How to Apply

Recruitment Chief Sessions
Applicants interested in learning more about our program and life as a Psychiatry Resident in the Pacific Northwest are encouraged to email our Chief Resident for Recruitment, Michael Silva (michaeps@uw.edu) or schedule time to meet: https://calendly.com/michaeps. In the interest of equity and limited availability, please only register up to 2 sessions per person.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to Match Rules, Dr. Silva cannot meet with any applicants for this current ERAS cycle starting from 9/25 at 6am PST and on. He is happy to meet at any time before then! Thank you for your understanding!

Summer Open House
Join us for a chance to meet the program director, Dr. Jackie Hobbs, as well as other UW Psychiatry residents and faculty. Enjoy an opportunity to have your questions answered by members of the residency, and learn why the University of Washington is the ideal choice for jumpstarting your career in Psychiatry! Please register in advance for these events. Click here to register.

• Tuesday, 8/6/2024, 12-1pm PDT  (Integrated Care, Community Leadership, Teaching Scholar)
• Tuesday, 8/13/2024, 12-1pm PDT  (Child & Adolescent, Geriatric, Research)
• Tuesday, 8/20/2024, 12-1pm PDT  (Psychotherapy, Global Mental Health, Perinatal Psychiatry)
• Tuesday, 8/27/2024, 12-1pm PDT  (Consultation Liaison, Psychopharmacology, Addiction, Research)

UW NURF Diversity Townhall, September 5, 6-8pm PDT (Zoom)
This event welcomes prospective applicants from underrepresented and/or disadvantaged backgrounds with the goal to introduce them to the University of Washington. We want to spark their interest in our outstanding residency and fellowship programs in preparation for their interview season. Last year, we had over 400 potential applicants join us from across the country! We anticipate applicants will be eager to speak with residents and faculty and learn more about our individual programs during the program-specific zoom sessions.

• 6:00pm – Welcome, logistics, land acknowledgement, agenda setting
• 6:10pm – Info about UW Network of Underrepresented Residents and Fellows
• 6:20pm – Info about UW Graduate Medical Education
• 6:30pm – Info about UW Office of Healthcare Equity
• 6:40pm – Panel Q&A on Top Applicant Questions & Closing
• 7:15pm – Program-Specific Zoom Sessions

Supplemental Session to the UW NURF Diversity Town Hall
Weren’t able to get all your questions answered during the UW NURF Diversity Town Hall? Do you want to hear even more about UW Psychiatry-specific DEIA initiatives or what it’s like to be BIPOC in Seattle? We are happy to talk to you at our psychiatry-specific Supplemental Session, which will feature Recruitment Chief, Dr. Mike Silva, and VA Associate Program Director, Dr. Elizabeth Hersey (who was last year’s recruitment chief as well), along with others! If interested, please register here.

Application Information

We are glad that you are interested in our residency training program, and we welcome your application!  Please review the instructions and checklists associated with the positions for which you plan to apply. We do not offer observership opportunities.

Please email any questions about your application, as well as any application materials which cannot be transmitted through ERAS to psychres@uw.edu

ERAS will be open for submission of residency applications on September 4, 2024. UW Psychiatry will begin reviewing your applications on September 25, 2024. Program will start sending out interview invitations on October 14th. For more information about the application timeline, and to stay up-to-date with the changes in ERAS, please visit: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-residency/article/eras-timeline-md-residency/

Our residency interview season is all-virtual. We understand that this may pose specific concerns for some applicants, and anyone with questions should feel free to reach out to our Chief Resident for Recruitment, Michael Silva (michaeps@uw.edu).

PGY-1 Applicants

All PGY-1 positions are filled through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and applications are accepted only through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). The deadline for application and letters of reference is October 1st of the year prior to the starting year. Applications received after the deadline will be considered on a very limited, case-by-case basis.

Applications are screened and interviews are generally scheduled for full days on Mondays and Tuesdays, from late October through January. An interview day offers the applicant the opportunity to meet with several faculty and residents and to visit various clinical sites.

PGY-1 applicants may apply to our Seattle Track, Research Track, or both tracks. These tracks are separate residency programs, with different match numbers and curricula. Decisions regarding interview invitations are made separately for each track.

Applicants will be required to complete the MyERAS application and signal.

The NRMP requires that residency programs provide applicants with the agreement that they would need to sign upon matching with the program. Please click to view the University of Washington Resident Position Appointment.

Application Checklist for the PGY-1 Applicant

• ERAS Application Form
• A one page narrative statement which includes your reasons for choosing psychiatry as a specialty.
• A minimum of three letters of recommendation from faculty or professional staff at your medical school or hospitals where you have worked, including at least one letter from a psychiatrist.
• Official medical or osteopathic school transcript
• Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE or Dean’s Letter)
• USMLE or COMLEX scores

PGY-2 Applicants

PGY-2 positions are filled on a rolling admissions basis. Applications are accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). The deadline for application and letters of reference is October 1st of the year prior to the starting year. Applications received after this will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Applications are screened and interviews are generally scheduled for full days on Mondays and Tuesdays, in late October and early November. An interview day offers the applicant the opportunity to meet with several faculty and residents and to visit various clinical sites.

