<p>I am junior in college--applying to med schools next summer. I have little interest in research and also do not want to go into private practice. My ultimate goal is neurosurgery, and I am wondering if there are any particular schools which excell in their surgical programs, or which are beneficial to have attended for applying to a surgery residency. Thanks.</p>
<p>I'm confused...what do you want to do then? Your lack of interest in research rules out academic medicine, but you also don't want to do private practice...so are you just going to med school to pick up a doctor and then be a stay-at-home mom or dad? There's also not a lot of "Doctors without Borders" positions for neurosurgeons...</p>
<p>I guess if you take the term "private practice" very literally, it leaves open working under contract for an HMO or being completely hospital based, both things I consider "private practice" but others might not...</p>
<p>Getting to your real question. In general, your experience as a 3rd and 4th year medical student will be sufficient to get you where you want to go in the future. The benefit of a "great" surgical residency program could help or hinder you as far as experiences go - a great program is likely to attract a different caliber of residents who might take all the fun stuff for themselves, leaving you with little to do as a clerk or sub-i. Or, it could mean that you'll have great surgeons who love to teach, and who make it totally worthwhile. The problem of course is knowing what type of program you're going to get at which school. And because it's surgery, there's no good measure to tell what benefit there will be, like there might be in Internal medicine where you can look at score jumps between Step 1 and Step 2 and get a very vague idea.</p>
<p>All that said: Focus on getting into any medical school and if you get accepted to more than one you can pick which one has the better the surgery program then. More than likely the decision will be made for you as most individuals only get one acceptance.</p>
<p>As stated above...</p>
<p>research=academia/hospital, no research=private practice --->You need to like or at least do one or the other.</p>
<p>Neurosurgery is pretty competitive. Its one of the few specialties that participates in early match, so if you don't match you have some time to apply to another specialty.</p>
<p>Most neurosurgery residencies require about 2-3 years of clinical research. Really, almost all the top specialties working in a hospital setting will involve some kind of research element to them. Many neurosurgeons and neurologists also conduct basic science research with collaborators to inform their practice and contribute to the field. Medicine is science, don't forget that. Primary care is where you tend to get away from that. I.e. Private Practice.</p>