Atrium Health vs. University of Missouri

[PBL22]

Anyone have insight into these psychiatry residencies or the areas living wise? I'm so unsure how to pick

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[1edyfirel]

Where is Atrium Health?

I'm guessing you mean Univ of Missouri in Columbia, MO. It's kind of a funky college town, lots of cafes, very cute downtown; has a big film festival every year (True/False). Not sure what you're like, but I have friends living there in theirs 30s and they have found a close-knit like-minded group of people (generally liberal, highly educated). Of course there are lots of bars for the college kids, but also cocktail places for adults who don't drink with the sole intention of blacking out and vomiting. Super-affordable and could probably live a nice life there on res salary. Seems like an easy place to have kids if that's important to you. The campus is really pretty.

But also, it's still in Missouri, so there's that. Politics in that state are generally garbage, and it is very red except for Columbia, St. Louis, and Kansas City.

 

[PBL22]

Where is Atrium Health?

I'm guessing you mean Univ of Missouri in Columbia, MO. It's kind of a funky college town, lots of cafes, very cute downtown; has a big film festival every year (True/False). Not sure what you're like, but I have friends living there in theirs 30s and they have found a close-knit like-minded group of people (generally liberal, highly educated). Of course there are lots of bars for the college kids, but also cocktail places for adults who don't drink with the sole intention of blacking out and vomiting. Super-affordable and could probably live a nice life there on res salary. Seems like an easy place to have kids if that's important to you. The campus is really pretty.

But also, it's still in Missouri, so there's that. Politics in that state are generally garbage, and it is very red except for Columbia, St. Louis, and Kansas City.

Atrium is in Charlottes NC (I guess it also goes by the carolinas health system previously!)

Yeah the thing is I've never been to either area. Missouri sounds...like generally not up my ally (I'm from bigger more liberalish or at least moderate cities)...but I keep hearing that Columbia is a cool place? I'm very into hiking and nature which both states seem to have. I cannot believe how torn I am.

 

[rjs2131]

Charlotte is an awesome place to live - grew up there and visit frequently. Easy access to beach/mountains, good cost of living and lots of suburbs if you decide you don't love "living in a city". Many of the psychiatrists that work for Atrium are quality physicians that come from quality programs in the NC/SC area. I think Charlotte would be a great place to do residency. Don't know anything about Missouri!

 

[reca]

Columbia is a great college town and extremely family friendly. If you're into biking, it's a very bikable city with trails connecting downtown to multiple residential areas. Lots of outdoors and nature too. I think most people would probably consider Charlotte a step above it in terms of pretty much everything though. Columbia itself is fairly liberal but interestingly enough, the hospital and medical school themselves are not (a lot of staff as well as students are drawn from rural counties outside of Columbia). I went to medical school at Mizzou and there are a lot of systemic problems with the hospital and medical school though. There were multiple incidents of swatsikas being drawn on Jewish student's doors, cotton balls dropped in front of the black cultural center, racially charged graffiti, etc. It seemed like every month there would be some incident that we would get an email about (this was university wide, not just medical students). The medical school itself wasn't much better though. Like I said, a lot of the students are drawn from rural counties through a pipeline program . No joke, I literally had a classmate tell me he had never met a Jew before M1 year. Not sure if I was more floored by the fact that it was true or the fact that he felt it was a good idea to voice that to me. Student and resident mistreatment was a major issue too. The school's accreditation was suspended over this more than once. One of the associate deans, a psychiatrist, actually, was fired over it and I've heard things have significantly improved since she was ousted. When I was there, we had an interim dean because the last dean was fired for Medicare fraud. They tried to hush it up but you can find it pretty easily on google. The medical school, IM, and neurosurgery departments have also had different lawsuits filed against them in the last few years. Overall, it was a very malignant and toxic culture when I was there so I'd approach it with caution. With that said, the psychiatry department seemed fine to me when I was there and I never heard of any major issues with any of the psychiatrists (the associate dean who was fired was a psychiatrist but the issues were with her administrative role in the medical school, not psychiatry).

 

[PBL22]

Charlotte is an awesome place to live - grew up there and visit frequently. Easy access to beach/mountains, good cost of living and lots of suburbs if you decide you don't love "living in a city". Many of the psychiatrists that work for Atrium are quality physicians that come from quality programs in the NC/SC area. I think Charlotte would be a great place to do residency. Don't know anything about Missouri!

Thank you! It is so hard to decide these things when they are both places I've never been to.

