Difficulty figuring yourself out?

[StudentOrthoPod]

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So I have 1 week left of my 2nd rotation, and I already have less of an idea of what I want to do than 11 weeks ago when I started 3rd year. I grew up wanting to be an orthopod, i went to med school to be an orthopod, i busted my ass MSI and MSII years and on Step 1 (it paid off) to be an orthopod, and now after hearing from so many residents and attendings about different specialties and lifestyles and why i should do gas instead of surgery and how gen surg gets $**t for pay/hours and all the unbelievable politics that go into getting good comments on your dean's letter...man...does anyone else feel less grounded in their 3rd year than they ever felt during MSI and II?

 

[Cirrus83]

So I have 1 week left of my 2nd rotation, and I already have less of an idea of what I want to do than 11 weeks ago when I started 3rd year. I grew up wanting to be an orthopod, i went to med school to be an orthopod, i busted my ass MSI and MSII years and on Step 1 (it paid off) to be an orthopod, and now after hearing from so many residents and attendings about different specialties and lifestyles and why i should do gas instead of surgery and how gen surg gets $**t for pay/hours and all the unbelievable politics that go into getting good comments on your dean's letter...man...does anyone else feel less grounded in their 3rd year than they ever felt during MSI and II?

Why don't you wait until you do an ortho rotation before you cross it off entirely? For one thing you're talking about how general surgery gets lousy pay...but that's not even related to ortho...

You wouldn't find it particularly reasonable if someone considering cards was worried because of the salary for IM, would you? (actually, that might be somewhat more valid since you could be afraid of not getting a fellowship, whereas in this case the match for ortho is separate anyways)

Or is it just worrying you because you were considering general surgery as a backup?

 

[StudentOrthoPod]

it's not so much about a specific field; I used gen surg randomly. I guess what I'm saying is a few weeks ago I liked my plan. Now I'm more confused than anything, and I have little idea of what i plan to do. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing a couple rotations into 3rd year, but I think I'm just feeling overwhelmed.

 

[achybrachy]

I think you just need to be patient and go into your third year rotations with an open mind. I enjoyed some of my rotations way more than I ever expected (e.g. OB/GYN, psych) and hated others I thought I would like (e.g. peds). And whatever you decide in the end, all the work and the good Step I will pay off whatever you do.

The only exception I would bring up is if you decide to go into something for which you should be doing some research now to strengthen you application. For example, I didn't decide to go into radiation oncology until late in my third year and I was somewhat stressed to learn that not only did I need some good research, it would be a lot stronger if the research was in rad-onc. But I still managed to get it done.

 

[achybrachy]

Almost forgot, first and foremost, do NOT let compensation make decisions for you! Yes, it's something you have to think about, but if the issue makes you go into something you won't be as happy doing, it isn't worth it!

 

[StudentOrthoPod]

thanks I wasn't planning on going into something based on salary; I'm just relaying what's been coming from people lately