Medical Education US

I am a fourth year student am applying to med/psych programs. I have been struggling lately because I believe my heart is in psychiatry, but I had previously been set on medicine. One reason I chose med/psych was because I was afraid of making a hasty decision that I would be sorry for later. I am at least at the point that I want to send my application to some psych programs. However, I have only researched the combined programs. What I would be looking for is a program with an excellent reputation for putting out great psychiatrists, not just a research machine. If I had to estimate, I would say I am an above average student. Any suggestions on some good programs to look into?
Thanks

Any suggestions on some good programs to look into?

That's a really broad question. It sounds like you are basically looking for a program that will prepare you to be a good clinical psychiatrist, though. There are a lot of good programs for people interested in clinical psychiatry, but more specifics would probably help with recommendations - such as are you looking to get significant psychodynamic or psychotherapy training? Also, do you think you might be more interested in a specific subspecialty within psychiatry, like child or geriatrics? Are you looking to stay in one particular part of the country?

As I only interviewed at combined programs (med-psych and peds-psych-child psych), I don't have that much knowledge of specific psychiatry residency programs.

One of the best ways to get suggestions would be to talk to someone in your medical school's psychiatry department - possibly even the chairman if he/she is approachable. Unfortunately, my chairman wouldn't discuss other programs - he just said I should stay at my med school for residency, even after I made it clear I wasn't applying there. Other attendings did provide more useful advice, though - but most of that advice is now 10 years old - and programs can change a lot over a few years these days.

[ Edited by Admin on 2004/9/30 18:24 ]

I am looking for solid training in psychotherapy. I am not interested in subspecialty, and I would like to work in a moderate to large city. Not so important what city.
You are right, this is pretty broad. Unfortunately, the chair of my dept. says he doesn't know much about different programs. Also, I am doing a visiting rotation in med-psych, and I don't really want to tell the residency director that I am unsure of my decision, so I hesitate to ask his advice.
Anyway, I thought I would add some detail in case any other readers have any suggestions.