Good mid level psychiatry residency programs

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doc4us

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I am interested in learning about any solid psych residency programs. My academics are mixed. I have a low step 1 and slightly below average step 2. But I have publications and excellent clinical recs.I did very well in my psych clerkship and found it the most challenging and fulfilling. Being a realist, I know Hopkins and Harvard are not in my future. Ideally, I would like to do a residency in a program that balances psychoanalytical and the biological approaches to mental illness, that has a collegial, easy going culture, that has a reasonable on call schedule. that offers excellent faculty with effective didactics, and that offers a location with a temperate climate in or near a community that allows residents to have a reasonable social life. (I am a single 30 year old male) Any help would be welcome. Thanks in advance.
 
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I am guessing you could still do quite well with the profile you describe, although it depends what you mean with a "low" step 1 score. Luckily, there are a number of psychiatry residencies that meet your requirements to some extent, and you will find some of them reviewed in this year and previous years interview review threads.

Regarding specific places, I have little experience, although Vanderbilt comes to mind as a program I thought was really good in all the spheres you described, without being very competitive. Case Western I also felt was a great program, but people have different ideas about Cleveland.
 
Can you add a few more specifics - area of the country, for example. Such as where you'd want to settle down.

Off the top of my head I'd think about the pacific NW (OHSU, for example), Chicago, San Mateo, Texas, North Carolina.
 
Definitely don't write off programs in less than ideal climates/less than desirable cities. A lot of times, good programs in not so great geographic locations get overlooked by many applicants, so you can match into a stronger program than you will if you only apply to the coasts.
I would also suggest SUNY Upstate and Medical College of Wisconsin as fitting most of the criteria except for being in not so great climates.
 
doc4us said:
a program that balances psychoanalytical and the biological approaches to mental illness, that has a collegial, easy going culture, that has a reasonable on call schedule. that offers excellent faculty with effective didactics, and that offers a location with a temperate climate in or near a community that allows residents to have a reasonable social life.
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Good list of criteria. This list may include programs on both sides of the therapy vs pharm debate, but overall I think they're mostly balanced programs...in no particular order:

Wake Forest
USC-Palmetto
MUSC
U Kentucky
U Indiana
West Virginia University
U Arkansas (I didn't go here, but I've heard good things)
U New Mexico (see above)

There are some other programs that might be a good choice, but have minor issues (climate, size, questionable work schedule):

MCW - brrrr, but I really liked this program
UVA - smaller city for a single person, smaller program-ish. more biological.
VCU - may work harder than you'd like, but not malignant hard. more bio.
Vandy - see VCU, although maybe a bit harder working than even VCU. more bio.

Anyways, that might be a good start.

*Disclaimer* - the above list and suggestions is only how I think this poster may like the programs and bears little to no resemblance to what I, personally, thought of the programs for my own situation. Although, they're all good solid programs, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Feel free to PM me for more info OP.
 
There are only three mid-level psychiatry residencies that I am familiar with. One is at University of Iowa, another with Cherokee Mental Health in Iowa and the other at Regions Hospital in Minnesota. All of them take PAs but Regions takes PAs and NPs.
 
st2205 said:
There are only three mid-level psychiatry residencies that I am familiar with. One is at University of Iowa, another with Cherokee Mental Health in Iowa and the other at Regions Hospital in Minnesota. All of them take PAs but Regions takes PAs and NPs.
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:laugh: I wonder if that's what the OP meant?!? 😱

I think they meant "mid-tier" or "not too competitive"...:xf:
 
Doc4us, are you applying now or next year?
Psych residencies are not that competitive overall and you can match better than you expect. I would recommend applying to the ones you want including the top ones, you might get a shot. I heard from one of my friends in a top program that they invited someone for an interview who failed step 1 on the first attempt. Yeah they would see standardized tests is not your best skill but obviously you have other talents that they may find more useful, and you can still be a very attractive applicant. I also have a friend who nearly failed step 1 but clinically she was the best student i worked with in my school and she got into a great competitive program (she also did a subI or an elective there).
 
