Official 2017 Rank Order List

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
I'm curious how many places people are ranking this year? I'm a do student ranking 9. At this point I just want to match lol

Mediocre US MD applicant with 9 ranks. None are super competitive programs. As match day approaches, I'm getting a little apprehensive because I really don't like my last 3 ranks. Hopefully things will turn out ok in the end.
 
What do people think about these SE/midwest state school programs?
I'm trying to order University of Kentucky, Ohio State, and UVA. OSU seems to have the most variety in clinical experiences but does it really matter?
Would my prospects for fellowship be different based on which I go to?

Thanks

Would put UK last on your list, to be perfectly honest. The inpatient unit that is not the state hospital is small and poorly run, and your ED exposure is sort of a joke. The consult service as of a couple years ago was more notional than anything else. If you have family in the area and want to be in the Bluegrass than it is your best option obviously but there is a reason that the current PGY-2 class mostly came from SOAP (and they still lost one). Current intern class has at least one person who was primarily not applying to psych and matched as a last ditch backup. The new program director might start to turn things around but the caliber of your classmates and your attending mentors would not be consistently high.
 
What do people think about these SE/midwest state school programs?
I'm trying to order University of Kentucky, Ohio State, and UVA. OSU seems to have the most variety in clinical experiences but does it really matter?
Would my prospects for fellowship be different based on which I go to?

Thanks
I have nothing to add except to say that I like your name and also OSU is probs the best choice on your list
 
I wished I was on SDN more before I finished my ranking... I had 9 interviews, ranked 6 of them. Now I'm worried i didn't rank enough. All are competitive except one...Anything I can do last minute?
 
I wished I was on SDN more before I finished my ranking... I had 9 interviews, ranked 6 of them. Now I'm worried i didn't rank enough. All are competitive except one...Anything I can do last minute?

You can recertify your rank list and add the other 3 programs!
 
Hi, can somebody help me rank these programs,
1) Albert Einstein healthcare network, PA
2) Univ of Illinois Urbana, Il
3) Indiana univ school of medicine.

I am US IMG( carrabian grad). I don't have any location preferences. Just wanted to get into a good program.
 
What do you guys think of UT Rio Grande Valley? It's new but pretty unique with an outpatient emphasis.
 
Hi, can somebody help me rank these programs,
1) Albert Einstein healthcare network, PA
2) Univ of Illinois Urbana, Il
3) Indiana univ school of medicine.

I am US IMG( carrabian grad). I don't have any location preferences. Just wanted to get into a good program.

Can't speak to the others, but Indiana seemed like an extremely solid academic program that sometimes flies under the radar. They're really encouraging of research/academic pursuits, but have lots of diverse opportunities and enough flexibility to take advantage of them. Their facilities were nice, the residents were some of the friendliest I've met, and the faculty seemed very engaged in education. I'm not a fan of the weather, but everything else seemed great.
 
Hi, can somebody help me rank these programs,
1) Albert Einstein healthcare network, PA
2) Univ of Illinois Urbana, Il
3) Indiana univ school of medicine.

I am US IMG( carrabian grad). I don't have any location preferences. Just wanted to get into a good program.

IU first second and third if possible off that list.

UoI Urbana is brand new, I guess rarely that can be a good thing, but there will be a lot of kinks to work out and no name recognition whatsoever, Id definitely rank that last of the 3
 
Hi, can somebody help me rank these programs,
1) Albert Einstein healthcare network, PA
2) Univ of Illinois Urbana, Il
3) Indiana univ school of medicine.

I am US IMG( carrabian grad). I don't have any location preferences. Just wanted to get into a good program.

I agree with the above 2 posts. You can't go wrong with Indiana. Literally has everything you could want in a psych program. I, myself, am also considering ranking it #1.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Having a difficult time deciding how to rank Loma Linda vs UC Riverside and seeking any additional input anyone might have. My desires for a program at this point (in relative order) are 1) decent therapy training, 2) early enough child & adolescent experience to help me decide if I want to fast-track, 3) location, a tie at this program, and 4) cushiness.

Loma Linda: Seems like a solid, well-enough balanced and diversified program. The workload and call responsibilities are on the rough side but the residents still vehemently denied a major impact on work-life balance. The program has a number of different clinical sites including their own private inpatient unit and another at their VA. Therapy training seems decent and likely much stronger than Riverside. Also on the plus side (for me) there are 3-6 months of child & adolescent inpatient rotations + outpatient clinic worked in. Cons: Somehow there are lots of inpatient / emergency rotations in PGY3 without a corresponding increase in PGY2 outpatient rotations: I’m not sure how they get away with this. Also, I am not religious, and while I can appreciate the benefits that an extra focus on spiritual care might have on patient care, I’m not sure how happy I would be if it is a major focus.

UC Riverside: Seems to be the opposite of Loma Linda. Not resident dependent at all. No call = no nights or weekends. Internal moonlighting starting PGY2. As have been mentioned previously on SDN, the Chair, PD, and APD all seem like teddy bears and the “family” feel of the program was highly emphasized. Rotation schedule looks pretty standard, with PGY3 being completely outpatient. Psychotherapy training did not appear to be a strength; if I recall correctly, the APD does a large amount of the therapy training plus online modules (?). Unfortunately I either misplaced any curriculum details that were in the interview folder, or they might not have contained any, and the website isn’t super detailed.

