Community vs University Program

[Lotuseater]

If you are interested in fellowships in Neuro, how much does it hurt to go to a community Neuro program?

What if the community Neuro program offers a lot of opportunities to do research?

What factors are most important in getting fellowships in Neuro -- USMLEs, Research, going to a community vs University program for your initial neuro years, etc...?

Are job prospects harmed if you go to a community program? (say if you didn't want to do a fellowship after all)

Thanks for any input!

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[minstral]

any and all is possible. especially if you are interested in practicing in the area or becoming part of that hospital. Working there would give you a leg up. But schooling in Wyoming and then expecting a great offer in LA California may be more unlikely. Im sure ome community programs have fellowships too in more popular fields.

 

[BrainBuff]

The most important aspect of getting fellowships in neuro is CONNECTIONS. That is, the relationship you established with your attending in the field if you want to stay in the program where you are doing your residency or the rec (or phone call) you get from your chairman or your attending to the attending in charge of the fellowship program you are interested in going to. That simple.

I find it very informal for the most part and certainly doing your residency in a reputable neurology program will help you. It is all about NETWORKING....

 

[typhoonegator]

I agree. For better or worse, many fellowship spots are filled internally or via a very short list of other potential candidates. The subspecialties of neurology are a pretty tight-knit group, and connections are important.

I think most fellowship directors would rather go with a known-quantity from either their home institution or somewhere where they know the faculty well, rather than take a chance on someone who may have an outstanding CV, but comes from somewhere you aren't familiar with and don't know the faculty well enough to trust their opinion. Not fair, but when you think about it, the business world works this way as well.

 

[Neurotoxin]

So which ones are community programs? I can't think of any... Anyone got any names?

 

[Neurotoxin]

Any names?

 

[manning18]

You could try checking FREIDA for the list of all Neuro programs and you'll be able to pick up the few that are community based. There are some programs that are University affiliated; there are few pure community programs. Some might include: Allegheny General (PA), JFK (Edison, NJ), Seton Health (Austin, TX), Barrow (AZ), the LA are might have some (Kaiser, etc), Saint Vincent (NYC), Beth Israel (NYC).
These are some; there aren't too many total....

 

[Neurotoxin]

You could try checking FREIDA for the list of all Neuro programs and you'll be able to pick up the few that are community based. There are some programs that are University affiliated; there are few pure community programs. Some might include: Allegheny General (PA), JFK (Edison, NJ), Seton Health (Austin, TX), Barrow (AZ), the LA are might have some (Kaiser, etc), Saint Vincent (NYC), Beth Israel (NYC).
These are some; there aren't too many total....

Thanks, manning18. I checked it out on Freida, but I couldn't find any "pure" community programs, but the ones you mentioned did show up as university affiliated. By Seton Health I'm guessing you're referring to the UTMB program? Anyways, these are still all great programs!

Thanks for the info.

 

[manning18]

I'm not sure if any pure community programs exist or how to search for them based on that criteria. There are very few (if any).
The UTMB program is the one I referred to (in Austin).
These programs are solid. As mentioned, people coming out of larger University based programs will (for the most part) have an edge in terms of Fellowship placement over graduates of these programs mentioned above. That said, I'm sure there are plenty of graduates from these programs who do very well in terms of Fellowship placement.

 

[buckley]

Hi there! I also looked into community neuro programs when I was applying but I did not find any. It would be hard I guess for a community hospital to support enough faculty attendings to form a neurology program.

If you can settle for a quieter university set-up, there are quite a number. These are based on the location. I liked UNMC/Creighton, UIC Peoria, UH Case Western. One thing that surprised me during the interview was that residents from these places did a lot more thrombolysis and EMG/NCVs (my areas of interests so the information stuck) than their big name counterparts. Again, if you are the only program in a huge county, you would get the huge patient loads.

 

[manning18]

Case Western/University Hospitals of Cleveland is a MAJOR Neurology program. They take 8 residents/year, which is huge. I think they matched 10 in 2008 after having matched 6 in 2007. Some people consider their program just as strong as the program at Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

 

[buckley]

For the record, I never said Case/UH was a minor program I loved it there and the only reason I opted to rank it lower was because of visa issues. It just had a more relaxed feel to it than other programs, and that's a big part of what I loved about it. The attendings and the staff are super friendly. Both Dr. Armitage and Dr. Preston seem to be wonderful PDs to have. The hospital is huge and really well-kept, but it's not in the middle of a crazy busy city. SO that's why I said it had a "community" feel to it.

I guess there is the mentality that "community" sometimes is meant to be "minor" or "inferior" but for me, it isn't so. It's about being in a friendlier place where you actually have time to breathe and laugh a little.

 

[manning18]

Fair enough. After reading your initial message (especially the part about the 'quieter University set-up), I just felt Case/UH was out-of-place when being compared to the other programs mentioned (such as UI-Peoria and Nebraska).