Mindart said:
Psych residencies are not that competitive overall and you can match better than you expect. I would recommend applying to the ones you want including the top ones, you might get a shot.
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Agree with this. My step 1 and two were both well below the national average and I ended up getting interviews at almost all programs I applied to and matched at one most folks would consider a top program. Psych looks beyond USMLE scores more than almost any specialty. Applying to programs is so cheap that it would be foolish to sell yourself short based on low step scores alone.
 
notdeadyet said:
Agree with this. My step 1 and two were both well below the national average and I ended up getting interviews at almost all programs I applied to and matched at one most folks would consider a top program. Psych looks beyond USMLE scores more than almost any specialty. Applying to programs is so cheap that it would be foolish to sell yourself short based on low step scores alone.
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ditto from an old (strike 1), IMG (strike 2) with several attempts at step 1 (strike 3). Redeeming factors: extensive clinical and research experience in psych, publications, good LORs from a good US hospital.
Result: 4 prematch offers out of 6 interviews. I chose the Ivy League one.

Experience (rotations, in/externships or publications), a good personal statement and good LORs will show your interest/dedication to the specialty and even programs that seem out of your league should invite you for an interview. Once there, the USMLE scores do not matter much anymore if these other factors make you stand out.
 
The first program that came to mind based on your description was USC Palmetto. Good therapy training, excellent quality of life/ light call schedule, collegial atmosphere, moderate climate, a city that seems like a reasonable place to live with a decent amount to do (albeit not terribly exciting). The only criteria I'm not sure it meets is excellent faculty. I think that depends on your definition of excellent. If you mean big name academics with lots of research publications and funding, they do not have this. If you mean faculty invested in resident teaching and well being, then I would say this describes them quite well. To me, it came off as more of a community than an academic program though. Not sure if that's your thing or not, but judging by your description of what you want it appears that you would be happy with that atmosphere.

I would also like to give a plug for U of New Mexico. I thought it was a fantastic program in terms of faculty, research, clinical experiences, didactics. It seemed solid from top to bottom, and I think due to location (many people are turned off by Albuquerque, although it seems to be up and coming with all the movies/tv shows being shot out there these days) it is likely a pretty obtainable residency.

That being said, if you are hoping for top tier, at least apply top tier. There's really no reason not to, the worst that can happen is you get a rejection.
 
psychphan said:
The first program that came to mind based on your description was USC Palmetto. Good therapy training, excellent quality of life/ light call schedule, collegial atmosphere, moderate climate, a city that seems like a reasonable place to live with a decent amount to do (albeit not terribly exciting). The only criteria I'm not sure it meets is excellent faculty. I think that depends on your definition of excellent. If you mean big name academics with lots of research publications and funding, they do not have this. If you mean faculty invested in resident teaching and well being, then I would say this describes them quite well. To me, it came off as more of a community than an academic program though. Not sure if that's your thing or not, but judging by your description of what you want it appears that you would be happy with that atmosphere.

I would also like to give a plug for U of New Mexico. I thought it was a fantastic program in terms of faculty, research, clinical experiences, didactics. It seemed solid from top to bottom, and I think due to location (many people are turned off by Albuquerque, although it seems to be up and coming with all the movies/tv shows being shot out there these days) it is likely a pretty obtainable residency.

That being said, if you are hoping for top tier, at least apply top tier. There's really no reason not to, the worst that can happen is you get a rejection.
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I think reading your post of USC Palmetto that is exactly the programs I also would be interested in. Be it top tier, mid tier, or any tier. I don't care how many papers the faculty published, I want to know who can make me the best physician I can be.

If anyone else knows of similar programs speak up por favor!
 
Flymm said:
I think reading your post of USC Palmetto that is exactly the programs I also would be interested in. Be it top tier, mid tier, or any tier. I don't care how many papers the faculty published, I want to know who can make me the best physician I can be.