In the end, I'm pulled towards Loma Linda's greater number of opportunities, but UCR's complete lack of call keeps me rethinking everything.
 
IU first second and third if possible off that list.

UoI Urbana is brand new, I guess rarely that can be a good thing, but there will be a lot of kinks to work out and no name recognition whatsoever, Id definitely rank that last of the 3

Agree with this. And AE is in Philly, which is a far better place to live in than Urbana.
 
Would put UK last on your list, to be perfectly honest. The inpatient unit that is not the state hospital is small and poorly run, and your ED exposure is sort of a joke. The consult service as of a couple years ago was more notional than anything else. If you have family in the area and want to be in the Bluegrass than it is your best option obviously but there is a reason that the current PGY-2 class mostly came from SOAP (and they still lost one). Current intern class has at least one person who was primarily not applying to psych and matched as a last ditch backup. The new program director might start to turn things around but the caliber of your classmates and your attending mentors would not be consistently high.

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, my family is in Kentucky which is leading me to strongly consider targeting this program. I don't doubt that Good Sam (I assume this is the hospital you're referring to?) is poorly run given the experience someone I know had there (as a patient). I'm curious though what makes you say that it's poorly run? Actually, I'm curious why you say the ED and consults are bad as well. If you're more comfortable discussing it in a PM that's fine with me. When I met the PGY-2's I was aware of the SOAP situation and I found their apparent ability to adapt to what was surely a bad situation for them impressive. They were able to present themselves as happy to be there despite whatever happened. I think the new PD is a force for positive change.... I'm trying to be optimistic but I do really want to hear the details of your concerns.

I have nothing to add except to say that I like your name and also OSU is probs the best choice on your list

Haha, I like your name too! What makes you think OSU is the best choice? If Doximity is to be believed (is it?) UVA is the best for reputation by a small margin and leaps and bounds better in terms of research output. I'm not sure what to think. OSU seemed stronger to me as well, at least from the clinical, didactics, and quality of life perspective.
 
Loma Linda: Seems like a solid, well-enough balanced and diversified program. The workload and call responsibilities are on the rough side but the residents still vehemently denied a major impact on work-life balance. The program has a number of different clinical sites including their own private inpatient unit and another at their VA. Therapy training seems decent and likely much stronger than Riverside. Also on the plus side (for me) there are 3-6 months of child & adolescent inpatient rotations + outpatient clinic worked in. Cons: Somehow there are lots of inpatient / emergency rotations in PGY3 without a corresponding increase in PGY2 outpatient rotations: I’m not sure how they get away with this. Also, I am not religious, and while I can appreciate the benefits that an extra focus on spiritual care might have on patient care, I’m not sure how happy I would be if it is a major focus.

UC Riverside: Seems to be the opposite of Loma Linda. Not resident dependent at all. No call = no nights or weekends. Internal moonlighting starting PGY2. As have been mentioned previously on SDN, the Chair, PD, and APD all seem like teddy bears and the “family” feel of the program was highly emphasized. Rotation schedule looks pretty standard, with PGY3 being completely outpatient. Psychotherapy training did not appear to be a strength; if I recall correctly, the APD does a large amount of the therapy training plus online modules (?). Unfortunately I either misplaced any curriculum details that were in the interview folder, or they might not have contained any, and the website isn’t super detailed.

In the end, I'm pulled towards Loma Linda's greater number of opportunities, but UCR's complete lack of call keeps me rethinking everything.
I think Riverside is a nice little community program and an exciting place to be. It's still in its infancy. They have some dedicated faculty who took on the challenge of building it up. There is a real focus on education. There is lots of moonlighting available (and the time to do it). They attract higher quality residents that Loma Linda (probably because of the nicer lifestyle and opportunities to supplement income and none of this religion stuff to scare people away). neither of these programs is exactly known for psychotherapy. You are gonna have to supplement your training either way. It is heavily bent towards public and community psychiatry but they have some private sites too. They are heavily recruiting for faculty at the moment. The chair is called Jerry Maguire. So really there's no debate, your answer should be "you had me at hello."
 
Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, my family is in Kentucky which is leading me to strongly consider targeting this program. I don't doubt that Good Sam (I assume this is the hospital you're referring to?) is poorly run given the experience someone I know had there (as a patient). I'm curious though what makes you say that it's poorly run? Actually, I'm curious why you say the ED and consults are bad as well. If you're more comfortable discussing it in a PM that's fine with me. When I met the PGY-2's I was aware of the SOAP situation and I found their apparent ability to adapt to what was surely a bad situation for them impressive. They were able to present themselves as happy to be there despite whatever happened. I think the new PD is a force for positive change.... I'm trying to be optimistic but I do really want to hear the details of your concerns.



Haha, I like your name too! What makes you think OSU is the best choice? If Doximity is to be believed (is it?) UVA is the best for reputation by a small margin and leaps and bounds better in terms of research output. I'm not sure what to think. OSU seemed stronger to me as well, at least from the clinical, didactics, and quality of life perspective.


Consult service is very slow and not much-utilized by the system as a whole, probably due to historical uselessness. I am sure they are trying to change that, but as of a couple years ago was definitely an institution where medical and surgical services rolled their eyes and sighed heavily prior to consulting psych.

