Did you change your mind by the end of 3rd year?

[anicha06]

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Did you have a serious interest in a particular field (aka 80-90% sure it was what you wanted to do) and changed your mind?

Share your story 🙂

 

[Samoa]

No. I knew going in what I wanted to do, and after doing a rotation in that area, I'm even more certain. During the application process and 1st & 2nd years, I paid lip service to the idea that I might change my mind, simply to avoid the inevitable lecture on how many people change their mind 3rd year. But I knew.

I think if you know your options well enough, and know yourself well too, it's possible to know for sure before 3rd year.

 

[EvoDevo]

No. I knew going in what I wanted to do, and after doing a rotation in that area, I'm even more certain. During the application process and 1st & 2nd years, I paid lip service to the idea that I might change my mind, simply to avoid the inevitable lecture on how many people change their mind 3rd year. But I knew.

I think if you know your options well enough, and know yourself well too, it's possible to know for sure before 3rd year.

So what was the field you chose? 🙂

 

[Samoa]

I'd tell you, but it would ruin what little anonymity I have left on this forum. 😉

 

[EvoDevo]

I'd tell you, but it would ruin what little anonymity I have left on this forum. 😉

Ah. Well, feel free to PM/email me sometime... 😛

I ask because (as you know) I'm a little older than normal and I think that I have a fairly solid handle on what I want to do. But I realize that I could quite possibly be wrong......

 

[12R34Y]

Absolutely without a doubt knew I wanted to Emergency Medicine since before medical school. Will be matching in 1 month and 5 days into an emergency medicine residency.

I also know several who changed and several others that did not change their minds.

I'd say personally it was about 50/50 in my class.

later

 

[DrMom]

I changed my mind during MS1 and haven't changed it since then.

 

[daisygirl]

I had no clue what I wanted to do when I entered med school. By the end of second year, I thought I wanted to go into ob-gyn.

Surgery was my first clerkship of third year, and I really loved surgery. Strangely enough, I didn't like where where I did my clerkship in surgery. However, I still figured that I'd want to go into ob. My first night on call in the L&D triage was enough for me to know that I'd rather poke my eyes out with red hot knives then pursue ob as a career. I also did a month of gyn-onc in third year, and I loved it, which only further strengthened my desire to go into surgery.

Now I am patiently awaiting the results of the match. I am really excited, and I am totally without doubt that I have chosen the right specialty for me.

 

[anicha06]

My first night on call in the L&D triage was enough for me to know that I'd rather poke my eyes out with red hot knives then pursue ob as a career.

LOL!

Congratulations, and good luck on the match!
I hope I will feel as strong as you do about a certain field by the end of 3rd year.

👍

 

[anicha06]

During the application process and 1st & 2nd years, I paid lip service to the idea that I might change my mind, simply to avoid the inevitable lecture on how many people change their mind 3rd year.

I do that too.

 

[CANES2006]

Thought I wanted to do surgery all up until my surgery clerkship. I hated all of the surgeons that I came across with. Did my OB/GYN clerkship and absolutely loved it. Did a surgery sub-I to rule out surgery once and for all. Even though I really enjoyed my surgery sub-I and got along with all of the surgeons I came across with the second time around, I loved OB/GYN more. Although I must admit, I enjoy the gynecology/surgical aspect more. Guess in a way I'm still surgery even now but only focused on the female pelvis. 😀

 

[anicha06]

Thought I wanted to do surgery all up until my surgery clerkship. I hated all of the surgeons that I came across with. Did my OB/GYN clerkship and absolutely loved it. Did a surgery sub-I to rule out surgery once and for all. Even though I really enjoyed my surgery sub-I and got along with all of the surgeons I came across with the second time around, I loved OB/GYN more. Although I must admit, I enjoy the gynecology/surgical aspect more. Guess in a way I'm still surgery even now but only focused on the female pelvis. 😀

If you didn't like or love OB/Gyn, would you have been happy going into surgery?
The second time around, were you working with the same surgeons? And why did you hate the first round of them?

 

[DarksideAllstar]

Pretty certain that I would end up in Peds Hem-Onc (worked in the field for 4 years prior to med school). Was still certain of it until 3rd year. After third year, realized that I wanted to have limited-to no patient care responsibilities, still play an integral role in care, and do/see cool things on a day to day basis. Much more into helping make a diagnosis than treating, so I narrowed it down to radiology or pathology. Now pursuing pathology. I think the best thing that I did for myself was to do well throughout med school and step 1 in order to keep my options open, so, for instance, had I decided that I wanted to match into one of the uber-competitive specialties, I would have had a shot.
Good luck and keep your options open.

