Do you have an idea of what kind of specialty you want to go into?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Do you have an idea what kind of specialy you want to go into?

  • Yes

    Votes: 81 75.0%
  • No

    Votes: 27 25.0%

  • Total voters
    108

GoSpursGo

SDN Chief Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
15+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2008
Messages
39,259
Reaction score
22,192
This is a common question thrown around in interviews. What is your honest answer (not necessarily what you would say in an interview)?

For me, it's a definite no- figure I'll actually go through my clinicals before even starting to make a decision.

EDIT: Darn... could a mod please turn this into a poll with the options "Yes" and "No"?

Members don't see this ad.
 
I answered Peds (which is an honest answer) and it seemed like my interviewer was surprised by it. Not sure if that hurt me or not.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Can't you click "edit" and make it a poll? I dont think you need a mod to do that.



My answer during interviews (and the truth) is that ive done a lot of stuff in orthopedics/sports medicine, so naturally I have a very strong interest with that specialty/fellowship, but I havent decided on anything. There are others I could see my self enjoying, and more that I could see myself NEVER doing. I really dont know enough about each specialty to know for sure exactly what I want to do. Beyond ortho, i think preventive medicine sounds interesting, and infectious disease as well. So i really have no idea. I mean, what if I'm in med school and I realize that, for me, its not worth sacrificing everything else to rock all my courses and baords so that I can match into ortho, you know? I feel that if I see myself sacrificing social life, relationships, freindships, etc just so i can match in a specialty, I'll probably back off and find another one.

Just so many questions unanswered. We'll all konw soon enough though, thats for sure.
 
any of the lifestyle specialties. but such is an elusive dream :boom:.
 
I either wanna do gastroenterology or colon and rectal surgery... I like learning about the intestines... Although hepatology would also be a lot of fun...I think...
 
I either wanna do gastroenterology or colon and rectal surgery... I like learning about the intestines... Although hepatology would also be a lot of fun...I think...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N0w2rORwSc[/YOUTUBE]
 
I have a whole slew of interests at this point: allergy/immunology, hematology/oncology, cardiology, infectious disease, endocrinology, radiology, pathology, and a newfound interest in emergency medicine. But then I realize that I have a rather myopic outlook on such matters considering that I've yet to start med school. I'm certain my interests will change once I'm in and actually get to study some of these subjects in greater depth.

This is where I'm coming from, honestly. In an interview, I'd do my best to articulate this.
 
Last edited:
Heme/onc, but I really want to keep my mind open until after my clinicals. My interviewers perked up at me saying heme/onc, but then all went on to say that while they really respect the kind of medicine oncologists do, they could never do it themselves because it's too depressing. I've shadowed several oncologists and volunteered in a chemotherapy infusion center, and I don't find it depressing at all, but inspiring and a field with a lot on the horizon. It is a self-selecting specialty in some respects.
 
This is a common question thrown around in interviews. What is your honest answer (not necessarily what you would say in an interview)?

For me, it's a definite no- figure I'll actually go through my clinicals before even starting to make a decision.

EDIT: Darn... could a mod please turn this into a poll with the options "Yes" and "No"?

Gastro, endocrinology, immunology, neuro and also EM. I said EM in an interview, and the surgeon thought I was crazy.

...all of which are really the only specialties I've had significant exposure to. So I'm definitely going to do my most significant opinion forming during clinicals, like you said.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I would say Anes, EM, and Cardio.

But, I will always end with, I am not sure and will leave my options open as I progress through med school.

You really have to get in there first to have a real idea of what different specialties have to offer.
 
Well my interest is in orthopedic surgery. Yet I am open to change during clinicals. I figure aim high to start since that way I will not be closing any doors in the long run. And I admit this all in interviews.
 
I usually say that because of my job right now I'm interested in EM and that I've talked to several EM physicians about it. Before this job I was interested in either general IM or peds. But then I say that I'll leave my choices completely open because it may change once I get an idea what some of the other specialties entail. ;)
 
Surgery (neuro or ortho, I'm not picky). Lovelovelovelove. Love. The ridiculous hard work also makes me love it; masochistic, no? Too bad I'm not like 99% of surgeons out there, with their type A personalities. Aren't sweeping generalizations grand?!

But, of course, I'm completely receptive to any other specialties that I experience in detail.
 
No idea. I've never experienced any of the fields, any answer I venture forth would be pretty ill-informed.
 
Surgery, if I can take the work load and the long hours.

EM or Anesthesia if I want something a little more laid back, but still interesting.
 
No idea. I've never experienced any of the fields, any answer I venture forth would be pretty ill-informed.

ever? not even shadowing? what makes you wanna go into medicine?
 
I guess what they are really asking you is, "How are you hardwired?"

Let's say you pick orthopedic surgery, then you can follow up with, I like working with my hands. I did blah blah blah last summer...

Or if you picked internal medicine, then probably follow up with.. I am a people person... i like to get to know people long-term... etc..
 
I'm a person that likes to do/see a lot of different things so I might go EM or MEDPEDS so I can see a huge variety of patients. Would be nice to go back to this in 4 years and see what I actually decided on doing.
 
ever? not even shadowing? what makes you wanna go into medicine?


