Medical Specialty Aptitude Test

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Univ of Virginia has a Medical Specialty Aptitude Test online at:

http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/Home.cfm

I had heard about it before, but today I was bored enough to take it. My top ten were:
1 pathology 47
2 rheumatology 47
3 physical med & rehabilitation 46
4 occupational med 45
5 general internal med 45
6 allergy & immunology 45
7 med oncology 44
8 hematology 44
9 psychiatry 44
10 neurology 44

Overall, that's close to what I expected (expect ID was #19 and I don't think neuro or PM&R are for me, and I was a little surprised path was #1).

If you've taken it, what was your top and do you think it's correct?
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1 radiology 44
2 dermatology 37
3 urology 36
4 occupational med 36
5 pediatrics 35
6 colon & rectal surgery 35
7 anesthesiology 35
8 gastroenterology 35
9 otolaryngology 34
10 emergency med 34
 
So I took this test... apparently I am destined for aerospace medicine :oops:

I have been stressing just a bit about what to go into. I have a few ideas, but I just got my third year schedule a few days ago and I think it got me thinking seriously....


In any case If you ask me, I hated my mini-psych rotation we had this year, and I can't see myself that interested in working for NASA (I couldn't deal with being there and not being an astronaut, which is in my opinion WAY cooler than a doctor)

Personally I like Neurology (of which, according to these people, I have no buisness pursuing), PMR and ID. And right now those have my intrest....


Rank Specialty Score
1 aerospace med 47
2 psychiatry 45
3 obstetrics/gynecology 45
4 infectious disease 45
5 hematology 45
6 nephrology 44
7 med oncology 44
8 pediatrics 44
9 preventive med 44
10 radiology 43
11 physical med & rehabilitation 43
12 dermatology 43
13 pulmonology 43
14 radiation oncology 42
15 neurosurgery 42
16 rheumatology 42
17 gastroenterology 42
18 thoracic surgery 42
19 occupational med 41
20 orthopaedic surgery 41
21 emergency med 41
22 colon & rectal surgery 41
23 endocrinology 40
24 general surgery 40
25 cardiology 39
26 general internal med 39
27 anesthesiology 39
28 allergy & immunology 38
29 urology 38
30 nuclear med 38
31 otolaryngology 38
32 ophthalmology 37
33 plastic surgery 37
34 family practice 37
35 neurology 36
36 pathology 36
 
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Thanks :) It gave me the answers I wanted. Rheum, preventive med, ID, geriatrics, allergy, and general IM were all at the top, which is pretty much the list that I've been considering.
 
Every time I take these things, I get something random, like PM&R or occupational med (not that those are bad choices - just things that I have absolutely zero interest in). The things I am interested in, like OB, ER, Family are always at the bottom. Hmm....
 
I was close...I expected Anesthesiology to be my #1, but it ended up second. I don't know how gastroenterology got there though. Not even close to what I imagined myself possibly doing.

1 gastroenterology 43
2 anesthesiology 41
3 urology 41
4 pediatrics 41
5 ophthalmology 41
6 thoracic surgery 40
7 radiology 40
8 plastic surgery 39
9 nuclear med 39
10 neurology 39
11 radiation oncology 39
12 dermatology 38
 
Rank Specialty Score
1 physical med & rehabilitation 43
2 rheumatology 43
3 pulmonology 43
4 hematology 43
5 cardiology 43
6 general internal med 42
7 allergy & immunology 42
8 infectious disease 42
9 nuclear med 42
10 neurology 42

This is good since I am waiting to match in internal med and I am thinking of pulm/critical care for a fellowship. Rheumatology is the only specialty that makes me want to pass out, something about swollen joints, and I sang the Lumberjack song while sawing the head in half during anatomy lab.
 
Rank Specialty Score
1 pediatrics 47
2 med oncology 44
3 anesthesiology 44
4 dermatology 43
5 obstetrics/gynecology 43
6 general surgery 43
7 radiation oncology 43
8 nuclear med 42
9 plastic surgery 42
10 hematology 42

I have been working in the hospital for the last 10 yrs as a respiratory therapist, and since I got into medschool...I have been thinking that I wanted to be (not necessarily in order): ER, ANesthia, Rads, Derm(if competitive enough for last 2)

ER was 20...and RADS 24......But gas passing is near the top...I figure I have a pretty good base of knowledge for this field, it is what I have been telling everyone I want to be. Peds....NOooooooooooooooooo sick kids....


here is the 2nd list using chamnight's
athology
Radiology - Diagnostic
Dermatology
Ophthalmology
Radiation Oncology
Otolaryngology
Gastroenterology
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Anesthesiology
Emergency M

not bad considering my top choices are all in the top 10
 
buffalo results

derm
optho
radio onc
otolarynology
path
gastro
PMR
urology
orthoped surgery
EM
Anesthesiology

pretty much crap I'd never match into.

great ....
 
