neurocritical care fellowship interview experiences

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People interviewing for NCC Fellowship for 2015-17 year please post your experiences, so that all of us can benefit from these words of advice...Thank you
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Neurok_docd said:
hey guys, just wanted to share a few my experiences from the first round of my interviews for NCC fellowship for 2015-17 academic years
My first round of interviews ( Dec - Feb, the second round ofcourse will be March to June) so far have been SUNY Upstate and Loyola, Chicago. I will reveal more as I go through them.
SUNY Upstate in Syracuse is a good program overall, no big name, the PD Dr latorre is great, MGH graduate, basically runs their fellowship with two other staff attendings who are not yet boarded or I believe in the process of getting boarded. 10-12 bed NSICU, semi-open. They mainly see Status, AMS, neuro trauma. All SAH, IVH, ICH goes to neurosurgery and they rule this world. Varied patient population (caucasians mainly). Always a white christmas. Take 2 fellows, a big plus is fellows act as staff (ICU work + administration when needed) and not as fellows. Home calls only q 2 weekly with atleast 2 weekends every month. Currently, fellow belonged to medicine background though.

Loyola, Chicago IL - strength is Jose Biller, though he belongs to vascular neurology program, but in terms of being well published if you end up there he is the key. PD Dr Schneck is a genuine and very kind person. Will give you strengths and weakness of his own and other programs if not on service. Down to earth, good guy and very informal. Their ICU is a 13 bed. Havent had any fellows in the last 3 years or so (maybe some sort of stuff going on internally - possible red flag), semi-closed unit, see everything except trauma. Neurosurgery again has their reign over SAH/AVMs etc. residents are strong in the program and do the scut work, fellows home call only, 2nd year fellowship - fellows act as staff. Total 3 NSICU trained folks. All neurocritical care boarded. No step down units. PD controls the flow of what patients he wants to admit.
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Thanks for your informative post, I was wondering what you meant by Neurosurgery having reign over ICH /AVMs etc. Do these cases not trickle down to the NICU post op or pre op or are these cases handled in the Nicu by the NS team?
 
Yes, NSGY admits them and takes care of them until they are transferred to the floor. Neuro ICU folks have nothing to do with them, which sucks, again making it a semi-closed type of unit.
 
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Anyone doing Interviews for 2014 match cycle for training start date in 2015 or those interviewing for this years spot, please shed some light on your interview experiences. Thanks
 
Has anyone heard from programs like UCSF, Columbia, MGH, Duke or hopkins one way or the other ?
 
Got an interview from Columbia a couple of weeks ago and first rejection from northwestern today.... Waiting from Duke, UCLA, UCSF, Hopkins, MGH, Wash U and Yale...


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Interviewed at Wash U and Cleveland clinic.

Wash U - seems to be one of those really balanced programs as far as clinical training and research goes. They have moved on to night float system and seems like a busy fellowship with atleast 1 night float every month on an average. Diringer has limited his clinical service time unfortunately. Rest of the faculty are very young and energetic and seem easily approachable and interested in research. Dr. Kummer and Dr. Dhar are both in to basic research

Cleveland clinic - rigorous clinical training. 22 bed ICU. 4 months of nights in your first year. No nights in 2nd year. Decreasing fellows to 2 per year from 3 for unclear reasons. Not enough elective time for research. But probably one of the most righorous clinical training. Train you on par with pulmonary/critical care by my opinion. Good thing is Dr. Manno, Dr. Provencio, Dr. Fontera all spend adequate time on service and you get to learn directly from some of these big guns. Dr. Gomes seemed very nice and personal. 24 X 7 inhouse attending coverage, not many programs have this. Looks like a very strong program.
 
Is it a good program though? I've heard that it is a very strange program but not sure in what aspect.
 
Not sure, but Stanford program is very heavy on stroke and their fellowship is combined with ICU fellowship so their fellows are like primary ICU fellows with Neurocritical Care Training track
 
Guys, please post your interview experiences so everybody can benefit. I have interviewed at Wash U and Cleveland clinic so far and have already posted my experiences. I've heard that it has been more competetivie this year than in the past years. Any input?
 
Got couple of rejections from Duke and Northwestern.. Seems like it is tough this year to get interviews from Top Notch Places !!!
 
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Neurok_docd said:
Got couple of rejections from Duke and Northwestern.. Seems like it is tough this year to get interviews from Top Notch Places !!!
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Why is everyone saying it's harder this year? This is based on what?
 
snakesonaplane said:
Why is everyone saying it's harder this year? This is based on what?
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Haven't you seen the objective measures by which it is obvious that everyone has it harder this year than any year in the past? Hell, before UCNS, we used to waltz in to unaccredited fellowships and they would welcome us with open arms and free bacon for the entirety of our totally never work-hours violating fellowships. I mean, how could we violate work hours restrictions when our fellowships weren't even being tracked? Also, there wasn't even a UCNS accreditation for NCC until like 4 years ago, so it was super easy to score great fellowships when programs weren't even being held accountable for a fair and balanced hiring process. So yeah, uphill both ways these days. Thank God I was able to get a fellowship back when it was super easy.
 
Anybody heard back from UCSF, UCLA, Hopkins, Wash U, MGH and Yale...
 
Did not apply to Yale. UCLA and Columbia sent rejections. No response from UCSF, Hopkins or MGH. Interviewed already at Wash U. COnsidering how late we are in to the interview season, I am guessing it's a no from the other programs that haven't responded yet.
 
