Comparison of Southern California Psych Programs

[princebargain]

Hey all, I'm a PGY1 applicant interested in a child fellowship and prefer to stay in S.Cali. Was hoping to get additional thoughts/comments on the various programs and how you would rank them respectively.


UCLA-SFV:
Pros: Location is good and bad. Bad in that it is in the boonies of LA. Good in that it makes it more isolated and somewhat less hetic, and the commute is opposing traffic. Loved the new facilities at the VA hospital. Oliveview is average. Free parking and office space. Call schedule is light and residents seem relaxed, not overworked, and friendly. Atmosphere is laid back. Associated with UCLA, though not overly academic. Not sure of the strength of didactics.

Cons: Pt population is heavily Latino and not very diverse. Overemphasis on VA experience. Cannot substitute peds for medicine. No child fellowship (big). Commute between different sites.


Harbor UCLA:
Pros: All in one hospital w/o commute to other clinics. Child director was awesome. PD very friendly and down to earth. Good location in LA, though immediate area in Torrance not that nice looking. Call is manageable. County hospital with good mix of pts. Good cross-cultural psych experience.

Cons: Hospital is CRAP. Military barracks (where clinic and residents offices are located)! Were it not for the facilities, I'd give this program a thumbs up. Psych-ED super cramped w/ little place to work. Residents seemed a bit scattered.


UCSD: TBA


UCI:
Pros: PD is dynamic and is a big reason why 20% UCI med students going into psych. Nice Neuropsych facilities. Medium sized hospital. Orange County. Call is manageable. Pt mix diverse.

Cons: Reputation not quite as strong. Cost of living in Irvine is expensive.


USC:
Pros: Great location. New hospital being constructed. Psych-ED and general ED is superb. County experience provides great training. Location consolidated next to med school/pharm school/etc. Superb diversity.

Cons: Poor didactics. Saw only one resident during interview (big hmmm) Hospital medieval-ish. Residents are over-worked (from what I hear). PD is temp and will change.

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[NewRawTick]

Thanks so much for your input! I'm currently an MS-2 in the midwest, but I'm from SoCal. I want to return there for residency, so I'm scoping out sites for my away electives for 4th year. (A little early, I know.) Your post was really helpful. Best of luck to you with interviewing and matching!

 

[atsai3]

Harbor UCLA:
Pros: All in one hospital w/o commute to other clinics. Child director was awesome. PD very friendly and down to earth. Good location in LA, though immediate area in Torrance not that nice looking. Call is manageable. County hospital with good mix of pts. Good cross-cultural psych experience.

Cons: Hospital is CRAP. Military barracks (where clinic and residents offices are located)! Were it not for the facilities, I'd give this program a thumbs up. Psych-ED super cramped w/ little place to work. Residents seemed a bit scattered.

I interviewed there as well. Actually I liked the hospital a lot, but I think that simply reflects my bias -- I like the county hospital vibe. Agree with the other pros. Additional con I would add to the mix is that I came away from my interviewing thinking that the psychotherapy teaching experience was not particularly well structured and probably loaded with a greater mix of medication managment cases (perhaps reflecting the patient population) than most other programs I've looked at. If you want to do academia, the Harbor psych program -- while it is a decent research environment -- is probably not for you.

If you're looking just at the Los Angeles area and are considering Harbor, you might also look into the UCLA-NPI program with the Harbor track. (PGY1 is spent at Harbor, and then you rejoin the rest of your classmates at NPI in PGY2.)

Cheers
-AT.

 

[littlepurplepil]

anyone have input about UCLA-NPI, Cedars-Sinai, or UC-Davis?

thanks!

 

[watto]

anyone have input about UCLA-NPI, Cedars-Sinai, or UC-Davis?

thanks!

I liked NPI a lot. If you are a self-starter and have an interest in virtually any area of psychiatry, you can find a researcher there to work with. Smart residents, with a wide variety of past experiences. Only drawback to the program, in my opinion, is no therapy training until year three. I'm sure there are didactics in the topic, but no patients until PGY-3.

Cedars is an up and coming program, with a new research focus. Only 5 residents per class, and they work very hard. Fantastic faculty. Program has a child fellowship that is well regarded. Residents get two psychotherapy patients in year two.

My top three is going to include NPI, UCLA San Fernando Valley, and Cedars, in some order unknown to me at this time!

 

[littlepurplepil]

Thanks watto! Did you interview at any other West Coast Programs? Maybe you could PM me so I don't totally hijack this thread!

 

[atsai3]

.

 

[RossUResident06]

Thanks watto! Did you interview at any other West Coast Programs? Maybe you could PM me so I don't totally hijack this thread!

Hi there, i actually interviewed at UCLA-Kern and it was very shady! You hear things from the faculty and then the opposite from the residents. There was talk about possibly starting a childpsych fellowship there but i think it is never going to happen from the looks of it. The residents i spoke to actually think the program will fail in a few years and they suggest making other plans.

Anyone else hear and see the same thing? I am actually scared of ranking them because what if i match there and get stranded a couple of years down the line. Please help me, i need some advice anybody.

Thanks

 

[littlepurplepil]

littlepurplepil,
Did you have any thoughts on the southern California you wanted to share?

-AT.

Hi AT, I'm just trying to find out as many opinions/reviews about the West Coast as I can; I'm an MS-III interested in heading out west and would like to hear what experiences current applicants or residents have had.

Thanks for all the responses everyone

 

[littlepurplepil]

whoops, double-post

 

[madison88]

UCLA Kern- Seems like a decent program. It's relatively new so there is going to be some bumps along the way. The program director seems very positive and energetic. The faculty seem relatively young. That could be both good and bad. Bakersfield is in the middle of no where but if you want to stay in Cali and don't mind the 2 hour trip to LA for your social life then it might be ok. I liked the relaxed atmosphere and the residents I met were ok with the program itself but did not like living in Bakersfield.
I would love to hear others impression of this program.

