Did you know the specialty you were interested in when applying?

[yellowcocopuffs]

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Just out of curiosity. If so, then how did you know?

 

[searun]

Most people, including myself, change their minds several times during med school. Third year is key, when you do your clinical rotations, and are exposed first hand to various medical specialties. As a rule, premeds really do not have enough information to make an informed decision on this issue.

Most people want to be a surgeon upon entering med school. When applying to residency, most people do not want to be a surgeon. I am the opposite. I wanted to be a pediatrician when I entered med school. I am going to become a surgeon.

 

[silverhorse84]

Being an EMT while I was applying I had the thought of going into EM, but I knew that I wanted to keep my mind open. When asked at interviews, I usually responded that I liked my job as an EMT so I was considering EM, but I figured I'd probably change my mind and was not eliminating anything at that time.

I've actually pretty much eliminated EM now. I'll still keep an open mind until after my EM rotation, but I've moved on to other specialities for now - and I'm sure it'll change even more, especially during 3rd year rotations.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

My experience has some similarities with silverhorse, but the outcomes are quite different. I was also an EMT before medical school; I worked on an ambulance as well as in an ED. However, I did not decided to pursue a career in medicine until after those experiences (I wasn't one of the students that became an EMT to build their application or get healthcare exposure). I knew I was interested in Emergency Medicine from the start, but I wanted to keep an open mind and really considered other specialties at the start of my third year.

I learned early that I disliked the sterility and formality of the OR, so surgical specialties were out for me (hated the lifestyle too). My problem was that I liked all of the other specialties, but not enough to say this is what I want to do with the rest of my life, which brings me back the EM. These were the only doctors I ever observed before med school (during my work in the ED). In the end EM was the only type of medicine I wanted to practice.

Like every specialty EM has its negatives and positives. I love the diverse patient population. I love the schedule (who in their right mind would ever want to work in a specialty where you are on call for ~30 hours🙂); EM has some of the best residency and attending hours in the business. I love the mix of medical decision making and procedural work. The whole getting-to-know-your-patient-over-a-period-of-years thing was never really that important for me. And the pay is good for only a 3 year residency program (starting 250K in my area, more if you take on EMS or other business/administrative activities).

 

[loveoforganic]

I have several I'm interested in (onc, psych, physiatry, neurology, rad onc), but obviously all subject to change in med school. I'm probably doomed to falling in love with surgery.

 

[drizzt3117]

I was pretty set on rads before going to med school, and although I've wavered a few times during med school (primarily looking at various surgical specialties), I'm pretty set at this point.

 

[peaceandrelease]

I'm just about to start medical school and I have a general idea of what I want (ie, more procedural based specialty over a more discussion based one), but I haven't really chosen one yet. As well, I'm trying to keep an open mind going into medical school. You never know what any specialty is really like until you start shadow/rotate.

 

[muhali3]

I narrowed my choices to the few at the top of the list. Here's the full study, it's pretty interesting: http://www.semmelweis.org/ref/8c2.pdf

 

[URHere]

Like several others here, I started medical school with one specialty in mind only to realize that it just wasn't for me.

Personally, I was interested in addiction psychiatry (and even went to school 3000 miles from home in pursuit of research in that area). Thinking about it now, I think that psychiatry would make me more miserable than just about anything else. Luckily for me, everything I do enjoy seems to fall under the internal medicine umbrella...and I have almost a decade before it's fellowship time.

 

[Catalystik]

When I entered med school I was sure I'd go into internal medicine, having had work experience in a gastroenterologist's office, but I ended up preferring pediatrics and have not regretted the choice. I am "very satisfied" as predicted by Muhali's chart.

 

[coolnad17]

I didn't have much shadowing experience so my interests were based purely on what I learned from my undergrad classes. Endocrinology seemed cool to me and so did Nephrology. I plan on starting med school with an open mind and deciding a little later on because at this point, I just don't know enough.

HOWEVER, one interviewer did ask me what specialty I was interested in during the application cycle. I gave him an honest answer that I had a few in mind, but was not certain.

 

[morning]

I wouldn't even be considering medical school if I wasn't interested in multiple specialties...seems like a bad idea to dream about medical school before you've dreamt of what career you'd like after. It'll be interesting to see if I do end up picking something I'm currently interested in.

 

[ButImLETired]

At my school, we have some programs that introduce us to different specialties and subspecialties as early as the beginning of first year, since you often don't come across a lot of them at all in med school and a pretty high percentage of doctors change residencies because they're unhappy with what they've picked (often due to not having been exposed to a lot of subspecialties, just the major ones).

Long story short, it's helped me narrow down a lot of things, or at least a good list of criteria. I am very interested in finding a specialty whose docs have personalities I can fit in with (trust me, a lot of specialties have very distinctive personalities). I don't fit in with (a lot of) surgeons. I also hate standing still for a long time- I always get hypoglycemic and have almost passed out like, 3 times shadowing. Not good. Again, surgery isn't looking good. So far my favorite subject has been physiology and I love specialties in which I get to really think. Finally, I like the idea of being the kind of doctor who's good in a bind (so maybe stuff like derm is out) and I like systemic medicine a lot more than super specialized stuff BUT I don't want to be a total generalist because my ego can't handle it (so primary care is out).

