Research Year

[kegar99]

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So I just found out I didn't match (very competitive field w/ somewhat below average app for that field). I did a psychiatry rotation at the beginning of this year and absolutely loved it and since then psych has been my plan in the event that I didn't match. I will be delaying graduation by a year to do research and apply psych this next cycle. My question is what is the best way to find opportunities in psych to do a research year? Ideally it would be paid but this isn't a dealbreaker. I've tried doing some searching around but haven't been able to find anything too helpful. Do I need to just email random psych people at different programs to see if they would have use for someone to help with research for the next year or is there a better way?

 

[FlowRate]

You mentioned your school is letting you delay graduation so you maintain student status. Do you have a psych department at your home institution?

 

[kegar99]

You mentioned your school is letting you delay graduation so you maintain student status. Do you have a psych department at your home institution?

Yes I do.

 

[FlowRate]

Yes I do.

I'd start there. Do some networking, meet some folks, make a positive name for yourself so you have a safe option come app time. I have no clue what sort of school you're at, a lot of schools also have designated folks to help students with finding research opportunities or securing funding sources for independent work. Do you have some sort of med student advisor or residents/attendings you met on a psych rotation who you could reach out to to get your foot in the door?

If there's an institutional clearinghouse for research projects looking for RA's/students to work on the projects that would be the most straightforward way of getting something without having to do any additional footwork. But I'm trying to highlight that you generally need to do some degree of networking and self-starting to get (or make) research opportunities.

 

[kegar99]

My first question is why do you want to do a research year? Psychiatry is not like competitive specialties where research (or a whole year or two of research) are required or desireable to match, particularly for unmatched applicants. If you don't want to have a research career and aren't applying for research track residency positions, doing a research year is of limited utility to you. Psychiatry is a bit sensitive to being seen as a backup option (which it rarely is these days), though if you have strong board scores, clerkship grades and/or attend a top medical school these concerns can be easily allayed. The most important things beyond that is that you have a compelling answer to the question of why you want to be a psychiatrist and can describe your journey in a way that makes sense. Delaying graduation is great. Did you do any psychiatry sub-Is? One or two psychiatry sub-Is will be much better for your application, especially with strong letters of recommendation. Even if you have already done some advanced psych rotations, I would probably suggest doing some more if you have the chance and getting (hopefully) even stronger LoRs.

Spending a year doing research is not likely to help your application much at this point. Certainly not beyond anything else that would demonstrate commitment to specialty (be that in curriculum development, advocacy, policy, innovation, or other spheres).That said, it would not hurt to get some publications and presentations (e.g. poster presentations, oral presentations, or panels/symposia at psychiatry conferences), which can be accomplished without doing a research year.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I was looking at a research year because that's what my dean suggested, I think more than anything just so that I was doing something with that year that I'm still enrolled at school (I'm thinking maybe they require you be doing research or something if still enrolled but not entirely sure how that works, would have to clarify with my dean). And hopefully so that I could do something that made a bit of money with that extra year. I guess I'm just not sure what else I would fill that year with besides a couple of psych sub-Is and applying?

I'm at a top 25 school and I did a psych sub-I a few months ago from which I was able to get a strong LOR. I agree, I would like to do another rotation or two in psych to hopefully get some more letters.

 

[kegar99]

I'd start there. Do some networking, meet some folks, make a positive name for yourself so you have a safe option come app time. I have no clue what sort of school you're at, a lot of schools also have designated folks to help students with finding research opportunities or securing funding sources for independent work. Do you have some sort of med student advisor or residents/attendings you met on a psych rotation who you could reach out to to get your foot in the door?

If there's an institutional clearinghouse for research projects looking for RA's/students to work on the projects that would be the most straightforward way of getting something without having to do any additional footwork. But I'm trying to highlight that you generally need to do some degree of networking and self-starting to get (or make) research opportunities.

Thanks for replying! I have reached out to a few people at my home institution and will hopefully be hearing back from them soon. Do you have any thoughts about reaching out to people at other institutions? I like the idea of going somewhere else to do research for the year to be closer to family but I'm not sure who to reach out to at a given institution. Program director? Random faculty that I see on the program's website?

