Can - psychedonpsych

[ArchivalUser]

Hey guys, can anyone help me decide between ccf and penn state hershey? I've had interviews at both, and can't for the life of me decide which one i should rank higher.

CCF has a stronger psychopharm based program. Also ccf has more fellowship options, and for someone like me who hasn't yet decided which fellowship I'd like to take up, that's a huge plus. The campus was huge and awesome, and both faculty and residents seemed really friendly. Not to mention CCF apparently has a better name nationally than penn state.

But Penn State's better location wise...the little town of Hershey is absolutely beautiful, and there's the close proximity to new york, philly, NJ and washington d.c. Their program is pretty strong too, with the chairperson being a big name in psychiatry. The PD seems to be very well liked, and the residents appeared super happy. Their only fellowship option, though, is child psych, and there seems to be a lot more emphasis on psychotherapy than psychopharm, rather than a good balance.

Both programs offer H1b and moonlighting options. Simliar payscales and cost of living too.

[ArchivalUser]

wow...I hear you...

How were your IVs in respect to each other?

If you think that IVs were equal and got similar feedback from the programs, you can choose the one for location (Hershey) and if you like psychofarm better than psychotherapy and CCf has better reputation than choose CCF..

how does that sound?

[ArchivalUser]

@pathology:
Well I thought both went very well.

My take on psychopharm vs psychotherapy is that ideally you have to have a balance of both...ccf has more of psychopharm, penn state has more of psychotherapy...I guess if I'd have to choose just on that respect I'd go with the one strong on psychotherapy, as that's something that can only be learnt when someone teaches it to you, as opposed to psychopharm where books and journals can substitute to some extent.

But what it really boils down to for me is reputation vs location. I guess the smart thing to do would be to go with penn state. But man, saying no to CCF somehow sounds so stupid, right? I mean, it's CCF!

Thanks so much for your input.

[ArchivalUser]

another point: how much psychotherapy is utilized by a psychiatrist? You will learn "enough" psychotherapy wherever you go...

on the other hand, location is important when you wanna do things there will be things around you...

You can say "NO" to CCF as well...because you seem to have doubts already.

sorry I ain't no so helpful..

good luck.

[ArchivalUser]

Hi blueblood, thanks for your reply.

Well I would agree that one can learn enough psychotherapy from almost any program, but I do feel that it's important who you learn it from and how, perhaps more than psychopharm, as it's entirely operator dependent as opposed to psychopharm. I also feel that if a program stresses on psychotherapy, I guess the chances of it having good psychotherapists are higher.

I think that even though we're more about psychopharm these days, you can't go too wrong if you also have great therapy skills under your belt. It would only improve your practice.

You're right...the more I talk about it, the more I find I can say "NO" to CCF