Official Interview Review Thread!

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thank you, doctor bagel, for going to a bagillion interviews and reporting them all here! I've got great info on four of mine from your comments.

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I'd like to thank the one or two people regularly sending me anonymous interview feedback. Keep em coming boys.

Vanderbilt
Food/Accommodations – Dinner the night before at a casual restaurant, and lunch provided the day of from Jason’s deli. Hotel discounts available – hotel not provided.

Interview Day – One on one interviews with four faculty + 1 resident interview + a group interview with 2 faculty overseeing the applicants. The day started with an informational ppt with Dr. Stovall. The day lasted from 8-4. The afternoon involved a tour through multiple sites all within easy walking distance. You attend a case conference.

Program overview – Off-service months seem particularly tough hour wise. Second year was at times compared to a second intern year by residents. 3rd and 4th years are not nearly as tough. No psych electives until at least 3rd year. Community psych seemed strong.

Faculty – The faculty I met were extremely intelligent. They seemed very excited about teaching. I would love working with the faculty I met. It did seem that there weren’t enough faculty though. Good quality, poor quantity.

Call – IM is q6 overnight. IM also has short-call. If you choose to do a peds month, I think it was q4 overnight. Inpatient psych has short-call 5-9pm. Inpatient psych overnight is through a night float system. Hours are long on inpatient psych. You are constantly busy according to residents. You also sometimes round on weekends on inpt psych which usually takes 3 hours but can last as long as 8 hours (depending on the faculty member).

Location – Some residents live within biking distance of the main campus – costly however. Other residents live 15 minutes away – more family oriented neighborhoods. Obviously a great city if you love country music – I do.

Benefits – Salary was pretty good. Residents seemed happy with benefits. One resident particularly mentioned that health coverage was good quality.

Program strengths – Child psych seems to be a strength. Faculty are very intelligent. Vanderbilt name on your diploma. Residents were friendly and intelligent.

Program weaknesses – Only 2 ACGME fellowships for such a well-known institution. Residents work very hard.
 
Man, I have been on a gajillion interviews. Here's my latest (and last for a while).

Colorado
Interview Basics: The day starts at 9 am at the Anshutz campus, which is in Aurora. Coffee, water, tea and little 100 calorie snack packages are available. It starts with a powerpoint given by the PD or one of the assistant PDs (they alternate days for the presentation and giving interviews). Then you have 3 interviews, one with the PD or assistant PD, one with a resident and one with an attending. There's one hour for lunch in there where you go to a campus restaurant with the other applicants and some residents. After the interviews, a professional driver shows up and takes applicants on a narrated driving tour of Denver on the way to Denver Health, the public hospital where lots of rotations are at. Then there's a tour of Denver Health given by a resident followed by another narrated tour on the way back to campus. Residents host a happy hour/dinner type of thing on Thursday night to cover both Thursday and Friday applicants.

Schedule/rotations/call: Colorado has a reputation for having a harder schedule, and that's probably true. However, it seems like the schedule has gotten more manageable in the last few years. In first year, you do 4 months of IM wards and 2 months of neuro -- call on IM wards is q8 for overnight and q4 for non-overnight all day call. Neuro doesn't have call, but you do have to work weekends. The IM/neuro months are divided into 2 3 month blocks intersperced with psych blocks. The psych blocks include one month of night float and inpatient rotations at Denver Health and at the VA. Since there's a night float at both spots, call is only on the weekends and is a 24 hour call. During 2nd year, almost all the call is covered by 2 night float months, and there's little to no call 3rd and 4th years (4th years do buddy call at the start of the year).

You do have the option to substitute some peds for IM -- I forget if it was one month or two months. It seems like lots of people there are interested in child psych.

Residents start doing 1/2 day of outpatient psych during psych months of the first and second year and start their intensive outpatient work 3rd year. It sounds like there's lots of psychotherapy supervision with videotaping available and the opportunity to work with people from the local analytic institute.

It sounded like the PD and chief residents take work hours seriously, and they said they'll likely change the schedule more in the future to keep it in compliance with the Institute of Medicine recommendations.

Setting/culture: Probably the biggest change in rotation setting recently involved the closing of the University psych unit. Residents now do all their inpatient psych at the VA and at Denver Health. Residents said they thought this was actually a good thing because it lessened their call burden. Consequently, though, exposure to insured and higher SE patients will come mainly from outpatient work (and maybe IM and neuro). Denver Health seemed pretty nice for a public hospital and is apparently not losing money. The patients are a mix of voluntary and involuntary, and there's not a court or telecourt or anything like that there. The children's hospital looked beautiful, and most of the stuff at the Anshutz campus was new. The campus is in Aurora, though, so it's not close to the good stuff in Denver.

Apparently had some issues in the past that the residents claim have been resolved largely because of efforts by the PD. If you look at some of the reviews here, you'll see some comments about the PD not being friendly, and residents said stuff about her not being "warm and fuzzy." However, they all said she is receptive to resident feedback and works really hard to protect residents' time and learning experiences. It sounds like if you want a program where the PD is your friend, this would not be a good spot for you. The residents all said the chair was great and very helpful with career planning/opportunities. Also, they said you could get that emotional support/venting opportunities from the chiefs and from some of the other attendings.

Location: Denver's a beautiful city right by the mountains, and everyone kept on mentioning that 300+ days of sunshine each year. They do get snow, but apparently it's not snow-covered for all of the winter. Lots of outdoor activities are nearby, and Denver is probably a good place to be for a single person. I think the economy is pretty decent, and housing didn't seem too high, especially compared with the coasts. Lots of the residents seemed to want to stay in Denver.

Benefits: Pay scale looks normal, and I think there are 21 days of vacation. I saw something on the website about residents now having to pay some of the premium for dependents for health care coverage.

Positives: It's a big, academic program with fellowships in everything. Psychotherapy training seems really solid, and lots of research opportunities are available. The PD is proactive in making sure the program meets its educational and ACGME requirements. Denver's a great place to be, and the chair seems friendly and well-connected. Child psych is apparently great there, and it seemed like everyone at my interview but me wanted to do that. Exposure to a diverse group of patients.

Negatives: It's not a light work schedule, and the program is bigger and a little less friendly overall. If you want an emotionally supportive PD or a family atmosphere, this is not the place. You do have to drive between multiple sites, so you'll probably face long commutes to some locations. It sounded like the recent closure of the university psych unit didn't really negatively impact training, but someone there would know better than me.
 
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OSU Review

Interview Day/logistics: I drove up from Cincinnati (2h drive). There was a resident dinner the night before the interview at the Cap City Diner a short distance from the medical campus. 3-4 residents showed up along with the 5 applicants (myself included) being interviewed that day. The residents recommneded the meatloaf, which is the dish that Cap City Diner is supposedly known for. It was not bad, but I didn't think it was anything special.

The programme does not pay for any travel expenses. I found a very good hotel deal from priceline.com in Worthington, north of the city. On interview day you will park at the "Safe Auto Garage", and you will be given a voucher by the programme coordinator to prevent you from incurring a parking fee. The garage is a bit of a walk from Harding Hospital, which is the main psychiatric/behavioural medicine hospital of the OSU medical campus. Janet Rhoades the programme coordinator will meet you and the other applicants in the lobby at 8:45AM.

Everyone will interview with Dr. Radu Saveanu, the programme chair, and Dr. Niedermeier the residency director. You will also interview with one additional variable faculty member for a total of 3 interviews, each half an hour in length. All interviews were very friendly and conversational. I was not asked anything remotely difficult. I was asked what I was looking for in a programme, how OSU fits into that, and general information about myself. Lunch was held in a conference room with bagged sandwiches with several residents. All applicants interviewing that day sat in a central "waiting area" as Janet came to get you one by one for your interviews. Everyone's schedule was different. I had a 1.5 hour gap with nothing to do, and was concerned that I would be very bored for that time. Luckily residents dropped by during that time to chat with me and the other applicants who were not interviewing at that moment, and the time passed very quickly.

At the end of the day Janet Rhoades gave a very brief talk about logistics, benefits, etc. She then passed out a small bag of buckeyes (the state plant of Ohio, and "mascot" of OSU) to each applicant as a gift. I got a (very brief) tour of Harding Hospital that lasted about 10 minutes. I was shown in particular the on-call room (very nice, with a newly-installed wide-screen flat-screen TV), 3rd year resident offices, outside of the inpatient unit (we weren't allowed to actually go in), and the partial hospitalisation unit. After the tour Janet called a shuttle for those who didn't want to walk back to the garage. My day ended at 3:00PM.

Strengths: All the residents I talked to were extremely happy to be there. They feel that the class is very tightly-knit and cohesive. Also they bring up that the faculty are very responsive to gripes and concerns. There was concern that it was difficult to recruit patients for psychotherapy, so faculty has been trying get faculty to help residents recruit by asking their private patients if they would be interested in resident clinic. There are regularly scheduled meetings during which residents get together to talk and air out concerns, and there are separate scheduled meetings that also include faculty during which residents can also bring up and gripes.

You are only on-call 3 times a month (works out to be around q10) during your intern year, and you only take psychiatry call. That is, even if you are on your internal medicine rotation you do not have to take internal medicine call! There is instead a night float system. The frequency of call decreases with each year; by 4th year there is no call. There is ample time and opportunity to moonlight in 4th year.

I am told there is plenty of high-quality protected didactic time. There was 100% board pass rate last year (but keep in mind this is N=6, only six residents per class). You are apparently given a free iPod touch with many useful programmes loaded when you enter residency, as well as the gift of all the textbooks you will need. The iPod touch is replaced every 3 years free of charge, and when you graduate it is yours to keep. The faculty and the residents promised me (cross their hearts, hope to die) that the programme is very balanced between psychopharm and psychotherapy. Apparently ECT training is also very strong at OSU.

OSU is one of the largest universities in country; as part of the psychiatry programme you have tremendous professional and recreational resources at your disposal. For example, you can join the ginormous gym for the OSU main campus. If you like football, OSU football is "the real deal", the residents assure me. People in Columbus take their football very seriously. Professionally speaking you are doing residency at a major medical center, so you will see very diverse and cool cases on C/L, and see lots of crazy stuff when consulted to the ED. The OSU medical center has a huge catchment area with no competing medical center in a hundred mile radius, so the volume and diversity of the patients you will see is tremendous (keeping in mind that it is still the Midwest, so there will not be the ethnic diversity of the coasts). The OSU medical campus is new and beautiful. Psychiatry and behavioural medicine (clinical psychology, etc) have their own entire free-standing hospital (Harding Hospital), and like the rest of the OSU medical center it is very nice and very new.

The health benefits of being an employee of OSU (and by extension, a state employee of the state of Ohio) are unbelieveably sweet, I am told. Dental, vision, and medical coverage is superb for you and your spouse. You even get a certain number of free medical massages or something per year.

There is ample vacation time as an OSU psychiatry resident, 4 weeks with very few "black out dates". You also get 3 weeks of paid sick leave per year. There are in addition maternity/paternity leave, as well as "professsional days" reserved for leave to go to conferences, etc.

Columbus as a city has several pluses: it is a relatively safe and upscale, cosmopolitan "little big city" when compared to neighbouring cities like Cincinnati because its economy was never built around heavy manufacturing, and instead was always built around white-collar industries like banking, education, government, and transportation. Thus when the rust belt economic collapse occured, Columbus fared relatively better than other Midwest rust belt cities. Its population grew whilst nearby citis like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Detroit shrunk. Traffic was also surprisingly good in Columbus. I stayed at a hotel in the suburbs and travelled towards downtown during rush hour, and got there within 20 mins. Much, much better than Cincinnati where traffic is always backlogged during rush hour. The weather of Columbus is relatively milder in winter than places like Chicago or Cleveland due to lack of the lake effect. Apparently Columbus is also known as a foodies' city, with an unusual number restaurants per capita. (Comparatively Cincinnati is known more for its art scene. Not sure what Cleveland is known for). I am told the school districts in Columbus are good.

Weaknesses: OSU's psychiatry programme is solid, but definitely not a top-of-the-line programme compared to other specialties at OSU. Many of the residents were IMGs (Americans from Carribbean med schools) or D.O.s. If you are interested in research it is available, but you have to put a bit of effort in and seek it out. It is not handed to you on a platter like at some places. OSU psychiatry is generally speaking not known as a research powerhouse. Also there is a bit of an inbred feel; most of the residents grew up in Columbus, or at least have strong ties to the area. One resident grew up in Columbus, then proceeded to go to OSU for undergrad, graduate school, medical school, and now residency. She is likely to do a child fellowship at OSU, and then will probably be faculty there. As she puts it, she is a "lifer", and she seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

This a quintessentially Midwestern programme in a quintessentially Midwestern city. This is a big minus for me, but may be a plus for you. Most of the residents are thus married, and everything is all about being "family friendly" or "family-oriented". One resident mentioned her husband at the pre-interview dinner no less than 5 times. She then noticed another applicant was wearing a ring, and said, "I noticed you're wearing a ring, are the rest of you married? This is a very family friendly programme!". Another resident was able to work her husband into the conversation maybe 5-6 times at the interview lunch. Okay, your programme is family-oriented and everyone is keen on being married, having children, and taking said kids to soccer practise, we get it.

OSU does not give you any free meals. You get $55 of dining stipend a month though. Although call is only q10 in your intern year, the residents tell me they are worked pretty damn hard on call nights. When you are on-call, you are covering the inpatient psych unit, the entire ER, and any "emergency consults" for the medical units. Typically as a rule do not expect any sleep on call nights. One resident lamented that, as nice as the call room is, he never had a chance to use it because there was never any down-time during call. However, the next day you leave at noon if you are on an inpatient rotation, and leave at 8:00AM if you are on an outpatient rotation. Also although you are in a level 1 trauma center ER there is no dedicated psych ER.

You are left to your own devices for the most part in recruiting psychotherapy patients. I get the sense they are definitely not served up to you on a silver platter like at places like UCSF-Fresno; you have to really dig for those patients.