 

[vistaril]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I was looking at a research year because that's what my dean suggested, I think more than anything just so that I was doing something with that year that I'm still enrolled at school (I'm thinking maybe they require you be doing research or something if still enrolled but not entirely sure how that works, would have to clarify with my dean). And hopefully so that I could do something that made a bit of money with that extra year. I guess I'm just not sure what else I would fill that year with besides a couple of psych sub-Is and applying?

I'm at a top 25 school and I did a psych sub-I a few months ago from which I was able to get a strong LOR. I agree, I would like to do another rotation or two in psych to hopefully get some more letters.

you will be more than fine. Your chances to match into a perfectly fine psych program are just fine whether you are at a top 25 school or a top 75 school....or hell even a DO school probably. Most people arent going to know or care about the diffeence between a top 25 school and top 45 school lol....

I would just do something to make sure you show people you have an interest in psych. May as well do another rotation in it if you can and get another letter....although with you already doing one Im sure thats not needed.

Agree with others who say the research year(unless you want to do that) is pointless.

Im not even sure why you want to stay a student anyways? You will literally be ok matching if you go home and work at Target for a year if you apply to a good mix of programs and go on a good number of interviews. Why do you want to stay a student anyways? Thats just more money/loans....

Also, why didnt you throw some psych programs in this year? This whole thing could have been avoided if you had just gone on 4-5 psych interviews too.....

 

[Celexa]

you will be more than fine. Your chances to match into a perfectly fine psych program are just fine whether you are at a top 25 school or a top 75 school....or hell even a DO school probably. Most people arent going to know or care about the diffeence between a top 25 school and top 45 school lol....

I would just do something to make sure you show people you have an interest in psych. May as well do another rotation in it if you can and get another letter....although with you already doing one Im sure thats not needed.

Agree with others who say the research year(unless you want to do that) is pointless.

Im not even sure why you want to stay a student anyways? You will literally be ok matching if you go home and work at Target for a year if you apply to a good mix of programs and go on a good number of interviews. Why do you want to stay a student anyways? Thats just more money/loans....

Also, why didnt you throw some psych programs in this year? This whole thing could have been avoided if you had just gone on 4-5 psych interviews too.....

Your info on the competitiveness of the psych match seems pretty outdated. I agree with the folks above who are saying research may or may not boost this person's chances, but as someone who failed the match once and presumably has an application that does likely risk appearing as though psych is a backup option, a match next year is definitely not guaranteed.

We had unmatched people this year in my programs medical school...suffice it to say it's definitely what people would consider a 'top' place. And not unmatched bc they had any red flags, either.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Your info on the competitiveness of the psych match seems pretty outdated. I agree with the folks above who are saying research may or may not boost this person's chances, but as someone who failed the match once and presumably has an application that does likely risk appearing as though psych is a backup option, a match next year is definitely not guaranteed.

We had unmatched people this year in my programs medical school...suffice it to say it's definitely what people would consider a 'top' place. And not unmatched bc they had any red flags, either.

Psych hasn’t really gotten that much more competitive from what I’ve seen. It’s small and incremental. Average board scores are also going up in this time frame. To prevent not-filling, programs are interviewing more people. US Allo medical schools still tell students that psych is a relatively easy match. Average applicants are applying to fairly good programs. With more interviews being handed out, more of the same applicants are being interviewed at the same programs. Larger numbers of interviews do not guarantee success when interviews in general are up and they are in the same tier of programs. If applicants aren’t dipping into lower tier programs, some are going to get unmatched. There are still plenty of US IMG’s and FMG’s matching. My hypothesis is that they are applying better to lower tier programs. As medical schools grow in size in the US, students need to start applying to more lower tier programs.

 

[vistaril]

Your info on the competitiveness of the psych match seems pretty outdated. I agree with the folks above who are saying research may or may not boost this person's chances, but as someone who failed the match once and presumably has an application that does likely risk appearing as though psych is a backup option, a match next year is definitely not guaranteed.

We had unmatched people this year in my programs medical school...suffice it to say it's definitely what people would consider a 'top' place. And not unmatched bc they had any red flags, either.

it's not outdated, it's accurate. The national numbers back this up- still tons of IMGS/FMGS matching and board scores still hover towards the bottom.

But even apart from the numbers, I see very weak candidates cruising into spots. Like the DO student who failed Comlex.

Frankly I don't buy that american allopathic students with no red flags(hell even with one or two red flags lol) are not matching. Why would so many programs be passing up american allo grads with no red flags to take run of the mill FMGS? The answer- they aren't.....