I'm not in Neurosurgery, but I graduated from Harvard, so I will say the following:
- I know three current neurosurgery residents who graduated from Emory in the last few years. Two are at Harvard and one is at Mount Sinai. I just say this to show that it is clearly very possible to be successful in neurosurgery from Emory.
- You say, "What kind of idiot turns down Harvard?" but I honestly feel like an idiot for taking on a ton of debt to go to Harvard over full rides at other great schools. Admittedly, it cost me more than it would cost you, but I really regret my decision, and I would encourage you not to ignore the money aspect. What I would encourage you to ignore is the layman's prestige. For example, my brother went to WashU, which has infinitely less layman's prestige than Harvard, but HMS didn't open any doors for me that WashU didn't open for him.