The primary ED experience mostly involves waiting for people who are very intoxicated to not be intoxicated anymore.

The main inpatient unit has struggled for a very long time to have consistent attending coverage, probably because the pay is absolutely terrible (like 140K for full time). You can get away with paying peanuts at a prestigious academic place or if you're located in a super-desirable area, but those kinds of numbers in Lexington, KY means you get two kinds of people taking these jobs:
1) People who are otherwise fine but really want to be in the Bluegrass for personal reasons (usually family)
2) People who want to feel very important and have few other options for achieving this.

Not a recipe for great success, unfortunately.

I am sure the new PD is a force for change and hopefully they can improve things. Many people in the program are perfectly nice and it's not malignant by any stretch of the imagination but the training is not especially strong.
 
Consult service is very slow and not much-utilized by the system as a whole, probably due to historical uselessness. I am sure they are trying to change that, but as of a couple years ago was definitely an institution where medical and surgical services rolled their eyes and sighed heavily prior to consulting psych.

The primary ED experience mostly involves waiting for people who are very intoxicated to not be intoxicated anymore.

The main inpatient unit has struggled for a very long time to have consistent attending coverage, probably because the pay is absolutely terrible (like 140K for full time). You can get away with paying peanuts at a prestigious academic place or if you're located in a super-desirable area, but those kinds of numbers in Lexington, KY means you get two kinds of people taking these jobs:
1) People who are otherwise fine but really want to be in the Bluegrass for personal reasons (usually family)
2) People who want to feel very important and have few other options for achieving this.

Not a recipe for great success, unfortunately.

I am sure the new PD is a force for change and hopefully they can improve things. Many people in the program are perfectly nice and it's not malignant by any stretch of the imagination but the training is not especially strong.

That is an abysmal salary. I feel sorry the state of Kentucky and mentally ill people there if that's all UK thinks attending psychiatrists are worth. I can see why Kentucky is such an underserved area if they're trying to get away with garbage salaries like that. With my medical school debt, I could not afford to work for that little as an attending.
 
That is an abysmal salary. I feel sorry the state of Kentucky and mentally ill people there if that's all UK thinks attending psychiatrists are worth. I can see why Kentucky is such an underserved area if they're trying to get away with garbage salaries like that. With my medical school debt, I could not afford to work for that little as an attending.

Adjusted for CoL that's actually higher than the major metro I live in. Academic salaries are just abysmal in general, don't think thats what PP attendings make in Kentucky.
 
Adjusted for CoL that's actually higher than the major metro I live in. Academic salaries are just abysmal in general, don't think thats what PP attendings make in Kentucky.

Thanks for providing that perspective. I hope PP make more. I am hoping to live off 50-55k as an attending for a bit to try to quickly pay off my loans. The faster the better (of course).
 
Thanks for providing that perspective. I hope PP make more. I am hoping to live off 50-55k as an attending for a bit to try to quickly pay off my loans. The faster the better (of course).

Check out the salary threads for more information. I too plan to live off 50kish as an attending to pay back the loans in a few years, will report on that in a few years 🙂.
 
Any thoughts about LSU-NO vs Tulane? It almost seemed to me that they should be one program - Tulane gets exclusive rotations at the brand new VA, while LSU is running the Psych ER at the brand teaching hospital. Both sets of residents seemed happy. Same salary same benefits. Other than that I'm forgetting details. Any help?
 
Any thoughts about LSU-NO vs Tulane? It almost seemed to me that they should be one program - Tulane gets exclusive rotations at the brand new VA, while LSU is running the Psych ER at the brand teaching hospital. Both sets of residents seemed happy. Same salary same benefits. Other than that I'm forgetting details. Any help?

I know a couple who are currently interns (outside of psych). One at LSU and one at Tulane. The Tulane person consistently has a much better quality of life. The IM months at LSU seem like they're kind of brutal. I can't comment on anything else.
 
Anyone have any thoughts on the michigan programs? mainly wmu vs pinerest
 
Having a difficult time deciding how to rank Loma Linda vs UC Riverside and seeking any additional input anyone might have. My desires for a program at this point (in relative order) are 1) decent therapy training, 2) early enough child & adolescent experience to help me decide if I want to fast-track, 3) location, a tie at this program, and 4) cushiness.

Loma Linda: Seems like a solid, well-enough balanced and diversified program. The workload and call responsibilities are on the rough side but the residents still vehemently denied a major impact on work-life balance. The program has a number of different clinical sites including their own private inpatient unit and another at their VA. Therapy training seems decent and likely much stronger than Riverside. Also on the plus side (for me) there are 3-6 months of child & adolescent inpatient rotations + outpatient clinic worked in. Cons: Somehow there are lots of inpatient / emergency rotations in PGY3 without a corresponding increase in PGY2 outpatient rotations: I’m not sure how they get away with this. Also, I am not religious, and while I can appreciate the benefits that an extra focus on spiritual care might have on patient care, I’m not sure how happy I would be if it is a major focus.

UC Riverside: Seems to be the opposite of Loma Linda. Not resident dependent at all. No call = no nights or weekends. Internal moonlighting starting PGY2. As have been mentioned previously on SDN, the Chair, PD, and APD all seem like teddy bears and the “family” feel of the program was highly emphasized. Rotation schedule looks pretty standard, with PGY3 being completely outpatient. Psychotherapy training did not appear to be a strength; if I recall correctly, the APD does a large amount of the therapy training plus online modules (?). Unfortunately I either misplaced any curriculum details that were in the interview folder, or they might not have contained any, and the website isn’t super detailed.

