PSYCHIATRY AND IMGs

Psychiatry has seen some exciting changes in the scope of its practice and the way American medical students look at it.

As things appear as of now, it is kinda easier to get in as compared to Internal Medicine, but with time, things always get tougher. As the AAMC Site puts it : "The number of qualified U.S. Medical Graduates selecting psychiatry residencies is insufficient to fill all of the positions." And as Weissman notes on this article : "psychiatry—like the rest of medicine—is heavily dependent on international medical graduates and will remain so for the future."


"Tougher" for IMGs always runs parallel to what's Favourite for AMGs...coz historically speaking, IMGs get the 'Leftovers' ..lol


Why is Psychiatry getting popular with Both AMGs and IMGs?

1. Pays have gone up pretty good and comparable to Internal Medicine and even more at times
2. Lifestyle is controllable and docs can decide their own times to work with much much lesser emergencies.
3. Demand is going up as employers are beginning to offer more insurance coverage to their workers for mental health, since its proving to help maintain or improve productivity of companies.
3. Technological advances in psychiatry has made it more exciting to work
4. IMGs like to specialize and be called "specialists" much more than AMGs like to do it - and that's an accepted fact. Psychiatry offers good fellowships!
5. Excellent patient contact experience

Tips for IMGs:

- When you apply, you need to convince the programs that you are really interested, coz a lot of residents make a switch in the second year thinking that they have arrived in a wrong place. So observerships and other clinical experience along with research (yeah - research on your resume is still attractive to psychiatry residency programs)

- Remember that many programs will also offer a combination of Psychiatry with other primary care specialties like Family medicine, pediatrics - and that makes u more marketable with much higher salaries, though it will be a 5-year residency.

- J1-waiver jobs are not all that tough for Psychiatry, so even if you end up with a J1 residency, don't sweat too much over it - of course I would still ask you to try your best for a H1b Psychiatry residency. Early search for waiver jobs and good amount of practical work on your resume will help you for a waiver position. Read more about J1-waiver Sponsors and Specialties over Here.

What USMLE scores are good for Psychiatry ? Aim for 90-plus scores at least, lower scores must stress more on US clinical experience. A resident that I personally know had 5 interviews the first time he applied back in 2002 with low scores below 85 , did not match. He did a year of observerships, clinical research and all that running around which paid of the next year with 22 interviews and a match too :-)

How long is Psychiatry Residency ? = Four Years

How long are the fellowships ? = Two Years

What Fellowship Options exist after Psychiatry ?


* Addiction Psychiatry
* Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
* Forensic Psychiatry
* Geriatric Psychiatry
* Pain Management
* Psychosomatic Medicine
* Sleep Medicine