Is it good if my two top results are the most competitive residencies ever? Derm and Rads... lol, I was thinking that I sounded like a FPer when I took it. I should probably go study now...
 
So I did the 2nd aptitude test as well.......

Apparently I have a lot in common with Plastic and Orthapedic Surgeons...... At least I am no longer locked into aerospace medicine...what a relief..... :cool:


Plastic Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery
Neurology
Pulmonary / Critical Care Medicine
Gastroenterology
Sports Medicine
Otolaryngology
Radiation Oncology
Cardiology
Nephrology
Urology
Medical Oncology
Neurological Suregery
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
Colon and Rectal Surgery
Vascular Surgery
Ophthalmology
Pediatrics
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Hematology
Thoracic Surgery
 
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uhmmm, no. infectious disease, radiology, emergency medicine, pathology, and internal medicine and anesthesiology are all at the bottom. really interesting because those would be my top chioces. :)

Rank Specialty Score
1 hematology 47
2 rheumatology 46
3 preventive med 46
4 occupational med 45
5 allergy & immunology 45
6 pulmonology 44
7 physical med & rehabilitation 44
8 neurosurgery 44
9 pediatrics 43
10 nephrology 43
11 endocrinology 43
12 radiation oncology 43
13 infectious disease 42
14 gastroenterology 42
15 pathology 41
16 neurology 41
17 obstetrics/gynecology 41
18 aerospace med 41
19 urology 41
20 radiology 41
21 otolaryngology 40
22 orthopaedic surgery 40
23 ophthalmology 40
24 emergency med 40
25 dermatology 40
26 general internal med 39
27 anesthesiology 39
28 med oncology 39
29 nuclear med 39
30 thoracic surgery 39
31 general surgery 38
32 psychiatry 38
33 plastic surgery 38
34 colon & rectal surgery 38
35 cardiology 36
36 family practice 32

but at least they got my bottom 3 right. ;)
 
apparently i should stay out of primary care (which suits me just fine!!)

virginia:
1 radiology 44
2 rheumatology 44
3 pulmonology 44
4 colon & rectal surgery 44
5 anesthesiology 43
6 emergency med 43
7 dermatology 43
8 thoracic surgery 43
9 pathology 43
10 obstetrics/gynecology 42
11 nuclear med 42
12 general surgery 42
13 nephrology 42
14 infectious disease 42
15 hematology 42

buffalo:
Ophthalmology
Radiation Oncology
Dermatology
Otolaryngology
Gastroenterology
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
Colon and Rectal Surgery
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Orthopaedic Surgery
Urology
 
Virginia:

1 radiology 48
2 pulmonology 48
3 thoracic surgery 47
4 nuclear med 47
5 orthopaedic surgery 46
6 plastic surgery 46
7 neurosurgery 46
8 emergency med 46
9 otolaryngology 45
10 ophthalmology 45

Buffalo:

Plastic Surgery
Emergency Medicine
Otolaryngology
Radiation Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopaedic Surgery
Dermatology
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
Pulmonary / Critical Care Medicine
Sports Medicine

Cool, now all I need is a 260 Step I... :)

Better get back to the books.
 
Thanks for the link to the Buffalo site -- much less irritating than the virginia test.

Neurological Suregery
Pediatric Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Sports Medicine
Vascular Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Urology
General Surgery
Colon and Rectal Surgery
Gastroenterology
Otolaryngology
Cardiology
Pulmonary / Critical Care Medicine
Anesthesiology
Nephrology
Emergency Medicine
Ophthalmology
Vascular and Interventional Radiology
Radiation Oncology
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
 
i love the fact that in the UVA one path was my top choice, but in the buffalo one, it was my bottom - in fact, buffalo said i should do neonatology! how about that? from dead people to the unborn!
 
DocRugby said:
i love the fact that in the UVA one path was my top choice, but in the buffalo one, it was my bottom - in fact, buffalo said i should do neonatology! how about that? from dead people to the unborn!
Click to expand...

:laugh: that's awesome.

I couldn't finish the VA test, as it irritated me.

For the record, my tops were:

Neonatology (never understood this)
Neurology
PM&R

The other two are both strong considerations--which is a big part of why I liked that test after it was all said and done!
 
now that i've tested the crap out of myself and discovered i'm a disastrous neurosurgeon waiting to happen... (seriously, i broke more lab equipment in my undergrad than you could shake a stick at) where's the test that tells you whether to get the hell out of practice and be a researcher?
 
DocRugby said:
i love the fact that in the UVA one path was my top choice, but in the buffalo one, it was my bottom - in fact, buffalo said i should do neonatology! how about that? from dead people to the unborn!
Click to expand...

that's a classic! :laugh:
 
Well, not perfect but not bad either. Radio is definetly not for me but I love ophth (already matched) and it was ranked #6. Not too bad.

