MS3 here. So before you start judging why I am choosing between 2 of the highest paid/most competitive specialties (And I wonder about that myself all the time, too). Here is a little about me:
1) MD/PhD, PhD in bone metabolism. Would love to continue basic science research in some way in the future. But won't die if all I can do is clinical research.
2) Definitely will stay in academia. LOVE teaching, LOVE research, LOVE seeing the most complicated/referral cases. Also LOVE being in a big team.
3) Yes I do care about income. No I am not willing to get paid 80k as an pediatrics attending in NYC (true story heard form friend). And no if ortho pays 120k or something like that I probably won't consider going into it after all the hard work during residency. But both specialties I am interested in are pretty well paid now, even after the pay cut for being in academia. So money is not a factor between the 2 right now.
4) I like visual things, like specialties that treat healthier patients and have good outcomes in general. Like immediate gratification. Like fixable problems (no CHF, CKD, DM for me!!) Maybe this is why I am between derm and ortho
5) Female, definitely interested in MSK disease, but not a bro person, can't lift, and not interested in football at all T_T
About Ortho
Pros: 1) obviously having a PhD and publications in bone and having been to national bone/ortho conference helps with match
2) Dad is orthopod and loves his job, so I kinda have natural affinity for the specialty. Plus me and my dad have very similar personalities, except that I am more of a toned down, feminine, and politically correct version of him lol. (good sign I will be happy in ortho?)
3) surgery is pretty bad ass. Got to do a running sub-cuticular suture on abdomen the other day, and was already too excited to sit down for the next few hours! But I feel this excitement might get old once I do a ton of them during residency?
Cons: 1) lifestyle. Surprisingly I don't find our MS3 surgery Q3 call schedule hard at all, although i know residents work way harder than us. Also getting up early has not been a problem. However, it might be challenging if I have to do it for 5-6 years straight vs 2 months, especially, since I am pretty sure I will want kids before I get too old!
2) culture/personality: Again surprisingly I really loved the surgical personality, i.e. chill, fun, love what they do, no bull****. Heard ortho is even more chill than GS. But then I don't know what to do if my future co-residents start talking about football or strippers on and on and on, which I heard still happens in ortho. T_T
About Derm
Pros: 1) super interesting pathology, at least in the academic setting. Was very surprised at how much I loved it during my derm rotation. Also visually very gratifying specialty.
2) good amount of pathology training (I love looking at pathology slides), good amount of procedures.
3) perfect for research: lots of biopsies for research ^_^, so many diseases that we don't understand the pathophysiology. Chill lifestyle so I can totally image myself running a RO1 funded basic science lab, whereas in ortho running a lab is probably very hard. Also awesome 2+2 research track residencies. Finally my derm attendings are the only ones that cared about pathways, enzymes, genetic syndromes, which I found very impressive and attractive.
4) super chill lifestyle, probably great for family (but I am single right now so probably thinking too much....)
Cons: 1) might miss the OR the rest of my life
2) I have no derm research or publication. Step 1 is good enough for derm but definitely not going to make it to AOA or first quartile. Just overall not as strong of an applicant for derm. Might need a back up plan if I don't match.
Would appreciate any advice on how to approach this problem.
1) MD/PhD, PhD in bone metabolism. Would love to continue basic science research in some way in the future. But won't die if all I can do is clinical research.
2) Definitely will stay in academia. LOVE teaching, LOVE research, LOVE seeing the most complicated/referral cases. Also LOVE being in a big team.
3) Yes I do care about income. No I am not willing to get paid 80k as an pediatrics attending in NYC (true story heard form friend). And no if ortho pays 120k or something like that I probably won't consider going into it after all the hard work during residency. But both specialties I am interested in are pretty well paid now, even after the pay cut for being in academia. So money is not a factor between the 2 right now.
4) I like visual things, like specialties that treat healthier patients and have good outcomes in general. Like immediate gratification. Like fixable problems (no CHF, CKD, DM for me!!) Maybe this is why I am between derm and ortho
5) Female, definitely interested in MSK disease, but not a bro person, can't lift, and not interested in football at all T_T
About Ortho
Pros: 1) obviously having a PhD and publications in bone and having been to national bone/ortho conference helps with match
2) Dad is orthopod and loves his job, so I kinda have natural affinity for the specialty. Plus me and my dad have very similar personalities, except that I am more of a toned down, feminine, and politically correct version of him lol. (good sign I will be happy in ortho?)
3) surgery is pretty bad ass. Got to do a running sub-cuticular suture on abdomen the other day, and was already too excited to sit down for the next few hours! But I feel this excitement might get old once I do a ton of them during residency?
Cons: 1) lifestyle. Surprisingly I don't find our MS3 surgery Q3 call schedule hard at all, although i know residents work way harder than us. Also getting up early has not been a problem. However, it might be challenging if I have to do it for 5-6 years straight vs 2 months, especially, since I am pretty sure I will want kids before I get too old!
2) culture/personality: Again surprisingly I really loved the surgical personality, i.e. chill, fun, love what they do, no bull****. Heard ortho is even more chill than GS. But then I don't know what to do if my future co-residents start talking about football or strippers on and on and on, which I heard still happens in ortho. T_T
About Derm
Pros: 1) super interesting pathology, at least in the academic setting. Was very surprised at how much I loved it during my derm rotation. Also visually very gratifying specialty.
2) good amount of pathology training (I love looking at pathology slides), good amount of procedures.
3) perfect for research: lots of biopsies for research ^_^, so many diseases that we don't understand the pathophysiology. Chill lifestyle so I can totally image myself running a RO1 funded basic science lab, whereas in ortho running a lab is probably very hard. Also awesome 2+2 research track residencies. Finally my derm attendings are the only ones that cared about pathways, enzymes, genetic syndromes, which I found very impressive and attractive.
4) super chill lifestyle, probably great for family (but I am single right now so probably thinking too much....)
Cons: 1) might miss the OR the rest of my life
2) I have no derm research or publication. Step 1 is good enough for derm but definitely not going to make it to AOA or first quartile. Just overall not as strong of an applicant for derm. Might need a back up plan if I don't match.
Would appreciate any advice on how to approach this problem.