. Salary & Benefits:

54k starting salary

8. Program Strengths:
- Was actually probably one of the strongest programs I interviewed at. Off service months are psych related, plenty of ECT exposure, inpatient eating disorders, and TMS starting up.


9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Location

- Psychotherapy? I say this because it’s what I’ve been told. The curriculum they presented seemed pretty solid to me.


Summary: Overall, a great program. Definitely will be ranking very high. For me, location was the biggest drawback.
 
Michigan

1. Ease of Communication:
Pretty standard.


2. Accommodation & Food:
Gave me a list of hotels nearby. My flight was delayed and I missed the dinner the night before unfortunately. Hot breakfast the day of was amazing. 99% it was home made. Lunch was also pretty good and there were plenty of residents to ask questions to.


3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):

Had a presentation in the morning by the PD. Afterwards, divided into morning and afternoon groups for interviews/tours. I did get the impression that not all my interviewers had actually read my application. Did get two interviewers were it was basically, “Come in. Ok, what questions do you have for me?” Managed to get a conversation flowing but it wasn’t exactly an interview. Not sure what to make of that, but they were both friendly. Interview with the PD was very detailed.



4. Program Overview: Seemed like a very balanced program. I believe almost all the rotations are right in Ann Arbor. PD made it a point to stress that he works with resident interests. Gave the example of a resident who was interested in interventional pain and came to psychiatry with the intention of going down that route. Helped her get there after residency. One thing which concerned me was that while the residents I met with were very happy, I did run into a U Mich psych resident at a wedding later that month. This person had very negative things to say about the program and said 2/3rds of the 2nd year class was planning on fasttracking into child to get out of U Mich. Also had negative things to say about the faculty not being supportive and about too much call. This was not at all consistent with the impression I got from the multiple residents I talked to the day of the interview. I’d be very much interested to know if anyone else got similar sentiments?



5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Might have zoned out during the part….


6. Location & Lifestyle:

I actually liked Ann Arbor. It’s definitely a college town but feel pretty diverse and cultural. Cost of living is higher than other college towns but not unreasonable. It seems Detroit is a popular destination.


7. Salary & Benefits:

Lots and lots of benefits. Probably the most of any program I interviewed at. Check out their website.

8. Program Strengths:
- Seemed like a balanced program with supportive faculty


9. Potential Weaknesses:
- As I mentioned, got very negative feedback from one resident. Could have just been a disgruntled resident though?


Summary: Overall, a great program. Definitely will be ranking very high.
 
University of Miami


1. Ease of Communication:
Pretty standard.


2. Accommodation & Food:
Stayed at a hotel nearby within walking distance. Dinner the night before was at a fancy restaurant. Breakfast was Cuban cuisine? Pastries and stuff, tasted great. Lunch also had a South American feel. Rice and some meat and some bean dish.


3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):

Had a presentation in the morning by the PD. Nothing stood out about the interviews, they were pretty straightforward. Then had a great lunch followed by a tour of the campus. Finished with a group meeting with the department head. He seemed like a very friendly person although I did find out about his ethical…challenges later. Did get asked if I was married and if my spouse would be able to relocate and if that would influence my rank choice. The person asking didn’t seem to think twice about the question. Otherwise, the day went fine. Lots of residents in and out throughout the day to ask questions. Only complaint seemed to be that they were busy but they all acknowledged that they were receiving great training.

4. Program Overview: Grand Rounds seemed to be a big deal here? They kept stressing it. Also was told they got a decent number of international patients from oil-rich Middle East families but not sure what role, if any, residents would have in that. Was told that they’re very busy when they’re on but the residents seemed to be pretty happy. I was told Spanish is not an issue.


5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Nemeroff is Nemeroff lol. You can look him up


6. Location & Lifestyle:

Miami has a high cost of living but the residents seemed to be doing fine. At least one made do without a car but don’t know how feasible that is. Lifestyle, again, everyone mentioned the heavy workload, but they seemed happy.


7. Salary & Benefits:

Seemed solid. Lots of food money for sure. There’s a resident union you’re encouraged to join and I was told it pays for itself in benefits.

8. Program Strengths:
- Good exposure to pretty much everything.

-Was told residents can get involved in writing book chapters if they’re interested. Definitely potential for research and academic output for those willing to do it.


9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Heavy workload. Have read some bizarre things on this forum about the program but didn’t get any information about it. I met another interview candidate another day from Florida and he wasn’t aware of any serious flaws about the program or people einvolved.


Summary: Busy program but residents seemed to value the training.
 
Case Western (University Hospitals)

1. Ease of Communication:
Pretty standard.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Stayed at a hotel, drove to the interview. Missed this dinner. Breakfast was standard continental. Lunch was warm with nice sweets too.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Had a presentation in the morning by the PD. Interviews went well, was asked a lot about my research and AMA involvement. We were given a “picture tour” of the various facilities. Then walked to see the hospital. One of the nicer hospitals and psych units I’ve seen. They have a 4th year New Zealand elective which they had a session on during lunch. I went to it and it seemed very interesting. However, I was told the interest is much higher for applicants and PGY-1s than PGY-4s who realize they don’t want to move their family to New Zealand for a year.


4. Program Overview: Pretty standard, you can check out their website. The New Zealand elective really stood out to me as something unique. They also had a “Medical Education” pathway which involves taking classes at the business school. Seems geared to those who want an academic career involving curriculum development.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Resnick in forensics, who’s possibly retiring?

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Cleveland seems like a typical Midwestern town. Not too big, not too small.


7. Salary & Benefits:

Seemed standard.

8. Program Strengths:
- Seemed like a good upper-mid-tier program

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Nothing particularly stood out. It’s not a big academic name but doesn’t seem to have any huge weaknesses.

Summary: Good upper-mid-tier program.
 
Stopped in to see if there were any reviews of UVA. Not so much huh.

My bad. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or corrections on my review, @digitlnoize!

University of Virginia

1. Ease of Communication: Entirely through ERAS. Notably, they have been the only program to actually send a follow-up message with all the info that they promised on the interview day! Maybe other places are just being paranoid about the no-contact rule.

2. Accommodation & Food: Driving around Charlottesville is easy, so staying in a cheap motel uptown worked out well. They had everyone meet at UVA to drive over to the restaurant together, which was this delicious Italian place. For interview day, they had a light breakfast with yogurt, pastries, and fruit, and lunch was something I can’t remember but the cookies were really good. Lots of residents showed up for both the dinner and the lunch.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): began with a program overview by the PD, who has kind of a dry sense of humor. I think the tour was early on in the day, and then there were 4 30-minute interviews with the PD, aPD, a PGY4, and another faculty member.

4. Program Overview: 10 residents/year.
Rotations:
Kind of a neat, more integrated schedule of rotations in PGY1-2, and refreshingly (to me), you spend all of intern year at the same site. I was going to write this all out, but they have it nicely laid out on their website: https://med.virginia.edu/psychiatry/residency/general-psychiatry/schedule-of-training/

Call:
The PD seemed adamant about abolishing 24h shifts, saying that the solution to continuity problems is better handoffs (and frankly, I agree with this, so that sat well with me). I *think* the call schedule is something like this:

PGY1 - 45-50 nights of NF (14h shifts) + some short call on off-services. Residents said that on NF in PGY1, you basically shadow the PGY2, and they take on a lot of responsibilities for you.
PGY2 - all NF, and you pay it forward to new interns by taking on much more responsibility.
I don’t believe there’s call during PGY3-4, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong.

Didactics:
Start off as 1/2day and go to full day in PGY3-4, I think.

Other:
They have a lot of good options for electives, and they have a global health track.

Training sites include UVA, (separate) state hospitals for children/adults about 35mi away, a CSU-type center, a community MH center, and UVa Student Health Counseling.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Decent amount of research going on. The faculty I met seemed very approachable and were interesting to talk with.

6. Location & Lifestyle: C’ville is a pretty small city, but has a decent amount of culture and things to do, and pretty low cost of living. The downtown outdoor shopping area is very cute with a number of good restaurants, and there are plenty of other places to eat or shop throughout the city. Driving (and parking) are pretty easy, and there’s allegedly very little traffic. It has its own little airport, but Richmond’s international airport is also only an hour away. I also heard from residents that Richmond was a pretty good place to go for additional restaurants and things to do. The weather here is pretty mild, though it does get hot and humid during the summer.

7. Salary & Benefits: Salary is $52.3-$59.8K PGY1-4. 15 days/yr vacation + 1 week off around winter holidays, so effectively 4wks. Interns get an extra week to make up for weeklong June orientation. There are academic and meal stipends.

8. Program Strengths:
- Residents seem pretty cohesive and were all friendly and eager to answer questions
- Early outpatient exposure.
- Broad outpatient elective options.
- Multiple in-house fellowships (CAP, forensics, geriatrics)
- Addiction research seems to be a strength; there’s certainly a lot of it.
- Beautiful hospitals and campus, including the undergrad campus. Western State Hospital looks gorgeous, and teaching is supposedly really good there.
- Climate; low COL.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Research is pretty decent but not as broad as I’m personally looking for.
- Little on the heavier-workload side. Could be a + for some, I guess.
- Location could be + or - depending on what you’re looking for.

Summary: Solid academic program in a small, cute city with a pretty temperate climate.
 
My bad. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or corrections on my review,

Overall, I'd say that's about right. Point by Point:

1. About right for residency applications. Our program coordinator runs the show and is by far the most communicative person here. She's great. The rest of our communication could perhaps be better...

2. Easy to get around usually, esp compared to big cities. Great town, great food. This is the reason to come here in my book. If you like small college towns with neat culture, good food, outdoor activities, and nearby big cities (DC is only around 2.5 hours, Richmond 1 hr, Baltimore 3.5h, Va Beach 3h), this is the place.

3. Dry sense of humor is an understatement.

4. Rotations are all different than when I did it. Call is also different now than when I did it. There is PGY-3 call when you're on q10 weekend day (Sat or Sun not both) covering the whole ER and consults by yourself (and the inpatient unit for a few hours). PGY-4 adult call is the same thing except instead of weekends, they cover the holiday days like Memorial day (not xmas historically, which has historically been split weeks off, half the department works the week before Christmas, half works the week after, but you're double covering cause half the people are out, but it works).

Didactics: These were not good when I went through, but perhaps have improved? PGY 1 and 2 didactics are better I think since they're shorter. The long PGY-3 day is just mind numbing and most of us had trouble sitting through a whole day of didactics, which I think would be true anywhere. I would rather 2 half days of didactics than one whole day. But whatevs. Quality of lectures varies by lecturer...

Electives are pretty good. Esp medicine selectives intern year (if that's still a thing). It's good to get out of the hospital.

5. Faculty are mostly all very nice and approachable. No one's going to pimp or yell at you here, haha. That being said, I'd say we have a lot of good generalists and few true specialists, with a few exceptions. No one here is world famous for something, perhaps aside from our chair's expertise in female sex problems.

Location, location, location. The best reason to be here. I think our program is fairly average, middle of the road, tbh, but the town is a great small town near bigger ones, and is really the reason to come here.

Fellowhips: we only have CAP now, last I heard forensics and geri were gone for the past 2 years, unless they're trying to bring them back...

Western State Hospital and CCCA (the child state hospital nearby) are amazing.

Some of my pros:
- great town, great food, great outdoors
- decent program, not the easiest, but I wouldn't call it an abusive workload, though it's not "easy" or "cushy" either
- Attendings are generally nice and friendly

Cons:
- Can't moonlight until PGY-3 and only at local state hospital which pay poorly ($65/hr at WSH and $80/hr at CCCA).
- Lots of rules about vacation time: can't take vacation during July, or following June (except intern beach week), or during certain rotations (off service, consults, inpatient psych)
- Didactics could be better (maybe these have improved?)

PM me if you want more info.[/USER][/QUOTE]
 
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If anyone has more info on Tufts, please share. For some reason, I feel like I didn't learn much from the interview day...

