Official 2017-2018 Psychiatry Interview Invite Thread

[Geraltofrivia]

So I applied to 100 programs and only got 10 interviews. 225/239 DO student...

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[UTsksk]

Anyone got an interview from UTRGV? I couldn't find any mention in any of the threads. Any updates with the program? I know last year they were asking for secondary application but this year it was kind of asked to be attached to main application.

Yeah I interviewed there. If you have any questions let me know.

 

[MrWonderful]

has anyone been at an interview where you were not asked any questions by the PD? or the PD started off the interview with "do you have any questions for me?" does this mean that they are not interested in you?

They might be just as burnt out as you are

 

[Stagg737]

You and me both. I had an interview with a big name program... if I'm being honest, I was sort of hoping I would hate it so that I wouldn't have to start hoping to match there. But I loved every second, and when the interview with the PD came I just was a giant ball of anxiety realizing that I really legitimately want this program and can't hide from that fact. Sigh. So hey, there's the bright side - you have other interviewees being *****s and blowing their interviews, too (you probably didn't blow your interview. And maybe I didn't blow mine. But gosh it does feel that way, doesn't it?)

I had the same thing happen. My PD interview at my #1 was by far my worst PD interview. The worst part was I knew the PD beforehand and every sign pointed to them really liking me (to the point they said "see you at the interview" before the application even opened). Then got grilled during the interview and didn't handle it as well as I'd have liked. I actually downplayed some of my strengths because some of the questions caught me so off guard. It wasn't a terrible interview, and I think it went decently (the rest of the interviews that day were great). I just know that I'm generally a pretty strong interviewer so having one that didn't go great has really been freaking me out.

So I applied to 100 programs and only got 10 interviews. 225/239 DO student...

That's not terrible, 10 should be solid enough to be confident you'll match, it does sound underwhelming for applying to 100 programs though. Do you have some other red flags with you app? Did you only apply to stronger programs or not apply mostly within your region? I'm DO with worse scores and a potential red flag, applied to less programs, and still pulled 9 interviews and some waitlists. Either something about your app is weaker/not clicking with programs or you're

has anyone been at an interview where you were not asked any questions by the PD? or the PD started off the interview with "do you have any questions for me?" does this mean that they are not interested in you?

I did last week. Was told by the residents beforehand to expect that, as that particular PD didn't really ask questions and simply asked if we had questions about the program/city/psych in general. It may not be that they're not interested in you, but rather that they're trying to gauge your interest in them. I think anyone mildly interested in a program would have some sort of question for the PD, even if it's somewhat generic, so having literally nothing to ask or say could be seen as a red flag due to lack of interest. I could be totally wrong and would love to hear the PDs/APDs takes on this, but that would be my interpretation.

 

[Entadus]

has anyone been at an interview where you were not asked any questions by the PD? or the PD started off the interview with "do you have any questions for me?" does this mean that they are not interested in you?

this has happened to me, i think it depends mostly on the personality of the interviewer. i wouldn't read too much into it

 

[Amygdarya]

has anyone been at an interview where you were not asked any questions by the PD? or the PD started off the interview with "do you have any questions for me?" does this mean that they are not interested in you?

Ha, I had an interview where my interviewer started by "So, how can I help you?" and, without waiting for my answer, jumped into grilling me on minute details of my research. I haven't been grilled about my research like this since my thesis defense (and, alas, I got defensive at some point during the interview). He actually did help me ultimately - by giving me a great idea for my project. But this was the most "stress" interview I've had.

 

[zoombini01]

Not that these rankings should really matter, but just wondering about why BIDMC-Harvard is ranked so much lower than Brigham on Doximity? Anyone have any insight into this? It seems strange considering both used to be part of the same (and well-regarded) Longwood program, and at least based on my experience at interview day BI seems like an absolutely incredible program. Interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Not that these rankings should really matter, but just wondering about why BIDMC-Harvard is ranked so much lower than Brigham on Doximity? Anyone have any insight into this? It seems strange considering both used to be part of the same (and well-regarded) Longwood program, and at least based on my experience at interview day BI seems like an absolutely incredible program. Interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

My thoughts on it are that Doximity's poll is even more bogus and meaningless than US News'.

 

[Amygdarya]

Not that these rankings should really matter, but just wondering about why BIDMC-Harvard is ranked so much lower than Brigham on Doximity? Anyone have any insight into this? It seems strange considering both used to be part of the same (and well-regarded) Longwood program, and at least based on my experience at interview day BI seems like an absolutely incredible program. Interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

I recently interviewed at BIDMC and loved it as well. I actually believe it's a better training program *in psychiatry* than BWH.

1) Doximity rankings are based on Doximity members polls; basically they're popularity contests where perceived prestige plays a great role. There is a joke that Princeton Law School was named one of the best US law schools in a similar poll among lawyers; the catch it, Princeton doesn't have a law school.

