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[Horners]

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[splik]

I know people who failed step 1 and ended up at very good programs. You should aim to do as well as possible on Step 2, pass your CS exam early, do as well as you can on your clerkships, get strong letters of recommendation, and show a strong commitment to psychiatry in your application. If you are not interested in a research career, I would not put much emphasis on doing psych research. Also doing research in itself is useless. Having (first-author) publications and presentations on the other hand is a plus and does not require you to do research. letters to the editor, book/film reviews, case reports, perspectives pieces, and literature reviews are also evidence of initiative, productivity, and interest/commitment to specialty and more doable. Other ways to demonstrate interest in psychiatry is become involved in PsychSIGN leadership nationally, getting involved in public education related to mental health in the community, getting on your local county mental health board or local NAMI board, doing near-peer teaching of psychiatry and related topics for medical students, doing school based teaching, developing and participating in a student-run mental health free clinic, writing mental health related letters or op-ed pieces in the press (including local papers), getting involved with your local state medical or psychiatric society in advocacy issues etc, being significantly involved in mental health related voluntary activities (e.g. suicide hotline) are all other possible things you can do to show an interest and commitment to the field that may be more interesting an enriching to you than doing research. They are also more likely to make you an interesting and memorable applicant with plenty to discuss at interviews.

fellowships in psychiatry are so ridiculously uncompetitive you can easily get into some fellowship in any specialty, and your USMLE scores are not typically considered in selection. At that point your track record as a strong resident who is easy to get along with is more important.

Another thing is that if you go to a decent medical school (i.e. top ranked) then your step 1 may be sooner forgiven than if you go to a relatively unheard of school. nevertheless, although important, we really do consider the whole application in psychiatry and so strengths in other parts of your application will compensate.

the main concern we have is people who have no real interest or aptitude applying to psych having failed step 1 as a backup or because they think psych is "easy" to match into. however a strong track record of interest and relevant experiences can assauge this anxiety. if you have relevant experience prior to medical school that will also be looked upon favorably. some programs do screen out people who don't meet "cut offs" but the better ones do not and many others do not either.

 

[splik]

May I pick your brain a little more about book/film reviews and perspective pieces? That sounds extremely interesting, how would I go about getting involved in that?

There may be psychiatry faculty at your medical school who are on editorial boards or book review editors of journals, or be asked to review books etc. If you ask around you might get the opportunity to do this (and get a free book out of it!) Other than that Academic Psychiatry is a journal that often publishes book and film reviews related to psych, especially from an educational perspective and welcomes submissions from students. That journal also welcomes perspective pieces relevant to psychiatric education, academic psychiatry, training etc. the Lancet Psychiatry also publishes fiction book reviews, film reviews, even art exhibition reviews related to psych. Again it is best to identify a mentor who can advise you about this or review drafts if you don't have experience doing this kind of thing.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Any other piece of advice I can get to alleviate the mess that I’m in?

Any program directors or people working with them care to chime in?

Just pass next time and NAIL Step 2.
Leave us no doubt that you're academically qualified, and that you'll pass Step 3 and be able to get licensed.

 

[Horners]

There may be psychiatry faculty at your medical school who are on editorial boards or book review editors of journals, or be asked to review books etc. If you ask around you might get the opportunity to do this (and get a free book out of it!) Other than that Academic Psychiatry is a journal that often publishes book and film reviews related to psych, especially from an educational perspective and welcomes submissions from students. That journal also welcomes perspective pieces relevant to psychiatric education, academic psychiatry, training etc. the Lancet Psychiatry also publishes fiction book reviews, film reviews, even art exhibition reviews related to psych. Again it is best to identify a mentor who can advise you about this or review drafts if you don't have experience doing this kind of thing.

Thank you a lot, not sure how many people go outta their way to write essentially two pages of advice to someone they’ve never met on the internet. This just reaffirms my belief that psychiatrists are the best people (n=1)


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