Choices of Speciality?

[Tigrane]

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My whole life I've been reaching out to become a physician and now I have to make a decision. As of right now, I'm not totally focused on one area of the body so I was thinking Internal Medicine. But if I was to go into something a bit focused more on one area, it would probably be Cardiologist or Pulmonologist. Which should I lean towards. And if it helps, I was thinking of working in a smaller hospital in Truckee, CA.

 

[eggman2013]

settle down...take a breath...worry about college first, then the MCAT, and then medical school. Most med students don't choose a specialty until the end of their third year. Do yourself a favor and enjoy your pre-med years.

 

[superpom_7]

My whole life I've been reaching out to become a physician and now I have to make a decision. As of right now, I'm not totally focused on one area of the body so I was thinking Internal Medicine. But if I was to go into something a bit focused more on one area, it would probably be Cardiologist or Pulmonologist. Which should I lean towards. And if it helps, I was thinking of working in a smaller hospital in Truckee, CA.

It's great to have an idea, but because you have a few specialties in mind, you may change your mind. When you get to Med School you may even be interested in a completely different specialty. I can't tell you which to one to lean towards, because I just simply can't make that decision for you.

 

[Law2Doc]

My whole life I've been reaching out to become a physician and now I have to make a decision. As of right now, I'm not totally focused on one area of the body so I was thinking Internal Medicine. But if I was to go into something a bit focused more on one area, it would probably be Cardiologist or Pulmonologist. Which should I lean towards. And if it helps, I was thinking of working in a smaller hospital in Truckee, CA.

You don't need to have decided on a specialty so early. You will change your mind at least once in med school once you see more things. Cardiology and pulmonology are subspecialties of IM so you can focus on getting a good IM residency spot and decide that much much much later. The job market is going to help you decide what kind of institution you will be working at and where. If you go into pulmonology and there are no openings in Truckee when you get to that point, guess what -- you won't be working there.

 

[NPI]

Look into continuing medical education seminars and conferences where you can meet people that specialize in certain fields. It'll open you up to the ins and outs of those practices and help you better decide what is right for you. Good luck!

 

[Minipi]

I pretty much agree with everything the people above me wrote. I've heard about so many people going into medical school with one idea. Then they go through their rotations and they end up loving rotations they thought they would hate.
I do know one guy who knew what he wanted to specialize in and stuck with it even after all of his rotations. But even he ending up enjoying some other specialties.

 

[ortnakas]

My whole life I've been reaching out to become a physician and now I have to make a decision. As of right now, I'm not totally focused on one area of the body so I was thinking Internal Medicine. But if I was to go into something a bit focused more on one area, it would probably be Cardiologist or Pulmonologist. Which should I lean towards. And if it helps, I was thinking of working in a smaller hospital in Truckee, CA.

If you're in high school, you have about a decade to make this kind of decision. You can relax a bit.

 

[mimelim]

#1 Take the SAT
#2 Get into undergrad
#3 Do well in your classes
#4 ....

Okay I couldn't do it. It was too long.

OP, you have X years in HS, then 4 years in college, 4 years in medical school and then 2 years in IM, thats 10 years + X HS years before you would need to make this decision.