interview feedback

[anaismd]

hey all you psych people, i would love to hear what you thought about ANY of the programs you interviewed at

so i'll start with my most recent interview at cambridge hospital:
excellent program, most everyone who interviewed with me loved it there and the residents seemed extremely happy
they seemed to have a good pt mix
but they also seemed really heavy on the psychotherapy aspect
the only hesitation i had about the program was that it was in more of a community hospital setting although the affiliation with harvard probably more than makes up for it
great facilities and location

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[MBK2003]

I have completed 2 interviews so far, the rest are in January - here goes -

WashU-St. Louis - Really liked this program even more than after reading the brochure.
Pros : 1) Great comraderie among residents and between residents and faculty, 2) More Biologically oriented (my personal preference) with big emphasis on research (also my preference), 3) Very intensive outpt experience for 12 months in 3rd year and get your own office, 4) Child Psych outpt exposure in 2nd year (also my preference)
Cons : 1) Good diversity in patient population, but limited diversity in patient population settings (acute inpt, C/L, and community MH inpt), 2) Hard to tell if residents really felt comfortable relying on ancillary staff, 3) Child and Adolescent Psych faculty in limited number (7), but with plans to expand
Overall, I really liked this program a lot, and felt that for me the setting in St. Louis was a positive.

Indiana University (my home school) - To be completely fair, my family and I are hoping to leave the state after graduation, so I had a hard time showing a lot of enthusiasm during this interview.
Pros: 1) Incredible diversity in patient population and patient settings - (acute county hospital inpt, acute VA inpt, acute private hospital inpt, long-term state hospital, C/L, and lots of child/adolescent inpt), 2) 6 months of Child/Adolescent in 2nd year, 3) Chairperson is incredibly driven and focused on making the department one of the top 2 in the midwest, 4) Currently making significant expansion in the department and faculty members on adult and child sides, 5) Clinicians in Psych ER are definitely the resident's best friends and make call completely manageable, 6) All of the attendings at each of the hospitals are faculty of the department and subject to the criticisms of the residents (several have been relieved of teaching duties over the past 3 years for abusing residents).
Cons: 1) While probably half the residents are incredible doctors who I would send my family to, many of the others are completely incompetent and have significant difficulties with English and communication (sorry, personal experience), 2) Lots of long-term inpatient experience, including a borderline ward at the state hospital, that many of the residents described as quite difficult, 3) Child and adolescent psych research is mainly limited to area of autism (very strong in this area), but other areas are weak with regard to research.
Overall, I liked many of the things about this department and knowing the chairperson I think that this would be a great place to train in 4-5 years. However, I am still somewhat disappointed with the variation in the quality of residents that the program matches.

 

[md-student]

This is a good thread....should keep it going....

Michigan - Great program and facilities. Teaches therapy well, but the balance is definately tipped toward the biological side. For those interested in gero...they have an excellent multidisciplinary clinic for geriatrics. Reasonably diverse patient pop by midwest standards. The residents really seem to like it there. Great program director. They all seemed pretty confident in themselves and felt they are the strongest in the midwest...tough to say.

Pittsburgh - A monster of a program. By far the biggest of all that I've interviewed at. Psych pretty much runs the show at UPMC. If you're interested in research...this is the place to do it. Endless opportunities and #1 in NIH funding. Huge psych facilities (Western Psych) on UPMC campus with a lot of specialty wards (ie. eating d/o, sub abuse, gero, women's, etc.). Psychotherapy really improving and getting a lot of attention as of late after aquiring a residency co-director with expertise in psychotherapy. Young faculty...a lot of excitement and energy. The size was good and bad. It is so big that there really isn't anything that you cannot do there....however, a lot of resident's didn't know each other, likewise the staff.

Duke - Really liked the program despite hearing some negative things about it. By far the most pleasent program director that I have met. Really nice facilities. Most of the residents seemed very happy...some didn't though. Excellent fellowship opportunities especially in gero and forensics.

Univ of Wisconsin - Beautiful city. The residents seem very happy. Very nice PD and faculty. By far lightest of call schedules (none in the first year, Q8 second year which can be taken from home). The outpt center is nice, but the hospitals need a little renovation (built in '60s '70's and do not look like much has been changed since then).

Univ of Minnesota - Beautiful city...great PD. Unfortunately, did not get to meet many residents. However, facilities were very nice...especially the VA, surprisingly. Great faculty...pretty interested in teaching residents.

More to come....

 

[anaismd]

what did you guys think of the columbia program? i got the feeling it was VERY cush, almost a little too cush in terms of shortened calls (apparently long call is until 6pm and short call until 2pm or something like that). also, since alot of of the experience is at NYSPI, I wonder how that affects the residents when they go out into the real world and practice where most patients aren't research patients who can stay as long as needed. it just felt like for the most part you do very little. just a feeling i got. what do you think?

 

[MBK2003]

I got the impression that Columbia residents were less burdened with high patient load/high patient turnover on their NYSPI inpatient rotation, but I stil think they got to do a lot of psychotherapy on those rotations. It seemed to me that the resident I stayed with had a much more intense experience on the IOP rotation, which had shorter "stays" and significantly higher turnover. I think that in many ways IOP more adequately reflects the way residents will be working once they enter the workforce, rather than the NYSPI inpatient wards.

