The way I created my rank list was to create a running list as the season went on, about 2-3 days after the interview glamour wore off and my impression of the place was both realistic and fresh. That means I didn't take massive notes on every program and my memory of finer details of each have blended. So ill just leave a few comments regarding each of them. Also feel free to correct anything I may have misremembered.
UMd
Traditionally known to be a place where stroke is king, the new chair is working really hard to get every specialty represented with multiple recent hires and a few in the pipeline. The program has one of those up-and-coming feels to it because of the progressively increasing faculty size and breadth. The residents wouldn't outright say it but you could tell they get worked hard. The PGY2's looked especially drained. But multiple showed up for dinner, which I generally view as a positive sign about work/life balance. The hospital itself is a blend of an old hospital with a new piece attached to the front and a direct connection (via over-the-street bridge) to a pretty nice VA. Because of that, the residents do a lot of rotations in the VA on the neuro consult service and outpatient clinics. They also do 2 weeks a year at a rehab center located several miles west of campus. One thing I made sure to ask about was how Hopkins affects them and apparently Maryland's EMS system is organized on a statewide basis so they don't compete for cases because it is predetermined where they should go based on symptoms. Additionally, because Hopkins is so research-oriented, usually neuro cases come to them first and then are transferred to Hopkins if the diagnosis requires an experimental lab result, etc. Exception being almost all peds neuro cases go directly to Hopkins, as reflected in their peds rotation actually being at Hopkins.
Pros: city life without typical city cost (people either love or hate baltimore), broad patient population that mostly comes to them first for workup and treatment, rapidly growing department
Cons: while advanced, the guaranteed pgy1 spots are notorious for being extremely malignant and treated very different than categoricals (read: STAY CLEAR), PD was less than impressive (the interim chair was the former PD and was much more charismatic)
UPMC
This one was a pleasant surprise. Their department has always been known to be strong but I think most assume that is based on quality of research and amount of grants within the dept. But, the program feels anything like a research-driven program. I honestly forget if they require a project, (I didn't really pay attention to that on interview trail because I think every resident should be making some kind of contribution regardless) but if it was it was nothing more than one poster at AAN during your 3 years. Meanwhile, being the behemoth system in the city and the surrounding region, they see everything. Their stroke case rate is one of the highest in the nation but they also see essentially anything and everything from the area. The residents were probably the most impressive group I met and seemed to get along well and get together outside of work with some frequency. Most impressive was the pgy1's showing up for interview day lunch even though they do no neuro rotations during intern year, and not only that but the upper levels all knew them on a personal basis, meaning they integrate everyone together from day 1. NCCU was recently taken over by a CC-trained neurologist so there are some big changes on the rotation level coming there. The intro in the morning was hosted by the PD, whom is a bit older and a younger vice-PD. The younger physician seemed to be running the operation a bit more so I have a feeling there will be a changing of the guard in the not-too-distant-future. Both were genuinely nice guys though. They also run a month-long crash course at the beginning of pgy2 in neurology to remind you of everything you've so quickly forgotten from your medical school neuro knowledge base where you have minimal clinical responsibilities and lectures for most of the days and reading assignments every night.
Pros: Stroke, research is there if you want it, Pittsburgh is another love-it-or-hate-it city, huge faculty including neuro-otologists that all residents rotate with, neuro refresher course
Cons: Geographic location of the city is something to be desired...
Georgetown
I wasn't even going to apply to this one originally because DC has a history of having bad neuro programs. I decided to anyway because i've heard great things about DC itself and GT seemed to be the best of the programs. Good thing I did, because soon after applying they signed a contract with the NIH creating a partnership and opening up the ability for 1 resident each year to enter a physician-scientist track. Not only that, but a resident can create and arrange an elective in anything through the NIH. Which is nice to be able to work with a specialist that focuses on more rare, specific diseases rather than a class of diseases. I think this arrangement is going to help bring the program back from the edge of obscurity. They rotate through 3 hospitals including a VA but apparently there is serious friction with the inpatient neurologists there and so they are slowly decreasing their rotation time there and possibly phazing it out? Residents were nice but there was something off about them at the dinner. I think they were cliquey but also felt like they were hiding something. Maybe im paranoid. PD was the most enthusiastic and well-hearted guy I met of all my interviews. I'd consider going there just for him.
Pros: new NIH affiliation, great PD
Cons: historically weak program, DC=$$$
Boston University
BUMC's unique mission/role in Boston as the safety net hospital of the city has definitely helped shaped the neuro department's mission, including 2 week trips to Haiti for neuro-specific medical outreach twice a year and plans to add an annual trip to Africa in the next 1-2 years. Additionally, because they are the safety net they get ALL the crazy pathology. Hospital is older but theyre already building a brand new one that will be open in the next year I believe. Program director seemed nice at first but during my interview was very critical of me not having connections to Boston in anyway (this was not the classic 'why here?' question). It seemed to me like he didn't want to bother with people from outside Boston. Not sure why I got an invite then...
