What made you choose neurology?

[Rapsidy]

Hello, current M4 dual applying psychiatry and neurology. TLDR, I originally felt neurology was a backup, but with time and experience, I genuinely am excited about the idea of not knowing what type of doctor I’m going to be. I’ll honestly be happy in either profession and am hoping for my interviews to get perspectives of why this profession from the programs.

Neither profession is a backup anymore, but I would love to hear from neurologists here why they chose neurology and what drove them to the field. Right now I don’t know what type of neurologist I would want to be, but I really loved my neuro ICU exposure and movement disorders clinic. Since our school only has a 4 week rotation in neuro I didn’t feel like I had enough time to really get more than the tip of the iceberg that is neurology. I’m also really excited in terms of research and breakthroughs for neurology going forward.

Thank you for anyone who provides insight on this topic 😊.

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[neglect]

I’m also really excited in terms of research and breakthroughs for neurology going forward.

That was one of my main motivations. Neurologic diseases cause huge suffering and when I came up there wasn't a lot to be done for them. At the same time there was a tsunami of neuroscience making inroads into the models of the disease. So the disconnect seemed obvious: better understanding of the diseases and cellular processes, but lagging treatments and biomarkers. I'm happy to have played a tiny role in the development of life altering therapies in stroke, MS, AD, and even HAs. This work continues! You can be part of basic science/pre-clinical; phase 1-3 development; commercialization and building up these therapies.

Then there are just good fit/bad fit considerations. I feel like I fit with neurology. I like the basic localization thinking processes, discussing the cases, the people. I just didn't get that vibe from psychiatry. Either psychiatry or neuro, you've got to get through many cases to get good. I didn't have it in me to see psychiatry cases.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

Personally i fell in love with neuro because of the exam, straight off the bat. No other specialty's exam is as crucial in guiding management than in Neurology (especially in movement disorders). No other imaging as as cool as neuroradiology either.

With psychiatry, it is all NOT about the exam. I wanted to like Psych (easy residency, easy path to hanging your own shingle with low overhead). But i didn't like it at all really. No exam, no imaging, no labs. Lots of collateral. Court hearings for committed patients, etc.

 

[Jimmy B]

Personally i fell in love with neuro because of the exam, straight off the bat. No other specialty's exam is as crucial in guiding management than in Neurology (especially in movement disorders). No other imaging as as cool as neuroradiology either.

With psychiatry, it is all NOT about the exam. I wanted to like Psych (easy residency, easy path to hanging your own shingle with low overhead). But i didn't like it at all really. No exam, no imaging, no labs. Lots of collateral. Court hearings for committed patients, etc.

It's the ONLY specialty where the exam really makes a huge difference in what you think is going on and how to manage it. Other specialties don't really get how vital it is for our field.

 

[Freeinfinity]

I love localizing the lesion. When I'm able to localize the problem, I'm super confident in my diagnosis. When other physicians are still not sure, they still want the imaging which I say "sure, but i'm telling you right now I'm very confident this is a real stroke. I can't see what else this could be." They get the imaging, which confirms what I already know. From then on, it sorts of builds that trust that I know what I'm talking about. It's an amazing feeling.

That's the unique thing about neurology that I really like. Another thing is just how neurology is at the frontier when it comes to research. There's always new thing to learn, new papers coming out, new discussions about how it would affect people's practices. There's still a lot we don't know. To me, that's pretty exciting. I'm a person who can get easily bored. So knowing that neurology still has plenty of room to grow is just incredible.

 

[Rapsidy]

I appreciate the insights. I have a lot of experience with psych so I know I love it, but application season has really just turned me off from psych at this point. I’m not the best test taker. Even though neuro is objectively the harder of the two residencies, I have found programs to be far kinder and much more willing to look past my struggles with test taking than psychiatry has been.

I also have been quite intimidated about research in general, but I’m finding most everyone in neuro loves it so much that they embrace all kinds of research even if it’s not their thing originally.

At this point, I’m definitely thinking neuro is going on the top of my rank lists. I also kind of like the idea that you get exposed to so many subspecialties and can go in so many different routes with fellowships.