Is neurology becoming more competitive?

[HarveyCushing]

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Has anyone looked at the neurology stats for the 2009 match from NRMP?

- 192 matches out of 332 US seniors= 57.8%
- 375 matches out of 751 applications= 50% match rate

What are your thoughts?

 

[KillingMeSmalls]

Those numbers are from the PGY-2 table, and don't take the applicants who matched into categorical spots into consideration even though they were clearly in the applicant pool for both categorical and advanced positions. The total percentage of successfully matched US applicants is still probably somewhere around 95+%. It does look like there were more applicants this year, though...

 

[medsRus]

So, how can one get a more accurate read on the match rates in neuro?

 

[neuroir]

Neurology is becoming a more popular residency choice owing it IMHO to the the following stereotypes being shattered:

1. Neurologists do not treat anything
2. All neurologists are a bunch of introverted nerds with thick glasses and they are very boring socially and never hang out
3. You can only do 2-3 fellowships afterwards

 

[Raggaman]

Neurology has become a much more competitive field this year, but this trend is also seen across all the specialties. I think this is due to multiple reasons, primarily being due to more applicants overall as schools increase class sizes and more FMGs are competing as well. Also, what seems to be the trend is more and more people going into specialties as opposed to primary care due to lower compensation, DNP's etc... Just looking at our schools match list this year, I see 4 that matched into neurology up from only 1 each the last 2 years!
I personally heard from a few applicants on the neuro interview trail who were primarily interested in doing interventional stuff and had applied to a few specialties that could lead them down this path (neurosurg, vascular surg??). Also now with neuro icu's being put into hospitals, those who loved neuro but skipped it due to its previous lack of intensive care, are choosing neuro. All this is my opinion and what I have observed over the interview trail, so make of it what you want.
I, myself did not match this year and was lucky enough to scramble into a DO neuro spot even though I was an average applicant.

 

[HarveyCushing]

Those numbers are from the PGY-2 table, and don't take the applicants who matched into categorical spots into consideration even though they were clearly in the applicant pool for both categorical and advanced positions. The total percentage of successfully matched US applicants is still probably somewhere around 95+%. It does look like there were more applicants this year, though...

That is very true. The numbers also don't take into account applicants who might have applied to multiple specialties, like rads or PM&R. It would be interesting to see the data strictly for those who interviewed and ranked just neurology programs. I guess we will have to wait until the NRMP Charting Outcomes data is released. That will hopefully give us a better idea.

 

[Amos]

It's always hard to predict, but eventually I see neuro being up there in popularity with some of the more competitive internal medicine specialities due to neuro IR and neuro ICU. In addition the growth in DBS implantation makes neuro more attractive, even if you are just managing the patients after the procedure.

Neuro will explode if intracerebral angioplasty/stenting takes off as a preventative Tx for at risk patients, though at the moment the evidence does not support most of these interventions.

That being said, it seems like many programs added at least 1 slot this year. Overall I think the vast majority of people that want to do neuro will match.