That's the gist. Special props to whoever can come up with the specialty(ies?) I have experienced that fit these criteria 😀

 

[Kuune]

I'm interested in neurology, psychiatry, or neurosurgery. Basically, i love the brain. I got interested in high school AP psychology as I got a kick out of explaining people's emotions with chemicals (obviously it's more complicated than that, but the idea is pretty cool). I also really like working with my hands, so I thought neurosurgery might be an interesting field. then I talked to an adviser and he said that neurosurgeons are considered the carpenters of the medical field. Keeping an open mind, but I'll probably end up with something neurological related. As one of my close friends put it, anything below the head is boring. 🙂

 

[morning]

At my school, we have some programs that introduce us to different specialties and subspecialties as early as the beginning of first year, since you often don't come across a lot of them at all in med school and a pretty high percentage of doctors change residencies because they're unhappy with what they've picked (often due to not having been exposed to a lot of subspecialties, just the major ones).

Long story short, it's helped me narrow down a lot of things, or at least a good list of criteria. I am very interested in finding a specialty whose docs have personalities I can fit in with (trust me, a lot of specialties have very distinctive personalities). I don't fit in with (a lot of) surgeons. I also hate standing still for a long time- I always get hypoglycemic and have almost passed out like, 3 times shadowing. Not good. Again, surgery isn't looking good. So far my favorite subject has been physiology and I love specialties in which I get to really think. Finally, I like the idea of being the kind of doctor who's good in a bind (so maybe stuff like derm is out) and I like systemic medicine a lot more than super specialized stuff BUT I don't want to be a total generalist because my ego can't handle it (so primary care is out).

That's the gist. Special props to whoever can come up with the specialty(ies?) I have experienced that fit these criteria 😀

Are you gonna do a fellowship?

Neurology
Oncology
Emergency medicine
PM&R

 

[Captain Fantastic]

This plays out in interviews as well. You can imagine what the committee thinks when they see, "medicine is a calling" in a personal statement and then when asked what specialty the response is, "I'm not sure." So what, exactly, are they called to again? 🙄

Something drew you to the profession. You tested that initial draw by volunteering, shadowing, research, etc. Coming in you should probably know enough about medicine that you can identify with -- or at least have a particular interest in a specialty. "Where do you see yourself 10 years after residency?" I got that question during my interviews, how do you answer that if you don't have an idea about what you want to do?

All that being said, it's absolutely okay to change your mind along the way. You know, most people don't marry their first girlfriend. You try things out, evaluate the fit, etc. Having an open mind is important, since during medical school you will be exposed to things you never imagined. You don't have to have all the answers to the meaning of life, but you should have some idea why medical school is the path to get you where you want to go. And that starts with having an idea about where you want to go.

 

[drizzt3117]

endo
heme or rad onc
cards

At my school, we have some programs that introduce us to different specialties and subspecialties as early as the beginning of first year, since you often don't come across a lot of them at all in med school and a pretty high percentage of doctors change residencies because they're unhappy with what they've picked (often due to not having been exposed to a lot of subspecialties, just the major ones).

Long story short, it's helped me narrow down a lot of things, or at least a good list of criteria. I am very interested in finding a specialty whose docs have personalities I can fit in with (trust me, a lot of specialties have very distinctive personalities). I don't fit in with (a lot of) surgeons. I also hate standing still for a long time- I always get hypoglycemic and have almost passed out like, 3 times shadowing. Not good. Again, surgery isn't looking good. So far my favorite subject has been physiology and I love specialties in which I get to really think. Finally, I like the idea of being the kind of doctor who's good in a bind (so maybe stuff like derm is out) and I like systemic medicine a lot more than super specialized stuff BUT I don't want to be a total generalist because my ego can't handle it (so primary care is out).

That's the gist. Special props to whoever can come up with the specialty(ies?) I have experienced that fit these criteria 😀

 

[drizzt3117]

I'm interested in neurology, psychiatry, or neurosurgery. Basically, i love the brain. I got interested in high school AP psychology as I got a kick out of explaining people's emotions with chemicals (obviously it's more complicated than that, but the idea is pretty cool). I also really like working with my hands, so I thought neurosurgery might be an interesting field. then I talked to an adviser and he said that neurosurgeons are considered the carpenters of the medical field. Keeping an open mind, but I'll probably end up with something neurological related. As one of my close friends put it, anything below the head is boring. 🙂

You forgot the best one, neurorads 😛

 

[ButImLETired]

Are you gonna do a fellowship?

Neurology
Oncology
Emergency medicine
PM&R

endo
heme or rad onc
cards

Hehe well the ones I've liked so far are anesthesia, anesthesia-critical care, cardiology, and EM. I guess we'll see what I ultimately end up with.

 

[Neuronix]

Just out of curiosity. If so, then how did you know?

I knew exactly which specialty I was going to do when I applied to medical school. Turns out I was exactly wrong and am now applying for something completely different

 

[Geekchick921]

1. Muhali, I love you a little for your "status" and your avatar. 😍 Mass Effect.

2. The two specialties I'm most interested in are second from the top and third from the bottom (neonatal and ob/gyn). Think that'd make it easy for me? It doesn't. The only thing I'm sure I WON'T choose is ophtho. Eye surgery...

I narrowed my choices to the few at the top of the list. Here's the full study, it's pretty interesting: http://www.semmelweis.org/ref/8c2.pdf

 

[Hifey]

I was interested in Oby/gyn at the time of application a year ago. Now I'm about to start school in July and I've already changed my mind once. I'm going in with a completely open mind although I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up in an IM subspecialty or anesthesia.