Hi thanks for interviewing at Tufts. I hope you enjoyed your experience. I'm one of the psych residents at Tufts and I used this site when I was applying so I wanted to drop a line to perhaps answer some of your questions.

First of all let me say that Tufts was my very last interview and since it's such a small program, I really feel like it's a hidden gem. All of the faculty are outstanding (many come fromMGH but were fed up with their culture) and very well connected and everyone goes on to get great jobs and fellowships. Paul Summergrad, the past APA president meets with all residents and will hook you up with wherever you want to go, since he knows just about everybody. The program is small enough so that it is almost like an apprenticeship and you can make the experience how you want.

I interviewed at pretty much all of the "top tier" New England programs including all the big ones in New York and Boston and ultimately I felt Tufts was the right place for me because everybody there is smart but down to earth. I ultimately wound up torn between Cambridge Health Alliance and Tufts because they are both very good for psychotherapy but chose Tufts because I wanted to be at a tertiary care center with excellent C/L experience and be exposed to all kinds of people, including high-functioning. Living in Boston is awesome, I was in Manhattan for med school, so moving to Boston was a downgrade but I've learned to love it and make it my own little town. Also being in Boston is great for psychiatry because there are SO many opportunities to network and learn outside of residency at different institutes and Tufts will help make that happen.

I would disagree and say that our call schedule is definitely lighter than my psych colleagues at other programs. Also in terms of getting to rotations, most of your time will be spent at Tufts medical center. The rotations away from campus are easily accessible by the T and for Tewksbury hospital, you can take the train and Tufts will pay for your uber. MOST residents don't have a car and you definitely don't need one.

MANY lucrative moonlighting opportunities in Boston. It is definitely not saturated. And Tufts has contracts with several hospitals around here so we get first dibs, and since our 3rd and 4th year schedule is so light, you can make an extra 10K per month if you want moonlighting.

I think that the program is unparalled (perhaps only Cornell competes) in terms of giving you a foundation of psychodynamics. We meet weekly with Dr. Schindelheim for psychodynamics for all 4 years. Also lots of amazing supervisors. Even if you don't want to go into analysis, I really think having a strong psychodynamics foundation is helpful. Also we are one of I think only 2 programs (I believe Yale has it) that has a formalized formulations course every week to really teach you how to think about a patient and make a smart formulation which seems to be a dying art.

Finally, Dr. Schindelheim the program director is a real mentch. Maybe the nicest, kindest, smartest, and most patient man I have ever met. I knew once I met him that Tufts was for me. He has been a program director forever, and personalizes the 4 year experience for you, so that you become the psychiatrist you were meant to be. He is supportive, does not breathe down our throats, and is very funny. When **** goes down and you have to go to your boss, he's the kind of boss you want.

Finally, the Tufts med students are fantastic and you will supervise them. They will write notes on inpatient service and do lots of work that you would normally be doing, and you instead supervise them. So they get to act like a resident and you get to act like an attending. And because of the university and medical school, everybody knows about Tufts around the country even though they don't know anything about the training programs--so if name is a concern I wouldn't worry. In fact I found that when I was telling non-medical family/friends about different programs, everybody knew about Tufts, but nobody had heard of Brigham, Beth Israel, or Cambridge health Alliance. Go figure.

Let me know if I can provide any other info!
 
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Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
1. Ease of Communication:

Through ERAS, dont recall any communication problems. Everyone I spoke with was nice.
2. Accommodation & Food:
Dinner at the Bleu Duck, actually probably one of the best dinner experiences on the interview trial. It was in a quiet, back room in the restaurant so not too loud to talk. It was also after the interview, so everyone was much more relaxed and already had most of their questions answered. The dinner felt more like having dinner with some new friends than an interview which was nice. Quite a few residents showed up too as well as an intern. They all seemed to get along great and you could tell that most of them hung out outside of work.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
It was a fairly early start, 7:30 AM I believe, Day ended around 2:30 or 3 PM. Had us go on rounds with a team that we are interested in (Geriatrics, CA, etc.) which I thought was a nice touch and helped you get a better feel for the program. It was low pressure, so don't worry about getting pimped constantly or getting assigned patients or anything wild like that. Interview with PD, aPD, and two faculty members 30 minutes each with breaks inbetween where residents were available for questions and there were snacks and drinks for inbetween. No unusual questions from what I recall.
4. Program Overview:
On website, pretty standard. PGY1: 6 mo offservice, 6 mo inpatient psych; PGY2: inpatient; PGY3: outpatient; PGY4: electives mostly
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
I honestly don't ever pay much attention to this, but I remember one faculty member did a lot of borderline personality disorder research. It's Mayo, so I'm sure they are all pretty well accomplished.
6. Location & Lifestyle:
Rochester is a smallish city (around 100,000 I believe), but because of Mayo there is actually a surprising amount of things to do for a city its size. I was pleasantly surprised by the downtown in particular. Had 4 craft breweries one of which I tried (Forester, it had a great environment and beer was fantastic). Food scene seemed solid for a city its size. I tried a Vietnamese place called Pho Chau that had great food and the price was out of this world cheap. It would be a go-to place for sure if I end up going there. Also, try fried cheese curds if you interview in Minnesota. It's like a creamier and richer mozzarella stick and tastes pretty amazing! (but can't eat it often or you might die a much too soon death) The twin cities are also nearby with a ton to do. It's cold there but not as cold as most of Minnesota as it is southern Minn. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Rochester and could see myself living there and enjoying it.
7. Salary & Benefits:
I think it was like 53,000 to start and up from there. 15 vacation days, which translates to 3 weeks for their purposes. I did like that they have a resident on a float rotation at all times to cover anyone that needs vacation, so you don't have to ask a resident to cover your shift if you need off because of this. They offer childcare services to you if your daycare is closed for some reason, so that you dont have to miss work for that as well as a medical daycare for sick kids which I thought was nice for those with kids.
8. Program Strengths:
For someone potentially interested in CL, I think that having access to the consult service at Mayo is awesome! Also, the faculty seemed top notch and seemed like great people to work for that would challenge you intellectually on a daily basis. I also appreciated that they seemed well versed in my application (you could tell they actually read it) which was nice on interview day to make it more enjoyable with less "do you have any questions?" over and over again like at some of my other interviews. I also really liked the residents and could see myself fitting in with the culture they have there. Probably some of the most likable residents I interacted with on my interview trail. Also, the access to fellowships that they have is an added bonus as you can get a feel for what you want to go into as well as stay for fellowship if desired. Education seems to be at the forefront there which is nice. The faculty acted as if they were very hands on in the beginning and give you more freedom as you go along (which I see as a positive, but others may disagree)
9. Potential Weaknesses:
The cold. But honestly I think I can manage it and find fun winter activities to do. Less access to homeless populations/chronically mentally ill patients, but I feel like I could get more exposure with this population by doing some electives.
10. Overall Impression:
Loved the residents and faculty. All seemed very intelligent and easy to get along with. The fact that the CL service is top notch is a huge plus for me as well. Location wise it's not near my family and I prefer warmer weather, but I think I could get used to Rochester and it may be worth it to get a great education in a place where I feel like I fit in.
 
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University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) (Little Rock, AR)
1. Ease of Communication:

Through email. PC was super nice and helpful.
2. Accommodation & Food:
They paid for two nights in a fancy hotel with a panoramic view of the river. Probably the best accommodations all interview season so far. Dinner was at a fancy restaurant on the Arkansas River. Food was fantastic and the entire menu was fair game which was cool. 2 residents (in my case two interns) with one applicant. Which was nice because it made the experience more personal. Plus, I got to know them better and felt more comfortable asking questions since it was just the 3 of us. Dinner was after the interview (I honestly think this is the best way to do it). Had a great time hamming it up with the interns and we got along really well! Again, you could tell that these two interns were good friends and hung out outside of work.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Interestingly, UAMS does interviews with only 1 or 2 applicants a day and even if there is another applicant you have completely different schedules, as well as lunch and dinner with different residents so it felt very personal. It was like 8-4 or so with like 6 different 30 minute interviews at some of the different facilities you rotate through. There was a lunch that was off site at a nice restaurant in downtown again with 2 residents and myself which was really nice. No unusual questions but a little too much "do you have any questions?" It also didn't seem like some of the interviewers were very familiar with my application (but I think they were having computer problems on my interview day, so I will give them a mulligan for this). I did still like the faculty though it just made the conversation a little less fluid.
4. Program Overview:
Because their website is somewhat difficult to navigate, I will post the info.
PGY-1: 1 mo inpatient IM, 1 mo EM, 1 mo urgent care, 1 mo general pediatrics clinic at Arkansas Children's Hospital, 2 mo inpatient neuro, 3 mo inpatient state hospital, 1.5 mo inpatient adult, 1.5 mo inpatient women's unit and ECT
PGY-2: 1 mo inpatient geriatric psych, 1 mo addiction psych, 1 month elective, 3 month CA psych clinic at Arkansas Children's Hospital, 1 afternoon per week psychotherapy, 2 months night float, 2 months inpatient psych at VA, 2 month CL at UAMS and VA
PGY-3: outpatient psych with one half day per week of psychotherapy
PGY-4: 12 months of electives with one half-day per week of psychotherapy
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
again, don't really pay attention to this.
6. Location & Lifestyle:
I actually enjoyed the LR downtown area and craft breweries are starting to take off there (I believe they have 8, which is decent for a small city). I tried one while I was there called Lost Forty that was awesome. Food culture seems alive there as well. The city is known for being somewhat dangerous, but the downtown seemed safe to me. The weather is pretty nice as well. It can get really hot in the summer, but the winters are pretty mild.
7. Salary & Benefits:
around 50,000 to start but COL is really low, so that would go pretty far. 15 days/3 weeks vacation
8. Program Strengths:
State hospital experience which is actually kinda rare. Also, most of the rotation sites including the state hospital are all in the same area except for the NLR VA which is like a 15 minute drive or so. The neuro research center is located in the same building as the psych program which is cool too if you have a research idea that you want to get off the ground (although research funding is a little lower than some programs, ranked about 60 for NIH funding). I did feel like the clinical training here would be really strong though with a diverse array of clinical environments. They also have all of the fellowships minus CL, which they said they plan to add soon (next couple years). Loved the residents, and I felt like I saw almost all of them at some point in the day. I also had the feeling that the residents had a life outside of work and had a good work-life balance.
9. Potential Weaknesses:
Some people may see the location as a negative (LR is not a super nice city or anything like that), but I had no problems with it and feel I would be happy there. If you are really into research the lack of funding may make it more difficult, but I do feel like you could find opportunities if you tried hard enough.
10. Overall Impression:
Lives up to the reputation as being a diamond in the rough. A real gem that I am sure many applicants overlook due to the location. Has a solid reputation in the South for being a quality clinical training program, and I certainly see why.
 