King Drew- I really like the faculty here but the hospital itself is so unstable. It would be at the top of my list but I am not sure the residency will make it. I am trying to get more info about the status of King Drew hospital and if anyone has more info that would be appreciated. The residents are happy but they seem to take more call in PGY-1 than most programs(7/month). Of course the area is not the greatest(south central LA). There is housing next door to the hospital if you do not mind living in the are. It is really cheap(150/month). Once again, if you want to stay in Cali this might be an option for you.

 

[Bestof2007]

Hi there, i actually interviewed at UCLA-Kern and it was very shady! You hear things from the faculty and then the opposite from the residents. There was talk about possibly starting a childpsych fellowship there but i think it is never going to happen from the looks of it. The residents i spoke to actually think the program will fail in a few years and they suggest making other plans.

Anyone else hear and see the same thing? I am actually scared of ranking them because what if i match there and get stranded a couple of years down the line. Please help me, i need some advice anybody.

Thanks

I think I can help out here. I was actually a student doing my Psych core rotation at Kern Medical Center and I was actually told by a second year resident that they did not want to be a part of the interview process because they did not want to have to “lie” to the residency candidates.

I was on consult work with the second year when she told me this info and she actually feels sorry for the new candidates because it looks like they actually have a chance of matching into the program and to be stuck there for at least a year. I heard from a few of the other residents that there are a lot of “problems” with in the department, and they are thinking of transferring out of the program as soon as possible. Very bad sign! The program’s future is bleak.

Be careful!

 

[princebargain]

Take it with a big grain of salt, but I talked with the chairman of a NYC program, and he ranked the following S.Cali programs in this order:

UCLA NPI > UCLA SFV > UCSD > Harbor UCLA > UCI > USC

I was a bit surprised. Didn't know that the UCLA/SFV is held in such high regard. It seemed "weaker" rep-wise to me than even UCI. Also did not know the UCI program rep was relatively weak. Thoughts?

 

[princebargain]

Watto - I also had a good impression of UCLA-SFV.... however, it struck me as being a very "cush" residency. The chief res kept on reiterating how easy the call schedule is.

Similar experience with Harbor-UCLA where PGY-1 psych call is apparently Q7.

Are these programs really that cush?!?!

 

[princebargain]

Strange... not too many on this board seem to comment about Cali programs. BUMP!

 

[coop]

Here's my thoughts on the SoCal programs I saw, all 4 are very strong places, and I think they each fit slightly different people:

UCSD: Fantastic program. PD very supportive. Smart, happy residents who feel they get good autonomy but are still well supported by admin. I found it far better balanced in terms of psychotherapy training than its reputation. Strengths in Addicition, Gero, C/L, Neuropsych and certainly basic neuroscience research of any kind. The neuroscience community definitely flavors the residency program I think in a wonderful way, but I've heard others think it makes the program feel too "biological" (whatever that means... don't get me started). Residents actually enjoy their medicine and neuro rotations. About half the time is at the La Jolla VA, which I like, good diversity compared to main Univ Hosp, but some see as a minus. They have a Primary Care Psych Clinic where pts are triaged in who have some chronic med conditions and a primary psych issue. You're the doc for both and the clinic is staffed by an attending interist and a psychiatrist. I thought this was a unique and excellent experience for keeping the medical mindset sharp. Minuses are a somewhat less flexible 4th year, the VA if you view it that way.

UCLA-NPI/Semel: Resources up the wazzu! Anything you're interested in, they they probably have an entire floor dedicated to it. Some residents expressed concerns that their education felt like a secondary priority to research. Residents work harder than most programs I saw, but had a work-hard, play-hard attitude. I liked the PD, some have said he's not the warmest and fuzziest of people, but we had a good conversation and he definitely is dedicated to keeping the residency program strong.

UC Irvine: The biggest surprise of my interviews. I really liked the place. PD has a reputation as the warmest and fuzziest person, and he's awesome. Residents are very happy and point to a number of faculty as excellent teachers. Psych is so big in the Hospital that ~18/100 MS4s from irvine are going into psych. They just have great teachers and it's a big dept within the hospital. National rep may not be anywhere near the above 2, but SoCal rep has been gaining steam over the last 5-10yrs. Schedule is cush but I felt they were putting out good, smart psychiatrists. Weakeness in Neuro (dept is not that strong and the teaching for psych is an area that they are trying to address). I think the program is only getting stronger and that it would be a rewarding place to train.

UCLA-Harbor: Very interesting program. You have to be dedicated to the county population that they see. Psych ER is a big plus, and the whole program kind of revolves around it. Hospital is big, ugly, and slow, but the payoff is that you get to work with some wonderful people who are so committed to this place that it really gives it a special feel. You won't have to worry about insurance hassels because you get to treat anyone who walks in the door which I think is very rewarding. You'll come out of here able to handle the biggest messes in the world of psychiatry, but the education is certainly skewed in that direction, and you see less of what some people might call bread and butter private practice psych. That's not a plus or a minus, just a unique characteristic of this place.

 

[Doc Samson]

Bump

 

[princebargain]

Agree with MS4 note above. j/k Good post coop. Want to add that UCSD's child program is not very strong. Census is low, and most UCSD's residents going into child tend not to stay at the home institution.

Just to throw this out there... reputation wise, not sure how these programs compare up against some of the East coast programs like the Harvards and the Manhattan programs.

Good luck to all on the ROL. Mine is still in flux....

 

[ari202]

i apologize for the ancient bump, but i really would like to know if anyone has current feedback on ucla-kern. have my interview there next month and I don't want to be part of a malignant program.