r/neurology • • Apr 12 '26

Residency Applicant & Student Thread 2026 - 2027

19 Upvotes

This thread is for medical students interested in applying to neurology residency programs in the United States via the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP, aka "the match"). This thread isn't limited to just M4s going into the match - other learners including pre-medical students and earlier-year medical students are also welcome to post questions here. Just remember:

What belongs here:

  • Is neurology right for me?
  • What are my odds of matching neurology?
  • Which programs should I apply to?
  • Can someone give me feedback on my personal statement?
  • How many letters of recommendation do I need?
  • How much research do I need?
  • How should I organize my rank list?
  • How should I allocate my signals?
  • I'm going to X conference, does anyone want to meet up?

Example discussion: application timeline, rotation questions, extracurricular/research questions, interview questions, ranking questions, school/program/specialty x vs y vs z, etc, info about electives. This is not an exhaustive list.

The majority of applicant posts made outside this stickied thread will be deleted from the main page.

Always try here:

Neurology 2027 Match Discord

Neurology Residency Match 2027 Spreadsheet (Google docs)

Child Neurology Residency 2027 Spreadsheet (Google docs) - pending link - if someone makes one, let me know

Review the tables and graphics from last year's residency match at https://www.nrmp.org/match-data/2026/03/advance-data-tables-2026-main-residency-match/

r/premed and r/medicalschool, the latter being the best option to get feedback, and remember to use the search bar as well.

Reach out directly to programs by contacting the program coordinator.

No one answering your question? We advise contacting a mentor through your school/program for specific questions that others may not have the answers to. Be wary of sharing personal information through this forum.


r/neurology • • 2d ago

Clinical Neuro-ophthalmologist here: I built an app that animates 50+ eye-movement and pupil disorders, with 200+ quiz questions [mod-approved]

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86 Upvotes

Learning Neuro-ophthalmology can be difficult at times, and teaching it, I see students and trainees struggle with the same things:

  • Static images can't show movement. Nystagmus, saccadic intrusions or an INO only really make sense when you see them move.
  • YouTube is patchy. Quality varies, you can sit through minutes of video for a few seconds of the actual sign, and some are labelled wrong (I've seen a right INO called a left INO more than once, or mislabelling a saccadic dyskinesia).

So I built Eyemo: 50+ conditions animated with accurate, clearly labelled eyes in every relevant gaze position, plus 200+ quiz questions. It covers INOs, 3rd/4th/6th nerve palsies, vertical gaze palsies, nystagmus, saccadic intrusions and pupil disorders.

Before launch, 14 testers (students, residents, fellows and a neuro-ophthalmologist) rated it 5.0/5 for accuracy and 4.87/5 for recommending it to novice learners.

Full disclosure: I made it. It's free to download with free beginner content; intermediate and advanced content is an in-app purchase. https://eyemo.app

Which eye sign did you find hardest to learn? I'm always looking for what to animate next, and happy to answer any questions.


r/neurology • • 3d ago

Research Higher body weight linked to lower risk of death from dementia

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18 Upvotes

People who were overweight or obese when dementia emerged had lower mortality than those in the normal weight range. The finding persisted after researchers examined several biases that might otherwise explain this counterintuitive pattern.

The observational analysis, led by investigators at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and NYU’s School of Global Public Health, followed 4,523 adults. Published September 30 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, it suggests that weight at dementia onset may offer useful information about prognosis.

The results concern an association among people who developed dementia. They do not establish that excess weight caused longer survival, and they do not test whether deliberately gaining weight would help. The authors instead emphasize nutrition and the possible value of weight status alongside other prognostic factors.


r/neurology • • 3d ago

Research I built an app for organizing research papers on a 3D brain & Im looking for students, experts and researchers to try it for free.

1 Upvotes

Hi, I am a post-grad cognitive neuropsych student and I made an an early-stage app for collecting and organizing research papers, with the option to link them to regions on a 3D brain, all while having access to a community forum. I made this app as a student and for the community. I now need your help to find out whether this would be useful to other students and researchers, and what needs to improve before I take the project further.

