How to become competitive for a psychiatry residency?

[deleted1045228]

Hi guys. I'm a current MS 2 student at a Caribbean med school. Interested in pursuing a psychiatry residency.
Firstly, which programs out there are IMG-friendly, or is there a site that I can look at that shows them? My basic Google searches didn't really help a lot. I've already looked at my school's match list and saw where past graduates have matched into, so I'm now well aware of those.
I'm also hoping ya'll can provide me with some advice on how to become a competitive applicant for a psychiatry residency (outside of having an above average STEP score). Haven't shadowed a psychiatrist before, and I'm unable to now because of the pandemic. Any other resources or recommendations out there?
Thanks in advance!

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[Merovinge]

Step 1 - Crush, obliterate, eviscerate, destroy, eliminate, rend, maul, and ROFLstomp step 1.

Step 2- come back and ask after you finish step 1, everything else is not worth your time until completing step 1.

 

[deleted1045228]

Step 1 - Crush, obliterate, eviscerate, destroy, eliminate, rend, maul, and ROFLstomp step 1.

Step 2- come back and ask after you finish step 1, everything else is not worth your time until completing step 1.

Understood. But, I asked for my own knowledge since I'm curious on what is recommended or even what others out there did.

 

[deleted1012620]

Understood. But, I asked for my own knowledge since I'm curious on what is recommended or even what others out there did.

lol

 

[Merovinge]

Understood. But, I asked for my own knowledge since I'm curious on what is recommended or even what others out there did.

What I'm hoping to convey to you is that you are on your two back feet being a Caribbean grad trying to match a middle-tier competitiveness specialty. The first, second, and third most important thing you can do is to knock step 1 out of the park. Even reading or thinking about anything following that right now is just allowing your brain to displace or procrastinate from step 1.

 

[deleted1045228]

What I'm hoping to convey to you is that you are on your two back feet being a Caribbean grad trying to match a middle-tier competitiveness specialty. The first, second, and third most important thing you can do is to knock step 1 out of the park. Even reading or thinking about anything following that right now is just allowing your brain to displace or procrastinate from step 1.

With all due respect, I've heard this plenty of times before (even from my own professors). High passing STEP 1 is clearly a goal of mine and I don't plan on being distracted from that, but what's the harm in asking about extracurricular things that would make you a more competitive applicant? Not sure how that will distract me from passing STEP.

 

[jdp207]

Research that interests you > or = literally anything else interesting that interests you > check box research > everything else.

ECs are like decorating the house. The priority should be on building it first before worrying a lot about the wall paper and furniture. There is an opportunity cost to your time. You can only sustainably have so many productive hours in a week. Proportioning that time to ECs can be a risky proposition. Some very skilled and talented people can do it all, many cannot. Use your introspection, honestly assess your abilities and proportion your time accordingly.

 

[deleted1045228]

Research that interests you > or = literally anything else interesting that interests you > check box research > everything else.

ECs are like decorating the house. The priority should be on building it first before worrying a lot about the wall paper and furniture. There is an opportunity cost to your time. You can only sustainably have so many productive hours in a week. Proportioning that time to ECs can be a risky proposition. Some very skilled and talented people can do it all, many cannot. Use your introspection, honestly assess your abilities and proportion your time accordingly.

Totally agree with you about ECs. I'll have to look into my own schedule and time management skills when it comes time to pursue an EC, but I figured I'd get a feel for what's out there and see what would be most interesting to me.

 

[jdp207]

Totally agree with you about ECs. I'll have to look into my own schedule and time management skills when it comes time to pursue an EC, but I figured I'd get a feel for what's out there and see what would be most interesting to me.

What's out there is the whole world. Literally, anything you're interested in that you naturally will put effort into is a viable EC. The options are infinite.

 

[box8psych]

Totally agree with you about ECs. I'll have to look into my own schedule and time management skills when it comes time to pursue an EC, but I figured I'd get a feel for what's out there and see what would be most interesting to me.

Research, especially if you can publish (and ESPECIALLY as a first author) is incredibly helpful. Speaking to time management, the thing I found most important is to make sure the EC (whether that's research or something else) is something you will be able to speak intelligently and enthusiastically about. Interviewers will ask about it and can easily sniff out when an applicant did something as a resume filler vs something they are actually interested in. You'll get plenty of psych experience during your 3rd year rotations, but what I would recommend is to be proactive and reach out to anyone in your med school's psych dept doing clinical/research work that interests you. See what opportunities there are, maybe you can start remotely and then transition into more hands-on experience once things open up more. As the prior post says, the options are infinite.

Also, my program in NYC is IMG-friendly so feel free to PM if you have questions.