So I emailed a program coordinator ~1 month ago asking about their Sub-i application (couldn't find info on VSAS or their website). The PC was very nice and basically told me not to worry she'd go ahead reserve me a spot for that month, and to apply in May when it comes out as a formality.

As I've thought more about it there's another program that I'd rather do that month at (research interests more closely aligned, connections between my mentor and the PD, etc).

Would it be rude to go ahead and do the other one? Or am I basically locked in? Should I email the PC and let her know I'm doing the other one? Or just hope she forgets?

Has anyone withdrawn sub-i applications before and still gotten an interview? Or would switching basically kill my chances? I like this program a lot still and would love to go there.

Wanted to give an inside look on what matters, this is one person’s opinion and biased towards how the academic programs I am familiar with handle it, ymmv and the criteria are probably weighted differently at less academic places.

step 1: important as a screening tool, except for subis, applications with a score below 240 don’t get reviewed at our program.  Overall it is not as important as people on this website make it out to be.  A score below 240 hurts you a lot, but there is not tons of mileage for higher scores though higher is better.  A super high score is more important for people who went straight through school or only took one year off.  Less important for MD/PhDs and people with crazy amounts of research, but they still need to be above the cutoff to have a good chance.

Step2: not important unless you do different on it than step 1, much better helps a little, almost nobody does significantly worse so if you did I guess you are special

Subi performance: the people who rotate with us are judged mostly on their sub-i.  Subis fall into about 5 categories: rockstar, good but not particularly impressive, meh but inoffensive, poor but no major red flags, and horrible.   The majority of subis are in the middle 3 categories.  Being a rockstar obviously helps your chances at our program.  The 2nd tier people can do ok if the rest of their application is stellar.  The rest are ranked at the bottom of the list.

One thing that isn’t appreciated on this website or its predecessors is that as more subis hurt themselves than help themselves with their performance.  

Letters: super important for people that didn’t do subis with us, letters from away rotations are more useful than home letters. It is hard to get to the top of our rank list without doing a subi or being one of the rare people with outstanding away letters.  The reality is that everybody’s research mentor says great things about them.  Most home program letters are positive.  A relatively small number of people get truly glowing letters from away rotations.  Most away letters are pretty generic but that is probably because most sub-is aren’t outstanding.  That said, even chairs that write mostly generic letters will write a different letter for the standout applicants with one or two notable exceptions whose letters are always completely useless.

Clinical grades: all honors or close to it is a plus, again more important for people who didn’t Subi with us

Research: very important at our program, probably less important at less academic programs, getting stuff published is what counts so make sure to do a mix of low and high risk projects, important to have some first author stuff, hard match at our program without a history of basic/translational research

Interview: faculty and resident’s impression of you is important, this is a subjective thing, good presence, decisiveness, being well spoken etc all are in your favor, having a good eq is appreciated

Resident input: every program is different, at my current program resident opinion carries a lot of weight, varies some by program, but the residents can blackball people at most places

Calls: we will make calls to the home programs of the people who are in consideration to be at the top of our rank list to get the inside scoop, likewise a concerted lobbying effort from your mentors can help if you are already near the top of the list

Other stuff: if there is something about you that is truly unique or different try to get it into your application somewhere, people with strong records of success in athletics or bootstrapped from humble upbringings tend to get an extra boost, seeing a continued track record of success throughout an applicants educational career is a plus, if you’ve worked a real job put that in your application (residents who have dug ditches, washed dishes, waited tables etc. tend to do well with the slave labor reality of neurosurgery residency)

Hi guys I’m  currently a m1 at a top northeast med school and I was wondering how hard it is to match into neurosurgery. Sorry if that sound like a stupid question.

Talked to a friend who rotated there who seemed to like it as an up and coming program, any thoughts?

Represent your residency program and face off against your colleagues in a challenging competition of neurosurgical skills, hosted by the Young Neurosurgeons Committee (YNC) at the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting.

Each year since 2006, the AANS Neurosurgical Top Gun Competition has provided a forum for residents, fellows and medical students to test their skills at various surgical simulation stations and be awarded a score for their efforts. Top scorers at each station are awarded cash prizes. The participant with the best overall score receives a cash prize as well as a prize for his or her residency program.

http://www.aans.org/en/Trainees/Young-Ne...ompetition

PI am currently a M2. Just took Step 1, and am waiting for my score. I looked at the match list from last year and this year.  Looks like the vast majority matched are from top schools like HMS, Duke, Stanford, Penn, etc. I am from state school. I wonder if it is realistic for someone like me to have a chance to match. Any insights will be greatly appreciated.

Did any programs require/suggest that you to have Step 2 scores in by the time of interview? 

I have a good step 1 score so i've been told to put it off until October-ish. Has anyone run into any trouble doing that?

