Pathology vs Internal Medicine or Fam Med

[Kazuo]

How difficult is it to enter a pathology residency compare to an Internal Medicine or Family Medicine one?

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[Enkidu]

How difficult is it to enter a pathology residency compare to an Internal Medicine or Family Medicine one?

If you would be happy in family medicine, then you probably won't be happy in pathology. Family medicine is also easier to get into.

 

[deleted314957]

How difficult is it to enter a pathology residency compare to an Internal Medicine or Family Medicine one?

if you can fog a mirror you can get into either. however, these fields are polar opposites. i do not see how you could contemplate both unless you just need an easy residency to get into due to lack of a competitive application.

 

[yaah]

if you can fog a mirror you can get into either. however, these fields are polar opposites. i do not see how you could contemplate both unless you just need an easy residency to get into due to lack of a competitive application.

Agree. It's like choosing between law school and med school. The differences are much more important than the similarities.

 

[CLR2303]

I get this is an old thread, but I disagree with the above comments that they are so dissimilar. I am a 3rd yr DO student and actually Family Med and Path are my two highest contenders right now. Both cover a LOT of ground, and have a lot to do with getting your patients a timely diagnosis, whether it be catching something in the office, or making the call on a frozen section for instance. One is working on the clinical side and the other is working with the patient's tissues, but otherwise I see a lot of overlap. I am personally looking for some kind of sign to tell me what to choose because as a DO my family med choices are all AOA-match and obviously there is no AOA Pathology program, so I cannot just apply to both and let fate decide. I am having a difficult time deciding whether I want to practice clinical medicine or pathology. As an introvert who enjoys detail-focused work, I think Path could be a good fit. But I also enjoy working in teams and I love meeting patients and building rapport with them, so FM seems rewarding. I have been looking at the downsides of each, and FM obviously pay and the productivity model are huge issues, and in Path it seems like the job market isn't what it's advertised as (and for those of us that like clinical med, not having patients is also a downside rather than a plus). So Kazuo, I suggest ignoring these guys. My Path preceptor was a family doc first, and my favorite Path professor said her favorite colleagues were all Family Docs first. My take away is, if you do FM and don't like it, you can switch to Path (or, if you haven't considered Path yet, consider it before applying to Family.)

 

[pathstudent]

If you are an introvert I would go path. If you are an extrovert, I would go FM.

Know yourself.