In the end, I'm pulled towards Loma Linda's greater number of opportunities, but UCR's complete lack of call keeps me rethinking everything.

I interviewed at loma linda and ended up canceling my interview at UCR when the date conflicted with another interview day I received later on. I agree with splik's assessment that UCR > loma linda. Here's why:

1) therapy training
Neither are particularly strong in therapy training. At Loma Linda, they do have one way mirrored rooms where faculty watch you. Most therapy training is overseen by the psychologists and psyDs rather than MDs. You'll be required to learn about how to do psychotherapy for spiritual concerns since many of your patients will have psychopathology related to this, and the PD made it clear that this is his focus so expect didactics related to this too. I'm not sure about UCR, but they're recruiting heavily for some pretty strong faculty.

2) child and adolescent
Given how uncompetitive child psychiatry is, it's a shame that not every resident who goes to Loma Linda gets matched. I understand if residents don't match into their top choice for fellowship like some other residency programs, but some of the Loma Linda residents don't match at all when they wanted to. They're working on getting their fellowship accredited since they get pretty good exposure at the behavioral health center, so it might be up and running when you apply. UCR hasn't had a residency class graduate yet and had no one fast track into child psychiatry so there's no data on this to compare.

3) location
Toss-up. They're 15-20 mins away from each other. I like Riverside better for more diversity and being slightly closer to Orange County.

4) cushiness
UCR wins hands down with no call, most weekends free. Loma Linda residents made it clear that they work hard, with only one day a week off and maybe an additional day off per month if there's a holiday.
 
Given how uncompetitive child psychiatry is, it's a shame that not every resident who goes to Loma Linda gets matched. I understand if residents don't match into their top choice for fellowship like some other residency programs, but some of the Loma Linda residents don't match at all when they wanted to. They're working on getting their fellowship accredited since they get pretty good exposure at the behavioral health center, so it might be up and running when you apply. UCR hasn't had a residency class graduate yet and had no one fast track into child psychiatry so there's no data on this to compare.

I haven't seen any data from this year, but I believe the most recent match may have been somewhat more competitive... I don't think there is any reason to suspect a general trend; it may just have to do with the ebb and flow of when people are applying. I remember in my year I was one of 3 or 4 (I think) people applying into CAP from Yale, and this past year it was more than double that, so almost all our fellowship slots went to internal applicants. I have also heard of more people going further down their rank list for CAP this year.
 
1) therapy training
Neither are particularly strong in therapy training. At Loma Linda, they do have one way mirrored rooms where faculty watch you. Most therapy training is overseen by the psychologists and psyDs rather than MDs. You'll be required to learn about how to do psychotherapy for spiritual concerns since many of your patients will have psychopathology related to this, and the PD made it clear that this is his focus so expect didactics related to this too. I'm not sure about UCR, but they're recruiting heavily for some pretty strong faculty.
I am not sure what your point is about psychologist supervising, but that is not only pretty common, psychologists are often much, much better at providing supervision in psychotherapy. This is because they actually receive training in psychotherapy supervision, which is a skill in itself. Only psychiatrists who are supervising analysts would have received training in psychotherapy supervision.This is particularly true for CBT (and one would expect that most psychiatry residents should be supervised by psychologists). I received fantastic training in CBT (and its variants) from psychologists who providing excellent feedback and challenged me to grow as a therapist. They actually use tools to measure that you are providing fidelity therapy and that you are working within a framework. I was taught by psychologists who developed and did the clinical trials for some of these therapies. One of my psychoanalytic supervisors was a psychologist and she was one of the best supervisors I had. Psychiatrists can of course be great supervisors too. she helped me grow as a therapist and as a person. you are missing out if you are not getting psychotherapy training from psychologists. all things being equal I would choose a psychologist hands down and I know many seasoned psychiatrists who would say the same. That said, you want to have as many supervisors as possible so you can get different perspectives on your work and figure out the kind of therapist you want to be (and who you don't want to be).

Edit: also psychologists think differently. it is a very good idea to be exposed to a different way of thinking, especially since the medical approach constrasts quite sharply.
 
I am not sure what your point is about psychologist supervising, but that is not only pretty common, psychologists are often much, much better at providing supervision in psychotherapy. This is because they actually receive training in psychotherapy supervision, which is a skill in itself. Only psychiatrists who are supervising analysts would have received training in psychotherapy supervision.This is particularly true for CBT (and one would expect that most psychiatry residents should be supervised by psychologists). I received fantastic training in CBT (and its variants) from psychologists who providing excellent feedback and challenged me to grow as a therapist. They actually use tools to measure that you are providing fidelity therapy and that you are working within a framework. I was taught by psychologists who developed and did the clinical trials for some of these therapies. One of my psychoanalytic supervisors was a psychologist and she was one of the best supervisors I had. Psychiatrists can of course be great supervisors too. she helped me grow as a therapist and as a person. you are missing out if you are not getting psychotherapy training from psychologists. all things being equal I would choose a psychologist hands down and I know many seasoned psychiatrists who would say the same. That said, you want to have as many supervisors as possible so you can get different perspectives on your work and figure out the kind of therapist you want to be (and who you don't want to be).

