Hi,
I'm not from California, but am applying to psychiatry residencies in California...There are a couple of programs associated with UCLA...can you guys shed any light as to which are the most competitive?
Thanks!
If there are any residents around from these particular programs they may be able to shed some more light on the various programs, but I'll share what I know.
The program that is listed in ERAS as
"UCLA - Semel Institute" is
"the" UCLA (proper) program. It is probably the most prestigious program in the LA area & I would assume is also therefore the most competitive.
There are a lot of other programs associated with the UCLA name, and I think it is mainly because they get their accreditation (or something like that) through UCLA, I'm not sure how much "cross-talk" there is with the UCLA main program (or access to UCLA research facilities, etc.) (This is where current residents of the programs could probably enlighten is.)
UCLA-Kern,
UCLA-San Fernando Valley & "UCLA-Harbor" are all more "community-based" programs. UCLA-Kern is located in
Bakersfield, California. "UCLA-Harbor" is based at a the "Harbor"-UCLA medical center which is a
county hospital for Los Angeles county. I am calling it "UCLA-Harbor" in quote marks because in the alphabetical listing of programs in the "interview trail" thread that is how it is listed, but in ERAS the progam is called "Los Angeles County - Harbor - UCLA Medical Center Program".
If I remember correctly, residents from the UCLA-Semel Institute program do their Emergency Psychiatry rotation at Harbor, and I think UCLA-Semel has a special "Harbor Track" where the whole first year is spent at Harbor (or something like that).
I was at the PsychSIGN California meeting last year at UCLA. (PsychSIGN = Psychiatry Student Interest Group Network) There were representatives from Harbor-UCLA, UCLA-Semel, and UCLA-San Fernando Valley there. I seem to recall them saying that Harbor-UCLA was a bit of a smaller program (in terms of # of residents) and maybe a little more "personal"/nurturing vs. the UCLA-Semel Institute Program. They said there were lots of research opportunities, etc. at UCLA-Semel Institute, but since it was a little less "personal" if you wanted to take advantage of those opportunities you needed to be a self-starter, making sure that you made things happen for yourself.
I kind of get the vibe that for people who are into research/academics UCLA-Semel Institute is the big name in town. For people who are interested in Emergency Psychiatry / public sector [many indigent patients] / County facility the two programs in LA would be Harbor-UCLA and Univ Southern California Program (at
LAC+USC medical center - "
the" BIG county hospital for Los Angeles County). I think Harbor & USC are the LA programs that definitely have "freestanding" Psychiatric Emergency Rooms, I'm not sure where or not the other programs in town do.
(Again, if there are any residents out there from these programs, maybe they can shed more light on the specifics and inter-relationships [if any] of the programs.)