How did you figure out, what to specialize in?

[Tariq Kesbeh]

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Hello, everyone, I'm a first-year college student, and I'm still trying to figure out what to specialize in. I've narrowed down my majors and med schools I'd like to attend, but I'm still clueless into what specialize in. Please anyone with any form of feed is greatly appreciated.

 

[Pathdocmd]

I wasn't thinking of med school until my Sophomore year of college and double majored in biology and art history b/c I liked both. Before med school I thought maybe peds or family med. During med school I went from peds to path to psych and then back path (I dropped any idea of family med after my 3rd year rotation) and now I am a hematopathologist. Unless you come from a family of X specialty or have worked extensively with that specialty, you most likely have no idea what X is all about before you get to your clinical years.

 

[tdod]

Mots people don't decide until MS3. You are not expected to know as a premedical student. I figured it out during MS3 and it was largely based on process of elimination (i.e. during my internal medicine rotation I discovered that I hate inpatient internal medicine, so I crossed that off my list).

 

[M&L]

Hello, everyone, I'm a first-year college student, and I'm still trying to figure out what to specialize in. I've narrowed down my majors and med schools I'd like to attend, but I'm still clueless into what specialize in. Please anyone with any form of feed is greatly appreciated.

so I am a little confused. When you say "specialize", do you mean you undergrad major or medical specialty? (btw you cannot narrow down med schools till you take you mcat. Sorry, but it is just too naïve).
Anyway, I will answer both

1) If you mean undergraduate major, - seriously, do whatever you want. I have classmates that majored in philosophy. LIterally. I was biochemistry, and I felt like that helped me a lot . So if you are thinking "science", biochemistry is a good one. But really - use your undergrad time to specialize in what you want. Think if this is a great time to be brave and explore.

2) if you mean medical career. I do not mean any disrespect, but slow down, tiger 🙂. First you need to take MCAT, - I do not care how well you are doing in your first year classes. Till you take MCAT you really cannot gage your competitiveness. Secondly, don't even think about your specialty till you get into medical school. Personal biased opinion - I cannot stand people who go in without experience and say that they want to be a surgeon, or something else. You know NOTHING at this point. The only time when I will believe it is when you are non traditional and you were an EMT, for example, and you are saying you want to be an ER doc, or something similar. Basically, when you have a long term exposure to a closely related career. Anyway, - get to medical school, and be open minded. Your life will be so full of various medical experiences, and honestly, in my opinion, if you just tell people that you are not sure and you want to be open minded, - to me it shows that you are acting like a responsible mature adult. You are not rushing into decisions that you wont make for SEVEN MORE YEARS!!!!

anyway, good luck!

 

[Tariq Kesbeh]

1) Major in whatever you like and what you will do well in. Medical schools do not care what your major is
2) Somehow choosing a medical school is a waste of time at this point. The first selection factor is GPA and MCAT at application and you have neither
3) Individual Medical schools have acceptance rates of under 5% at best. On average, applicants apply to 15 schools or more. Of the 100% who apply, 60% get rejected, 20% get a single acceptance, 20% get more than one acceptance. So the medical school you will go to is anyone that will take you.
4) You figure out medical specialty in medical school
5) in the meanwhile, GPA, clinical volunteer, non clinical community service, research, shadowing, other activities, are need to make a competitive application.

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Thank you so much this is very helpful

 

[Tariq Kesbeh]

so I am a little confused. When you say "specialize", do you mean you undergrad major or medical specialty? (btw you cannot narrow down med schools till you take you mcat. Sorry, but it is just too naïve).
Anyway, I will answer both

1) If you mean undergraduate major, - seriously, do whatever you want. I have classmates that majored in philosophy. LIterally. I was biochemistry, and I felt like that helped me a lot . So if you are thinking "science", biochemistry is a good one. But really - use your undergrad time to specialize in what you want. Think if this is a great time to be brave and explore.

2) if you mean medical career. I do not mean any disrespect, but slow down, tiger 🙂. First you need to take MCAT, - I do not care how well you are doing in your first year classes. Till you take MCAT you really cannot gage your competitiveness. Secondly, don't even think about your specialty till you get into medical school. Personal biased opinion - I cannot stand people who go in without experience and say that they want to be a surgeon, or something else. You know NOTHING at this point. The only time when I will believe it is when you are non traditional and you were an EMT, for example, and you are saying you want to be an ER doc, or something similar. Basically, when you have a long term exposure to a closely related career. Anyway, - get to medical school, and be open minded. Your life will be so full of various medical experiences, and honestly, in my opinion, if you just tell people that you are not sure and you want to be open minded, - to me it shows that you are acting like a responsible mature adult. You are not rushing into decisions that you wont make for SEVEN MORE YEARS!!!!

anyway, good luck!

This was very helpful thank you so much