A difficult question: UPMC Pitts Neuro and NDD residencies

[Wanderer HitchHiker]

I would like to ask about UPMC Pitts; how competitive are neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities residencies there? I totally understand it is a subjective question and I cannot get a definitive answer; however, I would appreciate a relative one like ivy, high, middle, or low tier. Or as compared to other widely known specialties.

The difficult part will be the NDD related since it is a very rare speciality with very scarce information available on it

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[thehomelessguy]

I would like to ask about UPMC Pitts; how competitive are neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities residencies there? I totally understand it is a subjective question and I cannot get a definitive answer; however, I would appreciate a relative one like ivy, high, middle, or low tier. Or as compared to other widely known specialties.

The difficult part will be the NDD related since it is a very rare speciality with very scarce information available on it

I am not sure. I am an NDD graduate from Baylor. Our program was moderately competitive. Pitt actually ghosted me. When I applied they sent me an email saying I was a good candidate and asked why I was interested in their program. I replied honestly that I loved the city of Pittsburgh (I lived in Point Breeze for 5 years) met my wife there and had personal ties to the area. I never heard back from them even after trying to contact them multiple times. I had interviews at Wash U, Nationwide, Cincinnati, Baylor, etc. So it wasn't like I wasn't competitive. Very weird overall.

The key to NDD is to really show passion about it. Programs hate if you are trying to use it as an easier backdoor. If you have questions about Baylor NDD feel free to contact me.

 

[child_neurologist_2020]

Hi,
I am a resident/fellow in the Child Neurology program at UPMC. It is an excellent program in my opinion and I am very happy to be here as are my co-residents as far as I know. The child neurology program is probably normal (I guess high-middle in your terms?) in terms of competitiveness in the field. Child neurology, however, is an atypical field... because of the low number of slots at any specific program, competitiveness for any specific program can be oddly high in any given year and entirely unpredictable. As far as I understand, this program at UPMC tends to highly value apparent sincere interest and commitment to coming to UPMC, so I would let the PDs know if you want to be here.

NDD is probably too small a field to rank programs in terms of "competitiveness." What I wrote about competitiveness for any specific program being unpredictable and potentially high in any particular year definitely holds true for this small field. But it's also true that for NDD here, the program also values sincere interest and commitment to coming to UPMC (as well as apparently sincere interest in the field of NDD). As far as I know, my colleagues who are residents/fellows in NDD are also very happy here.

Please PM me if you have any more specific questions.