Synthesis: OSU is a fine, solid programme where you will get a solid education to become a competent psychiatrist. One could do a lot worse than OSU. Columbus is a typical mid-sized Midwestern city; family-friendly, no-frills/no-nonsense. Likewise the programme is no-frills, no-nonsense. There is a lot of solid education to be had here, but not necessarily anything to absolutely knock your socks off. The OSU campus is one of the largest and rowdiest universities in the country (especially during the OSU-Michigan rivalry game) so if you can get into that culture it can be a lot of fun. The buildings and facilities are very new, very nice. I liked that psychiatry had its own hospital. However unlike the rest of OSU the psychiatry department is, relatively speaking, not a research powerhouse and not particularly prestigious. I also did not like that you have to hunt down your own psychotherapy patients. Overall I think I could do worse, and would be okay with going to this programme. I like Columbus better than Cincinnati. However it is still in the Midwest, and I am trying to leave. I am not sure if I would be a good fit for the culture.

Teaching: 7.0
Location: 5.0
Reputation: 4.0
Goodness of fit (personal): 5.5
 
University of Cincinnati

1. food/accommodations -- We went to Teller's, a really nice restaurant in the swanky Hyde Park neighborhood for dinner the night before and it was great. There were 2 applicants and 3 residents and it was a nice intimate dinner, very informal. The residents were all friendly and honest in answering any questions.

2. interview day -- I had interviews with 4 different faculty members. All were one on one, and not at all intimidating. No interviews with other students. The day starts with a powerpoint presentation about the program with Dr. Bennett. Interviews are next and then lunch with the residents. The day ends with a tour of the hospital, and the central clinic, where residents each get their own office third year. They generally interview 3-5 applicants at a session. We had 2 general psychiatry and one psych/family applicant.

Program overview -- this is a medium-sized program with 7 residents in each class. There's also a fp/psych program here, that has 2-3 residents/class, also a triple-board peds/psych/peds psych program with 3 residents/class. Very friendly program with a good schedule. See hospital call in above post from BerlinNeuro.

PGY-1 -- IMx2mos (1 can be peds), FMx1 month, EMx1 month, 2 mos Neuro, 1 month Addiction psych, 1 month PES (Psych Emergency room), 1 month C/L psych, 3mos inpatient psych.

PGY 2 -- Inpatient psych year - 2 mos Child Psych (at #3 Children's Hospital in the country Cincinnati Children's), 1 month Ger Psych at VA, 2 mos PES, 2 mos C/L psych, 5 mos inpatient psych (4 at UH, 1 at VA). You start getting outpatient therapy patients this year too.

PGY 3 -- Outpatient year - Lots of supervision, many of the supervisors are analysts from the cincinnati psychoanalytic institute. Includes Central clinic (get your own office in this old building that used to be a nun's residence), the Resident psychotherapy clinic (uses a private practice model, also at Central Clinic), VA clinic, Student health center (take care of high-fxning college students), UC counseling center, and process group.

PGY 4 -- Forensics month, also many go into Child & Adolescent this year, as this is a popular and excellent fellowship here. Otherwise mostly electives. They have 2 fourth years with forensic fellowships lined up for next year.

Faculty -- supportive/friendly/well-trained. Apparently very receptive to feedback from residents.

Location -- Cincinnati is my home town so I am biased, but I like it here. It is a medium sized midwestern city, with cultural activities and very family-oriented. The city has many different neighborhoods, each with its own flavors, including downtown, hyde park, clifton, mt. adams, and then suburbs. We have the Reds, Bengals, and UC basketball and football. We have enough to keep busy. There are lots of festivals and things esp in summer.

Benefits -- BerlinNeuro covered, but good benefits, higher salary for the midwest.

Program strengths -- Size of program, this is a large department with many fellowships, especially strong in Child and Forensics, also with an Addiction fellowship. Very friendly residents with good work/life balance. Attendings very warm and well-trained. Separate Psych ER. Your own office third year! The psychoanalytic institute, where residents get free or discounted courses, literally across the street. This helps with the therapy-biology balance. Cincinnati Children's Hospital is a real positive. People seem generally very happy in this program and can do fellowships/research (tons of money and research ops if you want them) or private practice afterwards.

Potential weaknesses -- Cincinnati is not for everyone. Working on making the geriatrics experience better as mostly at the VA now.

Overall -- A well-rounded program with many options and opportunities if the location is okay for you.
 
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I'm really hoping to read a review on the Austin, TX program. A LOT of the programs I have applied to are saying HORRIBLE things about ONLY this program.

If someone has interviewed here and hasn't written a review yet, I would highly appreciate it.

I don't know how well other programs keep up with various programs, but if there is serious truth to these rumors, I might cancel my interview......despite how amazing Austin as a city really is.
 
Emory
Food/Accommodations –Dinner the night before was at a decently nice restaurant. Even if the invite says casual (don't remember if it mentions attire)…..I would take this to mean business casual.

Interview Day – One on one interviews with six faculty + 1 resident interview. The day started with an informational ppt with Dr. McDonald. The day lasted from 8-4. The afternoon involved a tour of 1 hospital plus a tour of the city with Dr. McDonald narrating city details.

Program overview – LOTS of research opportunities. 1st year just implemented a night float for psych months which residents seem to like. 2nd year does NOT have night float though. Seems odd that 2nd year has more traditional call than intern year. Plenty of fellowships. No child inpatient unit at Emory. Multiple residents told me this is a program "where you learn by doing". One resident mentioned that she admitted 16 patients during a 13 hour night shift.

Faculty – The faculty I met were very nice. Interviews were informal. They really try to sell you their program.

Call – You take call with off service fields. Intern year psych is night float. Second year is no night float and about q6 I believe. During second year, residents provide call at 2 different sites. 1 resident at each site in-house.

Location – Atlanta has a good deal of traffic. I would try to live close to Emory hospitals. Closest neighborhood to Emory has houses starting in the $400,000 though and up to low millions. Some residents did have houses – they said about 15-20 minutes away during non rush hour times.

Benefits – Salary was about average.

Program strengths – Plenty of research to go around. Most fellowships are available. Good faculty oversight. Attached to a great undergrad. Plenty of patient diversity. Plenty of patients to go around.

Program weaknesses – Because there is SO many sites for residents, there is little oversight by upper year residents. Losing department chair. No inpatient child unit.
 
I'm really hoping to read a review on the Austin, TX program. A LOT of the programs I have applied to are saying HORRIBLE things about ONLY this program.

If someone has interviewed here and hasn't written a review yet, I would highly appreciate it.

I don't know how well other programs keep up with various programs, but if there is serious truth to these rumors, I might cancel my interview......despite how amazing Austin as a city really is.

My wife's interview there isn't until January, but that's definitely not good news. She heard from one of her other Texas interviews that the PD there is good but other than that not a peep.
 
Didn't apply, haven't interviewed or talked to anyone who interviewed there, but all the Austin residencies are moving from UTMB to UTSW, which is probably good in the long run, but it might make things a little weird now. It's also possible the Austin programs were affected by UTMB chaos following the hurricane. Also, I interviewed with a PD who specifically mentioned that Austin did not have a good psych program. I'd take that to mean that it might have great training but is probably not the best place if you're looking for a career in academics.
 
hey guys,
so I didn't recieve an offical letter from U of A telling me what time I need to show up and where I need to go, although I recieved an email confirming my date. Can those of you who have already interviewed there let me know. I havent heard back from the coordinator yet. Thanks.
 
hey guys,
so I didn't recieve an offical letter from U of A telling me what time I need to show up and where I need to go, although I recieved an email confirming my date. Can those of you who have already interviewed there let me know. I havent heard back from the coordinator yet. Thanks.

It looks like from my wife's letter they were to show up at 8:00 AM. The location was the 7th Floor of the Arizona Health Sciences Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. Hope that helps.
 
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University of Cincinnati
(Since Punkinhead already wrote a review I will try to mention different stuff than her)

Logistics: UC does not pay for any travel or hotel, but since it is my home institution that was not an issue. I had dinner the night before at Brio's Italian Grill in Newport, KY (across the river from Cincinnati). I recommend their shrimp/crab cakes, very good. 3 residents and 3 applicants attended. On interview day I met with 4 faculty; Dr. Aurora Bennet the programme director, Dr. Strakowski the chair, Dr. Dowling the R3 coordinator, and Dr. Henry Nasrallah, research faculty, world-renowned authority on Schizophrenia, editior-in-chief of the journal Current Psychiatry, and all-around badass. Lunch was boxed lunch from Panera Bread with residents. Unfortunately the other applicants got the sandwiches and I was left with a box of green salad, the worst interview lunch I've ever gotten, but sort of my fault for not being aggressive enough.

The Residents: Very friendly, and surprisingly frank and honest about the weaknesses of their programme, much more so than any other programme's residents. However, despite being content with where they are, I felt like they were also significantly less enthusiastic about their programme than residents at other programmes. At my 2 previous interviews residents were bouncing off the walls about how happy they were. I suspect the residents at UC are, relatively speaking, a bit overworked.

Strengths: Cincinnati is one of the most respected psychiatry programmes in the Midwest, especially in terms of research. They emphasise the fact that their programme is #15 in terms of NIH funding in the country, and conduct lots of well-respected cutting edge research especially in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Dr. Henry Nasrallah is probably the world authority on schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. This is a "full-service" research-oriented institution. Thus you will have a large university hospital filled with top-notch faculty/residents in other specialties to work with and learn from, as well as ample fellowship opportunities (with the exception of geriartrics, which the programme is still trying to set up). The child & adolscent psychiatry fellowship here is probably one of the strongest in the country given the access to Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, the 3rd ranked children's hospital in the country.

Recruiting psychotherapy patients does not seem to be a challenge at Cincinnati; the newly set up Resident Psychotherapy Clinic (RPS) already has a waiting list from all the referrals from primary docs in the city. The chief resident triages these patients and assigns them to residents, so there is no need to hunt down psychotherapy patients.

Residents and faculty all swear the teaching is very balanced between psychotherapy and biological psychiatry. The Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Insitute is right across the street from the department, and provides services. Thus psychodynamics tends to be very strong. Didactics seem very strong as well, and are protected. If you are paged during class, Dr. Bennett will call that person back and "educate" them about not bothering the residents when they are in class. It is the faculty's job to cover the floors during those times.

UC is fortunate to have a free-standing Psychiatric ER, known as the PES (Psychiatric Emergency Services). Having done shifts there as part of my 3rd and 4th year rotations I can attest that it is an awesome experience and a wonderful resource to learn from.

Weaknesses: I get the sense that the residents are worked pretty hard at UC. They are content to be where they are, but seems like Cincinnati was not a top choice on the rank list for many of the residents here. Call at Cincinnati is complex but works out to be around q4. Unlike many other places I've been to, if your colleague is sick and cannot come on call, another resident must cover for them. I am told that the administration is very flexible with schedules, but still someone will have to switch. Also when you are off-service, you take off-service call. Thus when you are on internal medicine, you are an internal medicine resident, and will do what they do, eat what they eat, etc. This can be a plus for some people who feel like they need that kind of experience to learn good internal medicine, but I don't like it.

The residents mentioned numerous times that geriatrics at UC is relatively weak, and is at this time entirely based at the VA. There is also very little exposure to forensics until the 4th year, so if you are interested you may not get exposed to it until late. There is no free lunch for residents at all. Parking is expensive. ECT training is available, but must be sought out as an elective.

The city of Cincinnati gets a lot of bad reputation as being an undesirable place to live, and as an outsider I have to admit much of that reputation is well-deserved. After being here for 3.5 years for medical school I have very few good things to say about Cincinnati. Certainly the city does have its own charm, and the people who call it home love it in spite of all its faults. I don't want to diss it too much publically, and if anyone is curious they can PM me. I will just say it is a very conservative, "family-oriented" Midwestern community with a long history of racial tension that has been steadily shrinking in population due to hard economic times. Cincinnati is trying hard to re-invent itself, and one of its worst neighbourhoods is in the midst of an ambitious attempt to undergo gentrification. However the city has much to overcome, and it remains to be seen whether the erstwhile "Queen City of the West" will succeed pulling itself out of its many problems. In many ways Cincinnati's woes are a milder version of what happened to Detroit, ground zero of the Rust Belt implosion. But take my west-coast perspective with a grain of salt. Many of my Midwestern colleagues are very pleased with life in Cincinnati and think that it is an excellent place to raise a family.

Synthesis: Cincinnati is a high-powered Midwest research programme. With the exception of Pittsburgh this is probably the most respected programme in the Midwest. If you want to pursue a research-oriented career in the Midwest I imagine this is the place to be. However, the location will be a big minus for many people. Cincinnati unfortunately exemplifies many of the worst things about the Rust Belt cities. However, that is only my humble opinion. Residents seem to be worked very hard compared to other programmes. Come here if you want to work hard and do respected research at a well-regarded, full-service university programme. Also come here if you want to do Child Psych. Cincinnati Children's Medical Center and its tremendous resources can't be beat.
 
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NYP - Cornell

Interview day: After a few presentations, there were interviews with the program director, Dr. Elizabeth Auchincloss, two attendings, and a resident. The interviews were more challenging than at other places so far. After a tour, there is buffet lunch at the Griffith Faculty Club, which was a stuffy, wood paneled restaurant in the hospital, with waiters in tuxedos. Although part of the training is done at Cornell's large psychiatric hospital in Westchester County, we did not see this campus.

There was also an informal party in one of the Cornell apartments, hosted by a couple in the program. This was a great opportunity to meet the residents, and to see the subsidized housing (which was INCREDIBLE).

Program overview: PGY-1: divided into two six-month blocks, one all psychiatry, the other IM/EM/neuro. The IM/EM/neuro half of the year is split between New York Presbyterian and Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. On psychiatry, there are rotations at the Manhattan and Westchester County hospitals, as well as in the Manhattan psychiatric ER.

