2016-2017 Psychiatry Interview Reviews

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University of Vermont - Burlington

1. Ease of Communication: initial communication via email w/link to schedule through Interview Broker. They interview on Tuesdays and Fridays starting in the first week of November and ending in the third week of January. PC is a pleasure to talk to and responds quickly.

2. Accommodation & Food: Program paid for 1 night at Hilton Garden in downtown Burlington. Applicants pay valet parking ($16/night). Can get additional nights for $89/night, which is a great deal for that hotel. The hotel is in a central location that is very convenient for exploring the city. If possible, schedule your interview in early November so you can see the the remainder of the fall foliage. I wish I did. No dinner the night before. No breakfast before interviews. You can buy breakfast at the hotel and there is free coffee and tea in the hotel lobby, but if you want breakfast on a budget you might have to bring a granola bar or something. Hotel shuttle will transport applicants to/from UVM campus. We had lunch with 5 residents at a restaurant on the undergrad campus. Excellent desserts! But avoid the salads.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interviews are on Tuesdays and Fridays lasting from 8-4pm. 3-4 applicants per day. Interview day starts with tour of inpatient facilities. 4x 30 min interviews with faculty (one will be with PD). 15 min interview/Q&A with pgy4 resident. After interviews, applicants meet as a group to chat with the department chair, who is extremely laid back. Most of the interviewers have looked at my application.

4. Program Overview:
Excellent overview on website that should answer most questions. Psychotherapy training seems decent in terms of didactics and supervision. PD is a psychoanalyst and teaches some of the didactics. There is a 1 month global health rotation in Uganda in PGY-2 , which was started last year and does not use up elective time. Of note, the child psychiatry fellowship has a family-based approach (evaluates and treats the whole family instead of just the child), which sounds amazing. It is expanding to 4 spots, 2 of which will be taken by child track residents. Not much inpatient child psych, but I doubt anyone will be heartbroken by that.

Locked and unlocked inpatient units at UVM. ~20 beds each. Smallish resident workroom (not sure where med students will fit). Outpatient facility is a few minutes walk from the hospital. Resident offices are spacious and have windows with a great view of the lake and the Adirondaks!!

Call is somewhat higher than average with about 2 weekday calls (5pm-8pm Mon-Thurs or 5pm-8am Fri) and 2 weekend shifts (8am-8pm) per month for PGY1-3. 1 month of night float per year for the first 3 years of residency. The residents also mentioned that other residents have to cover for whoever takes vacation.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Faculty seem friendly and willing to teach. PD comes across as reserved (probably because she is an analyst) but is reportedly protective of residents and responsive to resident concerns.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Burlington is scenic college town (population ~40k) located right next to Lake Champlain. Town has a crunchy vibe (local produce, farmer's markets, environmental protection, cyclists, etc.). Nature is very accessible. Lots of nearby hiking. Two ski resorts are 30-40 minutes away. Housing within town/city limits is very expensive. A 2-br seems to cost at least $1600/mo. Somewhat cheaper rent in surrounding suburbs such as South Burlington ($1200/mo for 2-br?). Majority of residents are married (or on track to be married) and several have kids. They report doing things together outside of work. 1/2 of them stay in Vermont after training and a sizable fraction of those who stay find jobs in or near Burlington.

7. Salary & Benefits:
54,7, 56.8, 60, 62.7
3 weeks vacation + 2 weeks education time (1 of the 2 weeks is designated as personal time). $500/yr CME.
Free parking right next the to hospital.
Several university perks: free access to university gym, free bus pass, free ipad mini, discounted tickets and season passes to nearby ski resorts

There is no in-house moonlighting, but there are opportunities 30-40 min away. Can start during PGY-3.

8. Program Strengths:
-unique child fellowship
-strong residents (many UVM grads); small, cohesive group that increased to 5/class last year
-training sites are all within walking distance of each other
-Burlington. Sounds like the perfect place to live, except for housing costs

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-cost of living (housing, taxes, winter utility bills) in Burlington
-call might be heavier than average
-no in-house moonlighting, though other opportunities exist >30-40 min away
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California Pacific Medical Center - San Francisco, CA

1. Ease of Communication: Very easy. The coordinator is very kind, on top of things, and accommodating. Schedule through ERAS

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodation provided. Lunch was provided. I believe on Mondays they take you to a pizza restaurant. On Tuesdays, you have Grand Rounds followed by a sandwich lunch. They only interview 1-3 applicants at a time since it's a small program, so no pre-interview dinner, but you get more than enough time with residents to talk including a residents and applicants only lunch for an hour.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Schedule starts at 8:40 where you meet with the PD who joined CPMC from Georgetown. He's forensics trained and really dedicated. The previous PD retired and did a nationwide search for a new PD. After the introduction, you have 3 30-min interviews with a resident, PD, and a faculty member, along with a tour of the inpatient unit. Then we attended grand rounds with coffee/tea. After grand rounds, we had a tour of other parts of the hospital, ie Medicine, outpatient Psych, call rooms with the residents. Then we had an hour to talk to the residents over lunch. After lunch, the PD said some closing remarks and we finished at about 2:15PM.

Regarding the interview style, my interviews were relaxed. No unusual questions. Lots of helpful information about the program. They really just want to find residents who would be happy there.

4. Program Overview:
CPMC is a growing presence in SF with many campuses opening up. They are aligned with Sutter Health. The program has been described as a community program, but they seem to have the best aspects of academics and community. They are allied with Dartmouth and their faculty have Dartmouth titles. The Dartmouth medical students rotate there. Additionally, the PD teaches and takes call and is very focused on teaching and having faculty with strong teaching abilities.

The department is very small, 4 residents per year, which creates a nice family feeling to the program. The residents are given more leeway with attending conferences/vacation/creating the kind of residency experience they want, have great relationships with their attendings, and all support each other really well partially because of the smaller size of the program. There are research opportunities and many residents create posters and present at various conferences.

Rotations are fairly standard. 2 months Neuro (1mo stroke service at CPMC and 1mo at another hospital where you see really unique pathology), 2 months inpatient medicine (more intense, 6d a week, often til 10pm), 2 mo outpatient medicine (very chill). Strong psychotherapy, you get mentorship for multiple therapy modalities and have CBT, psychodynamic patients, etc with mentorship. You also have child psych patients and have good exposure to child psych in 2nd and 3rd year. They just started a 3 month prison Forensics rotation which the residents have enjoyed quite a bit. They cover the ED of multiple campuses, but do not need to travel because they have a Telemedicine system. There is no designated Psych ED so there is some haggling with the ED physicians required, but the psych attendings are very supportive.

Call sounds intense, but the residents said it was actually quite chill. This is the best I can recall, but I apologize if it's slightly off. Intern year on psych you have 1 weekend day a week AM call. No overnight. 2nd year it's q5 or q7 overnight call. One resident said every 5 days and another said every week . But they said you ALWAYS get a postcall day off. And it felt like having a day off every week because call on average was 5-6 calls a night, but even if it's no calls, you still get the day off. 3rd year was 2-3x a month and 4th year either no call or very very little.

In terms of vacation, when a resident takes off, the other resident on the service helps out for intern year since two are on per service. The other years, the attendings help out. Taking time off isn't a problem with the small size.

Residents match at their desired fellowships and have no trouble obtaining interviews. Moonlighting is allowed and quite lucrative. And residents have time for this.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Not sure, didn't look into this.

6. Location & Lifestyle: SF is a great place to live. The residents talk about having a great lifestyle and say their call schedule is actually great so they get a lot of time to spend doing fun stuff. They hang out with each other and the medicine program is large so there's always more people to branch out to if desired.

7. Salary & Benefits: I don't have it offhand but it was similar to most CA programs. No moving stipend. Good health benefits.

8. Program Strengths:
Small family feel
Strong therapy training
Great exposure to pathology and diverse population of SF, but not overworked
SF!
Don't need a car
More lifestyle oriented than other SF programs

9. Potential Weaknesses:
If you're a big academic research person, it's probably not the right fit for you
SF is pricey, but most of the residents lived nearby in studio apartments (~$1700-2200/month range with laundry, parking, etc. so get more bang for your buck than NYC) and are managing
Small size might not work for some personalities
Call schedule may be more intense than some

10. Overall Impression:
Overall I really liked this program. The residents seemed genuinely happy and we met with about 6 over the course of the day because some just joined us because they had some time to kill on the neuro service. I like that the attendings supported their residents and I thought the program was a great program for someone who wanted a solid training with good people, teaching, and a good lifestyle.
 
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Mt. Sinai / St. Luke's Roosevelt - New York City

1. Ease of Communication: Communication via email with link to schedule through Thalamus -- pretty straightforward. PC is sweet and responds promptly.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations. No pre-interview event. Breakfast was bagels, assorted pastries, orange juice, coffee and tea. We had lunch in a fancy faculty dining spot, buffet style with about 3-4 residents. Food was decent.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview day went from 8 am - 4 pm. There were 8 applicants. Interview day starts with an introduction from the program director who describes the overall mission and set-up of the curriculum.The PD explicitly states that SLR does NOT do post-interview communication which I really appreciated. After the introduction, we did a resident-led tour of inpatient facilities. There were two 45 minute interviews with faculty, both of which were very laid-back and conversational. It was clear that the faculty had read my application, but really wanted to hear more about how I dealt with challenges. No weird questions. Following interviews, we went to lunch with a few of the residents which probably wasn't enough time to really get a sense of their experience. We had 15-minute exit interviews with the PD which was another opportunity to ask questions. At the end of the day there was an optional / not-so-optional opportunity to visit Mount Sinai West and see resident housing.

4. Program Overview: Pretty standard curriculum.

PGY1: Internal Medicine - 4 months (1 month outpatient specialties), Neuro - 2 months (consults), Inpt Psych - 3 months, Bronx VA - 1 month inpt psych, emergency psych - 1 month, night float - 2 weeks psych, 2 weeks medicine, vacation - 1 month. Call: on medicine rotations, in-house call q4 until 8 pm, at which time a night-float resident takes over care of patients; on psychiatry, in-house call until 8 pm on a rotating basis in CPEP. No 24 hour call. 3 hours a week of protected didactics

PGY2: Geri inpt - 1 month, addictions - 1 month, C/L - 1 month, personality disorders - 2.5 months, inpatient adult - 3 months, night float - 2 x 2 week blocks, spend one-half day a week in the Psychiatric Recovery Center (PRC). 4 hours of didactics

PGY3: Outpatient year --> adult outpatient clinic (mood, anxiety, trauma-related, and personality disorders), serious mental illness - 20% of patients, C&A - 10% of patients, optional protected research time; 5-7 hours of supervision in various psychotherapies as well as psychopharm, optional supervision in couples and family available
Community Psychiatry Track, Global Health Track (courses at Sinai proper, people have apparently gone to India, Grenadines, South America), Educator Track

PGY4: Junior attg - 6 months, cheif residents, clinical electives - 4 months, c/l - 1 month; reasonable selection of electives + all that Sinai offers

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Smallish sized faculty, but they strike me as very accessible, down to earth, and interested in teaching. PD comes across as incredibly smart and engaged.

6. Location & Lifestyle: It's expensive AF. Studio around 59th and 10th ave, for example, is $1,300 - $1,700.

7. Salary & Benefits:
- PGY1: 62K, PGY2 66K, PGY3 70K, PGY4 73K
- Good health care, dental, and eye benefits
- 4 weeks vacation
- Reimbursement for step 3
- Didn't ask about moonlighting opportunities

8. Program Strengths:
- New York City - lots of high acuity/risk patients, patient diversity in terms of SES/background/psychopathology
- strong community program, lots of autonomy but also emphasis on supervision
- strong personality disorder exposure through Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders (CITPD)
- start in continuity clinic during PGY2
- no BS program director
- friendly faculty
- housing is assured
- diverse resident classes with nice mix of AMG, DOs, and FMGs

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Not a research hub, if that's your thing
- Didn't have a good sense of the workload. Residents kept saying how hard they worked though. Not sure how to interpret that because you'll work hard at any NYC program.
- Cost of living in NYC is nuts
- Facilities aren't the nicest

Overall Impression:
Left having a very luke-warm feeling about this program. Didn't have a good sense of what sets the program apart from other NYC programs. It's unfortunate that there weren't opportunities to talk to residents in an informal setting. Was, however, struck by how nice and accessible the faculty were.
 
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clozareal said:
Mount Sinai: Beth Israel - New York, NY

1. Ease of Communication: I think this was mentioned in the interview thread, but I responded to my interview invitation (via email) within a few minutes and it took about a week to get my interview confirmed. I also didn't get an invitation to the happy hour until literally 1-2 days before and assumed there wasn't one, so I wasn't able to plan ahead/attend. The program coordinator is a very nice person and greeted us all by name when we got there.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodation. Breakfast was orange juice, coffee, pastries, parfaits. Lunch was sandwiches. There were some cookies and coffee at the wrap-up session.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Powerpoint presentation given by the PD followed by a tour led by two residents. Three 30-minute interviews, two with faculty, one with a resident. I think some applicants are interviewed by PGY-1s/2s, which provided limited insight into the program, especially because the tour was already led by PGY1/2s. I heard that the chief residents also did interviews, but I did not interact with (or even meet) them, which was kind of a negative because I was interested in getting a sense of what the leadership was like. Two of my interviews were very complimentary and standard why-psych, what-was-a-challenge-you-faced, etc. It did seem like one of my interviewers had read parts of my application, while the other two hadn't. I did have one very intimidating interview where I was basically pimped at some point but I don't think it was in a malignant way.
After that we had a lunch which was well-attended by the residents, although a few seemed to not interact much with the interviewees and it felt like they were there for the free food. Overall the lunch was helpful to get a better sense of the program, and most residents seemed happy and enthusiastic about the program. The day ended early at 2 PM with a wrap-up.

4. Program Overview: Pretty standard... don't remember the exact details, but medicine for 4 months (or blocks?) and then ED + CPEP. Call on medicine: q4d until 8-9 pm weekday, weekend/holiday 7a-8p twice a month, no overnight call. ... basically by PGY-4, there is no call.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: The PD seemed nice, chill. Wasn't exactly clear on how involved he was with the residents, but at least he seemed to know of their general ambitions. The research program director is accurately described as "intense." Residents said they felt thrown in the deep end during their first few weeks of intern year and that there wasn't much of an orientation. They said that their faculty members were responsive and easy to reach out to, though I didn't get many concrete examples of this. Residents came from all over with a NY bias, some were international medical graduates. One resident seemed quite tired, others seemed nice, normal. Ultimately it seems like they either stay on or go to other NYC institutions (Einstein, Columbia, NYU) for fellowship.

