For Pre-Meds: Choose Your Medical Specialty ASAP.

[WhiteHatDoc]

I thought I'd share this Medium Article titled "For Pre-Meds: Choose Your Medical Specialty ASAP"
with you guys. Hope you find it helpful as well!

https://medium.com/@sampark/for-pre-meds-choose-your-medical-specialty-asap-2d12ad6d881e

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[Satire5Texul]

Is listing things from undergraduate years on a residency application allowed/advisable ?

 

[WhiteHatDoc]

Not really but talking about it in your personal statement or during interviews is fair game

 

[piii]

Not really but talking about it in your personal statement or during interviews is fair game

What about publications? I know research is favorable for certain top residencies. Let's say you significant lab experience before med school and acquired 5 publications, does that help in the match?

 

[WedgeDawg]

What about publications? I know research is favorable for certain top residencies. Let's say you significant lab experience before med school and acquired 5 publications, does that help in the match?

A bit, but if you don't continue that during medical school, programs that value research will wonder why you didn't maintain your productivity. It's minimally impactful.

There's a lot of misinformation in this article. While it's nice to have some idea of what you're interested in, it's not necessary by any means to know 100% what you're going into. There are plenty of opportunities during medical school to figure that out and get the necessary experience and still match into whatever you want.

 

[22031 Alum]

I stopped reading when I saw all the Randomly Capitalized Words. Not sure why anybody would read this and think, "I should take this seriously!!"

 

[WingedOx]

I stopped reading when I saw all the Randomly Capitalized Words. Not sure why anybody would read this and think, "I should take this seriously!!"

Der Artikel ist mehr hilfreich, wenn du bist Deutsche.

 

[Ismet]

What about publications? I know research is favorable for certain top residencies. Let's say you significant lab experience before med school and acquired 5 publications, does that help in the match?

As WedgeDawg said, if you're going for a top residency, you need significant research and in some cases you NEED a publication in medical school. You should really try to get involved in research in med school regardless of what you're going into. It can only help.

I'm applying to a specialty that doesn't "require" research. I have done research in med school, but the bulk of my research/abstracts/presentations were from undergrad. It has come up in every interview as a positive. You would certainly list the research and pubs from undergrad, but whether it will help in the match depends on what you're applying for and if you continued that research fervor into med school.

 

[Terry Toma]

I especially liked the part where he cited a source for his assertion that "[c]hoosing a Medical Specialty of initial interest now, as a Pre-Med, will improve your chances of Medical School acceptance." Oh, wait, that didn't happen.

 

[Dr. Death]

Annoyingly enough all of my interviews have asked what specialty I want to go into. I'm like I have no idea what the day to day work of 90% of specialties is like how the heck should I know?

 

[22031 Alum]

Annoyingly enough all of my interviews have asked what specialty I want to go into. I'm like I have no idea what the day to day work of 90% of specialties is like how the heck should I know?

Most of the time they just want to know if you've given it some thought and have some idea how the process of choosing a specialty even works. Saying "I'm not sure, but I think I might like pediatrics because (reasons)" looks better than "I'm going to go into emergency medicine with a cardiology concentration and then specialize in pediatric heart transplants."

 

[deleted407021]

Der Artikel ist mehr hilfreich, wenn du bist Deutsche.

Warum? Ist der Artikel aus Deutschland?

 

[WhiteHatDoc]

What about publications? I know research is favorable for certain top residencies. Let's say you significant lab experience before med school and acquired 5 publications, does that help in the match?

It definitely will weigh in favorably and it would be even more impactful if you get involved with research while in Med school. If you aren't able to publish then, at least you have the 5 from undergrad so they are aware that you have had experience in it. The best would be a first author publication but we know how easy it is to get one of those

 

[WhiteHatDoc]

Annoyingly enough all of my interviews have asked what specialty I want to go into. I'm like I have no idea what the day to day work of 90% of specialties is like how the heck should I know?

They're likely just creating conversational topics so no worries. Take that question in stride and give a confident "I don't know" if that's the truth.

That said, it will stand out if a student has done the leg work of exploring different specialties and has arrived for himself/herself on a decision based on experiences and insights gained from exploring early. If that student is gung-ho about EM and seems 100% certain (even if they end up changing their minds later, it doesn't matter), that may work in the student's favor!

 

[Ismet]

Annoyingly enough all of my interviews have asked what specialty I want to go into. I'm like I have no idea what the day to day work of 90% of specialties is like how the heck should I know?

We're looking to see if you know what medicine is about and where you might see yourself fitting in 10 years down the road. You don't need to know right now, you just need to demonstrate that you've given it some thought. You definitely do not want to come across as totally naive to what medicine is.

 

[mikil100]

Most of the time they just want to know if you've given it some thought and have some idea how the process of choosing a specialty even works. Saying "I'm not sure, but I think I might like pediatrics because (reasons)" looks better than "I'm going to go into emergency medicine with a cardiology concentration and then specialize in pediatric heart transplants."

Do people seriously answer this question that specific/wrongly? I mean some quick research by a lowly premed would show that EM is not a path to head down for pediatric CV surgery. lol

I always wonder what crazy stuff interviewers get entertained by.

 

[WhiteHatDoc]

Do people seriously answer this question that specific/wrongly? I mean some quick research by a lowly premed would show that EM is not a path to head down for pediatric CV surgery. lol

I always wonder what crazy stuff interviewers get entertained by.

Perhaps, but it's better not to think too much into the process. Be your best self. I had the impression that my interviewers asked the "Are you interested in a particular field in Medicine?" question just to create conversation. So be willing to engage in the conversation by answering in the affirmative or negative and having reasons for it. A response that shows you put some thought into this question is the best.