Do most applicants do well during interviews? Haven't really had any bad interviews so far. Just wondering how much of a difference an interview makes in ranking applicants.

Hello everyone, 


I will be attending a T15 medical school with a top NSG residency program this year. I am truly interested in pursuing neurosurgery, however, I have limited research experience. I currently participate in neuro-related research at an Ivy but I have no publications so far. I understand that this is a highly academic field and not having any publications prior to med school is not ideal.

I am aware that starting med school is a big adjustment to begin with, but what are some actions that I can take in the next few years to have a chance at NSG? Thank you very much in advance!

How are you guys investing your money? With our salaries we have a nice cushion to take on medium-high risk investments, wondering how others are managing their wealth as they progress in their careers.

I've recently been accepted to a post graduate spine fellowship at a solid academic program. I would ideally like my first post fellowship job to be academic. However, I could see myself eventually transitioning to a private job, possibly even 1opening my own shop. How realistic is this? Is it possible to successfully transition after working in academics for 5-10 years?

For those of us with student loan debt ($300k), what type of repayment plan are you looking to do in residency?

Is it worth it squeezing $1500+ monthly payments for standard loan repayment plan? I figured won't have any time anyway to spend it and no family yet may as well put as much as I can towards payments.

Also have been advised to do the REPAYE since it has interest matching up to a certain point and could add up over 7 years.

Do you really need that much discretionary income in residency?

Any word on abstracts?

how does it look to have 15-20 manuscripts (total of 30+ research items with abstracts, posters, etc.) across various specialties with only a few (<6) neurology or neurosurgery related items? majority published during M1-M3. Mostly clinical studies, no major IF papers, few first author papers. 

it was really tough to find NSG research opportunities at my school. I tried to be as productive as possible with what I was able to get. 

thanks.

At a DO school currently- second year. Ranked top 50% in my class (broken up into quartiles). Does not being top 25% hurt me?

Also- have 8 conference oral presentations and 2 posters (none in neurosurgery- about to start some projects). Is having non neuro research detrimental?

Can anyone who rotated here or have other connection(s) give an account of what this program is like? Specifically in regards to resident culture, operative experience and autonomy, etc. Thanks.

I swear so many want to do neurosurgery during M1 (around 20 from a class of 140 or so). How likely is it that people end up changing their minds in time for applications and how many of those 20 usually apply? Was it because they found something else they were passionate about or did the lifestyle simply catch up with them and they had to settle for something else? Just curious.