What is the ideal route to take, in terms of degrees, for a high school student from the UK who wants to study in the US to become a neurosurgeon?

Background: I am an undergraduate at a top "public ivy" research university in the United States. I am in two honors programs at the school, both with 100% acceptance rates into medical school. Admission into medical school in the United States differs from other systems around the world, most importantly, admission generally requires acquiring a bachelor's degree prior to entrance to medical school. In most cases, that's four years of training in any discipline. Yes, that means art history majors make it to medical school, engineers go to medical school, biology majors, physics majors, history majors, ANY discipline will work. What is required of you in your undergraduate training is taking certain pre-requisite courses no matter your major. These pre-requisites are (as of June 2013): One Year of Biology One Year of Physics One Year of English Two Years of Chemistry (through Organic Chemistry If at any time these pre-requisite courses change, the changes can be found at this resource provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/ In addition to the requisite "pre-med" coursework you are required to take the MCAT -  a standardized test which tests your knowledge in the pre-med coursework you completed as an undergrad. This test is generally taken your junior year of college. The MCAT (For those applying to medical school before 2015) is graded in three sections plus an essay: Verbal (15 points), Physical Science (15 points), Biochemistry (15 points) for a maximum possible score of 45. The MCAT (For those applying to medical school at or after 2015) is graded in four sections plus an essay: Verbal (15 points), Physical Science (15 points), Biochemistry (15 points), Sociology (15 points) for a maximum possible score of 60. All information regarding the MCAT can be found here: https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/ Ok, so, you finished your pre-reqs, you took your MCAT, everything goes swimmingly because you are passionate and worked really hard to achieve your goals (60% of aspiring medical students quit during undergrad, and only 50% of pre-med applicants get into medical school on average in the US)[1] and are admitted to a medical school in the US. YAY! But wait, stall the celebration glass, the battle is not yet won. Medical school consists of 4 additional years of training, after which you will receive an MD. Neurosurgery happens to be - most likely- the most demanding, most difficult, and most competitive of the surgical specialties (all ready in themselves some of the most competitive residencies), so not only will you have to survive medical school, you will have to be the best damn surgical candidate in existence because typically hospitals accept only 1-2 neurosurgery residents at a time. But hey, this is your dream and your talent and mind has served you well thus far, you push yourself like you have never pushed yourself before and become a neurosurgical resident at a hospital/university in the US. Congratulations! Surgical residencies are generally the longest, and neurosurgery residency typically lasts 7 years. Let's re-cap the time we have spent training the next super-star brain surgeon: 4 years of undergrad + 4 years of medical school + 7 years of residency = 15 years of training until you are an attending neurosurgeon. In that time you have worked ludicrous hours, survived 100 hour weeks, 48 hours of work on 2 hours of sleep, the MCAT, Step I (another test), Step II (you guess it), Step III (hahah...ha..), and the USMLE Boards (the test that licenses you to practice in the US in your field). You have probably conducted research, been treated like garbage, been treated like a king, saved lives, messed up, crashed, cried, given up, swelled with pride, and pushed your mind and body to their penultimate limit - but you did it because you wanted to, because you love what you do, because you spent time volunteering at hospitals as an undergrad, throughout medical school, and something deep down inside you says I want to make sick people well. And that's the path to neurosurgery in the US. Aside from the pre-med requisites there is no other course that you "have" to take; therefore, you should take whatever calls to your learner's soul or whatever course you feel will better equip you to be a teacher, a learner, a listener, and most importantly, an ethical, compassionate human being. I am personally double-majoring in my scientific passion, Biophysics, and a general liberal arts program (the honors program at my college) which covers philosophy, ethics, logic, physics, literature, and other things which I find deeply interesting and enriching. As far as universities go, I would suggest a highly-ranked research university. You don't need to go to Harvard or Stanford to get into medical school, quite the contrary, students from much lower ranked schools go on to medical school all the time, however, research and course rigor are components of your medical school application and since you are currently planning on pursuing the most difficult residency you probably want to start topping and competing (gunning) as early as is physically possible. This video is relevant: The Gunner Song (HMS) I will offer you, as a final tidbit, my personal advice. Again, I am not an attending, heck, I am not even in medical school yet, but I - as someone with a congenital disorder who has spent times in many medical institutions, shadowed almost every department, and spoken at length with many students/residents/attendings - would urge you to put neurosurgery in the back of your mind, for now. You are only 16, man, you have not even finished high school yet! Please, please, please make education a huge priority in your life and pursue your passions with every ferocity and intensity your soul can conjure, but remember that you still have formative years, and those years might change who you are, what you want, and where you want to be; you should let these things happen. The responsibility, the physical and cognitive demands, the dynamic field - Medicine as a lifestyle (because it is just that, a lifestyle) should strike you as one of the most important choices you will ever make. Take time to study the field, the science, the system in general while you are an undergrad and learn what it is you truly want from it and yourself. Then when you are a third-year in medical school doing your rotations begin thinking about what specific direction you want to take your training. Godspeed. A Fellow Student Citations: [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/why-science-majors-change-their-mind-its-just-so-darn-hard.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0