Neurology Match statistics

[danielmd06]

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Anyone out there know about unfilled spots or percentages yet? Just curious. Everyone please feel free to post any information.

Best wishes to all going through the match process.

 

[NeuroDocDO]

96.5% of Neurology Spots (Advanced and Categorical) filled in the 2007 NRMP match. Seems that neurology was almost as competitive as radiology.

 

[danielmd06]

96.5% of Neurology Spots (Advanced and Categorical) filled in the 2007 NRMP match. Seems that neurology was almost as competitive as radiology.

Let's wait a bit and see the average matched applicant's USMLE Step I before making that Radiology comparison. 😉

Thanks for the reply...the percentage was something I was very curious about.

 

[AutomaTron]

Let's wait a bit and see the average matched applicant's USMLE Step I before making that Radiology comparison. 😉

Thanks for the reply...the percentage was something I was very curious about.

There were more positions available through the scramble this year in neurology. Ob/gyn really picked up and there were a lot of students scrambling for that this year. Also, I think anesthesia. I think word is out that law suits are coming under control for ob so that is probably the reason. Of course derm and rads continue to attract lots of candidates who know they have to kick ass on the step. Females wanting to stay with their kids are probably one of the big contributors for derm obviously. The trend according to our dean this year was toward specialties and away from primary care overall with things tightening up for the specialties. I think neurology is just something certain people just really like and others not, so score ranges vary a lot for those accepted (large ranges) among applicants from the stats given by our dean's office. Overall neuro step scores are up there with the other specialties even though it might not be as tough to match. I think that is ideal when a specialty is open to those people who are genuinely interested as being interested is the most important thing to keep people studying and learning. Some really smart people are interested in neurology jacking up the scores to just as high as most other specialties. Neurology has a pretty good pay scale although not the highest. It's about 80% of anesthesia with no nurse practitioners knocking threateningly on the door. I think people respect neurologist as they have a lot of specialized knowledge. I don't really get why there aren't more people attracted to neurology, but I am one of the ones who is really interested in it. So, anyway, it doesn't matter to me.

 

[soulsearchin]

There were more positions available through the scramble this year in neurology. Ob/gyn really picked up and there were a lot of students scrambling for that this year. Also, I think anesthesia. I think word is out that law suits are coming under control for ob so that is probably the reason. Of course derm and rads continue to attract lots of candidates who know they have to kick ass on the step. Females wanting to stay with their kids are probably one of the big contributors for derm obviously. The trend according to our dean this year was toward specialties and away from primary care overall with things tightening up for the specialties. I think neurology is just something certain people just really like and others not, so score ranges vary a lot for those accepted (large ranges) among applicants from the stats given by our dean's office. Overall neuro step scores are up there with the other specialties even though it might not be as tough to match. I think that is ideal when a specialty is open to those people who are genuinely interested as being interested is the most important thing to keep people studying and learning. Some really smart people are interested in neurology jacking up the scores to just as high as most other specialties. Neurology has a pretty good pay scale although not the highest. It's about 80% of anesthesia with no nurse practitioners knocking threateningly on the door. I think people respect neurologist as they have a lot of specialized knowledge. I don't really get why there aren't more people attracted to neurology, but I am one of the ones who is really interested in it. So, anyway, it doesn't matter to me.

i agree with the above post except that the payscale is 80 pc that of anesthesia..neurology in recent years in the areas near the major cities has been very average and jobs are hard to come by.

 

[AutomaTron]

i agree with the above post except that the payscale is 80 pc that of anesthesia..neurology in recent years in the areas near the major cities has been very average and jobs are hard to come by.

I was just using this survey service in calculating the %:

http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary_surveys/physician-salaries.htm

 

[salmonella]

.

 

[salmonella]

I think people respect neurologist as they have a lot of specialized knowledge. I don't really get why there aren't more people attracted to neurology, but I am one of the ones who is really interested in it. So, anyway, it doesn't matter to me.

I was seriously thinking about neurology but changed my mind later. During my MS3 and MS4 years, many specialties talked ridiculous crap about neurology, saying that they "don't and can't do anything," "just baby sit patients," "don't make much money," "can't find jobs in big cities," and "don't have good meds to help patients". Also, it's "just too depressing to watch ALS patients die," "too hard to care for dementia patients," "brain MRI can localize lesions more accurately than a neurologist," and one even said "I just don't like the way neurologists talk." Then a neuro attending said he would do everything to deter his daughter from choosing neuro. Our neurology chief (who sounded like she regretted choosing neuro herself) said neuro loses lots of bright and good med students to internal medicine every year. Although these comments sound outrageous, they did turn me away from neurology.

