Hey
@neusu
First of all, thank you so much for creating this thread. It has answered a lot of important questions for aspiring neurosurgeons such as myself and many others. We appreciate your time and honesty.
I have a question for you regarding research.
Currently I am an undergraduate student at a small Midwest university. Throughout the last couple years I have been shadowing a neurosurgeon at the University nearby. Needless to say, I have fallen in love with neurosurgery since the first operation that I observed. That said, I am trying to get involved in research this upcoming summer, since the academic year doesn't permit me to do research, as I am involved in varsity athletics.
Currently I am split between two labs:
Lab A: Is a neural stem cell/translational neuroscience laboratory that is run by a neurosurgeon. I have been to a few lab meetings and it seems as though I would be stuck doing scut work and not necessarily learning how to be an effective researcher. But, like I said above, it is neurosurgery related and I feel like it could possibly benefit me in the residency match process.
Lab B: Is a cancer/cell biology lab that investigates apoptosis in leukemia cells. In this lab however, I feel that the PI (PhD only) is much more involved and I would get a much more in depth experience and learn how to do things better. But as stated previously, it isn't exactly neurosurgery or even neuroscience related.
I also plan to take 2 years off after the completion of my undergraduate degree to possibly work in one of the labs listed above full time. In the context of becoming a competitive applicant for both medical school and neurosurgery residency, which lab would you recommend?
Thanks a lot and I apologize for the long question.