 

[PBL22]

Columbia is a great college town and extremely family friendly. If you're into biking, it's a very bikable city with trails connecting downtown to multiple residential areas. Lots of outdoors and nature too. I think most people would probably consider Charlotte a step above it in terms of pretty much everything though. Columbia itself is fairly liberal but interestingly enough, the hospital and medical school themselves are not (a lot of staff as well as students are drawn from rural counties outside of Columbia). I went to medical school at Mizzou and there are a lot of systemic problems with the hospital and medical school though. There were multiple incidents of swatsikas being drawn on Jewish student's doors, cotton balls dropped in front of the black cultural center, racially charged graffiti, etc. It seemed like every month there would be some incident that we would get an email about (this was university wide, not just medical students). The medical school itself wasn't much better though. Like I said, a lot of the students are drawn from rural counties through a pipeline program . No joke, I literally had a classmate tell me he had never met a Jew before M1 year. Not sure if I was more floored by the fact that it was true or the fact that he felt it was a good idea to voice that to me. Student and resident mistreatment was a major issue too. The school's accreditation was suspended over this more than once. One of the associate deans, a psychiatrist, actually, was fired over it and I've heard things have significantly improved since she was ousted. When I was there, we had an interim dean because the last dean was fired for Medicare fraud. They tried to hush it up but you can find it pretty easily on google. The medical school, IM, and neurosurgery departments have also had different lawsuits filed against them in the last few years. Overall, it was a very malignant and toxic culture when I was there so I'd approach it with caution. With that said, the psychiatry department seemed fine to me when I was there and I never heard of any major issues with any of the psychiatrists (the associate dean who was fired was a psychiatrist but the issues were with her administrative role in the medical school, not psychiatry).

Thank you so much for such a thorough response. I think part of the confusion is I do generally prefer university programs (I want to do a fellowship and they seem to have better exposure/opportunities for that), but if I'm honest I do have trouble seeing myself in Missouri (which is presumptuous- I've never been there, but I'm definitely on the liberal side and always been in bigger cities). I'm also middle eastern so the cultural concerns are helpful to hear. It does seem like psychiatry departments are often (not always!) on the better side as far as culture goes, but helpful to know!

 

[Stagg737]

Columbia is a great college town and extremely family friendly. If you're into biking, it's a very bikable city with trails connecting downtown to multiple residential areas. Lots of outdoors and nature too. I think most people would probably consider Charlotte a step above it in terms of pretty much everything though. Columbia itself is fairly liberal but interestingly enough, the hospital and medical school themselves are not (a lot of staff as well as students are drawn from rural counties outside of Columbia). I went to medical school at Mizzou and there are a lot of systemic problems with the hospital and medical school though. There were multiple incidents of swatsikas being drawn on Jewish student's doors, cotton balls dropped in front of the black cultural center, racially charged graffiti, etc. It seemed like every month there would be some incident that we would get an email about (this was university wide, not just medical students). The medical school itself wasn't much better though. Like I said, a lot of the students are drawn from rural counties through a pipeline program . No joke, I literally had a classmate tell me he had never met a Jew before M1 year. Not sure if I was more floored by the fact that it was true or the fact that he felt it was a good idea to voice that to me. Student and resident mistreatment was a major issue too. The school's accreditation was suspended over this more than once. One of the associate deans, a psychiatrist, actually, was fired over it and I've heard things have significantly improved since she was ousted. When I was there, we had an interim dean because the last dean was fired for Medicare fraud. They tried to hush it up but you can find it pretty easily on google. The medical school, IM, and neurosurgery departments have also had different lawsuits filed against them in the last few years. Overall, it was a very malignant and toxic culture when I was there so I'd approach it with caution. With that said, the psychiatry department seemed fine to me when I was there and I never heard of any major issues with any of the psychiatrists (the associate dean who was fired was a psychiatrist but the issues were with her administrative role in the medical school, not psychiatry).

I interviewed at UM and was pretty underwhelmed. There were some basic things that made it seem like admin didn't really prioritize the program. Examples: when I applied (2014) was the first year they did a pre-interview dinner and they ordered pizzas to a rented room at one of the chief's apartments; they were given plain white coats and one of the older residents actually gathered all the interns' whitecoats and paid to have their names embroidered (the only place I interviewed where white coats weren't personalized by the program). A lot of the residents seemed less enthusiastic than at other programs as well

That all being said, I did enjoy the interviews I had there and attendings seemed to be supportive. The inpatient unit seemed alright and it sounded like there was some good exposure in certain areas (rotating through state forensic facility). There's another UM alum on here that I talked to about the residency program when I was applying, and they felt that the psych program was good (they went to med school there, residency elsewhere). COL is pretty amazing and it's livable for most at least shorter-term. Not my first choice, but I think I would have been relatively happy overall if I'd matched there.