 

[AutomaTron]

As an aside can anyone remember the disease where the patient is paralyzed for years until someone tries a certain drug and they are able to get up and walk and live normal lives if it is recognized and the right drug prescribed? The pediatric neurologist I followed said he had encountered one of these patients who had been misdiagnosed and prescribed the drug and the patient was able to get up and walk after years of being in a wheel chair.

 

[neuro-cocks]

your grandfather AND uncle died of ALS...
if your cousin died from parkinson's complications...
if your great-aunt is wheelchair bound from a stroke...
if your roommate was ridden with frequent severe migraines putting him out of commission from the daily rigors of med school...
you may have no other choice but to follow the calling of neurology.
but for others, seeing the impact of the drug for parkinson's, the botox injection for stroke or CP spasticity or even headaches, the calming of 2-3 seizures per week to none after localization of the seizure focus...
you might would not take others words and think for yourself.
personally, i am in neurology for many of the reasons above. i hope to be a part of research that saves my dear cousin from the impending doom of famialial ALS, but also to have an impact in many patients' lives... in a field which most despise, but few conquer...
the brain is the last unconquered part of the human body. to be a part of that is something unimaginable.
apologies for the sentiments.

 

[danielmd06]

I was seriously thinking about neurology but changed my mind later.

I have no idea why you decided to post inflammatory comments about a specialty that you are not a part of in a thread whose subject dealt with Match statistics. There are plenty of areas of medicine I disliked (including yours), but I have enough respect for other specialties to refrain from denigrating them in such a fashion and in such a thread.

If you allowed other departments to sway your judgement with "ridiculous crap" then that is your affair. I didn't. I simply went to a hospital with a better Neurology department. And the sample comments you posted are pretty weak. I could make the same derogatory arguments all day about the paychecks that primary care people take home, how IM cannot cure DM or HTN, and how plenty of IM people fail to get a specific fellowship and bitterly regret their choice of residency.

Can't make money? The last Neurologist who I spoke with going into private practice was going to start at $350k and work 30-40 hours per week. Now this is high end IMO, but the bottom line is that general IM pays less than general Neuro and the hours are worse. I suppose you'll argue about how Cardiology and Gastreoenterology fellowships pay so well, but new ESN and Neurocritical Care fellowships have begun to even that demarcation.

Plenty of recruits from Neuro are being stolen by IM? For what it's worth, I was heavily recruited by my prelim IM department this year. I declined. I am interested in Neurology and want to pursue a career in that area of medicine. Isn't their very desirability a testament to the quality of the Neurology prelims? And just because people change specialties doesn't make the one they leave worse - it means they decided another was a better fit.

 

[Nerdoscience]

Eh, I think he's just being honest.

 

[angelpippygirl]

everyone just needs to relax! so sensitive and defensive!
I feel like there will always be neuro-bashing people. sometimes i wonder if they're trying to convince themselves they don't like it for their own reasons...or maybe putting someone else down makes them feel better about their lame selves. because honestly they can't convince us neuro peeps to not like it. we already do like it for our own self-satisfying personal reasons. Its better for us that they don't like neuro for all the shallow reasons listed. I would prefer not to work with closed-minded, cynical people. I matched. I'm chillin'. Enjoy your last few months! Forget these ******s who dont know what they're talking about. =D

 

[strangeglove]

As an aside can anyone remember the disease where the patient is paralyzed for years until someone tries a certain drug and they are able to get up and walk and live normal lives if it is recognized and the right drug prescribed? The pediatric neurologist I followed said he had encountered one of these patients who had been misdiagnosed and prescribed the drug and the patient was able to get up and walk after years of being in a wheel chair.

I believe this is encephalitis lethargica. This was once epidemic, but is now pretty much non-exsitent. I believe the treatment was L-DOPA, but its effects were short lived.

 

[Wheezy]

I believe this is encephalitis lethargica. This was once epidemic, but is now pretty much non-exsitent. I believe the treatment was L-DOPA, but its effects were short lived.