PGY-2: There is an elective block for research or additional clinical work. They also rotate through some of the inpatient units, including the Borderline Personality Disorders unit, a chronic psychosis unit, and a dual-diagnosis unit, and the consultation-liaison service, both at NY Presbyterian and at Memorial Sloan Kettering. There is also a month in the psychiatric ER, which the PGY-2 manages.

PGY-3: almost all outpatient work, including psychodynamics, CBT, DBT, neuropsychiatry, psychopharmacology, and interpersonal therapy. Also, four weeks on night float in the psychiatric ER, and a month in their day treatment program.
PGY-4: continue outpatient work, supervisory role on inpatient/ER/outpatient services, and a large block of protected time for an academic project.
Call:
PGY-1: about 6 overnight calls during the psychiatry half of the year, plus about 10 short-calls until 10PM at the Westchester campus. Variable call during the IM/EM/neuro months, but this sounded a little better than at other programs.
PGY-2: about 20 overnight calls all year, plus about 10 short calls at the Westchester campus.
PGY-3: about 8 24-hour calls in the psychiatric ER, plus 4 weeks on night float there.
PGY-4: none.
Benefits: Cornell’s subsidized housing was incredible, in a quiet neighborhood, within two blocks of the hospital. Residents said that it was very easy to obtain, and that it was about a third to 40% reduction from market prices. Wide range of options/prices.
Salary is comparable to the other programs in the area, about $50,000 per year. In the third and fourth years, the residents on the Columbia campus get higher pay, but because of Cornell’s housing subsidy, it seems like the take-home pay ends up being about the same.

Residents get their own offices (very nice, professional-looking) in the PGY-3 year.

Faculty: Impressive. The ones I met were very smart, engaging, and enthusiastic about Cornell. Although Cornell has strong reputation for psychodynamics, most of the people I met there were interested in neuroscience. The department is not huge, but they are rich, and seem to be pumping a lot of money into neuroscience research. There's also a lot of collaboration with other institutions.

Residents: Cornell is one of the most competitive programs in the country. Of the 10 residents I met, three were MD/PhDs, and at least half had been undergrads at Harvard or Yale. A few said that they wanted to become analysts, but others were doing neuroscience research or were interested in biological psychiatry. After graduation, it looks like most stay at Cornell or Columbia as attendings or as fellows. In general, although some were a little intense, the residents seemed friendly, very smart, and happy to be training at Cornell.


Pros: Residents get awesome clinical training, and seem to have a lot of freedom, despite the intense supervision. The administration seems eager to cultivate research interests, and there is protected time for academic projects, which seem to be encouraged (mandatory?). Supervision from big names, including Otto Kernberg. The hospital, subsidized housing, and resident offices are all beautiful. Residents seemed very happy with their didactics, and with the program, and seemed to be a close group. Cornell has a ton of money, and the department is investing a lot of money in their research work.

Cons: The patient population might be a little too white/rich, and they only work at private hospitals (no VA or city hospital), so not the place to go for public psychiatry. Also not the place to go if you think that psychoanalysis is bunk. Cornell seemed to be very formal, which might be a negative. Smaller department than the other top programs (though this probably doesn't really affect training, and might be a good thing, if you like things cozy).

Summary: I was extremely impressed with Cornell. The residents and faculty I met had a wide range of interests beyond psychoanalysis, though this does seem to be the place to train if you're interested in that. The hospital and neighborhood are a little stuffy, and it did seem a little 'ivory tower'-like, but it didn't seem oppressive. The training seems to be outstanding, and residents are set up to do anything they want after graduation. “Intellectual” was a word that kept coming up, and I think that sums up the place very well.
 
Interview: (Thursday) The day started by meet with Dr. Thrall in the AM for a short QA with the dept head, then off to class with the residents for case-based learning. This was followed by a tour of the hospitals and Duke campus, which is absolutely gorgeous. There were 4 interviews (2 before lunch and 2 after), including one with Dr. Thrall. Everyone was very,very nice and there were no hard questions - just the typical stuff. I really felt they were interested in getting to know me and were trying to sell me their program rather than press me into explaining why I was good enough for them. Had lunch with the residents who came across as very happy, bright, and well-rounded people. After the interviews were over, we met at the office building and went with the residents to the PGY-3 family studies program. It was a long day from 7:30am-6:30pm, but you really got to see a lot and meet tons of the residents.

Facilities/schedule: (PGY-1) Duke hospital: 1 month of med/psych, 2 months inpt psych (Williams ward) and 1 month of inpt neuro. VA hospital: 2 months outpt med, 3 months inpt psych, and 2 months of emergency outpt psych. Durham Regional: 1 month inpt med. Call - med and neuro Q4, psych Q6 except 2 months on the Williams Ward, which is known for it's very long days despite no call. Protected Academic half-day.

PGY-2 call - 4 months of q5 on inpt psych and 2 months of nightfloat
PGY-3 call - long call 8x per year
PGY-4 call - long call 6x per year

Setting: Durham is a nice, smaller city with little traffic, nice weather, and affordable cost of living. It's part of the research triangle and there are lots of jobs for spouses in medicine/biotech/etc.. 2 hours from the beach and 4 hours from the mtns.

Benefits: 3 weeks vacation plus a week at Christmas or New Year's. Typical benefits package.

Strengths: Fantastic faculty and support staff, Dr. Thrall, psych is a huge dept and there is a lot of respect for psych residents, family studies program, case-based learning (for some people anyway), the dept has $$, tons of research, family friendly, and if you really want a particular elective experience during your training - they will make it happen.

Weaknesses: It's a hard program, so make no mistake you will work your butt off. This can be a big thing for people with families and are still working an intern-like schedule as a PGY-2. Durham is a small city and isn't for everyone.

Overall: Absolutely fabulous program that's harder than most, but the residents are great and the area is beautiful. Likely to be a top choice on everybody's list. ;)

One thing worth mentioning about Duke for those interested in child - they do allow you to start your child fellowship after your second year (or first year, although it seemed like this was not done as often), and then you can return and finish your second and/or third year of adult training afterwards. The residents/fellows/faculty mentioned several advantages to this. The first year of Duke's child fellowship is inpatient, so if you wanted to get all of your "hardcore inpatient" stuff done in a row, your last year of fellowship and then your final year of adult training would be all outpatient, rather than spending a year enjoying outpatient and then returning to the inpatient wards. Another reason mentioned is that the third year outpatient experience can easily be tailored to fit your desires/needs, so if you already have your child training you can figure out if there are any aspects of child you specifically want to focus on during your final year of residency. Examples mentioned included eating disorders, and working with the undergraduate population at Duke, which would allow a unique experience to work with young adults. You can also continue to see adult patients who you have been seeing in clinic during your C&A fellowship. Of course, if you want to rearrange your schedule it has to be something that you figure out earlier in the course of your residency. It seems that Duke's C&A fellowship takes applicants predominantly from their own residency, and they explicitly said that they prefer to do this in most cases. Obviously, if you want to start your fellowship after second year, you'd have to plan to stay at Duke for fellowship. They are also open to helping applicants apply elsewhere for fellowship if that is your preference.
 
AECOM Montefiore Review

Interview Day/logistics: The programme does not pay for hotel or travel. I stayed with a friend in Flushing, NY. The programme itself is in the Bronx. If you are coming from Queens, you take the 7 train, then transfer to the 4 train at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. If you take the Express the trip will take roughly 1 hour. It was my first time riding the NYC subway and it was a lot of fun, and surprisingly easy to use.

The psychiatry office is in what looks like a little house just down the street from the main hospitals. I was greeted by our chief resident chaperone for the day. There were 4 interviewees in all. We were taken to a conference room where a very fancy, professionally catered breakfast spread was laid out in our honour complete with yoghurt, cheese/crackers, fresh fruits, bagels, danishes, etc.

The interviewees are pulled out of the room one by one by 3 faculty interviewers. When you are not interviewing, the chief resident will keep you company and field any questions. During interviews I did get a child psychiatrist/analyst who was very interested in hearing about how I grew up and how I got along with my parents, but even though I didn't have anything super interesting or analysable he did not press on. I did get a lot of questions about the resistence my Chinese parents had to me going into psychiatry and the stigma in the Chinese community which I wrote about. I felt that although everyone was very friendly the questions were a bit more in-depth and "hardcore" at other places.

Lunch was very bountiful; professionally catered Italian food with pasta, greens, and chicken/italian sausage. Many residents came to talk about their programme during lunch. After lunch we got what I felt to be a very comprehensive tour of the facilities, including the main Montefiore hospital ("Monte East"), the newly constructed children's hospital, the psych units (22 bed), resident offices, the new child/adolescent outpatient office (also looks like a little house), and we even got to see one of the studio apartments that a resident lives in as part of the subsidised housing for the hospital.

The day ends with a brief chat (all 4 applicants) with the ecclectic department chair, a wizened old Jewish man who seems to be straight out of a movie cliche, complete with German-Jewish Sigmund Freud-esque accent. He is funny and warm, but seems from a different era, very old-school. You expect there to be a very ornate couch in his office.

General: Research is not required. Residents seem to be a good mix, largely from the Northeast, but a couple from other places. Residents/applicants all seem to be from one of the better American medical schools, thus this is perhaps one of the more competitive programmes in the country, no doubt related to the fact that it's a New York programme. Call is somewhat odd. There is no overnight call in the first year, but 2nd year there is about 3 overnights a month, which decreases to about 1 per month in the 3rd year. There are 20 days of vacation per year. This is a fairly big programme, with a whopping 12 residents per class.

Strengths: Montefiore is another one of those education/resident-driven programmes that emphasises its dedication to education. We were told repeatedly that residents are there to learn, not to do scut-work. Psychotherapy, like at many New York programmes, is relatively strong. The residents were all very happy and enthusiastic to be where they are, and love their training. The opportunity to work in a state hospital is built into the programme. There is a fun, one-day field trip to the notorious maximum security Sing-Sing prison during residency.

I almost could not believe this, but there is free food in residency. Not free lunch, not an occasional free breakfast, but free food for the rest of your residency. You are allotted a certain number of dollars for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 365 days a year to use at any of the hosptial cafeterias and cafes. In theory you could not cook or spend a penny on food for your entire 4 years of residency. NYC is notorious expensive to live in. However, Montefiore provides subsidised housing for its residents and employees. They are reasonably priced and very large, comfortable (we were given a tour). You can pick from studios, 1 bdrm, 2bdrm (priority goes to people with spouses/kids) priced accordingly from 400-800 range. Best of all, the buildings all have parking for $60 a month, which I am told is a steal for NYC, where monthly garage fees can range in the 300's/month. It is so cheap in fact that mny residents who don't live in the subsidised housing pay for garage privileges and keep their cars there.

The campus is just a few blocks from the subway station, a short 20-30 minute train ride to the heart of downtown Manhattan. Health benefits are good. If you go with the cheapest option, you can basically get free health insurance through the Montefiore system.

The Montefiore medical campus itself is newly rennovated, and everything is very beautiful and new. I am told that the hospital is financially very stable, and in fact just purchased another failing hospital.

Weaknesses: There is off-service call. Research is a little weak; Montefiore is very much a community programme at heart. ECT is offered, but not on a silver platter. You must seek it out and build an elective. There is no acute child psych inpatient unit; your inpatient child experience is only at a long-term facility. However residents feel they get some acute child experience from the ER. There is a psych ER, but it is not a full-service psych ER in the sense that you cannot hold a patient there overnight for them to sober up, etc. It is strictly admit or discharge. Also there are so many psychiatry programmes in NYC that Montefiore tends to see only the patients in the vicinity of the Bronx, and you also tend to see primarily patients who are of lower socioeconomic class.

Although the programme is in NYC, the Bronx is not Manhattan, and you still have to get away to find the more exciting parts of New York. New York is also of course notorious ly expensive. As cheap as $60/month is for parking, I was still a little shocked to discover that there is basically nowhere in the city of New York to park for free. I'm not even sure how you would move into the building on move-in day. Although subsidised housing is cheap by NYC standards, they are still significant and comparable to what mid-range priced housing would be in the Midwest. The weather in New York sucks. Bash me if you want, but it is butt cold in the winter and sweltering hot in the summer.

New York programmes tend to be a bit inbred. Most of the faculty and residents grew up in NYC, or at least in the Northeast. There is a cliquishness that is difficult to describe. Also, considering that the programme is in NYC, there was a surprising lack of diversity in the residents. Every one of the ~10 residents who came to lunch was Caucasian. On the tour I met an Indian resident, but I did not see a single East Asian, Hispanic, or African American resident.

Synthesis: Overall I had a very good impression of Montefiore. The teaching looks to be very solid, with strong emphasis on psychotherapy. The perks are wonderful, with 3 free meals a day, 365 days a year, as well as subsidised housing and free health insurance. NYC was everything I dreamed it would be, walking around the spectacle that is Manhattan was awe-inspiring. As was said in the movie Gladiator, I didn't know men could build such things. However, Montefiore is still a community programme at heart, despite being affiliated with AECOM. It also competes with the numerous other programmes in the city for resources. Personally for me NYC is so far from home, and I was really looking forward to going back west and being closer to my family and support network after 4 years in the Midwest. Going to NYC would be heading in the "wrong" direction. :p But the allure of NYC is difficult to resist indeed.

Teaching: 7.0
Location: 7.0
Reputation: 7.0
Goodness of fit (personal): 5.5
 
University of Louisville Review

Interview Day/logistics: The programme will pay for 1 night at the very luxurious Hampton Inn in downtown Louisville, about a mere 8 minute drive from the Faculty Practise Building where the psychiatry main office is at. The hotel has free internet and hot breakfast the next morning. There is also a shuttle that will take you to the interview site if you did not drive.