Edit: also psychologists think differently. it is a very good idea to be exposed to a different way of thinking, especially since the medical approach constrasts quite sharply.

So is it better to go to a program that has a psychology training program with psychology trainees? Or does that not matter as long as they have good psychologists?

Also, what's the best way to evaluate a residency's psychotherapy training? Every time I ask about it, residents and faculty tell me they get trained in "everything," which I know is probably not true.
 
So is it better to go to a program that has a psychology training program with psychology trainees? Or does that not matter as long as they have good psychologists?

i dont think it matters too much if their are psychology interns though any academic medical center or VA will have them (they're like cockroaches [adorable cockroaches i might add] they're everywhere). We had psychology interns in some of our supervision groups and shared office space with them on inpt etc. in some ways it might be better if there arent so many of them as psychologists will always train their own first.you might want to have the psychologists all to yourself.

Also, what's the best way to evaluate a residency's psychotherapy training? Every time I ask about it, residents and faculty tell me they get trained in "everything," which I know is probably not true.

location, location, location. Major coastal metropolitan areas (there are some notable exceptions to this of course), are the best places to train in psychotherapy. Part of this is because psychotherapy is a cult (or lots of different cults) and this is where their disciples settled. Also this is where patients capable of benefiting from therapy settle. Most of the country the people are beyond help. They are not going to benefit from therapy. That is why 50% of counties lack a single mental health provider. You also want to consider whether psychotherapists have strong roles in education in the department. that is obviously a good sign. for example Penn, Columbia, and Drexel are examples of program where some psychotherapy educator is heavily involved in residency training/administration (there are many more examples).

Another thing that is ideal but quite rare: do you have the opportunity to see a master psychotherapist actually do therapy? I believe they do this at Penn (at least they used to). The residents would watch a therapist through the mirror doing a course of brief therapy. Do they have a large cadre of clinical faculty out in the community supervising residents?

Personal psychotherapy: While I am not sure one has to have their own therapy to be a good therapist (I avoided it even though it was a requirement at my program for graduation) it is obviously a learning experience - do they offer free or heavily discounted therapy to residents? how many residents are in therapy? in analysis? how many are doing the certificate course at the analytic institute? how many are doing the full training? How many hours of psychotherapy supervision do residents get? Is it easy for them to get to therapy and supervision (can be difficult if service wont let you leave).

Patient selection: do you just inherit all the hopeless cases from graduating residents? (even the top programs do this bs) do they select patients that are appropriate for therapy? This is probably a silly question because most resident clinics by definition are full of the worst possible patients for therapy (they would see someone real if they were any decent, there are plenty of options even for those w/o insurance) but there are some ways round it. For example if you get to do therapy in the student health center at the local university that will be good. Or how many college or grad students do they have come to the resident clinic? Are they good at getting medical patients into the resident clinic? (patients coping with serious diagnoses are often excellent fodder for beginning psychotherapists) Will they let you get rid of patients who you hate? (very important - you can't help patients you don't like).

Resident selection: do they select residents who are interested in psychotherapy? are the residents psychologically minded? (it is disturbing how many people go into psych with less psychological mindedness than a brittle borderline) are there additional psychotherapy related activities (interest groups etc) that are resident-led?

Culture of program: Is there a movie night or book club with analyst discussants? Do they have a reading group for going through classic papers in psychoanalysis? Do residents go to therapy realted conferences like APsaA? Do resients go on additional training in MBT etc together? Do thery have therapy realted grand rounds? Do they have clinical case conferences with different psychotherapists? Do they have invited speakers or endowed lectures that are therapy related? Are there psychotherapy research studies going on? Do they allow residents to participate as therapists in clinical trials? Do they invite psychoanalysts onto the inpatient unit to interview patients for training purposes? Do they have a psychologist on the c/l service? Is the dept run by biological psychiatrists who are intent on killing off the analysts? Another thing to look at is the faculty practice. Is there one? and are the psychiatrists offering psychotherapy in their faculty practice? That is going to be a good sign that the people you have most interaction with in your training are actually psychotherapists. UCSD for example takes a 50% cut on faculty practice, thereby punishing/discouraging their faculty from doing psychotherapy. There was no faculty practice where I did residency though they allowed faculty to do psychotherapy as part of their regular job.

Hours: How many psychotherapy patients is it expected you carry? Can you see therapy patients in the non-resident clinics? Do you have the chance to do group therapy on inpt psychiatry or brief therapy on the c/l service? When a patient drops out are they quick at finding new patients or could you wait months without a patient in that slot?

What's not important: didactics or the number of psychotherapy didactics. particular for each alphabet therapy. waste of time.
 
Can anyone help me get some input on my rank list? I had it certified but then talked with some faculty and shuffled it around. I'm planning a career in private practice, don't really have an academic bent. I'm anticipating have a large therapy component to my practice so I'm looking for a place that'll give me good training in psychotherapy. I'm toying with the idea of doing a forensics fellowship but that's really up in the air. Maybe a 50/50 chance I'll follow through.

University of Michigan
Tufts
Case Western
UVA
University of Iowa
University of Cincinnati
University of Wisconsin
Ohio State
University of New Mexico
UIC


Thanks in advance!
 