Shall we get one of these started? If someone wants to throw it in a spreadsheet that works as well

Albany
Albany
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Allegheny General Hospital
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor Scott and White/Texas A&M
Brigham and Womens Hospital
Brigham and Womens Hospital
Brigham and Womens Hospital
Brown University
Brown University
Carolinas Medical Center
Case Western
Case Western
Cedars Sinai
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic
Columbia
Columbia
Cornell
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke University
Duke University
Duke University
Emory
Emory
Emory
Geisinger
George Washington
Georgetown
Georgetown
Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital
Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
Loma Linda
Loyola
Loyola
LSU New Orleans
LSU New Orleans
LSU Shreveport
LSU Shreveport
LSU Shreveport
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
Medical College of Georgia
Medical College of Wisconsin
Medical College of Wisconsin
Medical University of South Carolina
Medical University of South Carolina
Methodist Hospital
Methodist Hospital
MGH
MGH
MGH
Miami
Miami
Miami
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai
National Capital Consortium
National Capital Consortium
New York Medical College
New York University
New York University
New York University
Northwell
Northwell
Northwestern
Northwestern
Northwestern
Ohio State University
Ohio State University
Ohio State University
Oregon Health & Science
Oregon Health & Science
Oregon Health & Science
Penn State University
Penn State University
Penn State University
Rush University
Rush University
Rutgers
Rutgers
Southern Illinois University
St. Josephs Hospital Barrow
St. Josephs Hospital Barrow
St. Josephs Hospital Barrow
St. Josephs Hospital Barrow
St. Louis University
St. Louis University
Stanford
Stanford
Stanford
SUNY Upstate
SUNY Upstate
Temple University
Thomas Jefferson University
Thomas Jefferson University
Thomas Jefferson University
Tufts Medical Center
Tulane
Tulane
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC San Diego
UC San Diego
UCLA
UCLA
UCLA
UCSF
UCSF
UCSF
University at Buffalo
University at Buffalo
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Arizona
University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
University of Chicago
University of Chicago
University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado
University of Colorado
University of Florida
University of Florida
University of Florida
University of Illinois Chicago
University of Illinois Peoria
University of Iowa
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
University of Kansas
University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
University of Louisville
University of Louisville
University of Maryland
University of Maryland
University of Michigan
University of Michigan
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
University of Mississippi
University of Missouri Columbia
University of Nebraska
University of Nebraska
University of New Mexico
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
University of Rochester
University of Rochester
University of South Florida
University of South Florida
University of Southern California USC
University of Southern California USC
University of Southern California USC
University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
University of Utah
University of Utah
University of Utah
University of Vermont
University of Virginia
University of Virginia
University of Virginia/NIH
University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin-Madison
UT Houston
UT Houston
UT Medical Branch UTMB
UT Southwestern
UT Southwestern
UT Southwestern
UTHSCSA
UTHSCSA
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Wayne State University / Detroit Medical Center
Wayne State University / Detroit Medical Center
West Virginia University
Yale
Yale

The department of Neurosurgery at the Lahey Clinic affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine is offering a 1 year non accredited pre-residency fellowship position from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.


The position provides a broad exposure to adult neurosurgery with a heavy first assist operative experience.  The service is comprised of 7 neurosurgical attendings in various subspecialty areas including spine, functional, skull base and open vascular.  The Tufts-NEMC PGY-6 serves as the chief resident of the service and there will be two junior house officers/pre-residency fellows.  There are 6 Nurse Practitioners/Physician Assistants who complete the team.

Other duties include inpatient management,  at-home call, and significant time spent on clinical and comparative effectiveness research. 

Benefits of the program include:

    Flexible schedule to allow for residency applications and interviews

    Lahey Clinic Salary and Benefits based on PGY year

    Significant clinical  research experience

    Support for travel to conferences where presentations will be given

    Direct interaction with Tufts University New England Medical Center neurosurgery program.

    1:1 intraoperative experience with faculty

    Previous fellows have gained positions in Neurosurgery(3), Neurology(1), and Radiology(1) from this position.

 
Please send the following documents to the Program Administrator:
 
Personal Statement
Medical school transcripts
USMLE Step scores
Letters of recommendation from faculty 
Curriculum Vitae
Applicant must be a US citizen or have permanent resident status.

Program Director
Carlos A. David, MD
Carlos.a.david@lahey.org

Department Chair
Zohar Ghogawala

Program Administrator
Melissa Morse
melissa.morse@lahey.org

Phone Contact:  Lauren Devereux 781-744-8643

Here is the link to the Applicant Data Collection survey for the 2018 period. 
https://is.gd/2018Neurosurgerymatch

If you matched, do not fill it out until after you know where you matched on your list before filling out the survey. If you did not match, you are welcome to fill it out starting today. 

Thanks for participating. Hopefully this helps out future applicants and helps add a little more transparency to the process

Please note that several variables have branching logic and will only appear for certain selections in case you are wondering if the survey is collecting data such as the number within the rank list and such.