Dear all, please post if you are aware of any slots that programs are seeking to fill for a senior resident position. A swap may be possible, dependent on the candidate and credentials. This is a high volume center in one of the the large metropolitan areas. 

Thank you.

Hi all, our school is going on about telling people to consider various repayment plans (PAYE vs REPAYE vs ICR). Any residents have insights on this given the longer residency and higher post-residency compensation?

Rising M4 from the Chicago area. Can't rotate at home in July and already scheduled Step2, doing home in August, aways September and October

Since ERAS should be submitted on the first day, do you think it would be overkill to get my home PD and chair, and my first away PD and chair? The other option would be 3 home letters and 1 away letter, or postpone applying to some programs until I get the October letter so I can have 2 home letters and 2 away letters.

Will do SubI here. Was wondering if anyone has anything to say about this place. Also wondering why there are entire years vacant at this program. One guy left for the open spot at UCSF a couple years ago (niiiice) but that still leaves three spots unaccounted for if they take two a year.

Does anyone have the skinny on Canadian neurosurgery residency programs?  Competitiveness?  Doing electives?  East to West coast, does anyone have info?  Canadian neurosurgeons can still easily find work in the US once they have their FRCS©, correct?

Thanks in advance.

Let's hear it

Anybody know of a good Anki deck for boards prep?

What an incredible season. Was a true pleasure getting to meet everyone and I’m excited to see where we all end up. Best of luck and may you all get your dream matches.

Hi friends,

Just wondering which programs out there have minimal research requirements for residents. Essentially, I'm looking for a program that will allow me to operate as much as possible without the imposed research requirements (e.g. >2 publications per year, 24 months in PGY5-6, etc). Obviously, operative autonomy and research experience are not mutually exclusive, but curious if there is a list out there with programs that really allow residents to hone their surgical skills preferentially over their research/academic skills (especially if you're a PhD with more research than the average person could care for). Would be nice to get some resident input!

- Programs with zero research requirement (does this exist?).
- Academic programs with low research reqs.
- Academic programs with med/high research reqs.

Disclaimer: I have a few pubs and have really enjoyed research but realize that it's not something I really want to devote my 30s-50s to. Thanks in advance, all!

Did a sub-I a few years back pre-Lawton departure. Things may have changed.

Set-up: 4 weeks. 2 weeks at Parnassus campus. 1 week at SFGH. 1 week at VA or Benioff
Hours: Depends on rotation. Parnassus 3-4 AM to 8-9 PM. SFGH always on. VA/Benioff varies but hours are usually better, depends on caseload
Expectation: Parnassus -> You will be be placed into spine service, vascular, or tumors/general?, you present to senior resident. VA->No patient presentations, no pre-rounding, see patients together depending on resident. SFGH->You will see a # of patients and present to senior/chief/attending.
Positives: 

-Parnassus - You'll hear a lot of opinions but the caseload at Parnassus was pretty substantial. Always an OR going until late.  A fellow would always be scrubbed into Lawton cases and proceed with the exposure alone. Lawton would come in just to clip the aneurysm. Berger rarely operates and not the best idea to go to his room. He will ask if you changed into new scrubs before going into his OR. Aghi is relatively laid back and will make small talk, gives residents a good amount of autonomy. Didn't go into Mumammeni's room often, he blew up the first time I was in his room and chewed out his fellow and referred to me in 3rd person throughout the case. Ames is awesome but usually operates alongside an Ortho attending. Most of the Ortho residents at UCSF were not interested in spine which led to the nsgy chief having a good operative experience. Chang was awesome, would do 2-3 cases and would give the chief a good amount of autonomy; always had his research staff involved in his cases. Kunwar was very nice and interactive, did his own approaches to TSR's.

-VA - Usually only one senior resident there. The faculty there is amazing. Gentleman's environment. Senior resident usually did most of the cases with minimal attending intervention. Faculty there would usually try to get to know you at a more personal level and they try selling the program to you. The senior resident would go to the OR while midlevels would manage the post-operative patients. Best part of the UCSF experience.

-SFGH - This experience has changed. Apparently sub-I's years later complained that it was an unjust experience. The hours are more lax and the experience is no longer 1 week straight. You practically lived in the hospital and they would tell you to bring snacks/food/tooth brush/etc.. In the mornings you had to start jotting down vitals and other pertinent stuff at 2-3AM since the EMR was horrible. The intern came in around 5AM and you gave him print-outs and you would pre-round. You would present during AM rounds as a group. After the OR you would help the general surgery intern on the floor and see consults. If an operative case came in you would join the senior resident and then afterwards go help out the gen surg intern. If you had a good intern they would let you go sleep for an hour. People have passed out during this "hell week" and some were even sent home. Wasn't for the feint of heart. Hardest rotation that I've had and I think will ever have even as a current resident. 

Negatives: The resident on call seems overworked at Parnassus. Lots of scut work. At other programs residents that were on call would have some time to at least catch a quick nap, not the case when I was here.  Everyone seemed miserable, more than other places. San Francisco is expensive and gloomy. Resident camaraderie outside the hospital is pretty minimal.  During my time there, I had a jackass resident running the vascular service who would make us come in at 2AM to write notes which he would critique/copy/and sign because he wanted to sleep in. 




Conclusion - Didn't match here, ranked it lower than I initially anticipated. Nonetheless, I think UCSF residents are extremely well trained. A lot of the residents were very successful during medical school. Residents had a good amount of autonomy and I would almost equate the skill level of a PGY-4/5 here to a PGY-7 at other programs. Residents were also very successful in terms of publishing and obtaining academic careers. You can tell from their alumni list; some had the option of skipping a fellowship and obtaining attending jobs without it. I'm not sure if things have changed, but when I interviewed people were impressed that I did a sub-I at UCSF. It was a main talking point and it makes it seem like you could survive tough environments.

Overall this was quite the experience in terms of a sub-I. Let's you put things into perspective. Prior to doing a sub-I here I would seriously look into your CV/medical school/etc. and see if you are competitive. The meeting with Berger will last 2 minutes and he will simply look at your CV to determine if you would be a good fit. It's very hard to match here/almost impossible without doing a sub-I. The senior residents have a big say in what applicants they end up taking. Overall it was quite the experience. Good luck to those of you who do it. 

P.S. Berger writes a ton of letters. He determines what to write based on your CV and sometimes senior resident feedback. A program will know whether or not they liked you based off one sentence. If you have a bad CV he'll just write "will make a good resident at a neurosurgery program". Keep in mind that your LOR will be compared to others on the trail. It can actually hurt you to have a mediocre letter.