Can anyone help me get some input on my rank list? I had it certified but then talked with some faculty and shuffled it around. I'm planning a career in private practice, don't really have an academic bent. I'm anticipating have a large therapy component to my practice so I'm looking for a place that'll give me good training in psychotherapy. I'm toying with the idea of doing a forensics fellowship but that's really up in the air. Maybe a 50/50 chance I'll follow through.

University of Michigan
Tufts
Case Western
UVA
University of Iowa
University of Cincinnati
University of Wisconsin
Ohio State
University of New Mexico
UIC

Do you have a preference to where you want to live/work? While not essential, if you want to start a PP right out of training by yourself it would really behove you to have trained in that area and made connections.
 
Do you have a preference to where you want to live/work? While not essential, if you want to start a PP right out of training by yourself it would really behove you to have trained in that area and made connections.

A slight preference for the midwest but nothing stuck in stone. My wife's job prospects after I finish residency will probably have a bigger impact on location than anything else.
 
Personal psychotherapy: While I am not sure one has to have their own therapy to be a good therapist (I avoided it even though it was a requirement at my program for graduation) it is obviously a learning experience - do they offer free or heavily discounted therapy to residents? how many residents are in therapy? in analysis? how many are doing the certificate course at the analytic institute? how many are doing the full training? How many hours of psychotherapy supervision do residents get? Is it easy for them to get to therapy and supervision (can be difficult if service wont let you leave).

FWIW, I did personal therapy because my supervisor recommended it, and I ended up disliking it. At least in my personal experience, it seemed overrated, as it added little to my psychotherapy skills.
 
Last edited:
Can anyone help me get some input on my rank list? I had it certified but then talked with some faculty and shuffled it around. I'm planning a career in private practice, don't really have an academic bent. I'm anticipating have a large therapy component to my practice so I'm looking for a place that'll give me good training in psychotherapy. I'm toying with the idea of doing a forensics fellowship but that's really up in the air. Maybe a 50/50 chance I'll follow through.

University of Michigan
Tufts
Case Western
UVA
University of Iowa
University of Cincinnati
University of Wisconsin
Ohio State
University of New Mexico
UIC


Thanks in advance!

I interviewed at about half of those you mention...if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be Wisconsin (minus the location). I felt like the therapy exposure is pretty impressive...you start outpatient work in 2nd year. I also think Cincinnati and Ohio State were pretty moldable in terms of how strong you want your therapy exposure to be (OSU probably less so). If psychoanalytic is your thing, the institute is literally right next to the Psychiatry offices at Cincy. Probably can't go wrong with most of the places on your list! I can't speak to the Forensics aspect. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Can anyone help me get some input on my rank list? I had it certified but then talked with some faculty and shuffled it around. I'm planning a career in private practice, don't really have an academic bent. I'm anticipating have a large therapy component to my practice so I'm looking for a place that'll give me good training in psychotherapy. I'm toying with the idea of doing a forensics fellowship but that's really up in the air. Maybe a 50/50 chance I'll follow through.

University of Michigan
Tufts
Case Western
UVA
University of Iowa
University of Cincinnati
University of Wisconsin
Ohio State
University of New Mexico
UIC

Michigan is probably the best overall program on that list and has a strong name brand attached. For midwest preference, my next tier would be Iowa, Wisconsin, Cinci, and UIC in no particular order. Iowa is stronger in "biologic" psychiatry so maybe not your thing. Therapy training at UIC and WI are both very good but UIC is still fairly connected to the largest analytic institute outside of NYC. The opportunities to run a therapy heavy PP are easily a factor of magnitude higher in Chicago than any other city the other programs are in which is why I was asking geographic preference. I would stay away from OSU's psychiatry program when you have all these other great places as opportunities.

I will add that forensics is almost diametrically opposed to PP psychotherapy, although certainly you could do both to have variety in practice. You likely want to develop deep/close relationships whereas forensics you are often having straight adversarial or at least diagnostic and non-therapeutic relationships. You'll have plenty of time to figure it out going forward and I know nothing about forensic fellowships but just something to consider.
 
Last edited:
Can anyone help me get some input on my rank list? I had it certified but then talked with some faculty and shuffled it around. I'm planning a career in private practice, don't really have an academic bent. I'm anticipating have a large therapy component to my practice so I'm looking for a place that'll give me good training in psychotherapy. I'm toying with the idea of doing a forensics fellowship but that's really up in the air. Maybe a 50/50 chance I'll follow through.

University of Michigan
Tufts
Case Western
UVA
University of Iowa
University of Cincinnati
University of Wisconsin
Ohio State
University of New Mexico
UIC


Thanks in advance!

Well obviously I'm biased because I'm a Tufts resident--but I chose Tufts because out of all the places I interviewed at, It had the strongest psychotherapy. Keep in mind I only interviewed at the academic programs in Boston and New York (and I interviewed at pretty much ALL of them lol), so I don't know anything about the other programs you listed.