Pros: safety net=crazy path=great learning, brand new hospital very soon, Boston is awesome (but also $$$)
Cons: PD
Mount Sinai at Beth Israel
B.I. was just bought out by Mount Sinai because they were going bankrupt. This has changed the neuro landscape a bit. The Chair was asked to move over and chair all of neurology during this merger but she refused. For now, she is serving as interim overall chair until they find a replacement. With the merger, these residents can basically do a rotation in anything. While this increased breadth is good, the bad part is you have to travel all over the city for a lot of these rotations. Seemed like this separation had the residents not knowing each other quite as well as other programs' residents. They also made it sound like, while front-loaded, they don't work all that hard. Kinda wonder if they struggle to bring in volume because of the hospital being small and now with Mount Sinai merger, why not just send the patients to the other larger and stronger hospital/department? Nice part is that leaves the residents time to actually enjoy the big apple. Combine that with some nice subsidized housing and you actually have the money to afford exploring the city. The PD was young and spunky and you could tell she worked hard to bring in a group of equally quirky and spunky residents (not labelling that a bad thing necessarily).
Pros: a lot of resources for rotations in anything youd want, subsidized housing
Cons: low volume service (as evidenced by only one service total), still on traditional call schedule
University of Rochester
PD here was another really impressive one. He sits on a lot of ACGME committees and so the program is changing alot to try to stay ahead of the requirements curve and he strives to make it a model program for other programs to compare to. This was definitely the program with the most close-knit-family feel to it (I mean, we had a wine and cheese reception at the end of the interview day!) At the same time, the residency seems to be the department focus so all the faculty is really dedicated to education. There is also a strong research backbone that is easily accessible here for anyone wanting to pursue more than the minimum. The city is a great balance of city and country life, with good cuisine and very active cultural scene (especially during spring and summer) in the city as well as almost every kind of minor league sports team and then any kind of outdoors activity just a few minutes drive out of the heart of the city (one resident owned a boat on the nearby fingerlakes). But obviously being on Lake Erie, the winters are absolutely brutal. Prelim year also seemed catered to education with an 8pt/intern cap, no nightfloat for prelims, 1/2 day of neuro clinic per week, 2 months of neuro floors, 2 months of urgent care clinic and 6 weeks of elective time
Pros: regional stroke center, PD is a big resident advocate and educator, great city for about 6 months of the year, enormous and nice hospital
Cons: city the other 6 months
Jefferson
Similar to the Umd-Hopkins relationship, so seems Jefferson's with UPenn. Most of the inner city pathology seems comes to Jefferson first and then is transferred over for experimental testing or treatment if necessary. Because Penn is so research-heavy, it seems that Jefferson has a reactionary response to be very clinically-oriented. You get essentially 11 weeks of outpatient elective as well as 5-6 weeks on their dedicated headache ward at Methodist, about 15 minutes south of Jeff by car (they have a shuttle that runs constantly). Honestly, for everything they offered at Jefferson I'm surprised its not more well known or more highly regarded. There are some giants in subspecialty fields at the program and apparently all are dedicated to teaching, which isn't always the case. They are pretty heavy on NCCU with 2 separate units in two different buildings; about 3 months between pgy2 and 3 year. Peds is during pgy3 and 4 and is down at Dupont in Wilmington, DE. PD is epilepsy and it shows with 10 weeks on the EMU and in EEG during pgy3. Residents seemed like they get crushed during pgy2 but after that the workload quickly lightens. They all seemed very happy though and very social.
Pros: strong, broad clinical education, center city philadelphia seemed pretty cool
Cons: paper notes and consults (EMR for labs and orders) and Epic coming in 2017 apparently, Peds is 40 min drive away, headache unit is 15 min drive away (but has shuttle)
NYU
This was a very appealing program. They cover 3 hospitals: private NYU hosp, public Bellevue, and the VA. This gives them neuro training in 3 different kinds of practice. Bellevue sounds like its a typical nyc hospital with nurses doing next to nothing for you. But, its a world famous hospital and residents said theyve had people spend their life savings on a flight only to land and ask to be taken to Bellevue to be evaluated by the neuro dept. So, obviously the pathology will be there. And the VA also has its own unique operating system and patient population. Very large faculty and seemingly busy dept but the chair and vice chair spent most of the morning presenting to the group or interviewing everyone individually. PD only interviewed half the group which I thought was very odd/unfair. He also didn't seem nearly as charismatic as the chair and vice chair. Research emphasis here seemed the heaviest of anywhere I interviewed, with them really pushing to establish a real project from the beginning. Residents were awesome. A group covering the VA clinic pre-gamed the dinner at a nearby bar after work. Clearly they have time to enjoy nyc but sounds like pgy2 still wears you down. NYU's hospital was pretty new and they were in the process of building even more next door. Bellevue was old. We didnt see the VA.
Pros: top-tier program of nyc with great hospitals for experience
Cons: no subsidized housing, a lot of moving between hospitals and offices during a normal work day (although all were within a 10-12 block radius)
