Applying for Neurosurgery

[nykmd06]

Hey I'm a 4th year currently applying for rads but long term goal is Interventional Neuro Radiology. I recently thought about going the NS route rather than the rads route, since I really like surgery ( only applied to surg prelims). however, as u can see im in a bit of a situation as I would have to apply for NS next year if I choose to do it. what should be my next step to see if I really want NS and to set myself up to match. Should I continue with prelim, scramble for transitional, or take a year off for research?
any help is appreciated
BTW my stats are
94 and 98 step I and Step II respectively
HP for both med and surg(rest a mix of H/HP) not AOA
and some rads research nothing life changing
working on INR research now
got 15-20 rads interviews off approx 35 apps
avg american state school
No NS contacts currently

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[latinfridley]

Hey I'm a 4th year currently applying for rads but long term goal is Interventional Neuro Radiology. I recently thought about going the NS route rather than the rads route, since I really like surgery ( only applied to surg prelims). however, as u can see im in a bit of a situation as I would have to apply for NS next year if I choose to do it. what should be my next step to see if I really want NS and to set myself up to match. Should I continue with prelim, scramble for transitional, or take a year off for research?
any help is appreciated
BTW my stats are
94 and 98 step I and Step II respectively
HP for both med and surg(rest a mix of H/HP) not AOA
and some rads research nothing life changing
working on INR research now
got 15-20 rads interviews off approx 35 apps
avg american state school
No NS contacts currently

Rads residency is much different than NS residency. If you only want to do interventional neuro : i.e. - cath procedures, then I would do rads. Otherwise you are wasting your energy and time on a skill set you won't use. A more viable, albeit more difficult option is via neurology. If you find that you want to be a bona fide neurosurgeon, then you should take a year to do research in neurosurgery, get to know your dept faculty, and try again. Nsurg is a small community so it is critical that you spend some time with your dept faculty. Also, you need to have some nsurg electives and subi's under your belt with letters of rec from neurosurgeons.
Summary: Your best bet is with radiology.