Advice for a first year DO student interested in psych?

[Proudfather94]

Hello, what do you guys recommend a first year do to get a leg up when it comes time to residency apps? I'm going to apply to the APA research program that's on their website for the summer. I'm going to see if I can shadow a psychiatrist or two soon as well to start building experience that way.

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[Bartelby]

Top recommendations:
-Do your best to achieve solid grades, especially in your clinical years.
-Make great impressions on the faculty you work with, especially psychiatrists. This will be reflected in your Dean's letter and LORs.
-Show interest n the field. Volunteer, do research, take leadership roles in psych groups, etc.
-Do your best to rock any standardized tests that are still scored by the time you take them.
-Try to pursue something memorable, that makes you a real person in the stack of applications. Pursue some hobby or passion, organize a free clinic, be part of interesting talks at conferences, etc.
-Avoid red flags, like failures or significant gaps.

Remember, psychiatry is getting more competitive but is still nothing like a derm or ophtho. Do your best, let your passion for the field shine and you will have a very solid chance when residency applications role around!

 

[BobbyKoch]

Agree with above and I can say, at the very least, that approach has led to some decent success acquiring interviews. Will update in March.

I would add, try to find and schedule some inpatient psych experience for yourself early in 4th year. Preferably at a residency program you are interested in. Well before eras is due, if possible, since this will allow you to get some good exposure to the field and acquire a solid LOR or two. I was able to do 3 psych rotations pre eras, one outpatient, one CL at a communiversity program, one inpatient at a highly regarded university program. These have been invaluable in being able to speak in a nuanced way about why I like psychiatry in interviews.

 

[FamousLinen]

Reach out to your PD/chair now to network and get involved in some kind of project or work

Secure good letters, one from your PD or chair if you make that connection is nice

Good clinical grades and Step 2

A handful of meaningful EC's (residencies seem to love med ed right now)

Do your sub-i's early in MS4

 

[Stagg737]

Reach out to your PD/chair now to network and get involved in some kind of project or work

Secure good letters, one from your PD or chair if you make that connection is nice

Good clinical grades and Step 2

A handful of meaningful EC's (residencies seem to love med ed right now)

Do your sub-i's early in MS4

Many DO schools are not associated with residency programs or even specific hospitals, so speaking PDs or chairs of "home programs" is not a possibility. If OP knows they are interested in a certain geographic area then reaching out to a chair or PD at some point (likely during M3 would be best) can certainly be beneficial, but focusing on grades and activities/interest groups is probably more beneficial during M1 year.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Many new schools are not operating care hospitals or systems that provide standardized rotations and therefore standardized experiences of grading that are under the school's control. Obtaining a rotation at a place that has these abilities can get you a leg up. Without this, you will likely be lost in the sea of 1,000 applications as we have no idea about how good you are or are not.

If you find yourself paying tuition to a school that suggests you go out into the world and find your rotations on your own, and the suggested rotations are "shadowing" non-professors who just let you watch them practice, be wary. That isn't adequate undergraduate medical education. Graduate medical education institutions are not fooled by this.

Does you school have Ph.D. programs that contribute to your MS-1 and MS-2 education? Is your school attached to a university, or is it stand alone and for profit? These are not trivial questions and medical education is inching towards the law school model. We are producing lots of lawyers and we are producing a few real lawyers. Medicine is going in this direction unfortunately.

Unlike lawyers, we don't have one test that allows us to practice (the Bar exam). You have to get into a residency and this is the last hurdle that is keeping us honest and credible. We may never shore up the infiltration of the "fake/for profit medical school" industry that is expanding quickly. This will close in when graduates from such schools stop matching. That will be when the water runs over the last dam and large loans will burden MDs with no ability to practice. I hope that will play out somewhere else and not in psychiatry.

 

[bGMx]

Many new schools are not operating care hospitals or systems that provide standardized rotations and therefore standardized experiences of grading that are under the school's control. Obtaining a rotation at a place that has these abilities can get you a leg up. Without this, you will likely be lost in the sea of 1,000 applications as we have no idea about how good you are or are not.

If you find yourself paying tuition to a school that suggests you go out into the world and find your rotations on your own, and the suggested rotations are "shadowing" non-professors who just let you watch them practice, be wary. That isn't adequate undergraduate medical education. Graduate medical education institutions are not fooled by this.

Does you school have Ph.D. programs that contribute to your MS-1 and MS-2 education? Is your school attached to a university, or is it stand alone and for profit? These are not trivial questions and medical education is inching towards the law school model. We are producing lots of lawyers and we are producing a few real lawyers. Medicine is going in this direction unfortunately.

Unlike lawyers, we don't have one test that allows us to practice (the Bar exam). You have to get into a residency and this is the last hurdle that is keeping us honest and credible. We may never shore up the infiltration of the "fake/for profit medical school" industry that is expanding quickly. This will close in when graduates from such schools stop matching. That will be when the water runs over the last dam and large loans will burden MDs with no ability to practice. I hope that will play out somewhere else and not in psychiatry.

Can you expand on this a bit more for a person (me) who is not quite up to speed on what you're talking about?

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Sure, and I thought I was concretely clear. My spell check doesn't like "concretely" but I think I spelled it right. I'm just trying to communicate that new medical schools not attached to a university and not having faculty with a track record of bringing in grants and teaching students, might not be as ideal as places that have these credentials.

This is not rocket science. What do you find surprising in this?

I loved my neuros snuggery rotation because the chief resident would remind all of us that this isn't rocket science, just neruro surgery. He was great.

 

[bGMx]

These are not trivial questions and medical education is inching towards the law school model. We are producing lots of lawyers and we are producing a few real lawyers. Medicine is going in this direction unfortunately.

Unlike lawyers, we don't have one test that allows us to practice (the Bar exam). You have to get into a residency and this is the last hurdle that is keeping us honest and credible. We may never shore up the infiltration of the "fake/for profit medical school" industry that is expanding quickly. This will close in when graduates from such schools stop matching. That will be when the water runs over the last dam and large loans will burden MDs with no ability to practice. I hope that will play out somewhere else and not in psychiatry.

This part!

 

[Stagg737]

I loved my neuros snuggery rotation because the chief resident would remind all of us that this isn't rocket science, just neruro surgery. He was great.

This sounds like a very comfy-cozy rotation, wish it had been offered where I went to school.

 

[Proudfather94]

Hey thanks guys. My school does alot of their rotations with the hospital system nearby and I was advised to email the pd of the psych residency program to try and secure research from some of the residents. I'm going to do that as well as try to get some shadowing experience.

 

[FamousLinen]

Hey thanks guys. My school does alot of their rotations with the hospital system nearby and I was advised to email the pd of the psych residency program to try and secure research from some of the residents. I'm going to do that as well as try to get some shadowing experience.

You can also use this connection for more than research. Let them know you're looking to get involved in the dept and involved in the field, not just research. Helping residents or faculty w/ research is one thing, but there's a lot of other less researchy type opportunities (cirriculum development, hospital guidelines, etc that faculty or residents work on).