Do you typically shadow individuals in specific specialties?

[xnfs93hy]

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I'm interested in a few different specialties, all of which fall under the surgery umbrella. These include: Ortho, Peds. Neuro., and colon rectal.

 

[the duck]

You shadow what ever doctors you contact and agree to let you shadow them. If you contact surgeons in those specialities, you will end up shadowing surgeons in those specialties. However, I would suggest shadowing a wider range of doctors than just surgeons.

As a side note, what exactly about rectal surgery interests you as a pre-med?😕

 

[xnfs93hy]

You shadow what ever doctors you contact and agree to let you shadow them. If you contact surgeons in those specialities, you will end up shadowing surgeons in those specialties. However, I would suggest shadowing a wider range of doctors than just surgeons.

As a side note, what exactly about rectal surgery interests you as a pre-med?😕

I shadowed a colon-rectal surgeon in my junior year of high school for about ten hours and it tickled my fancy. Albeit, it didn't seem like a very glorious job 😉.

 

[DendWrite]

You certainly -can- shadow them, but I think that the general consensus is that adcoms don't really take an applicant's residency goals seriously (simply because it's going to be a while before you apply and so many other things go into the equation, especially for competitive positions). If you are interested then go for it. But as has been said, I'd try to find a doctor or two that's not a surgeon that you can shadow as well. Otherwise, how do you know that a non-surgery specialty isn't as interesting to you if you haven't seen for yourself (maybe you have, though).

 

[xnfs93hy]

You certainly -can- shadow them, but I think that the general consensus is that adcoms don't really take an applicant's residency goals seriously (simply because it's going to be a while before you apply and so many other things go into the equation, especially for competitive positions). If you are interested then go for it. But as has been said, I'd try to find a doctor or two that's not a surgeon that you can shadow as well. Otherwise, how do you know that a non-surgery specialty isn't as interesting to you if you haven't seen for yourself (maybe you have, though).

Would it be a good idea to balance out my shadowing by choosing two surgical specialists and two non-surgical specialists?

Also, I completely understand that adcoms don't put much weight on an applicants future residency goals.

 

[DendWrite]

Would it be a good idea to balance out my shadowing by choosing two surgical specialists and two non-surgical specialists?

Also, I completely understand that adcoms don't put much weight on an applicants future residency goals.

Honestly I don't think that they'd care if it was a 50:50 balance...I just meant that it might look slightly better to have a little bit of the non-surgical. Since you are interested in surgery I'd do 3 surgery 1 non-surgery, as long as you can find the shadowing spots. In my experience, watching surgeries is loads more fun than watching doctors chart. 😀

 

[xnfs93hy]

Honestly I don't think that they'd care if it was a 50:50 balance...I just meant that it might look slightly better to have a little bit of the non-surgical. Since you are interested in surgery I'd do 3 surgery 1 non-surgery, as long as you can find the shadowing spots. In my experience, watching surgeries is loads more fun than watching doctors chart. 😀

👍 😀