Indiana University (Indianapolis, IN)
1. Ease of Communication:

By email. Good communication, no problems. PC super helpful and nice!
2. Accommodation & Food:
Went to a fancy restaurant right next to the hotel that was also included. Accommodations were pretty awesome, right in the center of downtown. It was a large interview group (12, I believe) so sometimes it was hard to talk to most of the residents. They did the best they could with this by switching seats halfway through, etc. The residents were really laid back and nice (when we showed up they had a beer in hand which made it easier to know if it was appropriate to order one or not as nobody wants to be the only person drinking at one of these things). The dinner did seem formal at times (but at no fault of the residents) because all the applicants were asking serious questions most of the time, but I think this was mostly because it was early in the interview season and everyone was still gaming hard at that time. (I'm sure the dinners are more laid back and informal now). Still, I got the idea that the residents were cool, normal people with lives outside of work. Some of the interns looked tired, but many of them were just coming off their inpatient medicine months (which I believe is 3 months in a row) so that was probably why. Really well attended by the residents though.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Started at 8AM, there were 5 interviews with faculty and the PD lasting 30 minutes. Lunch was with the residents, again, really well attended. Probably the most residents I have seen at any program. Then a tour of the city with one of the residents driving and we ate donuts at a really cool local donut shop.
4. Program Overview:
On website. Highlights are a 2nd year which exposes you to basically every sub-specialty within psychiatry as well as a really flexible 3rd and 4th year. The faculty was stressing that they will approve unique schedules tailored to individual career goals, etc. That is really the highlight of this program in general is the flexibility. They even allow you to do an 8 year part time residency if desired, which I met a resident that was on that track due to wanting to raise her family. I thought that was really awesome and a testament to the program.They also have a behavioral neurology clinic you can work in if you have interest (I do). They also have a early psychosis clinic which most programs don't have.
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Chair is actively involved in concussion research. He is one of the researchers funded by the NFL and is very prominent in the neuropsych field. I believe he is researching concussions in high school athletes if I recall correctly.
6. Location & Lifestyle:
Weather is fairly cold, but tolerable. Indianapolis has a really nice downtown that feels safe even at night. Craft brewing is pretty big there (30+), but the food scene seemed a little lacking (mostly american style places). They have a really cool part of the city called Mass Ave which has nice local shops, restaurants, and bars. They had a really interesting beer garden called the Rathskeller (look it up) that was a really unique place serving German beers in a huge, old Gothic building with a massive outdoor court yard. They also have a really nice canal in downtown that has cool fairly affordable apartments and a few restaurants. Overall, the city had a ton to offer and I wish I could have stayed longer. The hospital is beautiful and actually located at the end of the canal and is a very striking view when you first approach it (lookup "IU hospital canal" in google images and you will see what I'm talking about). They also have a people mover as someone else mentioned that will shuttle you to all the different hospitals (but residents said they mostly drove still). COL is pretty low for a largish city (could acquire a nice 1 bedroom apartment right in downtown for 1000ish).
7. Salary & Benefits:
Awesome salary about 55,000 starting. 21 days/3weeks vacation pgy1-2, 28 days/4 weeks vacation pgy3-4. They pay for all benefits at not cost to the resident including medical and dental for resident and family I believe. Overall, the benefits and salary at IU seemed to be top notch if that is important to you.
8. Program Strengths:
Seemed like a resident-oriented place that was basically the polar opposite of malignant. The flexibility of the program as well as the vast array of different clinical environments that you are exposed to would make you well rounded and ready for anything when you finish (this has been said before and I agree based on my interview experience). Free parking at all the hospitals. All hospitals are close together. Actually a surprising amount of research happens at the program (ranked 21 in NIH funding). Had all the fellowships minus CL (said it was in the works).
9. Potential Weaknesses:
Not much other than some people not liking the location. The IM months here seem rough, but I think that's a positive in a way because you are treated just like an IM resident during those months (which is educationally good). Weather a little chilly, but tolerable. Not have a CL fellowship (though it's in the works)
10. Overall Impression:
Midwest programs often get overlooked by applicants because people think of them as just flyover states. I am more than happy to scoop up interviews in the strong Midwest programs with cheap cost of living and plenty to do. Hard to call this program a diamond in the rough because most people know about it. So I will just call it a high value program. If this program were located in NYC or Cali people would be falling all over themselves trying to get a look from them. Future applicants, apply there, you won't be disappointed.
 
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Midwest programs often get overlooked by applicants because people think of them as just flyover states.


As a a competitive applicant from the Northeast who very much values cheap COL, I was disappointed that I didn't get interviews at more Midwestern programs (including IU). Can't blame them, though - sometimes I wonder if they used to interview more Northeastern applicants, but stopped bothering because none ever matched to their program or something like that. Or they just have plenty of competitive applicants from Midwestern schools who are more likely to stick around anyway.
 
As a a competitive applicant from the Northeast who very much values cheap COL, I was disappointed that I didn't get interviews at more Midwestern programs (including IU). Can't blame them, though - sometimes I wonder if they used to interview more Northeastern applicants, but stopped bothering because none ever matched to their program or something like that. Or they just have plenty of competitive applicants from Midwestern schools who are more likely to stick around anyway.

That might be why. I have noticed a regional preference in terms of who gets invited to interview at many places.


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Time to pay it forward! Pennsylvania needs some love.

Drexel University, Philadelphia PA
1. Ease of Communication:
Messages exclusively through ERAS, many with attachments - annoying when trying to view on phone.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodation or dinner the night before. The program recommends staying near Hahnemann Hospital, near Center City and where the day finishes up. Food during the day was light breakfast snacks/coffee and subs for lunch.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
The day began with a slideshow overview from a chief resident of the program's structure and features. Each applicant had 4-5 interviewers, with one being the PD and another with a chief resident. Oddly, there was approximately twice the necessary time blocked out for interviews than was used for interviews, presumably because some interviewers interviewed multiple students during this time frame. This led to two overly spacious morning and afternoon sessions of 2-2.5h each containing 1-3 half-hour interviews each. The morning begins at Friends Hospital, which is a historic building on a surprisingly idyllic campus in North Philadelphia (25min drive from city center, also accessible by bus, 45min/$2.25) surrounded by newer modules housing acute and extended acute/chronic patients. There is a one-way shuttle from Friends Hospital to Hahnemann, the main university hospital of Drexel.

4. Program Overview:
PGY1: 4 months Medicine, 2 months Neuro, 4 months inpt Psych, 2m Emergency Psych crisis response center
PGY2: 3m inpt psych (10% ECT), 3m Psych med unit, 2m CL, 1m addiction, 1m geri, 1m adolescent, 1m child
PGY3: 12m outpt
PGY4: 50% outpt, 8m 50% electives, 4m 50% inpt chiefships

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Faculty seem genuinely interested and involved, committed, “lifers” not uncommon, PD seems very engaged and motivated to making program work well and responsive to resident suggestions and feedback.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
The wonderful city of brotherly love: cheaper than DC, NYC, and Boston, better and cheaper food than DC and Boston, all the cultural and infrastructure amenities of a major east coast city, no need for a car given public transit, although it might make driving to-and-from Friends hospital on didactic days easier (accessible by bus, but most residents drive or carpool.) The flipside: working mainly with inner-city patient populations, for better or worse.

7. Salary & Benefits:
Standard.

8. Program Strengths:
Major university hospital with good reputation, residents go on to good fellowships, dedicated psych hospital, awesome city, friendly residents that seem happy and satisfied with their training, committed faculty.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
Living in the city/working with city populations has its positives and negatives. Not a ton of research going on, although program director is excited to make that happen if interested.

10. Overall Impression:
Friendly, well-regarded place in a good city that leaves its residents well-prepared to pursue their careers.
 
Temple University, Philadelphia PA.

1. Ease of Communication:
Email

2. Accommodation & Food:
None, no dinner the night before. Coffee and pastries/yogurt for breakfast, pizza for lunch.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Start off at Temple’s Episcopal Hospital, intro from residents, PD & APD, and chair, interviews, tour, lunch, shuttle to tour Temple’s main hospital, exit interviews and day over at Episcopal by 2:30-3.

4. Program Overview:
Many different track options, including research, public psychiatry, psychodynamics, forensics, child and adolescent, psychosomatics.

Three months of night float as an intern, non-consecutive. The institutional spin is, “But that’s all the overnight call you have in residency, and once it’s over, it’s done!”
Three months of night float, AKA one-quarter of intern year.
THREE months of night float as an intern.
THREE MONTHS OF NIGHT FLOAT.
That’s as far as I got as far as curriculum, guys, sorry.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Faculty seem solid, the PD and APD are young but seem very enthusiastic about making the program work well for residents, including helping create the many curriculum tracks for different resident interests.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
The wonderful city of brotherly love: cheaper than DC, NYC, and Boston, better and cheaper food than DC and Boston, all the cultural and infrastructure amenities of a major east coast city, no need for a car given public transit, although it might make getting to-and-from Episcopal hospital on didactic days easier (accessible by subway, but takes longer). The flipside: working mainly with inner-city patient populations, for better or worse.

7. Salary & Benefits:
Standard.

8. Program Strengths:
Episcopal Hospital is a busy psych hospital with a very busy CRC (I believe the busiest in the city?). This is a great opportunity, and one big reason for choosing this program. Its floors can run without a resident on the team, so the focus should be on your education. Temple is a well-regarded university that sends its graduates to good fellowships. And of course, the city of brotherly love.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
Why, why oh, why do they have interns spend _three months_ on night float? They try hard to spin this as a positive, that it’s a useful independent learning experience, and that it’s “great to get it over with”, but this means you’ve spent a full one-quarter of your first year of residency on your own instead of going to didactics or getting mentored and taught by actual experienced attendings or upper years. This is a horrible sticking point for me. This tells me that the program (or the hospital) is too cheap to pay for moonlighters and saves money by making residents do all this night float. Please correct me if I'm wrong, because otherwise I'd like to like this program.

10. Overall Impression:
There are many positives to this program (tracks, dedicated psych hospital with very busy CRC), if you can stomach spending three months of intern year on night float, which I don’t know if I can.
 
Geisinger, Danville PA – “Make It The Best”

1. Ease of Communication:
Email, the coordinator is very responsive.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Both at The Pine Barn Inn, which is right on Geisinger’s campus. Warning: they undercook their burgers.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Started at 7:30 with an intro about research, followed by an introduction from the APD, four interviews including one with the PD and one with the APD, lunch, a quick tour of the hospital then departure by 1:30-2.

4. Program Overview:
This is a new program with two classes so far, mostly DO students with loose area ties.
PGY1: 4m medicine, 4m inpt psych, 2m neuro, 1m EM, 1m addiction
PGY2: 8m intpt psych, 4m CL
PGY3 and PGY4 curricula are planned out but still fairly TBD.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
The faculty have been here longer than the program, and the ones who interviewed us seemed interested in teaching, enjoyed their department and jobs, and liked living in the area. Very nice hospital, being the largest provider in the area 16 years of EMR means many interesting records-review research possibilities.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
This is Trump country, no doubt about it. Cost of living is very low, amenities and access to civilization are similarly low.
From Wikipedia: “Danville is a borough in and the county seat of Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. Danville was home to 8,042 people in 1900, 7,517 people in 1910, and 7,122 people in 1940. The population was 4,699 at the 2010 census.”

7. Salary & Benefits:
Standard, has their own health plan.

8. Program Strengths:
Residents seem happy with their education so far, faculty seems committed and interested in making education the best it can be. If you like rural populations, want a low cost of living, the great outdoors, and aren’t strongly attached to the cultural offerings/interpersonal opportunities of a city, this might be a nice place to spend residency. About half of the residents are engaged/married, but the single ones do report the lack of dating opportunities a strain. On the plus side, for those in long distance relationships, they do one black weekend/three gold weekends per month for call, so there are some opportunities to get back to the rest of the world.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
New program without track record, fewer data points, no upper years yet, Danville PA.

10. Overall Impression:
Fledgling residency program within a well-equipped healthcare system with a good reputation. Worth a shot if you’re into the great outdoors.
 
As a a competitive applicant from the Northeast who very much values cheap COL, I was disappointed that I didn't get interviews at more Midwestern programs (including IU). Can't blame them, though - sometimes I wonder if they used to interview more Northeastern applicants, but stopped bothering because none ever matched to their program or something like that. Or they just have plenty of competitive applicants from Midwestern schools who are more likely to stick around anyway.
Both--I think when we in the Midwest see an applicant from the coasts without an obvious local connection, we tend to ask "why are they applying here?" or "Do they really want to be here?", and often will choose in favor of one of the many qualified applicants from regional schools instead. Moral: if you want an interview in the Midwest, you might want to ask programs directly and let us know why.
 
As a a competitive applicant from the Northeast who very much values cheap COL, I was disappointed that I didn't get interviews at more Midwestern programs (including IU). Can't blame them, though - sometimes I wonder if they used to interview more Northeastern applicants, but stopped bothering because none ever matched to their program or something like that. Or they just have plenty of competitive applicants from Midwestern schools who are more likely to stick around anyway.
OPD already said it, and it's a little late now, but did you contact any of these programs directly?