Rank Specialty Score
1 radiology 49
2 pathology 49
3 nuclear med 48
4 neurology 48
5 thoracic surgery 48
6 ophthalmology 47
7 pulmonology 47
8 gastroenterology 46
9 dermatology 46
10 general surgery 46
11 urology 46
12 occupational med 46
13 neurosurgery 46
14 otolaryngology 45
15 plastic surgery 45
16 anesthesiology 45
17 allergy & immunology 45
18 nephrology 45
19 endocrinology 44
20 colon & rectal surgery 44
21 preventive med 44
22 aerospace med 43
23 radiation oncology 43
24 infectious disease 42
25 emergency med 42
26 cardiology 42
27 general internal med 41
28 hematology 41
29 rheumatology 41
30 orthopaedic surgery 40
31 psychiatry 40
32 obstetrics/gynecology 40
33 med oncology 38
34 pediatrics 37
35 physical med & rehabilitation 36
36 family practice 29
 
vanelo said:
Well, not perfect but not bad either. Radio is definetly not for me but I love ophth (already matched) and it was ranked #6. Not too bad.

Rank Specialty Score
1 radiology 49
2 pathology 49
3 nuclear med 48
4 neurology 48
5 thoracic surgery 48
6 ophthalmology 47
7 pulmonology 47
8 gastroenterology 46
9 dermatology 46
10 general surgery 46
11 urology 46
12 occupational med 46
13 neurosurgery 46
14 otolaryngology 45
15 plastic surgery 45
16 anesthesiology 45
17 allergy & immunology 45
18 nephrology 45
19 endocrinology 44
20 colon & rectal surgery 44
21 preventive med 44
22 aerospace med 43
23 radiation oncology 43
24 infectious disease 42
25 emergency med 42
26 cardiology 42
27 general internal med 41
28 hematology 41
29 rheumatology 41
30 orthopaedic surgery 40
31 psychiatry 40
32 obstetrics/gynecology 40
33 med oncology 38
34 pediatrics 37
35 physical med & rehabilitation 36
36 family practice 29
Click to expand...
bump
 
DocRugby said:
i love the fact that in the UVA one path was my top choice, but in the buffalo one, it was my bottom - in fact, buffalo said i should do neonatology! how about that? from dead people to the unborn!
Click to expand...

Technically, from the dead (if you're a med examiner) to the recently born... neonatologists deal with newborns before they leave the hospital, esp. preemies. OB/Gyn is responsible for the unborn. I think I would love being a neonatologist, but I can't think of anything less appealing to me than OB/Gyn :scared:

The UVA one also told me pathology was my top choice - I assumed it was telling me I had no empathy or other patient contact skills :(
 
My actual list by interest:
1. EM
2. Optho
3. IR

Emergency Medicine
Plastic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Pulmonary / Critical Care Medicine
Orthopaedic Surgery
Urology
Gastroenterology
Radiation Oncology
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
Sports Medicine
Ophthalmology


Rank Specialty Score
1 emergency med 45
2 general surgery 43
3 radiology 42
4 obstetrics/gynecology 42
5 dermatology 42
6 pulmonology 42
7 gastroenterology 41
8 colon & rectal surgery 41
16 ophthalmology 38
Click to expand...
 
I'm a bit dubious about these, but I'm still early in the learning process...
What I think I'm interested in, in no particular order:
Neurosurgery, Neurology, Infectious Disease, Emergency, PM & R, Forensic Pathology, Family Practice
What the tests say I'm interested in:

Test 1 (UVa)
psychiatry 45
preventive med 45
thoracic surgery 45
family practice 45
neurosurgery 43
general surgery 43
physical med & rehabilitation 43
nuclear med 43
occupational med 42
aerospace med 42
pulmonology 42
med oncology 42
hematology 41
nephrology 41
general internal med 41
plastic surgery 41
neurology 41
orthopaedic surgery 41
pathology 39
otolaryngology 39
obstetrics/gynecology 39

Test 2 (Duke/Buffalo?)
Pulmonary / Critical Care Medicine
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Vascular Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery
Neurological Suregery
Otolaryngology
Pediatric Surgery
Sports Medicine
Nephrology
Gastroenterology
Urology
Radiation Oncology
General Surgery
Cardiology
Thoracic Surgery
Neurology
Colon and Rectal Surgery
Anesthesiology
Family Practice
 
Test 1:
Med Oncology
Emergency Medicine
ObGYN (WTF???)
Pediatrics
Ortho
Psychiatry
Preventative
Aerospace

