General Information
Dear Applicant,
Thank you for your interest in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Harvard Psychiatry Residency Training Program. This fall, we will begin accepting applications for PGY 1 residency positions that begin in June 2025.
In accordance with guidelines developed by our professional organization, since 2020 we have conducted interviews by online video conference only. This was initially in the context safety with the COVID pandemic. We have continued the process as we feel it provides for greater equity of opportunity for applicants to have a chance to interview with us, though understand that there was also value in allowing applicants a chance to a visit our campus to experience the atmosphere of collaboration and scholarship that we believe provides our residents with an ideal environment for thriving during their training.
We invite you to take advantage of the materials posted on our website to get a feel for the program, including our video tour, and to reach out to any of the program directors or residents if you have questions.
Application and Interview Process
Please submit applications to us through ERAS. We ask that all materials reach us by November 1, 2024, though we strongly encourage applicants to have their applications completed and submitted as early in the recruitment season as possible.
For your reference, our match numbers in ERAS are:
General Track: 1256400C0
Research Track: 1256400C1
Community Track: 1256400C2
We will send invitations for interviews no earlier than October 18, 2024. Starting on that date, we will contact selected applicants and invite them to interview with the program and continue to offer interviews on a rolling basis until all interview spots have been filled. We receive a very high number of applications each year and aim to review them in a holistic manner, and it several weeks to finish reviewing applications. As of now, we have filled all available slots for interviews for the 2024-2025 season. If you have not heard from us about an interview, you may assume that you are on our Wait List.
We interview six applicants per day and hold interviews on Mondays and Fridays. We will offer an optional weekly Meet & Greet with residents, which we will continue to hold virtually. The interview day starts at 8:30 AM and ends at 3:15 PM.
Our interview dates for the interview season this year are as follows. Dates that are bolded will be used specifically to interview applicants to the research track.
October 28
November 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25
December 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20
January 3, 6, 10, 13, 17, 24, 27
We will submit our rank list through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and will review the specifics of this process during your visit. If you plan to apply to this program, it is essential that you register with the NRMP and comply with its requirements and deadlines.
Application Materials
We review each application holistically, taking into consideration an applicant’s academic performance (including pre-clinical and clinical grades, clerkship narrative evaluations, USMLE scores, and pre-medical school academic achievements), research and scholarly work, engagement with the community, leadership experience, letters of recommendation, and personal statement.
Additionally, we strongly value recruiting a diverse resident cohort with respect to race, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic background, and other aspects of identity. Applicants who feel comfortable doing so are encouraged to use their application to highlight aspects of their identity and experience which they feel would bring the perspective and experience of someone from an under-represented community.
Your application should include at least three letters of recommendation submitted on your behalf. At least one should be from a psychiatrist who is familiar with your work. Additionally, at least one letter should be from a rotation that involved direct care of patients as part of a primary treatment team (internal medicine is preferred, but others including family medicine, surgery, or pediatrics are acceptable).
We expect that all applicants will have received a passing score on the USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 2 CS examinations. We do not use cut-off scores on these examinations for purposes of selecting applicants to interview or rank. We understand that many applicants will not have completed Step 2 when applications are initially released through ERAS, but expect that applicants will have notified us about a passing score on USMLE Step 2 prior to the submission of rank lists.
Additional Information for International Medical Graduates:
We sponsor J1 and, in unusual circumstances, H1B visas. Direct clinical experience (not an observership) at an LCME-acredited United States medical school is required, as well as solid passing scores on USMLE exams. Contact the ECFMG to apply through ERAS.
Please feel free to contact any of the training directors or our training coordinators (see contact information below) with any questions.
Sincerely yours,
Christie Sams, MD
Director, BIDMC Harvard Psychiatry Residency Training Program
csams@bidmc.harvard.edu
Other contact infromation:
Timothy Scarella, MD
Associate Training Director
tscarell@bidmc.harvard.edu
Jennie Davidow, MD
Associate Training Director
jdavidow@bidmc.harvard.edu
Renetta Johnson
Program Coordinator
rjohns16@bidmc.harvard.edu
Colleen Cusick
Program Coordinator
ccusick1@bidmc.harvard.edu