6. Location & Lifestyle: Near Gramercy Park, which is a very nice and lively part of Manhattan. Some residents seem to have been able to have kids.

7. Salary & Benefits: Residents are unionized and say that they have good benefits because of this. Of note, the subsidized housing was recently removed as a benefit and the residents were moved to live on the upper west side (which is a 40-45 minute commute now). Kind of a bummer. Residents get reimbursed for psychotherapy and I heard that many take advantage of this to go once to twice a week during residency.

8. Program Strengths: AMAZING location, extremely diverse patient population, cool research chair who seems to be involved in didactics. Balanced psychopharm and psychotherapy training. Psychotherapy for residents is encouraged.

9. Potential Weaknesses: In general it seems like a somewhat disorganized program due to the merger between Sinai. The faculty seemed like they still had many plans on shaping the overall mission of the program, and I wasn't clear on how this might affect resident training / their own sense of what their objectives were. It has more of a community feel which could be a strength or a weakness depending on your goals although the residents did emphasize that they were able to collaborate with Mount Sinai Icahn if you wanted to do research. The facilities aren't the nicest; the building itself is somewhat labyrinthine and dimly lit. There is supposed to be a new building devoted to psychiatry ($85 million budget), but we didn't get a specific timeline as to when this would actually happen, so I am guessing that it wouldn't affect/benefit the incoming class. Also, no subsidized housing nearby as per above.
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Agree with this. In case anyone is wondering about the stability of the program (I was), I got the sense that psychiatry at BI is totally unaffected by the changes that are in the works. I believe the program is even growing in terms of the # of residents. Timeline for new Comprehensive Behavioral Health Institute, I believe, is 3.5 years. IMO the residents really sell the program. They are down-to-earth and enthusiastic folks who genuinely seem to love it there and enjoy spending time with one another.
 
New York University – New York, NY

1. Ease of Communication:
MyERAS message early October with 4 dates offered. Only program that had me call their office (9am-5pm EST) to schedule the interview and they specified responding by email would not be accepted. I attempted calling 7 times in the next 6 hours without them picking up, left several voicemails, and eventually got through the 8th time. Thankfully I wasn’t too busy that day, otherwise it would have been tough to call especially with the time difference. Scheduled without a confirmation email.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided. A list of hotels with the NYU discount code was given. Applicant dinner the night beforehand was wine, cheese, meats, crackers, and popcorn at a resident’s house. This was the only program to take us out to a restaurant for lunch (Banc Cafe), which was delicious! Constant stock of coffee, pastries, and fruit throughout the day.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
We started at 8:30am in the 1 Park Avenue building, 8th floor, where the NYU outpatient clinics and psych department are. There were 12 of us during the interview day. Half interview in the morning while the other half goes on the tour. Then it switches for the afternoon. The day ended with a meeting with the PD/APD. Interviews were mainly casual conversations with some structured questions (where do you see yourself with career/location after residency?). The NYU hospitals that residents rotate at are all located midtown on the East Side of NYC within 8 blocks of each other, which is amazing. Bellevue is a behemoth of a hospital, with 300 psychiatric beds and the only hospital I have seen with its own courthouse within the hospital. The tour took us outside to get to each hospital and it was really chilly, so bring a coat. Interesting that most (3/4ths?) of the residents are female. One of the key indicators of how happy people are with the program is retention of staff – I met many nurses and administrators who have been there 10+ years and love working there during the tour, which was an excellent sign of a healthy work environment.

At the end, they invited applicants to return for an "Applicant Return Evening" on February 3rd. I suspect that they'll rank applicants who attend this event higher.

4. Program Overview:
This is an extremely solid program with a well-deserved reputation of being challenging in the best aspects of the word: lots of psychopathology, heavy volume, and lots of call (except none in 4th year). The rotations are structured so that residents rotate at several different hospital settings (they called themselves the “UCSF of the East Coast”), which provides different patient perspectives and psychiatric care delivery. This includes NYU Langone’s Tisch Hopsital (private setting, extremely well run, 22 beds, ECT experience), Manhattan VA (federal, 42 adult beds, 21 peds), the legendary and historical Bellevue (first public hospital, 300 psych beds!! 13,500 ED visits/year just for psych), Kirby & 125th St Clinic (state/forensic), Washington Square (college mental health), Rockland (community), and Lutheran and Gouverneur (newly acquired). With this comes an extremely diverse patient population with varied psychopathology, especially at Bellevue where you’ll see the sickest of the sick in NYC. Those who train here with undoubtedly be some of the strongest clinicians in the country. Given the high volume and diverse psychopathology, there are many clinics and electives offered with experts in each subspecialty.

They have a reproductive psychiatry fellowship, a global mental health opportunity (salary paid during this time, teaching psychiatry in Ghana to their medical school), Suboxone training (new), every kind of therapy training including sex therapy and transference-focused psychotherapy, and 4 residents will do the research track each year. There are lots of internal fellowships with lots of spots for each (10 child fellowship spots). This is the second program next to Yale to have a separate Child Psychiatry department. Residents also decide to do the NY Psychoanalytic Society & Institute in their 3rd and 4th years. 75% of residents do a fellowship after training.

The program director, Carol Bernstein, seems to be such an amazing mentor and was the past president of the APA. Residents write chapters for a book called On Call Psychiatry with the faculty as editors and the next entering class will help write the next edition of the book set to be published in 2018. I was kind of worried about the hierarchical structure of programs in NY, but NYU seems to have more of an egalitarian feel to it, where everyone seems to be on a first-name basis with each other.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Some of the best practicing psychiatrists are here. Dr. Sadock from Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry teaches sex therapy to residents. There are a ton of well-regarded researchers here, especially clinical research and neuroimaging.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
It’s New York City. It’s meant for people who love the biggest urban environment you can be in within the US. Most residents live on the East Side, but residents live all over, including in Brooklyn and Queens. Call is on the heavier side, but ends after 3rd year. Residents generally work 12 hour days (8am-8pm) for the first two years and several weeks of night float a year. Moonlighting starts in 2nd year and starts at $85, but can go up to $1400 per weekend day. This is the lowest moonlighting pay that I've seen out of the programs I've interviewed at for really tough work in the CPEP, and it seemed to be competitive to get shifts.

7. Salary & Benefits:
For some reason, it was difficult to find this information on their website so I've included the link here. There are two different salary structures which have their own unique perks (you can be on the NYU or Bellevue payroll), but basically baseline of $62-63k in PGY1 up to $72-73k in PGY4, which is the same or a little less than the other psychiatry residencies in NYC. Getting a NYS License gives you a $6k boost. Both places include a $2900 meal allowance. Four weeks paid vacation. It was extremely difficult to ask about health insurance since you can be on the Bellevue or NYU payroll which gives different insurances. There is a book and conference fund but they didn't give us this information and you need to login through the website to see it, which applicant's don't have access to.

NYU has subsidized housing in the NYU Langone hospital (brand new) and some right across the street. Priority is given to those relocating from out-of-town. The amount of rooms in that apt is determined by how many people you’ll be coming with (single = studio, couple = 1 BR, and so on). The 1BR apartment there is about $2200.

8. Program Strengths:
• Strong in every area of clinical psychiatry
• One of if not the strongest community and public psychiatry training you can get in the US
• Many different hospital settings offering tons of psychopathology and patient diversity
• Lots of internal fellowships, including some not offered at other institutions (reproductive)
• Bellevue is an amazing setting with probably the most volume of any psych hospitals in the US
• An amazing program director with extremely supportive administration
• Lots of electives and clinics to learn whatever you want to learn
• Global health opportunities that are established and programs pays for salary during your time away
• Less travel between the main sites since the buildings are literally next to each other
• Residents seem moderately cohesive and down-to-earth
• New York City offers any activity anyone could want to do

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• Challenging schedule with regular working days and call on the heavier side. Residents seem to be a bit tired and I felt as though some seemed overworked.
• New York City can be overwhelming for some people (environment and weather)
• NYU is a top academic institution, but the residency training is perhaps not geared towards those who want a primarily academic career since it seems like residents have less downtime than other academic residency programs
 
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New York University - New York, NY

1. Ease of Communication:
Over ERAS portal system for the initial interview invite itself, and then scheduled via phone (which I liked). I think they interview only on Fridays. Messages regarding the dinner the evening before was via email. No issues. We were given a folder of information as per usual, which was nice - the info was printed on super heavy and almost glossy paper, which did seem a little environmentally wasteful.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations. Breakfast spread of bagels and pastries. Lunch at a nice cafe, people sat at different smaller tables each with 1-2 residents. Wrap up session with either PD or APD had delicious cookies and coffee.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
The day starts at 8:30 which left people plenty of time to get in from out of the city. It ends by 5 PM officially but if you need to catch a plane or bus or whatever they can work with you and you can be out much earlier.

The interviewee group was on the larger side (maybe 9-12 people?) and split into two groups. One group gets a tour while the other does interviews, and vice versa. The day began with an intro session led by the program director and APD. They had us introduce ourselves and specifically asked us to mention what we did if we had taken gap years. This was followed by a ppt presentation, and I thought the PowerPoint was very well put-together.

Applicants had three half-hour interviews. I had two interviewers ask me why I had a lower grade in one of my clerkships and they had also picked through my MSPE thoroughly, which no other program has done. Two of my interviews seemed structured in a very similar way, which made me wonder if the program instructed interviewers how to conduct their interviews or if I happened to get two people who had similar styles. No intrusive questions, but they were also interested in my significant other and made a point to clarify if my SO was a husband/wife, fiancé, or boy/girlfriend, which felt a little odd. Interviewers went over my childhood, and my parents in an almost mechanical way and went into details such as which colleges was I picking between, if I went to public or private elementary school, etc. I have no idea if this is typical of interviews at NYU. The tour was led by 1-2 residents of the inpatient facilities as well as Tisch (private hospital where the insured and NYU undergrad students go). Day ended with wrap-up meeting with either APD or PD, which was pretty chill.

4. Program Overview:
Multiple training sites including Tisch, Bellevue (gets all the extremely sick patients, most are involuntary), sites in White Plains, and 1 Park Ave which is outpatient. Lots of specific units such as Geri, med-psych, mandarin- and Spanish-speaking units with opportunities to do electives in PGY-4 in any of the areas. International rotations also an option. Residents happily emphasized that they worked very hard, and I believe it-- Bellevue is very high-volume and high-acuity. Option to substitute peds if interested in child. Didactics are half a day in PGY-1 and 2, a full day in PGY-3, and I think a half day in PGY-4. PGY-4 is 75% elective time; there doesn't seem to be much elective time in other years. All residents do a scholarly project of some sort and present it. There is an internal research track and residents express interest in PGY-1 and identify a mentor to get into this track if they aren't MD-PhD.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Dr. Bernstein seems very nice, supportive of residents. The APD also seems approachable and talked about how numerous residents were able to get involved with faculty working on projects of their interest. Many residents stay in as faculty. 75% go on to fellowship and 25% get a job after residency.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Around 33rd street which is pretty centrally located in NYC. Residents live all over. There is some subsidized housing available but it is preferentially given to people who live further away from NYC and is not guaranteed. Two residents I spoke to had children during residency and said they felt supported during this. It's a larger resident class (16) and people do get together outside of work (when they have time in PGY-3, according to one resident).

7. Salary & Benefits:
I don't remember the exact salary but it was in line with the other NYC residencies. Some subsidized housing available as per above. $2200-ish for a 1BR, don't remember the exact prices. Gym membership reimbursed or subsidized. Residents are paid through different pay lines and it is not clear if this is randomly assigned or if they can voice a preference-- there are some differences in benefits between plans. Discounted on-site childcare is available.
Most residents are in psychotherapy of some sort and they get reimbursed for it. No meal money. Moonlighting begins after you get your license, so mostly in PGY-3. Most residents do it at the CPEP and it is somewhat competitive to get the shifts.

8. Program Strengths:
The clinical training is one of the strongest/most intense I have seen. Great exposure to public psychiatry. Residents were smart, happy, down-to earth, perhaps a bit overworked, but felt that they could handle anything that came their way. good location in NYC if that's your thing. Loved that the program had diversity interest groups and clearly paid attention to diversity. Overall energetic, happy, and non-pretentious vibe.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
NYC may not be for everyone, cost of living in NYC may be a drawback. This is a very hardworking program that seems to throw interns in the deep end, which might also not be for everyone. People were pretty upfront about this and seemed to have specifically chosen NYU because they wanted to be trained in this way. It's the east coast so it's still psychodynamically oriented but the emphasis is more on taking care of the extremely sick and on managing a high-intensity workflow rather than sitting around and analyzing the patient's childhood. I am also unsure about how cohesive the resident class is due to the numerous training sites. While this is a highly ranked academic program and there are opportunities to pursue scholarly work, it seems that it is first and foremost a program for excellent clinical training, so if you want to have tons of protected time for bench work this program might not be for you.
 
