When applying to combined residency...

[MrDocMD]

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is it ok to apply to the combined residency and to each specialty individually? I'm applying to neurology-psych combined residencies. Since there aren't many slots, is it ok to also apply individually to neurology and psychiatry at the same institution?

 

[billypilgrim37]

is it ok to apply to the combined residency and to each specialty individually? I'm applying to neurology-psych combined residencies. Since there aren't many slots, is it ok to also apply individually to neurology and psychiatry at the same institution?

Yes.

Most people who combine to combined programs will just apply to one or the other specialties as "back-ups." Consider strongly whether you would rather be a neurologist or a psychiatrist if you can't be a combined doc, and consider strongly just applying to the combined specialty and whichever of the two you'd prefer.

 

[vistaril]

is it ok to apply to the combined residency and to each specialty individually? I'm applying to neurology-psych combined residencies. Since there aren't many slots, is it ok to also apply individually to neurology and psychiatry at the same institution?

don't understand(at all) the concept of combined neurology-psychiatry programs....in answering your question, I dont know. But is there really any competition for these combined spots?

 

[notdeadyet]

Most people who combine to combined programs will just apply to one or the other specialties as "back-ups." Consider strongly whether you would rather be a neurologist or a psychiatrist if you can't be a combined doc, and consider strongly just applying to the combined specialty and whichever of the two you'd prefer.

I agree with this mostly, but to be honest, since there are so few neuro-psych programs (and probably with good reason), I'd just forego applying to the individual psych or neuro program at that single institution. There are way too many neuro and psych programs and way too few combined programs, and there is always the chance that the PD for the combined program may think less of your commitment to the combined residency if you're blitzing out individual apps to the individual specialties as well. I personally wouldn't risk it.

I was considering a different flavor of combined residency once upon a time and was told by a very good PD that the first thing he screens for in an application are applicants that he thinks are basically psychiatrists who are afraid to hang up the proverbial stethoscope.

 

[billypilgrim37]

I agree with this mostly, but to be honest, since there are so few neuro-psych programs (and probably with good reason), I'd just forego applying to the individual psych or neuro program at that single institution.

I don't know how it works everywhere, but for combined programs I'm familiar with, the interviews aren't entirely separate. Like, for triple board, you might spend a day at peds and a day with the psych folks for the interview. Folks would usually declare "yes, I want to do triple board, but if I can't get a triple board slot, I'd like to match in peds" or "psych". Usually the program would then rank them in the triple board match, but then also rank them in the categorical peds or psych as well just in case they don't match triple board, because there are so few combined slots, and the desirable ones are more competitive.

I don't know if that's how it works everywhere, but that's how I believe at least triple board works in the programs where I know people (Brown, Pitt, Cincy, Kentucky).

Triple board is essentially a "child psychiatry plus" program for the most part, and I don't understand people who want to be pediatricians if they can't do triple board.

FM/Psych works much better if the person sees themselves as "FM plus", so I agree they should screen out for psychiatrists who don't want to hang up a stethoscope. That doesn't mean someone won't wind up practicing more as a psychiatrist, but the programs generally (not always) work better if the primary identity initially is FM who wants more psych training.

I know little of IM/Psych except that it seems quite a bit different than FM/Psych.

And neuro/psych, I have no clue. I could imagine it going either way. I know a few attendings who have completed both trainings independently, and one works mostly as a neurologist, and the other as a geriatric psychiatrist. The former was annoying because he would cover neuro on the weekends at a community hospital we cover, and he would recommend that many of the people he saw get a psych consult, sometimes for no good reason, making lots of unnecessary work for us. What we could do in an hour that he couldn't have done with an extra five minutes was always beyond us. To be (un)fair, 5 minutes of an attending's time is probably worth more financially to an institution than an hour of of a resident's time.

 

[shan564]

I agree with this mostly, but to be honest, since there are so few neuro-psych programs (and probably with good reason), I'd just forego applying to the individual psych or neuro program at that single institution.

I applied to the IM/psych programs, and I followed this notion. I think I made the wrong decision. At Iowa, the psych PD specifically told me that I would have been fine to apply to both, and they'd understand if I wanted to do that. As a result, I took my name out of the running at Iowa, Duke, and Emory, which are programs where I would have liked to have interviewed otherwise.

In the end, it probably won't matter... I probably wouldn't have ranked any of those places in my top 3 anyway. But in retrospect, it was a mistake.

 

[notdeadyet]

Were your IM/ Psych programs your 1, 2, 3 on your ROL?

 

[shan564]

Were your IM/ Psych programs your 1, 2, 3 on your ROL?

I wasn't sure when I applied. I think my main motivation for applying to IM/Psych was because of particular interdisciplinary fellowships that I wanted to do, but I eventually decided that there are certain categorical psych programs that can put me in a good position for the same thing, and also give me more time for research. Now, I'm ranking Iowa high, but not as high as WashU, Mayo, and Cleveland Clinic (because they all provide the research opportunities and interdisciplinary fellowship options without having to do the extra IM training). I didn't get interviews at Duke or Emory.

 

[notdeadyet]

Yeah, I think this is what the combined programs are screening for. And this is why a lot of folks recommend not applying to both the standalone programs and combined residencies at one program. An applicant who looks like he can get his career needs met by doing a standalone psych program is going to be less attractive, per the combined PDs I talked to. The advice I received was that if I couldn't imagine combined residencies being at the top of my list with standalone psych programs being safeties at the bottom, I should probably rethink doing a combined residency.

That said, we're all responsible for own careers. And there are lots of ways to skin a cat…

 

[MrDocMD]

I applied to the IM/psych programs, and I followed this notion. I think I made the wrong decision. At Iowa, the psych PD specifically told me that I would have been fine to apply to both, and they'd understand if I wanted to do that. As a result, I took my name out of the running at Iowa, Duke, and Emory, which are programs where I would have liked to have interviewed otherwise.

In the end, it probably won't matter... I probably wouldn't have ranked any of those places in my top 3 anyway. But in retrospect, it was a mistake.

So you'd recommend applying to the individual programs at the same institution?

 

[shan564]

So you'd recommend applying to the individual programs at the same institution?

If it's a program that interests you. I don't have any regrets about not applying to the general psych program at WVU.