sleep rankings

[Neurotica]

is there any general consensus as to which sleep fellowships are considered to be especially prestigious or at the top of their field? or being as competitive as it is right now, should you just be happy to get into one at all?

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[neurologist]

There are no formal rankings; don't waste your time looking for that.

Don't get hung up on the "prestige" issue. There are some programs that are larger/older/better funded/more famous/have bigger names than others, but that doesn't necessarily translate to "better" in terms of your interests or quality of training. Anyone you ask will give you a different opinion on what is the "best" program (usually it's the one they went to )

Check out various program websites for starters. The keys to a good program, I think, are size and diversity. I'd advise you to look for programs that are large in terms of patient capacity (so you see lots of cases) and have a very well integrated multidisciplinary approach (i.e., have docs who are from pulmonary, neuro, and psych, not just predominantly one area) as well as lots of interaction and rotation time with ENT, maxillofacial surgery, dentistry and psychology.

Another thing to consider is whether you are interested in private practice vs academics. If you want to play the high-power-academic game then yes, it probably would be nice to have a big-name program on you CV. Also, it doesn't hurt to have the connections if you want the program director to drop your name for jobs at other academic institutions. For private practice, this is much less important. Private practices want people who know their stuff and can work quickly and efficiently and are agreeable to work with. Period. They really don't care about your 27 publications and poster sessions.

If you are interested in research, look up publications on the web from people at various programs to see who's doing what and how much it interests you. Sleep fellowships are brief and there's not much time to get projects done, so often your research will involve piggybacking onto an already existing or established line of inquiry. It's helpful to go someplace where they are doing stuff that sounds interesting to you.

 

[BrainWorks]

How much do you think it matter where you do your neurology residency training at if you want to do a sleep fellowship later on (then do private practice). Do you think it is hard to get if you train at places with "less prestige"? For example, USC vs. Harbor UCLA or UT-SW vs. the new UT-Austin?

Thanks in advance!

 

[TheWowEffect]

There are no formal rankings; don't waste your time looking for that.

Don't get hung up on the "prestige" issue. There are some programs that are larger/older/better funded/more famous/have bigger names than others, but that doesn't necessarily translate to "better" in terms of your interests or quality of training. Anyone you ask will give you a different opinion on what is the "best" program (usually it's the one they went to )

Check out various program websites for starters. The keys to a good program, I think, are size and diversity. I'd advise you to look for programs that are large in terms of patient capacity (so you see lots of cases) and have a very well integrated multidisciplinary approach (i.e., have docs who are from pulmonary, neuro, and psych, not just predominantly one area) as well as lots of interaction and rotation time with ENT, maxillofacial surgery, dentistry and psychology.

Another thing to consider is whether you are interested in private practice vs academics. If you want to play the high-power-academic game then yes, it probably would be nice to have a big-name program on you CV. Also, it doesn't hurt to have the connections if you want the program director to drop your name for jobs at other academic institutions. For private practice, this is much less important. Private practices want people who know their stuff and can work quickly and efficiently and are agreeable to work with. Period. They really don't care about your 27 publications and poster sessions.

If you are interested in research, look up publications on the web from people at various programs to see who's doing what and how much it interests you. Sleep fellowships are brief and there's not much time to get projects done, so often your research will involve piggybacking onto an already existing or established line of inquiry. It's helpful to go someplace where they are doing stuff that sounds interesting to you.

I think this is great advice. Prestige mostly matters only if you want you want of pursue a research career, and that is true in any branch of medicine. A sound and comprehensive exposure to a variety of patients is all you need to succeed in private practice.

 

[Bobblehead]

I think this is great advice. Prestige mostly matters only if you want you want of pursue a research career, and that is true in any branch of medicine. A sound and comprehensive exposure to a variety of patients is all you need to succeed in private practice.

By this level of training if you're interested in research the name of the institution matters very little in comparison to the support and resources you can gather to support your research career. With a 1 year clinical fellowship there won't be a lot of time for sleep research and even if you end up with a 2 year research fellowship you should ideally have some vague idea of at least who you want to work with before you accept a position.

 

[Faebinder]

I dont get it. Why would anyone go for a 1 year research fellowship AFTER their 1 year regular sleep fellowship? Academic career? Do you need a fellowship for that, most places will take you on based on where you got trained and what you got trained in. You can do the research while you are trying to move up the ranks from assistant professor to associate professor.

Am I missing something? Is sleep so hard to get that people end up not matching and doing a research fellowship to improve their CV?

 

[TheWowEffect]

I dont get it. Why would anyone go for a 1 year research fellowship AFTER their 1 year regular sleep fellowship? Academic career? Do you need a fellowship for that, most places will take you on based on where you got trained and what you got trained in. You can do the research while you are trying to move up the ranks from assistant professor to associate professor.

Am I missing something? Is sleep so hard to get that people end up not matching and doing a research fellowship to improve their CV?

Like any other speciality, an extra year of research fellowship helps if you want to pursue mainly an academic career. To become an assistant professor too, you need to have done a fair amount of research, thus the need for an extra year.

 

[Joanhabety]

Nice question.