 

[rugtrousers]

I spent most of med school (end of 1st year to middle of 3rd year) wanting to do internal medicine, either GIM or some subspecialty like endocrine.

I did a required 2-week rotation in anesthesia in March of my third year and absolutely fell in love. I haven't looked back, and will be matching in anesthesia in a few weeks. BTW, I did another 4-week elective in anesthesia to make sure that I really liked it.

 

[anicha06]

I spent most of med school (end of 1st year to middle of 3rd year) wanting to do internal medicine, either GIM or some subspecialty like endocrine.

I did a required 2-week rotation in anesthesia in March of my third year and absolutely fell in love. I haven't looked back, and will be matching in anesthesia in a few weeks. BTW, I did another 4-week elective in anesthesia to make sure that I really liked it.

Yeah, my biggest concern is missing out on those opportunities .. our rotation in anesthesia isn't required .. also, we have to pick between various surgical subspecialties (urology, optho, etc.) instead of getting to try them all out .. if we want to try out a surgical subspecialty AND try out anesthesia, we have to give up one of our vacations ..

I feel like it's such a crapshoot .. we get to do a few SubI's before we turn in our residency applications .. what happens if you fall in love with something after already applying to something else?

 

[azzarah]

Yup, I was 99% sure I was going into urology but then changed my mind after doing a second rotation. Now I'm going into ophtho which is similar in many ways. I might change my mind about that too, who knows! 🙂

 

[roja]

Was all set up and wrapped up to do Pediatric Rheumatology. Then did third year peds and realized there was no way in hell that I would survive an ankle-biter residency.

Never volunteered in an ER and figured I'd never step foot in one. End of third year, viola, I ended up loving ER and have been happily ensconsed there since. About to graduate and do fellowship and still love what I do. 😀

 

[automaton]

neurosurgery --> family practice --> radiology --> internal medicine --> psychiatry --> PM&R --> consulting --> pediatrics --> geriatrics --> general surgery --> anesthesiology --> radiation oncology --> emergency medicine --> urology --> orthopedics --> ophthalmology --> pathology --> neurology --> ?

 

[Duckie24]

I've changed my mind a few times. When I started med school I thought for sure I would be doing a certain specialty. At the beginning of my third year I started leaning away from it and towards something else. After doing almost all of my rotations I have really been able to evaluate what I like and don't like about the practice of medicine and have changed my mind, once again, to what I think will suit me best. It's truly a whirlwind, and not a lot of time to make a decision.

 

[OMMFellow06]

Going into 3rd year rotations, I thought I wanted to do Family Practice, but when I did that rotation, I realized how hard it was b/c alot of patients just don't listen. Stressed like crazy for a LONG while until people kept insisting I look into PM&R. Happy to say that I Matched into PM&R.

 

[Smoke This]

I was pretty certain that I was going to do IM. I scorned the idea of surgery most of the way through third year, up until I did 2 weeks of gyn onc and loved it. That started me thinking about ob/gyn but 2 weeks of L&D abruptly and permanently changed my mind about that. I began thinking seriously about IM again. Surgery was my last rotation at the end of third year and I didn't really like it. However, over the summer I began thinking that surgery was more worthwhile than medicine in terms of what you can offer patients. I finally convinced myself of that after doing sub-i's in medicine and surgery and applied to surgery. I think I could be happy doing either medicine or surgery though.

 

[ExtraCrispy]

I was 100% sure that I would go into Peds Heme-Onc, for at least 5 years (ALL of med school until the end of year 3, and a couple of years as a pre-med).

I held this conviction throughout all of my clerkships, until my surgery rotation at the very end of third year - literally the last rotation. I'd been in the OR for surgical subs & other such rotations, but my role at that point was just to peer over the resident's shoulder with my arms folded and try not to contaminate anything. During my surgery clerkship, I had the chance to scrub into cases, and even more importantly, to work up patients and follow them post-op. I hadn't realized the degree of continuity in surgery, or the immediacy with which you can HELP someone. I was hooked.

To make sure I wasn't making a rash decision, I completed a sub-I in pediatric bone marrow transplantation - which I realized after two days would make me miserable as a career. I then did sub-Is in pediatric surgery and vascular surgery, and although I worked the longest hours of my life, I loved every second of those rotations.

It was intimidating to switch fields in the 11th hour, especially when I knew the ins and outs of the application process and the programs in peds, but had no clue where to start for surgery. I felt that I was at a disadvantage from the start - many of my colleagues knew they wanted to go into surgery for years, and so they had connections galore, where here I was muddling my way through for the first time. In the end, thankfully, it didn't matter, I matched at a program I loved.

So, to reiterate the statement that everyone hears and hates, yep, you need to keep an open mind. And don't be afraid to switch late in the game, if you discover the field that's best for you!

