Do you guys typically do laminectomy first, followed by cage placement? Or put in cage first and decompress after. For open tlif

Alright I am an applicant with a weird situation and if anyone has some input please let me know. I applied this year and have a lot of interviews (ranking 32 places) and have super high stats/research etc, but the problem is that at almost every interview it was brought up that my chair letter was borderline negative. It is my fault and I did not know the answers to many questions he asked me on my clinic day with him, but basically I am here now and don’t have any “love letters” from any programs and the PD of my #1 didn’t even respond to my LOI which scares the shit out of me haha. I feel like I really need to prep for not matching and really don’t think I can ask my home PD/chair for help so I want to know if anyone thinks it would be a good idea to try again through a surg prelim, or if having a negative LOR is not something that can be overcome in a re-app as it will be remembered. I have a wife and kid and as much as I love neurosurgery, not about to gamble all our lives for a hopeless task and will try my best in SOAP for neuro/IM/FM if reapplying isn’t realistic.

wondering if anyone has joined army reserve or air force reserve during neurosurg residency? Is it feasible? what would program directors think if you tell them that? 1 weekend a month commitment & 2 weeks annually. If someone is currently doing that, please share experiences.

Please discuss.

I am a med student applying this upcoming cycle feeling a little discouraged by lack of support from my home program. I just don’t have faith the faculty I have worked with will make calls / advocate for me when the time comes despite doing what I believe are the right things (getting a good step, publishing 30 papers with various home faculty, doing a research year etc). Are there others out there that feel that way? Any tips for success in the match when you cannot necessarily rely on your home program?

Are the 2800 questions released by the ABNS stems from previous tests or stems that will be used on the upcoming test?

Compared to ENT, plastics and ortho it seems impossible to find official research fellowships for medical students interested in neurosurgery. Students who have taken gap years, how did you go about finding these positions. Any help would be much appreciated ?

i don't know if i will be good enough to become a neurosurgeon, but everyone that i've come across is super cool and they are my role models...and my question for you, neurosurgeon as well as neurosurgeons-to-be, do you ever have people who just dislike you for being you? in med school or residency and even beyond now as an attending..and how do you deal with all that? with haters...

maybe you went above and beyond on a group project and your teammates are looking at you weird thinking you are taking this way too seriously (even though they are the benefactor as this is a shared grade, including a couple who did not do shit)....maybe you are doing clerkship and research at the same time and people don't like gunners. maybe you are just happy and actually LIKE med school, and people see you as being fake. when you are curious and asking questions and people are throwing shades at you...

i know you are going to say MAN UP..i am a girl actually but i know what you mean, i just have to be strong. but my fellow med students are really getting on my nerve. it is like everyone hates me! i hope things will be better in residency and beyond, maybe it will get worse. i have to learn to not care....

how do you deal with all that?

I will be applying in the 2022-2023 cycle. Rough stats: Step 1 >265, >30 journal articles, T30 medical school.

I'm currently planning on doing my home sub-I and 3 aways, which does not give me a window of time to fit in a Step 2 dedicated studying period due to my clerkships / 3rd year ending relatively late.

Will Step 1 still be the primary test score metric used for screening applicants in the 2022-2023 cycle, or will the focus already shift to Step 2 given some applicants only having P/F scores? In other words, would not having a Step 2 score by the time the ERAS closes negatively affect me in terms of interview prospects (I aim to take the exam and have a score back by the latest at the end of December, before rank lists are formed), or would it not be a big deal not having a Step 2 score by the ERAS deadline? Thank you!

Wondering if any residents here heard of anyone matching farther than like 15-20 on their rank list? Wondering how much to stress about like #25 vs #26 on my list. Seems like you either are a good interviewer and will wind up in your top 10 or a poor one and can rank 30 programs and still won’t match.