These school are clearly on opposite sides of the country but geographically not of too much importance.
Selection criteria
#1. Best psychotherapy training
#2. Best faculty to support my burgeoning mind
#3. Resident comradery
#4. Respected/recognized nationally
ee2k3- I'm very familiar with working with the UC Davis residency program, so I'll give you my thoughts. But it wouldn't be fair for me to try to compare with UNC, as I only know them through reputation (good), but don't have any direct familiarity.
For UC Davis:
#1. Very good psychotherapy training. On the spectrum on emphasis on psychotherapy vs. acute psychiatry, they fall on the former. They are also very psychodynamically oriented (Mark Servis, PD, has a lot of experience and he does a lot of teaching). In general, I would consider put UC Davis amongst the better psychotherapy training outside of Boston/NY.
#2. Great faculty. They don't have as many of the research powerhouses that you'll get at larger research-heavy programs, but the faculty are extremely approachable and very much teaching-oriented. Davis has lots of fellowships, so there is plenty of opportunity for exploration. If you have any interest in forensics, their fellowship (headed by Charles Scott) is arguably one of the top two in the country (with Case Western). If you have interest in systems-based stuff and/or politics, there is lots of opportunity to work with the Sacramento wonks.
#3. Typically a fairly tightknit residency group. To be honest, I never quite know how to field this question for any program, because it tends to vary from year to year and is hard to predict. One thing that does always factor in is the location. Programs that are in areas where a lot of residents are also from often have less tight-knit groups just because residents have existing social networks (or are trying to rekindle old social networks as they return home) which can reduce the need for residents to socialize. Very few residents are from Sacramento so residents tend to glom on to each other.
#4. I also find this one a little hard to answer, because most folks will obviously know the region in which they train more than regions in which they don't (granted, folks may grow up or go to undergrad or medical school in different areas, but you don't have a good understanding for the reputation of a psych program until you are in a psych program). In California, UC Davis tends to be viewed as not UCSF/UCLA-NPI level, but one step below (same breath as Harbor, UCSD, etc.). And that I think tends to do with research. Nationally, it tends to have the reputation as an under appreciated gem.
Hope this helps...