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Clozareal, you interviewed at way too many programs. 10 programs max is needed in psych. Even 10 is excessive.
 
enoughsaid12 said:
Clozareal, you interviewed at way too many programs. 10 programs max is needed in psych. Even 10 is excessive.
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I am anonymously posting what other people have sent me. Perhaps I should have added a disclaimer to each post that I posted from other people but I didn't think that was necessary. I've discussed this earlier in the thread.
 
clozareal said:
Dr. Danielle Ofri, who wrote How Doctor’s Think, is a psychiatrist at Bellevue.
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I know the powerpoint was a little leading, but Danielle Ofri is an internist at Bellevue
 
SUNY Downstate


1.Ease of Communication: Interview invite came through ERAS and then I emailed the coordinator with my preferences. They have two sessions per day, so indicating the preference for am session or pm session was needed. The coordinator sent a confirmation back through ERAS within 24 hours with instructions. A resident sent his own email about the evening social with the residents – they have one per month but I was unable to attend the one for December. You can attend a different one, but I am not sure I will be able to make it in January.
2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodation provided but breakfast was great. Lots of coffee, waters, Danish, bagels, yogurt etc. Lunch had pasta salad, lots of different types of sandwiches, fruit, chips, cookies etc.
3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): The day started at 8:45 am. The coordinator was very organized and spent some time going over the contents of our folders with us before our interviews started. We then had three interviews each 45 minutes long, with PD, APD and a faculty member. Then there was a formal presentation of the program by the APD where the members of the afternoon interview group joined. Then we had lunch with the residents and a tour which ended around 1 pm. The afternoon group members stayed for their three interviews and the morning group left. No real unusual questions, but I was asked in a roundabout way where I was applying. I had read other reviews from years past where people were asked flat out about where they were interviewing etc but it was more like along the lines of “I assume you are applying to all the New York programs?....” A little weird because it was the first time anyone had been that open with me on my interviews about where else I was applying, but since I was prepared for it from the other reviews I had already been able to formulate how I wanted to answer it. The interviews were conversational, and enjoyable, especially with the APD. The one with the PD felt a little less comfortable. Just felt like the conversation was a little forced but the PD was very nice.
4. Program Overview: PGY1-Pretty standard- 2 months inpatient medicine, 1 ambulatory. Two months of neuro- 1 inpatient where you take neuro call, and one clinic where you take psych call. Also one month in a clinic which seemed like a primary care clinic where everyone has mental health issues, but you take call in psych and not medicine. I thought that was pretty cool. 4. Program Overview: PGY1-Pretty standard- 2 months inpatient medicine, 1 ambulatory. Two months of neuro- 1 inpatient where you take neuro call, and one clinic where you take psych call. Also one month in a clinic which seemed like a primary care clinic where everyone has mental health issues, but you take call in psych and not medicine. I thought that was pretty cool.
For psych- 4 month inpatient psych split into two months each at two different sites, 1 month of partial hospitalization and 1 of addiction.
PGY2-3 months C/L, 2 months inpatient psych, 1 month child adolescent, 1 month child latency, 1 month new onset psychosis. 1 month geri, 1 month cpep, 1 month forensic, 1 month research.
PGY3- all outpatient – theres VA this year for PTSD etc .
I’m sure the rest is online, I cant remember much
5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
6. Location & Lifestyle: Brooklyn, plus for some cause its NYC, minus for some cause its NYC. Not in the best part of Brooklyn. I took a taxi from manhattan there in the morning (took 1 hour). Took subway back to manhattan, took 1.5 hours. I would want to live in Brooklyn if I went there. I got the sense the residents work a lot. The call was not that clear, I felt like it was a little dodgy when asked about it, and I couldn’t get a good sense. That doesn’t matter to me, I feel like I will be busy wherever I go, and I learn that way, but for some you might want to ask more questions, because there was no slide on the power point that addressed call.
7. Salary & Benefits: Benefits seem solid. There are two payors, and it is random the first year, but you can switch after PGY1. On one you can get a free MPH, on one I think they match 12% to your 401k or something, one is union one is not. And one you get an additional living stipend. I think everyone was happy with what they got, and switched to one or the other for either the free MPH or for the 401k.
8. Program Strengths: lots of sites to rotate through. Can learn lots of different styles. Lots of research going on, the residents publish a lot. Diverse class, lots of AMG, IMG and FMG. big class size.
9. Potential Weaknesses: Brooklyn for some. I think the call is hard. I didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling from the PD.
 
UCLA-Harbor - Torrance, CA

1. Ease of Communication: Residency Program Administrator (new this year) emailed me early October asking me for my availability without giving me specific dates to choose from – I would learn later that they wanted to give maximum flexibility to the applicant in scheduling. Very short 3 sentence email with very no information about housing, itinerary, or travel info. Chief residents sent me an email invitation for happy hour(s) (welcoming me to go for multiple days if schedule allowed), which did not line up with the interview day for me.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided. No list of hotels given. No breakfast provided. Lunch was provided in the cafeteria. No pre-interview dinner.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Parking was kind of hard to find located a block away at a park and ride. My interview day started at 8:30am, one person started at 8:00am – there were 3 of us in total. No formal orientation in a conference room to start off with. It began with a group interview with the chair of the psychiatry department (Dr. Ira Lesser). He then described the program to us and explained the two guiding principles, which I’ll describe in the next section. I then had an interview with the PD then a resident – both super casual conversations. The applicants met up at one resident’s office and he gave us a tour. He showed us the scheduling program on his computer – residents schedule their own patients in whatever way they want to. They can stack all their patients on one or two days during the week and leave early the remaining days around noon, or they can have a few patients every day and go home early at 2-3pm every day. I loved this flexibility. We took a tour of the facilities which were not that aesthetically pleasing, but to be expected of a county hospital. We had lunch in the cafeteria where all the psychiatry residents typically gather whether there are interviewees or not, which made it feel like the residents were very cohesive. I then had a final interview with a faculty that was mainly conversational and then the day was done by 2pm.

4. Program Overview:
I was blown away by how amazing this program is, and how underrated it seemed because it definitely doesn’t come up as one of the “top” programs (whatever that means). The chair presented two guiding principles regarding patient care and educational training. For patient care, Harbor offers wrap around services that includes social work, therapy, and medication management for all patients who enter the door. Any patient that is admitted to the hospital, the resident (starting from PGY-2) who did that admission takes that patient as an outpatient after discharge. Similarly, if a resident’s outpatient needs hospital admission, then that resident would do the admission and follow the patient through their hospitalization. This provides an amazing continuity of care that I have not seen or heard of anywhere else. The patients are YOURS and you can take care of them for 3 years continuously. The ability to do this comes from structuring the residency so that residents have inpatient mornings and then outpatient afternoons for PGY2 and PGY3. The interns take care of the day-to-day operations during the afternoons. The outpatient clinics and inpatient units are literally steps away from each other, which means there is not that much driving around involved, unless you are doing your geriatric rotation (West LA VA) or Kaiser rotation (Rancho Palos Verdes). Residents get their own office in PGY-2 and they can decorate it any way they want. Some of the offices had extremely nice furniture and decorations and it was fun to walk around to see how each resident chose to decorate. Residents make their own outpatient schedule, so if they want, they can spread out their patients and go home early every day, or they can have one or two days where they stay later and then have the rest of the week with afternoons off. This seems sweet for lifestyle.

In PGY4, residents try to wind down their patient panel to hopefully 15, and then those patients get passed on to an incoming PGY2, who ends up picking up another 40 throughout that year. This means that there is 3 years of continuous psychotherapy, medication management, and monitoring, which provides excellent insight into how community psychiatry is practiced. Harbor-UCLA is a county hospital and therefore they have a strong commitment to underserved populations. The ER is HUGE with 38 psychiatric beds and they are getting even more beds since they are finishing up building a new ER. Residents internally moonlight here (about $100/hr) and this was the only place where I heard multiple residents effuse that they LOVED call. I thought it was a little strange but then I interviewed with faculty who trained here, who said the same thing: that they remember they LOVED being on call. This speaks to how cohesive the staff are in friendly environment. Call seemed to be above average. The nursing staff all said hi and spoke extremely highly of working there while we passed by on our tour.

In terms of psychotherapy, the training is strong. You watch a master clinician interview a patient through a one-way mirror while another psychiatrist explains to a group of PGY-2s what is going on: why the clinician said what they did, what they are going to say next in response to what the patient said, etc. Basically they provide a framework for how to do all kinds of psychotherapy that you can then take to your outpatient practice. They added a Kaiser in Palos Verdes (middle to upper class patients) to give some diversity to the patient diversity. You can also do any elective 4th year at UCLA-Semel since they are indeed one institution. Even further than that you can do any elective anywhere in LA as long as you get it approved – some residents did experiences at LA County Hospital with USC while others wanted to rotate more at the West LA VA. The catchment area for Harbor-UCLA is HUGE and includes LAX, so any patient who has manic dreams of becoming a famous actor will be treated and escorted back to their home country at the expense of the county (resident gets free airfare and housing + food to escort them back). This seemed one of the only programs on the west coast to teach a phenomenological approach.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Faculty seemed very accessible as they are right next door to the resident outpatient offices. Most residents had all of the faculty’s cell phone numbers and text/call them. Everyone is on a first-name basis. There is extremely low faculty turnover. The chair thinks that the faculty turnover is bimodal – either they get there and leave immediately due to their expectations of a county hospital, or they leave when they retire/die.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Torrance is not an aesthetically pleasing city. Residents live in Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach and Long Beach and then when they start moonlighting they go to Manhattan Beach. Again, this is Southern California, which means rent is on the higher side. However, there is lots of great food and terrific weather in Southern California. You can basically live out your California beach life dream here if you so desire. You can have lots of afternoons off early or off completely because residents make their own schedule.

7. Salary & Benefits:
Higher than what’s on the website, which is out of date (why do they still have 2014 numbers up when they updated their website recently???). Residents are unionized, so the benefits are good. I will edit this post and add this in later because I don’t have my folder with me. No housing stipend. You get 3 meals free each day.

UPDATE:
PGY1 - $49,487.88
PGY2 - $53,572.56
PGY3 - $58,241.76
PGY4 - $62,761.92

**This is the lowest salary I've seen in California that I interviewed at and second lowest of the UCLA programs with UCLA-Kern as the lowest (starts at $47k, $50k, $53k, then $57k).

8. Program Strengths:
• One of the best clinical training programs perhaps in the country because of the challenging psychopathology in the patient population. Rumor has it that the Harbor residents are among the most competent psychiatrists once they finish their training and the recruiters know it
• Unique clinical structure: half-day inpatient, half-day outpatient
• Early psychotherapy and outpatient experience. Many programs maybe give you one or two outpatients 2nd year, but you get a full caseload here to do therapy or med management
• Moonlighting starts 2nd year in the Psych ER and you can double or even triple your income as some residents did (some said they unintentionally accidentally doubled their salary)
• Everything up until electives happens on one campus – no running around LA
• Access to all subspecialty clinics for electives and research in at UCLA-Semel
• Faculty are immensely dedicated to teaching and seem extremely accessible
• Busy psych ER that will give you the opportunity to treat incredibly sick patients
• Extremely down to earth and friendly residents who seem extremely competent.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• The county experience isn’t for everyone – facilities seem run down, outpatient offices are in old military barracks, and things take much longer to get done. There are typical frustrations with a county department that is mainly in workflow, although this doesn’t usually affect the strength of the clinical training.
• Torrance not as glamorous as the rest of LA – however, the places where the residents live are nice
• Not as much flexibility to pursue electives or dedicated time off to do global health or research given the schedule structure
• Basic science and translational research is not as strong and there doesn't seem to be a research "track"
• Call is on the heavier side and residents said that this program was challenging in the best sense of the word

10. Overall Impression:
Harbor-UCLA provides arguably the best county training experience in the country with a close-knit family feel. The clinical training is said to be the best in Southern California. Although it is not the most aesthetically pleasing hospital, it was the only place where I heard strong language about how much the residents and faculty LOVED going to work there. Outpatient therapy is emphasized early and you can continue with your patients for 3 years, which provides excellent continuity of care. If you enjoy working with underserved populations and want strong community psychiatry training, then this program is for you.
 
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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Previously Harvard Longwood)– Boston, MA

1. Ease Of Communication:
Email with instructions to list 3 top choices for interview dates on Mondays and Thursdays between 10/31 and 2/2 as well as 3 top choices of areas of special interest. A dinner at a fancy restaurant was also indicated in the email for the evening beforehand. Very thorough information about housing, interview day and times, and who I will be meeting with. I was very impressed with the level of detail and organization from the Residency Training Coordinator.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided. List of hotels in the area was given. Dinner was at The Fireplace in Brookline. Coffee, pastries, and yogurt was provided throughout the day. Lunch was sandwiches, chips, and cookies with the residents.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Day started at 8:45am with an introduction from the program directors and chief of psychiatry. No PowerPoint or anything special. I had two 30-minute interviews in the morning and then two 30-minute interviews in the afternoon. Most of my interviews were very conversational and they had typical questions about future plans and what I’m looking for in a residency program. My interview with Dr. Sams seemed a bit stoic and robotic, but was pretty conversation with everyone else. One interviewer actually asked me the most invasive questions about my childhood on this interview trail so far. Lunch was with the residents. The tour was after lunch and given by a first-year resident who knew very little about the hospitals, clinical rotations, and couldn’t answer most of our questions. She mainly read off a piece of paper as we walked into the lobby of several buildings. Nurses seemed extremely downtrodden and none of them said hello to us. Facilities were so-so.

4. Program Overview:
This program split from Longwood into Beth Israel and Brigham because Partners didn't want residents going between a Partners site (B&W) and a non-Partners site (BIDMC) for all residency specialties. Each of the two resident classes will now have 10 versus Longwood which had 15. This means that there will be less call per person in both programs. Residents have lots of flexibility to meet their own goals with selectives and dedicated research time (with a required scholarly project). Research track is available and you can apply in PGY2. Lots of psychoanalytically trained faculty providing excellent supervision, especially in DBT and dynamics. Residents rotate at Mass Mental, which is strong in community. Residents can also work at Health Care for the Homeless. There is an advisor assigned for career mentorship over all 4 years. Electives include PTSD, Women’s, Neuropsychiatry, Fenway community health (LGBT), substance abuse, psycho-oncology, college mental health, and child & adolescent outpatient. C/L is particularly strong with OB, med-surg, ED, and transplant evaluations.

• PGY1 – 4 months MetroWest Medicine, 1 month neurology consult, 4 months inpt psych, 1.5 months ED psych, 1 month addiction at Cambridge Health Alliance, and 1.5 months of night float.
• PGY2 – 3m Partial Hospital Program at Mass Mental, 3m inpt psych, 1m outpt neuro, 2m child at Children’s Hospital, 3m C/L and geriatrics; outpatient clinic 5 hrs/week, didactics 6hrs/week (all day Wednesday), QI/scholarly project 0.5 day/week; psychotherapy starts this year with 1 patient, 1 hour of individual supervision, and 1 hour of group supervision (lower end of supervision compared to other programs)
• PGY3 – Outpatient psych 0.5 time, Clinical selectives .25 time, MMHC longitudinal 0.25 time, didactics all day Wednesday, scholarly project .5 day/week; psychotherapy increases to 5 patients and you have 2 psychotherapy supervisor
• PGY4 – Outpatient psych 0.5 time, Chiefships, selectives 0.5 time, didactics all day Wednesday, scholarly project 0.5 day/week

Call seemed to be pretty average for psych programs. Around once per week in first year and then less so as the years progress. Since the Longwood program with 15 residents split into 2 programs of 10 each, there will be less call per resident split among more people.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Dr. Sams (PD) and Dr. Whittman seem very nice. Lots of research going on. Chief specifically mentioned neuromodulation and sleep. Strong connection with Mass Mental, which has a deep history of being excellent in community psychiatry.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Boston is a fantastic city that isn’t as big of an urban city and is definitely more walkable than most given how close everything is together. The winters can be unbearable and the summers can be sweltering. Housing isn’t as expensive as NYC or SF, but is 3rd in line. Half the residents don’t have cars. Many residents bike since it’s an extremely bike friendly city. Boston offers lots in terms of food, culture, variety of neighborhoods, and lots of young professionals. To me, the city feels like it has a large transient population who are there just for college or training and then leave afterwards. Many residents lived in Brookline or Jamaica Plains. Longwood residents seemed super down-to-earth, close knit, have tons of events with each other, and you would definitely not feel isolated in this program.