I contacted one program (less popular part of the country) where my parents live and they offered me an interview the day after. I didn't end up actually liking their program or matching in the area, but I was serious about my initial interest.
 
Moral: if you want an interview in the Midwest, you might want to ask programs directly and let us know why.

This is probably my one regret about interview season. I thought about it, but the reason would have been so vague that I didn't think it would do any good. I have no ties to the Midwest - I'm just extremely open to moving somewhere new, and I have zero interest in living in large/expensive coastal cities. In retrospect I would contact some Midwestern PDs and cancel my interviews in the South, but hindsight is 20/20.

Oh well - at least Michigan was brave enough to take a chance!
 
Hi thanks for interviewing at Tufts. I hope you enjoyed your experience. I'm one of the psych residents at Tufts and I used this site when I was applying so I wanted to drop a line to perhaps answer some of your questions.

First of all let me say that Tufts was my very last interview and since it's such a small program, I really feel like it's a hidden gem. All of the faculty are outstanding (many come fromMGH but were fed up with their culture) and very well connected and everyone goes on to get great jobs and fellowships. Paul Summergrad, the past APA president meets with all residents and will hook you up with wherever you want to go, since he knows just about everybody. The program is small enough so that it is almost like an apprenticeship and you can make the experience how you want.

I interviewed at pretty much all of the "top tier" New England programs including all the big ones in New York and Boston and ultimately I felt Tufts was the right place for me because everybody there is smart but down to earth. I ultimately wound up torn between Cambridge Health Alliance and Tufts because they are both very good for psychotherapy but chose Tufts because I wanted to be at a tertiary care center with excellent C/L experience and be exposed to all kinds of people, including high-functioning. Living in Boston is awesome, I was in Manhattan for med school, so moving to Boston was a downgrade but I've learned to love it and make it my own little town. Also being in Boston is great for psychiatry because there are SO many opportunities to network and learn outside of residency at different institutes and Tufts will help make that happen.

I would disagree and say that our call schedule is definitely lighter than my psych colleagues at other programs. Also in terms of getting to rotations, most of your time will be spent at Tufts medical center. The rotations away from campus are easily accessible by the T and for Tewksbury hospital, you can take the train and Tufts will pay for your uber. MOST residents don't have a car and you definitely don't need one.

MANY lucrative moonlighting opportunities in Boston. It is definitely not saturated. And Tufts has contracts with several hospitals around here so we get first dibs, and since our 3rd and 4th year schedule is so light, you can make an extra 10K per month if you want moonlighting.

I think that the program is unparalled (perhaps only Cornell competes) in terms of giving you a foundation of psychodynamics. We meet weekly with Dr. Schindelheim for psychodynamics for all 4 years. Also lots of amazing supervisors. Even if you don't want to go into analysis, I really think having a strong psychodynamics foundation is helpful. Also we are one of I think only 2 programs (I believe Yale has it) that has a formalized formulations course every week to really teach you how to think about a patient and make a smart formulation which seems to be a dying art.

Finally, Dr. Schindelheim the program director is a real mentch. Maybe the nicest, kindest, smartest, and most patient man I have ever met. I knew once I met him that Tufts was for me. He has been a program director forever, and personalizes the 4 year experience for you, so that you become the psychiatrist you were meant to be. He is supportive, does not breathe down our throats, and is very funny. When **** goes down and you have to go to your boss, he's the kind of boss you want.

Finally, the Tufts med students are fantastic and you will supervise them. They will write notes on inpatient service and do lots of work that you would normally be doing, and you instead supervise them. So they get to act like a resident and you get to act like an attending. And because of the university and medical school, everybody knows about Tufts around the country even though they don't know anything about the training programs--so if name is a concern I wouldn't worry. In fact I found that when I was telling non-medical family/friends about different programs, everybody knew about Tufts, but nobody had heard of Brigham, Beth Israel, or Cambridge health Alliance. Go figure.

Let me know if I can provide any other info!

This sounds really great. Any areas where the program could be enhanced?




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UPenn-Philadelphia, PA

New to SDN. I am not super detail oriented so things like program size, didactic schedule, salary etc. are not things I tend to remember :eek:. Hopefully these reviews will still be helpful.

1. Ease of Communication:
Straightforward, scheduling directly through ERAS which I prefer to call/emailing with preferences. PC was extremely responsive and helpful with pre-interview questions as well as throughout the day.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided, cannot recall if hotels were discounted (stayed with a friend). Dinner at local Italian place with delicious food and many residents, from all years, in attendance. Breakfast was standard pastries, bagels, coffee etc. Lunch was salad with a couple of hot dishes and numerous cold options. Vegetarian options were ample at all meals.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Day opened with intro from PD and APD both of whom came across as extremely warm and inviting. They are both clearly passionate about psychiatry and resident education. they emphasize training leaders in the field. A 4th year resident provided an overview of living in Philly which was very nice.

14 or so applicants were divided into two groups, one with interviews in the morn and tour in the afternoon and the other with the reverse schedule. The PC and some colleagues escorted everyone to their interviews so we wouldn't get lost/spend time wandering around. They were all super nice. Had five-six interviews with a variety of faculty, the PD and the APD. Everyone interviews with both the PD and APD. Both of them spoke extremely highly of and with great fondness toward their residents--the residents are obviously regarded very well by the administration. All the interviews were relaxed and all interviewers had read through my application. A few commented directly on my personal statement, all mentioned details from my research/volunteering/interests. Interviewers invited me to be in communication after interview day if I had further questions though made it clear that post-interview communication was not expected. All provided business cards.

We visited a bunch of sites on the tour (I cannot recall all of them). The highlight of the tour for me was the resident team leading us around. They were fabulous-extremely passionate about psychiatry and their program. They loved living in Philly and find it very affordable on their salaries. They had long lists of pros to share about the city and the program. it was hard not to feel enthusiastic along with them.

4. Program Overview:
See first review of this program as the overview there is great. one thing to add: residents talked about having a process group (or something similar) each week in first year which they requested to facilitate class cohesion. They love it.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Residents and faculty talked excitedly about Maria Oquendo who is taking over as the new chair. She is current president of the APA. The APD showed a short impromptu video of her he had filmed at a conference and her ideas for the department are very exciting. Aaron and Judith Beck are there as well. Residents report that faculty is very accessible and welcome residents for mentorship and involvement in projects/research.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Philly--big city to some, small to others. I am in the latter camp. Like it a lot and it's cheaper than some other NE cities yet still has great food and culture. Most residents have cars though a few don't and use public transport and/or bicycles. School pays for monthly bus pass or parking at hospital. Some residents live in suburbs though most seem to live in the city. Residents get a long very well and hang out a lot outside of work. many have partners/family and feel like they have time to spend with them. Got the sense that the residents do not feel overworked yet feel they have enough work to gain the requisite skills.


7. Salary & Benefits:

see other review for awesome overview

8. Program Strengths:
- Extremely happy and cohesive residents! favorite bunch I've met.
- PD and APD--warm and supportive, love their residents, residents love them
- Philly is a great city to live in in my opinion and there is a large urban underserved population here which is great for those interested in public psychiatry
- Psychotherapy training seems great and not just CBT. I interviewed with a psychodynamic supervisor and she was utterly amazing.
- Great NIH funding. Research opportunities abound but residents do not feel pressured to engage with research if that is not an interest.


9. Potential Weaknesses:

Honestly not many at all. one of the warmest programs I have visited with the happiest and friendliest residents I have met. one potential negative is doing medicine at HUP which I imagine can be intense. Residents had no complaints about it though and many told me they liked medicine and made friends with the IM residents.

Overall, I absolutely loved this program and think the training I would get there would be superb. I have personal considerations that make Philly not an ideal location for me but if that weren't the case this would likely be my #1.
 
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Also in terms of getting to rotations, most of your time will be spent at Tufts medical center. The rotations away from campus are easily accessible by the T and for Tewksbury hospital, you can take the train and Tufts will pay for your uber. MOST residents don't have a car and you definitely don't need one.
Thanks for the insider info! As someone who doesn't have a lot of experience with commuting in big cities, I especially appreciate the additional info about the commute to more distant sites. Can you share more about what the supervision is like and other specific strengths of the psychotherapy teaching?
 
Columbia University--NYV

1. Ease of Communication:

Received an email confirmation of my application after ERAS opened which made my heart stop briefly. communication beyond that was through eras, came through email. Was offered three options with instructions to email PC with preferences. Heard back a few days later. Got my last choice which worked out okay for me. Communication with PC was great, she was super helpful and very lovely. A few days prior to my interview I received a call from the PD wanting to make sure I was all set up to come and letting me know I was welcome to contact her with any questions. They let us know at the end of interview day that one of the PDs would be calling us a few weeks later to check in and find out if we had any questions. I did receive this call.

2. Accommodation & Food:

No accommodations provided, cannot recall if hotels were discounted bec I stayed with family. Other applicants stayed in a hotel that wasn't too far from the hospital which they thought was adequate. Dinner was at a restaurant in Harlem which was nice. Food was good. There was a fair showing of residents from each class and they seemed really great. All very happy with training and feel that program is supportive even though not warm and fuzzy per se. All seemed quite accomplished too. Breakfast was bagels, pastries coffee etc. Lunch was salad, wraps (or sandwiches--can't remember) with no vegetarian options. there were plenty of cookies and brownies so I ate those for lunch



3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):

PC greeted us when we arrived and made sure we knew where to go. She was so excited to have us there and cared a lot about making sure we had everything we needed. Put me at ease immediately. Day opened with breakfast and 15 minutes of casual chatting with chief residents. This was followed by intro from PD and APDs. They didn't use a PPT and gave a nice overview without one. The PD is big on medical education and her passion for it came across. One of the PDs is a neuroscientist, the other runs the psychotherapy track. They also had someone talk about public psychiatry as their setup with the New York Psychiatric Institute is unique (details below). My impression is that didactics are extremely strong as is the psychotherapy training even outside of the psychotherapy track. I am pretty sure didactics are at lunchtime in year 1 and then on dedicated days in later years but I can't recall exactly. Sounded like they were excellent didactics.

We were a large group of applicants (8 or 10?) and apparently there was another equally large group there as well doing things in the reverse order. We didn't see them much as we had separate dinners, lunches and overviews with the PDs. The tour was nice (in general I am not a big fan of tours, wish they were optional) and we were able to visit the main hospital and see the NYPI setting without having to go outside since everything is connected by skyways. This is great bec it was super cold. After the tour we had lunch. A nice showing of residents there too, all eager to share about the program. There seemed to be a nice amount of diversity with regards to race, age, interests. Very cohesive and friendly bunch. Very positive vibes.

The PC and residents helped us find our way to interviews so there was no wandering around. All the interviews were on the same floor, in resident offices. interviews were all relaxed with a combination of "what questions do you have about the program?" and interviews during which i was asked a lot of questions about myself. I had a very short 10 min interview with one of the APDs, the rest were 30 min or so.

In the afternoon, meetings were set up with faculty from different departments based on student interest. it was made clear that the ppl we were meeting with do not report to the admissions committee. My meetings were outstanding, gave me a great view of what is going on in areas of great interest to me. this was a highlight of my day for sure.

Between interviews we hung out in the resident workroom and lots of residents stopped by to chat. Many hung out for a while. They were a really fun and down to earth group. Again, good vibes.

