I second this. There is no perceptible difference because there IS no difference. I'm years out now, so feel free to disregard me. But I have a strong opinion that this won't matter much. Your life will not be lessened if you don't get into Penn's residency and have to settle for one of the many, many fine institutions that are listed. You'll still have a job when you get out. You'll get a fellowship if you want one.
I mean, seriously, badmouthing Yale or Cornell as not being good, or as good? Both are freaking Ivy League schools which attracts tons of researchers in many areas, strong neuroscience, etc. They have worldwide names. The people who work there are just as inspired, idiotic, foolish, crazy, fun, and boring as anywhere else. I'm sure both rest on their names >>>> actualities.
Here's a question. When I think of real advances that have come out of neurology departments, I never think of Penn. Their pathology department spun out Amyvid, but that's useless and PIB out of U Pitt was there first. UCSF paved the way for B-cell modulation in MS. I know Yale is starting a trial of B-cell modulation for Myasthenia. UCSD did the early work on tPA. What actual advances have most of these departments made? How many patients do they enroll into trials that matter? (And sorry UCSF, hard to imagine that another plavix trial matters much, but wasn't it Alpers at Stanford who showed that heparin was useless in acute strokes?)? And Nature Neurosci papers don't count. My point is just a side point - that all these millions of dollars are being spent on work that's useless.