Deciding b.t med school's

[Haybrant]

Hi,

I am currently choosing b.t a couple medical schools to attend. I am very facinated with neurosurgery, and though i recognize that interests may change, I would like to pursue the field of neurosurgery. I realize the residency is difficult to obtain and Im curious if attending a school that has 4 years pass/fail would be a disadvantage come time for residency applications. Would I be better off going to a school that has p/f/honors all four years and try and get honors as much as possible, or is the majority weight on board scores? Ive looked at match lists but they dont really tell me how many students didnt get the neurosurg. residency. Thanks!

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[mpp]

Go to the medical school where you will do better and where people seem to do better on the boards. I don't think the grading scheme will matter much...doubtful it would matter at all during the first two years.

It will also be helpful if there is a neurosurgery program at the school such that you can make connections and get involved in research.

 

[Haybrant]

thanks for the response mpp. Let me be more specific about my choice of med school to see if anyone has feedback about these schools as feeders to neurosurgery. Im deciding between stanford,uc san diego, and upitt; im not certain which has higher board scores, but i think ucsd may which could be due to the more rigorous curriculum grading scheme. Anyone have thoughts about these specific schools?

Also, for those of you who have applied for and have or have not recieved a neurosurgery residency, what are some things, in hindsight, you would do different during med school to land the best possible neurosurg residency? Also, do you have links to surgical residency rankings? thanks!!

 

[Haybrant]

let me ask one more question. What do you feel outside of the science material you learn in the first two years is the most important ability/skill etc.. to acquire as a medical student to be good at and enjoy a field like neurosurgery? thanks!

 

[Smitty]

 

[Perrin]

Sweet Home Alabama and Gimme Three Steps

 

[Haybrant]

uhhh, is this some sorta inside joke?

 

[NSGYResident]

Hi,

I am currently choosing b.t a couple medical schools to attend. I am very facinated with neurosurgery, and though i recognize that interests may change, I would like to pursue the field of neurosurgery. I realize the residency is difficult to obtain and Im curious if attending a school that has 4 years pass/fail would be a disadvantage come time for residency applications. Would I be better off going to a school that has p/f/honors all four years and try and get honors as much as possible, or is the majority weight on board scores? Ive looked at match lists but they dont really tell me how many students didnt get the neurosurg. residency. Thanks!

In the end I am not sure it really matters. However, I will warn you. Most med students are used to "deciding" they are going to get A's in college, studying hard, and then getting those A's. Med school is a different world. At least at my med school it was very difficult to get "HONORS". You had to have a 94% in the course to get an honors with no curve. 85% to get a High Pass. This may seem like no big deal to you, but I assure you, there were tons of people in my med school who were used to getting 3.8 to 4.0 GPA's who couldn't get any Honors or but one or two Honors during their whole 4 years while studying their asses off. It is not something any med student can just will themselves into obtaining. It has something to also do with your ability to process HUGE volumes of information accurately and you have to be essentially almost perfect on exams. Trust me, I was AOA elected, and had tons of Honors at my school, but it was damn difficult, and part of it is honestly innate ability and not all about just working hard and willing yourself to that goal. So you have to honestly assess who you are. If you are someone who barely had to study in college to get your A's, then also have the ability to pour on the effort in med school... you'll probably do ok. If you are someone who is already basically maximizing your effort/studying while in college to obtaiin your A's then you may not have that extra gear to switch into when in med school and you might struggle.

This is why grades are not the best predictor of med school success but actually MCAT score is more highly correlated with obtaining Honors in med school.

good luck

 

[medstudent123]

i agree with the above posts. where you go probably doesn't matter, but all else equal, it's probably better to go to a school with honor/pass/fail and get those honors, rather than passing. it'll probably force you to study harder, which may translate to better board score.

but if you go to a school where 'honors' could be gotten, and you didn't get them, that's probably not as good.

the match rate is something like 60-70%, but even that number is somewhat misleading. you'll know your step 1 score by the time you apply, and your dean would probably advise you against neurosurgery if your academic records are not great.

best of luck!