I think you are right. [1,2]

Referrences, (hehehehe, I'm feeling even less academic post-MATCH)
1. Awakenings the movie: Robert De Niro & Robin Williams, (two of my favourites)
2. Awakenings the book: Oliver Sacks (I haven't read it but I did read "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", loved it, fueled my interest in neurology. I read it before my clinical years😀

 

[Bill_Brasky]

So when do we get to find out what the average step 1 score was for those matching in neuro?

 

[ariwax]

I think a lot of people get turned off to neuro early on, when they are scratching their heads trying to memorize the anatomy of the brachial plexus or the course of the facial nerve. It looks like spaghetti in there - much like opening up a computer case and boggling at the seemingly random complexity. It makes some people, dare I say it, frustrated and maybe a little angry. And that extends to a sort of inferiority complex which some clinicians deal with with the most primitive psychological processes there is - denial.

And projection. Now I'm not a psychiatrist or nothing, but IM types seem to look down on neuro not so much because it's supposedly "diagnose and adios" but rather because it doesn't make as much intuitive sense as, say, a case of CHF due to aortic stenosis. The reductionist problem solving that makes an effective clinician doesn't translate well to a maddening black box. It's the neurologist who looks in the computer casing and sees the method to the madness.

And ultimately, it's the humble neurologist that accepts the fact that no matter how finely we hone our clinical skills and differential diagnoses, we don't really understand HOW it works. That's why neurology seems to be a haven, in my experience, for existentialists and devout deists. Because the CNS is awesomely complex, sublimely logical, and totally absurd. You just don't get that in gastroenterolgy.

 

[AutomaTron]

So when do we get to find out what the average step 1 score was for those matching in neuro?

Here is my school's 2002-2006 scores for respective specialties



anesth 214 183-244
child neuro 226
derm 238 196-267
diag radiol 228
emerg med 216 187-247
family prac 205 182-252
gen surg 214 183-258
intern med 211
med-peds 220
neurol 214 range 192-236
neurosurg 223
obgyn 208
opthal 237
orthop surg 231
otolarynogology 236
ortho surg 231 200-272
path 21`3
peds 211
pmr 200
psych 200
rad oncology 235
urology 226

I'm too lazy to type in all the ranges

 

[Bill_Brasky]

Here is my school's 2002-2006 scores for respective specialties



anesth 214 183-244
child neuro 226
derm 238 196-267
diag radiol 228
emerg med 216 187-247
family prac 205 182-252
gen surg 214 183-258
intern med 211
med-peds 220
neurol 214 range 192-236
neurosurg 223
obgyn 208
opthal 237
orthop surg 231
otolarynogology 236
ortho surg 231 200-272
path 21`3
peds 211
pmr 200
psych 200
rad oncology 235
urology 226

I'm too lazy to type in all the ranges

Someone got into a neurosurg residency with a 223? That's pretty impressive.

The range for neuro is pretty reassuring; which I needed. I'm an average student, I'm no smart person like many on this forum. It is good to know that there is hope for me to get into neuro.

 

[AutomaTron]

Someone got into a neurosurg residency with a 223? That's pretty impressive.

The range for neuro is pretty reassuring; which I needed. I'm an average student, I'm no smart person like many on this forum. It is good to know that there is hope for me to get into neuro.

The range on neurosurg was 220-229. The average was 223. I don't know how many people went into it though.

I think you don't have anything to worry about especially if you are a USMG. It's not very competitive even though a lot of people with high scores go into it because they're interested.

 

[Nerdoscience]

Neurosurg is not very competitive? Did everyone who wanted to go into it get in a bus to go to a party to celebrate their research getting published and getting 260+ on the Step 1, and then drive into a burning pit of fire?

 

[danielmd06]

Neurosurg is not very competitive?

I think he was referring to Neurology...not Neurosurgery.

 

[O Face]

yeah, i'm pretty sure he was referring to neurology.

 

[AutomaTron]

Neurosurg is not very competitive? Did everyone who wanted to go into it get in a bus to go to a party to celebrate their research getting published and getting 260+ on the Step 1, and then drive into a burning pit of fire?

Like they said I was referring to neurology. I think if I wanted to do surgery I would prefer cutting on a different region of the body. Of course they do make tons of money and the word neurosurgeon sounds pretty impressive in a bar I guess assuming they ever have any free time .

 

[danielmd06]

Anyone have any additional information?