Interested in Psych — Need advice

[EmilKraepelin55]

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So I have been wavering between psych and neuro for the past year or so, and having gone through my first psych rotation I am really starting to think it may be the specialty that I really want to pursue. With that in mind, I am curious of your impression of me as a possible applicant and I would love to hear what any of you think I should be doing to make myself stand out. Alright, here it goes:
I am an OMS3 in the top half of my class with an honors from my psych rotation and a Step 1 = 234 and Level 1 = 598. I have done some research in critical care but no publication or presentation, but I am currently working on a literature review that is neuropsych in scope that may or may not be published. I am a musician who played for over a decade in a metal band prior to med school, and also lent my talents to my school, retirement communities, church, and a non-profit Autism organization. I still work with the Autism organization when I have the time in a non-musician capacity (pen pal program, short animated film, art programs) and have done so for quite a long time. I have been minorly involved in my neuropsych club, but honestly there hasn’t been much to do beyond meetings with them. I am also part of the mentor program at my school providing advice to underclassman. Ultimately I am looking to match in the Midwest because my wife and I have family here and would like to stay. There are a few specific programs I am looking at in my home state that all accept a good number of DO’s.
Overall, what do you think I should be doing to make myself an even better applicant? I have a decent amount of time still to make myself stand out. We also have the opportunity to do another psych rotation at my program if I rotate with a community hospital preceptor so I am looking into that at the moment. Thank you to anyone who responds! I appreciate any advice you can give.

 

[NontradCA]

First of all, relax. You’ll do fine. Second of all, please use paragraphs. Advice: Try to be genuine overall, taking your mentality away from “is this going to help me match?” and to a place where you can expand interest in psychiatry. Anecdotal, but having went to med school in the Midwest , people were successful doing auditions/away there.

 

[EmilKraepelin55]

First of all, relax. You’ll do fine. Second of all, please use paragraphs. Advice: Try to be genuine overall, taking your mentality away from “is this going to help me match?” and to a place where you can expand interest in psychiatry. Anecdotal, but having went to med school in the Midwest , people were successful doing auditions/away there.

I’m sorry! Wrote this post while on my iPhone and it wouldn’t let me space my paragraphs that day for whatever reason lol. I hear you though. It’s super easy to get wrapped up in the “will I match” anxiety. I really appreciate your response, and will try to focus on sort of letting my interest in psych come out naturally. On my rotation, my preceptor seemed to think I had the temperament and curiosity for the field. So I should probably not worry too much about the metrics.

 

[NontradCA]

I’m sorry! Wrote this post while on my iPhone and it wouldn’t let me space my paragraphs that day for whatever reason lol. I hear you though. It’s super easy to get wrapped up in the “will I match” anxiety. I really appreciate your response, and will try to focus on sort of letting my interest in psych come out naturally. On my rotation, my preceptor seemed to think I had the temperament and curiosity for the field. So I should probably not worry too much about the metrics.

Just giving you crap. I know medical school is that way, increasingly so every year. What I mean is you shouldn't let that get in the way of being a student, and since you've figured out what specialty you want, embrace the rest of it. Meaning, what do you want out of psychiatry training? What is it that drew you to psychiatry? These are the questions you'll want to know when ranking programs and also the ones your interviewers will be asking you on every single interview.

 

[Merovinge]

Strongly recommend looking at programs with a significant neuropsychiatric bent to them, it made a huge difference in my training and seems like an ideal matching of your interests. Michael Scrift is a DO at Northwestern who runs the neuropsychiatry if you're looking for a starting point.

 

[Ludwig2000]

>>Emil Kraepelin

>>”Is this the real life, is this just fantasy”

dude you’re obviously gonna be a psychiatrist