Going into MS4, questions about the next year (chances etc)

[ChanandlerBong3]

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[MacDonaldTriad]

Psych is not competitive, but the programs you list are fairly competitive. You have nothing on your application that sounds negative and your score is above the psych average. You can train in NYC, LA, or Chicago with your application, but you should probably broaden your list a little. It is possible to interview at 10 of the top 10 programs and not get in. Fortunately, there are many very fine programs that are less famous. Throw one or two of those in and you will be fine. Apply to all of the top programs you want, you have a good chance of getting one, just make sure you have a few that are slightly less competitive somewhere on your list. If you do this, you will not have to kill yourself flying all over the place.

Some places are more flexible than others. They go from “when would you like to come by” to “we have two interview dates I can offer you.” Use the flexible ones to try and cover two interviews in one trip.
Doing a rotation at some place can help get you in, but you can only do this for one or two at most so it is hardly an expectation the programs have. It is a good way to really get an accurate sense of a place, and that is almost impossible to do on a one day interview. It can also hurt your chances if you rub someone wrong. I mean hurt your chances, but not hurt you since you don’t want to go someplace that doesn’t like you anyway.

Thanks for drinking our Kool Aid. You will not regret it. The job market is over the top good.

 

[ChanandlerBong3]

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[NickNaylor]

Your application is grossly more competitive than mine was this year and I managed to snag ~12 interviews this year. Granted, I had no interest in living in any of the places where most of the "prestigious" programs are so take that for what you will, but I interviewed primarily at programs associated with large universities and thought they would all provide good training. Programs that I interviewed at that you might want to add to your list in those cities include Stanford in SF, Northwestern in Chicago, UTSW (Dallas) and Baylor (Houston) for Texas, in addition to some "lower tier" programs as @MacDonaldTriad mentioned. As I said I didn't interview in larger cities so I'm not sure how applicable this is to you, but other programs that I interviewed at and particularly enjoyed were the University of Colorado (Denver), the University of Wisconsin (Madison), and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). I will leave it to others to make more suggestions since I don't feel too comfortable doing so.

As far as an away rotation, that's up to you. I thought about doing an away at the institution I was pretty sure I wanted to match at but decided not to because I didn't want to go through the hassle. I matched there regardless. Again, though, this isn't a place like Yale or MGH, so take that for what you will.

I'm skeptical that you'll be able to line interviews up at a place all in a week, but I suppose it's possible. I had to make multiple trips out to the same cities because I wasn't able to swing it. Perhaps some careful planning might allow you to do so, but I wouldn't go in with the expectation that you'll be able to do it. As mentioned above, there are some places that will send you only a very small selection of dates (2-3) while others will send you their entire schedule for the season and allow you to choose.

 

[Armadillos]

I was also planning on Duke/UNC/Emory (geographically much closer to me). In your opinion, what are some other "fine programs that are less famous"? I have done much perusing on this and other forums, just looking for good insight.

If your adding those 3, definitely look at MUSC. Many/most of their residents ranked it above one or more of those listed programs for various reasons. They are especially strong in addictions and interventional psych. Also a lot of people really like living near beaches. iirc on interview day they said charlesron is always winning big travel destination rankings awards

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

NickNaylor pretty much nailed your question and I’m not comfortable naming a bunch of programs people are proud of and describe them as less competitive. This is very geographic so competitive places are often more about location than quality of training. I’ll risk one example, Pittsburg. It has one of the highest levels of grant money, famous faculty and I am told great training, but just not in one of those top 5 cities to live in when considering weather and economy for spousal jobs. You would do well to train there, but it is probably more likely than a MGH or a UCLA. This is like picking stocks. You are probably on the right track, just be sure and diversify your portfolio just in case.

 

[ChanandlerBong3]

NickNaylor pretty much nailed your question and I’m not comfortable naming a bunch of programs people are proud of and describe them as less competitive. This is very geographic so competitive places are often more about location than quality of training. I’ll risk one example, Pittsburg. It has one of the highest levels of grant money, famous faculty and I am told great training, but just not in one of those top 5 cities to live in when considering weather and economy for spousal jobs. You would do well to train there, but it is probably more likely than a MGH or a UCLA. This is like picking stocks. You are probably on the right track, just be sure and diversify your portfolio just in case.

Sorry, didn't mean to put you on the spot. Thanks for all your advice.

 

[HarryMTieboutMD]

If you are going to look at Chicago also look at UIC and Northwestern. People love to hate on the Chicago programs (particularly UofC) but all 3 are on the rise. They all had issues in the past but are now definitely great programs getting very strong applicants.