What is the ideal specialty?

[NickNaylor]

Does that something else have to be more than just, "I only care about becoming a strong clinician"?

Well, yeah, because just about every applicant wants to be a "strong clinician." That said, there are community programs which offer excellent training experiences (at least in psychiatry) and which are focused purely on clinical work rather than things like research, teaching, etc. etc.. Community programs have a stigma about them, but if that's the route you want to go then you should seriously consider that option.

Also keep in mind that programs vary in terms of what they will expect of residents. Some will incorporate a research component into their training through which you produce some scholarly work. Some won't. If that's not an interest, then steer clear of programs that require that kind of work.

Honestly, at this point it's way too early to be worried about such things. And who knows - your interests very well may change before that point.

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[Ace Khalifa]

Do med students look down on classmates who do research solely for the reason of becoming competitive for those "top" residency programs? In both competitive and less competitive specialties? I want to go into ortho, but I refuse to become a gunner. Assuming I can get A, B, and C from @SouthernSurgeon's post, I would rather spend more time on community service and related leadership opportunities and less time on being productive in research (since apparently I'll have to do both).

 

[NickNaylor]

Do med students look down on classmates who do research solely for the reason of becoming competitive for those "top" residency programs? In both competitive and less competitive specialties? I want to go into ortho, but I refuse to become a gunner. Assuming I can get A, B, and C from @SouthernSurgeon's post, I would rather spend more time on community service and related leadership opportunities and less time on being productive in research (since apparently I'll have to do both).

I personally don't, because that's just the name of the game. At the end of the day, you have goals that you want to set, and you have to do what you need to do in order to get there. "Gunner" is not synonymous with ambitious. A gunner is essentially a dingus who is, at a minimum, unpleasant to work with.

 

[Ismet]

Kids come with parents. Parents are terrible.

And parents are adults. Thus adults are terrible. (jk)

But seriously, internal medicine is just confirming my decision to do peds. Learning a lot, but not my ideal patient population.

Also in my month of inpatient peds and month and a half of outpatient peds, I didn't really come across any difficult parents. I'm sure they're out there and I'm sure I'll encounter them, but for the most part parents have been quite pleasant (or, sadly, absent)

 

[Ace Khalifa]

I personally don't, because that's just the name of the game. At the end of the day, you have goals that you want to set, and you have to do what you need to do in order to get there. "Gunner" is not synonymous with ambitious. A gunner is essentially a dingus who is, at a minimum, unpleasant to work with.

Okay then. Thanks! My goal is to work hard and become an amazing, competitive applicant for residency AND be kind, courteous, respectful, and helpful to everyone throughout all of medical school. I'm glad to know you don't have to become a gunner to succeed.

 

[Slack3r]

I want to ask the same question above (thanks for responding, @Psai !). When you were a medical student, did you rotate in derm and allergy? I mention this because before I rotated in allergy, I totally bought into the "allergy is just like derm: if you can't match into derm and you have to do IM, you should totally do an allergy/immunology fellowship." In reality, allergy is boring, like really f*cking boring. I cannot image a worse career than having to see patient-after-patient where you do a 45-60 minute H&Ps about how eating carrots makes their mouth itch. Or spending 20 minutes describing to someone the correct way to use nasal spray. Granted the immunology cases are more interesting, but the bread and butter is managing asthma and discussing food allergies. I just get the sense that someone compared allergy to derm in the past, and then people on SDN repeated it over-and-over as a matter of fact

As opposed to acne and rosacea?

Allergy is the derm of IM in that the hours are easy, the pay is nice, and the patients are, on whole, low acuity. Plus, the call/emergencies in both are minimal. Oh, and they're both mega competitive.

Rheum has higher acuity, more emergencies, and the pay is ****. At least it's incredibly uncompetitive.

 

[Sarr]

Do med students look down on classmates who do research solely for the reason of becoming competitive for those "top" residency programs? In both competitive and less competitive specialties? I want to go into ortho, but I refuse to become a gunner. Assuming I can get A, B, and C from @SouthernSurgeon's post, I would rather spend more time on community service and related leadership opportunities and less time on being productive in research (since apparently I'll have to do both).

Does it really matter what they think of you ? You are in this game for yourself. All classmates will be forgotten in 3 years. Trust me happens to everyone. Do what you need to do for your advancement and improvement. As long as you don't back stab or deliberately tackle a class mate, working hard for your goal is a virtue...

 

[PatsyStone]

As opposed to acne and rosacea?

Allergy is the derm of IM in that the hours are easy, the pay is nice, and the patients are, on whole, low acuity. Plus, the call/emergencies in both are minimal. Oh, and they're both mega competitive.

Rheum has higher acuity, more emergencies, and the pay is ****. At least it's incredibly uncompetitive.

The vast majority of allergy patients present with asthma or food allergies (or chronic sinusitis). Dermatologists see a lot of acne and rosacea, but depending on your practice, it is probably not nearly as large a percentage of your daily practice.

A big difference is that you can diagnose and counsel a patient with acne or rosacea in 10 minutes; you cannot do this with a person who has a suspected food allergy. Dermatologists--especially in PP--can see 30 patients in a day. An allergist, due to their in-depth H&Ps, is not going to be able to do that. Yes, at face-value, allergy and derm work fewer hours, are low-stress, and have good compensation, but the day-to-day practice could not be more different. I am not trying to be argumentative (or a jackass), but I think it is important that pre-meds who are reading this looking for advice understand that the comparison that "derm=allergy" is only partially true.

