MGH/McLean - is it really that much harder?

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aiwa

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I have heard from alot of people that the residents at the MGH/McLean program work much harder than other psych residents. Does anyone have any idea what their actual call schedule is like? How many hours they work? Are they unhappy? Thanks-

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I don't think there's any question that the MGH/McLean residency is more demanding than most (by an order of magnitude, in some cases). However, among top tier programs, I don't know that they work that many more hours. For example, Longwood residents seem to work just as hard, as do the residents at Hopkins, and maybe a couple of other places. Additionally, one of the 4th years at MGH said that she was surprised by how many MD/PhD's match there, because there is so little time during the first 3 years to engage in research. In her opinion, it seems like more of a clinical program. The second year and part of the third year are pretty brutal.

That said, I found most of the residents to be very happy there. However, I always take "happy" residents with a grain of salt. Different things make different people happy. So a number of them said they were looking for a "rigorous, well-structured" training. Plus, I don't know how many are wooed by the prestige factor.

I think the traning at MGH is outstanding, and depending on who you talk to, the "education to service" ratio is high. But yeah, if you go there, you should expect to work your butt off.
 
aiwa said:
I have heard from alot of people that the residents at the MGH/McLean program work much harder than other psych residents. Does anyone have any idea what their actual call schedule is like? How many hours they work? Are they unhappy? Thanks-

Your question is one I've been thinking about a lot as well as I make my match list.

My basic understanding is that at MGH you will have much more inpatient time than other programs. Therefore if you want to focus on outpatient psychotherapy for your career it may not be a great option. The hours are longer than all of the other programs I visited, which is a concern for me because I'm an MD/PhD who wants to pursue a reaserch career. That said, I think a lot of combined degree students go to the program anyway because of the researchers at Harvard and MIT. In the end I think that it is a harder program but worth it if you want to practice inpatient, live in Boston, and/or want to work with specific individual at Harvard in your third and fourth years.
 
Thanks Almost done and psychmd2b for your thoughtful responses. I agree with both of you. I think it is a more rigorous program that focuses alot on inpatient care. That being said, I have spoken with some of the 4th years there who are planning to focus on outpatient care for their careers - they feel that they recieved outstanding therapy training.

Overall, the residents I've talked to (since my original post) said that it is a very demanding program, but that it is managable and they would choose it again. Thanks again for your responses. It's getting down to the wire, and I think my rank list is finally coming together. Good luck to all of you -
 
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