Residencies in Boston

[IniestaDeMiVida]

Hi y'all. I'm still in my preclinical years, but for personal reasons I'm looking into shooting for residencies in the northeast. How competitive are the programs in Boston (like BU, Mass Gen, etc.)? And how is 'competitive' defined in the scope of psychiatry residencies?

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[Nasrudin]

Hi y'all. I'm still in my preclinical years, but for personal reasons I'm looking into shooting for residencies in the northeast. How competitive are the programs in Boston (like BU, Mass Gen, etc.)? And how is 'competitive' defined in the scope of psychiatry residencies?

I'll field this one only as an avid collector of conversational evidence and backlogged interview revues from memory. There are primary sources here for a few of the Boston programs in which case take their word for it.

Boston, like most of the bigger cities, has the full spectrum of competitiveness. MgH and company are among the most competitive programs in the country and will require resumes, scores, and grades similar to other very competitive specialties. Like many of the top academic programs a research resume can be more helpful, since ostensibly, it's part of their agenda to be centers of knowledge creation.

Cambridge Health Alliance is also a highly sought after residency. Boston Universty and Tufts are solid programs with good reputations. This notch down from internationally renown programs is a good notch down in competitiveness. But Boston is a desirable city. So you still need to have stuff together with no red flags. What this means in psych terms is highly subjective. But I would estimate it as having decent grades, some clerkship honors, and all passes on you steps. If you scored at the national mean for all specialties there's only a few programs that wouldn't consider you for an interview unless you had some extra credentials. MGH and friends are among those.

There are some other programs that are not competitive at all there. Search the forum for them for most thorough results.

 

[silas2642]

Hi y'all. I'm still in my preclinical years, but for personal reasons I'm looking into shooting for residencies in the northeast. How competitive are the programs in Boston (like BU, Mass Gen, etc.)? And how is 'competitive' defined in the scope of psychiatry residencies?

The first thing to remember is that this is psychiatry; so compared to specialities like derm or rads, even the most competitive programs aren't that difficult to get into. Generally speaking, being an AMG with decent board scores and solid clinical grades (particularly Honors in psych) will get you looked at. Also keep in mind that "most competitive" doesn't always equal "best clinical training." I've met some well respected mentors who believe that Cambridge Health Alliance is overall the most solid program of the Boston programs.

 

[Leo Aquarius]

The first thing to remember is that this is psychiatry; so compared to specialities like derm or rads, even the most competitive programs aren't that difficult to get into. Generally speaking, being an AMG with decent board scores and solid clinical grades (particularly Honors in psych) will get you looked at. Also keep in mind that "most competitive" doesn't always equal "best clinical training." I've met some well respected mentors who believe that Cambridge Health Alliance is overall the most solid program of the Boston programs.

The MOST competitive psych programs are extremely difficult to get into, much more difficult than landing into a mid-tier radiology program. You have to have psych publications as well as the impressive scores and grades. I came from a famous medical school and my peers who applied to psych all were impressive on paper, but none of us got interviewed at MGH for example.

As an aside, to place derm and radiology on the same level is like comparing running a 5K marathon to competing in the olympics. I don't consider radiology very competitive anymore. The same thing that's happened to anesthesiology will, is actually happening in radiology - everybody's rushing to the scene, only to find a saturated market with decreasing salaries.