7. Salary & Benefits:
PGY1 at $61,537.10 up to PGY4 at $72,288.03. Benefits are pretty dismal. Residents partially pay for medical insurance from $17.66 per week for an individual plan at the cheapest up to $91.74 per week for an individual plan at the most expensive. What’s on the website is completely different than the information given to us in the interview day packet (website says that some options are at no cost to residents out of the 6 plans offered, but benefits overview packet states all 6 plans cost money). Residents pay full (pre-tax) for dental and vision. Gym membership at $12 per week. Dependents also have to pay for medical/dental/vision. Extremely vague info about leave of absence, vacation, or sick leave in the contract (“will be determined by the Department”). No meal pay, educational fund (website says so, but contract doesn’t), conference fund/absences, or free parking. The website has the Partners GME benefits website on it, even though BIDMC is not part of Partners – probably a remnant of copying and pasting from the Longwood website. Moonlighting in PGY4 perhaps? Multiple residents could not answer this question and didn’t know anyone who moonlighted.

8. Program Strengths:
• Strong in community psychiatry (Mass Mental), child psychiatry (Boston Children’s), neuropsychiatry (TMS/ECT), and therapy (particularly in psychodynamics and DBT).
• Residents seem cohesive, super social, and down-to-earth
• Dedicated scholarly research time each week
• Incredibly supportive faculty who seem dedicated to resident teaching
• Lots of resources from the Harvard affiliation and the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• Boston is an expensive city with summers and winters that can be grueling
• Vague language in the contract about benefits and time-off
• Less supervision overall than other Boston and NYC programs
• New-ish program with its first resident class coming in, even though they've had a long established residency in the past. This might mean lots of uncertainty in terms of workflow
 
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@clozareal
Really perceptive reviews. Strong work! I'm stuck on the rest of mine because I don't have much to say. Must have spaced out during all those interview days ha!
 
Cambridge Health Alliance - Cambridge, MA

1. Ease of Communication:
MyERAS message late September with 3 dates in October and November stating that they interview on Mondays and Wednesdays, asking me to email back with 1-2 choices. The Coordinator was quick to email back within a few hours. Initial email said that dinner would be at resident’s home the evening beforehand.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations. Applicant dinner was at a resident’s home in the South End with catered Asian food with wine, cheese, and crackers. There were 6 applicants and 3 residents.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Interview day started at 8:15am with coffee and pastries provided. Dr. Forstein, the program director, provided a nice overview that began with talking about the community demographics, then to how we support that community. Dr. Frank (APD) followed by giving us a PowerPoint presentation overview of the program by year. There were two interviews in the morning and two interviews in the afternoon. One interviewer was super stoic and just kept asking me one question after another without ever responding to what I said, with hard questions about my weaknesses, challenges I’m anticipating during residency, and what my thoughts were about the stigma of mental illnesses.

4. Program Overview:
Overall an excellent, top notch residency training program for those interested in community psychiatry and therapy. This is a community based, academic public sector health care system affiliated with Harvard Medical School. CHA is a primary care training center and psychiatry residents have an amazing opportunity to see how top-notch integrated behavioral health is practiced. There are more psychiatrists in the hospital than any other specialty, and the psych dept has the largest share of funding dedicated to its department. The curriculum is strong in psychodynamic therapy, as well many other types of therapy (CBT, short and long term dynamic, supportive, group, family systems, and DBT). There is a strong commitment to underserved populations here. They are evolving from a fee-for-service model to an ACO with the emphasis on primary and mental health care. There is a new TMS/ECT requirement at BIDMC, and residents split their time between the Cambridge campus and the Everett campus. They pioneer many innovative ways to practice community psychiatry, and aren’t shy about it – they included many articles highlighting this in the interview booklet they put together for applicants. The diverse patient population is a strength of the program as well as the comprehensive community mental health delivery system. There are many linguistic minority clinics residents can choose for their outpatient training (Latino, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, several Southeast Asian languages). There’s an asylum clinic, homeless clinic, women’s health care center, HIV clinic, and a new Gender and Sexuality Consultation Service. The C/L here is strong for outpatient and I’m unsure whether the inpatient C/L service is as strong. Wednesdays are full protected didactic days.

• PGY1 – Neurology (4 weeks inpt consult and outpt clinic; 4 weeks inpatient behavioral neuro at McLean), 12 weeks inpatient medicine at CHA, 2 weeks of night float and ICU, 4 weeks of outpatient addiction, 4 weeks inpt child, 4 wks inpt geriatric psych, 4 wks psych ED, 4 weeks elective (this is unique, especially in the 1st year!), 2 weeks Peds ED or homeless clinic, and 2 weeks TMS/ECT/Neuropsych (new for next year)
• PGY2 – 6 mo inpt psych (3 at CHA, 3 at Everett), 3 mo partial (Mass Mental for CBT or DBT teams), 6 wks psych ED, 6 wks inpatient CL psych, half day per week of outpatient clinic, 4 therapy patients
• PGY3 – Outpatient psych with 2 psychopharm clinic, 6-8 therapy patients, and at least 6-8 hours of supervision per week, one half day of outpatient child per week (2 child/year), one half day of transitional service per week for 6 months, one half day of integrated primary care per week for 6 months
• PGY4 – All electives – lots of time for research if wanted; facilitated training on how to supervise junior residents (very unique)

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Dr. Forstein is the PD and interim chair of psychiatry and he seems like an amazing mentor. Dr. Frank is extremely friendly and supportive to all the residents. Many faculty here are analytically trained and have a strong educational philosophy.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Cambridge definitely has a slower pace than Boston which is across the Charles River, and also seems cheaper to live. Housing isn’t as expensive as NYC or SF, but is 3rd in line. Multiple residents I spoke to live within a 10 minute walking distance to the hospital. Boston offers lots in terms of food, culture, variety of neighborhoods, and lots of young professionals. To me, the city feels like it has a large transient population who are there just for college or training and then leave afterwards. The only complaint residents had was with the call being 24 hours versus having a night float system.

7. Salary & Benefits:
Residents are unionized by CIR (Committee of Interns and Residents) and pay 1.5% of their gross salary each year to it. Salary seems to be the lower end for the Boston programs. PGY1: $58,445.67 up to PGY4: $67,381.14. Education stipend of $1900 paid annually at the beginning of the year. Dental and vision completely covered for residents and dependents. Exam reimbursement of $1000 per year for Step 3. Taxi vouchers offered after call or to offsite locations from the hospital. Fridge is stocked with meals (frozen dinners) while on call. Backup call is voluntary, paid for, and can be done from the PGY2 year onward (i.e., call = moonlighting). Additional days for conferences (5 days?).

8. Program Strengths:
• Clear established guiding principle: strong commitment to underserved populations with one of the best community and integrated behavioral health training, and residents extremely passionate about the mission of social justice
• Incredibly supportive and well-accomplished faculty who provide a ton of supervision
• One of the strongest psychotherapy trainings in the country
• Residents seem extremely cohesive and happy here
• Program director seems extremely thoughtful and intentional about patient care and resident education
• Graduates go on to top-notch fellowships and fantastic job placements
• Supervision training for more senior residents on how to provide guidance to more junior residents
• Lots of flexibility in the schedule to pursue outside interests starting from PGY1 - one resident went to India to do a child psych project during the first few months of intern year

9. Potential Weaknesses:
• Boston – expensive to live in and summers and winters can get grueling at times
• Maybe not the best place for basic science or translational research even though the clinical research is top-notch; can find it though with the Harvard affiliation
• The typical limitations of a public system in terms of workflow and financial benefits
• Interim chair for now – changes might happen if a chair is appointed soon
• Inpatient CL probably isn’t as strong as the other Boston programs
• Although it’s a community hospital and facilities are aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing, I found it to be nicer than many of the community places I've interviewed at
 
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JerryMouse said:
@clozareal
Really perceptive reviews. Strong work! I'm stuck on the rest of mine because I don't have much to say. Must have spaced out during all those interview days ha!
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Thanks! I'm trying to catch up on my interview reviews while I have some time between them. Feel free to post even a few sentences about each program you've interviewed at! It doesn't have to be as long or detailed as some of the ones posted already (see previous years' reviews).
 
University of Florida - Gainesville

1. Ease of Communication: no problems. PC very responsive.

2. Accommodation & Food: Program paid for 1 night at a very nice Hampton Garden in downtown Gainesville. Valet parking is $15, but the program paid it. Dinner night before at Emiliano's, a restaurant 1 block away from the hotel. Ok food. 4 residents attended the dinner. Complementary continental breakfast at hotel. A shuttle picks up applicants at 8am from the hotel.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Interview days are on Fridays lasting from 8-2:30pm. Around 10 applicants per day. 5x 20 min interviews with faculty (one will be with PD). None of the interviewers looked at my application. Tour of outpatient facilities and UF psych hospital after interviews. Delicious catered lunch with many kinds of entrees and desserts. 8+ residents (PGY1-4) were at the lunch. Tour of Shands and VA after lunch.

4. Program Overview:
Good overview on website. Only 1 out of the 4 IM months are inpatient. 2 are urgent care and 1 is dermatology/pain clinic. Inpatient psych and C&L rotations are busy. Rounds for inpatient psych can start as early as 6:30. Outpatient year sounds typical. I got the feeling that it's somewhat service-oriented during the outpatient years (ex. have to see a high volume of outpatients, have to staff every single outpatient appointment with an attending for billing purposes, etc.). The program made some recent improvements to its psychotherapy training. A psychoanalyst(?) from the community was recently hired to teach some of the didactics. There are now week slots reserved for therapy patients. Residents receive 2 hours of individual psychotherapy supervision per week from 2 randomly assigned therapists in the community, but it is possible to get a supervisor who is not a psychologist or MD.

The UF psych hospital and the outpatient building are 10 miles away from UF Shands Hospital and the VA. The psych hospital has 81 beds. Residents mostly rotate on the mood disorders (22 beds) and psychosis (18) units. There are also geriatric and child/adolescent units. Outpatient building looks new and PGY-3s have their individual offices there.

Call is front-loaded with about 4 calls/month during PGY1-2. Usually, no more than 2 of the calls will be weekend call and the remainder will be weekday 4-8pm or weekday overnight 5pm-8am. The types of call are further detailed on the website. The call sounds pretty tough, especially the overnight home call for the VA and intern year night float (Sunday - Saturday 8pm-8am covering consults). No call during PGY3-4.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Gainesville is a college town in central Florida. Many of the residential neighborhoods look nice with lots of trees. Housing is affordable. Can easily get a 2-BR for around 900/month. Mixed of dating/married and single residents. They seem to do things together outside of work. Most residents leave Gainesville after graduating, but the market in Gainesville is reportedly not saturated for those who want to stay.

7. Salary & Benefits:
50.3, 52, 53.8, 56
15 days vacation. 5 conference days
Health insurance premiums for self and family is fully paid by UF.
In-house moonlighting at UF psych hospital starting PGY-2. Pays $65/hr. Not allowed to moonlight elsewhere.
Parking at Shands (on UF campus) costs $400-500 per year.

8. Program Strengths:
-wide variety of clinical experiences, many fellowships
-residents seem close
-low cost of living (cheap to rent or buy, no state income tax)
-UF fully pays for health insurance premiums
-warm weather

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-psychotherapy training and supervision doesn't seem very strong
-call sounds hard. Overnight home call
-in-house moonlighting doesn't pay well and can't moonlight elsewhere
 
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Hartford Hospital / The Institute of Living
1. Ease of Communication: Program coordinator was very responsive. Send a packet in the mail with information about the program / hotels / taxi voucher etc.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations. Hotels in the area were surprisingly expensive. Stayed in West Hartford because downtown Hartford hotels were too expensive. Resident dinner the night before was at a cute place in West Hartford. There were 2 residents and 4 applicants in attendance. Food was quite good. During the interview day, lunch was well attended by residents.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): It seems like they interview every day of the week, with about ~2 candidates per day. There was no powerpoint presentation about the program. We had a tour in the AM around the Institute of Living campus from a resident. Then, I had 4 interviews: one with the PD and 3 with faculty. All of the interviewers had read my application thoroughly. All were conversational and I got the sense they wanted to see if I would fit in more than anything else. I had to navigate around the campus to find my interviews (each was located in a different building). We did not tour Hartford Hospital, but I had time between my interviews to wander over there.

4. Program Overview:
This program is located at the Institute of Living (IOL) which is across the street from Hartford Hospital. The psychiatric hospital opened in the 1800s and has rich history serving the community. The IOL has 120 inpatient beds (6 units including adult, geriatric, child + adolescent), PHP, IOP, outpatient eating disorders, schizophrenia rehab program, ECT/ TMS, peripartum mood disorders and memory disorder center. They take 6 residents per year.
PGY1: 3 months of inpatient psych (carry 4 patients), 2 months of inpatient biopsychosocial psych (carry 2 patients so that you can do therapy daily), 1 month of addictions (20 minutes away at different site), 2 months of neurology, 4 months of medicine/ peds (1 of those months is outpatient). Medicine is at Hartford Hospital, across the street. Call is 5PM- 9:45PM weekdays only about 7x per month.
PGY2: 2 months of geri, 2 months C/L, 2 months psychotic disorders, 2 months inpatient psych, 1 month psych ED, 1 month teach rotation. Start doing outpatient clinic as well. Call: They do a 24 hour weekend call, 2 times per month. This 24 hour call is never on the weekdays so that you don't miss normal work hours ever. You also do 1 5PM-9:45PM call (on a weekday) per week.
PGY3: Outpatient year. No call. In-house moonlighting encouraged.
PGY4: Lots of electives, ECT, Forensic option (go to state hospital). In house moonlight is encouraged. No call.
- Fellowships: C+A + Psychosomatic. Geriatrics is on this campus but it is a UConn fellowship.
- Definitely an emphasis on psychotherapy in the didactic curriculum. Psychotherapy technically begins in PGY1 with the inpatient biopsychosocial rotation.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Most residents seem to live in West Hartford, which was very cute! Hartford seemed rather depressed.

7. Salary & Benefits:
56-64. 15 days vacation. Meal allowance provided.
Moonlighting encouraged.

8. Program Strengths:
- Strong psychotherapy that begins early
- Small program with a family feel
- Huge hospital, yet it is not a resident dependent program
- No call 3rd or 4th year

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Walking around that campus in the rain / snow / cold
- There was no powerpoint and the interview day felt disjointed (had to walk between buildings to get to my interviews).
- No forensics elective until 4th year. Addictions is 20 minutes away at another site. No state hospital option until 4th year.
 
Can anybody comment about their experiences at University of Utah? I heard that the PD might be stepping down. Also, apparently they're increasing the call schedule? Anyone with info?
 
drsolo said:
Can anybody comment about their experiences at University of Utah? I heard that the PD might be stepping down. Also, apparently they're increasing the call schedule? Anyone with info?
Click to expand...