 

[NickNaylor]

And parents are adults. Thus adults are terrible. (jk)

But seriously, internal medicine is just confirming my decision to do peds. Learning a lot, but not my ideal patient population.

Also in my month of inpatient peds and month and a half of outpatient peds, I didn't really come across any difficult parents. I'm sure they're out there and I'm sure I'll encounter them, but for the most part parents have been quite pleasant (or, sadly, absent)

This was one of the things I actually loved about peds. I liked the dynamic of patient-parent-physician, even though it can be difficult at times (I had a parent go on a tirade against me during my inpatient rotation). It seems like most people don't enjoy that aspect of it, but for me it's an interesting challenge.

 

[Ismet]

This was one of the things I actually loved about peds. I liked the dynamic of patient-parent-physician, even though it can be difficult at times (I had a parent go on a tirade against me during my inpatient rotation). It seems like most people don't enjoy that aspect of it, but for me it's an interesting challenge.

I enjoyed that too. "Difficult" parents are often just frustrated and scared, and I think when you look at it from that perspective, it's not as bad. What was hard for me to deal with was the absent/abusive parents...especially the FTT babies who put on pounds while admitted just because we were feeding them correctly and regularly. I'd take a parent yelling at me over that any day.

 

[Ismet]

Ugh that was the worst. There was this poor FTT baby whose mom literally never came to visit her over the course of an entire admission. Couldn't even get her to show up for family meetings with social work and CPS. Baby just laying there alone in the hospital for 2 weeks. Fortunately the nurses basically adopted her and were holding her, showing positive attention.

Thank god I don't think that mom ever got the child back.

That's exactly what happened with my FTT patient. Parents didn't even call in to check up on her for over a week. I met them on admission and then they just left. She was the darling of the floor and the nurses were clamoring to hold and feed her. Pretty impressive how much progress is made so quickly though. When she came in she couldn't even lift her arms against gravity. After a couple days of feeding she was wrestling her way out of her swaddle.

 

[toutou]

That's exactly what happened with my FTT patient. Parents didn't even call in to check up on her for over a week. I met them on admission and then they just left. She was the darling of the floor and the nurses were clamoring to hold and feed her. Pretty impressive how much progress is made so quickly though. When she came in she couldn't even lift her arms against gravity. After a couple days of feeding she was wrestling her way out of her swaddle.

Ugh, I love babies. My gay male biological clock is ticking -_____-

 

[I'm No Superman]

Ah yes, never mind the high burnout rate. Just as long as I don't have call.

...worth.

 

[Slack3r]

The vast majority of allergy patients present with asthma or food allergies (or chronic sinusitis). Dermatologists see a lot of acne and rosacea, but depending on your practice, it is probably not nearly as large a percentage of your daily practice.

A big difference is that you can diagnose and counsel a patient with acne or rosacea in 10 minutes; you cannot do this with a person who has a suspected food allergy. Dermatologists--especially in PP--can see 30 patients in a day. An allergist, due to their in-depth H&Ps, is not going to be able to do that. Yes, at face-value, allergy and derm work fewer hours, are low-stress, and have good compensation, but the day-to-day practice could not be more different. I am not trying to be argumentative (or a jackass), but I think it is important that pre-meds who are reading this looking for advice understand that the comparison that "derm=allergy" is only partially true.

Methinks someone doesn't know how an analogy works.

 

[Leslie_Knope]

Heme/Onc. I have not seen such an attentive, responsive, involved, patient population like I did in oncology. Cancer patients are a privilege and there's plenty of interesting research to do.

Check out the reproductive endocrinology patient population! I agree with you that involved patients are a huge draw in considering a specialty.

 

[Mad Jack]

The vast majority of allergy patients present with asthma or food allergies (or chronic sinusitis). Dermatologists see a lot of acne and rosacea, but depending on your practice, it is probably not nearly as large a percentage of your daily practice.

A big difference is that you can diagnose and counsel a patient with acne or rosacea in 10 minutes; you cannot do this with a person who has a suspected food allergy. Dermatologists--especially in PP--can see 30 patients in a day. An allergist, due to their in-depth H&Ps, is not going to be able to do that. Yes, at face-value, allergy and derm work fewer hours, are low-stress, and have good compensation, but the day-to-day practice could not be more different. I am not trying to be argumentative (or a jackass), but I think it is important that pre-meds who are reading this looking for advice understand that the comparison that "derm=allergy" is only partially true.

Dose allergy shots tho...

 

[Mad Jack]

Emergency Medicine: No call

Working rotating nights, weekends, and holidays in your 40s, 50s, and 60s? Yeah, that's way worse than call.

 

[DubVille]

Dermatologists--especially in PP--can see 30 patients in a day.

More like 40-50

 

[Rocher]

Heme/Onc. I have not seen such an attentive, responsive, involved, patient population like I did in oncology. Cancer patients are a privilege and there's plenty of interesting research to do.

I agree, and am planning to go into heme/onc. People talk about how depressing it is, but its not near as bad in clinic vs inpatient. I am just coming off of MICU and that seemed more depressing than onc.

 

[Omppu27]

For the medical students and residents specifically on this thread, which specialties if any can you match into without having to do research?

Asking the important questions... As someone who is finishing up their third year of research, I have NO interest in being in a lab ever again...