Can knowing the type of medicine you want to pursue be a bad thing?

[UFSportsMed]

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I was wondering if ADCOMS looks down upon applicants who have done physician shadowing and research mainly in only one field of medicine. For example, I have primarily focused my EC activities around the speciality of Sports Medicine and Orthopedics. I have done extensive shadowing for 2 years with the Team Physician with the University of FL and now this summer I am doing an internship in Birmingham with the leading Sports Med physicans in the country. So does it hurt my application that I have not been "well-rounded" and explored other fields of medicine even though I am certain this is what I want to do.

 

[TheRussian]

It might hurt you at schools that don't have a strong program in Sports medicine. You might get rejected because they will think that you won't go there anyways because they don't have what you're looking for. But then again, you wouldn't want to go to such a school anyway so it should be okay

 

[TRUE]

I doubt it can hurt you. You should approach such a subject in an interviews by saying something along the lines of:

"I did so much work with that type of medicine because it is something that I found interesting and enjoyable to do. However, I haven't had the opportunity to take a look at other fields and so I really don't know what other medical fields I might be interested in going into".

 

[Rose122]

The only way it can hurt you is if you are dead set on Emergency Medicine and you're a big ER fan but you've never been to an actual ER, or something like that. Otherwise, you should be fine. Besides, I had an interviewer tell me that pre-meds with the greatest motivation and focus on one field were at most 66% likely to actually enter their predetermined field. In other words, they take your focus with a grain of salt.

 

[angstrom55]

I want to be a surgeon and did a lot of my volunteer work in the OR and did surgical based research. I doubt that it would hurt you. Most interviewers have told me that many med students change their minds once they hit 3rd and 4th year.

 

[akpete]

I'm interested in orthopedics and sports medicine too. My undergrad degree is in athletic training. so what schools are "better" than others? For the people who know (or think they know) what they want to specialize in, how do you choose schools to apply to that would be good for a certain specialty? Obviously you stay aware from ones that have primary care in the mission statement, like UM-Duluth and Howard, but beyond that...

 

[UCLAstudent]

I don't think it would be a problem to mention it. It's good to have some direction. I would make sure to give the impression that you are open to other specialties, though.

 

[g3pro]

I'm interested in orthopedics and sports medicine too. My undergrad degree is in athletic training. so what schools are "better" than others? For the people who know (or think they know) what they want to specialize in, how do you choose schools to apply to that would be good for a certain specialty? Obviously you stay aware from ones that have primary care in the mission statement, like UM-Duluth and Howard, but beyond that...

Are you sure you want to do orthopaedics, not because of the salary??? Come on...


(If you really want to do it because of sports, then good for you. 🙂 I've met too many gunners-->orthopeds, so I react to them). 😉

 

[akpete]

Are you sure you want to do orthopaedics, not because of the salary??? Come on...


(If you really want to do it because of sports, then good for you. 🙂 I've met too many gunners-->orthopeds, so I react to them). 😉

I hear ya. 🙂 But yeah, I really do want to do orthopedics just because I want to. But I am open to the fact that my mind could change. I had actually decided to go pre-med after a year of athletic training, and didn't even realize orthopods were so high on the salary bracket until like 4 months ago. but hey, ya gotta keep us all in check right.

 

[kito]

It's okay. Everybody wants to do ortho when they start. It's natural. There is a great comic strip about the "12 types of medical students" and you should definitely check it out because it is relevant.

Who is this famous Birmingham guy? Is it James Andrews? If so you may want to keep that business card if you are really serious about this.

 

[shocker]

Radiology looks good to me, I have worked for a 30 partner group for over three years now in an assistant/slave capacity. When I interviewed though I always left things wide open. My state school wants to produce rural docs, so I actually said I would never do rad. I told them "fam prac in the boonies" was the life for me. My acceptance came in about 2 weeks.

It is a game to get again, do what you have to.
I say tell them what they want to hear.