I am not an applicant now, but I have a friend close to the program. The PD did step down because the residents were not happy with changes to the program (increased work). The new PD is supposed to be good. From what I heard the call went from do absolutely nothing to having to do some work and that anything that interferes with time off upsets the very spoiled residents. I did interview there a few years back and my impression was that it was super cush, with nice facilities, nice residents and people matched there were ones who wanted to ski/hike/bike and cherish the life part of work/life balance.
 
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Ask and you shall receive (this is from earlier in the season, so I might be leaving some things out):

University of Utah

1. Ease of Communication:
PC very responsive. There was no information provided about where we should park, so applicants just parked in front of the university neuropsychiatric institute (UNI) building.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided. Dinner the night before was very well-attended by residents (this is the biggest turnout I've seen thus far -- >12 showed up). All residents were very friendly and eager to talk about their enthusiasm for the program. We selected off the menu and were able to order alcoholic beverages too. (As an aside, many people incorrectly told me that restaurants in SLC were dry, obviously this is not the case). This program has the option to do a longer weekend interview in which you stay for two nights (they pay for one of the nights in the hotel) and you get to do more with the residents the day before your interview. Sounds like a unique experience.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Eight other applicants that day. Day started at 8am (bagels, cream cheese, coffee, and juice provided), with a very thorough powerpoint overview of the program by a current 4th year, and then a quick hello from the PD. It took on the form of a pseudo-group interview which many applicants aren't crazy about (go around and say your name, why Utah, why psych, etc). The PowerPoint covers most questions that an applicant would have. Applicants had 4 or 5 30 minute interviews, one with the current PD. My interviews were very conversational and low-stress -- they really just want to make sure you are well-informed about the program so you can decide if it would be a good fit for you -- this was stressed several times throughout the day. I have read that the PD can come across as cold and now I understand what they meant by this, but I still think the interview was fine. If anything, I would describe the interview as a more corporate/professional feeling interview vs one that was more conversational (she jotted down notes during the entire interview which might be off-putting for some). One of the interviewers was with a chief who asked more traditional interview-esk questions, but this was still a very enjoyable interview. It's very clear that faculty and residents I interacted with are very passionate about the program. All interviews are in the morning, followed by lunch (catered sandwiches, salad, and cookies), then a "tour" of the hospital which only included looking at their med-psych unit followed by a mini tour of SLC which was very nice, and finally the day ended with meeting the current chair who came from University of Michigan about a year ago. He seemed very excited about the program and it sounds like wants to bring more research there. The meeting with the chair included another one of those go-around the table with your name, why psych, why Utah, etc. Day ended around 3:30.

4. Program Overview:
PD mentioned that the program has expanded in the past few years. They used to have 6 residents per class year, but now have 8. The Mountain West is incredibly underserved, so this is partly to try to address that, but more importantly, I think it demonstrates that the psych department is doing well here. She also said that they are making a dedicated research track and are hoping to have at least one resident per year who is interested in doing a substantial amount of research.

Intern year: Intern class is split in half -- half start on medicine and half on psych. Medicine months include 3 months inpatient medicine: 1 month at the VA and 2 months at the University Hospital (UH) which is supposedly much busier with much sicker patients. At UH, you do Q4 long call (until 8pm) and work 6 days/week, but no overnights/night float. Typical hours for these months are 6am to 6pm. I don't remember what the call schedule is at the VA, but I would imagine it is similar to call at UH. Residents report that you are treated like a medicine intern and that most medicine attendings love to teach. They reported feeling supported and their main complaint was just the hours. For your third month, you can choose to do 1 month outpatient medicine at the VA or 1 month emergency medicine in which you do . Most residents chose to do the ED month and commented that the "schedule is really nice". You can also choose to do one month of inpatient peds at UH which I believe would count as your third month (I think you have to do those 3 months adult inpatient). One month neuro at UH and one at the VA. At UH, there is no overnight call. At the VA, you take weekened call ~2 weekends per month. You can choose to sub this VA month with child neuro I think. For the psych months, you do 3 months at UNI (this is their new, very impressive neuropsychiatric unit which has several units -- it's down the street from the main hospital), 1 month at UH, 1 month inpatient psych at the VA and 1 month consult psych. Hours for UNI and UH are 8-5 cap of 6 patients, VA is 8:30 to 5 cap of 4-6, and consults 8:30 to 4:30.

PGY-2: 3-4 months inpatient psych (UH, UNI, and VA), 1 month optional child and adolescent inpatient experience which everyone raved about, 1 month consults, 1-2 months night float, 1 month geri inpatient (which was cited as being "not very robust" and pretty relaxed), 1 month emergency psychiatry at UNI (they don't have a psych-specific ED apparently; we weren't shown the ED, so I'm not sure how this looks/where psych patients go), 1 month addiction psych at UNI, and they have an opportunity for 1 month of forensic psych (there's a cap on how many residents can do this, so they will do a lottery if too many residents are interested). **I think it is important to note here that while there is a proper CL attending and team at the VA, UH does NOT have a specific attending for the CL service so one of the inpatient attendings sees the consult patients when he has time. The UH consult service is primarily run by the residents and medical students, and I don't know how much teaching/learning would go on because of this. Apparently that have been looking for someone to take over this position, but have been unsuccessful as of when I interviewed several weeks ago. Residents reported that one of their favorite rotations was their med-psych unit where they saw a ton of interesting psychopathology/sick patients and great teaching.

PGY-3: All outpatient, but it sounded like sites are scattered as residents cited there was quite a bit of driving. Not sure if they get their own offices at these sites or any of the other specifics. They also get exposure to telemedicine to southwestern Utah during third year.

PGY-4: There seems to be some resident frustration about this year as it used to be more elective time, but I can't recall the details about what was changed. 1/2 day at continutiy clinic, 1/2 day for scholarly project, and 3 days of elective time. Lots of cool electives which I can't recall at this point -- some being sleep medicine, assertive community treatment, HIV clinic, etc.

Psych Call:
Interns have short call 1-2 times per week Monday - Thursday 5 to 8pm, cap of 3 admissions/consults + cross-covering VA, and Friday 5-10pm cap of four. Long call is 3 shifts per year (10-12 hour weekend shifts)
PGY-2: 1-2 months night float (6 weeks was cited as being what most people get, can opt to do this all in one chunk, but that is discouraged -- they prefer you do two week blocks), Sunday to Fridays 6 pm to 6 am. Apparently this was one of the recent changes. Residents previously did not have to be in-house for this, but now they do. They said you are usually incredibly busy as you are covering UNI, UH, the VA, and consults. Residents sounded a little upset about the changes regarding NF and the call schedule. Long call: Three 12 hour weekend shifts (I'm not sure if this is monthly or yearly -- I know, big difference) and an average of 2-3 overnight calls a month (weekends), but these can be home call if you live within 30 min of the hospital. I should note that residents said that while they did not particularly like the new night float, they felt that it made them feel very confident in their clinical abilities while working solo.
PGY-3: Supervisory call (in house) with interns once every 8-9 weeks
PGY-4: No call

Didactics are protected 10 am to 5 pm on Wednesdays. Residents reported that this had recently changed as it used to be a full day of didactics. PD cited that now you do clinical duties from 8-10 am and then go to didactics. She said the reason for this change was to improve continuity of care and really make residents feel like they "owned" the patients. I tend to agree with her that a full day of didactics might be too much and interfere with patient care, but that's just personal preference. Residents mentioned that they are trying to get this changed back to how it was before.

I don't recall much about how psychotherapy supervision works, but was told that the program tends to be a little more biological. But it sounds like you can seek out great therapy mentors if this is a particular area of interest. I think there is also a yearly resident retreat, but don't remember much about this.

We were told that they have one of the largest ECT services in the country (~6,500 cases/year), but residents don't have exposure to this unless they do an elective during fourth year. Also have a TMS that they use both clinically and for research and run a ketamine clinic, but not sure what that looks like/if residents have exposure to it. Neurosurgery was just approved to start doing deep brain stimulation for OCD.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Residents reported having a great relationship with most attendings, but said some are harder to work with (I imagine this is going to happen everywhere). There did seem to be some tension between residents and current PD, and there was talk that there might be some changes coming down the pipeline, but nothing was said further about this. They did say that the changes would be very positive and they were not worried, so I guess we will have to wait and see on this one. I suspect they already knew what was going to happen, but just weren't ready to announce it yet.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Salt Lake City is a really breathtaking city with unparalleled views of the mountains. The university facilities (especially in UNI) were very impressive and everywhere you go, you have amazing views. We were told that SLC was a very livable city and quite affordable. Many residents bought homes. Residents were among the friendliest and most enthusiastic I had met -- good mix of single, married, and married with kids. They cited that this is an outdoor paradise: skiing, hiking, mountain biking, etc. There are plenty of great restaurants, breweries, theater, etc. Work/life balance is such that you will have plenty of time to enjoy the city and all it has to offer. As for the LDS community, I was told it was about 60/40 in the city (non-LDS being the majority), but becoming predominately LDS once you are out of SLC proper. The nice thing about the LDS community and their main temple being there is that the church pumps tons of money into the city/local programs in order to ensure the city remains pristine -- apparently as a healthcare provider this means you will have a wealth of services that you can connect your patients with.


7. Salary & Benefits:
56k-64k Intern-PGY-4. 15 days vacation, 12 sick days, 5 conference days PGY-2 through 4. I don't remember hearing anything about a yearly educational stipend. Lots of lucrative opportunities to moonlight and can start as early as PGY-2 -- one opportunity is to cover the consult service on the weekends. Have access to free weekly, hour-long therapy if you so choose.

8. Program Strengths:
  • Sounds like a very solid overall program with a great work/life balance.
  • SLC and hospital facilities are beautiful.
  • Cost of living very reasonable, many residents buying houses
  • Great moonlighting opportunities and can start as early as PGY-2
  • Very cohesive, happy residents
  • Lots of things to do outside residency (and time to do it)
  • Large ECT service and TMS (but residents don't have much to do with these services at this point)

9. Potential Weaknesses:
  • No CL attending at UH for the past few years, possibly little learning going on here
  • Resident tensions with current PD (but maybe this will change soon?)
  • Not much ethnic diversity -- predominately Caucasian and hispanic (but reported to have lots of psychopathology despite this)
  • Large LDS presence may not be for everyone
  • Not a strong psychotherapy focus (might be a positive for some)

10. Overall Impression:
Overall, this seems like a very strong program that many overlook because of it's location. Salt Lake City is gorgeous and someone who is outdoorsy would really love it here. Sounds like there have been quite a few changes over the years that residents aren't happy about, but they have been working to try to fix some of the "problems". Residents very welcoming and enthusiastic about their program. Cited more than once that the residency has a "family feel" and that all classes are very close to one another. I am actually in favor of the changes that the PD made regarding in-house night float and increasing call -- I think it leads to a better trained clinician. Overall, I'd still say this program is "cush", but with a slightly better balance now.


Again, I interviewed a while ago, so I apologize if I have misstated anything or left things out. Does anyone have a review for New Mexico they can share?
 
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Dartmouth

Ease of Communication: PC was friendly/responsive. I will say that this was one of the only interviews where I felt the need to make myself an itinerary because there were lots of little details about the day (e.g. parking) that weren't all in one cohesive place. Also, they didn't give great directions for parking and the lot was a little hard to find (not clearly labeled).

Accommodation & Food: I stayed at a hotel in Lebanon that included breakfast and had a discount. Dinner the night before was at a very busy restaurant on Main Street in Hanover. The residents seemed very friendly and relatively down-to-earth. One thing that I noticed at dinner was that when the residents mentioned things that they liked about the program, they had examples. They didn't just say, "The faculty here are great!" - they followed it up with names and specific examples.

Interview Day: Starts at 7:45am - there were snacks/coffee/tea but no breakfast. PD Dr. Finn gave an overview of the program, then I had 5x30 minute interviews with PD, associate PD, faculty, and 2 residents. There were I think 11 other applicants there that day, so when there were breaks, we chatted in the main conference room. The residents were around a lot, which was nice. There were no unusual interview questions, but "Why Dartmouth?" was common. I was told by one of my interviewers that their biggest difficulty in recruitment is finding people who will truly like living in Hanover, so I think they really want to get a feel for what you're looking for regarding location. I think the tour took place after lunch - the hospital is nice, it felt kind of like a really quiet mall (lots of skylights). It's also all one cohesive building that was all built at once, as opposed to other hospitals where there's new parts and old parts that are super confusing.

Program Overview: There is a longitudinal outpatient experience in PGY2 (psychodynamic patient + supervision). I did have to very specifically ask about call (no info was provided in the PD's overview). It seems to be on the heavy side with:

  • PGY-1: Weekly "short call" til 10pm during inpatient psych + a weekend shift on 2/3 weekends
  • PGY-2: 1 overnight a week at DHMC + 1 weekend a month; 1 night per week of home call at the VA (have to go in 50% of the time) + 1 overnight per week at the state hospital + 1 weekend shift every other weekend
  • PGY-3: 2 months of call at the VA, 1 month of call at DHMC
  • PGY-4: "Supervisor call" for a 24-hour, in-house weekend shift, frequency depends on how many people fast track into child but at most is once a month
Residents across the board said that they learn a lot on call and felt very supported. It has been a major trend overall during my interview season that residents at "call heavy" programs say that they think call is crucial for becoming an independently practicing physician who can handle anything immediately upon graduation. I will say that even though the call frequency may seem reasonable, it can vary a lot depending on other residents taking vacation, etc (so you might have a ton of call one month, then none for a little while). No night float.

There is a research track and a C&A track; the C&A track person doesn't have to apply to the fellowship but others do (3 spots, and they don't just accept the track person from Dartmouth). Residents mentioned frequently that the faculty are supportive/friendly/available and truly want to be there/want to teach.

Travel to the NH state hospital (50 minutes away) is required but residents apparently love rotating there and make money off the mileage. All involuntary admissions have to go to the state hospital because of the laws in NH (the state motto is "live free or die" so it takes more effort than other states to admit someone involuntarily).

Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Very academically productive department, PD mentioned that it's #16 for NIH funding which is impressive given that it's a relatively small department. If you are interested in academics, I think this program has the resources to get you where you want to go.

Location & Lifestyle: Relatively typical small New England town that obviously has the cultural benefits of having Dartmouth College nearby. Outdoor activities abound. Cost of living is relatively low, several residents purchased houses/have kids but others are single and go the apartment route. Some live in Vermont and some live in NH. The residents seemed to know each other pretty well and they spend time together outside the hospital. I think if you are single, enjoy nightlife, and enjoy big cities, you would not like living there.

