Post by Ollie Burton

It's Neurosurgery national selection today/tomorrow, and have been doing a bit of reflecting with so many colleagues going through the process for themselves. It's a really, really difficult challenge. I think neurosurgeons get a bit of a bad rap, rightly or wrongly. I didn't make it through the first time, and was embarrassed to show my face for a little while - it's easy to feel like you've let everyone down, like a failure, despite the enormous investment mentors and colleagues have put into you to help you succeed. In retrospect, this was completely in my head - the very first question I was asked when I broke the news that I hadn't made it through was 'so what will you do differently when you apply next time?'. Everyone else kept their eyes forward for me when I wasn't able to do it for myself - and two years on as a neurosurgery trainee, I'm very grateful to the wonderful community we have in the specialty, and friends/colleagues from that time, particularly at Surgical Technology at Queen Square.