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Indiana University School of Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Medical Student Portal

Child Neurology Specialty at a Glance

Child neurology offers training in both pediatrics and pediatric neurology, encompassing disorders of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerve and muscle. Child neurologists will care for patients with common pediatric and neurologic problems as well as rare and often unique disorders.


Match Statistics

Mean USMLE Step 2 CK score: 247
Average number of research experiences: 4
Average number of abstracts, presentations and publications: 7

Child neurology is the specialty for you if you enjoy neuroscience/the brain and problem-solving, and love working with children! Child neurology not only involves the intersection of neurology and pediatrics, but also includes a decent amount of genetics, so there is a lot of variety to what you diagnose and treat. You get to develop long-term relationships with families and help them through some potentially challenging and life-changing journeys, which is a rewarding experience.

If you think you may be interested in child neurology, you should join the neurology student interest group and consider reaching out to obtain a mentor and/or shadow to learn what child neurology is all about.

Some potential electives to consider include of course child neurology, but also genetics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neuroradiology, ophthalmology and pediatric neurosurgery. You can also consider rheumatology and infectious disease.

You can consider a sub-I in general pediatrics as well as internal medicine.

There is a high match rate in child neurology and there are always spots that go unfilled, so an away rotation is not necessarily needed/required unless you would like to match to a particularly competitive location, in which case an away rotation there would be recommended. As residency interviews are now virtual, though, doing an away rotation is also a way to get a better sense of a program you may be considering.

Sometimes research can be useful to better your understanding in a subject, however it is not necessary in all situations.

Residency training for this specialty is five years.

It is more important for your letter writers to know you, including what specialty you want to go into and why, rather than for them to be "well-known" in the field. It would be ideal to have at least one letter from a general pediatrician and one from a child neurologist.

The Child Neurology Society website has a lot of useful information you can review.

If you are interested in pursuing child neurology, sign up to receive a mentor and you will be contacted to provide some introductory information about yourself to help us match you with a mentor who would be best suited to assist you based on your specific goals/interests.