2) There's a self-perpetuating effect - eg., MGH will continue to be number one because it's always been number one, so it has to be the best, right?

3) There is also a halo effect. Which is where I get to the point regarding BWH vs. BIDMC ranking. BWH, a paternal twin of MGH, has been a top hospital for *medical and surgical* specialties attracting complicated patients/difficult cases from all over the world. By comparison, BIDMC is considered a more "community" (though it's still very much academic) hospital for medicine and surgery. And with the halo effect, the more renowned medical/surgical reputation translates into more assumed prestige for BWH psychiatry without any actual evidence for it.

4) Since the Longwood "divorce" it's actually BIDMC that's been carrying the Longwood flag. To start with, BIDMC was a strong prestigious psych program of its own before its merger into Longwood. Longwood's founder and long-time PD is now BIDMC psychiatry chair. The most recent/current Longwood PD will continue on as BIDMC PD.
In terms of services/training opportunities BIDMC "lost" in the divorce from BWH, almost all of them are redundant - another psych inpatient unit, another C-L service. I pressed senior Longwood residents really hard as to what were the differences between the corresponding services at BWH and BIDMC and they ultimately conceded that there were more medically complicated patients at BWH (consistent with the above: BWH is strong in medicine and attracts more complicated patients) but that BIDMC psych inpatient had sicker patients and BIDMC C-L had more eating disorders (because of some medicine docs specializing in eating disorders there). Doesn't sound bad at all to me. One non-redundant service that BIDMC lost was addictions, but they arranged a relationship with a VA for a detox unit and residential treatment rotation for interns (as well as an opportunity for a PTSD elective), and all the residents I talked to who had already done this rotation were extatic about it. BIDMC also created a new addictons service within C-L.
BWH is perceived to be stronger in neuropsych (the chair is a neuropsychiatrist), "biological" psychiatry and research, but BIDMC has its own strong neuropsych - in fact, it has one of the top neuromodulation centers in the country, research (particularly at Mass Mental) and certainly doesn't lack in psychopharm education.
On the other hand, what BIDMC "retained" after the divorce is its renowned outpatient clinic and strong psychotherapy training, as well as its affiliations with Mass Mental and Fenway Health, which are fantastic patient care, research and training institutions in their own right.

 

[UTsksk]

That’s good to hear. I wonder how far down their lists most programs go? I heard one interviewer (average size program- 6 residents, I think) brag that they only went to #27 last year (and interviewed like 80). Hopefully most programs go further down the ranklist than that. I feel like I’m a decent applicant (>10 offers) who interviews reasonably well, but I still ideally would like to go into an interview with greater than 1-in-3 odds.

Had a program brag the same thing at an interview a few weeks ago. I nodded my head and smiled while inside my head I was saying "That's cool bro".

 

[law14]

Had a program brag the same thing at an interview a few weeks ago. I nodded my head and smiled while inside my head I was saying "That's cool bro".

Yep. It’s definitely frustrating that PDs seem to care so much about bragging rights.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Yep. It’s definitely frustrating that PDs seem to care so much about bragging rights.

We only care about it because applicants seem to care about "prestige" and "rankings".
Face it, we have precious little objective evidence for program quality. The VAST majority of our graduates get jobs and pass boards. Almost all PDs I know are equally concerned about resident wellbeing and happiness.
So...what makes one program better than another?

 

[Celexa]

We only care about it because applicants seem to care about "prestige" and "rankings".
Face it, we have precious little objective evidence for program quality. The VAST majority of our graduates get jobs and pass boards. Almost all PDs I know are equally concerned about resident wellbeing and happiness.
So...what makes one program better than another?

I thought the poster was specifically referring to the way some programs care and will change rankings so they don't go far down their lists as a kind of internal ego boost. I was told explicitly by advisers in another specialty I was considering that this was a known factor in their field. Once everyone has interviewed both applicants and programs should just rank based on preference, but people seem bound and determined to fail to understand the algorithm which leads to all the post interview communications and outright lies you hear about by both programs and applicants. Its part of why it's hard to shake the fear of not matching even when you are well qualified because what if instead of trusting the algorithm, a PD despite taking the time to interview you didn't think you seemed pumped enough about their program and drops you down their rank list bc they want to match in their top 30 not top 50.

I'm not accusing any of the wonderful PDs who post here of doing this kind of thing but given that I've been told that it does happen by people involved in putting together rank lists, I do find it depressing...

