Psychiatry is becoming a more competitive specialty in the residency Match nationally, a trend that has spanned the last six years with dramatic increases over the last three. According to Psychiatric News, a total of 982 U.S. senior medical school students matched with a psychiatry residency in this year’s National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), up from 923 in 2017. Medical students are applying to more programs due to an expanding Match program, the mounting competitiveness for slots, and the growing attractiveness of psychiatry. Consequently, the importance of the residency interview process has increased.

This year, Anna Borisovskaya, MD, Director of our department’s Career Counseling Unit for UW medical students, organized “mock” residency interviews for our medical students applying to Psychiatry residency programs. In early October, each student was interviewed by one of our faculty career counselors (Jonathan Buchholz, MD; Heidi Combs, MD, MS; Deb Cowley, MD; Sharon Romm, MD) and given feedback. Our thanks to Anna and the faculty members who did this! And we wish our medical students well in the residency application process.