MSPE Adjectives

[Guest]

Does the adjectives used in MSPE's matter.

My school uses words like "excellent", "very good", "outstanding" etc
and then gives a breakdown of how to earn those adjectives.

Does this shit even matter to PDs? Cause my preclinical grades were shit

[Guest]

Try family practice.

[Guest]

You are completely fucked.

[Guest]

If you struggled with preclinical years, then I'd suggest switching to psychiatry/FM. Neurosurgery is for the best of the best.

[Guest]

School was P/F btw lol

[Guest]

Then it wasn't really p/f if preclinical grades influence your letter

[Guest]

If you rocked Step and did well on aways, getting interviews shouldn’t be an issue. The problem you’ll run into is figuring out how to explain why you didn’t do well in preclinical. The general mentality in neurosurgery is excellence in all that you do, regardless of extrinsic motivators.

The reality is that many applicants who would otherwise become great neurosurgeons went through a tough time with extenuating circumstances, or simply struggled to engage in a dry preclinical curriculum that was irrelevant to their interests. While those factors are understandable, from a programs perspective, losing a resident/having a trouble resident is a huge deal. Much easier to depend on someone who has shown they can jump through the hoops. It’s up to you to convince them you can and that this isn’t a character trait that will bleed into their experience with you.

[Guest]

I understand. Let me reword my original post. Im not rock-bottom in terms of quartile. Im talking like 80th percentile-ish. Just so happens the adjectives have a cutoff right where Im at.
My primary reasoning for subpar pre-clinical grades would be research. Did a fair amount of research during preclinical which led to 20+ publications (zero case reports).

[Guest]

If your subI/home letters speak of you in a more glowing way, the MSPE may be disregarded. Keep in mind, however, that you are competing against many others with 20+ pubs, great subI letters, AND glowing MSPE letters. Aim to crush your interviews and you'll be in a good spot

[Guest]

How much is mentor reputation worth? Doing research with a guy who is well known in organized/academic neurosurgery, how much will his letter count, compared to a no-name?