Sent from my [device_name] using SDN mobile

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I thought the poster was specifically referring to the way some programs care and will change rankings so they don't go far down their lists as a kind of internal ego boost. I was told explicitly by advisers in another specialty I was considering that this was a known factor in their field. Once everyone has interviewed both applicants and programs should just rank based on preference, but people seem bound and determined to fail to understand the algorithm which leads to all the post interview communications and outright lies you hear about by both programs and applicants. Its part of why it's hard to shake the fear of not matching even when you are well qualified because what if instead of trusting the algorithm, a PD despite taking the time to interview you didn't think you seemed pumped enough about their program and drops you down their rank list bc they want to match in their top 30 not top 50.

I'm not accusing any of the wonderful PDs who post here of doing this kind of thing but given that I've been told that it does happen by people involved in putting together rank lists, I do find it depressing...

Sent from my [device_name] using SDN mobile

Yeah, I get it--but once you've been through this cycle half a dozen times and learn that the guy you got at #47 one year is just as competent than the guy you got at #20 the year before (and less trouble than the guy you got at #5 a couple of years before) you stop worrying about it as much.

 

[Amygdarya]

Yeah, I get it--but once you've been through this cycle half a dozen times and learn that the guy you got at #47 one year is just as competent than the guy you got at #20 the year before (and less trouble than the guy you got at #5 a couple of years before) you stop worrying about it as much.

I understand this was not what you were addressing in your response, but as a continuation of the discussion -
It may not make much difference for the programs, especially considering that the fellow applicants I've met on the interview track seem uniformly strong, but whether you rank someone #5, #20 or #47 could very well make a difference for individual applicants.
(With the interview season winding down our interview invitation anxiety is out and our ranking anxiety is in.)

 

[castlebox]

I recently interviewed at BIDMC and loved it as well. I actually believe it's a better training program *in psychiatry* than BWH.

1) Doximity rankings are based on Doximity members polls; basically they're popularity contests where perceived prestige plays a great role. There is a joke that Princeton Law School was named one of the best US law schools in a similar poll among lawyers; the catch it, Princeton doesn't have a law school.

2) There's a self-perpetuating effect - eg., MGH will continue to be number one because it's always been number one, so it has to be the best, right?

3) There is also a halo effect. Which is where I get to the point regarding BWH vs. BIDMC ranking. BWH, a paternal twin of MGH, has been a top hospital for *medical and surgical* specialties attracting complicated patients/difficult cases from all over the world. By comparison, BIDMC is considered a more "community" (though it's still very much academic) hospital for medicine and surgery. And with the halo effect, the more renowned medical/surgical reputation translates into more assumed prestige for BWH psychiatry without any actual evidence for it.

4) Since the Longwood "divorce" it's actually BIDMC that's been carrying the Longwood flag. To start with, BIDMC was a strong prestigious psych program of its own before its merger into Longwood. Longwood's founder and long-time PD is now BIDMC psychiatry chair. The most recent/current Longwood PD will continue on as BIDMC PD.
In terms of services/training opportunities BIDMC "lost" in the divorce from BWH, almost all of them are redundant - another psych inpatient unit, another C-L service. I pressed senior Longwood residents really hard as to what were the differences between the corresponding services at BWH and BIDMC and they ultimately conceded that there were more medically complicated patients at BWH (consistent with the above: BWH is strong in medicine and attracts more complicated patients) but that BIDMC psych inpatient had sicker patients and BIDMC C-L had more eating disorders (because of some medicine docs specializing in eating disorders there). Doesn't sound bad at all to me. One non-redundant service that BIDMC lost was addictions, but they arranged a relationship with a VA for a detox unit and residential treatment rotation for interns (as well as an opportunity for a PTSD elective), and all the residents I talked to who had already done this rotation were extatic about it. BIDMC also created a new addictons service within C-L.
BWH is perceived to be stronger in neuropsych (the chair is a neuropsychiatrist), "biological" psychiatry and research, but BIDMC has its own strong neuropsych - in fact, it has one of the top neuromodulation centers in the country, research (particularly at Mass Mental) and certainly doesn't lack in psychopharm education.
On the other hand, what BIDMC "retained" after the divorce is its renowned outpatient clinic and strong psychotherapy training, as well as its affiliations with Mass Mental and Fenway Health, which are fantastic patient care, research and training institutions in their own right.

Just adding onto the discussion about medicine between BIDMC and BWH. I'm actually a fellow IM applicant (so I don't have the credentials to talk about psych haha), but my friend who lurks on SDN saw your post and asked me about the medical complexity between BIDMC and BWH so I decided to share my thoughts from a medical perspective based on my individual interview days at both. I'm not entirely certain that the patients at BWH are necessarily more complex at BWH than at BIDMC-- I asked the residents at both programs how EMS decide which patients go to which hospital, and residents at both programs jokingly said ambulances in Boston choose the closest hospital to them (the truth is that they go to the hospital where they've received care before).

