Junior resident here. I wonder if this happens only in my program or pretty common in other programs but I don’t recall seeing it in my sub-is. Chief has no autonomy in running the service, he has to staff every minor detail with attendings. They micro manage everything from surgical decision to drain output. Poor autonomy in the OR, most of staff stay even during closing. What makes me more frustrated is the inconsistency where staff changes his mind and plan of care at least 3-4 times on consults and make us feel as a joke service at the hospital especially when we have a patient under other services.

Assuming you didn't match first try, how many cycles would you try before giving up?

1) Now that step 1 is p/np, does attending a top 5 medical school pretty much guarantee an NSG spot somewhere in the US?
2) How early should med students get involved in NSG research? Is it a disadvantage if we have significant research in other specialties but not much in NSG by the time we apply to residency? Also, what is considered "basic science" for neurosurgery?

About how many hours per week does the average NS work?

I am an MS0 going into a DO school from a computer science bachelors. I have 2 years of undergrad research in bioinformatics (unfortunately not published, but presented twice at conferences). I am no CS wiz, but obviously I am competent (graduated, have applied the skill multiple times in real world outside of research too). And FWIW I also have a psychology research poster that was round-aboutly computational and my presentation won a conference first prize for its category. My questions:

1) So, what reasonable independent CS-NSG projects do you think I could pursue in med school to really stand out—that are realistic in terms of creating demonstrable projects and ideally as many pubs as possible? I’m interested in graphical simulations that make use of physics engines similar to those in video games, and I don’t have experience in A.I. (elective I didn’t take), but I’m confident that I could get good enough at any CS topic apart from electronics (hardware, electrical engineering—not CS categorically) IF it would yield good returns or wow PDs. At least within the 4 years of med school. Also interested in VR/AR and 3D printing, web apps, mobile apps, and genomics. 

2) how might my app be received if my only research was computational—whether NSG or not? Disregarding sheer quantity of pubs/posters/etc.

3) Would it be wise to go for some low hanging fruits in other specialties in terms of CS projects, or would an app of entirely NSG research be fine? I ask because my backup isn’t research heavy and I’d probably tailor my residency apps to not let them think they’re just a backup.

I’m not shooting for big academic programs or even historically only ACGME ones tbh, I’ll be fine applying to former AOA programs where I see many if not most Current residents are still DOs, even some from my school here and there.

I might as well group my unrelated Q in this thread as well...

4) is being a self-taught Spanish bilingual helpful for my app? I have a ton of experience and interest in helping underserved Hispanics... or is this just the bit that got me into DO school and the luck runs out there?

as someone looking to go down the path of neurosurgery next year, I was wondering how much leisure time is typically present during the 4 years of med school, between the studying, research, and rotation s

What are they like? How long are they typically? Who conducts them? Do you have to give them your phone number or does that happen only once you match? I really don’t like giving out my phone number to many people. Are they crucial to your match chances? What are dinners like beforehand? Also would stealing when you were 15 Be a huge red flag?
Thanks

How do graduates from top programs end up at mid/low tier institutions? Is it hard to get a job lined up at the same institution after residency, is that like a 7 year audition of your performance?

How do non-US IMGs stay in the US without US residency? Over the years I’ve seen quite a few non-US IMG neurosurgeons who completed their residency abroad and have stayed in the US after fellowship. An example that comes to mind is Fernandez-Miranda at Stanford.

Any one aware about opening position for PGY1 or PGY 2 nationwide ? 
Thank you