Summer programs for med students

[Akecheta]

Any recommendations on psych programs for m1-m2 summer? I've heard of VCU's program and the Betty Ford program. Thanks.

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[shan564]

There's a program in my area in which you get the opportunity to interact daily with academic psychiatry residents and possibly attendings, and they give you a great evaluation at the end. The job consists of doing my paperwork and cleaning my house, and you also get to watch me do my job and listen to me rant about stuff. In your spare time, you will have permission to watch YouTube lectures on psychiatry. I guarantee that it'll be at least as educational as these VCU and Betty Ford programs, based on a cursory read of what they do.

If you want to learn about psychiatry (like that VCU course), read some books or take an online course on coursera or watch academic lectures on YouTube. If you want to see psychiatry in practice, ask to shadow a psychiatrist at your local hospital. I don't see the point in traveling and paying money to participate in a "formal" 1-week program. You'll get plenty of formal training in your 3rd-yr rotations and your 4th-yr electives... and once you have that basic training, you can go to conferences and seminars to learn about the specific stuff that interests you.

 

[eastcoastdr]

You could always try to work on a research project in a psych or a related field. I think that would look better on an application than some 1 week program.

 

[vistaril]

Any recommendations on psych programs for m1-m2 summer? I've heard of VCU's program and the Betty Ford program. Thanks.

is this a serious question? if you are interested in psychiatry here is what I would recommend doing the summer between m1 ans m2:

1) go to the beach a lot during the day
2) go out every night after the beach
3) sleep in

repeat x 3 months

 

[Psychotic]

is this a serious question? if you are interested in psychiatry here is what I would recommend doing the summer between m1 ans m2:

1) go to the beach a lot during the day
2) go out every night after the beach
3) sleep in

repeat x 3 months

I wish I had followed this advice. Instead, I succumbed to the institutional pressure to do something "researchy" during that time, as it turned out in a specialty very far removed from psychiatry, and something that NOBODY has asked me about in my psych interviews...I wish I had that time back now.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Betty Ford has an all expenses paid mini-internship thing. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hopefully it still exists.