MD Serious Question: Is there a fairly legitimate online quiz to help decide which specialty is right for you?

[Super_Med]

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Obviously clinical rotations are when med students get the best idea of which specialty is right for them, but I was just curious if there is some kind of comprehensive online quiz which factors in personality attributes/lifestyle choices/desire to talk with patients/etc. that would be useful to see which specialty would best fit me?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Wouldn’t you know it...

Medical Specialty Selector

 

[Ms. Incognito]

Not sure if you've explored the quizzes and assessments via AAMC. How realistic/practical they are is up for debate, but they swear by whatever methodology/algorithm they're utlizing lol.

I've done it and the list of suitable specialties honestly didn't surprise me. They're pretty spot on to the list I would have created myself.

 

[Ms. Incognito]

Wouldn’t you know it...

Medical Specialty Selector

And to think I've seen and done them all lol...

 

[Prehealth1011]

These quizzes don’t take into account the wonderful 3rd year rotation experiences

My favorite was waiting outside the door like a security guard for basically every OB patient

 

[IMG69]

Wouldn’t you know it...

Medical Specialty Selector

Any tips to match? 😆

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

These quizzes don’t take into account the wonderful 3rd year rotation experiences

My favorite was waiting outside the door like a security guard for basically every OB patient

Yes. This exactly. My experience on rotations has been eye opening.

 

[Redpancreas]

Yes. This exactly. My experience on rotations has been eye opening.

Agreed, the quiz is pretty useless as it doesn't account for aptitude. You need to experience the fields or really be interested in something for some reason. Abstract algorithms are often inaccurate as we idealize ourselves in responses. Do we like procedures? Do we like high income? Do we like staying up on call? Hell yeah...are we good at these different things? That may be a different story.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Agreed, the quiz is pretty useless as it doesn't account for aptitude. You need to experience the fields or really be interested in something for some reason. Abstract algorithms are often inaccurate as we idealize ourselves in responses. Do we like procedures? Do we like high income? Do we like staying up on call? Hell yeah...are we good at these different things? That may be a different story.

I was thinking more along the lines of things we think we like or are important may completely change on rotations.

 

[mrbreakfast]

It's worth taking for fun, and I know some people who've gotten 100% matches into the field they wanted to do, but personally I wouldn't put much weight into the results. When I was a medical student I got general surgery as my top outcome every time, despite the fact that it was one of my least-favorite rotations.

I agree that experiences on rotations probably carries the most weight, for better or for worse. I enjoyed a lot of OBGYN, but that doesn't matter when a third of patients wouldn't even talk to me. The quiz might say I have a high preference for general surgery, but I also have a very high preference for NOT getting shouted at for 120 hours a week. I ended up picking the specialty on which rotation I was the least bored and which had residents/attendings I liked the most, even though it was never high on my quiz rankings.

 

[Lem0nz]

Nine of my top ten were surgical. The top spot however was... preventative medicine: aerospace.

wut

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

Neurological Surgery: sufficient time off...

 

[Raryn]

There’s several at Home | Careers in Medicine that are reasonable.

 

[stickgirl390]

I completely agree with taking the quiz after clinical rotations. In M1-M2 I was >90% favored to declare Emergency Medicine. After clerkships, EM was <5%

 

[ChiDO]

68% match of my actual specialty. 🤷

 

[Moko]

 

[FrkyBgStok]

These also don’t account for what you want. I remember before medical school I was interested in surgery and EM. Every single speciality quiz I took ask questions like do you want a quick answer or a slow answer, do you want to use your hands or your mind, etc. Given my priming it was no surprise that 9/10 were surgical with EM mixed somewhere in there. Week 2 of surgery I could confidently say without hesitation that I hated surgery.

 

[Lost in Translation]

68% match of my actual specialty. 🤷

Same here. The top 5 I was recommended I would never consider.

 

[doyouhaveaflag]

 

[Cornfed101]

View attachment 338049

This is how I’m choosing, but seriously my specialty quiz was like a 75% match for anesthesiology

 

[Nevergiveupok]

View attachment 338049

It's pretty funny now as a resident seeing this. Pretty accurate from the people I know. That derm stereotype is so true. Few of the ophth matches I saw though were out of nowhere. Had no idea they were strong students.

The IM one is so insanely true for 30-40% of the people I know that went that route. A good 50% probably have a subspecialty in mind and go IM for that reason (specifically for GI, heme/onc, cardio).

 

[LunaOri]

That medical specialty selector says I should be an endocrinologist. Gaaah!!! I’d rather poke my eyes out with a fork!

 

[Raryn]

That medical specialty selector says I should be an endocrinologist. Gaaah!!! I’d rather poke my eyes out with a fork!

🙁

 

[Lawpy]

🙁

I like endocrinology

 

[Raryn]

I like endocrinology

Mind you, I apparently did that quiz at some point - I have no recollection when - and got ID as my #1, which I wouldn't really consider. But endocrine was #2, which is what I do, so it got pretty close.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

🙁

Cries in synthroid.

 

[Ludwig2000]

The best test is probably just asking yourself what result you hope to see after taking one of those personality tests