Neurological Surgery (or Neurosurgery) is not a career path to be taken lightly by any prospective medical professional. Residency training can take up to 7 years of intensive surgical training. Neurological Surgery is among the most competitive specialties and will require a lot of extra work and forethought to prepare a competitive application. Three main ways to improve your application for Neurosurgery are to get a very high USMLE Step 1 exam score (+240), complete a sub-Internship or away rotation in Neurosurgery, and have lots of related research. Since Neurosurgery is such a small specialty, Letters of Recommendation from Neurosurgeons can go a long way.
Every specialty has unique factors they want each candidate to have in their residency application. NRMP conducts regular Program Director surveys to identify which parts of the residency application are most important in differing specialties. Among the information gathered, Program Directors were asked to cite factors they used to select candidates for interviews. They were also asked to rate each factor on a scale from 1 (least important) to 5 (most important).
Total Training | 7 years neurosurgical residency |
4.5 years must be core clinical surgery | 12 months as chief resident; » 3 months of basic neuroscience; » 3 months of critical care relevant to neurosurgery patients, and » 6 months of structured education in general patient care 2.5 years of electives |
Average Residency Salary | $69,500 |
Average Physician Salary | $634,500 |
Average Work Week | 58.2 Hours |
Peak Interview Months | November December |
Key Organizations and Societies: | American Board of Neurological Surgery American Association of Neurological Surgeons American Board of Pediatric Neurosurgical Surgery Congress of Neurological Surgeons Society of Neurological Surgeons Women in Neurosurgery World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies American Association of Neurological Surgeons: Trainees |
Program Track | PGY-1 |
Participating Programs | 0 |
Filled Programs | 0 |
Positions Available | 0 |
Filled Positions | 0 |