4. Program Overview:

I am not great with details but basically the first two years are inpatient and second two are outpatient. Standard sounding neuro and medicine. MEdicine there is intense but residents said that IM residents are so strong and so passionate that they found them to be super supportive to the psych residents on IM services if any needed help.
Unique OP clinic at NYPI where patients don't pay to be seen so no-show rate is low. Also, clinic was set up for resident education so patients are handpicked for resident education and residents don't see large volumes of patients just bec lots of patients need to be seen. There is also a unique relationship between the OP and IP teams of the Washington Heights Community Center (? think that's the name) where there is a lot of collaboration between providers so chronically ill patients get great continuity of care and coordination when hospitalized. Seemed like an ideal system.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:

PDs are all fabulous with different interests and serious publication records. There is someone doing pretty much everything here with 1000+ faculty members. I am not particularly interested in big names so I didn't pay attention to who is there but I got the sense that the ppl there are renowned.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Other than medicine rotations this programs is very humane. REsidents did not complain about medicine rotations but did state that they pushed 80hours constantly. Flip side is the medicine foundation is strong (which I care a lot about). Residents have a lot of interests and time to pursue them. Don't have specifics but their hours sounded pretty standard. Not a workhorse program.
NYC--big city. I am a native so this is not intimidating to me. They are in a relatively inexpensive area of the city with a 3k housing stipend per year and subsidized housing making it affordable. Salaries in 3rd and 4th year are in 70s and 80s bec of supplemental money through the state.


7. Salary & Benefits:
Don't have exact numbers but in the 60s for years 1-2 and then big jump in years 3-4. Benefits seemed good.


8. Program Strengths:
- Research powerhouse. Solid path towards academics.
- Extremely impressive yet warm and welcoming PD with impressive APDs as well. Training in neuroscience and psychotherapy seem unparalleled. Research is encouraged though not required and areas of research are varied--from bench, to epi to QI.
- Good camaraderie amongst residents. Very friendly and cohesive.
- fellowships are strong, especially public psych (they were first in nyc possibly in country). Very strong public psych teaching.
- Diverse residents

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Big program, welcoming but not warm and fuzzy. Mentorship needs to be sought out.
- Medicine rotations at Columbia could be weakness for some

Overall I was extremely impressed by this program. I went in expecting it to be super research focused but what i found was a program that supports many types of interests. The PDs and residents gave off such happy vibes and the training is clearly outstanding. My expectations were exceeded.
 
This sounds really great. Any areas where the program could be enhanced?

There is always room for improvement in any program and every week we discuss ways to improve in our residency meeting. I'm interested in forensics, and while we do get good inpatient and outpatient forensics exposure, I would love to see a forensics fellowship. We have contracts with the Solomon Carter Fuller forensic hospital and the forensic psychiatry staff there are on faculty at Tufts. I have spoken with administration who are thinking about starting a fellowship in the next few years which would be great.




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Thanks for the insider info! As someone who doesn't have a lot of experience with commuting in big cities, I especially appreciate the additional info about the commute to more distant sites. Can you share more about what the supervision is like and other specific strengths of the psychotherapy teaching?

Well if you aren't used to big cities, Boston is a great place to start. it's one of the most walkable cities in America and very user friendly. Compared to NYC its a cake walk.

You get a supervisor in year 1. Year two you start your outpatient practice and get another supervisor that you meet with weekly. Then in 3rd and 4th year you'll get several more supervisors that you work with regularly--you can request to work with specific supervisors. Also if you're interested in a certain kind of therapy (CBT, DBT) you can request a supervisor who specializes in that.

Most of the faculty are biologically oriented but also have either psychodynamic or psychoanalytic training so you can talk about patients in many different ways with each person. When you start learning about how to make "biopsychosocial" formulations you'll learn how to think and talk about patients from different perspectives while holding all them in your mind together.
 
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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. In hindsight could’ve/shouldve written these immediately but trying to use now to solidify rank list. Also Splik made me feel guilt.

University of Minnesota


1. Ease of Communication: Easy. PC easily reachable through email and phone. Quick responses.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodation, they suggest a downtown Marriott but it doesn’t really mater. Program provides cabs and pays fare to interview, dinner, and airport after so no stress getting around. No real breakfast, just coffee and scones over casual talk. Lunch was usual sandwiches/deserts/chips and heavily attended by residents. Like 4 or 5:1 ratio residents to applicants no joke.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Began with a program overview by two VA attendings and a casual question answer session and going around the room getting to know everyone. Coffee and scones. Then a VA tour. Then you are shuttled over to the University hospital for the rest of your day which includes lunch, 4 30 min interviews, resident conference, meeting the chair, and another tour. Most structured of interviews I have had… they knew my application well and asked directed questions. Little to no time at end of interviews to ask questions which was pretty unusual to me compared to other interviews where sometimes the whole interview was “what can I answer for you”.

4. Program Overview: 7 residents/year.

Call:
Extremely reasonable.
PGY1-2 - kinda confusing to type out. Its all online.
No call during PGY3-4. Residents mentioned lots of moonlighting opportunities and doubling salaries from a few weekends of moonlighting a month.

Didactics:
Standard half day.

Other/Random:
Do all off service (other than pedi) at VA. Honestly nothing I found too notable about program elective-wise/track-wise, etc. PGY-4 year totally open and residents basically create their own electives. Relatively new push for psychotherapy. Begin to pick up patients second year. Program admits that they are very medication based. Basically if you’d want to get good at therapy that would probably mean using electives and working hard on your own 4th year. New chair seems to be trying to shake things up and push research/vamp up therapy. Do get good group/family therapy exposure via co-leading groups with psychologist.

Training sites include VA and University.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: There is some research going on, doesn’t seem like too many residents are into that. New chair is doing a push more a lot more research though; was repeatedly asked if I had any interest during interviews. The faculty I met seemed approachable and kind. Loved the PD.

6. Location & Lifestyle: I love Minneapolis period the end. But I have always known this. Very active and young city. Summers are great but short. Winters are long but you live and learn to love winter sports. Residents are relaxed and happy. Have ample free time and many have families/kids.

7. Salary & Benefits: 51-56k PGY1-4. 15 days off PGY1/2 20 PGY3/4. 15 days sick leave. 5 Conference days w/ funding support if presenting.

8. Program Strengths:
- Residents seem pretty cohesive and were all friendly. Supportive program.
- Multiple in-house fellowships (Addiction, C&A, Forensics, Geri, C&L)
- Academic medical center

9. Potential Weaknesses:
  • Keep their own. >50% of residents are from UMN. Large amounts stay in the area too.
  • Maybe less connected faculty and PD to areas outside of region
  • The cold?

Summary: I dunno, nothing particularly stands out: fairly standard academic program, great city in the cold. Honestly, love it despite what seems like a lukewarm review.
 
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Duke
This was a long time ago and unfortunately not too many notes were taken MY BAD.


1. Ease of Communication: Easy through email and online portal.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodation. Dinner at a trendy Mexican restaurant and lunch was sandwiches. Attended by (almost? giving myself some wiggle room here but I can only remember meeting 1 not MS3 the whole day other than the chief interview) ONLY PGY3s.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Began with overview by chair; very unstructured and was run like a “tell me about yourself/interests then I will segue off of that with facts about the program”. 4 30 min interviews; half applicants have in morning with tour in afternoon and the other half reverse. day ended early, 2ish. Interviews were with PD, faculty, a social worker, and the chief.

4. Program Overview: 11 residents/year.
Rotations:
PGY1 year if 4 months IM, 4 months inpatient psych, 2 months outpatient psych at VA, 1 month emergency psych, 1 month neuro consults.
PGY2- 6 months inpatient psychiatry at Central Regional Hospital (including 1 month nightfloat), 1 month outpatient psychiatry (VA), 2 months Duke ED nightfloat, 3 months C/L at Duke and VA.
PGY3- outpatient clinics at Duke and VA and neurology
PGY4- addictions psych (1 day) and electives

Call:
Super front loaded. will work 6 days a week basically all first two years. Dunno details.

Didactics:
Standard protected half day.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Lots of research. Lots of cool faculty. With legwork can get involved in whatever you want probably.

6. Location & Lifestyle: I really like the area. It seems like there are pretty decent outdoor activities, decent weather, and enough of a city feel to make me not get cagey.

7. Salary & Benefits: Salary is $52-$58K PGY1-4. 15 days/yr vacation be taken in 1 week blocks. Like 5 extra holiday days off. Free parking. Meals on call. The usual.

8. Program Strengths:
  • Good psychotherapy; family studies program seems unparalelled for therapy learning direct supervision akin to what I assume psychologists get in training
  • Early outpatient exposure
  • Broad elective options 4th year
  • Multiple in-house fellowships
  • Lots of research
  • C/L intense and good if thats your thing
  • THE CAMPUS THO. Duke is beautiful. I would want to train near a castle.
  • I love the region. Near outside activities. City amenities without the huge city.
9. Potential Weaknesses:
  • harder than other programs to gather information on the program and feel out the vibe because of little online information, packet information, and more “insulated” interview day so I didn’t talk to as many different people as I feel like I usually do at interviews.
  • On the heavier-workload side. Per resident “we may be the hardest working program, but it is doable”. Could be a positive for some. Only MS3s seemed to have enough time to talk to us, and multiple of them voluntarily brought up how brutal 2nd year was and how great 3rd year is in comparison. A little off putting.

Summary: Has the name, has the prestige, has the research, would get great clinical experience, but is it worth it?
 
Albert Einstein -- Montefiore

1. Ease of Communication:

PC very easy to get in touch with either via e-mail or by phone. They mailed a very helpful and comprehensive packet several weeks before my interview. It was incredibly thorough -- I wish more programs did this in advance or updated their website so that current information was easily available.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided and no dinner the night before. Breakfast the morning of was an impressive assortment of bagels, muffins, other baked goods, fruit, and yogurt (probably the nicest on the interview trail.) Lunch was a wide variety take-out kosher Chinese food -- also quite delicious! There was a large resident turnout at lunch; way more residents than applicants were there. They rotated around a couple of times, so that we could get to talk to a few of them. Everyone was incredibly happy, down to Earth, and passionate about their choice of Monte for residency. These were by far sp,e pf the happiest residents I've met on the interview trail.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Day starts at 9 am with three other applicants. If you park in their garage (right down the street), they will validate parking. Give yourself plenty of time to get there as traffic was a mess the morning of my interview. The interviews take place in this cute little house down the street from the hospital -- this is apparently also where they have their lectures. There is a chief resident (doing her 5th year focused on education) who basically runs the show. She gave a general overview of the program, described her personal experiences/reasons for choosing Monte, and then answered our questions for the rest of the time we were there. You have three 30 minute interviews with the PD, aPD, and another faculty member. I think all of my interviewers were analysts, and the interviews were very analytical: "tell me about your childhood", "what's your relationship like with your siblings?", "tell me about your parents", etc. Despite this, I felt that all three of them were very warm, and were asking from a place of curiosity/really just wanting to get to know me on a deeper level (all likely while quietly analyzing me in their heads, haha). (Also, at that point in my interview season, I was likely happy to get questions other than "why psychiatry?" for the hundredth time...) It was clear that they were passionate about the program and very invested in resident education and well-being. The three interviews were staggered in the morning and once they were finished, we went on a tour of the hospital. The hospital was very nice -- clean and quite a bit of natural light. Residents get their own offices (I can't remember which year) which are quite spacious. Residents said that during third year, they felt as if they were running their own private practice. The the end of the day, the departing Chair came and talked to us about what he believes sets psychiatrists apart from other providers -- essentially psychotherapy skills and a natural curiosity that encourages one to keep digging further. Apparently the new chair is more biological/research-oriented, so that will be a nice balance.