The issue with BIDMC and BWH (besides that they are academic medical centers located right next to one another) is that the patient population tends to be VERY homogenous (this is also an issue at MGH being located in one of the richest neighborhoods in Boston), and residents at both programs told me that patient mix is generally middle to upper class white (One third year BWH resident actually told me that he only has seen one sickle cell patient all of residency thusfar .) One other thing that I learned while interviewing is that no liver patients are seen at BWH as they do not have a liver program and any liver patients that come through the ED at BWH are automatically transferred to MGH. On the other hand, BIDMC has a robust liver program (and in fact has one of the top liver programs in the country). BIDMC also has its own oncology service separate from Dana Farber (although it has a partner affiliation with Dana Farber in conjunction with BWH and BIDMC IM residents can rotate through there), while BWH only has DFCI (so onc is separated from the main hospital). A running joke is that if you want to take care of Saudi Arabian princes, BWH is the best place for that kind of training.

But anyways that's just my impression of BIDMC vs BWH from an IM perspective. Anyone can feel free to correct me or add on anything else they would like to add (particularly any Harvard med students).

 

[law14]

A few questions I’ve been wondering about—

1) I really thought there would be more offers going out this month. I’ve met several people on my later interviews who have said they plan to cancel their January interviews (because they’ve already found their #1, have enough interviews, are tired of interviewing, etc). Wonder if we’ll see any last minute offers going out next month from these cancellations?

2) How necessary are second looks? I’ve heard at least 3 or 4 current residents say they attended a second look at the program where they ended up matching. How much do y’all think they help our chances? How are they generally set up? I’m running low on both free time and money at this point.

3) How should we contact our top few programs to let them know they’re our top few programs? Anybody got a good email outline typed up yet?

 

[tyrionlannister00]

I talked to our program coordinator yesterday and she said she had a bunch of cancellations over the holidays.

 

[syvian.]

I talked to our program coordinator yesterday and she said she had a bunch of cancellations over the holidays.

Cancellations. I have never appreciated this word more in my life!

 

[Coupd'Cat]

A few questions I’ve been wondering about—

1) I really thought there would be more offers going out this month. I’ve met several people on my later interviews who have said they plan to cancel their January interviews (because they’ve already found their #1, have enough interviews, are tired of interviewing, etc). Wonder if we’ll see any last minute offers going out next month from these cancellations?

2) How necessary are second looks? I’ve heard at least 3 or 4 current residents say they attended a second look at the program where they ended up matching. How much do y’all think they help our chances? How are they generally set up? I’m running low on both free time and money at this point.

3) How should we contact our top few programs to let them know they’re our top few programs? Anybody got a good email outline typed up yet?

re: #2, I'm pretty skeptical of 2nd looks. If anything, view them as more for your decision-making purposes rather than as a way show interest to a program (there are emails for that, too). Personally, I'll probably stick with emailing residents from the comfort of my home with any lingering questions. Depending on the program, they may have also already met & discussed applicants post-interview along the way, so a 2nd look would be pointless from the pov of that latter motive anyway.

 

[Annoymous4life]

Should I still be hopeful for possible interviews? Or does it seem like the season is pretty much over in terms of invites? (IMG here)

 

[UTsksk]

Should I still be hopeful for possible interviews? Or does it seem like the season is pretty much over in terms of invites? (IMG here)

Met some applicants at an interview today who mentioned they cancelled some invites recently. My friend got an offer from a pretty good program last week so it's possible but odds are unlikely. I personally haven't heard from a program since mid to late Nov. I guess if there's a place you really want and never sent a love letter, then make a last ditch effort. Cant hurt.

 

[syvian.]

Should I still be hopeful for possible interviews? Or does it seem like the season is pretty much over in terms of invites? (IMG here)

It's still possible to get some last minute invites! I've gotten two after Christmas! I had contacted these programs before with my interest though, so that may have helped.

 

[Annoymous4life]

It's still possible to get some last minute invites! I've gotten two after Christmas! I had contacted these programs before with my interest though, so that may have helped.

are you an AMG or IMG?

 

[syvian.]

are you an AMG or IMG?

AMG. Doubt that makes any difference at this point though.

 

[Celexa]

I got an invite today, and a friend of mine got one late last week. Both from big academic programs. It isn't over until it's over.

 

[starchymc]

Should I still be hopeful for possible interviews? Or does it seem like the season is pretty much over in terms of invites? (IMG here)

Cancelled an interview last week. Got off the waitlist to interview at another program this week. Both mid tier programs in west coast. From what I learned, if you hope to pick up from any cancellations, be ready to travel on short notice.

 

[Wounded Healer]

Should I still be hopeful for possible interviews? Or does it seem like the season is pretty much over in terms of invites? (IMG here)

Yes, it is possible, i got four in January. Never lose hope!

 

[syvian.]

Strange question but... Anyone know if MUSC had any interview dates on February?

 

[doggums]

.

 

[syvian.]

My bad. I searched their site before posting but didn’t see that!