10 year career goals or plans

[pinetree]

hey,
any idea what they (residency interviews, etc) want as an answer to the question: what are your long term career plans? where do you see yourself in 10 years?

i know from speaking with friends, that many/most people just want a job and a family. i can't imagine that is is the response they're looking for. it's like the question: do you see yourself going into academic medicine. sure everyone says yes during the interview but come job time, most people go private.

thanks

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[sendwich]

uhhh didnt you just answer your own question??

 

[pinetree]

guess i'm just looking for ideas of what options there are out there for 10 years out from medical school other than private vs academic.

 

[ropeadope1983]

Honesty is a virtue. With that said, a high-powered academic center is likely to look very favorably upon someone with a strong interest in academic medicine (and tons of research experience to boot). A low-powered community hospital is likely to wonder why you are even interviewing there if you have a strong interest in academic medicine (though, depending on the specialty, they might not exactly have their pick anyway so it probably wouldn't really matter). I usually like to run the middle ground and say I see myself dividing my time among clinical medicine, research/teaching, and my family (which happens to be my honest answer anyway).

 

[montessori2md]

Try to think of this as if you were making a home video of your life in 10 years. It's not just "private" or "academic". How many other MDs will be in your practice? What will the exam rooms look like? What will your staff be like? How will you keep records and look up information? What will your schedule be like? Geography, family, etc. If you want urban, say that. If you want to be w/in 50 miles of your extended family, say that.

Anyone who honestly doesn't care where they live, what their job is like, etc, beyond "private or academic" needs to study less and get a life.