 

[Samoa]

I was 100% sure that I would go into Peds Heme-Onc, for at least 5 years (ALL of med school until the end of year 3, and a couple of years as a pre-med).

I held this conviction throughout all of my clerkships, until my surgery rotation at the very end of third year - literally the last rotation. I'd been in the OR for surgical subs & other such rotations, but my role at that point was just to peer over the resident's shoulder with my arms folded and try not to contaminate anything. During my surgery clerkship, I had the chance to scrub into cases, and even more importantly, to work up patients and follow them post-op. I hadn't realized the degree of continuity in surgery, or the immediacy with which you can HELP someone. I was hooked.

To make sure I wasn't making a rash decision, I completed a sub-I in pediatric bone marrow transplantation - which I realized after two days would make me miserable as a career. I then did sub-Is in pediatric surgery and vascular surgery, and although I worked the longest hours of my life, I loved every second of those rotations.

I think the luckiest people in medicine are the ones who have a rotation like that in time to change their residency application. The field where you can work the long hours and not feel burdened by it is always the field you should choose. Even if it's the last thing you would have expected. Some people never have that experience, on any rotation, and I think theirs is the toughest choice.

People talk about wanting to have time for family, etc. But I think if there's any example you want to set for your kids, it's to love the work you do. Everyone brings their work home, emotionally, and if you enjoy your work, you come home happy, no matter how long you were away. And I think your family resents your absence less if it's to do something you enjoy. It's hard to explain why, but it's true.

 

[edmadison]

I'm always amused when premeds are "sure" they want to do a subspecialty. "I want to do peds endocrinology on left-handed diabetic Pima Indian children" Does anyone at that point truely have enough perspective? A piece of advice, keep an open mind, it will keep you from taking false paths.

In any event, I was gung-ho ortho until the begining of 4th year. I did ortho research, shadowed the foot/ankle surgeon in the clinic and OR. I even liked the patient and the procedures. In the end I decided I wanted to be a doctor rather than a pod. I just liked treating the whole patient too much.

Ed

 

[gunit07]

I started out thinking ophtho for SURE (ever since I was 16). i said i'd never go into surgery (who would EVER want to be a surgeon after all). then after 6 weeks of anatomy, and learning half of the entire human body, i realized that i couldnt just comitt to the eyes alone. so then i thought about surgery. I thought vascular surgery would be great since it really effects most of the body...
i did neuro during med 3 and hated it at the time, but months later, i was like, "wow in retrospect, that was awesome". then i did medicine (cardio and gen med) and thought i'd definitely want to go into cardio. then i realized that after about 100 MIs, I'd get pretty bored. So now i'm back to surgery, but keeping my mind open about fellowships.

so i went around and around, and came back to (kind of) the same place i started🙂

 

[Gumshoe]

I think the luckiest people in medicine are the ones who have a rotation like that in time to change their residency application. The field where you can work the long hours and not feel burdened by it is always the field you should choose. Even if it's the last thing you would have expected. Some people never have that experience, on any rotation, and I think theirs is the toughest choice.

People talk about wanting to have time for family, etc. But I think if there's any example you want to set for your kids, it's to love the work you do. Everyone brings their work home, emotionally, and if you enjoy your work, you come home happy, no matter how long you were away. And I think your family resents your absence less if it's to do something you enjoy. It's hard to explain why, but it's true.

Your last paragraph here is straight feel good BS (no offense, I'm calling a spade a spade). I don't give a rat's arse if you love your work, that doesn't mean you won't be exhausted come home arrival, waiting for another 5am surgery morning. I think that this line of thinking (do what you love and it'll work out) is what has caused the high divorce rates in medicine over the years ... but I'm not saying that you shouldn't do what you love. If you love it, do it, but understand that you might be married to your profession and suffer the consequences. It's all about priorities; don't think that it's easy to work out those long hours just by rationalizing in this manner

GS

 

[Samoa]

Your last paragraph here is straight feel good BS (no offense, I'm calling a spade a spade). I don't give a rat's arse if you love your work, that doesn't mean you won't be exhausted come home arrival, waiting for another 5am surgery morning. I think that this line of thinking (do what you love and it'll work out) is what has caused the high divorce rates in medicine over the years ... but I'm not saying that you shouldn't do what you love. If you love it, do it, but understand that you might be married to your profession and suffer the consequences. It's all about priorities; don't think that it's easy to work out those long hours just by rationalizing in this manner

GS

On the contrary, I am the child of just such a person. So I do, in fact, know what I'm talking about when I say that a time-consuming job that you love is not what makes a marriage fall apart, and is not what makes strangers of your children.

