Of course not all schools use the same calendar for Sub-Is, anything to make life easier right?

Harvard has some weird dates, don't line up with VSAS at all.

If I did a Sub-I in August that ends on Sept 15, can I get my letter from that place in on time?

I want to know the opinion of current residents about the ideal commute to work. Is a 25-30 minute commute practical? This is the range I am looking into right now.

Anything to do during residency to set yourself up to get the best jobs? Or is it mostly reputation of the institution and faculty?

I'm a current M1 in a somewhat unique curriculum that gives me a lot of self-direction. I've completed about a third of the Bro's anki deck and find it to be really useful as a learning tool. I also use a number of online lecture subscriptions, focused on board prep. I've already "passed" step 1 if you count the nbme comprehensive exams as reliable indicator. Goal is obviously to get better. I'm trying to decide what qbanks to use and when i  should start using them? I will probably just spend M2 memorizing goljan, but i'm not sure how to best utilize qbanks. Is it a bad idea to start using uworld by the end of the summer? Should i use usmlerx now and save uworld for much later (when?). Is using just uworld fine or should i attempt to finish multiple qbanks?

I'm planning out my sub-I's and we don't have a true "home program" at our school. The M4 neurosurgery rotation we can do through our school is at the large suburban teaching hospital we rotate through for many things. They have residencies in IM and other things, but not one in neurosurgery. Closest they are to an NSG residency is one of the other programs in the city has their residents rotate through for a few month block I beleive, but they are not technically faculty at that residency.

Should I still do a rotation here, or is it a waste of a month I could be doing a sub-I somewhere with a residency program? 

Would a letter from these attendings be of any use?

From reading on the old forums, I could gather that basic science > case series > case reports. Where would systematic reviews fall in terms of research value?  

Thanks!

Good day!

I would like to ask about your Professional Advice for my girlfriend's Intraosseous Hemangioma.

These are the pictures:

   
   
   
   
   

She is 29 years old. And the lump on her head is noticed long ago, but her family considered it as a deformation during her birth. Not until December 2016 when she had a slip and her head bumped into the floor really hard where we had to undergo CT Scan.

One doctor considered it as a Intraosseous Hemangioma and suggested an operation to remove it. She doesn't have unbearable pain on the old lump but she has slight pain on the spot where she recently hit her head.

My question is, Is the operation the only treatment we can get?

Is it possible not removing the lump because according to research, it is benign and a slow growing tumor?

Also if ever the skull if removed, what will be its replacement?

How long would be the recovery and what will be the restrictions post operation?

Your advice will be of great help.

-Jam

Currently in the second year of my PhD. First paper out, expect two more before I graduate.

Step 1 mid 250s, haven't taken step 2. 

I come from an institution where clerkships are done before the PhD. I already rotated on neurosurgery, loved the cases, acuity of the patients, technology. Interacted well with the residents and got good evals.

One potential "snag" is that I haven't really kept in touch with the department since rotating. I tried to set up a clinical project to do on the side the first year of my PhD, but after several months of back and forth it was apparent that I needed to be dedicated 24/7, so that quickly faded away.

Does this matter? Is there anything I should be doing to stay relevant before my home sub-I? The PD and the chair are aware of who I am but I haven't interacted with them much. Our associate PD is a strong advocate, I sat down with them after I completed my rotation and was generally assured about my situation, but wasn't given any specific instructions.

ERAS limits #of letters of rec to 4 per program. If I do 3 aways , get LORs from each AND get 2 home letters, what should be strategy be? Drop 1 away letter? Drop 1 home letter? Mix and match depending on program?

Hey all, 

I guess this topic has been discussed before, but I am wondering what the future of this speciality is. I feel like many subspecialties will be more or less obsolete in the foreseeable future. I don't see a big future for open cerebrovascular surgery for example, many will argue that therefore there is endovascular surgery, but in fact this is an interventional neuroradiology domain in most parts of the world, the US is one of few exceptions. I also don't see a bright future brain tumor surgery. The only subspecialties that seem to have a future are spine and functional neurosurgery. I feel like the field is kind of dying similar as heart surgery mostly did. I know it is always hard to read this and maybe give a realistic, honest opinion, which comes to this conclusion about a field that you love.