Salary & Benefits: Didn't look into specifics, but several residents mentioned how great the insurance is.

Strengths:
  • Prestige/resources
  • Faculty enjoy teaching
  • Multiple fellowship
  • Residents seem to be able to do whatever they want after graduation

Weaknesses:
  • Heavy call (I think they tried to down-play this a little too much), no night float
  • Location (obviously might be a strength for some, but I think this is the biggest consideration for lots of people)

Overall Impression: A solid top-tier program that has a good name with resources/opportunities to back it up. A good place to get started on an academic career without having to live in a bigger city, if that's your thing. Small program size and lack of night float might make for a worse call experience than other programs, but I heard zero complaints about it from residents.
 
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University of Michigan

Ease Of Communication: Very easy, the PCs are extremely helpful/friendly.

Accommodation & Food: Do not provide a hotel. Be sure to check the football game schedule if you are staying at a local hotel. Dinner the night before was in downtown Ann Arbor. The residents all seemed very happy. Some were asking more interview-ish questions, which I think could be a turn-off for some people but I didn't mind. They provided a REALLY nice full hot breakfast on interview day and a really hearty lunch [Brief Rant: I hate when programs make you start your day at 7:30am and then provide you with a basket of inadequate/cheap/carb-loaded snacks. I'm starting to think they are purposely trying to stress us out in various ways so that we aren't functioning at our best on interview day.]

Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): This was after I stopped taking detailed notes, but there were lots of applicants and we either had morning or afternoon interviews, and morning or afternoon tours. The tour was actually hosted by one of the PCs and I thought it was fantastic - she brought up stuff that I didn't really think to ask about, and she clearly loves Michigan as a state. I also thought the facilities were some of the nicest I've seen on the interview trail. The tour includes a bus tour of Ann Arbor. My interviews were all great, no super difficult questions, and I don't remember being asked endlessly if I had any questions.

Program Overview: See the website - it's more extensive than the average program website and I found its overall vibe and information to be consistent with what I heard on interview day. I wouldn't necessarily say they have a particular emphasis on therapy, but it's definitely not DE-emphasized and the PD mentioned that he thinks therapy training is important. All the rotations are in Ann Arbor except one (forensics is in a nearby town, and I think you only do that rotation for a month in PGY-4 but I don't remember for sure). This was a program that might have "heavier" call but residents were adamant that call is important for becoming independent/confident. They have night float. The PD starts off the day with a long speech about how he ended up at Michigan, emphasizing that the program is flexible and that they want what's best for each resident. He also lauded the cost of living in Michigan vs. Stanford, where he worked before. Residents tend to want to stick around after graduation.

Faculty Achievements & Involvement: I get the impression the faculty have done some impressive things, but they are a pretty relaxed group of people. Not as "chill" as some other programs perhaps, but very down-to-earth.

Location & Lifestyle: I personally loved Ann Arbor - tons of restaurants, lots of parks, very green. The residents were a mix of single and married, with or without kids. It's easy to live either in Ann Arbor (where most people live who rent apartments) or outside of it (a few residents had purchased houses in neighboring smaller towns). Cost of living seems lower than average. The residents mentioned that they make regular group trips to Detroit, and that they think Detroit is on the upswing.

Salary & Benefits: The salary is above average because of a bonus that all residents get (basically an extra paycheck). There is a HOA (House Officer Association) - basically a resident union - that exists to serve the needs of all residents at the institution.

Program Strengths:
  • Name + resources/opportunities to back it up
  • Good place to start an academic career, but you don't have to do research if you don't want to
  • Good balance of psychopharm/therapy

Potential Weaknesses:
  • Small-ish city (most people I've met on the interview trail seem to want to be in major cities)
  • Winter exists, Michigan isn't the most exciting place to live in general
  • Might not be able to accommodate all the residents who want to stay in the area after graduation?

Overall Impression: Very solid, well-rounded top-tier program with a great location/lifestyle for people who prefer (or at least can tolerate) winter + small cities. I don't think there are any major drawbacks of the program itself.
 
StrangerFigs said:
University of Michigan

Ease Of Communication: Very easy, the PCs are extremely helpful/friendly.

Accommodation & Food: Do not provide a hotel. Be sure to check the football game schedule if you are staying at a local hotel. Dinner the night before was in downtown Ann Arbor. The residents all seemed very happy. Some were asking more interview-ish questions, which I think could be a turn-off for some people but I didn't mind. They provided a REALLY nice full hot breakfast on interview day and a really hearty lunch [Brief Rant: I hate when programs make you start your day at 7:30am and then provide you with a basket of inadequate/cheap/carb-loaded snacks. I'm starting to think they are purposely trying to stress us out in various ways so that we aren't functioning at our best on interview day.]

Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): This was after I stopped taking detailed notes, but there were lots of applicants and we either had morning or afternoon interviews, and morning or afternoon tours. The tour was actually hosted by one of the PCs and I thought it was fantastic - she brought up stuff that I didn't really think to ask about, and she clearly loves Michigan as a state. I also thought the facilities were some of the nicest I've seen on the interview trail. The tour includes a bus tour of Ann Arbor. My interviews were all great, no super difficult questions, and I don't remember being asked endlessly if I had any questions.

Program Overview: See the website - it's more extensive than the average program website and I found its overall vibe and information to be consistent with what I heard on interview day. I wouldn't necessarily say they have a particular emphasis on therapy, but it's definitely not DE-emphasized and the PD mentioned that he thinks therapy training is important. All the rotations are in Ann Arbor except one (forensics is in a nearby town, and I think you only do that rotation for a month in PGY-4 but I don't remember for sure). This was a program that might have "heavier" call but residents were adamant that call is important for becoming independent/confident. They have night float. The PD starts off the day with a long speech about how he ended up at Michigan, emphasizing that the program is flexible and that they want what's best for each resident. He also lauded the cost of living in Michigan vs. Stanford, where he worked before. Residents tend to want to stick around after graduation.

Faculty Achievements & Involvement: I get the impression the faculty have done some impressive things, but they are a pretty relaxed group of people. Not as "chill" as some other programs perhaps, but very down-to-earth.

Location & Lifestyle: I personally loved Ann Arbor - tons of restaurants, lots of parks, very green. The residents were a mix of single and married, with or without kids. It's easy to live either in Ann Arbor (where most people live who rent apartments) or outside of it (a few residents had purchased houses in neighboring smaller towns). Cost of living seems lower than average. The residents mentioned that they make regular group trips to Detroit, and that they think Detroit is on the upswing.

Salary & Benefits: The salary is above average because of a bonus that all residents get (basically an extra paycheck). There is a HOA (House Officer Association) - basically a resident union - that exists to serve the needs of all residents at the institution.

Program Strengths:
  • Name + resources/opportunities to back it up
  • Good place to start an academic career, but you don't have to do research if you don't want to
  • Good balance of psychopharm/therapy

Potential Weaknesses:
  • Small-ish city (most people I've met on the interview trail seem to want to be in major cities)
  • Winter exists, Michigan isn't the most exciting place to live in general
  • Might not be able to accommodate all the residents who want to stay in the area after graduation?

Overall Impression: Very solid, well-rounded top-tier program with a great location/lifestyle for people who prefer (or at least can tolerate) winter + small cities. I don't think there are any major drawbacks of the program itself.
Click to expand...

I interviewed there as well and mostly loved the program! Wanted to add potential drawback making me rank it a bit lower:

- 1st year is 80% VA. My interests are in child and women's mental health so extensive VA exposure is a drawback
- Only 1 month inpatient child exposure in 2nd year (However, the new child unit is BALLER!)
 
psychhopefull2016 said:
I interviewed there as well and mostly loved the program! Wanted to add potential drawback making me rank it a bit lower:

- 1st year is 80% VA. My interests are in child and women's mental health so extensive VA exposure is a drawback
- Only 1 month inpatient child exposure in 2nd year (However, the new child unit is BALLER!)
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I also had/have my strongest interests in women and child psych going into match but will say that the VA time I ended up having was quite useful (particularly pgy1 year as the pacing tends to be slower). Dealing with characterologic disorders is actually a fairly universal thing (say between ASPD to BPD) and there is no better place to see those than VAs along with attendings who are hopefully good at maneuvering them. Also if you know you want to do a child fellowship, residency exposure is not a huge deal, youll get plenty in fellowship; if you are on the fence, then I can see it mattering more.

UMich is a great program so I really wouldnt let those things defer you. Hating the cold or small city thing I could totally understand.
 
Merovinge said:
I also had/have my strongest interests in women and child psych going into match but will say that the VA time I ended up having was quite useful (particularly pgy1 year as the pacing tends to be slower). Dealing with characterologic disorders is actually a fairly universal thing (say between ASPD to BPD) and there is no better place to see those than VAs along with attendings who are hopefully good at maneuvering them. Also if you know you want to do a child fellowship, residency exposure is not a huge deal, youll get plenty in fellowship; if you are on the fence, then I can see it mattering more.

UMich is a great program so I really wouldnt let those things defer you. Hating the cold or small city thing I could totally understand.
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Oh, it is still quite high on my list. There are just a couple places I like more!
 
*another HCMC-Regions cuz it's awesome

Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) and Regions Hospital –Twin Cities, MN

1. Ease of Communication:
Got an email with a link to interview broker that was straight forward. There are 2 program coordinators, Sandy at Hennepin and Mary at Regions, both of whom are the nicest coordinators I've met so far. They email you about where you will interview, some hotel info, and dinner at a resident's condo building.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Discounted hotel provided; I chose to airbnb it. Food the night before was at a condo where 2 of the interns lived. It was very chill, with residents coming in and out and answering questions. The morning of, there were some donuts/fruits/coffee and lunch was either Indian or pasta depending on where you were at. Food was really good.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
There were 10-11 applicants the day I was there, split into 2 and started at one hospital in the am and then switching. Day started out with an info session followed by a powerpoint by one of the program directors. We then had a tour of Hennepin and their psych facilities were amazing. I felt oddly enough for the first time during the interview trail that I was on a psych floor bc I saw so many patients, some of whom were agitated or upset. Idk it just felt real. Also the most diversity of patients that I saw, which surprised me. The famed ER has several psych beds which we got to see. There are about 100 psych beds in the hospital total and it clearly looked like the psych department was very well respected here. Interviews were with attendings, residents, social workers, PAs, and NPs and laid back. Everyone was very "Minnesota nice" and smiled a lot lol. We then took a taxi over to St. Paul (took about 15-20 minutes or so) for Regions where we ate lunch and chatted with residents. More interviews with people followed by a short interview with the program director, Dr. Oakman. He comes across as a pensive, introverted guy but was warm and welcoming. We toured Regions, which also has about 100 psych beds, and that concluded the interview day. 8 am - 4:30 pm approximately.

4. Program Overview:
The other review does a good job with this section; I just thought that having 200+ psych beds was amazing. They give you a folder with a lot of info about the program and a copy of the contract. This is a community residency which serves a large and diverse population. You get the underserved, minority population at Hennepin and the more well-to-do population at Regions and everything in between. Clinical training here appears to be excellent. The Twin cities metro area is about 3.6 million and the only other psych residency is at U of Minnesota. Second year is an outpatient year which makes this program unique. They also have something called ACT teams (assertive community treatment) which are made up of psychiatrists, social workers, therapists, etc where you can do home visits and interventions. Other notables: EM rotation first year that is busy, didactics at both hospitals (alternate each week), lucrative moonlighting (about 75$/hr at Hennepin vs 100$/hr at Regions); moonlighting at Hennepin is more laidback and residents said they sometimes slept through the night. Regions moonlighting requires MN license and credentials. 150$ is the rate during holidays. External moonlighting is 3500-5000$/weekend, based on production.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Already mentioned.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Obviously this is the Twin Cities, not the warmest of places but that is the only negative I can think of. Housing here is relatively affordable. Traffic is definitely present here but getting from one hospital to the other didn't take as long as I thought it would. Both cities are clean and beautiful. Some residents owned homes in the suburbs, some lived in the more lively Minneapolis downtown area, others in St. Paul. The cities seem like a great place to live, whether single or with a family.

7. Salary & Benefits:
Covered in the other review. They did mention a salary increase for the next year but I forgot by how much..

8. Program Strengths:
-Strong clinical training, amazing psych facilities
-Family-oriented program -everyone seemed to like each other
-Outpatient starts second year with unique things such as ACT teams; outpatient clinics include a new eating disorders clinic
-Faculty dedicated to teaching residents
-Twin Cities-great place to live
-Residents are down-t0-earth and fun
-Benefits include: meal allowances that residents said they don't run out of at Hennepin (Regions' cafeteria is more $ so money doesn't last as long), new gym spaces being built, free parking at both hospitals, etc

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-NONE 😀

10. Overall Impression:
Prior to coming, I thought I would really like it but I loved this program. It has the community psych aspect that I really want and the clinical pathology/diversity of patients is very appealing. I loved the residents I met and everyone just seemed happy. Agree with the other reviewer, this is a top choice contender.
 
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Mayo Clinic -Rochester, MN

1. Ease of Communication:
Invite via ERAS and scheduling via...I forgot. Something like interview broker. The PC is responsive and gives you info in advance. She's a peach.

2. Accommodation & Food:
Free 2 night stay provided at the Kahler Inn & Suites, which is a few minutes away from the Mayo Building. Breakfast is at the hotel on the 2nd floor. You can then walk (or run if you were running late..) to the Mayo Building which is connected to this giant multiple story building that you literally cannot miss. Lunch was an assortment of pasta and salad and dessert which was really good. Dinner was at the end of interview day at a fancy restaurant called Bleu Duck Kitchen. They give you a printed map so you can find it easily. Pro tip: if you're flying in, it's typically cheaper to fly into MSP and take a shuttle to Rochester.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
There were 5 applicants total I think (a resident or someone mentioned Mayo had 65 interviewees total this cycle). We took a shuttle to some other part of the campus and walked for what seemed like miles to the psych building, Generose. Started out with an overview of the program by the PD, Dr. Swintak, who is blunt but also very warm and the aPD, Dr. Somers. I really liked both of them. We then got to choose which rounds to attend which I thought was a very nice addition to the interview day. We took a tour of the building and saw the facilities which were very nice. At noon we had lunch where we chatted with the residents. After, we had 4 interviews, and everyone met the PD. They were laid back, no weird questions. One of the attendings (oops, I mean consultants) who interviewed me was hilarious. Interviews were 30 minutes long with plenty of time for breaks and cookies/drinks/coffee in the conference room available. Interview day was from 7:15 am - 3 pm.