Prior training requirements for PGY-2 Applicants

• Completion of one clinical year of accredited, broad-based training in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, or Pediatrics in the United States;
• OR an ACGME-accredited transitional year;
• OR one year of an ACGME-accredited residency in a clinical specialty requiring comprehensive and continuous patient care.

Application Checklist for the PGY-2 Applicant

• ERAS Application Form
• A one page personal statement which includes your reasons for choosing psychiatry as a specialty.
• A minimum of three letters of recommendation from faculty or professional staff at your medical school or hospitals where you have worked. Letters should be addressed to the Program Director.
• Official medical or osteopathic school transcript
• Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE or Dean’s Letter)
• USMLE or COMLEX scores
• A statement from the training director of each previous training program. This statement must specify the clinical and didactic experiences for which you will be given credit and an evaluation of your performance and professional integrity.

International Medical Graduates

The University of Washington Psychiatry Residency Program accepts applications from international medical graduates.

In general, a strong IMG candidate application will include

1. 6-8 weeks of clinical experience comparable to a US or Canadian medical student rotation that is beyond a research, observer, or volunteer level in family medicine, internal medicine or pediatrics, and psychiatry.
2. Letters from medical supervisors from the US
3. Eligible for J1 visas

We assess applicants for demonstrated excellence in four main areas. We have identified these as areas that align with our program mission and are important for resident success in our program.

• Dedication to Psychiatry and UW Areas of Strength: We want to hear about how you identified your commitment to train as a psychiatrist, whether this has been a long-term aspiration or an interest that developed later in your medical training. We also want to hear about any specific interest in our UW mission or program offerings. Please feel free to comment on your connection to or interest in serving the Pacific Northwest.
• Personal Attributes and Experiences: We value a residency class that will bring a range of experiences to our resident community. We find it helpful to hear more about experiences that have been important to you and your passion for clinical care, education, leadership, and/or advocacy. We appreciate learning more about any experiences of growth and resilience.
• Clinical Excellence: We want residents that demonstrate the potential for clinical excellence through experiences in clerkships or extracurricular clinical activities.
• Academic Potential: We value dedicated learners. We define academic potential broadly to include academic achievement, dedication to teaching, commitment to research and/or leadership.

Selection for Interviews

• Sept 27-Oct 11: We will review applications to select applicants for interview. We strive to review applications holistically across the four domains we outline above.
• Oct 14-15: We will send out invitations to interviews. We typically invite ~150 applicants to interview. All applicants that are not initially selected for interview are placed on the waitlist. If you are not selected for interview and UW is one of your top programs, please let us know as we will invite a limited number of candidates to interview after this date. Email: psychres@uw.edu
• R2 Applicants: Please apply through ERAS. We will invite R2 applicants to interview earlier and accept applicants on a rolling basis

Our interviews are held every Monday and Tuesday from 8am-4pm PST

• All interviews will be virtual. You will have an introduction to the day with the Program Director, interview with the PD, faculty and residents and conclude the half-day with a final opportunity to meet our Department Leadership. You will have both Conversational and Standardized Interviews.
• Conversational Interviews: These interviews are meant to be a conversation for you to learn more about our program and for us to get to know you better.
• Standardized Interview: These interviews will include two standardized questions as well as the opportunity to ask questions and share more about yourself. We introduced standardized interviews to our admission process as a recommended best practice by the AAMC. We have also found having the same information from each applicant is a more equitable approach to our admissions assessment. This year we are sharing the questions we will ask. We do not expect you to prepare an answer but hope that this will allow you to think about examples without a time pressure.
  • Question 1: Our program values personal and professional growth. Please tell us about a time you tried to accomplish something and struggled or failed.
  • Question 2: Our program values teamwork for excellence in patient care. Tell us about a time where you had to handle interpersonal conflict with a person or in a team/group.
• Social Hour: This is an optional portion of our interview day. These are held on Tues from 5-6pm PST (except for 11/19 and 12/17 which will be held on Monday at the same time). This is a resident only event. We hope this is an opportunity for you to ask residents from different years about their experiences training in our program.

Interview Dates

• October 2024  – 10/29 (R2 applicants only)
• November 2024 – 11/4, 11/5, 11/12, 11/18, 11/19, 11/25, 11/26
• December 2024 – 12/2, 12/3, 12/9, 12/10, 12/16, 12/17
• January 2025 – 1/6, 1/7, 1/13, 1/14, 1/21

Post-Interview Season 2nd Look
For applicants interested in learning more about our resident training opportunities, meet our new program director  and have any other unanswered questions! Zoom information will be shared via e-mail.

• Tuesday, 2/18/2025 from 12-1pm PST
• Friday, 2/21/2025 from 12-1pm PST

• Do you have cutoff scores for USMLE or COMLEX? We do not have cutoffs for USMLE or COMLEX scores. We find it helpful to understand more about the circumstances if you have had more than one failed exam.
• Do you have to have connections to the Pacific Northwest (PNW) to match at UW? We have residents from all over the US and the world in our program. We find it helpful to hear about any connections you may have to our region or specific interests you have in serving the populations in the PNW.
• Do you accept IMGs? We do. We prefer applicants with 6-8 weeks of US or Canada experiences in either family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, or psychiatry. We accept J-1 visa and can sponsor H-1B visa.

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