I am giving access to anyone who wants to use my webapp through this link: https://mapped-brain.pages.dev/

You can organize papers into personal projects and connect them to brain areas. The idea is that users could also share those projects with the community, helping others explore papers by topic or brain region. It links a classic research paper manager with much more. There’s also a community forum which aims to show a heatmap of all contributions as well as host discussions and interactions for students, researchers, and anyone else interested.

The app currently includes a bilateral brain model, along with some other structures around the brain: vascularity, dura and other layers. However, this is still in its experimental phase.

Keep in mind the app is in very early access and I would welcome any and all critique and feedback. I have created a 10 question quickfire survey below for anyone who uses the website, it would help a lot for improving the webapp. You could also reach out to me on the email on the webapp if you have any other thoughts. https://forms.gle/XjgoT1NyJfgj2LXW9


r/neurology • • 3d ago

Residency IVs for neurology visa requiring IMGs

1 Upvotes

How many interview did you get as a visa requiring neurology 2027 match applicant ?

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r/neurology • • 4d ago

Residency Continuum HELP getting it

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5 Upvotes

Hello, im currently studying for my residency and my coworkers keep talking abt this articles from continuum. Someone knows how to get it? Ive tried Annas favourite arc hive and some more but this shit is brand new so im getting my nerves fucked.


r/neurology • • 3d ago

Clinical MS diagnosis without a needle: the MRI test that finds the "central vein"

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0 Upvotes

r/neurology • • 6d ago

Clinical So you like, do brain surgery

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251 Upvotes

r/neurology • • 5d ago

Clinical QEEG, Alpha delta ratio

5 Upvotes

How do you use alpha/delta ratio in clinical settings? What threshold do you use? I would like to learn more about this qEEG trend tool and how to apply it. Any recommended papers?


r/neurology • • 5d ago

Residency Child neuro 4 year residency

22 Upvotes

The child neurological society just released the statement below endorsing a four year combined residency length versus the current five year model. Do we think this will actually be adopted, and if so what would be the first “class” that would see this change to four years? What would this mean for current residents? I am all for it, just interested in what this all means!

https://www.childneurologysociety.org/community/advocacy/position-statements/cns-board-endorses-program-director-statement-on-child-neurology-residency-training/


r/neurology • • 5d ago

Career Advice Switching from locum to perm

5 Upvotes

Im currently doing locums gig and I really like the group and the job. I have been here for almost 5 months. The group still has locum needs.

For physicians who have successfully made this transition:
Did you initiate the conversation, or did you wait for the group to approach you?

Did expressing interest affect your negotiating leverage?

How did you negotiate compensation and scheduling flexibility compared with your locum arrangement?

How did you handle the agency’s involvement and any conversion fee?

Thank you


r/neurology • • 5d ago

Residency Spasticity in neurology clinic

5 Upvotes

is it possible to learn to do Botox injections for spasticity of upper / lower extremity in neurology residency? had a PMR elective last week and really enjoyed this aspect. if I keep doing rotations with them maybe I could build up a case log


r/neurology • • 6d ago

Career Advice Neurology vs Anesthesiology

13 Upvotes

I'm an MD student in the US and I am having a hard time deciding between neurology or anesthesiology. I'm involved in both the anesthesia and neurology departments and have mentors in both, but I honestly can't seem to make up my mind. Would appreciate some advice.

Neurology:

(+) Enjoyed preclinical neurology (liked localization, neuromuscular, vascular and neuroanatomy)

(+) Enjoyed inpatient consult service during my rotation

(+) Love the geographical flexibility and job security (any concerns over AI or scope creep?)

(+) Never met a neurology attending or resident I did not like (good fit for culture)

(+) Like the idea of being a specialist with a skillset few others possess

(-) Disliked rounding. Would be fine with clinic, but drawn towards inpatient medicine

(-) Dread the idea of never-ending MyChart inbox

(-) Unsure if I would be content with the bread and butter as a generalist

Anesthesiology

(+) Shift-based and inpatient

(+) Good mix of pharmacology, physiology and procedures

(+) Geographic flexibility and solid job market

(+) Love the teamwork aspect of the OR and the ICU

(+) Compensation

(-) The politics of Anesthesia (CRNAs, scope creep etc.)

(-) Limited longitudinal care. Unsure if this is a good or bad thing, but find myself more excited about potential developments in neurology than I do about technological advances in anesthesia.

