Which specialty and why?

bolnoi · Mar 13, 2006

Could you tell the pros/cons of various sought-after specialties? I looked at the match lists of various schools and noticed that many of the top schools do not send many people into radiology. It is clear to me that students choose other specialties over radiology. So if you had to compare the following: radiology/radonc/ortho/ophthalmology, what would be the pros/cons just between these 4? I neglected some of the other selective specialties, because they're obviously very different from these 4.

bolnoi · Mar 13, 2006

bolnoi said:
Could you tell the pros/cons of various sought-after specialties? I looked at the match lists of various schools and noticed that many of the top schools do not send many people into radiology. It is clear to me that students choose other specialties over radiology. So if you had to compare the following: radiology/radonc/ortho/ophthalmology, what would be the pros/cons just between these 4? I neglected some of the other selective specialties, because they're obviously very different from these 4.

i think this is a bit silly. post anything you know about all 4 specialties, but when comparing them, please only do radiology vs ortho or vs opholmalogy. i.e. non-surgical vs surgical specialty. please note that all 4 of the specialties listed above have relatively good hours and lifestyles(if you want them to be).

OSUdoc08 · Mar 13, 2006

bolnoi said:
Could you tell the pros/cons of various sought-after specialties? I looked at the match lists of various schools and noticed that many of the top schools do not send many people into radiology. It is clear to me that students choose other specialties over radiology. So if you had to compare the following: radiology/radonc/ortho/ophthalmology, what would be the pros/cons just between these 4? I neglected some of the other selective specialties, because they're obviously very different from these 4.

Radiology = lazy, afraid of the light, & afraid of patients

Ophthalmology = lazy, afraid of the dark, & likes really small things

Radiation Oncology = doesn't mind treating people who will probably die anyway

Surgery (Ortho) = hardworking & wants to see patients and make them well

Radiohead · Mar 13, 2006

OSUdoc08 said:
Radiology = lazy, afraid of the light, & afraid of patients

Ophthalmology = lazy, afraid of the dark, & likes really small things

Radiation Oncology = doesn't mind treating people who will probably die anyway

Surgery (Ortho) = hardworking & wants to see patients and make them well

Hmmmm.....Let me guess which one you are going into.

OSUdoc08 · Mar 13, 2006

Radiohead said:
Hmmmm.....Let me guess which one you are going into.

I'm going into ER, by the way.

This is why my comments were very objective.

twintiger32 · Mar 13, 2006

OSUdoc08 said:
I'm going into ER, by the way.

This is why my comments were very objective.

LOL

rads: not much patient interaction (could be pro or con), good $.

ortho: fast results, but most of the time no long term patient relationships (unless the patient is an extreme sports junky :scared:

)

ophtho: available long term patient care, fast results (cataract sx etc), ONLY focused on the eye (pro or con)

rad/onc: not quite as simple of a problem/fix relationship, residency is chilllllllllllll

bolnoi · Mar 13, 2006

So based on these descriptions, how could a student choose one specialty over the others? i would cross off radonc(i only brought it up because it is so competitive), but the other 3 all seem good in their own ways. on the other hand, without exposure, how do u know you'd be good at reading films, or you'd be good at performing surgeries?

deleted87716 · Mar 13, 2006

bolnoi said:
So based on these descriptions, how could a student choose one specialty over the others?

I would not recommend choosing a specialty based on these descriptions.

deuist · Mar 13, 2006

OSUdoc08 said:
Radiology = lazy, afraid of the light, & afraid of patients

Ophthalmology = lazy, afraid of the dark, & likes really small things

Radiation Oncology = doesn't mind treating people who will probably die anyway

Surgery (Ortho) = hardworking & wants to see patients and make them well

Do you have the decision tree that was posted a while back with all of this information?

bolnoi · Mar 13, 2006

KentW said:
I would not recommend choosing a specialty based on these descriptions.

then what could an ms-1 do to decide what specialty to aim for? this is important, because if he wants to go into rads, he should start doing radiology related research in ms-1 summer, and the same for most other competitive specialties..

deuist · Mar 13, 2006

deuist said:
Do you have the decision tree that was posted a while back with all of this information?

Never mind, I found it:

deuist · Mar 13, 2006

bolnoi said:
then what could an ms-1 do to decide what specialty to aim for? this is important, because if he wants to go into rads, he should start doing radiology related research in ms-1 summer, and the same for most other competitive specialties..