4. Program Overview:
Large program with 12 residents per year. Intern year: The class is split in half -- half starts on service and half starts off-service. 3 months inpatient medicine where you are the acting medicine intern carrying around 5 patients -- was told that psych residents are well-respected and there's a lot of teaching that goes on here. Medicine is 6 days per week, starting around 7 am and you alternating leaving at 5 pm or 8 pm every other day. While on medicine, you also have two two-week blocks of nightfloat. 1 month outpatient medicine. 2 months neurology (1 month inpatient and the other doing consults). While you are on these rotations, you are totally on their schedule (ie no protected psych didactic time) and go to their lecture series. There are 4 months inpatient psych and 2 months emergency psych. When on inpatient, there are 3 residents and you carry around 5 patients. Residents alternating leading groups and community meetings during the week. Didactics are all day Thursdays -- no clinical responsibilities (I think all four years have full-day didactics, but I'm not sure if they're all on the same day). The first year curriculum is repeated when the residents who were off-service come back on-service, so no one misses anything.
PGY2: 6 months inpatient psych, 2 months consults, 2 months child, 1 month geri, 1 month addiction. 3 months of inpatient psych are done at Bronx Psychiatric Center which is apparently where severely chronically ill, long-term patients are. I was told they get good forensic exposure here. On geri, you do home visits, nursing home evals, and consults in the hospital. On child and adolescent, you get to do consults in the hospital, two outpatient cases, and apparently lots of solid lectures on things like play therapy, etc. Residents cited that one of their weaknesses was the lack of an inpatient/acute geri and child experience.
PGY3: All outpatient -- get to schedule your own patients. You get 30 primary cases, about 8-10 of those are psychotherapy cases. (I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember how psychotherapy supervision is done here... There isn't anything in my notes about it. Feel free to chime in with this!)
PGY4: 50% outpatient and 50% electives/chief residency position.

Call: Residents take call for psych when on neuro and psych rotations.
Intern year: First 4 calls are supervised. 5-6 times per month 4:30pm to 10:30pm doing admissions and taking consults
PGY2: 3-4 times per month overnight 4:30 pm to 8:30 am, residents cover the ED only until 10:30 and then at that point start covering the unit until the end of the call. There are also 12 hour weekend shifts, but I didn't write down what the frequency of these were. It might be the case that these 3-4 times per month also included these weekend days... Maybe sometimes else can fill in the gap here.
PGY3: Overnight call 1-2 times per month, but no weekends.
PGY4: No call

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Faculty seem to be very invested in resident education and interests. PD said she is happy to help connect residents with faculty in their areas of interest. Residents said they felt the teaching here was excellent and that most attendings were very approachable.

6. Location & Lifestyle:

Located in the Bronx which could be a positive or negative for many. Short subway ride into Manhattan, but housing is still quite expensive. The location makes for a rich patient diversity, but predominately lower socioeconomic status. Residents all stated that they have an excellent work-life balance and feel very supported by the program. Again, basically nothing but accolades for the program and the support they get from it. Residents are a mix of single, married, and with kids. All seemed to be very cohesive and enjoyed working with one another.

7. Salary & Benefits:
  • $58,900 to $68,000 PGY1-4
  • 20 vacation days
  • 5 conference days
  • $500/year educational stipend
  • $15 daily food allowance -- even on weekends (!!!!) Residents said they sometimes come to the hospital even when they're not working just to use this money
  • Subsidized housing available (though not guaranteed) across the street as well as in a more family-friendly/suburban-feeling area called Riverdale (a shuttle is available from this location to the hospital)
  • Moonlighting (nothing in-house) can start PGY3 if you have permission, otherwise PGY4. Residents said there are plenty of opportunities and the time to do it.
  • Excellent health plans
  • Demonstration therapy is encouraged and paid for

8. Program Strengths:

  • Happy, cohesive, friendly, intelligent residents who were very passionate about the program
  • Warm atmosphere, PD motivated to help residents find their niche
  • +/- Strong psychotherapy training (psychodynamic flavor might not be for everyone)
  • Protected full-day didactics, program is very education-oriented
  • Diverse patient population
  • Free daily food!!
  • +/- Located in the Bronx, short subway ride to Manhattan
  • Subsidized housing
9. Potential Weaknesses:
  • No acute geri or child and adolescent exposure
  • No elective time until 4th year which is then only 1/2 elective and 1/2 outpatient
  • +/- No nightfloat system, so possibly more overnight calls (their schedule still seems incredibly cush)
  • No in-house moonlighting available
  • Not sure if anything will be changing with the arrival of the new chair (no one seemed to think this would make much difference other than possibly more research opportunities)
  • Not much research going on here -- but I was told residents can find a research mentor if they are motivated
  • Not sure how much exposure to ECT/TMS residents get
10. Overall Impression:

Wonderful program that would no doubt provide excellent clinical training. The faculty has quite a few analysts which might not be for everyone and I'm not crazy about being that close to NYC, but for someone who wants to be in close proximity to NYC and get excellent therapy training, this would be an amazing program for you. This would not be a good program for you if you know you want to be doing a lot of research during residency. Everyone here was incredibly welcoming and it really did have a family-feel to it. The program is family-friendly and actually cares about resident well-being and happiness. I really got a great feeling from this program.
 
I do not take a lot of notes, and for some reason it is hard for me to remember details like call schedule, didactics, etc. I feel like, at the top competitive programs, I'll get worked like a dog, and will receive good training. I tried not to worry about workload too much, and instead paid attention to how the residents interacted with each other and program leadership, and whether I will be able to accomplish my goals as a trainee.

Program: UCLA-NPI

1. Ease of Communication: Program coordinator was very responsive to emails, and the schedule of my interview day was sent the night before.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations. Light breakfast was served in the morning (coffee, fruits, pastries). Catered lunch. Food and drinks were served at happy hour after the interview day.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The day started at 9, with a presentation by the chief residents. The PD then gave a short talk (~10min) afterwards before everyone went off for their first set of interviews. There are a total of 3 interviews (1 attending, 1 with PD/APD, 1 with resident). All of the interviews were pretty chill, and all interviewers took the time to read my application prior to the meetings. I had an interview with the PD, and while I felt pretty relaxed, he was particular attentive to all parts of my application and did ask me some questions that required me to think on my feet. It really felt like they were gauging “fit” as opposed to evaluating me as a candidate, though I guess those two things go hand in hand. If I had to guess as to what they’re looking for, I would say accomplished, driven people who do not take themselves too seriously. There was a certain laid-back vibe that came across during all of my interviews. The day ended at 5ish, and everyone walked to happy hour. All of the program directors go to happy hour, so do not get too lit.

4. Program Overview: (copied from previous review)

PGY1 – 13 blocks: 1 month of inpatient IM at the VA, 2 months of ambulatory medicine at Sepulveda VA, 1 month of ER at VA, 1 month of inpatient Neuro, 1 month of Neurobehavior, 1 month of emergency psych at Harbor ER, 2 months of Geri Psych, and 2 months of Inpatient Psych at VA, 2 months of night float/vacation

*Note: The intern that matches into the Harbor track will spend their entire first year at UCLA-Harbor and rejoin the resident class automatically during PGY2

PGY2 – 15 blocks: 5 months of inpatient psych at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center (divided into 2 months of psychotic disorders, 2 months of mood disorders, and 1 month of dual diagnosis), 3 months of inpatient psychiatry at VA, 1 month of psych ICU at VA, 2 months of C&A at UCLA Ronald Reagan, 3 blocks of consults at UCLA Ronald Reagan, 1 block of night float

PGY3/PGY4 – I copied this from the website:

All clinical work in the PGY3 and PGY4 years occurs in the outpatient setting.

Must complete 3 of the following 4 core clinic requirements: 1. General Outpatient Clinic or Geriatric Evaluation Clinic. 2. Mood Disorders Clinic. 3. Psychosis Clinic. 4. Anxiety Disorders Clinic.

Must complete 1 of the following 2 specialty or consultation clinic requirements: 1. Specialty Populations Clinic, such as Women’s Life Clinic. 2. Consultation or Substance Abuse Clinic.

Must complete 1 community mental health clinic.

Psychotherapy: at least 2 patients for at least 42 sessions each.

*Note: There are many established electives (40+) to pick from during 3rd and 4th year and lots of support for residents to create their own

Call
PGY1 - Roughly q5 at VA or UCLA Medical center while on Neurobehavior, Neurology, Ambulatory, Geri Psych, VA PICU, and VA Dual Diagnosis. Call is usually 5-10PM on weekdays and 5PM to 8AM on weekends at UCLA and VA (except Sundays at VA which are 3-10PM home call) ; 2 - blocks of Night float (2 weeks)/vacation (2 weeks) working 6PM-8AM 5 days/week

PGY2 - Roughly q7-8; 5PM-8AM at VA on weekdays and 8AM-8AM on weekends. 5pm-8AM at UCLA occasionally on Fridays; 3 weeks of night float (10PM - 8AM)

PGY3 - Roughly q14; until 10PM at UCLA

PGY4 - No call

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Many of the faculty are very accomplished, and whatever your interests are, you are likely to find leaders in the field/good mentors here. Of the more competitive programs that I have visited (UCLA, UCSF, Columbia, Cornell), the faculty/leadership here seemed the most supportive of residents and resident education, and responsive to their feedback.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Located in Westwood. The undergrad and medical campuses are adjacent to each other, so it makes for a busy, exhilarating environment, though it might not be for everyone. For someone basic science oriented, it might be nice to have basic neuroscience labs in such close proximity to the hospital (and chart-stalk while setting up an experiment). Westwood itself seems pretty safe, with most of the crime being theft of some sort. There are a lot of cheap food options nearby. Traffic is truly awful, so most residents live pretty close to the medical center.

7. Salary & Benefits:

PGY1 – $53,947
PGY2 – $55,736
PGY3 – $57,925
PGY4 – $60,211


Health benefits are excellent, with no copay if you use UCLA facilities. You also get a $2500 moving allowance.

Vacation: 20 work days (4 weeks) During intern year, 2 week blocks of vacation are “tied to” night float, meaning your vacation time is at the mercy of your schedule. For PGY-2 and beyond, you can schedule your vacation time, and residents usually have no problem getting their preference.
Sick Leave: 12 days per year


8. Program Strengths: A lot. To me, the main strength is the breadth and quality of the research. If you’re an interested person, which you likely are if interviewing at UCLA, it will be like eating omakase at a good sushi place. Other strengths include the quality of clinical training, supportive program leadership, ample moonlighting opportunities and accomplished, driven, kind, laid-back residents. Residents within classes are very close, and they are friendly across classes. The residents care a lot about the program, and seem to be more inclined to seek areas for improvement and implement changes. Is a family-friendly program, with many residents having more than one child, and not looking like complete death. No call last two years.

9. Potential Weaknesses: PD made a comment during the morning presentation along the lines of “… the residents do not have as much autonomy as they should.” This notion was refuted by the chief residents, so it’s not clear how much of an issue this really is. By the end of training, residents are accomplished and prepared, so this does not appear to be too much of a problem. LA might not be for some, though whether it is more “superficial” than other big cities (SF, NYC) is probably overblown. Public transportation in LA is awful.

10. Overall Impression: This is a top-notch program, with opportunities available at every corner, though you probably have to seek them out. As long as you have a vision for the kind of psychiatrist that you want to be, program leadership will be supportive and helpful with finding appropriate mentorship to help you with your plan, as evidenced by the diversity of resident backgrounds and accomplishments. Clinical training is intense, and residents work hard, but still have enough time to socialize regularly. It is hard for me to think of many weaknesses (I guess LA might be a weakness?). I have personal reasons for why this program might not be #1 on my rank list (it still might be), but it will definitely be top 3.
 
Penn State Hershey

1. Ease of Communication: I think it was ERAS invitation. PC was a really nice lady. In general communication was easy.

2. Accommodation & Food: Pre-interview dinner at a sit-down restaurant, but relaxed. Residents offer to pick you up at your hotel which is really nice. Hotel booked by PC, paid for one night. Breakfast included at hotel. At interview there was some coffee and lunch. Nothing special. One good thing is that the program has a shuttle van that picks you up and drops you off at hotels or bus/train stations.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 5x 30min interviews. Some interviewer just asked if you had any questions. Some reviewed your file before hand, some didn't. No unusual questions. In general really relaxed, chat-style interviews.

4. Program Overview: Seems to have lots of IMGs, or US-IMGs. Work schedule is on the light side, 45-55h/week in general. Internal medicine may reach 65h but not beyond that. Call schedule is not bad. I don't remember the specifics though since it's been a while. Sorry! The PD is a funny guy who made lots of jokes. He consider himself to be a "parent" of the residents, very protective of them when they're outside rotating. In general, a small, "family-style" program.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Chair seemed to be really young. She has some research grants on Bipolar. The program has a solid Sleep Medicine lab, so if you're interested in that it's a good place to be trained. They also have a relatively solid ECT program. Lots of people doing CL there also. Not very strong in psychotherapy.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Safe town, super low violent crime rate. The main city nearby is Harrisburg. You'll do part of training there, about 20 mins drive. Not much going on there it seems. But it's close enough to several big cities such as Philly. Good schools for kids, family friendly.