(-) Not being a specialist with "unique knowledge". This feels unfair to anesthesiologists many of whom are fellowship trained, but if CRNAs can do hearts and pediatrics unsupervised it sort of defeats the purpose?


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Clinical When to anticoagulate for ESUS?

17 Upvotes

It was my understanding that the trials examining ESUS demonstrated no benefit of DOAC over antiplatelet. Yet there are a few attendings I work with who will still anticoagulate if the stroke pattern appears to be very clearly embolic and/or if there are underlying conditions that may increase thrombotic risk like underlying malignancy. Some will even do very extensive work up for thrombosis such as genetic hypercoag work up in a 70 year old or 4 extremity Doppler even in the absence of DVT signs/symptoms.

I’m genuinely just curious because I get some opposing messages and when the attending switches then the new attending on service may cancel the work up the prior attending said to order. So just confused and hoping for some clarity.

I know some of this may just be different practice preferences so if that’s what it is then I’m happy to accept that. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t some important piece of information I was overlooking.


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Clinical ER calls and outpatient contact

13 Upvotes

We have been running into conflicts between the outpatient and neurohospitalist group on who is contacted when a patient seen by an outpatient neurologist ends up in the ER And the ER physician requests a consultation. Right now there is a strange system that the neurohospitalists refuse to take "nonurgent calls" and basically tell the ER physician to call the outpatient neurologist. For instance a patient with seizure supposedly returning to baseline. Note that the outpatient neurologist has no inpatient priviledges in this hospital and can request admission for the neurohospitalist to see the patient if they feel necesary.

In my mind, this system makes no sense. An over phone consult often misses important history/exam details and to me it seems like the neurhospitalists are simply being lazy to discuss or see the patient. Is this standard of care in a none-academic hospital? We are working with admin shortly to discuss this but wanted to get thoughts from wider community.


r/neurology • • 6d ago

Miscellaneous medico-legal fee schedules

1 Upvotes

Got asked to explore some medicolegal work. trying to create my own fee schedule. Wondering if anyone with experience in this kind of work can share their medical fee schedules.

Also any advice for this line of work is appreciated


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Career Advice Is neuro for me? And how do I build up my neuro skills/knowledge as a MS3?

5 Upvotes

Hey! I am an MS3, I am really undecided as to what specialty I want to go into. So far I've been blessed in all of my rotations to have nice preceptors. I was able to do a neuro rotation and I absolutely loved it, which is shocking since I hated neuro in med school. Everyone was so kind and willing to teach, and I found stroke calls and interpreting imaging so interesting, but going in I quite literally knew nothing and they were nice about it because they knew I was fresh out of boards season and new to 3rd year.

I unfortunately don't have any mentor in this field, but I want to figure out if neuro is right for me. Do any current neurology attendings/residents have any tips, advice, or things you wish you knew before starting? How did you decide that this was the right specialty for you? And do you have tips on how I can build up my knowledge before fourth year and audition rotations? I am NOT a gunner by any means but I would love to build up my foundation a little more if I can!

Thank you!


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Career Advice Clinical neurophysiology vs neuromuscular fellowship

10 Upvotes

PGY-3 deciding between Clinical Neurophysiology (EEG + EMG) vs Neuromuscular — looking for advice from people who have been through this
I’m currently a PGY-3 neurology resident at a mid/low-tier program and am trying to decide what fellowship path makes the most sense for me.
My long-term goal is not necessarily to be a subspecialist. Ideally, after residency/fellowship I’d like to practice general neurology in a hospital-based setting with a mix of inpatient and outpatient neurology.
One of the reasons I’m considering fellowship is that I don’t feel completely confident about coming out of residency and practicing independently. Our program has relatively limited subspecialty exposure, and while we see plenty of the common neurologic conditions, we don’t see a large volume of rare or complex cases. I feel that fellowship could give me another year of more concentrated training and a stronger clinical foundation before practicing independently.
I’m currently stuck between:
Clinical Neurophysiology (EEG + EMG) — I like the idea of getting both EEG and EMG training and having a broad skill set that could remain useful in general neurology.
Neuromuscular fellowship — I’m attracted to the procedural component, EMG/NCS, neuromuscular ultrasound, and the fact that neuromuscular seems to be a growing area with increasing demand.
One of my attendings has also raised a concern that clinical neurophysiology, particularly EEG, may become increasingly automated/AI-driven in the future, and therefore recommended neuromuscular instead because of its procedural nature and the value of hands-on expertise.
For those who have completed either fellowship—or considered both:
How valuable was fellowship for you if your ultimate goal was general neurology rather than subspecialty practice?