If anyone else knows of similar programs speak up por favor!
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I agree that USC-Palmetto is a great community program. That being said, it's somewhat more competitive than it would seem to be, since the schedule is so great, with a relatively decent location, good pay, good benefits, and nice people.

I think last year, they had 6 spots and only went to #6 on their rank list...which means that everyone they ranked, ranked them #1 also.

Definitely consider some programs in some less friendly locations. The Medical College of Wisconsin, for example, is a spectacular program in a fairly terrible location...and thus, less people apply there than usual...
 
digitlnoize said:
I agree that USC-Palmetto is a great community program. That being said, it's somewhat more competitive than it would seem to be, since the schedule is so great, with a relatively decent location, good pay, good benefits, and nice people.

I think last year, they had 6 spots and only went to #6 on their rank list...which means that everyone they ranked, ranked them #1 also.
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Where did you hear that? I meet one PGY1 during my interview day that scrambled into Palmetto.
 
psychphan said:
Where did you hear that? I meet one PGY1 during my interview day that scrambled into Palmetto.
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Sorry, it might have been the year before. I've lost all track of time. It was widely discussed right here on the SDN psych forum...I could do a search, if I wasn't using my phone...
 
digitlnoize said:
Definitely consider some programs in some less friendly locations. The Medical College of Wisconsin, for example, is a spectacular program in a fairly terrible location...and thus, less people apply there than usual...
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I wouldn't discount Milwaukee as a "fairly terrible location." I am a student at MCW and I have enjoyed living here so far. Plus it's only about two hours north of Chicago. I don't plan on staying here for residency, but that's only because I'm not from here and want to return out west, where I'm from. I can vouch that the psych residency is pretty spectacular. The psych residents I'm working with have nothing but praise for their program.
 
splik said:
Er.. no they had 4 unfilled spots from the match last year.
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Word on the street is they only interview 40 applicants, which I thought was pretty ballsy, particularly for a mid level program. But 4 unfilled spots still surprises me.
 
Some other places to consider that are supposed to have great programs and are typically thought of as "mid-tier":
- UMass
- U of Louisville
- U of Cincinnati
- Institute of Living
- Henry Ford
- Jefferson
- U of Utah
- U of New Mexico
- Medical University of South Carolina (used to be considered fairly competitive to get into, but I don't hear much about them anymore--has a long hx of being a very good psych program)
 
jpnmed said:
I wouldn't discount Milwaukee as a "fairly terrible location." I am a student at MCW and I have enjoyed living here so far. Plus it's only about two hours north of Chicago. I don't plan on staying here for residency, but that's only because I'm not from here and want to return out west, where I'm from. I can vouch that the psych residency is pretty spectacular. The psych residents I'm working with have nothing but praise for their program.
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No, I agree, but many people wouldn't due to the cold and snow. I thought Milwaukee was a cool town, with great diversity, culture, lots to do, good cost of living...crime rate isn't the best, but be smart and you shouldn't have problems.

Seriously, MCW is a great program, if you can handle the cold.
 
Chimed said:
Some other places to consider that are supposed to have great programs and are typically thought of as "mid-tier":
- UMass
- U of Louisville
- U of Cincinnati
- Institute of Living
- Henry Ford
- Jefferson
- U of Utah
- U of New Mexico
- Medical University of South Carolina (used to be considered fairly competitive to get into, but I don't hear much about them anymore--has a long hx of being a very good psych program)
Click to expand...

Probably because all the posts in here just call them MUSC 😉


More seriously, were there some specific big-names at MUSC that retired or something?
 
I'm not sure about the competitiveness factor but IMO MUSC remains a very strong program. Top 10 in NIH funding, large psych hospital with specialized units probably the second most impressive psych hospital of the 13 places I visited on the interview trail (behind only WPIC, which is just an incredible psych facility), plus a VA on campus so the clinical resources are there . Strong clinical resources + strong research equals strong program. Not sure what the criteria is but no way I'd call MUSC mid tier.
 
 
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