Neurological Surgery Residency

Operative and perioperative care of disorders of the brain, spine and nerves.

Answer in brief

Neurological Surgery training in the United States generally lasts generally 7 years. Entry is through ERAS and the NRMP Match after medical school. Highly competitive with a small national position count. No school can guarantee entry to this specialty.

Training length

Generally 7 years. Program length is set by the accredited program requirements for the specialty, and optional fellowship training adds further years.

2025 Match figures (PGY-1)

Reported by the NRMP for the row Neurological Surgery.

Positions offered: 268
Positions filled: 265
Filled by IMGs: 18

"Filled by IMGs" combines US citizen and non-US citizen graduates of international medical schools. Source: Advance Data Tables for the 2025 Main Residency Match, NRMP. Verified 2026-09-18.

Across all specialties in the 2025 Match, 40,041 PGY-1 positions were offered and 37,667 were filled. The PGY-1 match rate was 67.8% for US citizen IMGs and 58% for non-US citizen IMGs.

Considerations for international medical graduates

Highly competitive with a small national position count. No school can guarantee entry to this specialty.

Position counts, fill rates and applicant numbers change every year. Check the current NRMP results report for the specialty and applicant type before drawing conclusions.

Sources

1.Main Residency Match results and data — National Resident Matching Program (NRMP)
2.Accredited residency and fellowship programs — Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
3.ERAS for residency applicants — Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)