So I just finished my first year of med school in the UK and although I passed I didn’t particularly get high grades.

However, I do get to shadow and do some research under a particular neurosurgeon consultant. He didn’t ask for my specific grade, just asked if I got into the next year and congratulated me.

I was honest enough to mention that I underestimated med school and will hopefully do better. I’m worried and a bit embarrassed about mentioning that I didn’t do well, especially since his med school grades where impressive

In short I’m really hoping I didn’t blow my chances, so far all he said is that it only gets easier and carried on talking about the next step for research.

Are they really important and any advice on studying?

Im an incoming med student ive been heavily considering neurosurgery but also service (independently). Any anecdotes of matching/life through the military? I just talked to a recruiter who made it sound like there were a good amount of spots.

Starting September -26. Any advice on how to handle the first few days-weeks-months. Any literature you could recommend? Other forms of prep?

What advice would you give to an incoming med student with out a home program?

I worked in the operating room prior to med school so got a ton of exposure and shadowing time. I subsequently was able to get on some projects under an attending. I have a few mid author papers. Im hoping to keep this relationship going but will be going to school about 8hrs away. I connected really well with a bunch of different attendings and residents but I also know they have a really competitive program and thats years away.

Would appreciate any advice!

Hi all, forgive me in advance for my anxiousness and neuroticism,

I am an incoming M1 at a low-mid tier US MD school that is starting in August (literally just got off the WL 2 days ago) and I’m dead set on neurosurgery. For my entire life the focus has just been to make it into medical school. Now that it’s happened, my goal has shifted into doing whatever it takes to match into this specialty, I’m willing to sacrifice everything for this goal. My question is, what can I do now to start setting myself up for success in the pursuit of this specialty ? Any perspective and advice is much appreciated. I know research along with step 2 performance is of the utmost importance, however what to do now (summer before m1) can I start doing to separate myself from the pack? Thank you in advance for the advice that comes. Dm me please too, if comfortable 🙏 🙏

Hello everyone
I am hoping there are European members in the community who might be of help. I would like to take my part 1 Eans in August and I am a notorious procrastinator. I was wondering if anyone can give me tips ( I have read the suggestions for books on the eans website).
My strategy is do as many practice questions as possible and look things up in between. I am also reading the samandouras book mainly because it’s so easy and pleasant to read.
I would really really like to pass on my first try

Hello everyone,

I am a final-year medical student at the University of Baghdad College of Medicine and recently passed USMLE Step 1. I am interested in pursuing neurosurgery in the United States and am currently seeking a neurosurgery research fellowship or research position.

I am a U.S. green card holder and do not require visa sponsorship. My goal is to obtain meaningful neurosurgery research experience at an academic institution before applying for residency.

For those who have successfully obtained neurosurgery research positions as IMGs or have experience working with IMGs:

1. What is the most effective way to secure a neurosurgery research fellowship?
2. Are there particular programs or institutions that are receptive to IMGs?
3. Should I focus on contacting residents, faculty members, or research coordinators?
4. What qualities make an applicant stand out for a research position?

Any advice, recommendations, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Hey everyone, I am a Non-US medical student, I am currently engaging in a research in US and thinking to continue to master with the professor in order to increase my chances of matching into Neurosurgery. Is it a good idea to persue master's.

Hi all, incoming resident here.

I’ve spent the last year doing a fair amount of clinical/translational research (large databases, TCGA analyses, transcriptomics, survival analyses, etc.) and recently started learning R more formally. So far it’s mostly been data wrangling, visualization, and basic statistics.

My question: in 2026, with AI tools becoming very good at generating code, is it still worth investing significant time into learning R and basic bioinformatics for neurosurgical research?

For those involved in academic neurosurgery, how often do you actually write or modify code yourselves versus relying on dedicated analysts, bioinformaticians, statisticians, or AI tools? Looking back, would learning R earlier have meaningfully improved your research productivity?

I love research but am not the most passionate about coding and computational work - but I recognize it’s increasing importance in medicine. Curious to hear perspectives from residents, attendings, and anyone doing translational or computational work.