On interview day you will meet with 4 faculty. Everyone will meet with Dr. Tasman the chair for an hour, who wrote one of the main psychiatry textbooks in use and has many accolades to his name. You will then meet with 3 other faculty members for half-hour interviews. Everyone was very nice, there were no stress interview questions. However, Dr. Tasman is an analyst and will ask you "tell me one thing about yourself that you feel is most important". He is a lot of fun to talk to though, and is not intimidating at all. There were a total of 5 applicants on interview day when I was there, and we were "chapareoned" by a chief resident who chatted/answered questions and pulled us out for individual tours when we weren't actively being interviewed. Lunch was at a newly opened deli on the lobby floor of the Faculty Practise Building with many residents in attendance. Although it was very loud, a few of the residents made the extra effort to come over and talk with each of the applicants and to make sure your questions are answered.

General: There are 10(?) residents per class. It is a fairly large programme. Research is not required. On-service call is entirely done at the psych ER, which they call the EPS (Emergency Psychiatric Service) but makes me think of extrapyramidal symptoms. PGY-1's will have five calls per month. PGY-2's will have three calls per month. PGY-3's will have two calls per month. Residents/applicants come from a diverse pool, including allopathic AMGs and IMGs.

Strengths: All the residents I talked to were very happy to be where they are. They all said that their programme is very resident-friendly and teaching-oriented, as well as humane. U of L does have its own psych ER, and it is very busy. The programme is unopposed in the city of Louisville, and thus you have access to a wide range of resources. It is very much a "full service" institution with access to a large university teaching hospital, large private hospitals, VA hospital, a children's hospital, etc. Dr. Tasman is very interested in training "complete" psychiatrists, and as an analyst he makes it a priority for residents to get strong psychotherapy training. He describes it as not so much finding the right "balance" between psychopharm and psychotherapy as it is "integrating" the two into a complete treatment modality. There is free breakfast/lunch for residents everyday at the Norton Hospital, a private hospital in the "medical campus" area. Even if you are not doing a rotation at that site, you are still welcome to swing over for free food. Parking is free at several lots a few blocks from the hospital; you can also pay for a closer lot if you choose. Almost all of the medical facilities are bunched in a small area and are within walking distance of each other. The facilities are all spankin' new. The new Faculty Practise Building where the outpatient psychiatry offices as well as the department office are housed is absolutely gorgeous. With a fountain in the lobby you may mistake it for a ritzy hotel. The hospitals are all gorgeous as well, most of them newly built and/or rennovated. There is 4 generous weeks of vacation a year, in addition to professional time off for conferences, etc.

The city of Louisville is cheap to live in. Restaurants and shopping abound, and traffic is manageable. Louisville boasts the "most exciting 2 minutes in sports", aka the Kentucky Derby, which causes the city to go into an exciting frenzy for about 2 weeks. Although it is a very similar city to Cincinnati, and maybe even a bit smaller and less exciting, I discovered one crucial difference. People from Louisville actually love their hometown. They are happy to be there. And the residents who came from other places also confirm that it is a pleasant town to live i n. This is in stark contrast to Cincinnati, where locals are miserable and frequently apologise for their city to transplants like me, and are always asking questions like, "why would you willingly move to Cincinnati?" (To which my answer is "I didn't"). The reason may be that economically Louisville was not tied to the heavy industry and manufacturing that Cincinnati was dependent on, and thus fared relatively better when all those jobs moved further south. Also I get the feeling that the racial tension is not as severe in Louisville. The brochure described the city well as the "perfect mix of Midwestern charm and Southern hospitality".

Weaknesses: This is not a research powerhouse. Although available, you have to seek it out. You must take off-service call when you are not on psychiatry. ECT training is available, but you must be self-motivated to seek it out and possibly turn it into an elective. Like in Cincinnati, if your classmate misses call, a designated backup person must perform the duties.

The city of Louisville itself is probably the greatest weakness of the programme. Although it is the largest city in Kentucky and the pride of the state, it is still a mid-sized, quintessentially midwestern city similar to my medical school's city of Cincinnati. Like Cincinnati, it is a more conservative city with limited ethnic diversity and relatively poor access to authentic ethnic foods. I am told the cultural scene, although serviceable, is perhaps even less cosmopolitan than Cincinnati (if that were possible). Although it is a friendly, inexpensive city to live in, Louisiville is less cosmopolitan than many other similarly-sized Midwestern cities like Cleveland or Columbus, and it is a far cry from the likes of Chicago. But if you're not into the big city excitement and have already found your significant other and are ready to settle down and take the kids to soccer practise, Louisville may be perfect for you.

Synthesis: The University of Louisville's psychiatry programme is a solid programme and provides the "full service/menu" you would expect from an unopposed academic medical school programme. For almost whatever you want to do, you can do it. The chair is well-renowned and dedicated to making this a teaching-oriented programme with strong emphasis on psychotherapy training. Call is not the best I've ever seen, but relatively humane. Residents did not seem overworked and were all happy and enthusiastic about their programme. Overall I left with a good impression. However, as I am trying to get out of the Midwest, or at least make my way to a more cosmopolitan area of it, this programme suffers in the location department.

Teaching: 7.0
Location: 4.0
Reputation: 4.0
Goodness of fit (personal): 6.0
 
I like this thread, and have been just watching others do the work, but am looking to jump in (hoping that others will then do the same)...I'm in SoCal now and am looking to go Northwest or Northeast

disclaimer: all the programs I'm looking at are great, and I would be genuinely happy at any of them...my personal impressions are just that, and are formed from interview days, conversations with residents, and information gathered from the programs' brochures/websites...

U Washington: Great place. The role that UW plays in the Northwest (is essentially the provider for 5 states) means that it sort of has to have everything, and it does. The "Big 4" hospitals (academic, county, VA, childrens), tons of electives (and the flexibility to take advantage of them), research and clinical balance, numerous quality fellowships, and lots of psychotherapy (as most large and liberal cities do) and a large and diverse residency class. The residents work really hard (which for me is a plus) and don't get a lot of perks (a few residents seemed frustrated about parking expenses, lack of meal tickets, low salary, etc). However, everyone raved about the program director (Dr. Cowley) and the rest of the administrators, and a few residents told me that they felt like they could just "do their job."

For me, this program hits the big points: committed to community service and yet academic/intellectual, tons of clinical opportunities (I think probably the most of any program in the country, as opportunities span 5 entire states), strong fellowships including child w/ unique inpatient wards at Seattle Children's, good curricular flexibility in the 3rd/4th years, and a great support system from administration.

more programs to come...I'm happy to address any questions anyone has...
 
Be CAREFUL about OHSU...because it's awesome! Ok, just a quick Psychiatry forum in-joke...but seriously, I really did like OHSU. I think it's a supremely well-balanced program in many respects: it's small enough for a semi-intimate feel, but it doesn't feel insular; it provides opportunities for research/academics but doesn't pressure; and it's in a city that perhaps most toes the line between being a cool, affordable town with many of the perks of a larger city.

The residents here seemed diverse and happy, and they seemed to have a great relationship with the administrators (one of my interviewers joked about the PD being almost too open to resident suggestions); their administration is also split between analysts and researchers, which seems to trickle down and also contribute to the balanced culture. The hospitals (the big OHSU hospital and VA are connected) are gorgeous and up on a hill overlooking the city; there isn't a "county hospital" exactly, but there's not one anywhere else in Portland and a few residents and medical students whom I know there said that, basically, most of the uninsured in Portland just come to OHSU. There also isn't a Psych ER exactly, but the large ER does have a few specific Psych rooms that they use, and I got the impression that the residents feel pretty competent about ER assessments.

One thing that was a hugely pleasant surprise was the specific elective opportunities. They are the only place in Oregon, and have lots of cool forensic and child stuff (including child inpatient and work at the state hospital). They also have a really cool Cross-Cultural Psychiatry clinic that seems really exciting and has clinics filled with different populations (a Somalian clinic, Bosnian clinic, etc). It seems like there is lots of flexibility 3rd and 4th year to do cool projects w/ good support. The only "negatives" I would say are 1) I do wish there some elective time 2nd year, as I don't think there's any now and I imagine trying out stuff for fellowships is a bit hard and 2) Community psych is a large required portion here (for me, this is a positive, especially since you have tons of options on how to do it...but I do think that if someone isn't interested in Public Psychiatry, this might not be the best place).

Lastly, thought it was a great city...really, really good food and beer was enjoyed by me on this trip. I'm excited by the two Northwest programs I saw...both really strong.
 
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NYP - Cornell

Interview day: After a few presentations, there were interviews with the program director, Dr. Elizabeth Auchincloss, two attendings, and a resident. The interviews were more challenging than at other places so far. After a tour, there is buffet lunch at the Griffith Faculty Club, which was a stuffy, wood paneled restaurant in the hospital, with waiters in tuxedos. Although part of the training is done at Cornell's large psychiatric hospital in Westchester County, we did not see this campus.

There was also an informal party in one of the Cornell apartments, hosted by a couple in the program. This was a great opportunity to meet the residents, and to see the subsidized housing (which was INCREDIBLE).

Program overview: PGY-1: divided into two six-month blocks, one all psychiatry, the other IM/EM/neuro. The IM/EM/neuro half of the year is split between New York Presbyterian and Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. On psychiatry, there are rotations at the Manhattan and Westchester County hospitals, as well as in the Manhattan psychiatric ER.

PGY-2: There is an elective block for research or additional clinical work. They also rotate through some of the inpatient units, including the Borderline Personality Disorders unit, a chronic psychosis unit, and a dual-diagnosis unit, and the consultation-liaison service, both at NY Presbyterian and at Memorial Sloan Kettering. There is also a month in the psychiatric ER, which the PGY-2 manages.

PGY-3: almost all outpatient work, including psychodynamics, CBT, DBT, neuropsychiatry, psychopharmacology, and interpersonal therapy. Also, four weeks on night float in the psychiatric ER, and a month in their day treatment program.
PGY-4: continue outpatient work, supervisory role on inpatient/ER/outpatient services, and a large block of protected time for an academic project.
Call:
PGY-1: about 6 overnight calls during the psychiatry half of the year, plus about 10 short-calls until 10PM at the Westchester campus. Variable call during the IM/EM/neuro months, but this sounded a little better than at other programs.
PGY-2: about 20 overnight calls all year, plus about 10 short calls at the Westchester campus.
PGY-3: about 8 24-hour calls in the psychiatric ER, plus 4 weeks on night float there.
PGY-4: none.
Benefits: Cornell's subsidized housing was incredible, in a quiet neighborhood, within two blocks of the hospital. Residents said that it was very easy to obtain, and that it was about a third to 40% reduction from market prices. Wide range of options/prices.
Salary is comparable to the other programs in the area, about $50,000 per year. In the third and fourth years, the residents on the Columbia campus get higher pay, but because of Cornell's housing subsidy, it seems like the take-home pay ends up being about the same.

Residents get their own offices (very nice, professional-looking) in the PGY-3 year.

Faculty: Impressive. The ones I met were very smart, engaging, and enthusiastic about Cornell. Although Cornell has strong reputation for psychodynamics, most of the people I met there were interested in neuroscience. The department is not huge, but they are rich, and seem to be pumping a lot of money into neuroscience research. There's also a lot of collaboration with other institutions.

Residents: Cornell is one of the most competitive programs in the country. Of the 10 residents I met, three were MD/PhDs, and at least half had been undergrads at Harvard or Yale. A few said that they wanted to become analysts, but others were doing neuroscience research or were interested in biological psychiatry. After graduation, it looks like most stay at Cornell or Columbia as attendings or as fellows. In general, although some were a little intense, the residents seemed friendly, very smart, and happy to be training at Cornell.


Pros: Residents get awesome clinical training, and seem to have a lot of freedom, despite the intense supervision. The administration seems eager to cultivate research interests, and there is protected time for academic projects, which seem to be encouraged (mandatory?). Supervision from big names, including Otto Kernberg. The hospital, subsidized housing, and resident offices are all beautiful. Residents seemed very happy with their didactics, and with the program, and seemed to be a close group. Cornell has a ton of money, and the department is investing a lot of money in their research work.

Cons: The patient population might be a little too white/rich, and they only work at private hospitals (no VA or city hospital), so not the place to go for public psychiatry. Also not the place to go if you think that psychoanalysis is bunk. Cornell seemed to be very formal, which might be a negative. Smaller department than the other top programs (though this probably doesn't really affect training, and might be a good thing, if you like things cozy).

Summary: I was extremely impressed with Cornell. The residents and faculty I met had a wide range of interests beyond psychoanalysis, though this does seem to be the place to train if you're interested in that. The hospital and neighborhood are a little stuffy, and it did seem a little 'ivory tower'-like, but it didn't seem oppressive. The training seems to be outstanding, and residents are set up to do anything they want after graduation. "Intellectual" was a word that kept coming up, and I think that sums up the place very well.

I agree with almost everything Charlotte said about the Cornell interview day.

A couple of additions (partly based on some extra time that I had at the program):

1. We met initially with the chair, who was friendly and enthusiastic. He also gave us a copy of a book that was written by 100+ faculty members at Cornell and Columbia (presumably under the New York Presbyterian Hospital umbrella--as a resident the connection means almost nothing, though it does seem that they select from the same applicant pool and then at least half the Cornell grads go to Columbia for jobs or fellowships). I initially thought it was going to be a throwaway type book, but it's probably the best general psych text I've seen. It's of interest here for what it reflects about these 2 top programs. First off, the book (Approach to the Psychiatric Patient, which came out last year) is organized around 10 complicated cases, and each of the cases gets about a dozen essays devoted to it. Each of the essays is written by a different person, and so lots of different opinions are tossed around. There are several ways the book is unusual. For example, there's no straght-forward bipolar disorder pt but instead a hypomanic investment banker outpatient who gets lots of psychodynamic discussions (hello Upper East Side!) and a bipolar/borderline pt in the ER (hello Dr. Kernberg!); even the substance abusing guy who's out of control gets dynamic discussions as well as whole essays devoted to being a foster child and even to Jekyll and Hyde's relevance to the case. Not that there aren't psychopharm and hard-core science discussions for every case as well, but the book underlines just how many psychiatrists are at these 2 places, the diversity of their interests, and the centrality of psychodynamics (although to be fair, the book was edited by a CL guy who is also an analyst, so he presumably chose the topics). My point is that it isn't a book that could have easily been written anywhere else (maybe some of the other top tier places might have tried it, but places like Hopkins and Harvard don't --as far as I can see--have an interest in lots of the stuff this book focuses on). Most other places just don't have anywhere near the people resources--does that matter to a resident? I guess that depends on the resident.

