NEUROSURGERY PRE-RESIDENCY PROGRAM OPENINGS

[Guest]

Three publications and a poor board score should not equal MGH neurosurgery. His family came from wealth and he spins it as he wasn't privileged. If you cant see that your as dumb as the people who bought his book. He got that spot because they can sell books and nothing more.

[Guest]

Totally agree! Human trafficking. There should be a way to report and stop them.

[Guest]

Not only the pre-residency positions but also some non-CAST fellowships offered at some highly respected institutions!

[Guest]

Yes must put to end! Of course people could just choose not to go.

[Guest]

Lots of slavery positions nowadays, even in places with supposedly outstanding APP support.

[Guest]

APPs expect adequate compensation and decent working conditions. These pre-residency fellows are desperate poor pushovers who will do anything for what thing think is a chance at matching, even if it’s not a real one. So they get paid dogshit and work terrible hours in the vain hope of getting a letter of rec. I’d feel bad for them if it wasn’t so contemptible. They need to learn self respect

[Guest]

Most are desperate IMGs. As long as the positions exist someone will justify it to themselves to take it

[Guest]

Most of the comments above are clearly from people that have no idea what matching into Neurosurgery as an IMG takes. Pre-residency fellowships have an extremely high risk of being predatory but they do open more doors than the other alternatives. Doing a lot of research, especially via research fellow factories (mayo clinic, etc) where foreign grads spend years working for free accumulating publications without real clinical experience.. doesn't really matter to programs. If a program is even willing to match a foreign grad (diversity "quotas"/"marketing" are certainly increasing matching chances for IMGs), they usually want that foreign applicant to be a proven asset. In other words, that this applicant is reliable, can communicate with colleagues, staff, and patients proficiently, and can manage to publish while doing so. A pre-residency fellowship and a preliminary year are the only options that truly provide that exposure. Both have pros/cons. Both typically have a PGY-1 level salary. Prelim year can count towards residency and is usually more appealing for unmatched US grads, however you can lose networking which is invaluable for matching as we all know. It also has "more protection" since it's an official ACGME approved spot. A pre-residency fellowship is usually more appealing to IMGs because it is a "trust" position so they don't have to go through a match/soap process to get the spot, it allows them to maintain connection to Neurosurgery, and it has better matching results for IMGs in general.

Regardless, people can treat you like garbage anywhere. You will find good and bad people in both options. Best you can do is to reach out to people that made it through one of those options and make your own conclusions.

Matching into Neurosurgery from a prelim year or a pre-residency is either way extremely challenging. Not impossible but odds are undoubtedly against that applicant.