wonderful! thanks for being willing to help. i guess a good start for all the ghost readers and potential child neuro peeps would be a 'gut reactions' to the match process this past year.
how was it, now that everything is consolidated via eras? i know programs are starting to coordinate interviews between peds and child neuro programs... was it still a speedbump for you? did you see mainly the same people at interviews? other thoughts...
thanks!
I thought the process worked relatively well on ERAS. Listening to the complaints of people from years ahead of me the old way was way more painful. I only applied to categorical programs and most of them coordinated interviews with gen peds. I only interviewed at one program which didn't coordinate and that was only because they were able to schedule one of the interview days while I was in town anyways for Step 2 CS. I turned down interviews from programs (some in the top 10) that didn't coordinate interviews. (I couldn't afford two trips)
Overall, scheduling interviews was a pain. Most child neuro programs don't have a ton of slots so they don't have a ton of interview days. I had to turn down several interviews simply because the only days they offered conflicted with other programs' interview days. Plus, it isn't easy to stack interviews (like my gen peds compatriots often did) when they're 2 day interviews.
Also some categorical programs behave more like advanced programs without good communication with gen peds and ranking decisions are made separately. Others the child neuro program formulates the rank list and gen peds just has veto power.
Some other things about the process:
- Many categorical programs make you apply to both gen peds and child neuro. Basically making you pay 2 application fees to put you on 1 rank list.
- Because some programs ask for 2 applications, you'll need to follow the LOR requirements of each side of the program. For instance, some academic centers the gen peds apps required chair letters.
- there are a ton of MD/PHD applicants in child neuro, which was intimidating at times. It's definitely a field that attracts and values strong research credentials
With the ACGME standardization there's a limit to the uniqueness of programs, but here are the big differentiators:
- size, how many in each class, how many attendings
- how the adult year is handled. All during PGY-3? spread out over PGY 3-5? How many ward months? I saw some pretty abusive adult years where you were basically slave labor for the adult neuro side for 1 year (ex. 10 ward months in PGY-3).
- number of subspecialized faculty, number of fellowships (epilepsy, electrophysiology, movement d/o's, headache, etc), are there any gaps? (neonatal neurology, neuroimmunology, neurocritical care, etc)
- research support, assistance writing grants, money for conferences & presenting
- Quality of gen peds program
- Is there an inpatient service or is neurology just a consult service. Do you get good exposure to neurocritical care? There were some programs I saw which were heavily clinic oriented (which could be good or bad)
- How good is EEG exposure/training?
- What electives are available?
- How is call handled?
Also, another thing to keep in mind is there is likely going to be flux in the ACGME requirements within the next few years (ex. number of required adult months), so the requirements when you start PGY-1 may not be the same at PGY-3.
Hope that helps.