neuro or research

[KK82]

i have worked with a internist and stuff and like that. but i am doing nuero research now and am interested in that also. Is research in something enough to justify an interest. i guess it is hard to know exactly what you want to do unless you have done clinical work

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[DrBowtie]

I am a bit curious about this as well. I am having difficulty finding a doc in my two specialties of interest. I think that if you can speak intelligently about the issues within the specialty and don't speak in absolutes. Something like "I am interested in XYZ for these reasons and am especially excited about completing a clerkship in XYZ to confirm this" I think would be a good answer.

Maybe someone else can chime in with a more concrete interview experience on the topic?

 

[TheMightyAngus]

Only mention it if the school asks specifically what field you want to go into. Otherwise just say how your experience with people afflicted with such and such disease motivated you to pursue medicine. Adcoms know that you're most likely going to change your interest throughout medical school and you won't know for sure until you complete your rotations. What if you bomb your neuro rotation? Then what are you gonna do?

 

[Brainsucker]

I was asked at three (I think) of the six programs I interviewed. I don't think I brought it up in any other interviews. The follow-up question at a couple interviews was whether or not I shadowed a neurosurgeon. I have not. If you're like me, you have a strong resistance to living your life in ways designed to impress others, but this is a good idea and it might even help you learn more about what you want to do. At the very least, you can act enthusiastically about how cool the specialty is and how you'll be so excited to be a ____. Think about attributes like patient interaction that apply to all specialties. In the end though, be honest. It feels better and it works better unless you're a good actor. I found that the interview I bombed (WashU), was the one where I was afraid to answer his questions fully and forcefully. I was accepted at CCLCM at a different interview:

"Do you have any particular specialty in mind?"
"Blah blah blah"
"Is there anything that might change your mind?"
"Anything's possible, I guess. I might find that endocrinology is really exciting...[stuff about pediatric cardiology, his specialty and neat on its own]"

 

[LizzyM]

If you can express an interest in and a compassion for the patients treated by physicians in a certain specialty, and if this interest is based on something beyond family experience (if I had a dime for every sick and dying grandmother I've read about...), then the shadowing thing doesn't make a difference -- at least to me.

 

[DrBowtie]

Hey LizzyM what if the field is radiology? Focus on diagnosing the pts?

 

[LizzyM]

Radiology, OMG! If you haven't shadowed anyone, the only reason you might want to go into it is because diagnostic radiologists and interventional radiologists have the coolest toys (let's not mention the hours or no one will think that you want it for the right reasons).

You've wanted to do it ever since you excelled with Where's Waldo and I Spy (pattern recognition). Being ambidexterous and having an aptitude for video games operated with a job stick are a plus for the interventionalists. You want to make patients lives better through minimally invasive procedures and quicker, painless and safer imaging techniques. You also like the idea of collegial relationships with surgeons who need images to maximize their effectiveness in the OR. (Have you seen some of these 3-D images that can be made with CT).

 

[DrBowtie]

Well LizzyM, considering how I want to do Imaging research, I think that either radiology or rad onc is a good fit. I have a bg in physics. I still have some time to find someone to shadow but, who hasn't seen an MRI, XRAY, or PET scan.

 

[SpeedRacer]

Radiology, OMG! If you haven't shadowed anyone, the only reason you might want to go into it is because diagnostic radiologists and interventional radiologists have the coolest toys (let's not mention the hours or no one will think that you want it for the right reasons).

You've wanted to do it ever since you excelled with Where's Waldo and I Spy (pattern recognition). Being ambidexterous and having an aptitude for video games operated with a job stick are a plus for the interventionalists. You want to make patients lives better through minimally invasive procedures and quicker, painless and safer imaging techniques. You also like the idea of collegial relationships with surgeons who need images to maximize their effectiveness in the OR. (Have you seen some of these 3-D images that can be made with CT).

damn, good answer