The PD of Tufts, Dr. Schindelheim has been a program director for decades and has tons of experience with training residents. Because it is a small program, the program leadership (Dr. Schindelheim, Paul Summergrad, etc.) can really personalize the experience to what you want to do. You will get lots of didactic and seminar time every week in psychotherapy and psychodynamics taught by Dr. Schindelheim and others. You will start psychotherapy cases 2nd year and will have more supervision hours than one could ever want! And Dr. Schindelheim will hand pick all of your supervisors based on who you are and what you're interested in. So in short you get LOTS of psychotherapy and all of the faculty are well-versed in psychotherapy, and most are also analytically trained. Couple that with a strong C/L experience in a smallish (compared to MGH/Brigham/etc) but very acute tertiary care setting, and I think you get a great training.

In terms of forensics, we have required inpatient forensics rotations in second year and outpatient forensics in third year. Tufts also has contracts with the forensic hospitals in the area so we get first Dibs for moonlighting around here at those places where you basically get paid 1,000 to sleep over each night. You can start this in the third year.

Finally, something to consider is where you want to do your training. Training in New York or Boston means you will be in areas with a lot of psychotherapy and rich psychoanalytic tradition. Lots of psychoanalytic institutes which means lots of supervisors who can be on the voluntary faculty of the institution and potentially be your supervisor.
 
If you go through your own analysis and complete an institute's course work and graduate, that would by far out train ever adult psych training in the country. Psych residency gives you a taste of the concepts, but you are far from mastering anything.

I spoke to one of the analysts on our faculty and he echoed your sentiment pretty closely. Essentially he said that if you want to go into analysis the potential pool of analysts in the area of your residency program to both serve as supervisors and perform your own personal analysis can be just as important, if not more important than the psychotherapy training in residency itself. I guess it boils down to how much one is committed to the idea of becoming an analyst...

Okay, to maybe reframe my original question, would any of you be so kind as to offer your input on my list? As it stands, I hope to end up in an academic setting as clinical faculty doing a mixture of C/L and outpatient psychotherapy (possibly after at least some analytic training, just not sure if I can commit to finishing the whole 4+ years it takes to finish). Aside from a slight California bias, I don't really have any geographic preference. I'm looking for the strongest balanced training I can get (with extra weight to diverse pathology/demographics, robust C/L, and extensive psychotherapy exposure). That said any thoughts as to if anything on this list is grossly out of place?

UC Davis
LAC+USC
U Colorado
UNC
U Maryland
UMass
Einstein-Montefiore
Rush
Medical College of Wisconsin
Institute of Living
 
I spoke to one of the analysts on our faculty and he echoed your sentiment pretty closely. Essentially he said that if you want to go into analysis the potential pool of analysts in the area of your residency program to both serve as supervisors and perform your own personal analysis can be just as important, if not more important than the psychotherapy training in residency itself. I guess it boils down to how much one is committed to the idea of becoming an analyst...

Okay, to maybe reframe my original question, would any of you be so kind as to offer your input on my list? As it stands, I hope to end up in an academic setting as clinical faculty doing a mixture of C/L and outpatient psychotherapy (possibly after at least some analytic training, just not sure if I can commit to finishing the whole 4+ years it takes to finish). Aside from a slight California bias, I don't really have any geographic preference. I'm looking for the strongest balanced training I can get (with extra weight to diverse pathology/demographics, robust C/L, and extensive psychotherapy exposure). That said any thoughts as to if anything on this list is grossly out of place?

UC Davis
LAC+USC
U Colorado
UNC
U Maryland
UMass
Einstein-Montefiore
Rush
Medical College of Wisconsin
Institute of Living

UNC & MCW jump out to me in that list as places with good all-around C/L and psychotherapy training. I know some good psychiatrists who had trained at Montefiore. You also can't go wrong with analytic training in NYC. Have heard good things about Colorado, Davis and UMass lately. UMD, IOL, and Rush are meh.
 
UNC & MCW jump out to me in that list as places with good all-around C/L and psychotherapy training. I know some good psychiatrists who had trained at Montefiore. You also can't go wrong with analytic training in NYC. Have heard good things about Colorado, Davis and UMass lately. UMD, IOL, and Rush are meh.

Thank you for your input! Interestingly, compared to other programs there were quite a few residents at LAC+USC who indicated they were planning on going into C/L. They also seemed to enjoy the county training experience from a diversity of pathology perspective. Like I mentioned before, I could not get a good read on psychotherapy training there since that didn't seem to be the bent of the residents I spoke to (although this may have just been selection bias). In any case, even assuming that good analytic training is possible in the LA area during residency, any thoughts on whether LAC+USC should be somewhere else on that list maybe?
 
Thank you for your input! Interestingly, compared to other programs there were quite a few residents at LAC+USC who indicated they were planning on going into C/L. They also seemed to enjoy the county training experience from a diversity of pathology perspective. Like I mentioned before, I could not get a good read on psychotherapy training there since that didn't seem to be the bent of the residents I spoke to (although this may have just been selection bias). In any case, even assuming that good analytic training is possible in the LA area during residency, any thoughts on whether LAC+USC should be somewhere else on that list maybe?

At LAC+USC, you'll carry 4-6 therapy patients during PGY3 but you could carry more if you'd like. Typically people have 4 supervisors at 30-45 minutes with each supervisor per week, which I think is pretty minimal. You have 7.5 months during your 4th year to pursue electives, which you could probably get additional experience in psychotherapy. There are several psychoanalytic institutes in LA that seem pretty excellent and can offer you additional training. You'll likely need it because therapy training here isn't the strongest. They train you in dynamics and CBT, and the only other therapy modality you can learn electively is DBT. You might learn MI at the VA ambulatory center in downtown LA, but more likely you'll learn how to run groups.

