Interview Impressions 2011-2012

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typhoonegator

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Hey folks,

Please post your interview impressions in this thread. As with previous years, if you would like to have your impressions/opinions voiced anonymously, please IM me and I will post them to the forum with no personally identifiable information.

It is best if you are able to list potential pros/cons for each interview location. Once this thread gains traction, I will sticky it for the remainder of the season. I will leave last year's thread up as well as programs don't tend to change that rapidly.

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Could you please tell me how to find last year's thread?
Thank you
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Rank lists are in...let's start getting some impressions posted.
 
Emory: Strong clinical program with a large variety of cases to see at EUH, Wesley Woods, Atlanta VA, CHOA, and Grady. PD is very responsive to their concerns and according to a 3rd yr resident has been making numerous changes to the program. Dr. Khan (PD) is really cool and is planning on hiring Neurohospitalists at EUH soon as well as NP's at Grady for 24/7 in-house coverage. PD and the chairman are very driven to increasing resident diversity. Didactics/conferences may be done by video for residents at Grady/EUH-Midtown. You work at 6 different hospitals and majority of call is in the PGY-2 year. Night float system is at EUH and q4 call is at Grady (PGY-3 does NF at Grady). Very strong subspecialty representation-and you are guaranteed any fellowship there you want. Strong in Movement (DeLong discovered D1/D2 receptor pathway of basal ganglia), Neuromuscular, and Epilepsy. EUH is a tertiary referral center and Grady is a community hospital. Brand new Neuro ICU at Grady w/CT angiogram there. Guaranteed Transitional or Prelim-Medicine year if you want. Driving distance from EUH to Grady is a bit much but not horrible. Some people weren't too happy with one of the residents saying that you can't read a lot because you're so busy-but almost all of the residents were pleased with the program. ATL is big but diverse-people there come from all over.


Duke: Has had a reputation of being malignant in the past but according to the residents those classes are long gone. Morgenlander is well known in the Neurology world and really takes care of his residents. They got a new PD recently (Dr. Sinha) and Morgenlander is the Interim Chair. You rotate at Duke Hospital and the Durham VA, which is literally next door. They are currently doing construction for a brand new part of the hospital. NF system at Duke and Ped Neuro is home call. Very strong in Neurocritical Care and Epilepsy. Tertiary referral center despite UNC nearby (no issues with patient volume according to residents/faculty). Medicine year is guaranteed. Residents are fun and happy they're at Duke. A fellow mentioned that Durham is more of a married people town vs Chapel Hill which is more of a single people town. Wasn't a big fan of Durham as a town but the Duke campus was very nice.

UPenn: Can't stress how much I loved this program. PD (Dr. Galetta) has been there for a long time and is very driven in training academic neurologists. NO NF system-residents prefer this and wanted to stick to q4 call. ALL of your call is done in the PGY-2 year-after that there is very little to no call (Ped Neuro call is home). One of the 4th yrs mentioned that she couldn't even remember the last time she had to take call since her PGY-2 year. You rotate at HUP, Penn Hospital, CHOP, and Penn VA. The dept is in the process of getting a new chairman, which may be the current interim chair (Dr. Coslett). Superb subspecialty representation with an option of doing elective rotations at Johns Hopkins (HIV Neurology, Myology, Peripheral Nerve, Neuro-otology). You can get any fellowship you want either at Penn or anywhere else. All of the current 4th yrs are staying at Penn for fellowship.Residents are beyond happy having trained there, which may be a reason why all of them decided to stay for fellowship. Normally about half of them will stay and the other half will leave to go somewhere else. No doubt you will get superb training if you go to this program. Philly is a fun place and isn't as big/expensive as NYC or Boston.


UVA: Has a great reputation and used to be a rigorous clinical program until the NF system was instituted. Residents all prefer to have this system with the short call/long call system for work transfer. All of your rotations are done at UVA hospital (No VA). Residents are friendly and very happy there. PD is awesome and showed us some of UVA on our interview day. He really cares about the program and the residents. Chairman (Dr. Johnston) is a young woman from U Rochester and is a well known stroke attending. Cville is pretty much a college town with a large winery according to Dr. Burns (PD) as well as a large music, arts, and sports scene. You will definitely get fantastic training if you come to UVA but it isn't a cake walk according to the PD.

Yale: Most of the faculty are from UCSF/Harvard/Columbia and are trying to make the program stronger than it has ever been. PD and chairman are very driven and supportive of residents' goals. NF system was started a few years ago-and one resident even told me to avoid a program that still has q4 call. You spend a majority of your time at Yale-New Haven as well as the West Haven VA. You do both continuity clinic and subspecialty clinics. Residents are very happy and pleased with their training there. Author of the Neuroanatomy text is on faculty there (Dr. Blumenfeld). Residents have no problems getting fellowships they want either at Yale or anywhere else. New Haven has had a reputation of having a lot of crime but according to the current residents things have changed since the 90's.
 
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