2. A couple minor differences of opinion. I spent some time in their ER, and the patients didn't look very white or very rich; I suppose there were some, but they're in NYC, not Kansas, and so there seemed like a big range of cultural backgrounds. The residents did seem to have mainly gone to top tier schools, but they seemed reasonably diverse, at least ethnically. They do wear white coats, and they call attendings Dr Smith (Well, they do if their name is Smith), but among themselves, the residents seemed happy (in general and with the program). They also seemed unusually confident that they would come out of the program clinically well trained. There is a research bent among the faculty, but I got the impression that there was something of a split among the residents. Some were doing serious basic science research while also being residents (they get extra time--as well as ready access to other places in the city--but also work nights and weekends), while others have a fairly clear plan to do analytic training and get the Park Avenue office.

3. Otherwise, I'd only underline what Charlotte's said. The place is full of smart, attentive residents and faculty. They have high (not impossible, but high) expectations for independent clinical work. I did not find them competitive, as in backbiting or meanspirited. In fact, they were open with their praise of a variety of programs that are presumably their main competition for applicants (eg, Columbia, MGH, UCSF), and I got the impression that the residents (and faculty) are confident, funny, and highly motivated. One person who worked there for a month last year (I'm being vague throughout so as to make myself anonymous) felt the expectations were way too high, and she was happy to return to her home training place. On the other hand, a visiting sub-i told me that the month was like "trying out for the Yankees," and I can see why he'd say it. They have a bunch of stars, they have a deep bench, they're used to getting most of the residents they want, and they have a built-in infrastructure that is likely to keep this going indefinitely (a huge endowment just for psychiatric research; a location that is smack dab in the middle of the most affluent and therapy-friendly neighborhood in the country; and a large group of excellent faculty and trainees).

4. My impression--and I could be wrong--is that this is an absolutely great place if you can keep your "A game" going for 4 years. If you get in trouble while demonstrating a good faith effort, they'll support you ( a couple of residents emphasized this point, maybe because of a stereotype that Cornell is cold). If, however, you're kinda half hearted, distracted, lazy, unpsychological, preoccupied with raising your kids or lowering your handicap, devoted to getting out of work by 5:30, or unable/unwilling to keep up with a highly intellectual and motivated residency group, you'd be better off in a more mellow program.
 
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Be CAREFUL about OHSU...because it's awesome! Ok, just a quick Psychiatry forum in-joke...but seriously, I really did like OHSU. I think it's a supremely well-balanced program in many respects: it's small enough for a semi-intimate feel, but it doesn't feel insular; it provides opportunities for research/academics but doesn't pressure; and it's in a city that perhaps most toes the line between being a cool, affordable town with many of the perks of a larger city.

The residents here seemed diverse and happy, and they seemed to have a great relationship with the administrators (one of my interviewers joked about the PD being almost too open to resident suggestions); their administration is also split between analysts and researchers, which seems to trickle down and also contribute to the balanced culture. The hospitals (the big OHSU hospital and VA are connected) are gorgeous and up on a hill overlooking the city; there isn't a "county hospital" exactly, but there's not one anywhere else in Portland and a few residents and medical students whom I know there said that, basically, most of the uninsured in Portland just come to OHSU. There also isn't a Psych ER exactly, but the large ER does have a few specific Psych rooms that they use, and I got the impression that the residents feel pretty competent about ER assessments.

One thing that was a hugely pleasant surprise was the specific elective opportunities. They are the only place in Oregon, and have lots of cool forensic and child stuff (including child inpatient and work at the state hospital). They also have a really cool Cross-Cultural Psychiatry clinic that seems really exciting and has clinics filled with different populations (a Somalian clinic, Bosnian clinic, etc). It seems like there is lots of flexibility 3rd and 4th year to do cool projects w/ good support. The only "negatives" I would say are 1) I do wish there some elective time 2nd year, as I don't think there's any now and I imagine trying out stuff for fellowships is a bit hard and 2) Community psych is a large required portion here (for me, this is a positive, especially since you have tons of options on how to do it...but I do think that if someone isn't interested in Public Psychiatry, this might not be the best place).

Lastly, thought it was a great city...really, really good food and beer was enjoyed by me on this trip. I'm excited by the two Northwest programs I saw...both really strong.

Thank you for posting this! I am so excited about applying at OHSU. I left Oregon because I was lured away and starstruck by a certain couple of famous programs over here on the east coast, but my heart is still on the west coast! I love Portland and could see myself living there forever, so thanks for the review and everyone keep posting these! They are so helpful.

Also...a billion kudos for spelling "toe" the line correctly!
 
I like this thread, and have been just watching others do the work, but am looking to jump in (hoping that others will then do the same)...I'm in SoCal now and am looking to go Northwest or Northeast

disclaimer: all the programs I'm looking at are great, and I would be genuinely happy at any of them...my personal impressions are just that, and are formed from interview days, conversations with residents, and information gathered from the programs' brochures/websites...

U Washington: Great place. The role that UW plays in the Northwest (is essentially the provider for 5 states) means that it sort of has to have everything, and it does. The "Big 4" hospitals (academic, county, VA, childrens), tons of electives (and the flexibility to take advantage of them), research and clinical balance, numerous quality fellowships, and lots of psychotherapy (as most large and liberal cities do) and a large and diverse residency class. The residents work really hard (which for me is a plus) and don't get a lot of perks (a few residents seemed frustrated about parking expenses, lack of meal tickets, low salary, etc). However, everyone raved about the program director (Dr. Cowley) and the rest of the administrators, and a few residents told me that they felt like they could just "do their job."

For me, this program hits the big points: committed to community service and yet academic/intellectual, tons of clinical opportunities (I think probably the most of any program in the country, as opportunities span 5 entire states), strong fellowships including child w/ unique inpatient wards at Seattle Children's, good curricular flexibility in the 3rd/4th years, and a great support system from administration.

more programs to come...I'm happy to address any questions anyone has...

I agree with this eval as well. I'd underline a couple of things. The first is the multi-state focus, which is--as far as I could see--unique. The other is their unparalleled service delivery research. Other places do some of it, but no place (imho) does it as well. If that's what you're interested in, it's an unbelievable opportunity.
 
Here's some reviews from my last 3 days:

Harbor-UCLA:

Interview Day: My day started at 11, though I think this is variable. I think they interview 1-3 people a day, so there's no formal introduction or anything. I interviewed with the Child Division chief, then went to lunch with some of the residents. After lunch I interviewed with the PD, and then the 3 of us interviewing met with the Chair. Then I was met by a 2nd year resident for a tour. All the interviews were very relaxed, I felt like they were more interested in telling me about the program than in asking me a lot of questions.

Program Overview: First year rotation is split into 1-2 month blocks, with 4 months of inpatient, 2 months of psych ER, 2 months of inpatient med/peds, a month of med clinic, 1 month IP neuro, 2 weeks of ER and a month of dual diagnosis.
Second year you start seeing outpatients half time. 11 months you're doing inpatient half-time, with 1 month of neuro consult.
Third year is 4 months of child, 5 of C/L, 1 of forensics and geri; along with continuing your outpatient half-time. You also do one morning a week at Kaiser, which is private patients.
Fourth year is pretty much all elective time, some of which you can do at NPI.
Call averages to q7 1st year and q10 second.

Setting/Culture: Harbor is a county hospital, and you spend most of your clinical time there. The vast majority of patients you see are the underserved of the area, which includes patients coming in through LAX. You get a lot of experience in emergency psych, and in treating the "sickest of the sick". The hospital itself is nothing spectacular, but it is nicer on the inside than it looks. Psych ER is amazing and is the second largest in the country 2nd to Bellvue. Clinics are in old navy barracks next to the hospital, which are old, but cozy.
All the residents I met seemed happy and appeared to get along well with each other. They all came to Harbor because they were attracted to treating county patients. The second year I met with was very happy, but was also honest about the programs shortcomings. She did say that if I was interested in clinical academics, most of their attendings came from NPI.
Research isn't as huge as at NPI, but there are definitely opportunites. The Child guy I met with also studies hallucinogens and has done some really cool stuff with that.
The hospital is in Torrance which is about 15 minutes (without traffic) south of LA. Most residents live other places (Pasadena, Downtown, beach cities)

Strengths: I think coming out of here you would be pretty prepared to treat just about anything. The psych ER experience is amazing. The residents really seem to work well together. The psych department is well respected within the hospital. There's a lot of moonlighting available, with one moonlighter working the psych ER every night.

Weaknesses: Not a whole lot of exposure to insured patients. You do spend time at Kaiser 3rd year, which does give you a taste of private practice. I got the sense that if you want to do private practice, you wouldn't really fit in too well. Research is available, but its not as abundant as other places. I could see where spending 4 years in one hospital could start to get a little claustrophobic.

Overall: Great training experience if you're looking for a county setting. I'm looking for that as a strong focus of a program, but would probably prefer a program with a little more of a balance. The psych ER is a big draw for me though.
 
USC

Interview Day: There were about 20 of us interviewing on my day, which was the largest group I'd seen. The day started with an overview of the program by the chair and associate chair (the Pato's, a husband and wife team) and the PD. Then we were split into 2 groups, with half of us interviewing 1st and half going on a tour. We then had lunch with faculty and residents, and had a panel with some of the residents. Following lunch, the groups switched.

Interviews were 4 30 minute interviews, I think most people interviewed with one of the Pato's, 2 faculty, and a resident. They paired me with an attending and resident that were alums of my home program, which was a nice touch. The interviews were pretty conversational, and I got the sense that everyone had really read my application. Dr. Pato was a little more direct in her questioning, but was friendly and interesting. She did seem really concerned that I hadn't taken CS yet, which seemed kind of odd (I'm taking it in January). The tour was pretty extensive and there were several residents available to answer questions.

Program: First year consists of 3 months inpatient at a 28 (soon to be 40) bed facility off campus. You also do 3 months in the psych ER, 4 months of medicine/peds (all inpatient), and 2 months neuro. Half the class does psych first, half does non-psych, they switch halfway through.
Second year is 4 months inpatient, 4 C/L at county, 1 adolescent inpatient, 1 of addiction at the VA, 1 of geri and 1 (soon to be more, most likely) C/L month at University (private patients). You start psychotherapy clinic halfway through second year.
Third year is all outpatient clinic.
Fourth year is nine months electives, and 1 each of community, child crisis, and C/L; as well as some continued clinic time.

They are VERY flexible with elective time in the 3rd and 4th year. You can do electives half time for 2 months while seeing therapy patients in the afternoon and have each count as 1 month of "credit". You could also do part time research/part outpatient in your 3rd year and finish up your outpatient requirement in your 4th year.

Call: I always have a hard time remembering the details for this, but residents did mention that it was light compared to other places. You only take call at the inpatient hospital, so the amount of calls you get is pretty limited. No call after 2nd year.

Setting/Culture: Most hospital rotations are done at county hospital. USC just built a brand new county hospital, which is really nice, though the residents did say they miss the feel of the older building. They have a very large and busy psych ER, which is connected to a walk-in 24 hour psych clinic. They also have a med/psych unit in the main hospital, as well as a jail unit. We didn't get to see the inpatient facility, but apparently they're in the process of moving to a newer, nicer building (though not necessarily a nicer location). Clinic space is really nice, and you get your own office. You spend a little bit of time at University hospital, which seemed pretty cush, patients there tend to be insured, private patients.

USC, like Harbor, is a county program, so the majority of patients you see are poor, homeless, or immigrants. Much of the population around the hospital speaks Spanish, but residents said that knowing Spanish is definitely not required, as their translation service is great, and they can get access to a broad range of languages and dialects. There has been an effort recently to decrease the amount of patients residents see, particularly in the ER, in order to increase learning experience.

Since the Pato's came on board, there has been increased focus on research. Third years are required to present a poster, and 4th years give a grand rounds. It seems like there's a lot of research that you can get involved with.

Residents seemed to get along well and said the program was pretty balanced and flexible to what they wanted to get out of it.

Strengths: Excellent emergency psych department and exposure to a variety of extreme and unusual cases. Good exposure to a culturally diverse group of patients. Flexibility with elective time, particularly in the 3rd and 4th year. Pretty balanced focus on clinical, research, and teaching components. As a county employee, you get county benefits and accumulate years toward eligibility for their pension, which is nice if you plan on staying on with the county in some form.

Weaknesses: Not a huge amount of exposure to private patients, though they are trying to increase this a bit. Seems like the program is in transition, with shifts in both physical location and program philosphy. Not a lot of exposure to child, unless you stay on for the 4th year and do electives. LA can be a plus or minus, depending on what kind of city you're looking for.

Overall: Great public psychiatry experience with a strong ER component. I felt like I'd be ready to do pretty much anything after this residency. I interviewed here right after Harbor, in comparing the two I felt like USC had a little more balance in terms of academic focus and exposure to different subspecialties.
 
UCSD

Interview Day: There was a dinner with residents the night before at El Torito that was well attended. The day starting at the VA on the main UCSD campus with a powerpoint overview of the program from the PD. We then had 2 30 minute interviews. 3 of us who were interested in Child met with one of the child attendings, which was much more a discussion than an interview. I also met with one of the VA attendings. We then all got in a van to go downtown to Hillcrest, where the "public" UCSD hospital is. We had one interview with a resident at the OP clinic there. That was definitely the most awkward interview I've had so far, it seemed like I was getting pimped on psych stuff, as well as about my hobbies. I think this was just luck of the draw, every other resident I met was very friendly and easy to talk to.
We had lunch at an Indian place in Hillcrest and then drove back to UCSD, with a "pit-stop" in La Jolla to see the beach areas and the seals. The PD also met with each of us briefly at some point in the day.