Yale and Hopkins haven't heard any response from yet. Interviewed at Wash U and MGH interview scheduled. Did not apply to Cali programs...

Hopefully in this upcoming week Hopkins and Yale will respond...either yay/nay. I don't believe Hopkins sent out invites just yet so there's hope (inside source).
 
Thanks guys haven't heard back from all of the above 6 programs. Either its rejections or late interviews I guess. Got Columbia IV next week
 
Have not heard from: UCLA, UCSF, Stanford, MGH.

How many applicants are interviewed, about 10 for 1 spot?
 
Any input on the Pittsburg program ? I know it has got a great reputation as a University in general but haven't seen any discussion on this forum about their fellowship
 
I did get an invite, but decided not to go as I already have plenty on my hands..... I wish Dr Shutter would have been still at U.Cincinnati though.... With her and Dr Bonomo,, this would have been a deadly combo
 
I am trying to drop 1 or 2 interviews but not sure which ones. It's between upmc, ut Houston and cinci. Any input on the strengths and weaknesses of these programs will be appreciated
 
All r good programs,, can't vouch though.. Personally like ut more than cinci
 
Yeah heard from MGH and wash u saying specifically that my application is one that is still under additional review and they will most likely send invite or reject by end of next week..
 
Great. Good luck. Lets hope they send the invite. Nothing from hopkins or UCSF ?
 
Got a bolus of interview offers on Friday to JHU, UCSF, and MGH, but it seems like the dates available for each are pretty limited. Didn't apply to Stanford. Columbia and UCLA interviews pending over the next couple weeks.

As for UPMC, the gods of critical care live there, so if you want the best possible general CCM training you can get, that's the place to go (you rotate extensively in the surgical, transplant, trauma, and cardiothoracic ICUs at the main campus, then the medical and cardiovascular ICUs at another campus). From a neuro standpoint, if you haven't met Dr. Shutter, that alone might be worth the price of visiting--she is a major force in her own right, and has quickly shaped the neuro program over the past couple of years since her arrival from Cincinatti. Expect great things with all the resources at her disposal.
 
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Hey guys,, any idea about Tufts University Neurocritical Care Program.. Please shed some light !!
 
I'm a practicing neurointensivist in Boston, with many colleagues at MGH, BWH, BIDMC, and UMass. I don't have any contact with the Tufts Neurocritical Care program.
 
Thanks typhonegator.. Anybody any interviews so far this week,, especially MGH or Hopkins..
 
Any more interviews this week or last week from league programs guys ie MGH, wash u, UCSF, UCLA, Yale or Hopkins
 
Yea its been strangely silent, I'm like reject me already Hopkins! lol...waiting is the worst feeling
 
Looks like the interview seasons over!!! June it is then !!!
 
Whats cooking guys !!! Seems like everybodys quiet since last 2 weeks
 
At this point just trying to decide a rank list. There are many great programs out there with slight nuances, but I believe they all offer great training.
 
Cannot agree more. Am glad I interviewed at more than 10 places ...
 
Wash U
Pros: Great ICU training. Fellows intubate, place lines, bronch in the ICU. Will train you to be a great intensivist. Few like Diringer exist in the field. Work hard. Residents on during days and nights for help with note writing etc. Night float system is a 12 hour shift ending at 6 pm. Dhar seemed like he would be a great PD. Neuroimaging research. Co-manage strokes with separate stroke service.
Cons: St. Louis, may be for some and some swear by it but didn't seem that great of a city. Outside of Diringer, not many well-recognized faculty. No TCDs (Diringer doesn't believe in their utility).

MGH/Brigham
Pros: Prolific research machine. Fellows active in many research projects. Oldest NeuroICU with former fellows leading many units across the country. Boston may be a plus to some but a minus to others. Fellows seemed happy and claim to be well-trained at the end. Heavy stroke emphasis. Hold stroke pager while on call in the ICU and cover huge telestroke network. During electives no required ICU coverage. 3 ish months of elective time per year. Beautiful ICU. Great academic mentors. Fellows act like super residents at MGH and fellows at Brigham
Cons: Heavy stroke emphasis (both a pro and a con). Few rotations through other ICUs. Boston (cons: cold and expensive). Spine and most neurotrauma patients go to SICU so fellows get little exposure. No multimodality exposure (but again..when is this ever really needed). One can no longer obtain NeuroICU and stroke certification through a neurocritical care fellowship, though at this program I wouldn't see why one shouldn't be able to! Sigh..politics! Early start on Brigham Neurosurg ICU rotation (4:45-5 am)
 
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I will definitely give that out. Think of infact publishing a book on reviews of all the programs. Helpful for future applicants. I guess time for some rejects for now. Got 2 rejects from MGH and Stanford. Wasnt really interested in the stanford program however...
 
Any news from Hopkins, Yale or UCSF.. I am waiting on those 3.. Otherwise its me my ROL and the MATCH DAY June 24th...
 
hey guys, just wanted to see if any of you have tried putting their rank order list in place on the SF Match website. It somehow doesnt seem to work for me. Lemme know if you have encountered the same issue. Am checking with their office on solving the issue ....
 
doesn't look like you can do that until the programs themselves say you have applied, we have 2 months to go till submission, I wouldn't worry about it yet :)
 
Agree, but I guess u ca do it. You just need to check the programs u interviewed at and then u can rank them.. Self figured...
 
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