Tips on choosing residency?

[TorusTubarius]

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I'm working on my rank list and am having a hard time figuring out how to rank my programs. For those that are in residency or have finished residency, is there anything that you think is particularly important to look for in a program?

I am currently more interested in outpatient subspecialties and general neurology practice than inpatient neurology.

 

[NeurologyHopeful2018]

Never believe when programs advertise "wellness"- see how happy resisents are for yourself.

 

[typhoonegator]

Make sure you like the location and the program director. It's four years of your life. Unless you want to be an endovascular specialist, you can get decent fellowships from almost anywhere if you're smart and try hard.

 

[TorusTubarius]

For someone more interested in outpatient neurology, would it make sense to go to a program where you spend more time doing outpatient neurology and/or elective time? It seems that a lot of the more prestigious programs have a heavy inpatient focus.

 

[typhoonegator]

Residencies tend to be based in large hospital systems, and the work needs to get done. So at most places there is an imbalance between inpatient and outpatient residency activities, particularly in the early years. Those prestigious programs got famous because they took care of a lot of sick people and did research with them.

You'll find differing opinions. The concentration of useful neurologic presentations is generally higher on the wards than the clinic, particularly early in training when pattern recognition is so important to learning. I think most programs these days offer a better selection of outpatient experiences later in residency, compared to how it was when I was in training. In general, more elective time is better than scheduled outpatient blocks, because you can tailor your time to what you're most interested in.

 

[TorusTubarius]

Thanks for the insight everyone!