Program Overview: 1st year is 6 month inpatient, 2 months Neuro, and 4 months med/peds.
2nd year is a combination of inpatient, child/adolescent inpatient, substance abuse, psych emergency clinic, C/L and geripsych. You also start a half day weekly outpatient clinic.
3rd year is all outpatiet, 4th year is chief or senior resident positions with some elective and outpatient time.
Call is q 5-7 first year at Hillcrest, and q9-11 second year at the VA. 3rd and 4th years do tandem call in the beginning of the year as well as on weekend days.

Setting/Culture: Rotations are split pretty evenly between the VA and Hillcrest, which see two pretty different patient populations. Residents said that Hillcrest is busier, so your first year is pretty tough. San Diego has a pretty diverse population, which would likely be reflected in the patients you'd see. We didn't actually tour any of the hospitals, so I can't speak for the actual facilities.
UCSD is known for being pretty biologically based, but the PD did emphasize that there is a strong therapy component to the training as well. Resident have the option of taking free classes from the psychoanalytic institute in La Jolla.
There is a ton of research going on at UCSD. It's definitely not required, but if you express interest in anything, it sounded like the program would go out of its way to hook you up with the right people.
The residents seemed really friendly and happy with the program. Several did emphasize that they worked really hard and saw a lot of patients. Some said they didn't feel like they got enough supervision from attendings, while others felt like they were over supervised.

Strengths: It seems like there are the resources to do just about anything you're interested in doing here. The residents seem to get along really well and were people I would like to work with. Dr. Zisook, the PD, was very friendly and is apparently very receptive to resident feedback. Good child program. There's opportunities to rotate at UCSD's eating disorder program and at a homeless shelter in the city, both of which are things I'm interested in. Free psychotherapy for residents. San Diego is beautiful.

Weaknesses: It does sound like residents see a large volume of patients, which is a great way to learn, to a point. Seems like there may be problems with supervision, though not really sure in which direction. A lot of VA time, which does limit the spectrum of patients you see. It does seem like they are a bit more bio/psychopharm based than other places I've looked, which can be a strength or weakness, depending on what you're looking for.

Overall: I did my undergrad at UCSD, so I'm a little biased toward SD over other cities in California. I feel like you may work harder in this program than some other, but also get the opportunity to do pretty much anything you're interested. Probably my favorite California program.
 
Interview Basics: There's a dinner with residents the night before at an upscale Mexican restaurant in midtown. The interview day starts at 8 am in the psychiatry building on the campus. Remember the medical center is in Sacramento, not Davis -- apparently one applicant screwed that up once. :) Pastries, donuts and bagels are provided along with coffee, hot tea and juice. First, the PD and APD have an informal meeting with the applicants talking generally about the program. Next, a 3rd year resident gives a presentation mainly discussing rotations and the schedule. Then you have 5 one on one interviews all back to back -- on my day, we all interviews with the chair, the pd, the apd, one resident and one faculty member. Then lunch with residents at a nearby deli followed by a tour of the hospital and the inpatient unit. Next, we broke up into groups based on personal interests (options included research, child, teaching and cultural psychiatry). Last we had a brief wrap-up with the pd and apd where we were able to ask any remaining questions, and they gave us the logistics of their applicant selection process.

Applicant selection: As I mentioned above, this program is really upfront about this. They interview about 80 people and said generally 70 make the rank order list. They emphasized that if you make the list, they want you at their program. They're willing to discuss with applicants where they fall on the list (or even if they're not on it). They'll let you know if you're high accept, mid accept or low accept. High accept means you'll match there if you rank them #1. Mid accept means your odds of matching are pretty good but not guaranteed. Low accept means you might match, but it's less likely than mid accept. They construct their list purely on how much they like the applicant and not on how much the applicant likes them, so excessive follow-up is unnecessary.

Schedule/rotations/call: Overall a pretty typical schedule with outpatient in the 3rd year. Unique features include having psychosomatic medicine in the 1st year and doing 1 to 2 months of primary care in an outpatient setting where attendings are from the fp/psych or im/psych programs. R1s also do a rotation in the jail, which apparently is really liked. Neuro is split between doing a consult service at Kaiser and working the neuro residency at UCD -- apparently Kaiser is great, but the UCD part isn't so liked. In 4th year, there are 3 months of the electives, and the rest of the time is devoted to 4th years acting in a leadership, administrative type of role. Also, teaching medical students is emphasized, and residents are able to take courses on it and be involved in 1st and 2nd year courses. Residents have a process group all 4 years that is protected time. All residents also go to didactics regardless of their rotation.

Call is light compared with other programs. Weekday call is home call, and it sounded like you still got to go home at night on weekend call. By 2nd year, you only have 2 weekend calls for the whole year, so you have free weekends starting then. Very limited to no call 3rd and 4th year.

One thing about UCD is that the effects of the budget cuts are pretty obvious. They do inpatient psych at a county facility, and the beds there have been reduced by half. This facility also had a PES where residents worked, but that was closed down. Now residents get their emergency psych experience through c/l and working in a regular ED. It sounded like there's some possibility that the county facility could close entirely, but I didn't get the impression that was likely. However, no one really knows.

Setting/culture/location: Residents work at the UCD medical center, the VA and the county facility. The farthest required commute is max 15 to 20 minutes, and lots of residents live close enough to bike into work. Sacramento is interesting and not what you think of when you think of California. I had never been before and didn't get to spend much time there, so I'm by no means an expert. From what I saw, it's definitely a smaller city without that vibrant big city feel. Everything's easily accessible, and there are lots of neat restaurants and bars in the central area -- it's also easy to live in the central area in walking distance of this stuff. The town itself is flat but has lots of trees. Most residents seemed to be into outdoorsy types of stuff. Overall, it seemed like a nice place to live, but if you're looking for a big city or big night scene, this is not it.

The residency culture seemed more laid back than intense. Residents valued having free time to enjoy other pursuits. Also, everyone seemed friendly and not caught up on prestige. UCD in general has a community/primary care emphasis, and I felt that that was reflected in the program.

Benefits: The one unique one is that all the residents get an APPI library each year because the chair is one of their book editors. Residents do not get free psychotherapy or psychotherapy at really reduced rates. Moonlighting readily available.

Strengths: Great diversity. Good psychotherapy training with a psychodynamic emphasis. You get to work in a lots of different settings without having to travel a long way between these settings. Good training with a good reputation without a lot of pretense. Low cost of living and a high quality of life for residents.

Weaknesses: Potential issues with budget cuts. Not a huge city. Work load in first year isn't equally divided between residents -- some residents randomly have to do 3 months of inpatient IM while others only have to do 2.
 
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Adding some additional comments to NOCAkid's review. San Diego has lots of moonlighting opportunities, and residents said they made $100/hr. They also got something like $1500 for moving expenses first year. On the scheduling, no night float and no plans for night float for next year.

On the biological emphasis, the pd mentioned in the opening meeting that UCSD has been called the Wash U of the west. However, one of my interviewers specifically told me I should pursue analytical training and that that was very much available there. Also, the PD and other faculty do lots of research on psychotherapy.

As for the work schedule, yeah, I heard from several people there that their belief is that you learn through seeing patients, so I'm guessing you see lots of patients.

Oh yeah, accommodations and transportation. I got a cheap room at the Doubletree downtown through priceline and would recommend going that route. Downtown is really close to the airport (the airport essentially is downtown), so most hotels here have free shuttles. And, while the info from the PC specifically advised against public transit, I took the bus to my interview, and it worked out perfectly. There's an express bus that runs between the VA and downtown, so I went directly to and from the interview for $5 total. The bus trip took about 30 minutes each way.

Another socal place where I'd recommend checking out public transit is UCLA. I stayed in Santa Monica (another cheap priceline room at a Doubletree) and discovered that there's an express bus between Santa Monica and UCLA. I took a cab to the interview, wasting about $20, but took the bus home for $1.25.
 
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Interview Basics: There's a dinner with residents the night before at an upscale Mexican restaurant in midtown. The interview day starts at 8 am in the psychiatry building on the campus. Remember the medical center is in Sacramento, not Davis -- apparently one applicant screwed that up once. :) Pastries, donuts and bagels are provided along with coffee, hot tea and juice. First, the PD and APD have an informal meeting with the applicants talking generally about the program. Next, a 3rd year resident gives a presentation mainly discussing rotations and the schedule. Then you have 5 one on one interviews all back to back -- on my day, we all interviews with the chair, the pd, the apd, one resident and one faculty member. Then lunch with residents at a nearby deli followed by a tour of the hospital and the inpatient unit. Next, we broke up into groups based on personal interests (options included research, child, teaching and cultural psychiatry). Last we had a brief wrap-up with the pd and apd where we were able to ask any remaining questions, and they gave us the logistics of their applicant selection process.

Applicant selection: As I mentioned above, this program is really upfront about this. They interview about 80 people and said generally 70 make the rank order list. They emphasized that if you make the list, they want you at their program. They're willing to discuss with applicants where they fall on the list (or even if they're not on it). They'll let you know if you're high accept, mid accept or low accept. High accept means you'll match there if you rank them #1. Mid accept means your odds of matching are pretty good but not guaranteed. Low accept means you might match, but it's less likely than mid accept. They construct their list purely on how much they like the applicant and not on how much the applicant likes them, so excessive follow-up is unnecessary.

Schedule/rotations/call: Overall a pretty typical schedule with outpatient in the 3rd year. Unique features include having psychosomatic medicine in the 1st year and doing 1 to 2 months of primary care in an outpatient setting where attendings are from the fp/psych or im/psych programs. R1s also do a rotation in the jail, which apparently is really liked. Neuro is split between doing a consult service at Kaiser and working the neuro residency at UCD -- apparently Kaiser is great, but the UCD part isn't so liked. In 4th year, there are 3 months of the electives, and the rest of the time is devoted to 4th years acting in a leadership, administrative type of role. Also, teaching medical students is emphasized, and residents are able to take courses on it and be involved in 1st and 2nd year courses. Residents have a process group all 4 years that is protected time. All residents also go to didactics regardless of their rotation.

Call is light compared with other programs. Weekday call is home call, and it sounded like you still got to go home at night on weekend call. By 2nd year, you only have 2 weekend calls for the whole year, so you have free weekends starting then. Very limited to no call 3rd and 4th year.

One thing about UCD is that the effects of the budget cuts are pretty obvious. They do inpatient psych at a county facility, and the beds there have been reduced by half. This facility also had a PES where residents worked, but that was closed down. Now residents get their emergency psych experience through c/l and working in a regular ED. It sounded like there's some possibility that the county facility could close entirely, but I didn't get the impression that was likely. However, no one really knows.

Setting/culture/location: Residents work at the UCD medical center, the VA and the county facility. The farthest required commute is max 15 to 20 minutes, and lots of residents live close enough to bike into work. Sacramento is interesting and not what you think of when you think of California. I had never been before and didn't get to spend much time there, so I'm by no means an expert. From what I saw, it's definitely a smaller city without that vibrant big city feel. Everything's easily accessible, and there are lots of neat restaurants and bars in the central area -- it's also easy to live in the central area in walking distance of this stuff. The town itself is flat but has lots of trees. Most residents seemed to be into outdoorsy types of stuff. Overall, it seemed like a nice place to live, but if you're looking for a big city or big night scene, this is not it.

The residency culture seemed more laid back than intense. Residents valued having free time to enjoy other pursuits. Also, everyone seemed friendly and not caught up on prestige. UCD in general has a community/primary care emphasis, and I felt that that was reflected in the program.

Benefits: The one unique one is that all the residents get an APPI library each year because the chair is one of their book editors. Residents do not get free psychotherapy or psychotherapy at really reduced rates. Moonlighting readily available.

Strengths: Great diversity. Good psychotherapy training with a psychodynamic emphasis. You get to work in a lots of different settings without having to travel a long way between these settings. Good training with a good reputation without a lot of pretense. Low cost of living and a high quality of life for residents.

Weaknesses: Potential issues with budget cuts. Not a huge city. Work load in first year isn't equally divided between residents -- some residents randomly have to do 3 months of inpatient IM while others only have to do 2.

I greatly enjoyed my day at UC Davis and will only add a couple of thoughts to Dr. Bagel's thorough evaluation.

To my mind, the single best aspect of the program is that it is well though out and well supported. They seemed to really think through their educational plan and provide resources for their residents (and faculty) to succeed.

Sacramento seems like a great place to live. Not that the city itself is unique--though it is pleasant--but what other place is 2 hours from San Francisco and 2 hours from Lake Tahoe?

The chair isn't "a book editor" at APPI. He's THE overall editor. I guess with that, he gets lots of books. He's also a former military guy and, from all accounts, is fair minded, smart, and very good at maximizing the strengths of the available troops. The fairness of the military (not that I know much about military fairness, but I've seen a bunch of war movies that indicate that it's fair in an arbitrary way) may influence Dr. Servis's decision to give the high-medium-low pointer; I'm not sure I want to know (what if I'm a medium and all my friends are highs? that kind of concern is, from my watching of war movies, exactly the kind of misplaced navel gazing that the military doesn't encourage--but I digress). Anyway, it's not like Dr. Hales goes around in fatigues, and the place felt calm, reasonable, and friendly.

I enjoyed the residents I met. They were smart, friendly, and socially appropriate (having been warned by friends and family, I keep looking for weird psych residents, but programs seem to keep the outliers under lock and key on interview day). They seemed to enjoy the place and definitely seemed to have more of a relaxed outlook than I saw at a couple of other places.