7. Salary & Benefits: Starts at $55K. Really good for the living cost there.

8. Program Strengths: Residents seemed really happy. The program has lots of opportunities to develop personal fields of interest. Good work-life balance with abundant salary.

9. Potential Weaknesses: Kind of isolated, not even in the same town with the rest of Penn State. Just the medical school there. The patient population mainly from Harrisburg. No coherent strength in training of major psychiatric illnesses. I'm sure you'll still get trained in those, but faculty seemed to be more interested in sleep medicine or CL.

10. Overall Impression: Small and laid back program. Not a bad place but nothing glorious.
 
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San Mateo County - San Mateo, CA

San Mateo County
1. Ease of Communication:
ERAS + email. PC very responsive and helpful in the days leading up to my interview.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Stayed at an AirBNB nearby in San Mateo and rented a car. No dinner the night before. Lunch was well catered with some tasty and healthy options.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Morning was a discussion with the PD, no powerpoint, but rather a conversation about what makes their program unique. (A nice detour from the overdone PPT presentations) Interviews were approximately 45 minutes with PD, who is very warm and welcoming. Interviews overall were very casual, why I was interested in their program, why a community program? We sat in on a didactics with the current residents during lunch, which was well attended by PGY-2's and up. Residents seemed bright and independent and open to sharing their experiences.

4. Program Overview:

This is a community psychiatry program with some rotations occurring at UCSF, Kaiser and Stanford. However, the majority of your work will be at San Mateo County Hospital. Fairly standard intern year, with Neuro at Stanford being quite challenging. Outpatient Psych commences 2nd year and then 3rd year starts back up with Inpatient work. 4th year is completely open for electives. If you want to do something unique, it sounds like the PD will support you in that endeavor. Lots of mindfulness and healthfulness offered. Fast track option for CAP with some residents going to Stanford. Public Psych partnership with UCSF which you can do as fellowship for your PGY-4.

No Call, however residents can start moonlighting PGY-2 or 3 in the Psych Emergency and have an overnight call experience. Lots of autonomy with your patients.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
PD has been on for a few years and encourages the residents to choose their own training paths and interests. Psychotherapy supervisors are supposedly excellent. Lots of community mental health opportunities, but this is not a program for neuroimaging/clinical trials type research support.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
San Mateo County Hospital is a county hospital and of modest size. San Mateo is halfway between San Francisco and Palo Alto and as expensive as either one of those cities. Cost of living is incredibly high and the traffic can be rough. Residents main complaint of the program is the traffic (up to 1 hour one way from San Fran depending on time) but residents live all over. So the location is a hit or miss depending on what you like.
Weather is spectacular in the bay area.
No call means having a life outside of your work, however the traffic can soak up a good chunk of your free time.

7. Salary & Benefits:

Starting at the mid 60's and goes up to the 70's. Decent benefits package. In-house moonlighting can start during 2nd year to help offset the cost of living.

8. Program Strengths:
• Excellent community program with strong opportunities to continue into fellowships like Public Psych at UCSF.
• Excellent psychotherapy training with lots of supervision
• Full day of didactics
• Residents seem super sharp with very strong academic backgrounds.
• Bay Area is gorgeous and has the best weather in the country by far.
• Emphasis on wellness, no call

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• High cost of living
• Traffic
• No VA exposure
• Research opportunities
 
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Cambridge Health Alliance-Harvard Medical School - Cambridge, MA

1. Ease of Communication:
email. PC quick responder and provided me with 3 interview date options and was glad to get my first choice.

2. Accommodation & Food:
None provided, however Cambridge and the adjacent neighborhoods had plentiful AirBNB options and a reasonable cost. No car needed throughout Cambridge as its very walkeable.
Lunch was catered in the didactics conference room (excellent and lots of options). Dinner the night before at a residents house; great place to chat with residents informally.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Morning was a discussion with the PD with powerpoint about CHA and how it is unique, its vision and how they are looking to find out WHY we are the way we are, and to define our narrative for them during the interview day. 4 interviews total, roughly 1 hour in length each with PD, APD and residents. This was definitely more of an intimate interview feel, (it offered an opportunity to share openly about your unique characteristics) and when I left I felt that they knew exactly what kind of individual I am. This was unique as compared to other interviews where you glaze over the concept of "tell me about yourself". Lunch was well attended by residents who seemed very capable and nice people.

4. Program Overview:
This is an academically affiliated community psychiatry program whose strengths are derived from its robust community engagement and humanistic mission. I found the Cambridge Hospital to be small, purposeful and well-designed since lots of light came through on a bleak winter day. There are 6 weeks of electives in the first year! Unheard of to me, and the residents take full advantage of excellent rotations all over. If you want it, the PD will help you develop it. Medicine is tough here, but manageable. There's required ICU portion as well. The PD is another big asset to this program, as he has been there for quite a while and has no intention of leaving. Patient population includes lots of LGBTQ, under-served, language and ethnic minorities as well as a smattering of professors that you will care for.
Psychotherapy training is VERY strong, lots of psychodynamic roots here, which is a plus if that's what you're into. Several hours of psychotherapy supervision provided during outpatient work. Residents go on to whatever fellowship they want.

Call schedule is very humane, none the first year. If you take backup call they pay you handsomely which helps offset the cost of living in Cambridge.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
PD is a gem and a leader in LGBT mental health. He seems very committed to ensuring that his residents develop into exceptional psychiatrists. Similar to the PD, the Associate PD is equally warm and welcoming, sharp and made me feel that her guidance professionally would be of the greatest quality.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Cambridge is well, the land of Harvard and MIT, so lots of incredibly bright, high-achieving people. However, the surrounding neighborhoods like Somerville are livable in how close they are to the hospital. Boston and Cambridge have dumpy weather, rain or snow, or somehow both together...but if you look past that, there are plenty of pubs to go warm up in. Also, residents made it clear that summer and fall are awesome seasons in Massachusetts.
Good work life balance.

7. Salary & Benefits:

57 up to 66 in PGY-4 . Great benefits package due to there being a resident union. Back up call/Moonlighting can start during 2nd year to help offset the cost of living.

8. Program Strengths:
• Residency program is guided by its socially minded focus
• Top level psychotherapy training with lots of supervision
• Residents seemed healthy, happy and smart
• Administration seem to be solid

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• Cambridge is expensive
• Lacks VA
• Limited Research
 
University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio

1. Ease of Communication:
ERAS invitation. Some additional email material when interview approaches. PC quite experienced in the field.
2. Accommodation & Food:
Not paid for. Provides a discount with the Radisson hotel which is connected to the hospital through underground tunnel. Quite interesting setting. You're literally 3 minutes walk underground from interview site. Pre-interview dinner was so good. In a Japanese restaurant. Breakfast on your own. Lunch was catered. Options of sandwiches and salads.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
PD opens with an introduction, PC talks about the benefits. Only 3 short (20-25min) interviews + PD interview, which is really just chatting and even shorter. No unusual questions. Everyone super chill and relaxed. Lunch was with residents AND PD. They were all joking around and seemed to get along really well.

4. Program Overview:
Small program with strong support for residents academically. $600 education material per year, conference days and $1000 towards board exam courses. 100% passing board exams and 100% fellowship match if applied. They have a group session every week (or every other week) for residents to get together and talk about patients, personal issues, anything, just like a support group. It's confidential as in therapy. So the residents are one of the most cohesive groups I've seen. Call schedule is manageable, only short calls the first year. They allow home calls ever since the first year. Which is pretty sweet. Second year's more heavy on calls, with a few Saturday 24 hours calls per year. They also have a training month when you start your intern year. You first shadow a more senior resident around and they slowly let go until you feel confident enough.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
They have some research funding, though not a lot compared to research programs. The faculty is quite accessible. Residents were satisfied with the open-door policy and emphasized they mostly interacted with attendings as peers. You can get certified in ECT there.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
High crime rate and lots of heroin problems. Super strange downtown area. I'm really not sure about living there. Anyone from the area have more insights? Low living cost. Residents and faculty seem to be mostly living in a slightly nicer suburban area near the hospital.

7. Salary & Benefits:
From $53K up. Pretty good for the living cost there.

8. Program Strengths:
Small cohesive program. Everyone seems to get along well and supportive of each other. The faculty members are easy going. You'll be supported to pass the board exam and to apply for fellowships.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
Dangerous city (maybe just my perception during a two-days' visit).
 
Thanks everyone for posting more reviews!! They're extremely helpful especially when people are making decisions about their rank lists. Let's keep posting them before the rank list is due so we can maximize the benefit from them at this point in time!
 
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Program: UCLA-NPI

8. Program Strengths: A lot. To me, the main strength is the breadth and quality of the research. If you’re an interested person, which you likely are if interviewing at UCLA, it will be like eating omakase at a good sushi place. Other strengths include the quality of clinical training, supportive program leadership, ample moonlighting opportunities and accomplished, driven, kind, laid-back residents. Residents within classes are very close, and they are friendly across classes. The residents care a lot about the program, and seem to be more inclined to seek areas for improvement and implement changes. Is a family-friendly program, with many residents having more than one child, and not looking like complete death. No call last two years.

9. Potential Weaknesses: PD made a comment during the morning presentation along the lines of “… the residents do not have as much autonomy as they should.” This notion was refuted by the chief residents, so it’s not clear how much of an issue this really is. By the end of training, residents are accomplished and prepared, so this does not appear to be too much of a problem. LA might not be for some, though whether it is more “superficial” than other big cities (SF, NYC) is probably overblown. Public transportation in LA is awful.

10. Overall Impression: This is a top-notch program, with opportunities available at every corner, though you probably have to seek them out. As long as you have a vision for the kind of psychiatrist that you want to be, program leadership will be supportive and helpful with finding appropriate mentorship to help you with your plan, as evidenced by the diversity of resident backgrounds and accomplishments. Clinical training is intense, and residents work hard, but still have enough time to socialize regularly. It is hard for me to think of many weaknesses (I guess LA might be a weakness?). I have personal reasons for why this program might not be #1 on my rank list (it still might be), but it will definitely be top 3.

I agree with your interview impression. I felt the same way for pretty much everything and will post my own review soon. They definitely seem like they have a ton of research opportunities. You have 1 day off per week in PGY3 and then 1.5 days off per week in PGY4 for your own interests for everyone, even if you're not on the research track. I've seen more residents doing basic science research here than in other programs. I've also seen strong clinical research too - some of the world experts for anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia are here. They do have call in PGY3 though since you mentioned it in the program strengths that they don't.

It seems to me like residents had strong flexibility in their interests and could basically carve out whatever job they wanted afterwards during residency, whether that's academia, administration, private practice, etc. One of the big strengths of the program is also the Psychiatric Clinical Faculty Association (PCFA), which is a group of 450 private practice psychiatrists in LA who volunteer their time to host events at their beach homes and teach/supervise residents psychotherapy. It's also a great organization to tie you into the private practice network in Los Angeles for career opportunities after graduation. Many of these faculty are retiring and they are looking for young enthusiastic residents to take over their patient panel. It's said that graduates typically fill up their private practice patient panel within 2 years.

I also got the feeling that the residents didn't get as much autonomy as they wanted. One resident even complained that the faculty tend to micromanage their patients (getting mad at suggesting melatonin without discussing it with the faculty first). Many of the faculty work part time here for a few hours during the week so it's unclear about how much that affects the training if you don't have the same attending throughout the week. I can imagine it would be annoying to have to keep changing the plan for the patient if there is a difference in management strategies.

