neuro-cocks said:
I wanted to hear from anyone who has information about the neurology programs in the southeast. I am particularly interested in Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, UVA, Vandy, UT-Memphis, MUSC, Tampa General, Emory.
If anyone has any information, I would appreciate it. I am planning on setting up an away rotation at only one of these programs. I am interested in details such as teaching, atmosphere of program/residents, atmosphere of city, experience in general vs. specialties. Feel free to rank these according to which you visited/rotated through/interviewed at. Thanks so much.
My rank from the three I interviewed at was:
1.
Duke--excellent all around, bases covered in terms of general and subspecialty training; strong in stroke/neuroICU, great faculty, really had a lot of fun talking to current residents, they were bright and down-to-earth. PD seemed very energetic and a resident advocate (i had heard he usually takes up most of the interview talking himself, but in mine his first question was "do you have any questions" and I practically ended up leading the interview..a little strange for me since i could not tell if that was a good or bad sign.) Durham has nice residential areas and not so nice ones, affordable city though, ~1hr from Raleigh, oh and their restaurant selection left something to be desired
If you match there, they really try to help you get a prelim spot, as their PD vouches for you (his interview counts for the prelim interview)
2.
UNC--up and coming; a very unique thing here is that they have a Neuroscience hospital---basically for Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry--but still have to go do consults in the main hospital. PGY-1 year is completely separate/on your own (but they do accomodate your prelim interview for when you go do your neuro one if you are selected by IM), however it is very very competitive as they have a highly regarded IM residency and only i think about 6 open prelim spots (meaning not reserved for other residencies with guaranteed/ secured prelim spots; hopefully the neuro dept will jump on that boat as it really makes it a better package deal if you can have 4 years there if you want it). They are trying to build their stroke program there (brought someone from MGH who I see building that up), again great faculty, strong in Headache, Neuromuscular/esp. Myasthenia Gravis. Chapel Hill is small but beautiful and packed with personality (most residents end up living in Durham b/c of cost though)
3.
Wake Forest--has the resources to really provide solid Neurology training, has good faculty support, but I personally didn't "mesh" with the residents i met, though they really were very nice and held up to that southern hospitality spirit. Interesting to note, Neuro controls what in other programs would be a separate PM&R residency, so if the rehab aspect interests you then you should check it out. Winstom-Salem was bigger than I imagined but coming from a big city, it still was just a little too much out in the middle of nowhere in terms of proximity to a big metro area (by that I mean ~1hour or so) (i think they did say it was a couple of hours away from beaches and mountains which are always good for the soul
)
on the interview trail I heard some great things about Emory and Vanderbilt
hope that helps some and good luck to all applying for Neurology!