My theory is that they are both blessed and cursed by their geographical location. The Bay Area (broadly defined) is one of the country's best places to live, but Davis won't ever be able to outrecruit Stanford and UCSF, overall, for residents. They can, however, recruit successfully for residents who want to live in a house, quickly go skiing or climbing, and who want a psychiatric education that is probably better organized than at it is at its more-famous neighbors. I'd been primed to like the place by faculty at my medical school, but I came away more impressed than I expected.
 
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She did seem really concerned that I hadn't taken CS yet, which seemed kind of odd (I'm taking it in January).

Heh, it's funny you mention that. Two of my four interviewers specifically asked me about my Step 2 scores (I've taken CS and CK, but I guess they hadn't printed out a recent ERAS report), and one wanted me to tell him the percentage score for the CK (not really important to me, so I didn't know it) and he then proceeded to look up my Step 1 score and tell me the percentage for that one.

This is the first place that has even mentioned test scores, and I have to admit that even though it's my home program, it sort of left an unpleasant impression.
 
Heh, it's funny you mention that. Two of my four interviewers specifically asked me about my Step 2 scores (I've taken CS and CK, but I guess they hadn't printed out a recent ERAS report), and one wanted me to tell him the percentage score for the CK (not really important to me, so I didn't know it) and he then proceeded to look up my Step 1 score and tell me the percentage for that one.

This is the first place that has even mentioned test scores, and I have to admit that even though it's my home program, it sort of left an unpleasant impression.

I don't have any experience with USC, so I can only speculate as to why: but my best guess is that the program, like many programs elsewhere in the country, is concerned about whether or not you will pass the boards. Past board scores are correlated with future board scores.

e.g.,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17368416
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15249242
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17615848
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16199451

Ergo, they would want to know what your scores are.

If you fail the boards, you not only make the program look bad, but in some programs you create hassles for your co-residents. For example, at my residency program, failure to pass Step 3 means you will be ineligible to take call at one of the teaching sites. If a resident is removed from the call pool at this particular teaching site, that has ripple effects elsewhere in our program as well.

-AT.
 
I don't have any experience with USC, so I can only speculate as to why: but my best guess is that the program, like many programs elsewhere in the country, is concerned about whether or not you will pass the boards. Past board scores are correlated with future board scores.
-AT.

I totally agree that board scores should be a factor in programs' decision-making and that they're justified to be concerned with the scores, I just don't understand why they'd be asking me that in the interview. The interviews are already short, so why spend time asking about something that can easily be looked up instead of using that time to ask more questions that help you really get to know the candidate?

It really didn't bother me that much, I just found it kind of off-putting.
 
Interview basics: There's a dinner at a local restaurants with residents the night before the interview. Interview day starts at 7:45 at the hospital, and they only interview a few people a day. The day starts with a presentation from the PD, and coffee/water and muffins are provided. Then we sat in on inpatient rounds, and next you have 3 30 minute interviews with faculty -- one with the current PD, one with the incoming PD and one with another faculty member. Next, lunch with residents who don't evaluate you. Then the PD takes you for a driving tour of the area followed by a tour of the hospital given by one of the chiefs. Next, you interview with a resident and then have a one-on-one wrap up with the PD.

Schedule/call/rotations: As far as I can tell, the schedule is pretty typical. 3rd year is your outpatient year, and you have lots of different options for places to work in that year, including the VA, a community mental health center and the hospital clinic. In the first year, primary care months include one month inpatient at Dartmouth, one month inpatient at the VA, one month outpatient and one ER month at Dartmouth. You also have inpatient months at Dartmouth and the VA first and second year. The psych facility at Dartmouth is not locked, so they don't have involuntary patients. However, you do a few months at the state hospital in Concord 2nd year, and that is a locked facility. Concord is about 50 minutes away, but the program gives you usage of a car and covers gas for that commute. 4th year is mostly electives.

Right now, call is around q6 in the first year and more like q10 second year with a mix of VA call and Dartmouth call. Dartmouth call is apparently pretty busy, but VA call is home call and more relaxed. However, the program is investigating starting a night float either next year or shortly after that due to the likely change in ACGME guidelines limiting continuous hours on duty. Right now, they're piloting a night float program and have a committee made up of residents and faculty trying to sort out exactly how the night float will work. The PD told us that they'll let all the applicants know before we have to submit our ROL whether or not the night float will be here next year.

Work load seemed about average. Intern year sounded fairly intense, but the work drops off a lot later on, and I didn't get the impression residents were violating work hours rules.

Setting/culture/location: As mentioned above, residents rotate through the VA, a state hospital and Dartmouth along with multiple different outpatient sites. Everything is pretty close together except for the state hospital.

The program is located in an area called the Upper Valley that includes parts of New Hampshire and Vermont, and their catchment area includes New Hampshire, parts of Maine and Vermont. The area is beautiful and full of outdoor activities (the Appalachian trail cuts through there, and there are ski resorts practically in town). It's also decently sophisticated probably because of the presence of Dartmouth College, so there are a lot more restaurants/pubs/cultural activities than what you would expect for a small area. It sounded like housing in the area is pretty affordable if you avoid Hanover and Norwich. A lot of the residents are married and/or have kids, and they did mention that it's probably not the best place if you're interested in a vibrant night life.

The general vibe I got from the program and the area is that it's pretty laid back. People come to the area because they want to escape the city, and that's reflected in the program. While the program has a lot of research going on and can be academically intense, it's not stuffy. I didn't see many residents wearing white coats or ties and a few were wearing hiking boots. As for emphasis, probably balanced but maybe a little more biological in emphasis. Residents do have the option of training with the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute but have to pay the fees themselves.

On a note about the culture, though, the current PD is stepping down and will act as assistant PD at least for next year. It sounds like he's been a big drawing force for the program in the past, so they're trying to be very upfront with applicants about the change. The current PD is very friendly and warm, and the new PD is supposedly a little more business-like. She's also coming from outside (Mass Gen) but has spent the last year working at the program before taking over as PD. She said she's planning on improving formalized mentorship within the program but is not planning on making any other major changes. The residents also mentioned that a lot of the positive, friendly attitude at the program came from the hospital in general, so a new PD wouldn't change that.

Positives: Solid academic experience in a more chill environment. Varied clinical settings, and a large catchment area with lots of socioeconomic diversity. Beautiful area with a high qualify of life. Very democratic emphasis in the program as shown by the discussion about how to implement a night float. I think they also showed a lot of integrity by being upfront about the night float changes and the new PD.

Negatives: Not a lot of ethnic diversity. Some commuting required, and the main inpatient unit not being locked could be an issue. However, it sounded like they still saw a lot of pathology there, and residents said they also gained skills in negotiating with patients in that unit. I also got the vibe that there was more of a biological emphasis, and psychotherapy training is not that strong in first and second years, which is pretty normal. Charming small town location, but it's still a small town, so it's not for everyone.
 
Interview basics: There's a dinner at a local restaurants with residents the night before the interview. Interview day starts at 7:45 at the hospital, and they only interview a few people a day. The day starts with a presentation from the PD, and coffee/water and muffins are provided. Then we sat in on inpatient rounds, and next you have 3 30 minute interviews with faculty -- one with the current PD, one with the incoming PD and one with another faculty member. Next, lunch with residents who don't evaluate you. Then the PD takes you for a driving tour of the area followed by a tour of the hospital given by one of the chiefs. Next, you interview with a resident and then have a one-on-one wrap up with the PD.

Schedule/call/rotations: As far as I can tell, the schedule is pretty typical. 3rd year is your outpatient year, and you have lots of different options for places to work in that year, including the VA, a community mental health center and the hospital clinic. In the first year, primary care months include one month inpatient at Dartmouth, one month inpatient at the VA, one month outpatient and one ER month at Dartmouth. You also have inpatient months at Dartmouth and the VA first and second year. The psych facility at Dartmouth is not locked, so they don't have involuntary patients. However, you do a few months at the state hospital in Concord 2nd year, and that is a locked facility. Concord is about 50 minutes away, but the program gives you usage of a car and covers gas for that commute. 4th year is mostly electives.

Right now, call is around q6 in the first year and more like q10 second year with a mix of VA call and Dartmouth call. Dartmouth call is apparently pretty busy, but VA call is home call and more relaxed. However, the program is investigating starting a night float either next year or shortly after that due to the likely change in ACGME guidelines limiting continuous hours on duty. Right now, they're piloting a night float program and have a committee made up of residents and faculty trying to sort out exactly how the night float will work. The PD told us that they'll let all the applicants know before we have to submit our ROL whether or not the night float will be here next year.

Work load seemed about average. Intern year sounded fairly intense, but the work drops off a lot later on, and I didn't get the impression residents were violating work hours rules.

Setting/culture/location: As mentioned above, residents rotate through the VA, a state hospital and Dartmouth along with multiple different outpatient sites. Everything is pretty close together except for the state hospital.

The program is located in an area called the Upper Valley that includes parts of New Hampshire and Vermont, and their catchment area includes New Hampshire, parts of Maine and Vermont. The area is beautiful and full of outdoor activities (the Appalachian trail cuts through there, and there are ski resorts practically in town). It's also decently sophisticated probably because of the presence of Dartmouth College, so there are a lot more restaurants/pubs/cultural activities than what you would expect for a small area. It sounded like housing in the area is pretty affordable if you avoid Hanover and Norwich. A lot of the residents are married and/or have kids, and they did mention that it's probably not the best place if you're interested in a vibrant night life.

The general vibe I got from the program and the area is that it's pretty laid back. People come to the area because they want to escape the city, and that's reflected in the program. While the program has a lot of research going on and can be academically intense, it's not stuffy. I didn't see many residents wearing white coats or ties and a few were wearing hiking boots. As for emphasis, probably balanced but maybe a little more biological in emphasis. Residents do have the option of training with the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute but have to pay the fees themselves.

On a note about the culture, though, the current PD is stepping down and will act as assistant PD at least for next year. It sounds like he's been a big drawing force for the program in the past, so they're trying to be very upfront with applicants about the change. The current PD is very friendly and warm, and the new PD is supposedly a little more business-like. She's also coming from outside (Mass Gen) but has spent the last year working at the program before taking over as PD. She said she's planning on improving formalized mentorship within the program but is not planning on making any other major changes. The residents also mentioned that a lot of the positive, friendly attitude at the program came from the hospital in general, so a new PD wouldn't change that.

Positives: Solid academic experience in a more chill environment. Varied clinical settings, and a large catchment area with lots of socioeconomic diversity. Beautiful area with a high qualify of life. Very democratic emphasis in the program as shown by the discussion about how to implement a night float. I think they also showed a lot of integrity by being upfront about the night float changes and the new PD.

Negatives: Not a lot of ethnic diversity. Some commuting required, and the main inpatient unit not being locked could be an issue. However, it sounded like they still saw a lot of pathology there, and residents said they also gained skills in negotiating with patients in that unit. I also got the vibe that there was more of a biological emphasis, and psychotherapy training is not that strong in first and second years, which is pretty normal. Charming small town location, but it's still a small town, so it's not for everyone.

FWIW, I've worked with the new PD in the past and think she'll be a great asset to the program.
 
UCSD

Just want to add a little to NOCAkid and Doctor Bagel's reviews.

Today's interview group was the first on their new schedule. The interview day is now all set at the Hillcrest location. There was the opening talk/powerpoint presentation from 8 to 9 (with a very good breakfast, btw). After that the group was split in two - half had interviews for 90 minutes and half went on a tour for 90 minutes. The two groups then switched, then we ate lunch, and the entire day was done by 12:45.

The interviews consisted of two 30 minute interviews with faculty members, 15 minutes with the PD, and 15 minutes with a chief resident. Mine were all really conversational and laid-back.

One thing that I thought was particularly cute was that a lot of the 3rd year residents bring their dogs to work with them. They each have their own office and are doing outpatient work all day, so their dogs are able to just hang out in the office with them. There was one resident with her door open there today, and her dog came out from his bed under her desk to greet us. She mentioned that all but one of her patients love having her dog be there (the one exception is a very paranoid schizophrenic, so she just doesn't bring her dog for those appointments).

Another thing I learned that I found interesting is that they have recently revamped the first year didactics. The way they are set up now is in modules, and power point is banned in order to make it more interactive. For example, they'll have three weeks on bipolar disorder - the first week they watch a video of a patient with BPAD, come up with a differential, then obtain more history by asking the "patient" (a 3rd year resident) some questions; then the 2nd week they quickly recap what they went over during the 1st week (for the people who weren't there), then discuss the work up and psychopharmacology for BPAD; the 3rd week they recap the 2nd week and then talk about therapy and whatever else needs to be discussed. After that they move on to 3 weeks of a different topic. Apparently they asked the 3rd year residents to think back on their 1st year and what they wish they had been taught then, and also tried to make the whole year of didactics as practical as possible.

One drawback is that residents only receive money for the cafeteria when they're on call.

Oh, and one more plus is there are only 6 overnight calls in all of the medicine months. The other calls are short calls until 10pm.
 
SUNY Upstate

Food/Accommodations – Upstate puts you up in the Syracuse Sheraton, which is probably the nicest hotel in the city. Dinner the night before with residents and applicants, and breakfast/lunch provided on interview day.

Interview Day – 5 hour-long interviews. Most of these are one-on-one, but one may be a group interview. I think everyone interviewed with the chair, Dr. Dewan, as well as the program director, Dr. Manring.

Program overview – Intern year is divided between 6 continuous months of neuro + IM and 6 months of psych. One of the IM months is outpatient. Interns carry 4-6 patients at a time. There are tons and tons of didactics - perhaps too many. The program very much values psychotherapy training and takes pride in providing a balanced, well-rounded education to residents. The program offers a unique opportunity to get an MPA with the department's funding - however, very few residents end up pursuing this.

Faculty – The faculty I met all seemed pretty nice and enjoyed teaching. I was a little dismayed that one of my interviewers obviously hadn't read anything about me prior to the interview.

