Hey all, first time poster here.
I am a G1 MD/PhD student at a top-10 US MD school.
Just received my step 1 results and my score ended up being 18 pts lower vs my NBME average or UWSAs, I ended up with a 247, which I know isn't a bad score per se, but..
I am interested in academic, research-heavy programs that tend to be more competitive, even for neurosurgery.
I am not 100% for neurosurgery just yet (still have to finish my PhD to get to clinical years), but my question is: is 247 going to negatively affect my ability to match into top programs? I am interested in academic, research-heavy programs that tend to be more competitive, even for neurosurgery.
Will be glad to hear anyone's experience on this, thanks!

How do you go about selecting an area of research you are interested in making a career out of? There are so many different research topics and it seems so difficult to know what specific area you are passionate about when you are so early in your neurosurgery career. I have always talked with physicians and just worked on their projects. My ideas for projects always seem to be too simple and all of my ideas have already been done. 

Now that I am on away rotations, I have been getting a lot of questions about what research I am interested in, and I just say something along the lines of a project I have done. Deep down, I really don't have any idea and struggling to figure out how to make it to the next step.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Can I get a list of hospitalz with Starbucks in the hospital? I can't do that garbage dunkin donuts or whatnot.

Just curious how everyone's program does board review differently? I've heard of some going through various books one chapter at a time, while others focus on pulling all resources to go by one topic at a time, and still others doing it solely by questions.

What does your program do?

Can someone give me a straight, real answer about the important of third year grades? Pediatrics is boring af, and feel like I'm gonna be miserable on Fam Med, OBgyn, Psych. Do I really need to bust my ass to try to Honor these rotations?

http://www.nrmp.org/interactive-charting...the-match/

I just noticed that some programs aka UCSF, UCD, Rush, etc. won't be participating in ERAS this upcoming year.  So, how can one apply to these programs?

Extreme Neurosurgery Check it out

https://youtu.be/qxed9RIUcxQ

Although I realize the translational neurosurgeon-scientist is a near myth, there are obviously a handful of them out there. If this is ultimately my career goal, when should I pursue research training? During Med school through an MD/PhD (pros: free tuition; cons: huge gap between research training and first faculty position)? During residency through a post-doc and completion of masters/doctorate?

All advice is appreciated.

Which residencies have massive tumor volume and also allow residents to operate?