Does not majoring in neurosci put me at a disadvantage for neuro-related residen

[fastfingers]

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I'm currently an entering M1 student, and lately, I'm heavily considering neuro-related residency such as neurosurgery. I understand that these are pretty competitive residency, but my concern is, would I be competing against other medical students who majored in neuroscience back in college, and thus be at a disadvantage? I feel like for me to be successful, I would need to do a lot of research from the get go, but I'm trying to figure out how much of a disadvantage I'm already in.

 

[thatsmate]

No. They don't care what you did in undergrad. If you want to do neurosurgery, you need to crush Step 1, do really well in all your classes, do lots of neuro research.

Seriously. If all else is equal (LORs, AOA, grades), an english major with a 270 is going to be more competitive than a neuroscience major with a 250.

 

[alamo4]

The chair at Stanford, Gary Steinberg did psych undergrad I think.

A lot of people would disagree, but i think psychology undergrad is much closer to sociology and anthropology than to neuroscience.

If you did EE you'd be able to rock all the new DBS stuff.

 

[Sheldor]

Moral of the story? It doesn't matter at all. Not even a little.

Show your new found interest in Neuro related topics by getting involved with research, go to grand rounds, etc. and you will be in great shape!

 

[link2swim06]

The chair at Stanford, Gary Steinberg did psych undergrad I think.

A lot of people would disagree, but i think psychology undergrad is much closer to sociology and anthropology than to neuroscience.

If you did EE you'd be able to rock all the new DBS stuff.

I took both psychology and sociology...they aren't that close. My entire psychology class was based on evidence....sociology was just our professor telling us what he thought.

OP, note I learned more psychology in med school than 3 quarters of psychology taught me in undergrad. If you learn all the material presented you will have a very good understanding of psychology and neuroscience.

 

[fastfingers]

Cool. Thanks so much for all the response. Definitely very encouraging.