What Are My Chances at Psych Residency?

[Psychapplicant133]

Hello,

I am a third year medical student interested in psych and I’m looking for some advice on my application overall. Here’s basically a quick CV, please let me know if you see anything or have any ideas:

Grades:
-Honored Psych and Honors in Peds. No other honors unfortunately but all my comments are fortunately very positive
-MS2 grades made me eligible for jr AOA but did not receive it

Test Scores:
-Passed step 1 on first attempt, step 2 coming up, assuming I will score probably 240 or so

Research:
-double digit current publications in pubmed, most are low tier

Extra Curricular:
-VP of interest group unrelated but adjacent to psych
-Volunteered at local homeless shelter
-Paid medical school tutor for MS1s for one year
-EMT in undergrad
-Volunteered in a local prison in med school

Letters of Rec:
-No aways but I have my letters all from home institution, 2 psych and 1 a research mentor

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[TexasPhysician]

If a US MD, all you need to do now is interview well and pass step 2. Destroy step 2 and I don’t see why you could apply for top programs.

 

[Psychapplicant133]

Thank you for your reply, I forgot to mention I’m a US MD at a top50 if that helps

 

[nexus73]

This seems like a humble brag? Like the Facebook doctor posts about retirement planning where they’ve got million/year income, 7 million net worth, 23 investment properties, and they’re 42 years old…am I going to be ok in retirement?

 

[Psychapplicant133]

This seems like a humble brag? Like the Facebook doctor posts about retirement planning where they’ve got million/year income, 7 million net worth, 23 investment properties, and they’re 42 years old…am I going to be ok in retirement?

I was afraid of someone thinking this but I’m actually asking since by all accounts you need to show a genuine interest in psych, and I’m worried that all I got going for me is some random ec’s and research

 

[BobbyKoch]

I have no doubt your stats and cv will get you tons of interviews and, if you can interview half decently, you’ll match. What might have a determining factor on how well you match is how you will portray your interest and fit for psych with only one rotation in the field. So I think your ps will need to be fairly compelling. If you can get some 4th year exposure in terms of diverse psych experience, inpatient, cl, cap even, you will be extremely competitive imo.

 

[SubzDoc]

I was afraid of someone thinking this but I’m actually asking since by all accounts you need to show a genuine interest in psych, and I’m worried that all I got going for me is some random ec’s and research

I would not consider the extracurriculars "random." The crisis line, EMT, prison and homeless shelter experiences are all going to be relevant and you could carefully play those up.

 

[Stagg737]

I would not consider the extracurriculars "random." The crisis line, EMT, prison and homeless shelter experiences are all going to be relevant and you could carefully play those up.

Agree with this. This sounds like a very strong foundation overall. OP should probably do at least 1 psych elective for more exposure to actual clinical psych. Unless specifically shooting for research track I'd also recommend getting at least 1 LOR from a non-psych clinical attending. Only having LORs from 1 department can be a yellow flag, ie may cause some concerns like why wouldn't anyone else write a letter? Do those things and imo there's no reason not to aim for top programs.

Then it just comes down to the interviews and personal skills, so would make sure any problems in that area are addressed.