VCOM at Carilion Seems to be an amazing program.
I'll start off by saying I go to VCOM so hopefully I'm not biased but take it for what its worth. The Head of Neurosurgery from the program has lectured us before and he is a character (very cocky but hilarious....seems like a good guy to work with). Great background too. The Residency has been affiliated with VCOM since its start and it is about 7 years old I think. All of their passed residents are D.O.s.....not sure if that is going to change with the new Va-Tech M.D. program there at Carilion and the merger but they obviously are D.O. Friendly. The neuroscience research institute there is also amazing. Although I have never been to a talk there, I have looked at their lineup of talks on the website and it looks like they pool in some big names. Obviously research and Neuro go hand and hand, at least in my opinion, and a good Neuro or Neurosurgery residency needs that.
Carilion is a Massive hospital, now affiliated with multiple Medical Schools directly and indirectly, so I would tend to think their Neuro program is just as good as any other MD neurosurgery program at a University Hospital.
Check it out
http://www.carilionclinic.org/education/neurosurgery-residency
I am almost positive they don't "Require" audition rotations. But getting into medial school didn't "require" volunteer work either.
As for the quality of Neurosurgery DO in general. I'm sure they are all good. Sure some better than others, but they don't let you operate on peoples heads without regulation. Plus with the merger, I would expect Neurosurgery residencies to transition nicely. Some of the specialties may have some trouble, but not NeuroSurgery. We were told by our dean that one reason programs may close for instance, are DO programs that are in smaller towns and don't meet case requirements set by ACGME. Carilion will not have this problem, again huge hospital