Hi, I’m currently a 3rd year at a non US medical school. I’m considering trying to do a Sub I in pediatric NS at Johns Hopkins. Can anyone tell me anything about this program from personal experience? If so...do you have any recommendation? In terms of getting a nice recommendation letter...how much would that help in the long run to matching...especially from a prestigious faculty? Also, how difficult is it to do a Sub I here...I’ve heard mixed reports about very limited spots and so on...any information based on personal experience would be helpful. Thanks

Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins is great. There are cases every day and the teaching from Drs. Carson, Jallo, and Weingart is extensive. If you do a good job I’m sure they would be happy to write you a letter, and in my opinion strong letters of recommendation are the most important part of the neurosurgery application. To sign up, you should e-mail Dr. Jallo (you can search for his e-mail at http://www.jhu.edu, I won’t post it here) and ask him how to go about doing so. Be forewarned that doing a sub-i at Hopkins is not a guaranteed interview as is the case at many other places. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any other questions.

Is this sub-I good to round some of your knowledge about neurosurgery in general or really a cool experience which can potentially lead to awesome LOR’s???

khoi.than - 22 January 2007 09:37 AM

Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins is great. There are cases every day and the teaching from Drs. Carson, Jallo, and Weingart is extensive. If you do a good job I’m sure they would be happy to write you a letter, and in my opinion strong letters of recommendation are the most important part of the neurosurgery application. To sign up, you should e-mail Dr. Jallo (you can search for his e-mail at http://www.jhu.edu, I won’t post it here) and ask him how to go about doing so. Be forewarned that doing a sub-i at Hopkins is not a guaranteed interview as is the case at many other places. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any other questions.

I’m sure any LOR from Carson of Jallo would go a long way if it was outstanding...that alone is worth a rotation there. The flip side to that coin is that you could go there and not shine as much as you intended and risk getting an average letter...but at least you know you learned a lot under some of the best...which will be worth it’s weight in gold come residency.

khoi.than - 22 January 2007 09:37 AM

Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins is great. ....Be forewarned that doing a sub-i at Hopkins is not a guaranteed interview as is the case at many other places. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any other questions.

Khoi -

Could you (or anyone else) post which places they think would be a “guarantee” for an inteview?

papyrus - 24 April 2007 07:17 PM

khoi.than - 22 January 2007 09:37 AM

Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins is great. ....Be forewarned that doing a sub-i at Hopkins is not a guaranteed interview as is the case at many other places. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any other questions.

Khoi -

Could you (or anyone else) post which places they think would be a “guarantee” for an inteview?

Hey, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I don’t really frequent this site anymore. MOST programs will extend interviews to ALL their sub-i’s, at least as a courtesy and hopefully because they thought you did a good job and want you there. So, you should go on your sub-i’s motivated to learn and help out the team, and not at all concerned about whether or not they’ll choose to interview you after you finish your month. Good luck everyone, this is a really fun time of year.

What’s the difference between sub-Is , externships and observerships? Are they all the same? What kind of visa do you need if you’re an FMG?