Getting into a US Neurosurgery Residency

[FenixTx]

---

Members do not see this ad.

a

 

[Vizsla]

I am a brand new medical student and am thinking about a few specialties to go into, one of which is neurosurgery. I was wondering what the consensus is for the general requirements are to get into a NS residency in the US. Will I need to get honors in all of my courses, what kind of research should I focus on (i.e., basic science, clinical, translational). I am assuming I will need an extremely high Step 1 score, which I am willing to work for. Just how high is high enough? I go to a top 20 school if that matters. Thanks in advance for your help!

did you do a forum search for any of these answers??

get honors in as many clerkships as possible w/ emphasis on med and surg, try to neuro research if you can, last yrs step 1 avg for those who matched was 237 I believe so if you get high 230s you should be fine, name of school matters if youre able to make meaningful connections with (and get letters from) surgeons who matter in the field.

 

[FenixTx]

a

 

[Gozar]

clinical is the easiest to get out and published. with neurosurgery in the NRMP match this year we should get a good idea of the number/type of research experiences via "charting outcomes in the match". most PDs know the difference in time commitment between clinical and basic science research. as someone doing basic science work in neurosurgery i can tell you that getting a project going and seeing it through to fruition can be a very long time course. i have been working on a project for over a year and we are just now starting on manuscripts. so if the extent of your research experience will be the summer between ms1 and ms2 then you need to weigh that. general principles -

papers (1st-3rd authorship, regardless of journal "quality) >> abstracts
basic science > clinical

find something that you actually want to work on. hopefully you are at a school with enough variety to find a project that you will want to put hours into. seek out a project that you can make progress on by working intermitent hours in case you have to carry it over into ms2. finally, don't give up with these guys. i bugged my PI for 6 months AFTER he told me i had a project/job before i actually got into lab. realize that they have significant time commitments in clinic and most do not have protected research days.

 

[tetracycline]

hey, how important is getting into AOA? I know I'm probably not going to. But I was wondering how important that was.

 

[Gozar]

its another line on the resume. its probably not as important as it is for derm/plastics where (47% for derm, 39% for ENT, 36% for plastics, 31% for ortho) are AOA. the neurosurgeon i work for basically told me that killing step 1 is much more important.

 

[FenixTx]

z

 

[-Goose-]

I've had several sources tell me that preclinical grades are insignificant, relative to research, step 1, and clinical rotation grades. Can anyone share their thoughts on this?

Having excellent preclinical grades can't hurt you. And doing well in preclinical courses is arguably the best way to do well on Step 1, which is undoubtedly very important.

 

[JeffLebowski]

I am a brand new medical student and am thinking about a few specialties to go into, one of which is neurosurgery. I was wondering what the consensus is for the general requirements are to get into a NS residency in the US. Will I need to get honors in all of my courses, what kind of research should I focus on (i.e., basic science, clinical, translational). I am assuming I will need an extremely high Step 1 score, which I am willing to work for. Just how high is high enough? I go to a top 20 school if that matters. Thanks in advance for your help!

Why would you specify "in the US"? Do you go to a foreign school or are a foreign student? I'm just trying to figure this out.

 

[FenixTx]

z

 

[JeffLebowski]

I am not sure why I specified US (purely accidental), but I currently do attend a US allopathic school.

To two posters above -- I agree that the best way is to prepare for step 1 is to do well in my classes, but I do not want to obsess about my test scores, and would just like to learn as much as I can through the courses. I am sure that I will receive honors in some classes, but I do not want to have that specific goal in mind when I am studying through the different preclinical courses.

Hope that made some sense.

If other students could give their input, that would be wonderful (particularly those that have matched into NS).

I'm a medical student, so take my statements as you will, but honestly, if you're doing well enough in classes to get A's, you're mastering the material well enough to do well on Step I. It's not either/or, as if you have to sacrifice understanding for grades...much of medicine is just memorization, and you just have to memorize that stuff (but yes, it's easier if you can come to an understanding about it as well). The stuff that's conceptual, well, if you learned it well enough to get an A, then you learned it pretty darn well. I think it's a reasonable goal to shoot for A's in every class, if you're capable to do that. There are few other measurement tools along M1-2 years that help you gauge how well you're learning/mastering/studying material, so I'm in favor of grades. People who say "grades are stupid" are missing the point - if you miss a grade, fine, accept that, accept the limitations in grades and exams to measure a student's mastery of material, learn from it, and move on. Don't get hung up on all the drama surrounding grades. Shoot for A's on every test and in every class. If you miss the mark now and then, forgive yourself.

Along the same lines, I have heard and believe strongly that grades absolutely do matter in residency selection, especially the more competitive specialties and the more competitive programs. I mean we can argue all day about whether grades/class rank/AOA are significant factors or not, but I think it goes without saying that you want to be as impressive as you can be, and grades are a reasonably objective measurement of academic performance in medical school, why would you want to blow it off?