Please help! For us who will be going through the match!

[lu2003]

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Hey, everyone,
Just wanted to start a thread where all of you who have gone through the match could give out advice or pieces of information that you wished you could have known before you went through the process.
For me, personally, I'm just starting to get my stuff ready, getting prepped for 4th year, and just wondering how to best go through this hellish process! Aaaggghh!
Any last tidbit will help, and I'm sure all of us will be eternally grateful!!! 🙂

 

[Anasazi23]

Ask them up front if there's a two-week orientation session that starts BEFORE July 1 that is mandatory...... 😡

 

[willow212]

First of all, congrats on choosing psychiatry - great choice!

Here are a few things I can think of now:

1. Enjoy the process.

One thing to know up front is that it is very likely that you will find it a much friendlier and enjoyable process than applying to medical school (and perhaps also if you compare with the process for some other specialties).

2. If you are interested in a particular program that is not at your current school, I highly recommend doing an away elective there.

Sure, there is always the possibility that you won't get along with the team and won't like it or fear that they won't go to bat for you with the residency director/ad com. However, it is better to know whether it is a good fit on both sides before you apply, and it is also much more likely that your away elective will increase your chances of being ranked at a program.

3. Get a lot of people to read your personal statement, and make sure it reflects your personality.

I found through my own and others experience that psychiatrists take the PS pretty seriously, and use it for a jumping board for the questions they ask you.

4. Interview at a range of programs in places that you want to live.

I think it's always a good idea to have a good range of programs that you apply to and rank. While psychiatry may not be as "competitive" as other specialties, there are certainly programs out there that are highly selective, and you don't want to put all your money on just a few programs.

5. Make your interest in the program known from the start and through the process.

If you do an away elective somewhere and are interested in the program, be sure to meet with the residency director at some point during your elective and express your interest in learning more about the program. And when it comes time to rank, definitely tell your first choice program that they are number one. Psychiatry programs are small enough that one or two places up or down in the rank list can make a big difference in whether you match at a place or not.

Best of luck!

 

[lu2003]

🙂 Thanks for the awesome replies... Anyone else have any suggestions? For example, what kind of recs did you get, how early did you finish the ERAS, did you guys get advisors? Does research matter?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Anasazi23]

Recs: I had one medicine, one neuropsychiatry, two psychiatry. Most places ask for three letters. Many, however, ask for four. These do not include the Dean's letter.

ERAS: This year they start transmitting to hospitals on Sept. 2. http://www.aamc.org/programs/eras/schools/timeline.htm
Try to have your stuff finished by then. I had an interview the day ERAS opened to residency programs. So you know some places start reviewing them right away.

Advisors: I didn't have any. I think for many it's a sort of "word of mouth advice" type of trial by fire. Just ask (as you're doing now) other psychiatry residents for details to specific questions you may have - especially those who were happy with thier match choice.

Research: There is a section on ERAS for you to list all your publications, if any. Interviewers were very interested in this when I visited their programs. If you did publish, be sure to read up on your own work...In my case some of the publications were so old I had forgoten some of the details of the studies and book chapters. If you haven't published, don't sweat it. I know at least a couple of psychiatry residents starting this July that are going to very competitive places without ever having published.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Big Lebowski]

Hey....enjoy the process.

I had a great time going throught the whole interview/match process. However, I was interested in staying in the non-Chicago midwest; so the competition was pretty thin and there were a lot of programs I really like which was refreshing.

I did not do any away electives and did not feel it harmed me in anyway. But this most likely depends on the competitiveness of the program you're looking into. One thing I did early in the process was contact each program and ask if I could speak with some residents about the program. It was a good way to get a lot of screening questions out of the way before you officially apply. Plus, during my interviews at the programs I had contacted; a lot of the residents and staff made a comment of the initiative I made in getting to know the program and was pleased that I had contacted them early. Just FYI. Also, do a second visit if you get a chance after the interview....you'll get a better idea of a typical resident's day...

Good luck...

 

[willow212]

Recs:
Agree with above, some programs want four. My letters were from medicine core, psych sub-I, psych away, and then family medicine core for the fourth.

ERAS:
I submitted in early Oct, and got interview offers anywhere from a few days after I submitted ERAS through early Dec. I ended up scheduling interviews at my lower choice programs later in the year, and tried to do the ones I was serious about in Nov/Dec. Then I ended up canceling a lot of the later ones after I felt I had interviewed at enough places.

Advisors:
I used mostly residents I knew and other applicants for advice on things. Though it was nice to have some attendings read my personal statement (mostly people I knew from my rotations or med school classes) and comment on where to apply.

Research:
I didn't do any psychiatry research and didn't feel it was a problem. I'm sure some programs will like seeing research, so if you have some experience, it will be a nice conversation topic. And some programs do like MD/PhD's if the program is research-oriented. But it's definitely not a standard thing for applicants to have done like in some fields (like derm or ophtho).

 

[lu2003]

Thanks everyone, for all of the great advice.
Now here comes the dreaded questions - for me, personally, I want to end up in NYC or Boston. How competitive do I have to be? And for the brave of you out there, if you wouldn't mind sharing any numbers or rotation grades, or if you felt that they didn't matter in where you got interviews, that would be very helpful as well. Sorry to bring the numbers up, but just wondering if it matters, especially now that psych is getting more competitive.

Thanks for all the help in advance and good luck to everyone who's starting PGY-1 soon!

 

[Asher]

In NYC, I applied to NYU, Columbia, and Cornell and ended up getting interview invitations from all three (although NYU was later in the season so I must have been further down the list). I applied to MGH and Longwood and got an invitation from Longwood. I ended up not going on interviews at any of these places because of not wanting to spend four years in either location. My creds were state-school, full scholarship, top ten in M2 and M3 year (about middle of class M1 year due to personal issues), step scores and 253/262. A wild card for my application was that my personal statement addressed my own experience of severe depression and treatment during medical school. This was a big plus at some programs and a negative at others (an interviewer told me, for example, I wasn't capable of being a doctor due to having been treated for a mental illness).

A few tips for the interview trail is to watch for red flags such as programs limiting your contact to current residents. Most of the programs I visited went out of their way to let me meet many different residents and to get email addresses and telephone numbers to ask questions after the date. If you only meet the chief residents and a couple of others (who are the designated people for taking you out to dinner the night before) and the PD doesn't provide contact info for any residents when you request it, it might not hurt to be wary about the program.

Another thing is to ask multiple residents what the best and worst things about the program are and how the relationships between faculty and residents are. Some programs were more hands-off the residents while others were more family-like. I personally preferred the latter while some people would feel smothered in a program that I might love.

Probably the most important thing to remember is that there are lots of great programs out there and that it is all about finding the best one for you.

ETA: One great source of information is to contact students from your school who are now in psych residency. They could tell you about their program and about their experiences interviewing elsewhere.

 

[willow212]

lu2003, I PM'd you.