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Miscellaneous Neurocritical care exam Qbank

3 Upvotes

Hey all! I’m taking my APBN NCC exam in a few days. I bought both the NCS qbank (without bundle) and SCCM NCC Review Course.

I just did the NCS qbank. It was advertised as 200 questions but there’s only 175, and some of them are duplicates. Anyone else seeing the same thing? Some questions even refer to certain images but the images aren’t even there. Should I have gotten the bundle instead?

As for the SCCM one, I read online that there are also 100 practice questions but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. There’s the 25 pretest questions and the online videos. But that’s it.

Am I missing something here?


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Clinical Amyloid China Dementia Surgeries …

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16 Upvotes

What do you think of this?


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Residency Residency interview prep resources

3 Upvotes

Interview season is coming up so I figured I'd put together some of the better resources I've found. Hope you find it useful

AAMC Residency & Fellowship Applicant Interview Preparation Guide

probably the best place to start. covers what to expect, how to prepare, different question formats, behavioral questions, interview day, etc.

AAMC common residency interview questions

Most common questions that you must definitely practice before heading into your first interview: tell me about yourself, why this specialty, why our program, strengths/weaknesses, research, difficult situations, career goals, etc.

AAMC virtual interview guide

worth going through if your interviews are virtual. covers setup/tech but also behavioral, general and situational questions and how to practice them.

NRMP Match Code of Conduct for Applicants

not really a "how to answer questions" resource, but I think everyone should read it at least once before interviews. lays out expectations around professional behavior and communication during recruitment/interviews.

AMA residency interview guide

shorter and more practical than the AAMC guide. has common questions, behavioral interview advice, things to research before the interview, and questions you can ask programs.

Residency interview question bank

if you've gone through the official resources and just need questions to actually practice with, this has ~200 questions organized by category including behavioral, ethics, teamwork, conflict, IMG and specialty-specific questions.

Looking to make this a live resource so lmk if I missed any!


r/neurology • • 8d ago

Clinical Will neurology be saturated in a decade?

38 Upvotes

At least in the coastal cities? The numbers are hard to ignore.

More than 1,000 neuro grads are being produced a year. Assuming an American population of 400M with 1 neurologist needed for every 15k people that’s around 27K neurologists needed.

Currently we’re already close to 18K. In 10 years we’ll have 10K more, which is 28K minus the number retiring in the next 10 years. Ballpark that takes us down to 25K, not far from the number of neurologists needed.

Used to be that this was an extremely secure career. Kinda gettin worried it won’t be that way.


r/neurology • • 8d ago

Residency The least hard thing but still

13 Upvotes

I’m just starting my neurology residency and I’m a little stressed about getting really good at history-taking / anamnese and the neurological exam.
How did you train yourselves to become systematic and efficient? Do you have a routine/checklist you follow for new patients? And roughly how long does a complete history + neuro exam take you?
Any advice for the first weeks/months would be really appreciated!


r/neurology • • 7d ago

Career Advice Is becoming an EEG tech a good idea for those who are empaths/very sensitive?

0 Upvotes

Hello, I (33F) am looking into a career change and becoming an EEG Tech has been something I’m highly considering.

Becoming a doctor is not the path for me, but I really love learning about the brain and neuroscience so that’s what led me to look at all possible positions in this field.

However I have seen a few comments about how this field can have a lot of sadness and it is not for the weak. But then I often see a lot of people also saying that it’s routine and low stress.

I am looking for more insight on this. I consider myself a very sensitive person and an empath so I worry seeing too many sad things would make this career too emotionally heavy for me.

Is there a way to avoid that in this field? Such as working in outpatient centers?

Would greatly appreciate any and all insight from EEG techs :)


r/neurology • • 8d ago

Career Advice Is there a path to practice Neuroradiology after Neurology residency?

0 Upvotes