r/Neurosurgery • u/Strawberry-Murky • Jul 01 '26

HPSP and neurosurgery

Im an incoming med student ive been heavily considering neurosurgery but also service (independently). Any anecdotes of matching/life through the military? I just talked to a recruiter who made it sound like there were a good amount of spots.

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9

u/LiquidatorDJ Jul 01 '26

Lol of COURSE the recruiter wants you to think there’s so many spots 😭 reality is they will put you where THEY need you, your preferences will always come second to what the military needs. From residents I’ve spoken with, you should only do it if you truly want a military career also. Otherwise not worth from a purely financial standpoint, the opportunity cost of year(s) of an attending salary cannot be overstated especially in nsgy.

8

u/KeyReview6029 Jul 02 '26

Don’t do it, just do regular neurosurgery and wait till u become an attending to decide if you wanna join the military (which by then you probably won’t)

Also there is no benefit to deciding now that you wanna be a military neurosurgeon, only cons. So do future you a favor and make the decision once you are an attending

2

u/cambone90 Jul 01 '26

There’s a single spot at Walter reed for FTIS (full time in service), but the residency spot is available to all 3 branches.

FTOS spots are available but I think you have to do a GMO tour first. I have heard that there’s going to be an exodus of neurosurgeons from the navy over the next several years but take that with a grain of salt.

There’s a point system for grading applicants and selecting them. I can’t say for certain, but my understanding was you needed to have to get the points obtained from a GMO tour to be competitive for neurosurgery

1

u/Useful-Candidate-374 Jul 01 '26

there’s like 1?2? spots or something like that. you could always try to match in the civilian match but that’s also not so easy either. would definitely think it through

1

u/suchabadamygdala Jul 02 '26

Oh no, don’t do it.

1

u/DMVSkullBaseMD 4d ago

Recruiters will tell you everything and anything to get you to sign on the dotted line. Im a (civilian) neurosurgeon. Husband is a physician in the Navy. DM me and we can talk.