There was also a big exodus in faculty from the West LA VA where you spend a majority of your first two years because of a new change in the chair/chief/director of psychiatry there who wanted the faculty to work harder and the hiring of new faculty that got paid more than senior faculty did with no way for the senior faculty to get a raise. Many of them left to Kaiser since they were paying much more than the West LA VA could offer. This was tumultuous for the current PGY2's but they said much of the old faculty left and the new faculty have yet to be hired, which left them with much more work and less education than previous years. However, residents speculated that the new (younger) faculty will be on solid footing by the time we get there. Regardless, it seems like the first two years may be in a state of flux/transition as this clears up.
 
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Felt it was worthwhile to clear up a couple of points.

You have 1 day off per week in PGY3 and then 1.5 days off per week in PGY4 for your own interests for everyone, even if you're not on the research track.

Just about everyone gets 1 day off per week PGY-3, while those who are participating in research get an additional 0.5-1 days off per week (so up to 2 days free from clinical duties). PGY-4 affords even more time, with an additional day off per week to pursue a chiefship of your choosing (which nearly everyone does). This means that a PGY-4 doing both research and a chiefship would have 3 days off a week to pursue their own interests.

I also got the feeling that the residents didn't get as much autonomy as they wanted. One resident even complained that the faculty tend to micromanage their patients (getting mad at suggesting melatonin without discussing it with the faculty first). Many of the faculty work part time here for a few hours during the week so it's unclear about how much that affects the training if you don't have the same attending throughout the week. I can imagine it would be annoying to have to keep changing the plan for the patient if there is a difference in management strategies.

This seems off to me. Simply put, it's not true that "many of the faculty work part time here for a few hours" as you suggest. All UCLA and VA inpatient attendings are there for a month (or more) at a time, so you absolutely have the same attending throughout the week, with a consistent plan throughout.
 
Baylor - Houston, TX

1. Ease of Communication: ERAS/ERAS scheduler. Baylor sends all applicants a detailed handbook (call schedules, rotations, benefits, etc) beforehand, which was quite helpful and answered most of my questions. They also have a policy of not following up with applicants (unless a question is asked) to avert the murky "where do you stand/you are my favorite" situations, which I appreciated.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations. Validated parking, dinner the night before was nice and very well attended. Large applicant group--Baylor had 2 interview groups on the same day. Residents were very honest about their take on +/-. Breakfast & lunch day of.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 4 interviews total, each 25 min in length. One was more dynamically oriented, which I think is difficult to do in such a short amount of time and left me feeling a bit uncomfortable afterwards. Interviews either in AM or PM, depending on your group.

4. Program Overview: Intern year is 6 mo psych (3 mo inpt, 1 mo addiction, 2 mo Ben Taub ER), 4 mo primary care (1 mo inpt med, and a remarkable variety of options for the others--endo, dev peds, etc), 2 mo neuro. PGY-2 4-5 mo inpt (VA, Methodist, Menninger, Ben Taub), 4-5 m consult (including child), 2 m ER night float, 1 mo elective. PGY-3 is outpt M-F, PGY-4 electives. Refugee clinic, clinic geared towards LGBT population. Option to spend up to 6 mo in New Zealand, which seems to be more common than I thought. New jail elective started thanks to PD, who is forensics boarded.

Call: intern: weekend shifts at VA divided among residents (with PGY-3 for first half of year), PGY-2 weekends at Ben Taub (except when at Methodist or night float), home call M-F at Methodist when there. PGY-3: tandem with PGY-1 at VA for first 5 mo, Sat/Sun home call at Methodist. PGY-4: weekend VA for month of July.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Menninger is quite well known, though it appears that there has been recent turnover in staff. Quite well known faculty in psychotherapy as well. The PD really impressed me, quite accomplished, kind, and down-to-Earth. New chair from NYC is more biologically focused and seems to be pushing the dept in that direction.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Most facilities are in the Texas Med Center, and Menninger is relatively short drive away. Houston is what you make of it, quite cheap given its size and resources and remarkably socio-economically diverse. It is also increasingly a foodie-haven. But it is a sprawling mess, really flat (not for the outdoorsy), and feels like a swamp for large portions of the year. Seems quite possible to buy a home on a resident's salary.

7. Salary & Benefits:

54k starting salary, benefits appear to be cheap if by self or have a spouse and quite costly if you have dependents. Moonlighting PGY2-4 (need to complete 2 C/L rotations at Ben Taub). A select group becomes part of the Menninger call pool.

8. Program Strengths:
• Exposure to nearly every segment of population (county, private, really well off)
• Very diverse and cohesive resident group
• Awesome PD
• City is +/- depending on your tastes.
• COL in Houston is totally reasonable in most neighborhoods
• lots of electives

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• weather
• +/- call is better than years past but still a decent part of the experience
• not a cultural psych hotbed (more my interest)
• not sure if child psych training is all that great
 
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Baylor - Houston, TX

1. Ease of Communication: ERAS/ERAS scheduler. Baylor sends all applicants a detailed handbook (call schedules, rotations, benefits, etc) beforehand, which was quite helpful and answered most of my questions. They also have a policy of not following up with applicants (unless a question is asked) to avert the murky "where do you stand/you are my favorite" situations, which I appreciated.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations. Validated parking, dinner the night before was nice and very well attended. Large applicant group--Baylor had 2 interview groups on the same day. Residents were very honest about their take on +/-. Breakfast & lunch day of.

3. Interview Day
(Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 4 interviews total, each 25 min in length. One was more dynamically oriented, which I think is difficult to do in such a short amount of time and left me feeling a bit uncomfortable afterwards. Interviews either in AM or PM, depending on your group.

4. Program Overview: Intern year is 6 mo psych (3 mo inpt, 1 mo addiction, 2 mo Ben Taub ER), 4 mo primary care (1 mo inpt med, and a remarkable variety of options for the others--endo, dev peds, etc), 2 mo neuro. PGY-2 4-5 mo inpt (VA, Methodist, Menninger, Ben Taub), 4-5 m consult (including child), 2 m ER night float, 1 mo elective. PGY-3 is outpt M-F, PGY-4 electives. Refugee clinic, clinic geared towards LGBT population. Option to spend up to 6 mo in New Zealand, which seems to be more common than I thought. New jail elective started thanks to PD, who is forensics boarded.

Call: intern: weekend shifts at VA divided among residents (with PGY-3 for first half of year), PGY-2 weekends at Ben Taub (except when at Methodist or night float), home call M-F at Methodist when there. PGY-3: tandem with PGY-1 at VA for first 5 mo, Sat/Sun home call at Methodist. PGY-4: weekend VA for month of July.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Menninger is quite well known, though it appears that there has been recent turnover in staff. Quite well known faculty in psychotherapy as well. The PD really impressed me, quite accomplished, kind, and down-to-Earth. New chair from NYC is more biologically focused and seems to be pushing the dept in that direction.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Most facilities are in the Texas Med Center, and Menninger is relatively short drive away. Houston is what you make of it, quite cheap given its size and resources and remarkably socio-economically diverse. It is also increasingly a foodie-haven. But it is a sprawling mess, really flat (not for the outdoorsy), and feels like a swamp for large portions of the year. Seems quite possible to buy a home on a resident's salary.

7. Salary & Benefits:

54k starting salary, benefits appear to be cheap if by self or have a spouse and quite costly if you have dependents. Moonlighting PGY2-4 (need to complete 2 C/L rotations at Ben Taub). A select group becomes part of the Menninger call pool.

8. Program Strengths:
• Exposure to nearly every segment of population (county, private, really well off)
• Very diverse and cohesive resident group
• Awesome PD
• City is +/- depending on your tastes.
• COL in Houston is totally reasonable in most neighborhoods
• lots of electives

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• weather
• +/- call is better than years past but still a decent part of the experience
• not a cultural psych hotbed (more my interest)
• not sure if child psych training is all that great

I actually might end up ranking them as my #1, and I wanted to add a few things. From a neuropsych perspective, they have opportunities available through their rehab hospital (TIRR) have a fellowship if you want more training. Also, the new department chair (Wayne Goodman) is a big name in neuromodulation and it seems like he's taking an active role in incorporating more of a biological focus into the department and the residency.

For forensics, they do not have a fellowship, though it seems they send people to good programs (they mentioned Case Western and MGH in recent years). They have a VA treatment court that seemed very interesting, though I don't know how involved you can get. The PD is forensically trained.

Due to the port, it seems the city has a good number of refugees and human trafficking victims. If you want to work with that population, the opportunity is there. The city itself is apparently one of the most diverse in the country. It is very spread out, but their clinical sites were all very close together and the exciting parts of the city were close too. It's a lot of suburbia outside of that.

Regarding their call schedule, it seemed in line with other similar programs (UTSW, Wash U) and not quite as bad as Emory. The residents seems available, not overworked, and had time to pursue their interests. Apparently it was a lot worse for the current PGY-3s and 4s but they got rid of the hardest call site due to feedback. They only talked about internal moonlighting, but I met a resident who was making quite a bit more during external work about 30-45 minutes from the med center.

Sorry for not writing up a full review. I went in not expecting to like the program, but was pleasantly surprised.
 
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I actually might end up ranking them as my #1, and I wanted to add a few things. From a neuropsych perspective, they have opportunities available through their rehab hospital (TIRR) have a fellowship if you want more training. Also, the new department chair (Wayne Goodman) is a big name in neuromodulation and it seems like he's taking an active role in incorporating more of a biological focus into the department and the residency.

For forensics, they do not have a fellowship, though it seems they send people to good programs (they mentioned Case Western and MGH in recent years). They have a VA treatment court that seemed very interesting, though I don't know how involved you can get. The PD is forensically trained.
This program has got trashed on sdn in the past but I think it is probably a much better program than it might have been in the past. seems like they provide very good training.
the department (like all major psych departments) is already "biologically"focused, so it is not a good thing at all if they are trying to make it even more "biological" (though perhaps you have that wrong as the department has been strong in neuropsychiatry in particular for many years though with the acquisition of menniger at the beginning of the century they obviously have the psychoanalytic angle too).

MGH is not a "good program" in forensics though the person from baylor that went there could have gone to any fellowship if his choosing. I am not sure this is the program to go to if one had an interest in forensics, but it certainly has not hurt those who have had such an interest.
 
This program has got trashed on sdn in the past but I think it is probably a much better program than it might have been in the past. seems like they provide very good training.
the department (like all major psych departments) is already "biologically"focused, so it is not a good thing at all if they are trying to make it even more "biological" (though perhaps you have that wrong as the department has been strong in neuropsychiatry in particular for many years though with the acquisition of menniger at the beginning of the century they obviously have the psychoanalytic angle too).

MGH is not a "good program" in forensics though the person from baylor that went there could have gone to any fellowship if his choosing. I am not sure this is the program to go to if one had an interest in forensics, but it certainly has not hurt those who have had such an interest.

Yeah, this my lack of knowledge showing. They were saying that it was a department known for its psychotherapy and analytic aspects and that they've been putting resources into the the other stuff too. The "more biologically focused" term is just what I've heard other applicants say, though it's admittedly not an accurate term. I was personally unaware they they had these opportunities in neuropsychiatry. Even the faculty at my school didn't mention it when I was looking for application advice on where to apply.
 
Yeah, this my lack of knowledge showing. They were saying that it was a department known for its psychotherapy and analytic aspects and that they've been putting resources into the the other stuff too. The "more biologically focused" term is just what I've heard other applicants say, though it's admittedly not an accurate term. I was personally unaware they they had these opportunities in neuropsychiatry. Even the faculty at my school didn't mention it when I was looking for application advice on where to apply.
well baylor only acquired menninger in 2003 it used to be in kansas before that so its not like they have some long history of being an analytic department or anything. the previous chair yudofsky is a well known neuropsychiatrist who edited one of the major (admittedly sh*tty) textbooks in the field. i think there is quite a lot of different stuff going on in the department other than analysis, and gabbard moved into private practice some years ago too (though is still involved in teaching the residents). they got lots of money to develop their neuropsychiatry program including so-called "interventional psychiatry."
 
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