It's the act of taking refuge in your work when things aren't blissful at home that creates a problem. You can be emotionally present in your family's life, even if you're not physically present. But if you use your work as an excuse to be emotionally absent, then yes, your marriage will fall apart, and your kids will grow up not feeling your presence in their life.

Now, you do have to be smart about figuring out when is a good time to get married and have kids. It's just plain dumb to get married when you know that you will be spending 95% of that first and crucial year of marriage apart from your spouse. Or to have a kid when you can't realistically take off some time to bond with your child, and provide your spouse some support in those godawful first six months or so when the kid simply eats, sleeps and poops in a continuous 2-4 hour cycle. Particularly if you're in a city where you have no extended family. A little common sense goes a long way toward a happy and solid family life.

 

[sophiejane]

Family-->Medicine-->Family-->Medicine-->OB/GYN-->Family-->Pedi Heme/Onc-->Family

🙂 (this is all in the past 9 months, by the way)

I figure if I keep coming back to something, that must be telling me something...

 

[mysophobe]

It's telling you that they're brainwashing you.

 

[Ypo.]

People talk about wanting to have time for family, etc. But I think if there's any example you want to set for your kids, it's to love the work you do. Everyone brings their work home, emotionally, and if you enjoy your work, you come home happy, no matter how long you were away. And I think your family resents your absence less if it's to do something you enjoy. It's hard to explain why, but it's true.

Well...what if you really enjoy being around your family, too? I know people who were most fascinated by surgery but chose something else. I think if nothing else but one particular field excites you, its different. But if you are making a choice between several fields that stimulate you, the choice is also about balance. Most people agree that when they are work, they want to enjoy what they are doing. But that doesn't say anything about how much 'down-time' people need with their families (or for themselves).

For me, personally, there is no field in medicine that could be interesting enough for me to want to work 60-70 hour weeks for the long-term. Too much of a good thing can burn you out, and leave you feeling like its not a good thing anymore. Of course what is too much differs from person to person. Thankfully I know my limits, and I also know that medicine is not my only interest in life. I have other major interests that I have put on hold to pursue medicine, but I will not put them on hold forever.

 

[emtji]

yep! from two years before med school, i was absoloutely sure that i wanted to go into emergency medicine (hence the screenname). I'll be applying into radiology next match and couldn't be happier.

 

[OBHopeful]

Most definitely...

Started out with Radiology all the way (my dream since I was 12). Then, by the end of 1st year, I began considering Internal Medicine- Endrocinology, specifically. By the end of 2nd year, I began thinking about OB/GYN- Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility. Now, it's the end of 3rd year. I'm pretty dead set on OB/GYN. I'm just not completely sure I'll subspecialize into RE&I. I'm considering a different fellowship possibility now.

 

[sophiejane]

It's telling you that they're brainwashing you.

That's right, you go ahead. It's really cool to bash family med. It's impossible to think that someone might actually want to go into this field.

Whatever makes you feel better about your chosen field. I know it's totally hip to think of FPs as the ******s at the bottom of the food chain right now, but I know better, and someday you will too.

As someone said on another thread, specialties with breadth are intimidating to most people. But not to me. I have found what I love and I hope you can do the same.

 

[deleted87716]

It's telling you that they're brainwashing you.

How do you know that you aren't the one who's been brainwashed? 😉

 

[bkpa2med]

I'm always amused when premeds are "sure" they want to do a subspecialty. "I want to do peds endocrinology on left-handed diabetic Pima Indian children" Does anyone at that point truely have enough perspective? A piece of advice, keep an open mind, it will keep you from taking false paths.

In any event, I was gung-ho ortho until the begining of 4th year. I did ortho research, shadowed the foot/ankle surgeon in the clinic and OR. I even liked the patient and the procedures. In the end I decided I wanted to be a doctor rather than a pod. I just liked treating the whole patient too much.

Ed

Same thing happened to me when a nerdy pre-med told me that they ARE going to be a pediatric oncologist. I was like you still didn't even finish undergrad and your so certain, things tend to change in the long run.

 

[mysophobe]

That's right, you go ahead. It's really cool to bash family med. It's impossible to think that someone might actually want to go into this field.

Whatever makes you feel better about your chosen field. I know it's totally hip to think of FPs as the ******s at the bottom of the food chain right now, but I know better, and someday you will too.

As someone said on another thread, specialties with breadth are intimidating to most people. But not to me. I have found what I love and I hope you can do the same.

Jesus, relax. It was a joke. I'm all for people going into FP. I'd rather have people go into it that love it than people who went into it because they couldn't get anything else, so I'm glad there are people like you out there.

Christ, projecting much?

 

[mysophobe]

How do you know that you aren't the one who's been brainwashed? 😉

I was brainwashed. The first time someone gloved me, I was done. 😛