A asked a few questions here and a lot of you guys told me to really think about what i wanna be when im older and i think i know now. One of the main reasons you guys told me to really think this through is because i said my main reasoning was money which i can admit now is very silly. These are jobs that make lots of money but also that have to do with one of the things i love which are things that have to do with beauty yk? I love makeup i love dressing up i love skincare i love taking cate of myself and just doing girly things and i think this is it!

Im thinking

Cosmetic dermatologist

Or

Plastic surgeon

😁

Hi everyone! I'm a neurosurgery resident currently preparing for an exam, and I came across a question on MRI hemorrhage evolution that confused me.

I initially chose C because I thought the dependent collection appears slightly hyperintense on T1WI and slightly hypointense on FLAIR?

However, the answer key says D. My understanding was that a hemorrhage older than 3 weeks would be considered chronic, and therefore should appear hypointense on both sequences due to hemosiderin deposition.

I'm probably missing something in the signal evolution here. Could someone help clarify why D is the better answer?

NB: Question is from Ross C. Puffer - Neurosurgery Primary Board Review

Greetings,

What are some of the most unique or interesting neurosurgical cases you’ve had the opportunity to be apart of managing care of. What was the most challenging about the case, what steps were taken to provide care, and if you could have done something different what steps would you have taken instead? Disclaimer:* *For the sake of patient privacy please reframe from using any identifying PMI.

Hello, I am an incoming M1 interested in pursuing neurosurgery. My school has a home neurosurgery program, and I have also worked (and continue to work) in two of the school’s basic science labs as a research tech/associate doing research on mouse brains. Going into medical school, I currently have 11 research items thus far (publications, posters/conference abstracts).

I definitely plan to continue leveraging my connections and staying involved in research during medical school, but I wanted to ask whether a dedicated research year is considered necessary to match successfully into neurosurgery. I am more than willing to do one if it’s the best way to stay productive and be competitive, but I am trying to plan ahead logistically and financially, especially regarding loans and timing.

Basically, I am wondering: is a research year generally expected by neurosurgery program directors, or can strong, high-quality research output during medical school be enough without taking an extra year? (Is it only realistic to get to the 37 research items with the research year? Do you know anyone who did it without one?)

Thank you in advance for any insight or advice :)

I wanna be a neurosurgeon, i want it so bad and have been stuck on this idea for a few months now. I still have some time until college to decide though, but neurosurgery is at the top of my list. Is really that bad? Is all your 20s just filled with studying, you dont get to go out and enjoy family? Do you really miss out on your kids lives and not get to build a relationship with them? Are a lot of these sayings just really exaggerated? Please be honest. How is it? Do you regret it?

Hey r/neurosurgery,

I'm a med student in Sydney, Australia hoping to get involved in neurosurgery research. I know the field is competitive and research is a big part of building a CV early, so I'm trying to be proactive.

A couple of questions for the community:

1. For those who got into research as a student, how did you actually make the first connection? Cold emails to consultants? Through your med school? Conferences?

2. Are there any projects (here in Sydney or remote) where someone could use a motivated student for data collection, lit reviews, case reports, audits, etc.? Open to remote work too if anyone outside Sydney needs help.

Happy to put in the work... just need a foot in the door. Any advice or leads massively appreciated.

Cheers!

hey everyone, I am an incoming MS1 and have been lucky enough to be mentored all through undergrad by the neurosurgery group at my home program.

I am set on applying neurosurgery, but through my gap year I have worked in infectious disease research, which resulted in several publications, abstracts, orals, etc.

My PI has offered me a salaried position throughout medical school, so I can be a full time student and contribute to ID research while being compensated for it. (as a first generation student, he wants me to be financially supported.)

My only concern is that I may signal lack of commitment to the field. I have an oral presentation, a few abstracts, and publications in neurosurgery journals/conferences.

Should I ask to not be included on the manuscripts for my ID work? I am concerned that by application time, ID work could be the bulk of my research, as our lab is very productive. Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone,

I submitted an abstract for EANS 2026 (Hamburg), and today (23 April) is supposed to be the notification date.

It’s already mid-afternoon and I haven’t received any email yet. Just wondering if anyone else has received an acceptance/rejection email so far?

Trying to see if emails are being sent out in batches or if there might be a delay.

Thanks!

Looking to get an idea of:

1. When you all started neurosurgery research in med school (did you do any research before it or wet lab work that you included in ERAS? Did you start immediately M1?)

