Applying in the West

[walterwhitebb]

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I am an M4 applying from an MD school in the midwest and I was wondering if I could get feedback about schools in the West that I should add to my list. I'm from Utah and my first choice right now would be the University of Utah because I like living in the mountains for hiking and skiing and I want to be close to family and I did an away rotation there and the program seems solid. Besides Utah I would rather live in the West if I had my choice and I would like to avoid "malignant" programs. My application is good with a Step 1 of 242 and mostly passes third year with honors in psych and radiology and 2 high passes in IM and FM. Non psych-related research during summer after M1 year with no pub. I should have some good LoRs from psych attendings, an IM attending, and my clinical advisor. Anyway, here is my tentative list.

University of Utah
University of Colorado
University of New Mexico
Oregon Health Sciences University
University of Washington
UCSF
UCLA (Semel, SFV/VA, and Harbor)
USC
UC Irvine
Stanford
UCSD
UTSW - Dallas
UTHSC - San Antonio

Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Leo Aquarius]

Utah should strongly consider you with your stats and your regional bias.

Your list is longer than necessary. I had similar stats and applied to 8 programs, and that was too many. This presumes you interview very well.

Apply to several on Sept 1, and if you don't get interview offers then expand your list.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Looks like you're covering the bases. And you shouldn't have any problems, assuming, as said, that you're not dripping with axistwoness on interview.

 

[vistaril]

Utah should strongly consider you with your stats and your regional bias.

QUOTE]

barring something weird, utah should more than "strongly consider him".......unless something weird happens, he will be at Utah unless he changes his mind

 

[Leo Aquarius]

I would think so too. Utah will be the place unless something drastic happens.

 

[peppy]

I tend to be on the conservative side when it comes to the length of match lists. That being said, while I wouldn't add any additional programs, I think it'd be fine if you applied to the ones you listed. Yes, the odds are very good that you'll match at Utah, but it's good to have a chance to see what other programs are like and give yourself options in case something happens on your interview day that changes your perception of the program or unbeknownst to you something happened on your away rotation that caused them to decide they don't want to rank you (not saying it's likely, but sometimes such things happen). The Cali programs are some of the more competitive ones, and it certainly doesn't hurt to have backup options. Besides, you may simply end up falling in love with a place that you didn't expect to like as much before you interviewed there.

As far as your concerns about malignancy, malignant programs are fairly uncommon in psych, but when the topic does come up, Univ of Colorado is often one of the programs that is said to be malignant. I can't confirm the rumors personally, and some people on this site have denied that the rumors are true, but if it's something that you're very concerned about, you should know the rumors are out there.

 

[st2205]

I'll go ahead and note that the U of U actually seems to have a reverse region bias. This is all the way from the medical school to many residencies. There are obviously a lot of people from Utah in the school and residency but they really seem to prefer out of region folk. Not sure what the attitude is for psych specifically, but this is just some incredibly subjective ramble from a fellow fourth year from Utah (currently here) applying psych. Despite the above, it looks like you have a solid application where none of the above should be relevant.

 

[walterwhitebb]

Thanks for all the responses. It looks like I can pare down my list a bit. I hope to get a lot of interview offers and only attend maybe 6-8 interviews. I feel like I interview well. I don't think that I have any axis II problems, but maybe I just don't have good insight. 🙂

I do think that I have a good chance at matching in Utah. I feel like I performed well during my away rotation there and my attending is going to write me a letter.

st2205, I know what you mean about reverse regional bias at the U of U. Are you planning on applying to Utah for psych? I think that I should have an even more solid chance next year since Dr. Bartel is expanding the program to a class of eight. Anyway, good luck to you in the match. Maybe we'll meet out on the interview trail.

 

[psychphan]

I can't imagine you NOT matching at Utah with your stats, unless I am missing something and Utah is incredibly desirable or something.

As far as out west, I only applied to UC Denver, UNM, UCLA Harbor, and OHSU. Got interviews at all, went to all except OHSU (just didn't have enough time/money). Loved UNM, liked UC Denver a lot, did not like Harbor at all (and ultimately liked a few East Coast more than all of them!).

Good luck moving forward!

 

[digitlnoize]

Thanks for all the responses. It looks like I can pare down my list a bit. I hope to get a lot of interview offers and only attend maybe 6-8 interviews. I feel like I interview well. I don't think that I have any axis II problems, but maybe I just don't have good insight. 🙂

Just don't mention your meth lab and you'll be fine. 😉