It's interesting talking to people on the interview trail, some of us got very different impressions of Columbia. For example, I am interested in research, so I had a lot of interviews with basic science researchers and even got a tour of the labs. Someone else I met went away from their interview feeling that Columbia didn't have a lot of basic science research.

 

[MBK2003]

Quick update on my impressions of places that I've interviewed at, perhaps this will help some M3's interested in psych.
1) Columbia - Great PDs, great psychotherapy and psychodynamic training without compromising psychopharm, every form of research under the sun, variety in inpt, outpt, and ER exposures, residents seemed very happy. Cons (for me) - Living in NYC (I have 2 kids), only a couple of residents have children.
2) UCSD - Very nice, happy, cohesive resident classes, for a smaller program still has some world experts in several areas (SA, PTSD), Improving psychotherapy training, Primary care clinic for psych pts 1/2 day/wk throughout, and Exceptional basic neuroscience research at Scripps and Salk that residents can get involved with. Cons - Smaller program with fewer areas of clinical research.
3) UCLA - Good mix of inpt/outpt psych experiences, residents were some of the brightest I have ever met. Cons - Some of the residents told me that they felt lost in the program for the first 2 years due to the large class and dept size.
4) UCSF - Very psychodynamically oriented, Hoping to improve their psychopharm didactics with a new faculty from Yale, Great inpt experiences at SFGH. Cons - Call seemed needlessly onerous in PGY2 and PGY3 with not much ancillary support, No inpatient child psych experience due to lack of hospital in the city, weird vibe from PD (maybe just me).
5) Stanford - Opposite end of spectrum from UCSF, with focus on biology over psychotherapy, Very humane call schedules and lots of opportunities for young adult exposure through the university. Awesome child psych fellowship that focuses on creating researchers. Cons - Did not meet either the PD or asst PD (with no explanation as to why) - this was also noted by several other people I met on the interview trail, No real public sector psych exposure outside the VA.
6) Yale - The nicest PD in the world (no kidding), great mix of pt populations and inpt/outpt settings. Lots of different research opportunities in clinical and basic sciences. Best arranged interview day at anywhere I visited, they really made a lot of effort. Cons - Child Study Center is separate institution and could not get a good feel for whether I would like it there or not
7) MGH-McLean - Two different ends of spectrum for psych care (Mount Misery to Man's Greatest Hospital) but residents seemed to find that they fit best at one place or the other, Lots of well known researchers and clinicians at both site that seem to care about teaching residents, Research in every area of psych, good mix of psychotherapy and psychopharm. Cons - Not much public sector psych, Need to travel between 2 sites (20 min by car) at least once per week, big program and seems like someone could get lost early on.
8) UPenn - Great mix of patient pop at two primary locations, humane call schedule and exceptional ancillary support in the ER (no calling for a bed or precerts), Great PD, asst PD is a psychotherapist so good mix of both aspects of teaching. Cons (for me) - the Child psych program is in a state of disarray while waiting for a chair, Didactic time is not protected.

I know that this is long, but I thought that I would relay the funniest statement I heard from an interviewer - From a PD for internal medicine (was trying to convince me to do the prelim IM year at his hospital) "You've done about as well as someone could do coming from Indiana." I didn't know whether to laugh or say thank you. Good luck to everyone in making up the ROL's

 

[anaismd]

WOW!!!MBK, you are the BEST!!!
SO I will also share some of my impressions(what does that Indiana comment mean anyways?)
UPenn--I asked about the whole Friends Hospital situation and was given a very vague answer which was very misleading. only learned recently that residents no longer do their child rotation at friends
Pitt--HUGE psych dept with unlimited research opportunities. medicine there is a little rough, pittsburgh great for families but not really for singles, still, people do manage to have a decen social life if they're single. very research focused. the pd may say psychotherapy is good there but its not really according to some residents and a med student i know there its just not true. maybe it will get better, but some people there really feel that they are missing out on good psychtherapy training.
Yale--very family friendly. i heard so many wonderful stories about the pd going out of his way to help support residents in their family lives (one resident just rcently had a baby, one resident last year took a year off for paternity leave). new haven is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be--still its no nyc or boston or chicago....
NYU--its a great training experience for sure, but bellevue is a little scary and it seems to me that NYU has more criminal mental ill people than any other place ive seen. so that it seems to me that the pt population is skewed towards drug users and psychosis and that maybe residents miss out on some of the other types of psych pts. seemed like the senior residents went to court a lot which i guess is good for those interested in forensics
Stanford--i hear the institution is having some financial problems but i dont know how much the psych dept is affected by this. ive heard from alot of people that its very research-oriented and tha their aim is to train researchers, but some of the residents i met didnt have any interest in doing research. the first 2 years are basiclly at the VA and realy intense, but 3rd and 4th yr there is a lot of free time to pursue your own interests.

i think i will stop here for now...but lets keep this going!