Really? A medicine, peds, gen surg, or ob/gyn Sub-I is required at my school so unless they really thought someone had NO shot at matching into gen surg anywhere I can't imagine them forbidding a student from doing a surgery sub-I.Can the friend even get a surgery Sub-I? At some schools the surgery Sub-I's are very competitive and a student can't even sign up for one if they show problems like failing the shelf. I suppose there are always away sub-I's though.