Neurological Surgery
Operative management of brain, spine, and peripheral nerve disease.
Neurosurgeons handle brain tumors, vascular lesions (aneurysms, AVMs), spine pathology (degenerative, traumatic, tumor), peripheral nerve, and functional disorders (DBS, epilepsy surgery). Among the longest training in medicine. Spine accounts for the largest case volume in most practices.
Lifestyle & practice
Among the most demanding lifestyles. Resident hours 70 to 80, attending 55 to 70 with significant call. Compensation among the highest in medicine ($600k to $900k+ academic, often above $1M private practice spine).
Common fellowship paths
- Residency length
- 7 years
- Median comp
- $700k to $900k
- Match rate (MD seniors)
- Highly competitive, score-sensitive
High-signal external links curated for residents and applicants.
- American Association of Neurological Surgeons ↗
Specialty society. Resident review course, advocacy.
- Congress of Neurological Surgeons ↗
Co-equal society, manages Neurosurgery journal.
- Neurosurgery forum (SDN) ↗
Long-running medical career forum with active specialty subforums.
Positions
241
All applicants
414
Seats / app
0.58
From NRMP Charting Outcomes 2024 (most recent biennial publication). Source PDFs: MD Seniors / DO Seniors / IMG. NRMP publishes Charting Outcomes every other year, so this should refresh in early 2026 with the 2025 cycle data.
| Pool | Step 1 | Step 2 | Pubs | Research | AOA % | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MD_seniors | 245 | 255 | 37.4 | 5.8 | 28.0 | 161 |
| DO_seniors | 218 | 256 | 23.0 | 4.0 | — | 2 |
| US_IMG | 249 | 252 | 32.8 | 5.8 | — | 4 |
| Non_US_IMG | 247 | 246 | 51.1 | 7.5 | — | 14 |
Per-applicant-type match rates and mean Step scores published by NRMP every two years. Each row is one applicant pool in one cycle. Step scores reflect what matched applicants in that cycle achieved, not what programs require today.
| Year | Type | Match rate | Matched (n) | Step 1 | Step 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | MD_Senior | 69.4% | 161 | 245 | 255 |
| 2024 | DO_Senior | 18.2% | 2 | 218 | 256 |
| 2024 | IMG | 44.4% | 4 | — | 252 |
| 2022 | MD_Senior | 76.0% | 174 | 248 | 252 |
| 2022 | IMG | 16.7% | 1 | 217 | 228 |
| 2020 | MD_Senior | 77.1% | 195 | 248 | 252 |
| 2020 | DO_Senior | 14.3% | 2 | 252 | 231 |
| 2018 | MD_Senior | 87.0% | 188 | 245 | 249 |
| 2018 | IMG | 0.0% | 0 | 236 | 242 |
| Pool | Share |
|---|---|
| MD_seniors | 83.3% |
| DO_seniors | 3.1% |
| US_IMG | 2.2% |
| Non_US_IMG | 11.5% |