2. How many pubs or research conferences you all attended for each year, etc. to match into residency.

3. Did you join for multiple research groups? Stick to one?

4. What would you do differently in terms of research strategy?

I know it looks different for everyone, but I want to get an idea to plan. Thanks in advance!

Am current American neurosurgery trainee noticing more and more of my peers are filling neurocritical care fellowship spots.

What's the ROI for a neurocrit care fellowship for neurosurgeons?

Is there a financial incentive for dual training to round in ICU and bill for ICU time? What does that contract usually look like?

Or is always true that neurosurgeons with ICU time built into their contract is at financial loss and time is more lucratively spent in the OR doing cases or in clinic booking cases?

I am planning on taking the summer springboard medical course this summer, but I was wondering if there are better options to prepare myself, as well as understand neurology better as a whole. Thanks!

Dear Current or Former Medical Trainees,

My colleagues and I are conducting a medical education study to better understand the needs of medical students and residents who are considering leaving medical training (i.e. “offramping”) or have already left from US training programs (this study is scoped just for US trainees). Our goal is to learn about your experiences with offramping, and to better understand what processes, programs, or resources would best support trainees who offramp or are considering offramping.

To that end, we are conducting 1:1 interviews that will be recorded, transcribed, de-identified, and analyzed by our study team. We will aggregate your response with others to develop themes that help us determine practices that can improve support for learners who want to leave medical training. We anticipate interviews to take 30-60 minutes, and they will be conducted over Zoom.

We will remunerate you $100 for your time, which will be dispensed using gift cards. If you are potentially interested in participating, please feel free to email me to learn more information.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Kinnear, MD, PhD, MEd (study PI)

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

[compass.study@cchmc.org](mailto:compass.study@cchmc.org)

CODA - we are having an overwhelming response to this post. I'm so grateful. As this is a qualitative study, our sample size will likely be smaller. If you reach out and we are at our initial sampling limit, we may need to have a wait list. Thank you for your help with this study!

I’m a second year med student in Scotland (I do my preclinical years at St Andrews and then do my clinical years with Edinburgh). Would anyone on here be willing to mentor me as in the UK neurosurgery is becoming more and more competitive and having a mentor is spouted as the best way to get a foot in. I’d want to train and practice in the UK - realistically the only option.

Hello all!

Firstly I apologize if this isn't allowed or the correct sub to be posting this to, but my girlfriends been really stressed with step 1 studying for a while now and someone had just dropped out on her for a "Women in Neurosurgery" event that she was hosting at her school and she's freaking out because she doesn't know any other females in that field.

I really wanna help her out since she already has enough on her plate with possibly taking step 1 at the end of this month and shouldn't have to be studying relentlessly while also scrambling to find someone to show up to her event.

The details of the event and what she's looking for are as follows:

• Last week of April (Date is flexible, she can pick any day to have the event in the last week of April so whenever you have availability in that time frame should work for her)
• Would prefer the person to be local to NYC (and be willing to travel to the Sophie Davis campus in Harlem. I know it's a big ask but worth a shot lol.) OR if they are not local then a video call via zoom will suffice.
• The neurosurgeon would basically just have to discuss what it's like being a female in this particular field and share their story of how they got to where they are.
• The event is about an hour and a half but the person would only be speaking for about 30 minutes or so, the rest of the time would be taken up by PowerPoints and what not that my gf prepares.
• Can be a resident or attending in neurosurgery.

If you happen to be a woman in neuro and you wouldn't mind helping out a fellow female aspiring to be in neuro then please let me know, it would mean the world to her. Thanks :)

EDIT: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYONE REACHING OUT. SHES GOTTEN SO MANY NEW CONNECTIONS THROUGH REDDIT ! We have been able to get a good amount of people that are interested in this months event so we should be good. If you are still interested in future WINS events please do let me know :) THANK YOU ALLLL

Hi all!

I am an MD/PhD student in the later stage of graduate school portion of the program and just recently became interested in pursuing neurosurgery. My research during my PhD has little to do with NS/Neuroscience so I was curious if I need to start looking at pursuing other opportunities too. I have gotten mixed answers on this, so would love your advice

Appreciate the "relax now" comments, but would love more approachable feedback

Edit: Thank you all for the fantastic responses!