Contrary to popular belief, shadowing does not give you much in the ways of making a decision such as this.
 
Anesthesiology.

Great grandpa was one. Grandpa was one. I've done anesthesia research in hs and here in college. It's pretty interesting to me, but HEY let's see if I can get into medical school first haha
 
Contrary to popular belief, shadowing does not give you much in the ways of making a decision such as this.
I'm assuming you were paying attention to what the physician was doing when you were shadowing him/her?

I developed an idea of what Cardiology entailed from following/shadowing a cardiologist and working in a clinic. I have a deep interest in cardiology and tailored my answer to say that. Naturally, I also included that I have never tried being anything so I know that my interests may change and I may decide later on to do something else entirely because of medical school.

They want to know if you have an interest in any fields and why. Saying you don't know isn't the best answer and you would be hard pressed to come up with a good WHY you don't know. It's asking if you have an idea, not telling you to pick a specialty right then and there.
 
No, you developed an idea of the image of the cardiologist. A notion of the abstract. Nothing more, nothing less. You have no idea what it's actually like to do his job on a daily basis. You have no idea the efficacy of his treatments, nor whether or not you would find it fulfilling on a professional and personal level. Watching for a few hours a week is not anywhere near the same as doing it daily.

Quite frankly, I've heard from countless fourth year students who tell me that they thought they would love X but ended up loving Y. There's a reason for this. It's the reason I don't bother being presumptuous enough to act as if I have any real clue as to what a specialty may entail, and whether or not I will enjoy it, until I actually get some hands-on experience in it.
 
Last edited:
No, you developed an idea of the image of the cardiologist. A notion of the abstract. Nothing more, nothing less. You have no idea what it's actually like to do his job on a daily basis. You have no idea the efficacy of his treatments, nor whether or not you would find it fulfilling on a professional level. Watching is not anywhere near the same as doing, and you cannot make real decisions based on a few hours a week you spend following a physician around.
So then why do you want to go into medicine? You've never actually been a doctor and you have no idea what it entails, so answering it is a pretty ill-conceived, empty-filled answer, right? Unless you have an idea of what it is. In essence, the idea is not a decision, but a bias, I suppose.

Regardless, you can develop an idea of what specialty you would like to pursue;

Whether it be from fascination/interest in specific parts of the body or from shadowing/working with staff in that unit. But it's not like you're saying "THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO BE, NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS! Give me my SCALPEL TO OPEN CHEST, KTHXBAI!"
 
Because I like the idea of medicine more so than I like the idea of most other professions. Since I cannot have true experience in every field before picking one, I'm making a rather ill-informed, possibly ill-conceived, decision in the hopes that the characteristics I possess will make me fulfilled as a physician. The same holds true for all of us.
 
Because I like the idea of medicine and I seem to have the right characteristics to make a good doctor and find it fulfilling. Am I correct in that assumption? I have no idea. I'll need to experience it to find out.
fair enough
 
Anesthesiologist | Neurologist | General Physician | Medical Biostatistician

And let see if things change...anything that I am good at.
 
Neuro at the moment.
 
Contrary to popular belief, shadowing does not give you much in the ways of making a decision such as this.


i used shadowing as the easiest and the most likely way to at least be exposed to the field of medicine. Not the end all be all of a decision to go into medicine. It just surprised me that you would say you had zero experience with medicine, which is why i responded by saying "not even shadowing?"
 
I really want to do Peds- most likely heme/onc - I have wanted to be a oncologist since I was 13
 
Neurology ftw. Or ID I guess, since microbio is 'aight.
 
family practice in a rural area
 
EM and Trauma Surgery were always my top choice. Although I have been considering primary care :)eek:) as of late, honestly it seems like awesome fulfilling work, if it wasn't for the whole "everyone doing everything to make primary care docs miserable" thing.
 
I shadowed an ENT a while back and really like the mix of clinic and surgery he sees. Then again, I'm kind of clumsy, so I don't know that I'd make good surgeon. And not everyone can get into ENT that would like to. I like Anesthesiology, because that way I could actually be in the operating room without being the surgeon and so on. It's too hard to tell at this point, though. They way this last semester went, I really need to worry more about getting in at all.
Then again, I like EM because of the breadth of knowledge they apply on a daily basis. I guess the same would go for IM.
 
Heme/onc, but I really want to keep my mind open until after my clinicals. My interviewers perked up at me saying heme/onc, but then all went on to say that while they really respect the kind of medicine oncologists do, they could never do it themselves because it's too depressing. I've shadowed several oncologists and volunteered in a chemotherapy infusion center, and I don't find it depressing at all, but inspiring and a field with a lot on the horizon. It is a self-selecting specialty in some respects.

i get the same response whenever i tell anyone i'm planning to go hem/onc. that its a noble thing and most people just aren't cut out for it. i agree with your view - its not depressing in a lot of ways since you are doing your best to help these people and there really are a lot of good treatments out there with more in the pipeline all the time. and you make very strong relationships with your patients since you see them for years, and you are (almost literally) their lifeline. whenever i talk to any of the cancer patients during my volunteering, they speak in such high regards towards their doctor (usually i know the doctor since i work in the division). this is exactly the kind of specialty i want.
 
Top