Anyone freaking out about initial cert boards?

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Msucom reads your letters to you or at least they used to. Her letter made me sound like the world's best resident on planet earth. This has gotten so off topic and way more personal than intended. My CV has a lot of red flags my low board scores on the Comlex my fault. I'm not going to get into thr rest. Thanks so much for the helpful and thoughtful advice. Congratulations to all who have passed the boards and best of luck to those who are taking it this year.

You are getting a lot of criticism because your reasons for worrying about the boards and getting a letter from a retired PD appears counter-productive to your goals. You appear to be sabotaging your ideal career trajectory. Before you become defensive, hear me out.

90% of LOR’s are a waste of paper. They almost all state that the candidate is absolutely amazing. 5% are actually not recommendations but criticisms. PD’s mostly skim for the 5% that help people stand out. Your retired PD already made comments about you in your file that the current PD will send out. Unless your ex-PD is currently working clinically with you, their random new opinion is now worthless. Their comments on your semi-annual reviews are more accurate than her recollection of the more distant past.

Dedicating your time to passing an exam that has 0 impact on your future in FM is hurting you.

If I am a FM PD, I get thousands of applications each year. The non-traditional applicants need to wow me more than typical applicants, and I would go into each application believing that non-traditional applicants are more likely to quit. After all, they have a great fall-back plan. Dedicating time to board certification shows me that you are exceptionally well prepared to quit FM residency when it gets hard.

Your job is to convince them that FM training with more difficult financing will lead to a better future for them (dedicated resident) and the public. Any hint that you are doing FM in part because psych sucks is a deal-breaker for you. You spent 4 years continuing psych despite not liking it and you learned from that experience. If you quickly determine that FM also sucks, you will probably happily quit. Even if it isn’t true for you, that’s a huge risk for them.

While you need to develop your own narrative, consider what your competition is selling. A colleague of mine did psych and determined that he liked rural, harder climates. He semi-enjoyed psych, but he had difficulty becoming “the guy” for the community. The men believed mental illness was a weakness, and they had “more pressing” physical issues. My colleague decided to do a FM residency, not because he hated psych but because he believed it would open doors and build trust to enhance the physical and mental well-being of a community that had 0 doctors. Board certification wasn’t even attempted because he discovered that FM was “mandatory” to provide the foundation for improved mental health of an area with limited knowledge and resources. He also was working on a non-profit. He was more than willing to provide his mental health insight to in-training peers to enhance their program as well.

His application demonstrated that he “needed” FM to further his goals. His goals were more defined than his competition. Regardless of his past, he had a mission that sold himself.

You don’t need to respond to my post at all. Think about it and ask yourself if your strategy is defining your future or just checking perceived boxes that everyone else has.

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How long ago was this? When I was talking to my PD about leaving psych she and the other attendings said I should stay because a 2nd residency was SO EASY. I think it used to be and they truly thought this would be the case, they weren't lying. From reading the general thread my application would likely be weeded out by most programs and never seen due to the length of time from graduation, a second residency board scores, and other red flags. My application is a red flag. I'm hoping either a LOR from the Dr who runs the psych unit where I moonlight and a good word from him may help or finding a volunteer spot where there is a PD involved and they get to know me in person not on paper may help.
I just know I applied to over 30 programs got two interviews only because I had a letter from my former PD, and nada in the scramble,not even from the most undesirable program
And the slight advantage I had being a DO where only DOs could apply to DO programs will be over and is over for most programs.
I was really just looking for pearls of wisdom that perhaps weren't mentioned in the boards sticky :). This has gotten so off topic, but I DO get you are all trying to be helpful and I appreciate that.
I appreciate the information.
I think it would be amazing for me to pass and help with my performance anxiety as a personal goal. I was an anxious exam taker in under grad but it more propelled me to study, it was useful. After the MCAT, it has been complete exam anxiety that is so so out of control. (and I failed CBT) A pass would be HUGE for me personally if not professionally.
So, I don't know if it will make a professional difference, but I have invested a ton of money and set aside time and I want to pass. One thing at a time. I need to pass for me.
 
OP shows classic help seeking-help rejecting behavior. It's not advice she's seeking but continuous attention and reassurance.

There's also a lack of insight. OP considers herself a "darned good psychiatrist". Well, not after the opioids and benzos thread...

This subforum has been through multiple cycles of OP "asking advice on how to prepare for the boards", subforum members giving solid advice, OP replying with "yes, but"s, vents about her unhappiness with her current professional situation but never actually accepts advice, and so on. Ultimately the issue is not with her unsatisfying professional situation but her outlook on life.

What OP needs is some serious psychotherapy, and probably not with the therapist she has now (who doesn't seem to confront her, which is why she likes him so much).
 
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