Psych sub-i's on VSAS

[uhmocksuhsillen]

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Anyone know how competitive these are? Wondering how many I should apply to and if it's imperative to have everything in on day 1. Thanks!

 

[psychattending]

I suspect that are not that competitive. Please don't go overboard.

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

I suspect that are not that competitive. Please don't go overboard.

Thanks. Will refrain from going overboard.

 

[PlasticBag]

Hm... I'm quite confused about this whole process and how to schedule my 4th year. I go to a DO school and while I was lucky enough to have my core psychiatry rotation at an MD-affiliated, very reputable site where I obtained a LOR, I still feel like I should do a few away rotations in psych at good institutions so I can get more letters and mitigate the DO factor a bit. Time-wise, I would probably be able to fit in two before submission of ERAS. Like I said, I am totally lost with what is required/recommended as far as 4th year goes. Would appreciate if someone could chime in:

1) As far as I know, programs only see the transcript from the 3rd year, not 4th. Is that correct? If it's the case, then away rotations are good for LORs, something to talk about at interview, or as an audition?

2) Are sub-i's in psychiatry expected? Is an elective in psychiatry substantially worse than a sub-i?

3) How many psychiatry rotations should I do in 4th year, assuming I only did only one psych rotation during 3rd year?

4) My school doesn't require a neurology rotation (I know, I know..) so I didn't do one as a core rotation in 3rd year. I have one elective left this year (3rd year) and I'm debating whether I should do an elective in psychiatry (likely not at a good site because I can't use vsas as a 3rd year, per school rule) or do a neurology elective instead? If I don't do neurology as an elective this year, my transcript will be lacking neuro. Alternatively, I could maybe schedule it for December of 4th year, hoping it's a nice site that will let me go on interviews?

5) Is it okay to do the 4th year school requirements (IM sub-i, surgery sub-i, EM) in the spring of 4th year? I.e. while submitting ERAS and interviewing, these rotations would not have been completed yet.

Sorry for asking so many questions, it's a bit overwhelming thinking about applying next year. Thank you in advance!

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

1. yes
2. mostly and no
3. one more
4. It would be hard to do neuro for two months as an intern with no experience. Try and do it in Dec.
5. yes, but don't after interview season if you want to have enough time to travel.

 

[lyla]

4. It would be hard to do neuro for two months as an intern with no experience. Try and do it in Dec.

YMMV. I did two months of neuro consults and neuro outpatient clinic ("regular" neuro and movement disorder clinic) during my off-service intern year, and I definitely felt comfortable not having ever formally done neuro in medical school. And I did well.

 

[PlasticBag]

1. yes
2. mostly and no
3. one more
4. It would be hard to do neuro for two months as an intern with no experience. Try and do it in Dec.
5. yes, but don't after interview season if you want to have enough time to travel.

Thanks! If I can't get a good psych rotation for that 3rd year elective and decide to do neuro instead, will it look "bad" that I did two 3rd year electives in non-psych fields? I have psych publications and a related master's degree so it's quite obvious from my application that I want to do psychiatry.

YMMV. I did two months of neuro consults and neuro outpatient clinic ("regular" neuro and movement disorder clinic) during my off-service intern year, and I definitely felt comfortable not having ever formally done neuro in medical school. And I did well.

That's good to hear! Was it ever brought up on interviews that you didn't do a neuro rotation?

 

[splik]

Thanks! If I can't get a good psych rotation for that 3rd year elective and decide to do neuro instead, will it look "bad" that I did two 3rd year electives in non-psych fields? I have psych publications and a related master's degree so it's quite obvious from my application that I want to do psychiatry.

you are overthinking this. it is not even necessary to do psychiatry electives but would be very unusual not to. i find people do too many psych electives. if you are going into psychiatry you should try to use your 4th yr to round out your experience by doing interesting electives. if you do neuro electives I would suggest neurology consults, behavioral neurology, epilepsy, or movement disorders rotations would be particular good. a sleep medicine elective might be good to do. other electives that may of interest including geriatrics, endocrinology, developmental pediatrics, cardiology, radiology (neuroradiology especially), toxicology, rheumatology, HIV/infectious diseases, neurosurgery, palliative medicine, pain medicine etc might all be good electives to do that could be interesting. too few medical students do international or global health electives which i would highly recommend.

 

[lyla]

Thanks! If I can't get a good psych rotation for that 3rd year elective and decide to do neuro instead, will it look "bad" that I did two 3rd year electives in non-psych fields? I have psych publications and a related master's degree so it's quite obvious from my application that I want to do psychiatry.



That's good to hear! Was it ever brought up on interviews that you didn't do a neuro rotation?

Never came up

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

Has anyone heard back from any VSAS apps yet? I've applied to 10 and been denied from one...nothing from the others...

 

[psychattending]

A lot of places probably won't address VSAS applications until their own medical students have chosen their 4th year coursework. At my school that is not until after April.

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

A lot of places probably won't address VSAS applications until their own medical students have chosen their 4th year coursework. At my school that is not until after April.

Thanks for the input. I suppose I can hold off on the neuroticism for a little while then.

 

[Beepboop]

Bump! has anyone heard back from anywhere??

 

[kinsella]

Bump! has anyone heard back from anywhere??

Only rejections...

 

[PSYCH2019]

Only rejections for me too

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

Bump! has anyone heard back from anywhere??

Yup..have three sub I so far.

 

[PlasticBag]

I have some offers as well. If you don’t have anything yet, I recommend adding more dates (seems like most of my offers are for Sept/Oct), calling/emailing the sites you really like, applying on day 1 for the few remaining sites that haven’t opened their applications yet.