<p>How long is it to becoming a neurosurgeon?</p>
<p>Sent from my Droid using CC App</p>
<p>Neurosurgery–</p>
<p>4 years med school, 1 year general surgery residency, 5 years neurosurgery residency, 1-2 year fellowship/specialty residency.</p>
<p>Or about 12 years.</p>
<p>Actually, Neurosurgery is almost exclusively a categorical match - in other words, you don’t have to apply for a separate general surgery internship position. And most programs are 7 years total. The post-grad year 1 (PGY-1) or “intern” year will include general surgery rotations, but typically also have months designed to prepare the resident for being a dedicated neurosurgery resident the following year - ie months spent on Neurology or neuroradiology rotations.</p>
<p>There are a few 6 year programs integrated programs, but the caveat to all surgical specialties is that the more times you’ve done a procedure, the better your skill set. It’s not one of those things where you want to rush the process.</p>
<p>It’s also not uncommon for those planning on going into fellowship (for things like microvascular or neurocritical care or pediatric or spine sub-specialties) to take a year or 2 off for research activities as a way to bolster their applications for fellowship. So it may end up being a total of 14 or 15 years after graduating college by the time you’re an independently operating neurosurgeon.</p>