Categorical over Triple Board and the implications of applying for both?

[Cloud805]

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Ive heard from other people that applying to both combined programs and categorial programs within the same university can look bad e.g. Triple Board and Categorical Psych. Honestly there a few threads on this topic before but the conclusions have been equivocal if not outdated. Does anyone have any further experience with this? Will both programs think poorly of a student applying to both? I'm interested in Child Psychiatry but truthfully I'm not entirely sure whether I feel more or less strongly about Triple Board being superior over the Categorical route towards Child Pscyh. I was hoping to use the interview trail to really flesh out my thoughts on the matter.

In addition I was hoping to write my personal statement about my interest in Child Psychiatry among a few other interests in Psych. Would demonstrating an interest in Child Psychiatry but then not applying for the more "difficult" combined program make my application decision seem more like a cop out?

Thanks.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Gosh, there are so few triple board programs out there I would think an applicant would almost have to apply to regular categoricals just to be safe. Maybe some directors of combined programs can comment better than I can, but if I saw an applicant applying to both in my program, I would be pleased that the applicant is very interested in us.

 

[Cloud805]

My thoughts exactly. No matter how great a program just applying to that few in number would make any medical student uneasy.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

In addition I was hoping to write my personal statement about my interest in Child Psychiatry among a few other interests in Psych. Would demonstrating an interest in Child Psychiatry but then not applying for the more "difficult" combined program make my application decision seem more like a cop out?

No. And as they have said, what you are proposing by way of multiple applications is a far cry from the person who applies for psych as a "backup" when they really want derm or plastics at the same institution.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Not a problem.

 

[yeti00]

Agreed. People more often than not either apply to peds or psych as a backup...

 

[sebrewer]

Cloud 805
So I am a triple board resident. I would say definitely apply for both. There are not a lot of triple board slots and programs expect you to have a back-up plan. My back up was in peds (and I probably would have done a post-peds portal). It shows an interest in the program if you apply both categorical and combined. As far as using interviews to explore triple board, that is also highly recommended. There are so few triple board programs that is is hard to get a feel for what triple board means unless you interview. I found that while I enjoyed peds and psych programs, I really clicked with triple boarders. I think it takes a special kind of person to do it, but the possibilities of a triple boarder are limitless and the demand is great.