Hopkins vs MGH Programs

[delusion88]

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Does anyone have opinions about Hopkins vs MGH/McLean psychiatry residency programs? Is one program necessarily better for someone interested in academia vs private practice?

From what I gather, it sounds like people at Hopkins are open, enthusiastic, straight-shooter types, whereas people at MGH/McLean are self-contained, formal and speak less, but are very thoughtful when they do.

I get the sense that Hopkins people are more hands-on, whereas MGH people are more hands-off. Of course either style has its pros and cons. Early in residency, more hands-on sounds better, personally. Does anyone else sense all this?

They seem to be similar in that both are top-rate programs where residents work harder than at most psychiatry programs. Both also seem to emphasize inpatient psychiatry.

Thank you.

 

[tomato]

Hi, When you say "people" are you referring to administration people or to residents? Thanks.

 

[delusion88]

Hi, When you say "people" are you referring to administration people or to residents? Thanks.

Oh, right. That's a good point. I know I'm generalizing, but I meant the residents and the faculty.

 

[joanithan]

I put in my two cents regarding this question in the Penn vs. Columbia thread.

 

[delusion88]

Hey. Just wanted to thank you both, Tomato and Joanithan, for answering my questions regarding Hopkins & MGH. Strangely enough, I feel like my initial hunches were pretty accurate, but hearing your first-hand experiences gives my notions a degree of validity.

I hope you both get your top choices come Match Day! (It sounds like you both will, actually.)

:lu 🙂 😍 ck:
😀

 

[tomato]

Best wishes to you as well!!! Most of these threads have been very helpful. Time to have a beer. 🙂

 

[joanithan]

Best of luck to you too! I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised on the big day. 🙂

 

[BCS_001]

I wanted to bump this thread up to the top, to see if any of this year's applicants had any additional thoughts to share.

Another interesting thread is here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=181117) with comments about MGH/McLean, Hopkins, Penn, and Columbia.

Anyway, I think any of us would be fortunate to end up at any of these places (No bad choices!!!) and I hope everyone figures out and ends up at the best place for them!

Personally, I agree with some of the comments made. I think the people at Hopkins are probably a little more easy going, while those at MGH/McLean are a bit more thoughtful. Both positive traits, depending on what each of us is looking for, I suppose. And, there are clear differences between Baltimore and Boston. Anyway, I would love to hear more thoughts! 🙂 Hope you are are enjoying the weekend!

 

[tomato]

Now that I see this thread, I want to comment that MGH is among those programs that butters up its best applicants but doesn't always deliver with spots. They sent me two emails after my interview -- and I received three telephone calls praising my abilities as a future psychiatrist. On match day I was shocked to see that I didn't match, although friends who received the same email (just a few days prior to ROL submission), in fact did match in the end.

I never really believed that my dean's warnings would come true for me, since the feedback I got was unequivocally exuberant. I was shocked but luckily I ended up at a program which I also really liked. Best luck to all of you in the match!

I wanted to bump this thread up to the top, to see if any of this year's applicants had any additional thoughts to share.

Another interesting thread is here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=181117) with comments about MGH/McLean, Hopkins, Penn, and Columbia.

Anyway, I think any of us would be fortunate to end up at any of these places (No bad choices!!!) and I hope everyone figures out and ends up at the best place for them!

Personally, I agree with some of the comments made. I think the people at Hopkins are probably a little more easy going, while those at MGH/McLean are a bit more thoughtful. Both positive traits, depending on what each of us is looking for, I suppose. And, there are clear differences between Baltimore and Boston. Anyway, I would love to hear more thoughts! 🙂 Hope you are are enjoying the weekend!

 

[Doc Savage]

I wanted to bump this thread up to the top, to see if any of this year's applicants had any additional thoughts to share.

Another interesting thread is here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=181117) with comments about MGH/McLean, Hopkins, Penn, and Columbia.

Anyway, I think any of us would be fortunate to end up at any of these places (No bad choices!!!) and I hope everyone figures out and ends up at the best place for them!

Personally, I agree with some of the comments made. I think the people at Hopkins are probably a little more easy going, while those at MGH/McLean are a bit more thoughtful. Both positive traits, depending on what each of us is looking for, I suppose. And, there are clear differences between Baltimore and Boston. Anyway, I would love to hear more thoughts! 🙂 Hope you are are enjoying the weekend!

Just saw this thread- the topic is interesting to me because in a way I think this should be one of the easier residency decisions out there.. especially if your focus is on the kind of training you expect (vs. what city etc.).
Maybe I'm mistaken but I think of JHU and Wash U. (plus possibly U. Pitt) as the most stridently anti-psychoanalytic programs you can attend. Among big-name schools I think of Columbia and MGH/McLean as a middle ground mix of "talking cure" and psychopharm and Cornell as the "anti-Hopkins". I'm speaking in some hyperbole because, well, this is a message board on the internet but that aside, did other not have a similar experience talking to residents and grads of these programs?

 

[BCS_001]

Hey Doc,

I agree with you completely. Based on my interviews and experiences in medical school, it is clear that Hopkins, Wash U, and UPitt are on one end of a continuum (more biologic, non-psychoanalytic . . . maybe it that order), while Cornell is on the other side (psychoanalytic, almost anti-psychopharm). MGH/McLean and Columbia are definitely more middle ground. I actually felt like Columbia was much more psychoanalytically oriented than MGH/McLean, which seemed fairly well rounded to me, but this may have just been the people I met during my visit.

In any case, this issue does not make my decisions or rank lists any easier, as I am fairly open-minded to the type of training I receive. Presently, I tend to be mostly biologic (just based on my medical school training) (and I am happy with this), though I think I would be happy to learn the other stuff as well.

More than anything, it seems like my rank list is going to come down to location and an interest in seeing something new vs. staying where I am comfortable and have lots of projects ongoing, with a little bit of reputation mixed somewhere in there as well.

Good luck!

Just saw this thread- the topic is interesting to me because in a way I think this should be one of the easier residency decisions out there.. especially if your focus is on the kind of training you expect (vs. what city etc.).
Maybe I'm mistaken but I think of JHU and Wash U. (plus possibly U. Pitt) as the most stridently anti-psychoanalytic programs you can attend. Among big-name schools I think of Columbia and MGH/McLean as a middle ground mix of "talking cure" and psychopharm and Cornell as the "anti-Hopkins". I'm speaking in some hyperbole because, well, this is a message board on the internet but that aside, did other not have a similar experience talking to residents and grads of these programs?