You shouldn't try to pick a specialty now. You should focus on your classes and try to learn as much as possible. If you want to read up on various specialties, go to AAMC's Careers in Medicine Website. You should have a password since you are a medical student. If you want to do research over the summer, why not try basic science research in a broad field such as genetics or biochemistry? Every medical specialty needs to rely on basic science.

deleted87716 · Mar 13, 2006

bolnoi said:
then what could an ms-1 do to decide what specialty to aim for? this is important, because if he wants to go into rads, he should start doing radiology related research in ms-1 summer, and the same for most other competitive specialties..

Not true. Lots of people don't decide on a specialty until their third or fourth year. The vast majority of first and second year medical students haven't made up their minds, although many have narrowed it down to a handful of possibilities. This is expected.

To help you figure out what you want to do, you first need to do a bit of introspection. What do you like doing? What kind of patients do you enjoy seeing? What sort of environment do you want to work in? What kind of people do you like to work with? What kind of schedule do you think you'd like to keep? How long do you want to be in training?

If you're completely lost at sea, you could take a test like the Medical Specialty Aptitude Test to see if that helps you narrow things down.

Finally, you need to spend some quality time in the field(s) you're interested in. Talk to as many people as you can. See if reality mirrors your expectations. Sometimes, a "mentor" can be helpful, but not usually necessary.

Most of all, don't let anyone else try to tell you what field to go into, or what not to go into. You need to make that decision for yourself.

Rafa · Mar 13, 2006

That chart is awesome. I matched into derm, anesth, and peds. Even though the three I'm most interested in are em, psych, and n-surg/peds.

OSUdoc08 · Mar 14, 2006

deuist said:
Do you have the decision tree that was posted a while back with all of this information?

lol yeah I was going right off of it

i couldn't figure out how to post it

QofQuimica · Mar 14, 2006

Rafa said:
That chart is awesome. I matched into derm, anesth, and peds. Even though the three I'm most interested in are em, psych, and n-surg/peds.

I am clearly destined for psych.

ShyRem · Mar 14, 2006

I am destined for EM. Go figure.

Jedix123 · Mar 14, 2006

Great chart...

johnny_blaze · Mar 14, 2006

I love that chart.. I'm such a mean bastard... and guess what i wanna be. hehe

DW3843 · Mar 14, 2006

KentW said:
If you're completely lost at sea, you could take a test like the Medical Specialty Aptitude Test to see if that helps you narrow things down.

everybody should follow the link to the UVA specialty test

That test is pretty sweet. I took it last year but don't remember the results. I just took it again (as a 2nd year student with a much better idea of what real world medicine is like). By the way, I have NO idea what I want to do "when I grow up," but I am beginning to have a much clearer idea of what seems to draw my interest.

I would definitely say the results seem to be pretty good at nailing down the handful of fields that I know I am interested in.
and the bottom of the list has some deadly accuracy in picking exactly what I know that I will avoid at all cost (ie. Psych, FP, Gen IM, phys rehab, and the more boring/lame of the IM subspecialties)

thanks for posting the link.

deuist · Mar 15, 2006

A few people have mentioned that they are having a hard time choosing a medical specialty. While picking your future right now is not advisable, there are some websites that can point you in the right direction.

-- The American Board of Medical Specialties has a description of how to pick a field: http://www.abms.org/which.asp

-- The AAMC has a smaller page dedicated to the same topic: http://www.aamc.org/students/cim/start.htm

-- Finally, SUNY at Buffalo has a quiz to match your personality with a particular specialty: http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/RESIDENT/CareerCounseling/interior.htm?self-assessment.htm . Also, the University of Virginia has its own quiz: http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/ . These two websites give different results; so you should interpret the results as you wish. Just for laughs, there's also this quiz on Geocities: http://www.geocities.com/iqhometest/doctorb.html

8744 · Mar 15, 2006

twintiger32 said:
LOL

rads: not much patient interaction (could be pro or con), good $.

ortho: fast results, but most of the time no long term patient relationships (unless the patient is an extreme sports junky )

ophtho: available long term patient care, fast results (cataract sx etc), ONLY focused on the eye (pro or con)

rad/onc: not quite as simple of a problem/fix relationship, residency is chilllllllllllll

Long term patient relationships are highly over-rated. All we ever do is talk about their health problems. I mean, if I wanted to do that I'd just phone my mother-in-law.

Which specialty and why?

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headbutts like zidane

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Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....

I need more coffee.

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