How to show commitment to family medicine as a premed?

[Ryan17]

Hi All,

I'm a postbac premed student and can't decide at the moment between EM and FM (but leaning towards FM), so I'll save that for med school.

How do I show medical schools I am very interested in family medicine? I'm currently volunteer once a week in the ER at my local Lvl 1 Trauma Hospital.

Is shadowing an FM doctor for a while and then writing about how you want to do FM enough for most med schools to believe you? I'm just afraid of not showing enough commitment to FM and then having med schools everywhere (especially my home state, TX) thinking I just put that in my personal statement/app to have a better shot of getting in.

Thanks!!

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[Ismet]

Whatever you write about wanting to go into a specific specialty is going to be taken with a grain of salt by anyone reading your application. The odds are that you will change your mind about what you want to do. Most med students do. It's actually better to present yourself as open minded rather than focus on one or two specialties. You can certainly have interests, that's fine, and you should shadow in the fields you think you might be interested in. And you can mention that you have exposure and interest in those fields. But don't close yourself off before you even start.

 

[LizzyM]

On the other hand, it is possible to have some experiences in ambulatory (outpatient) settings and point to those as a way in which you have tested your interest in primary care. That could be a pediatric office, family medicine office, a federal qualified health clinic (FQHC), anything along those lines. Most care is provided in ambulatory care settings including almost all primary care. Go to such a place and see if it is really your cup of tea.