Hi,

I am currently choosing b.t a couple medical schools to attend. I am very facinated with neurosurgery, and though i recognize that interests may change, I would like to pursue the field of neurosurgery. I realize the residency is difficult to obtain and Im curious if attending a school that has 4 years pass/fail would be a disadvantage come time for residency applications. Would I be better off going to a school that has p/f/honors all four years and try and get honors as much as possible, or is the majority weight on board scores? Ive looked at match lists but they dont really tell me how many students didnt get the neurosurg. residency. Thanks!

 

[lesstewert]

Jesus, just go to stanford for chrissakes. It is beautiful, in whine country and places people into top residencies all the time. Work hard, don't be a jerk or have a personality disorder and hit the average boardscore for whatever specialty you want to go into. If you are still cursed by the desire to go into neurosurgery then do so and God bless you, but just be aware that most people at the school who are tops are going to laugh at you because they will be going into derm, radiology, ENT or some other such specialty. Of course you will be going into a very interesting field, but you might work so hard that you begin to hallucinate or get divorced from your wife at the very least. Or maybe you will just see so much death and dysfunction that nothing will seem to make sense anymore, not money, women, porsches, science etc. I am very thankful that someone is willing to do neurosurgery because for most it is quite a sacrifice.

 

[medstudent123]

interesting take on neurosurgery... i've always wondered why more people are NOT interested in it...

Jesus, just go to stanford for chrissakes. It is beautiful, in whine country and places people into top residencies all the time. Work hard, don't be a jerk or have a personality disorder and hit the average boardscore for whatever specialty you want to go into. If you are still cursed by the desire to go into neurosurgery then do so and God bless you, but just be aware that most people at the school who are tops are going to laugh at you because they will be going into derm, radiology, ENT or some other such specialty. Of course you will be going into a very interesting field, but you might work so hard that you begin to hallucinate or get divorced from your wife at the very least. Or maybe you will just see so much death and dysfunction that nothing will seem to make sense anymore, not money, women, porsches, science etc. I am very thankful that someone is willing to do neurosurgery because for most it is quite a sacrifice.

 

[Blake]

interesting take on neurosurgery... i've always wondered why more people are NOT interested in it...

Haha. Reminds me of a neurosurgeon at my school who says he doesn't understand why there's like only 1 % of med students applying to this field.

I really can't explain why there aren't more people interested in it. I'm the only one in my class of 160+ who'll be doing NS research this summer and who has plans for a NS rotation at the beginning of the 3rd year. To each their own, I guess.

 

[lesstewert]

Hey I think it is great if you can handle it but I would just guess there are very few who can actually maintain themselves while contributing to the field. I know that I would do it if I had the right "stuff" but alas I do not. My only word of caution is that with enough determination an hard work it is possible to get yourself into a situation that you never should have been in. I have just seen people in the past that seem to be the square peg in the round hole. Sometimes I have been in that situation too. I am not really directing this comment at anyone in particular. I should be quiete now This has nothing to do with the OPs post but he is probably long gone to pittsburgh or some other Kick A$$ place anyway.

 

[NSMedStudent]

thanks for the response mpp. Let me be more specific about my choice of med school to see if anyone has feedback about these schools as feeders to neurosurgery. Im deciding between stanford,uc san diego, and upitt; im not certain which has higher board scores, but i think ucsd may which could be due to the more rigorous curriculum grading scheme. Anyone have thoughts about these specific schools?

Also, for those of you who have applied for and have or have not recieved a neurosurgery residency, what are some things, in hindsight, you would do different during med school to land the best possible neurosurg residency? Also, do you have links to surgical residency rankings? thanks!!

Hi, just wanted to respond to your post. I am a Stanford med student and intend to go into neurosurgery. Have you made your decision yet? I have a lot that I can share with you, if you would like to send me a PM and I'll get back to you. (I actually wrote out a long response earlier and my computer crashed - just don't have time to write it all out right now again). Bottom line, Stanford is a superb school for someone thinking about neurosurgery, and I would highly recommend that you consider Stanford strongly if you are thinking about neurosurg or any other academic specialty. Let me know if you are still deciding and I'll give you lots more info and specifics.