Call – Residents only take call with psych - in off-service months, interns work short call with another intern who is on all night. Overnight call during the week is split between PGY1s some days of the week and PGY2s the other days. It works out to about 4 calls per month. I think that PGY3s are responsible for one of the weekend days.

Location – Syracuse is a small, family-friendly northeastern city with a very low cost of living. It seems like most of the residents live outside the city limits in one of the neighboring towns. Some live in an apartment tower right next to the medical center.

Benefits – Seems like pretty standard salary + vacation benefits. Free lunches almost every day. Residents have to pay for parking, which is between $55-75 a month

Program strengths – Very friendly and happy residents, and very enthusiastic faculty. Research opportunities galore - psych is the 2nd best funded department at the medical center, surpassed only by IM. Low cost of living. Many accredited fellowships at the institution.

Program weaknesses – If you have a family and don't mind the cold, it's a wonderful town. If (like me), you're single, Syracuse seems a tough place to live. The city itself turned out to be a lot smaller and less lively than I expected. Almost all of the residents are married and/or from the area, and meeting people would be a challenge. The residents seem to have a decent quality of life, but I think I'd prefer to be worked a little bit higher and carry a higher patient load than what the current interns told me they carry.
 
Johns Hopkins

Food/Accommodations – No hotel provided. I pricelined a good hotel about a mile from the hospital for $50. No pre-interview dinner. Light breakfast and boxed lunch provided on interview day.

Interview Day – It's a very long interview day, but it's designed for you to meet many of the people you'll be working with and get plenty of patient contact. Day starts with Dr. Lipsey giving a tour of the facilities at the main hospital, during which he'll probably take time to explain the mission and ideals of the department and program. I remember having ten 30-minute interviews after that. 4 or 5 of these were with residents, and they were really more of a chance for me to interview them. I remember interviewing with 4 faculty, including the two program directors and Dr. DePaulo, the chair. Lunch took place at a research conference (which was very good). We had a break around 3:00 to get coffee/latte with a big group of residents. The day wraps up around 5:00 with a short recap meeting with Dr. Lipsey. All of my interviewers were very welcoming and friendly, and there were really no stressful moments.

Program overview – Intern year is at Bayview Medical Center, approximately 3 miles east of the main hospital, and is divided between 6 months of medicine (which includes 6 ICU weeks), 2 months of neurology, and 4 months of psych. The intern year is reputed to be very intense. During second year, you rotate through all of the inpatient psych units at the main hospital and pick up your own therapy patients.

Faculty – The talent and enthusiasm for teaching of the faculty at Hopkins are matched by only a few elite institutions, and this is probably the program's best selling point. Dr. Lipsey emphasized that all faculty are required to attend on the units, and the residents stressed that they felt comfortable calling their supervisors and other experts of the institution whenever their advice would be helpful.

Call – While on medicine service, the residents take call with their team q4. On ICU months, this can be as often as q3. Psych call as an intern averages twice a week, if memory serves. I can't recall what call is like after first year, other than that it remains demanding.

Location – I wasn't really in Baltimore long enough to explore, but it seems like a better city than its reputation would let on. I walked for miles the night before to my hotel and didn't feel unsafe at all. The city seems like it offers plenty to do in the way of arts/culture and sports, and it's pretty close to mountains and beaches as well as other East Coast metropolitan areas. I give Baltimore a thumbs up.

Benefits – Have to admit I didn't pay much attention to this, but nothing stood out as deviating too far from the norm.

Program strengths – It's Hopkins. Very few places offer a selection of faculty with as much expertise at this place, and you get tons of one-on-one supervision. The residents as well as faculty seemed surprisingly down-to-earth and happy. When it comes to fellowships, you'll have the pick of the litter. There's a great review on scutwork.com that goes into more detail.

Program weaknesses – JHU is one of the oldest and most important academic hospitals in the country, and it's also one of the most entrenched in its ways and most resistant to change. The culture there is very unique, and this may leave with either a favorable or unfavorable impression of the place. There's a "bible" called Perspectives in Psychiatry written by the chair emeritus that would probably be worth giving a glance before deciding where to rank the program. The program as a whole is more critical of the DSM, and many of the things you learned in medical school won't necessarily fly. However, I did not get the vibe that Hopkins was full of elitists or abrasive personalities. It just has a unique culture that may be a turn off for some.

Also, the residents themselves will tell you that they work much harder than their colleagues at any other program. They all seem very happy with their choice, but they also knew what to expect when they arrived. The program also seems to espouse the notion that the more patients you carry, the more you learn. I think that that's true to a point, but I worry that ultimately, efficiency takes over at education's expense.

Conclusion: Hopkins offers outstanding training, but the program is very unique and not for everyone. I'm really wrestling with the decision of where to rank Hopkins, and I'd advise taking very detailed mental notes when you visit.
 
NYP - Cornell

My experience was almost identical to that of Charlotte, so I'll just add a couple things.

On the interview day, we met with the chair, Jack Barchas, as well as the PD. He was very enthusiastic and apparently meets with all the applicants when he's in town. I think he was brought in 15? years ago to beef up neurobiology, and he's probably the reason there have been so many MD/PhD's in the past decade.

He also gave us a book that was written by people from Cornell and Columbia. I initially thought it would be a throwaway, but it actually turned out to be a great read (Approach to the Psychiatric Patient). I'm sure they hand it out because it shows off the breadth of their faculty (ie, "We're not all psychoanalysts!"), but it was also something of a tip off to the program. 10 cases, about 10 essays per case, 120 authors. Heavy on psychodynamic concepts (about 2 essays/case), C-L (the editor is a C-L guy), and fairly subtle diagnostic issues (for example, none of the cases has clearcut bipolar disorder, but there's an investment banker with hypomania (that Upper East side connection) and a suicidal borderline with possible bipolar do (of course there's BPD, since Kernberg has to write an essay, right?).

As for patient population, they seemed fairly diverse to me (it is NYC, not Topeka). The department's small in a way, but they do have over 500 psychiatrists on faculty, with over 200 full time, so it's not thaaat small.

My interviews (the PD, 2 faculty, a resident, plus time with several other residents that also seemed a little bit evaluatory) was pleasant enough and not especially invasive. I didn't get the impression the faculty/institution/residents were especially "competitive," (if defined as wanting to beat someone)--the people I talked to were quite complimentary towards the programs they "compete with" for residents (they'd identify their chief rivals as Columbia, MGH, UCSF, and maybe NYU) but they seemed to know that they'd get most of who they wanted and didn't seem driven to downgrade anyplace else. I guess it helps to have cash, geography, faculty, and history on your side.

Having said that, I was a little surprised that the group was as friendly as it was. A little stuffy (lots of white coats), a little Ivy (I didn't meet anyone who didn't go to a top-tier college), and a little stressed (they emphasize 'autonomy,' 'workload,' and 'competence,' which seemed codewords for--"this is a great place if you do well, but if you fall behind, life will be rugged," but I was impressed enough that I may rethink my plan to move to California...
 
I'm really hoping to read a review on the Austin, TX program. A LOT of the programs I have applied to are saying HORRIBLE things about ONLY this program.

If someone has interviewed here and hasn't written a review yet, I would highly appreciate it.

I don't know how well other programs keep up with various programs, but if there is serious truth to these rumors, I might cancel my interview......despite how amazing Austin as a city really is.

I would also love to hear a review of Austin.
 
Can someone post any NY programs reviews: NYMC westchester, Stonybrook, LIJ....?
 
Interview basics: One of the residents hosted a dinner at her place for the applicants and a few other residents the night before the interview. The interview day started at 8:30 at Cambridge Hospital. There were supposed to be 5 applicants, but 2 were unable to make it due to weather. The day began with muffins, orange juice and fruit, and the PD gave a very thorough PowerPoint overview of the program. There were two hour-long interviews afterward, then a tour of the hospital. A shuttle then picked us and two of the residents up and took us to lunch at the Harvard Faculty Club (which residents can join, btw). The shuttle came back for us after lunch and took us to the outpatient building, where we had two more hour-long interviews. The PD then drove us back to Cambridge Hospital and we chatted a bit over cookies. The day was finished by around 4:30.

Schedule/call/rotations: During PGY-1 residents do not take call, except short call during the medicine months. They do 3 months of inpatient medicine, 1 month of ICU or Peds outpatient, 2 weeks of medicine night float, and 2 months of inpatient neurology (1 month is behavioral neurology at McLean). The psych rotations are 1 month addiction, 1 month child or adolescent, 1 month geriatric, 1 month community, and 6 weeks of elective. In PGY-2 they have 6 months inpatient psych, 3 months partial hospitalization, 6 weeks psych ER, 6 weeks inpatient C/L, and one 1/2 day per week of outpatient. PGY-3 is all outpatient, with child clinic, geri clinic, and outpatient C/L each getting 1/2 day per week for 3-6 months. PGY-4 is very flexible, although they must keep 8-20 hours per week of outpatient time.

Call is around q16 for PGY-2s and PGY-3s. PGY-4s do not take call. Call is really busy, with some residents saying they manage to average a few hours of sleep, and others saying they pretty much never sleep. One PGY-3 said she worked more as a PGY-3 than as a PGY-1.

Setting/culture/location: Cambridge Hospital is pretty small, and the psych department is in a really unique situation in that psych visits account for around 50% of all visits to the hospital. The outpatient building is just a few blocks away, as is Harvard's campus. The PD is one of the nicest people I've ever met, seems very accessible and truly cares about his residents. The APD was home sick with strep, but the residents say he's a "teddy bear" and "the mom of the program". The environment seemed very friendly and supportive.

Boston seems like a great city to live in - not as huge as NYC, but still lots of fun - and Cambridge is very active and cute. Most residents live in Cambridge or right next to it, but a few (especially those with kids) live a little further out to get more space for their money. The residents are very supportive of each other, and seem to spend a fair amount of time together outside of the hospital as well.

Positives: Extremely warm and supportive environment. Residents are very happy, and hands-down the most fun and easy to get along with group of residents I've met. Teaching seems top-notch, and the patient population is incredibly diverse. Great psychotherapy training. Fun area to live in. Residents match into fellowships pretty much wherever they want.

Negatives: Boston is COLD! ...I think that's about it for negatives, except for the fact that it's really competitive to match at Cambridge.
 
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Columbia.

If anyone has gone to Columbia I would love to hear about it!
 
Columbia.

If anyone has gone to Columbia I would love to hear about it!

When was your interview? If you have been to Columbia, I would love to hear about it!

-AT.
 
When was your interview? If you have been to Columbia, I would love to hear about it!

-AT.

I have my Columbia interview coming soon, which is why I was asking.
 
anyone have exp at U Penn this year?

UPenn
Interview overview

1. Food/accommodations – Dinner the night before at a pizza place – appetizers, salad, pizza, pasta and chicken parm. And lots of wine. The residents joked that there is a cap on the amount of money they can spend and if they drink too much wine then they don’t get dessert – and they apparently hadn’t gotten dessert once since the interview season started. LOTS of residents showed up the night I was there, even interns, which I took as a good sign. Very happy, friendly bunch. No accommodations provided, and I stayed with a friend.

2. Interview day – Get in at 8:30, pastries, coffee and juice. Program overview given by powerpoint with actual slide printouts (very reminiscent of college but quite helpful b/c you don’t really have to take notes), and then the chair comes in and talks. Then 4 interviews, ½ hour each, with various faculty before lunch. Lunch with the residents, tour of Pennsylvania Hospital (which is where the majority of psych rotations take place), then those interested in child went over to the CHOP outpatient center to talk with a fellow about child. The day ended with a wrap up meeting with the PD or assistant PD.

Program overview -- this is a fairly large program with about 11 residents per class. The residents mostly rotate through Pennsylvania Hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), the VA, and CHOP for those doing child rotations. Pennsylvania Hospital has different teams for gero psych, mood and anxiety disorders, neuropsychiatry and general inpatient. All of the sites are close together except Pennsylvania Hospital, which seems like where you’ll spend about half of your time…

PGY-1 – 4 months medicine + 1 month EM + 1 month neuro + 4 months inpatient psych + 1 month emergency psych. If interested in child, can do 1 month peds, 1 month child neuro, 1 month peds ED in place of those adult rotations. Still have to do 3 months IM though. Call is q4 during medicine, no call during neurology, and 4-5 calls per month on inpatient psych, but only 1-2 are overnight and the rest are until 10pm.

PGY 2 – 1 month child (2 weeks inpatient, 2 weeks c/l), 3 months C/L, 1 month neuro, 6 months inpatient psych, 4-5 weeks of nightfloat (sun – thurs 10pm – 8am; no more than 2 weeks at a time). Call 3-4 times/month, can’t remember if this is overnight or also includes call until 10pm.

PGY 3 – all outpatient. In house call until 10pm 1-2 times per month. 2 Saturday overnight calls per year. 1 Friday or Sunday per month (overnight Fri or all day Sun). Outpatient clinic phone coverage 2-3 weeks/year.

PGY-4 – Electives, no in house call, outpatient phone coverage 3-4 weeks/year.

Didactics – PGY I & II – Wednesdays, resident lunch from 12-1, didactics from 1-5. Other didactics depending upon the site that you’re at. PGY III & IV – Thursday mornings (1/2 day).

Other stuff:
-Moonlighting available in house for 3rd and 4th years.

Program strengths – very strong in CBT (Aaron Beck works here or worked here or something), hours seem better than other programs (residents were saying that when they are on inpatient they leave when they are done, which is like 3pm), residents seemed happy and fun.

Potential weaknesses – since CBT seemed stressed here a little more than at other places, I definitely questioned how well residents were trained in psychodynamic therapy; everyone seemed to think it was ok though. I’m also interested in child and thought that it was interesting that the residents going into child seemed less keen on staying at CHOP and more interested in going elsewhere (which doesn’t have much to do with the general adult residency, but is a tidbit for those thinking child).
 
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