Okay, another last-minute Lucy looking for the helpful advice of colleagues. I'm having a tough time choosing between my top 2, UC San Diego and UW. They're both West Coast, which I prefer, but couldn't be any more different with regard to climate or culture. My husband has good career prospects in either place and has deferred all decision-making responsibility to me. I really liked both programs and could see myself fitting in well at either place. Coming from a place that can get really hot, I actually prefer milder, less sunny places, but I worry that Seattle could possible get too dreary. I do want to end up on the West Coast after residency and would like to attend the program that would open the most doors in that region.
San Diego has stellar faculty (I mean it's hard to beat Stahl), huge NIH money (although I'm not particularly research-focused), and a really positive vibe. Seattle also has great faculty, but I'm not sure if they're as well-known. The program is also a little larger, which could really go either way, and the residents are friendly but a little reserved (cue rumors of the dreaded 'Seattle freeze'). I did like that UCSD offers free therapy to their residents for a year. I don't remember if UW does or not? I'm also not really sure about how the call schedules compare or moonlighting, etc. I've found that there are so many things that I didn't really think about when I interviewed. Ugh. Anyway, feel free to offer some solicited advice.
I think there are some similarities between UW and UCSD and there are several residents at UW who went to UCSD for medschool and I know residents at UCSD who ranked UW 2nd and there is a resident who transferred from UCSD to UW (not for any shady reasons). both are large academic programs, both have seasoned program directors (sid zisook and deb cowley are both highly respected in the field and both also have had significant research careers in their own right which is unusual for PDs these days). both will give you great training. UCSD is more biologically oriented as a research institution than UW where the focus is on health services research and consultation-liaison psychiatry. UW has some academic heavyweights including the new chair Jurgen Unutzer (integrated care), Wayne Katon(collaborative care, somatoform disorders), Rick Ries (addictions), Chris Varley (ADHD), Jack McLellan (childhood schizophrenia), Bryan King (autism), Marsha Linehan (DBT/suicidal behaviors), and some of the emeritus faculty still involved in teaching and recruiting residents into private practice like Peter Roy-Byrne (panic/anxiety disorders) and Dave Dunner (who invented bipolar II and the concept of rapid cycling).
I find it strange you mention Stahl since he's sort of everything that's wrong with psychiatry and I'm pretty sure his affiliation is fairly loose but UCSD actually has some serious and well-known researchers like the chair Lewis Judd (mood disorders and former NIH director; he is sort of ailing now), Hagop Akiskal (bipolar), Dilip Jeste (geriatrics), Murray Stein (anxiety d/o), Joel Dimsdale (somatoform disorders) and the PD is an authority of bereavement and persistent grief himself.
San Diego used to have the best hospice program in the country that was affiliated with UCSD but it has sadly gone under which is a great shame as they also offered the only palliative psychiatry fellowship in the world.
Although often seen as more biological than its counterparts, I think UCSD has good psychotherapy training but there is certainly more of an emphasis on this at UW (surprisingly though not on the level of east-coast programs) and from what I hear the patient load is much heavier at UCSD as is the call burden. Obviously the weather is much nicer in San Diego. I don't think the Seattle weather is as bad as people make out (there are sunny days even in the winter, and the summers are gorgeous and well appreciated) but there are lightboxes in the call rooms which might say something.
There is a soft-mandatory requirement at UW for residents to have at least 6months of psychotherapy and there is a list of therapists who provide free psychotherapy, and they can see you free for the rest of residency if you agree that with them. otherwise your insurance usually covers it and most therapists will waive the co-pay for residents. some people just choose to see someone through their insurance out of paranoia of seeing someone on the clinical faculty, and the co-pay is about $20 in that case. There is also T-group all 4 years (one of the few programs that does it all 4 years) I'm not sure how long it is at UCSD but I think they have a process group for 1-3 years?
it doesn't sound like you have any strong preference though if you like sunshine, are interested in biological psychiatry, or working with a latino population then UCSD is probably where it's at. If you are interested in health services research, are a vampire, want the county experience, or interested in being a consultant in medical settings and the primary care-psychiatry interface then UW is where it's at. otherwise flip a coin.
