How to match to neuro? + looking for neuro residents to talk to

[Neurogunner]

Hey fellow premed101 users,

I’m currently a second year med student and have discovered my love for neurology! I love doing the neuro exam and working neuro patients up and the consultant work is always very interesting! I have my heart set on either an adult or Pediatric neurology residency, however I’m also very anxious about matching and unfortunately most provincial governments seem to be pushing family medicine and not specialty programs so it might be even harder to match by the time I go through Carms.

 

I was wondering what I can do to increase my chances other then the run of the mill research/electives/good letters? Would a MSc be very beneficial (in neuro)? For reference, I’m bilingual so I was planning on applying broadly to all the adult neuro + child neuro programs (around 22 programs in total). Would this be sufficient or should I back up with another program in addition? I don’t really enjoy any other programs, other then maybe psych through which I could do neuropsych? But then again psych is quite competitive too…

 

I was also wondering if there would be any way to be strategic with my electives to increase my chances. I’m flexible on location, so maybe I can focus on doing electives in areas/programs that in the past had leftover spots - since if I get ranked highly by them I have a great shot?

 

I would also love to chat with à neuro resident/attending if any frequent premed101!

-An anxious M2

[confusedmedstudent2022]

A good person to ask would be someone who matched from your home med school this year; they're close to the process and are more likely familiar with the unique clerkship timeline of your school. Especially as visiting electives might not happen, they might be able to speak to electives at your home program a bit more. 

[JohnGrisham]

On 9/28/2021 at 2:09 PM, Neurogunner said:

most provincial governments seem to be pushing family medicine and not specialty programs so it might be even harder to match by the time I go through Carms

This isn't really relevant, unless they actively decrease the number of non-family medicine specialty spots - I wouldn't worry about that, there has not been a decrease in Neurology spots, and dont think that would be coming anytime soon!

Be a strong clerk, show interest in neuro and do electives to get LORs -do some research if you're interested too. Neuro hasn't been super competitive, and there is a lot of self-selection to it.  If you really want neuro, work hard, and apply broadly, you'll likely match if its your first choice discipline. Even more so if you're willing to throw in pediatric neuro applications to broaden the net more.

That said, always back up with something else, unless you really can't see yourself doing it - and would rather sit out a year to boost your application further and try your luck for neuro/peds neuro.

[Neurogunner]

25 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

This isn't really relevant, unless they actively decrease the number of non-family medicine specialty spots - I wouldn't worry about that, there has not been a decrease in Neurology spots, and dont think that would be coming anytime soon!

Be a strong clerk, show interest in neuro and do electives to get LORs -do some research if you're interested too. Neuro hasn't been super competitive, and there is a lot of self-selection to it.  If you really want neuro, work hard, and apply broadly, you'll likely match if its your first choice discipline. Even more so if you're willing to throw in pediatric neuro applications to broaden the net more.

That said, always back up with something else, unless you really can't see yourself doing it - and would rather sit out a year to boost your application further and try your luck for neuro/peds neuro.

Thanks for the reply! Do you think if I go unmatched and take a year off (For MSc in neurosciences) I would have a good chance the second time around? Does neuro/peds neuro sometimes accept re-applicants?

 

The problem with backing up is the specialties that I would enjoy otherwise (Psych/Im) are getting quite competitive so I don’t know if it’s feasible to back-up with them.

[anonymouspls]

On 9/30/2021 at 8:07 PM, Neurogunner said:

Thanks for the reply! Do you think if I go unmatched and take a year off (For MSc in neurosciences) I would have a good chance the second time around? Does neuro/peds neuro sometimes accept re-applicants?

 

The problem with backing up is the specialties that I would enjoy otherwise (Psych/Im) are getting quite competitive so I don’t know if it’s feasible to back-up with them.

Neither psych nor IM are "quite competitive". They're both near the bottom in terms of specialty competitiveness.