Ohsu

[Nutshell]

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Has anyone interviewed in recent years at OHSU, that would like to comment on their impressions of the program?

Thanks!

NS

 

[whopper]

Interviewed there for fellowship. I don't know so much about the actual residency program but I can tell you the following things.

The program is part of a solid university hospital. The facilities are excellent & very new. People there & in the surrounding community are very nice. Some of them claimed they nicknamed themselves "progressive regressives"--> very left leaning but into nature.

There's a lot of Jamba Juices & other "hippy" culture elements there.

If you interview there, make sure you get there early. I spent over 40 minutes looking for parking. Parking system is difficult as a guest. If you're working there you'll likely be given an easy place to park.

The actual program--I can't tell you much about, and I figure you're not so interested in the fellowship at this point.

 

[Nutshell]

Interviewed there for fellowship. I don't know so much about the actual residency program but I can tell you the following things.

The program is part of a solid university hospital. The facilities are excellent & very new. People there & in the surrounding community are very nice. Some of them claimed they nicknamed themselves "progressive regressives"--> very left leaning but into nature.

There's a lot of Jamba Juices & other "hippy" culture elements there.

If you interview there, make sure you get there early. I spent over 40 minutes looking for parking. Parking system is difficult as a guest. If you're working there you'll likely be given an easy place to park.

The actual program--I can't tell you much about, and I figure you're not so interested in the fellowship at this point.

Thanks, whopper. I am pretty excited about the program and the area. It is actually one of the programs at the top of my list right now.

I was planning on using taxis to get from airport to hotel to campus. Did you happen to note the taxi situation there? I'd really like to avoid renting a car and dealing with parking...

I'm interested in Consultation/Liaison and Addiction Psych at this (early) point. Did you interview for either of these fellowships?

NS

 

[whopper]

I interviewed for forensics. They told me to rent a car because they wanted me to interview at various sites. Most forensics programs have an academic center (where the dept is) and other satellite locations such as a jail or forensics inpatient unit which is usually about an hr (or even more depending on the program) away. They wanted me to go to both locations for the interview, and public transportation did not exist between OHSU and the jail. So they told me to rent a car.

(Well just my luck, I rent a car for $200 so I can drive to the jail, and the guy I'm supposed to interview with is on vacation. Then on the drive back, because I couldn't find parking for 40 minutes, I missed another interview)

I don't think you'll have the bad luck I had. The parking situation was horrendous. The dept even admitted the hospital was having a parking problem since a new building was recently added. The program director told me they'd have a parking spot for me at a specific garage, but when I got there the parking attendent didn't know what I was talking about & wouldn't let me park there.

So yeah--you'll probably be better off using a cab. The city doesn't have many taxis driving around. Its safer for you to prearrange a taxi than to try to heil one from the street or airport. You might want to ask the program if they have any prearranged transportation or discounts with specific taxi companies.

Again, if you get into their program the parking situation won't be bad. Its terrible for guests for interview. Reason why is they got parking for the employees (you're not one), patients (you're not one) & visitors of the patients (you're not one). They don't have parking places for people coming in for an interview (or at least when I interviewed). If you bring your car, you might actually be better of lying & claiming you're a visitor of a patient. I chose to be honest and I kept getting turfed off to the next garage (there were at least 4 of them-the hospital's huge) who refused to let me park.

The situation may also be more organized for you than it was for me. A psyche residency usually considers dozens, possibly hundreds of candidates. A forensics fellowship may consider as many as a handful to maybe around 20-30 tops. Their general psyche residency interview process I figure is more organized. Several forensics fellowships I applied to seemed to be haphazardly organized.

Despite my rant, I actually was quite impressed with hospital facilites, and the people I did interview with were very nice. If you're into the hippy, nature, college student scene, you'll probably love the place. It wasn't my first choice place, but I could see myself liking it there very much. A buddy of mine graduated from their forensics program & had very good things to say about it.

 

[Nutshell]

Thanks again, whopper and sorry you had a frustrating time of it! All good information and suggestions. I'm headed there in December, hoping that in fact I WILL really like it. Would love to end up somewhere where there is a balance between interesting people and things to do and easy access to outdoors. Seems like Portland has a very reasonable cost of living, too. 🙂

NS