4. Program Overview:
This is an academic program with a traditional set-up in terms of rotations. They gave us a folder and emailed a detailed PDF with info on the program. First year: 2 months inpatient medicine (blargh), 1 month EM, 1 month FM (25 miles away or something), 2 months of neuro (outpatient and inpatient), and 6 months of psych (units include emergency, acute adult, medical, mood disorders, and child & adolescent). Second year: rotate through the psych units. Third year is outpatient with experience doing ER triage/crisis intervention. Fourth year is elective time; forensics experience available at the Federal Medical Center. ECT training also available. There is also an integrated research track. There are about 35 residents in the program. My sense was that residents work pretty hard here but also obtain very good training. Moonlighting: I think it's not allowed internally but you can go to sites about 20 miles away or so. Not sure about the compensation/hr.

Fellowships: addiction, CAP, geriatric, psychosomatic

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Faculty come from all over, including prestigious places like MGH, NYU, etc. Residents said they regularly contacted faculty and said it is a collegial atmosphere. Didactics and grand rounds are strong here. When on off-service rotations, you go to their didactics.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
So Rochester at first glance isn't the most exciting place and this doesn't really change if you get to venture out a bit. To me, Rochester and Mayo are synonymous. But it is a very safe, affordable, and nice place to live, especially if you have a family. I feel like the singles scene isn't very good here unfortunately but the Twin Cities are very close (about an hour and 15 minutes or something).

7. Salary & Benefits:
Salary:
$53,270
$55,403
$57,695
$60,108

Benefits:
  • Vacation (15 working days a year)
  • Short-term disability (sick leave up to three months)
  • Paid parental leave (five days)
  • Dental assistance plan
  • Fitness center
  • Child care
8. Program Strengths:
-Mayo Clinic and its resources as a top hospital
-Strong clinical training, especially consult medicine
-Strong didactics, educational activities (monthly movies on psych themes, resident retreat)
-Warm and caring PD
-Residents were smart and from all over the country/world
-Patients come from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, etc

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-Rochester left much to...desire
-Formal attire- so yeah, I was hoping this didn't apply to the cool kids in the psych dept but apparently everyone has to wear like a suit + jacket and I'm not about that life :uhno:

10. Overall Impression:
This is a great program and the graduates go on to secure amazing fellowships and jobs in academia or private practice. Despite some of the things I don't like, I will end up ranking it highly because I loved the residents and consultants I met and I think I would get great training here.
 
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Seroquel said:
apparently everyone has to wear like a suit + jacket and I'm not about that life
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I literally could not deal with this. I have seen a good number of residents wearing surprisingly casual outfits (particularly PGy-3s) at several programs, so a dress code in general I can understand, but suits? Ugh.
 
Cincinnati

**Here are links to the reviews from last year - I think it helps to compare because there are some threads of similarity between all of them**

- https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2015-2016-interview-reviews.1165895/page-3#post-17124527

- https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2015-2016-interview-reviews.1165895/page-2#post-17053404

Ease Of Communication: Info trickled in later than some other programs - I'm not sure why they waited so long to send out things like hotel discounts. They were responsive in general, though.

Accommodation & Food: Hotels were still pretty expensive after the discounts. AirBnB wasn't on my radar at this point, otherwise I might've tried that. Dinner was at a brewing company sort of place downtown (lots of meat/beer) - it was easy to find once I parked, but there's so much construction ("re-vitalization") going on downtown that the nearest exit off the highway was closed. Dinner was okay - there was one resident in particular who was sort of the main person running the dinner, and s/he was just kind of odd (didn't really make a lot of eye contact and/or looked at my forehead instead of my eyes...I just got weird vibes). All of the residents were nice/friendly, I just got an overall strange vibe from that one in particular, and s/he was sitting in very close proximity to me. Also, this was probably my only interview all season where I didn't feel like I meshed well with the other applicants.

Interview Day (Schedule, Type Of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Same as last year, you arrive and there's no food - just a pitcher of ice water. The PD starts with a useful overview of the program. He seems like a nice guy, but not nearly as enthusiastic as other PDs I've encountered. He really tries to emphasize that UC is "all about community" but it's almost like he was trying too hard to convince me - like, now I'm suspicious that it's not actually the case because he has to try so hard? Someone else came in after him and gave a weird presentation - I don't remember who, but the presentation had to do with the structure of the department or something like that, and I wasn't really sure why the information was being presented to me. Interviews were 30 minutes and I actually had pretty good experiences during my interviews. All my interviewers had read my application and made comments about specific sections/had specific questions. Like the reviewer said last year, the associate PD is much more enthusiastic and engaging than the PD, and I loved my interview with him. We traveled to the new in patient facility for lunch. The residents at lunch were nice, friendly, and answered everyone's questions. There was a tour after lunch and then the day ended relatively early (I think by 3pm).

Program Overview: Seems like a great program overall. They have a designated psych ED and a VA. I don't remember the specifics of call but it seems to be slightly toward the lighter side of the spectrum - every resident I asked thought it was very reasonable. They have night float. You start picking up 1-3 therapy patients during PGY-2. However, all but one of the clinics during PGY-3 are med management. The psychotherapy clinic is an interesting set-up - it's a low-fee, cash-only private practice run by residents (so residents are responsible for collecting payments).

They just opened a brand new inpatient facility and decreased the number of inpatient beds in the city by 70 or something like that. They are really trying to shift more toward outpatient treatment. I guess this change came as a bit of a surprise to the PGY-1s who were affected by it (it happened shortly after their intern year started, I think). FWIW, I didn't think the new facility was very nice - it still had that dark stereotypical psych floor aesthetic. On that note, I was surprised by all the facilities we toured (main hospital, children's hospital) - none of them were really that nice/warm/aesthetically pleasing.

There is a second look day that every interviewee gets invited to. I heard from at least one resident that this was worth attending - it is run by the PD and apparently he gives a nice introduction to the city (as opposed to the program, which you get on interview day).

Location & Lifestyle: I felt very uncomfortable in Cincinnati and I can't imagine myself living there. When I was driving around the city, I did not drive through any neighborhoods where I thought, "Oh - I would live in this area". I would probably choose to purchase a house in the suburbs (pretty sure this is very affordable), but at least one resident did this and mentioned that her commute was closer to 40 minutes including traffic. I'm the sort of person who is 100% fine with living outside of a city and just traveling there for work/specific fun activities, but there was nothing about Cincinnati that made me want to spend any extra time there. It didn't feel like it was the sort of city people just walk around for sight-seeing.

Program Strengths:
  • Seems to have all the opportunities/resources of a big academic institution - multiple fellowships, research, etc.
Potential Weaknesses:
  • I don't think the program itself has any glaring weaknesses - for me, the city was the biggest drawback
Overall Impression: I think this program is objectively a good one and probably more top-tier than mid-tier. However, I got weird vibes throughout the day. I wonder if this is somewhat of a "cultural" thing. I am from the Northeastern US and Cincinnati was my most Midwestern interview. Also, almost all the other applicants were from the Midwest. So the program is fine, but it's just not a good fit for me personally.
 
StrangerFigs said:
I literally could not deal with this. I have seen a good number of residents wearing surprisingly casual outfits (particularly PGy-3s) at several programs, so a dress code in general I can understand, but suits? Ugh.
Click to expand...
Yeah, there is really no reason for it. The more I think about it, it's a big turn off.
 
Seroquel said:
Yeah, there is really no reason for it. The more I think about it, it's a big turn off.
Click to expand...

I interviewed there as well. The suit thing is just tradition as the original mayo doctors wore suits to show respect for the patients that usually traveled a great distance to a hospital in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere to see them. It's a little annoying, but I get it, and Mayo has a really cool unique story so a little tradition I can handle. I also go to a med school with a dress code and you get so used to it after awhile it essentially becomes a non-factor. My interview there was probably the most personal experience I've had so far given just how familiar they seemed to be with my application. It was refreshing after the barrage of "do you have any questions?" interviewers I have had recently.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Seroquel said:
Yeah, there is really no reason for it. The more I think about it, it's a big turn off.
Click to expand...

It's actually an interesting model that goes back to doing everything for the patient. The way you present yourself sends a signal to the patient. Suits convey professionalism and expertise. Maybe it'd be a bit more awkward if you were the only one wearing a suit, but when I interviewed here for medical school, EVERYONE was wearing a suit. It actually seemed cool since during lunchtime, everyone was walking around downtown looking professional.

Here's an article that explains it:

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3380.html
 
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clozareal said:
It's actually an interesting model that goes back to doing everything for the patient. The way you present yourself sends a signal to the patient. Suits convey professionalism and expertise. Maybe it'd be a bit more awkward if you were the only one wearing a suit, but when I interviewed here for medical school, EVERYONE was wearing a suit. It actually seemed cool since during lunchtime, everyone was walking around downtown looking professional.

Here's an article that explains it:

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3380.html
Click to expand...

I mean, I get it, patients first. Just personally I don't like wearing suits to interviews and wearing one everyday sounds daunting and itchy and expensive. But I suppose it's nitpicking and plenty of other professions involve professional attire.
 
clozareal said:
It's actually an interesting model that goes back to doing everything for the patient. The way you present yourself sends a signal to the patient. Suits convey professionalism and expertise. Maybe it'd be a bit more awkward if you were the only one wearing a suit, but when I interviewed here for medical school, EVERYONE was wearing a suit. It actually seemed cool since during lunchtime, everyone was walking around downtown looking professional.

Here's an article that explains it:

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3380.html
Click to expand...
I'm professional... look it too... but without the jacket... or a tie. Forget that white coat too (they're for nurses and everyone else these days). All of that said, rather save some change and keep the 2 suits I own zipped up in the wardrobe (if you can call it that).
 
University of Massachusetts (UMass)

1. Ease of Communication:
PC responds very quickly via email and is very helpful during the scheduling process and on interview day.

2. Accommodation & Food:
No accommodations provided, but discount given at a nearby hotel with a shuttle to the medical center. Information on local hotels provided by PC after scheduling interview. A nice "wellness" packet was also snail mailed before the interview which included information on Worcester as well as some wellness tips to stay sane while on the interview trail. Dinner the night before was very well-attended by residents from all years. There was a modified menu and we were able to choose from that. Residents had glowing things to say about the program and were very candid. They had also been given copies of our application which helped conversation at times as they were able to ask about hobbies/interests, etc.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
Interview started at 9 am with 10 other applicants -- 6 for the adult track and 4 for the child track. Finding the conference room was pretty difficult, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to stumble around asking if anyone knows where the room is. There was instant coffee, hot water, and tea available, but no food. The morning started with a casual intro to the program and area by the PC and then we went on a tour. After the tour, a more formal PowerPoint presentation was given by the PD which was very thorough and answered most questions an applicant would have. PD is dual trained in psychiatry and neurology and the program is definitely more biological/neuropsych heavy than most programs. Residents echoed that psychotherapy training is "good", but that they are much more biological leaning. In the beginning of intern year, PD gives interns a neuroanatomy course which is pretty unique. Interviews are staggered in the morning and also in the afternoon. I think there were four 30 min interviews (including one with the PD and aPD). The interviews here were much more formal and interview-esk than I was expecting/have experienced thus far on my interview trail. One of my interviewers harped on a single word in my personal statement which they took issue with -- this then took a turn down psychodynamic lane, which was quite odd. I think most of this interview was spent talking about the interviewer vs my application. My interview with the PD was along these same lines -- really probing "weaknesses" in my application and questioning minutia of my CV as well as personal statement. There were several questions where the PD simply did not like the answers I gave and would tell me so by remarking "I find that hard to believe" several times. It did not come across as "getting to know you" and left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. Frankly, I was very caught off guard by the interview with him because he came across as fairly laid back during the program overview. I think the interviews/interactions with some faculty here somewhat tarnished my view of the program. Several other applicants that day commented that they had what they felt was a "stressful" or "rough" interview with the PD. Not sure what the rationale behind this is. Curious to hear if others on here also experienced this.

4. Program Overview:
This is a very small residency program within a very large (388 faculty) psychiatry department. Lots of faculty doing research with plenty of funding, so ample opportunities for residents to get involved if they so choose. Research is not required, other than a QI project. Seven residents per year -- 4 adult, 2 adult/child, and 1 neuropsych. This is speaking for the adult track as I don't have the scheduling for the child track, but they have a completely different schedule/requirements which residents reported was "more cush" than the adult track (seems very hard to believe because the adult track seems pretty cush itself!). The hospital is very nice and seems to be well-funded. **Many of the details are hazy and my notes are a little sparse, but their website has a decent amount of information, so please check there to make sure this is all accurate.

PGY-1: I can't remember if intern year is split in half or if medicine/neuro months are peppered in throughout the year. For medicine, you have 2 blocks inpatient, 1 block ED, and 1 block elective (there are a lot of elective such as palliative care, pain management, cardiology, etc. basically sounds like if you are interested in it, they will figure out how to make it happen). I think you do short call while on medicine, but don't remember the details anymore, nor do I remember if you also do night float as part of medicine. You have an "assessment" block which is like a "life skills" block -- you learn the nuts and bolts of psych residents (how to do admissions, how to conduct a good interview, etc). There are 3 months of neurology (which is one things that makes this program stand out from others) -- 1 month consults, 1 month inpatient, and 1 month neuropsych. You do one block each of emergency psych and inpatient geriatric psych. And finally you do two blocks of inpatient psych. There are 8-9 hours protected didactic time all four years with what sounds like a very solid curriculum. Residents are capped at 2 consults and 4 patients on inpatient, but you can "choose to take more". When on call, you are capped at 3-4 admissions. I was told you can also choose to do more "but your co-residents might get annoyed thinking that now they are expected to do more".
PGY-2: 3 blocks adult inpatient, required block of forensics, block of addiction psych, one block of elective time, 3 blocks C/L, 2 blocks "continuing care" which is at a very impressive-sounding state hospital (patients here are being re-acclimated so they can assimilate into society easier once they are released). You also pick up a psychodynamic therapy case this year.
PGY-3: PGY-3 is entirely outpatient. 6 hours of individual therapy cases (3 psychodynamic, 3 CBT, and 1 child). Every Tuesday is "community psychiatry" where you are embedded in a primary care clinic and it sounds like do consult work. I don't recall how psychotherapy supervision works.
PGY-4: All outpatient/integrated care/elective and/or doing a chiefs position. Don't recall exactly how much is elective time

They offer fellowships in child, forensics, addiction, neuropsych, psychopharmacology, and adult neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Psych Call:
PGY1: 6 weekend day calls/year and 2 weeks of nightfloat (Monday 8pm to Saturday 8am)
PGY2: 9 24-hour weekend calls/year (can be broken up into 18 12-hour calls), 4 weeks nightfloat
PGY3: 6 24 hour weekend calls/year (can be broken up into 12 12-hour calls), 2 weeks nightfloat
PGY4: 2 weeks nightfloat

There is definitely an education >>> service component here, but residents report feeling well-prepared to go into practice after graduation. Residents are encouraged to teach and a majority of the clerkship lectures are given by residents. You you will working with UMass medical students on most/all rotations and they are reportedly very engaged/interested in learning and willing to help out. PC quirky and has a dry sense of humor -- made a couple of odd remarks during the day. Overall, residents were very excited about the program and happy to talk about it/answer any questions.