Test 2:
Emergency Medicine
Pulmonary / Critical Care Medicine
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
Nephrology
General Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery
Cardiology
Neurological Suregery
 
[SIZE=-1]Virginia
1) Radiology
2) Anesthesiology
3) Emergency Medicine
4) General Surgery
5) Pathology
6) Otolaryngology
7) Ophthalmology
8) Nuclear medicine
9) Urology
10) Dermatology


[/SIZE] Buffalo
Anesthesiology
Gastroenterology
Colon and Rectal Surgery
Sports Medicine
Otolaryngology
Orthopaedic Surgery
Ophthalmology
Plastic Surgery
Urology
Thoracic Surgery
Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
Neurological Suregery
Pediatric Surgery
Dermatology
Radiation Oncology
Vascular Surgery
General Surgery

My interests rank as 1) General surg, 2) Oto, 3) Anesthesia. Wish the results would have made it more definitive for me, but oh well maybe I'll just double match or something.
 
Just in case you're not confused enough, let me throw yet one more thing to get you thinking...

http://www.gesher.org/Myers-Briggs/mbti chart and specialty.html

They did a survey of physicians and correlated their specialty with their Myers-Briggs personality type. Funny enough, there was only one specialty that filtered out of all 3 lists for me, neurosurgery. :idea:
 
I took UVA's test last year after a run of VERY annoying people at work, and it threw a list of surgical specialties at me : ) And Ob/Gyn.

I took it today, after 3 weeks M1 (and no more work) and it tells me FP, med onc, and Ob/Gyn is still there. I'm sure I answered the questions about my interest in interacting w/ patients differently today :D
 
I took this a while back and I think there's been some drift, this time around there were a few fields high on the list that I've been considering so it's definitely interesting:

Rank Specialty Score
1 physical med & rehabilitation 48
2 infectious disease 48
3 hematology 48*
4 pediatrics 46
5 obstetrics/gynecology 46
6 rheumatology 46
7 occupational med 46
8 aerospace med 45
9 nephrology 45
10 med oncology 45
11 radiation oncology 44

*heme/onc
 
  1. Emergency Med
  2. Dermatology
  3. Pediatrics
  4. Occupational Med
  5. Gastroenterology
  6. General Internal Med
  7. Rheumatology
  8. Nerosurgery
  9. Nephrology
  10. Endocrinology
 
Virginia:

1 Nuclear med 47
2 Emergency Med 46
3. Opthalmology 45
4. Urology 45
5. Thoracic surgery 45
6. Radiology 45
7. Gen Surg 44
8. Preventative med 44
9. Aerospace med 44
10. Plastic surg 44

Buffalo:

1. Emergency Med 34.2
2. Otolaryngology 37.19
3. Pediatric surg 37.75
4. GI 37.86
5. Urology 38.32
6. Ortho 38.75
7. Plastic surg 39.12
8. Anesthesia 41.35
9. Optho 42.98
10. Neuro surg 43.02

My actual list:
1. EM
2. Surgery (plastic or gen surg)
3. Anesthesia
4. Optho
 
Virginia:

1 Nuclear med 47
2 Emergency Med 46
3. Opthalmology 45
4. Urology 45
5. Thoracic surgery 45
6. Radiology 45
7. Gen Surg 44
8. Preventative med 44
9. Aerospace med 44
10. Plastic surg 44

Buffalo:

1. Emergency Med 34.2
2. Otolaryngology 37.19
3. Pediatric surg 37.75
4. GI 37.86
5. Urology 38.32
6. Ortho 38.75
7. Plastic surg 39.12
8. Anesthesia 41.35
9. Optho 42.98
10. Neuro surg 43.02

My actual list:
1. EM
2. Surgery (plastic or gen surg)
3. Anesthesia
4. Optho
 
Wow. The virginia survey had radiology as my number 1. The buffalo survey had it as my last choice. I think ill just make my decisons on my own.
 
My areas of interest are thoracic surgery, cardiology and respiratory medicine. general surgery, critical care and anaesthesia are up there too...

1 Nuclear med
2 Thoracic surgery
3 Pulmonology
4 Radiology
5 Plastic surgery
6 Pathology
7 Nephrology
8 Dermatology
9 Anaesthesiology
10 Colon and rectal surgery

However General surgery scored the same as no. 10, and cardiology scored me at 41
 
This is interesting.

I just took the Duke profile (took the VA one...twice...a few years apart, and most recently several months ago). Then looked at the Myers-Briggs thing. Neuro is at or near the top of all the lists (I'm an NT). Weirdness. All these years I've believed I HATED neuro...but that may be changing.

Derm is way up there too. FP is in the upper third on 2 of the lists but near the bottom on the VA list. And FP is what I've done the past 8 years as a PA. At least I know EM is way near the bottom (and I tried that and for the most part hated it).

*sigh*
 
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