Shadowing

[DocGrind24/7]

Hey guys what's up, this is actually my first post so I'm eager to see how useful this network can be. I'm currently a 17 year old student indulging in my senior year of high school trying to live it up while I can. I'm battling to decide whether I want to pursue oral surgery or trauma surgery and have had the privilege of shadowing an oral surgeon quite a few times here recently. Is there any way I could shadow a trauma surgeon and if so how do I go about setting that up? Let me know if this is possible and who I would need to contact to make this happen. Seeing both spectrums would hopefully narrow my field of desire so any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

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[AlteredScale]

Shadowing in trauma surgery is difficult because of the intensity level, the physicians and entire team need their attention completely devoted to what's going on in order to save a life. My school does not allow anyone that isn't a trauma worker in the level I trauma bay and also in those particular surgeries. But that's my school. Best you can do is use the hospital directory and contact the administrative assistants within the trauma/Critical care department and ask them to shadow.

Lastly, though you may "like" surgery right now, it is hasty to make a specialty decision. I have no clue what I want to do and I've shadowed in neurosurg, EM, internal med, endocrinology, and gastroenterology. Enjoy your college years and worry about getting good grades, MCAT, ECs.

 

[67552931811]

I agree with my esteemed colleague, Mr. Scale, for the most part. Most likely you won't be able to legally do it. Unless you live in some odd state, you will 100% not be able to get a private practice or employed doc to let you shadow them. Your best bet would be to shotgun email a bunch of academic trauma surgeons. Even with that, I would not expect any responses. Regardless, you're 17- go out, have fun, don't even think about shadowing until you are in college. You have AT LEAST 9 more years until making a final decision. Chances are you are going to change your mind 73829489 times. Also, oral surgeons are dentists not physicians (unless you do one of those 6 year combo programs or do dental school after medical school, which would be completely pointless) so make sure you decide if you want to do dentistry or medicine first and foremost. GL, feel free to ask me any questions you may have! Enjoy your senior year!

 

[sonofva]

Also if you decide on oral surgery decide if you would be content being a General Dentist for several years if residency doesn't happen right away

 

[DocGrind24/7]

Awesome thank you guys! Let me go ahead and ask one more question, how does a philosophy major sound as a pre med major? I'm attending East Carolina University next year and am seriously considering a philosophy major. Let me know what you think

 

[AlteredScale]

Awesome thank you guys! Let me go ahead and ask one more question, how does a philosophy major sound as a pre med major? I'm attending East Carolina University next year and am seriously considering a philosophy major. Let me know what you think

As per the wise admissions faculty here: As long as you do well in the major and complete the prereqs and so well in those too, then defiantly go for it!

 

[67552931811]

Awesome thank you guys! Let me go ahead and ask one more question, how does a philosophy major sound as a pre med major? I'm attending East Carolina University next year and am seriously considering a philosophy major. Let me know what you think

Major what you are interested in. Personally, if I could go back in time, I would have chosen a different major and got my degree in either Mathematics or Chemistry instead of what I ultimately ended up doing: but, that is just me. I think any major + a minor in biology is just fine.

 

[Quinoline]

Awesome thank you guys! Let me go ahead and ask one more question, how does a philosophy major sound as a pre med major? I'm attending East Carolina University next year and am seriously considering a philosophy major. Let me know what you think

If your concern is that you aren't passionate about philosophy, then you should spend some time thinking about what you are passionate about.
If instead you are sure in your interest in philosophy, but your concern is how it will look to med schools, then you should certainly choose philosophy, as others have mentioned, they do not care.
I know some who think the US system of getting a bachelors in any field as a premed requirement is a waste of time, but personally I think it is favorable to be able to explore any area of interest and have some time to mature.

 

[Hillo]

Just to let you know, you could match into an oral surgery residency (combined with dental school) after medical school.

 

[67552931811]

Just to let you know, you could match into an oral surgery residency (combined with dental school) after medical school.

Right, you have to be in a COMBINED program. You CANNOT do oral surgery after medical school- false. It is an optional residency for dentistry, not medicine.

 

[Stagg737]

Let me start by saying, do not worry about what specialty you want to go into yet. I know tons of 3rd/4th year med students and residents (I took 3 years off, so my friends are 4th years now...). Out of all the people I know that are applying to or in residencies now, only 2 of them still want to pursue the same specialty as when they entered med school. The vast majority of people change their mind, so chances are you'll probably change your mind half a dozen times before you get there.

In terms of your major, you can pursue whatever you want. Med schools really don't care as long as you finish their pre-req classes, get a solid GPA (3.65+ is ideal), and do well on the MCATs. This is true for almost every med school. A lot of med schools will actually look at a non-science major who does well in science and rocks the MCAT as a big plus because it shows diversity and adaptability. Additionally philosophy is a good choice seen as a relatively difficult major (as opposed to something like sociology or comm studies) since it requires a lot of critical thinking. So pursue whatever major you are going to enjoy, just make sure you do well and keep on top of the requirements to get in and it shouldn't be a problem.