5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Faculty seem to be available if you should have similar interests. Sounds as if PD is very involved in resident education and well-being. Residents did not have much to say about the PD other than he was supportive and that he will make your interests his priority.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Worcester is probably the biggest downside to this program and they do a lot to try to make it sound more attractive to applicants. It's a decent sized city and seems like there are plenty of good restaurants as well as lots of outdoors activities close by. Boston is about an hour away. Program is touted as being extremely family friendly and most residents are married with kids. The PD even joked about the program's doubling rate during the program overview. Sounds like there is flexibility and plenty of opportunities to pursue your own interests with the support of the PD. Many residents chose to live outside Worcester proper and buy homes (very easily done in this area).

7. Salary & Benefits:
  • 56k-66k PGY1-5
  • 1k put towards attending conferences when you're presenting a first author paper
  • 3 weeks vacation
  • 3 weeks sick leave
  • 3 personal days
  • 5 conference days (pgy2-4)
  • "Parents in a pinch" and I think onsite daycare
  • $750/year educational fund
  • In house moonlighting cited as being very lucrative, can do psych ED assessments as early as PGY2 and get paid something like $100 per assessment (you interview patient and present to attending) other moonlighting opportunities outside of the hospital also reported as being very high-paying. Several residents cited being easily able to "double their salary" this way

8. Program Strengths:
  • More medicine/neuro oriented, will likely leave feeling comfortable working in the gray areas of neuro and psych
  • Large department means opportunities to find mentors in your area of interest and they likely won't be too busy with other residnts
  • Good amount of research going on should you be interested in it
  • Program seems very supportive of resident education and personal development
  • Cool outdoor activities in the area
  • Solid, protected didactics (I think it's a full day though which might be seen as a negative to some -- this must affect continuity of care)

9. Potential Weaknesses:
  • Location will likely be the biggest downside to most, but close to Boston
  • No TMS/very little ECT going on here; would have to figure out an elective to get exposure to this
  • +/- lots of married residents/residents with children, the young single crowd might not particularly care for the area
  • +/- program might be a little too "cush" (again, this could be a positive for some)
  • +/- therapy training might not be seen as being very strong here

10. Overall Impression:
This is a very solid program with well-thought out clinical rotations. It seems like you can carve out a niche for yourself and the program will work to support you. The residents were all very enthusiastic about the program and said that they were happy that they ended up there. It sounds like there is a lot of interesting research going on and residents could get involved relatively easily. The lack of neuromodulation exposure is disappointing, and I think the city of Worcester will be a big downside for most applicants. I'm not sure how approachable/easy to work with the PD is after my own interview experience and speaking with other applicants -- this is a huge concern for me as this is going to be your boss and advocate for the next 4-6 years. Residents cited that they do not feel overworked, but are still able to get in the learning they feel is necessary to becoming a great clinician.
 
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AnonPsychInverviewReviews said:
University of Massachusetts (UMass)


9. Potential Weaknesses:
  • Location will likely be the biggest downside to most, but close to Boston
  • No TMS/very little ECT going on here; would have to figure out an elective to get exposure to this
  • +/- lots of married residents/residents with children, the young single crowd might not particularly care for the area
  • +/- program might be a little too "cush" (again, this could be a positive for some)
  • +/- therapy training might not be seen as being very strong here
Click to expand...
UMass is an excellent program that has the misfortune of being in worcester. Which is not the worst place to be and is not too far from Boston. But I'm not sure I'd recommend it to those who are single.

Not sure how sheldon is during interviews as i never interviewed here, but I doubt the interviews were actually "stressful", it seems much more likely that applicants are just so used to being coddled or have easygoing interviews that they are taken aback by a real interview. He is extremely approachable, a highly regarded educator both in residency training (he was a past-president of AADPRT, the psych PD's association) and also immediate past-president of the american neuropsychiatric association. I have found him to be extremely approachable and responsive. because of him UMass has the most extensive neuropsychiatry didactic program in the country (something that is deficient in the vast majority of programs, even top programs).

The other cool thing about UMass is they do some pretty gnarly research in things like public psychiatry, mindfulness, and open dialog. the chair, doug ziedonis, lead one of the first north american studies of open dialog, a network therapy, that was a successful non-drug alternative to treating psychosis in lapland with apparently superior results. Can you image a chair of psychiatry in the US researching non-drug alternatives to the treatment of schizopbrenia?! Western Mass (Worcester is actually in central mass, but eh close enough) also has a thriving antipsychiatry movement with psychiatric survivors, psychologists, and other mental health professional exploring alternatives to the conventional failed psychiatric models, which is quite exciting. I met some of the people involved in this work and was very impressed.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons that ECT is below the radar? They definitely used to have an active ECT program, I can't imagine it's gone? Are you sure they don't have any TMS? they were doing studies using TMS in the past. They definitely have a DBS program at UMass including for psychiatric disorders. In fact the PD has a specific interest in DBS.

I reckon a research setting is probably the best way to get exposure to TMS anyway as traditional insurance typically only covers TMS for unipolar depression and it is very expensive out of pocket. Although it would be a good idea to get exposure to things like TMS, I would not consider it an absolute must, and you may not be aware, that typically the actual administration of TMS is not done by a psychiatry typically (thankfully!) but a TMS clinician. a psychiatrist will prescribe the dose and calculate the RMT (resting motor threshold) but the main role of the psychiatrist is deciding whether it's appropriate. It's not really much of a "procedure" on the psychiatrists end. You can do courses on ECT and stimulation treatment for example through ISEN and some universities - duke used to do a course at least. ECT is a dying practice, so the majority of resident complete training without being competent in this. I do think you should get the experience in residency if possible, but it can be easily learnt after (and in fact you may need to learn things different at a different institution as there can be significant practice differences or you may end up with a different machine though only two main ones).

I know several UMass graduates who have done very well for themselves in terms of national awards, fellowships, and getting desired jobs etc.

tl;dr sheldon is awesome; this is the top neuropsychiatry residency in the country; some really interesting research; strong antipsychiatry community in the western part of mass; good forensics; chair has done research into non-drug alternatives for schizophrenia; excellent program but less-ideally located
 
@splik Thanks for adding your insight to this program -- makes it sound even better than on interview day. It's hard to get a good feel for a program after only one day, so I appreciate you taking the time to help us out!
 
Tufts - Boston, MA
1. Ease of Communication: PC is very nice and responds quickly.

2. Accommodation & Food: No accommodations. Dinner night before at a very loud bar next to the hospital. Program paid for generic appetizers and residents paid for pitchers of beer. 7+ residents were at the dinner. Breakfast of baked goods, juice, etc. Tasty lunch of lasagna and chicken parm, again with good resident attendance.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): Morning (8am-2pm) and afternoon (10am-5pm) sessions available. I was in the morning session. 4 interviews with faculty and residents, one of which was with the PD, a psychoanalyst who came across as reserved. Lunch then tour.

4. Program Overview:
Good overview on website. Many rotations are off-site and might require a car. Program has psychodynamic orientation. On inpatient psych rotations, residents have a leadership role in teaching and supervising Tufts's numerous medical students. Residents say that they see ~35 patients per week (supposedly fewer than at most other programs) during their outpatient year, which gives they more time for long-term therapy patients. 2 hours of supervision per week. A few residents are planning to pursue more in-depth psychoanalytic training. Residents say they get to see a mix of higher functioning corporate types as well as patients with severe pathology.

The hospital looks nice. Don't know how it compares to the other Boston places. It is in Chinatown, with Boston Common and the financial district a few blocks to the north.

Call sounds a little tougher than average. PGY1 has weekday evening call or weekend day call once per week. PGY2 has ~q10 overnight call. PGY3 has overnight call 1-2x/month. No night float.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement:

6. Location & Lifestyle:
Boston has lots to do but is very expensive. Residents say that a studio in locations close to the hospital cost $1500-1800/month. Everyone I talked to either take the T to Tufts Medical Center or live within walking distance. However, quite a few rotations don't seem to be easily accessible by public transportation and might require a car. Residents say that they do a lot together outside of work. PGY1-2 residents seem to be mostly unmarried.

7. Salary & Benefits:
57.8, 60, 62.8, 65.8
4 weeks vacation. 12 sick days. Going to conference uses up vacation, unless presenting at the conference.
No in-house moonlighting. Residents say moonlighting opportunities in Boston aren't very lucrative.
The website mentions discounted passes for the T and reimbursement for Uber/Lyft to off-site locations.

8. Program Strengths:
-psychodynamic focus; good psychotherapy training and supervision
-fun group of residents who do things together
-big city amenities

9. Potential Weaknesses:
-high cost of living
-frequent commuting to off-site rotations; traffic is probably atrocious
-job market in Boston is saturated; not a lot of lucrative moonlighting opportunities
 
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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...
 
Can anyone comment on post-residency job availability (academic and non-academic) in the following places (for both general and C&A, if that makes a big difference):
  • Ann Arbor
  • Detroit
In general, I got the impression that more residents would like to stay at the University of Michigan than there are jobs available, at least for academic/faculty positions. I have no idea what the job market is like in Ann Arbor in general for non-academic positions.

I know absolutely nothing about the job market in Detroit (academic or non-academic) but I'm someone who would be fine with splitting the distance and possibly working in both Ann Arbor and Detroit, or something like that (a 20-30 minute commute isn't an issue for me, especially as an attending).

It's a relatively high priority for me to have the option of working wherever I end up for residency, and this is one of my main concerns about Ann Arbor vs. programs in bigger cities.
 
StrangerFigs said:
Can anyone comment on post-residency job availability (academic and non-academic) in the following places (for both general and C&A, if that makes a big difference):
  • Ann Arbor
  • Detroit
In general, I got the impression that more residents would like to stay at the University of Michigan than there are jobs available, at least for academic/faculty positions. I have no idea what the job market is like in Ann Arbor in general for non-academic positions.

I know absolutely nothing about the job market in Detroit (academic or non-academic) but I'm someone who would be fine with splitting the distance and possibly working in both Ann Arbor and Detroit, or something like that (a 20-30 minute commute isn't an issue for me, especially as an attending).

It's a relatively high priority for me to have the option of working wherever I end up for residency, and this is one of my main concerns about Ann Arbor vs. programs in bigger cities.
Click to expand...

Was recently job searching. Was getting info about academic pay about 180-210k and non-academic around 230k. I was avoiding Detroit and would imagine it to be on the low end. I would not say that you have to work where you train; you should focus on training then they will come looking for you. The transition from resident to attending many people like to start at a new place. You may even run into the issue of no open positions at your program; which you will have to look else where. You will have plenty of opportunities; take the time to figure out what you want.
 
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).
 
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Glad splik got on my case for finally doing these. Hope this will inspire some others to write long-awaited reviews - looking at you clozareal 🙂

Vanderbilt
1. Ease of Communication: ERAS + email. PC very responsive, accommodating in terms of dietary restrictions. One of the most well-organized days on the trail by far. Schedule is detailed to the T.

2. Accommodation & Food: Stayed with a resident - make sure you reach out to PC who will set you up with available housing. Dinner at Southern restaurant night before, drinks covered(!), delicious meal. Bkfst standard pastries/yogurt/coffee. Lunch catered sandwiches.

3. Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences): 5 interviews total, 3x30 min with faculty, 2x15 min with PD and aPD, Drs. Fleisch and Cowan. All interviews (at least for me) in AM. I think CAP applicants also had additional afternoon ones after tour. Lunch with brief presentation by resident followed by case conference - great experience. Watched an upper level resident present pt with attending opening it up for questions - seemed to get a bit analytical, but seemed very helpful.

4. Program Overview: Fairly standard experiences. All interns begin on psych, residents said this was helpful for cohesiveness. 3 mos med/ped if interested in CAP, 2 mos neuro (don't remember whether admit/consult sorry), 1 mo emergency med. Notably, PGY1 includes 1 mo inpt addictions + 1 mo CAP. 1 mo elective time PGY1 also. PGY2: 4 mos inpatient psych/research, some NF, 2 mo CL, 1 mo CL CAP, 1 mo community. Outpatient psychotherapy begins PGY2. PGY3-4 standard outpatient/elective experiences. ECT unit. Unique aspect PGY1 - interns present their pts in court so potentially could be a valuable experience if one were interested in forensics (or so I was told).

Call: NF PGY2 with 24 hr call as well. Call was not explicitly stated, residents looked happy and not overworked.

5. Faculty Achievements & Involvement: Despite short interviews w/ PD and aPD, really loved them both. aPD extremely passionate about schizophrenia research, they have a lot going on with neuroimaging and just got a grant. Dr. Fleisch PD leads homeless psychiatry which one of its kind, seems like a wonderful opportunity to learn as well as reservoir for research if so desired. Faculty responsive to resident feedback.

6. Location & Lifestyle:
All facilities are within walking distance on campus - huge plus. Nashville is not for everyone (the South). Up and coming city, many young people moving in, also great place to bring your family. Relatively mild weather. Gorgeous campus (medical and especially undergraduate).

7. Salary & Benefits:
52k starting salary, good/standard health benefits. Moonlighting PGY3-4.

8. Program Strengths:
- Good breadth of exposure, research oppys there if so inclined but definitely not mandatory.
- Great resident vibe. All liked each other (you really learn to tell who's genuine at these dinners haha). They get together a lot!
- Passionate PD and aPD
- City is +/- depending on your tastes. Country music, Southern food, rapid gentrification of East Nashville.
- COL in Nashville is very doable. It's getting expensive to live on West End (near Vandy campus) but still doable on a resident's salary. You may be able to do without a car if you lived on campus, but most residents have one and you'd want to explore Nashville. Traffic has become a lot worse since I last was in town, but it's nothing compared to NYC/Boston/Chicago/LA.

9. Potential Weaknesses:
- Nashville if you're not a fan of the South.
- This is downright silly but no shower rooms in the overnight call rooms was one of my few minuses.
- No VA exposure until PGY3 (I wrote this down in notes - please correct if I'm wrong)

Summary: I really loved Vandy. PD is warm and cares about residents. aPD huge on research and downright brilliant. Seems like a great mentor. Good work/life balance though PGY2 is tough. Street psychiatry unique, run by PD Dr. Fleisch if that's your interest. Strong in CAP. Schizophrenia neuroimaging research important as well.
 
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