What should one’s application look like for top tier neuro residencies?
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bigamygdala
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that's an interesting question. I also have one related to that, how do 2 top non-neuro pubs(IF15+) and one top neuro pub (IF4+) look on a cv? is that a red flag for " low commitment" to the field?
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Keep in mind that while neurology residency is not as competitive as other fields, top neurology programs are. A top usmle score is usually not enough to match.
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Nobody in their right mind would hold having done productive research in another field against you. "Low commitment" means "they're applying to neurology as a back up plan for a more competitive specialty".
Try checking out last year's reddit Neurology Residency spreadsheet. Many of the applicants listed their scores and backgrounds. While it doesn't tell you where they ended up, it should give you a sense of how you compare to a sample that is likely biased towards being competitive. At my med school institution (top 10 school), everyone applying neuro ended up at a top 15 program, even the ones who weren't AOA or MSTP.
Neurology is getting extremely competitive, especially at top tier programs, as salaries increase, the arsenal of therapies expands, and demand for neurologists soars nationwide. Work on building your CV, interview skills, USMLE scores, and research profile, and you will be in good shape for the match.
How competitive are we talking here? And what’s your take on mid-tier programs in terms of competitiveness? I’ve got slightly above avg. board scores. I know charting the outcomes points to neuro being not so competitive but I’m curious as to your opinion. Thanks!
I second you. This post sort of surprised me as well, especially since the most recent data indicates that competition is pretty low. Thought I was on the psych board for a second lol.
For lower tier programs the competition is not a immense as it has been recently for the mid to high tier programs. Compensation has increased over the past several years. As mentioned above, work on your CV, interview skills, USMLE scores, and research profile, and you will be in good shape for the match!
Charting the outcomes looks at all programs, while the OP was specifically asking about top tier programs. Those are 2 different universes, basically. Neurology is a funny specialty in that it has a strong appeal to some of the most academically-minded, intelligent and driven people within medicine, but that appeal is also fairly niche and isn't backed by great lifestyle, huge stacks of cash, glamour, etc.
What this means practically is that the people filling the top 5-10 programs out there look like they would be highly competitive for top programs in literally any specialty. The top of the rank list at those places are frequently high performers at top 20-30 med schools (AOA or otherwise good grades), 90+ percentile step 1, MD/PhD or otherwise with a publication track record, etc. But even at those places, people match all the time that aren't these rock stars if they pass the filters, interview well and have something that makes them stand out.
The overall statistics for the specialty also include some really sketchy-appearing hospitals that barely have neurology departments where I have no idea how you'd get comprehensive training (and the answer is that training is secondary to indentured servitude in some places). The stats at those places average in just as heavily.
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