Nsg applicant town hall

[Guest]

(04-30-2020, 07:57 PM)Guest Wrote: https://www.societyns.org/medical-studen...-rotations

The third link on this site

Honestly, all the links on that site.

tl;dr -
1. all away rotations canceled this cycle
2. 3 home neurosurgeon letters, 1 general surgeon letter
3. students without a home program should go to the closest program
4. if you do get away letters this cycle, it'll be looked down upon

[Guest]

Okay but what if I took a year off at a different institution and have 2 letters from there. Am I no longer allowed to use those?

[neuron777]

(04-30-2020, 09:41 PM)Guest Wrote: Okay but what if I took a year off at a different institution and have 2 letters from there. Am I no longer allowed to use those?

this exception is allowed (specified in SNS attachment), although it sounds like you should only use 1 from neurosurgery research if from an outside institution, 2 neurosurgery home + 1 general surgery home

[Guest]

So they have sacrifice a strong neurosurgery letter for a weaker gen surg letter?

[Guest]

(04-30-2020, 10:19 PM)Guest Wrote: So they have sacrifice a strong neurosurgery letter for a weaker gen surg letter?

yeah, I don't get this either. Why can't we just get 4 nsg letters from home?

[Guest]

Yeah they should have just allowed for more flexibility with letters instead of mandating that there be a gen surg one. Very disappointed in this policy

[Guest]

(04-30-2020, 10:29 PM)Guest Wrote: Yeah they should have just allowed for more flexibility with letters instead of mandating that there be a gen surg one. Very disappointed in this policy

I'm guessing that you've never seen some of these LOR's. You're having someone who has had minimal interaction with you write a recommendation for you. the majority of LOR's are summaries of your CV, what your presentation was, and that the residents liked you... 95% of letters say almost the exact same thing. What more do you expect from someone who doesn't really know you. With that being said, some of the best letters, letters that really help you know the applicant come from research mentors, non academic neurosurgery mentors, and non neurosurgeons. These letters have a great deal of thought put into them and really give you an understanding of who you are interviewing. So.... with that said, I personally think that the quality of letters is going to be much better this cycle and there will not be this non sense emphasis on where someone did an away. 


EM does a standardized LOR type system that everyone gets so there is not a lot of emphasis where you rotated, but more on how you did compared to everyone. Much more objective and useful.

[Guest]

(04-30-2020, 09:26 PM)Guest Wrote:

(04-30-2020, 07:57 PM)Guest Wrote: https://www.societyns.org/medical-studen...-rotations

The third link on this site

Honestly, all the links on that site.

tl;dr -
1. all away rotations canceled this cycle
2. 3 home neurosurgeon letters, 1 general surgeon letter
3. students without a home program should go to the closest program
4. if you do get away letters this cycle, it'll be looked down upon

This is really going to favor students with strong home departments and well-connected faculty.

[smithers]

So to be totally clear, the 1 gen surg letter is mandated? This is true even if we have a research letter from an outside institution and/or a PhD mentor letter?

[Guest]

(04-30-2020, 10:41 PM)Guest Wrote:

(04-30-2020, 10:29 PM)Guest Wrote: Yeah they should have just allowed for more flexibility with letters instead of mandating that there be a gen surg one. Very disappointed in this policy

I'm guessing that you've never seen some of these LOR's. You're having someone who has had minimal interaction with you write a recommendation for you. the majority of LOR's are summaries of your CV, what your presentation was, and that the residents liked you... 95% of letters say almost the exact same thing. What more do you expect from someone who doesn't really know you. With that being said, some of the best letters, letters that really help you know the applicant come from research mentors, non academic neurosurgery mentors, and non neurosurgeons. These letters have a great deal of thought put into them and really give you an understanding of who you are interviewing. So.... with that said, I personally think that the quality of letters is going to be much better this cycle and there will not be this non sense emphasis on where someone did an away. 


EM does a standardized LOR type system that everyone gets so there is not a lot of emphasis where you rotated, but more on how you did compared to everyone. Much more objective and useful.

But what if you've had more than just minimal interaction with them? And they've known you for a prolonged period of time

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(04-30-2020, 10:52 PM)smithers Wrote: So to be totally clear, the 1 gen surg letter is mandated? This is true even if we have a research letter from an outside institution and/or a PhD mentor letter?

Thats what it seems like. But I'm not 100% sure