Otherwise, it is pretty excellent in inpatient C/L where they have a unit co-managed by Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. Their ER is also extremely high volume for psych cases, but isn't resident dependent so you can take as many or little cases as you are comfortable for your education. The diversity in psychopathology would probably be more skewed toward the underserved though since you spend very minimal time at Keck (5-10% of your time), which would be the higher functioning patient population that would actually be capable of benefitting from therapy. Therefore, I'm not sure how strongly balanced this program is because it is mostly a county training with a heavy focus on the underserved.

I don't know how it compares to the other places cause I don't know much about the other places.
 
I will add that forensics is almost diametrically opposed to PP psychotherapy, although certainly you could do both to have variety in practice. You likely want to develop deep/close relationships whereas forensics you are often having straight adversarial or at least diagnostic and non-therapeutic relationships. You'll have plenty of time to figure it out going forward and I know nothing about forensic fellowships but just something to consider.
I would disagree they are opposed anymore so than any other kind of clinical work. In fact it is quite common for forensic psychiatrists to be psychotherapists, particularly in places like NYC, Boston, SF etc. Some people even focus on things like sexual boundary violations in psychotherapy, for which the expert witness should be a psychotherapist. Others provide psychoanalytic consulting services to corporations or other organizational based services rooted in psychoanalytic approaches. There is also a subspecialty of forensic psychotherapy (it is recognized as a branch of psychiatry in the UK - there is a training program at the Tavistock) which a small cadre of psychiatrists are interested in and involves the psychoanalytic treatment of violent (including sexually violent) offenders. These are typically non-psychopathic personality disordered individuals. I'm not really sure it works, but it's nice work if you can get it. Also psychotherapy and forensic evaluations are quite detailed explorations of the individual's life. You still have to (or ought to) respond empathically to forensic evaluees, and in my experience good psychotherapy skills are essential to getting people to open up, and I often find I can't help myself in providing some sort of intervention even though I am not in a treatment role (the temptation to reassure, praise, confront, or interpret sometimes proves too much!)

Also I hate repeating myself, but there is this myth on this forum that a forensic fellowship is necessary to offer forensic services. This is completely untrue. The overwhelming majority of forensic services are provided by psychiatrists who are neither fellowship-trained or boarded in psychiatry. Some of the lower quality fellowships are probably a waste of time. "Are you boarded in forensic psychiatry?" said no attorney ever (unless you put it on your CV...) You are being retained for your expertise in clinical psychiatry in the same way any other subject matter expert or physician expert witness is. I'm not saying there aren't advantages of doing a forensic fellowship if it doesnt kill you, but it is not necessary.
 
Thoughts on Albany Medical Center vs St. Elizabeth's in Boston?
 
Carolion clinic and Kansas. Can anyone offer any insight on these two programs? Things they've heard and stuff? Thanks!
 
Carolion clinic and Kansas. Can anyone offer any insight on these two programs? Things they've heard and stuff? Thanks!

I interviewed at Kansas and liked it. Fairly strong program with med-psych so you get attendings that are used to thinking medically as well which could be a benefit. Also, Kansas City is pretty awesome and cheap cost of living. I don't know much about carolion but in my opinion Kansas is the stronger program. If one is more near to where you want to live though just choose that one because not a big enough difference to sacrifice geography.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Would appreciate some guidance regarding my ROL as we're getting down to the wire here. Top 4 in no particular order. Strongly thinking child psych but not set on that. Solid therapy training is important to me as well.

UMaryland
Hofstra-LIJs
UPMC
Montefiore-Einstein

Thanks in advance!
 
Would appreciate some guidance regarding my ROL as we're getting down to the wire here. Top 4 in no particular order. Strongly thinking child psych but not set on that. Solid therapy training is important to me as well.

UMaryland
Hofstra-LIJs
UPMC
Montefiore-Einstein

Thanks in advance!

Easy.

UPMC
Montefiore
Northwell
UMD

But I'm biased -- I have friends who went to Maryland/Sheppard Pratt and hated it.
 
Easy.

UPMC
Montefiore
Northwell
UMD

But I'm biased -- I have friends who went to Maryland/Sheppard Pratt and hated it.

What is up with all the UMD hate on here? I interviewed there and thought it was a pretty awesome program. They have a diverse clinical experience, are pretty balanced in terms of biological/therapy and the residents seemed fairly happy to me. There is not a single positive comment on the program in here. It's just kinda odd.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Easy.

UPMC
Montefiore
Northwell
UMD

But I'm biased -- I have friends who went to Maryland/Sheppard Pratt and hated it.

Any specifics you can remember about what your friends didn't like about Maryland? It's not very high on my list due to location, but I remember being fairly impressed by the program.
 
Would appreciate some guidance regarding my ROL as we're getting down to the wire here. Top 4 in no particular order. Strongly thinking child psych but not set on that. Solid therapy training is important to me as well.

UMaryland
Hofstra-LIJs
UPMC
Montefiore-Einstein
Thanks in advance!

Please do yourself the favor and rank UPMC 1 if you can handle the environment. By far the best program on that list
 
Top