Derm vs Rads

[heartstar124]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello, I am an M1 in my second semester. I am applying for summer research programs and I am considering these two specialties. I have shadowed in both and I am in speciality groups.

I have entered thinking I am rads all the way. But the more I am thinking about it the more I question my choice. I am a URM female and most of my family outside of my nuclear have always did puzzling faces towards me when I say it. They think I should just do Anesthesia. My friends in med school also do the same thing. Even an M4 when I said it thought I was joking at first. Am interviewer for a school I didn’t get into thought I didn’t know what rads was. I am on the spectrum and my parents know this so they think it is the perfect specialty for me and they push for it heavily. They don’t want me in the hospital.

But I am second guessing it now. Even though I want to do breast rads, what about AI? The lack of movement on the job with my PCOS? The fact that didn’t feel “right” in the Radiology Interest Group? The residents all are either white or Asian. I only seen one female rads resident in my race the med schools I want to apply. But derm has at least one every year, mostly in my ethnicity. I just need good grades and that is it for rads so I don’t need to hustle like derm. And it is easy to get rads research in school. My school matches really well to a school only 45 min away from my home (my med school is 6+ hours away) But what if I stack derm research? What will they say?

I hate anatomy and physics but I love analytical thinking and puzzle solving. I love sorting things in the right places. Best part of my stint as a IM medical assistant was using the computer. My brothers are in CS as well. I shadowed an IR doc in breast and the procedures were more fun than anything. The diagnostics, bit so much. But he tried to make it as engaging as possible.

Now I am thinking about derm more. If I get the grades needed for radiology, I can just do derm lol. But in my MA job, many of the patients felt I was too quiet or “weird”. They never stated it, but by their body language I felt it. There were times when I was angry as well and it shown. Apparently the phlebotomist talked to my mom about me “needing therapy”. But I loved the shift work and greeting every patient everyday. There were times I wished I was in the front seat too. Such a bad look that I couldn’t mask well but I left on good terms. Apparently derm is similar to IM the most. But just with skin with some suturing.

I am doing much better in med school with patient interactions in CS. I was awkward and cringe in the beginning but my nerves went down over time. And my coordinator feel like I am doing well now (she always brings up my growth though which is annoying, first impressions matter). My nerves are still there though. But my medication is coming soon so I hope for the best.

I am interested in skin changes in chronic diseases like PCOS as well as seborrhic dermatitis. My school has a home program but I am worried about staying put in Virginia. Also my friends. One of them wants to do derm. She is a perfect person for it. She was giving sunscreen to people as volunteer work. She shadowed at an MD practice as opposed to my PA practice (which was pretty chill). We will be applying differently as she lives in a different region and she is an ORM but still it will be difficult.

My issue with derm outside of my nerves is the culture. Everyone looks like a stone face. The AAD getting g a letter to close DEI programs is worrying. And having to network HARD will be challenging. I literally waited almost week to send in my CV after my prof responded. It is that bad.

I haven’t contacted the derm PD yet but I tried to for the rads PD but she didn’t answer lol. My grades in preclinical are stellar so far.

 

[Dral]

That's a lot.

I will just say this: Only you should decide what you want to do. Decide, and work toward it. You are caring about what others think/expect and comparing yourself to others WAY too much.

If you want to go into a field but don't because you don't feel like you fit in or fit the expectations, then that's part of the overall larger problem.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Honestly, if you're self-aware enough to realize people think you're off-putting, Derm probably isn't a good fit for you. I've shadowed several and they're all extremely outgoing people whose patients love them. It's a field that requires a lot more emotional input than you'd think.

Do yourself a favor and go for rads. AI fears are so overblown and silly tbh.

 

[hopefulraddaddypls]

You still need to be good with patients and a good communicator in breast radiology

 

[jambro]

something is a little off about your post...

Who cares about what your family thinks of anesthesia or rads? what do they know about either of them?

no, if you get the grades for rads you can't "just do derm". The grades/scores are usually sufficient to match into rads, necessary to match into derm but not sufficient. You need a whole lot more than that.

Theres def a problem with recruiting women in rads which will make it easier for you to match rads. not the case for derm. I'm not sure what you mean about 'stone face" but yeah in my opinion people in derm are usually wack which is a consequence of the hypercompetitive type a personality you usually need to match into it. Derm is also not a shift-work specialty, rads is.

if you think you might like derm continue to look at breast rads because it has an interesting combination of rads/derm workflors while still beign way easier to match into and the possibility for remote work which is huge imo

 

[MatchpalResidencyAdvising]

two very different jobs and workflows. most important is that you can tolerate the reading room environment as it can be isolating given the near 0 patient and sometimes human interaction. otherwise both very volume driven diagnostic oriented fields

 

[Dral]

two very different jobs and workflows. most important is that you can tolerate the reading room environment as it can be isolating given the near 0 patient and sometimes human interaction. otherwise both very volume driven diagnostic oriented fields

Good point. Likewise (or I guess in an opposite sense) with Derm, one has to deal with 30 to 50 or more different personalities on any given day. It can be draining depending on the day.

 

[Ho0v-man]

If you haven’t started working on a derm application by now, you might already be behind bc that’s how stupid competitive it is.
Reading this post, you seem pretty weird. So path or rads might be a good fit lol.

 

[Cognovi]

We don't exactly want weird people in rads either but basically need all the female URMs we can get, just in case a non-weird one comes along and has similar reservations about fit...