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2020 Application Updates from Chairs & PDs
#1
Spoke to my PD and Chairman about the match- Current US MD from a low tier school, 243 Step 1, 20+ pubmed cited papers (currently coming off a research year so thats not an option for me this cycle).

According to them, early predictions are that Step 2 will not be required in order to grant interviews due to mass cancellations by Prometric, although scores will still be needed to rank applicants in 2021 (as of 4/27/20 USMLE has been exploring the option of administering licensing exams at medical schools so I suspect that one way or another we will be able to complete CK/CS before December- https://usmle.org/announcements/?ContentId=270). Grades that are P/F in key clerkships of neurology/surgery/IM will have to be interpreted in the context of the given national situation. Conversations within SNS are being held regarding the status of away rotations so updates should be forthcoming. 

What feedback insights have fellow applicants heard from their respected advisors if they are applying this cycle? Despite the uncertainty so far, perhaps a general trend of how we will be evaluated this year can be established with updates from neurosurgical hopefuls from varying geographic regions. Wishing you all much success this cycle, post your updates below!
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#2
Great post and what you said above above seems to be in agreement with we have heard at our school as well.
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#3
Same exact sentiment from my PD (middle tier US MD program - current MS3). He advised the best plan is to wait and see what comes of the decision about aways. From what he and my school's administration are hearing, seems like a delayed start to aways (after 8/1 or 9/1) is where they are leaning, should they not cancel the system altogether.

Should they not happen (or limit the away rotations to 1 or 2 months), the best idea would be to try to do multiple months (2 months with an away or two, 3 months if no aways) at home and try and get letters from several nsgy faculty beyond the standard chief/PD letter, as they could act as a surrogate for the letters we would hope to get from away rotations.
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#4
“In order to maintain highest levels of safety, education, and equity during this COVID-19 period, the SNS recommends the following actions: 1. All away medical students rotations in neurosurgery be deferred in 2020. 2. Given the importance of applicants to experience neurosurgery before deciding upon a career path, each student should do at least 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at their home institution. For students without a home program, they should perform 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at the closest ACGME accredited program, to minimize travel and keep within regional demographics. 3. Letters of recommendation should come from the students home institution, including neurosurgical faculty (3) and general surgery faculty (1).”
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#5
Where did you see that?
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#6
(04-28-2020, 03:04 PM)Guest Wrote: “In order to maintain highest levels of safety, education, and equity during this COVID-19 period, the SNS recommends the following actions:   1. All away medical students rotations in neurosurgery be deferred in 2020.   2. Given the importance of applicants to experience neurosurgery before deciding upon a career path, each student should do at least 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at their home institution.  For students without a home program, they should perform 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at the closest ACGME accredited program, to minimize travel and keep within regional demographics.   3. Letters of recommendation should come from the students home institution, including neurosurgical faculty (3) and general surgery faculty (1).”

Is this official? Where did you find this? (link please)
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#7
(04-28-2020, 03:36 PM)Guest Wrote:
(04-28-2020, 03:04 PM)Guest Wrote: “In order to maintain highest levels of safety, education, and equity during this COVID-19 period, the SNS recommends the following actions:   1. All away medical students rotations in neurosurgery be deferred in 2020.   2. Given the importance of applicants to experience neurosurgery before deciding upon a career path, each student should do at least 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at their home institution.  For students without a home program, they should perform 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at the closest ACGME accredited program, to minimize travel and keep within regional demographics.   3. Letters of recommendation should come from the students home institution, including neurosurgical faculty (3) and general surgery faculty (1).”

Is this official? Where did you find this? (link please)

SNS Medical Student Education Committee Report 
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#8
Sorry I don't see that, do you have a link?
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#9
Drs. Stacey Q. Wolfe and Judy Huang are both on the SNS Medical Student Committee (https://www.societyns.org/about/committees). They are presenting in the CNS Town Hall titled "Navigating the 2021 Neurosurgery Match—Special Considerations During the COVID-19 Pandemic" taking place this Thursday, 4/30 at 5:00 pm PDT / 7:00 pm CDT / 8:00 pm EDT. Follow instructions posted in the following thread to access the Zoom event: http://neurosurgeryhub.org/showthread.ph...3#pid22393

If the previous poster is correct about sub-internship cancellations, this should be corroborated over the live forum.
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#10
(04-28-2020, 03:04 PM)Guest Wrote: “In order to maintain highest levels of safety, education, and equity during this COVID-19 period, the SNS recommends the following actions:   1. All away medical students rotations in neurosurgery be deferred in 2020.   2. Given the importance of applicants to experience neurosurgery before deciding upon a career path, each student should do at least 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at their home institution.  For students without a home program, they should perform 2 sub-internship neurosurgery rotations at the closest ACGME accredited program, to minimize travel and keep within regional demographics.   3. Letters of recommendation should come from the students home institution, including neurosurgical faculty (3) and general surgery faculty (1).”

Dude no one ever follows SNS "recommendations." The SNS forbids second looks and tons of applicants do them every year anyway. Numerous programs are going to have rotators, especially at places that haven't been hard hit (like the BNI).
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