How Did You Pick Your Specialty (Med students)

[jr doctor in sd]

Hello,

I am starting med school in August. I am not trying to jump the gun and go for some crazy specialty but instead I just want to explore options for what best fits my interests and lifestyle goals, etc. I was wondering do you really need to wait until third year to experience all of these? I ask because it is a little bit intimidating to me to use a year to decide the career for the rest of my life.

So do the majority of you not decide until then? Are there many events/conferences to learn more about the many options there are?

Thanks 👍

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[searun]

I am a fourth year med student. Graduating in May. Learned that I matched yesterday and will learn where I matched in two days, March 17. I made my decision about my specialty during third year rotations - the same is true of most of my classmates. Third year rotations afford a hands on experience that gives you more insight into the various specialties.

Lots of my classmates initially were interested in becoming surgeons - a number of them changed their minds during third year. I entered medical school interested in becoming a pediatrician - I just matched into a very competitive surgical specialty yesterday.

 

[Jolie South]

I am a fourth year med student. Graduating in May. Learned that I matched yesterday and will learn where I matched in two days, March 17. I made my decision about my specialty during third year rotations - the same is true of most of my classmates. Third year rotations afford a hands on experience that gives you more insight into the various specialties.

Lots of my classmates initially were interested in becoming surgeons - a number of them changed their minds during third year. I entered medical school interested in becoming a pediatrician - I just matched into a very competitive surgical specialty yesterday.

Yea, I wanted to go into infectious disease when I came into school.
Now, I want to go into a competitive surgical sub-specialty.

You'll get a feel for whether you want to be a surgeon or not, whether you like clinic or wards, etc on core clerkships.

 

[cowme]

Hello,

I am starting med school in August. I am not trying to jump the gun and go for some crazy specialty but instead I just want to explore options for what best fits my interests and lifestyle goals, etc. I was wondering do you really need to wait until third year to experience all of these? I ask because it is a little bit intimidating to me to use a year to decide the career for the rest of my life.

So do the majority of you not decide until then? Are there many events/conferences to learn more about the many options there are?

Thanks 👍

Well...what are your interests, fits and lifestyle goals?
No, you do not need to wait until 3rd year to realize what you want to be.

If you have a particular interest in rads, derm, ortho, urology, etc, do research your first year in that field. It will help your residency app regardless of what field you pick.

I think 3rd year is more of a "rule out" year. You will have 4 or 5 options you are considering, and realize you hate an aspect of all but one of them. I was between rads, ENT, urology and peds, and used 3rd year to rule out the last 3.

 

[getdown]

You choose by asking yourself: "can I see myself doing this field in 10, 20, 30, even 40 years from now?" Really in the end, passion should drive you. No amount of money can make you like what you're doing but that may depend on the person. Earning 400k a year but hating every minute of those 8-9 hour days you pull would seem very taxing on the psyche and may even reflect on your quality of life. I wouldn't want to do something I hate for years on end just cause it pays better.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Well, let's see...I don't like rounds, I don't like clinic, I want to work with cool people, I don't want my career to take up all my time, I don't want to screw with patient compliance, and I want to make a good salary. That pretty much leaves some medicine subspecialties, some surgical subspecialties, anesthesia, and pathology. I just plain don't like path or medicine, and I'm not terribly competitive for surgical subspecialties. That's fine, for I doubt I'd want to suffer through a surgical residency anyway. Anesthesia, here I come!

 

[drizzt3117]

Well, let's see...I don't like rounds, I don't like clinic, I want to work with cool people, I don't want my career to take up all my time, I don't want to screw with patient compliance, and I want to make a good salary. That pretty much leaves some medicine subspecialties, some surgical subspecialties, anesthesia, and pathology. I just plain don't like path or medicine, and I'm not terribly competitive for surgical subspecialties. That's fine, for I doubt I'd want to suffer through a surgical residency anyway. Anesthesia, here I come!

Table up...

 

[MilkmanAl]

I'd be glad to oblige you, good sir, right after I take my lunch break.

 

[obgyny]

I was wondering about this too (I'm also starting med school in August!🙂). It seems like you should start getting involved in something like volunteering or research (especially during the summer between M1 and M2).

I have an interest in neurology (or maybe neurosurgery). I majored in Neurobiology and have been working in a neurobiology research lab for the last 2 years (even got a 3rd author publication in a neurosci journal). But I definitely haven't made up my mind, I'm interested in a lot of the other specialties as well. I can't wait to try them out during rotations!

I know neurosurgery residencies are crazy competitive, but what about neurology? Should I get involved with neurology research/volunteering during the summer from M1 to M2 if I'm considering it? Do residency programs care at all about publications from undergraduate (I have both neuro and non-neuro related ones)?

I guess I'm afraid that I'll figure out the end of my 3rd year that I want to go into a competitive specialty and by then it's too late to add much to my residency application.

 

[drizzt3117]

I'd be glad to oblige you, good sir, right after I take my lunch break.

Oh don't worry about it, the CRNA doing your job took care of it already.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Salary for free? Sweet! See you tomorrow. 🙂

 

[drizzt3117]

Neurosurg is getting a bit less competitive now that it's regular match, no less intense, though. Neurology isnt too competitive, middle of the road pretty much.

I was wondering about this too (I'm also starting med school in August!🙂). It seems like you should start getting involved in something like volunteering or research (especially during the summer between M1 and M2).

I have an interest in neurology (or maybe neurosurgery). I majored in Neurobiology and have been working in a neurobiology research lab for the last 2 years (even got a 3rd author publication in a neurosci journal). But I definitely haven't made up my mind, I'm interested in a lot of the other specialties as well. I can't wait to try them out during rotations!

I know neurosurgery residencies are crazy competitive, but what about neurology? Should I get involved with neurology research/volunteering during the summer from M1 to M2 if I'm considering it? Do residency programs care at all about publications from undergraduate (I have both neuro and non-neuro related ones)?

I guess I'm afraid that I'll figure out the end of my 3rd year that I want to go into a competitive specialty and by then it's too late to add much to my residency application.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Its very different depending on the person.

Some people come in with an idea...get involved in the specialty in 1st and 2nd year and then confirm it when they do their rotation 3rd/4th year (this was me for EM)

Some people either do or don't have an idea of what they want but get to a rotation during third year and fall in love.

Some people use 3rd year as a rule out period to figure out what they DON'T want to do.

Some use logical lists of the lifestyle, etc to decide what would work for their personal life then pick what they like best.

Its really dependent on the person but for a lot of people they don't know until 3rd/4th year. So don't be in a rush, you will know when you know.

 

[jr doctor in sd]

Thanks alot for all the insightful posts, ladies and gents 🙂. Makes me feel 1000x better that it's very normal to have no clue at this point haha.

By the way, for those matching tomorrow, BEST OF LUCK. I hope you all get your top choice!

 

[Xerxes1729]

You get exposed to a lot of fields during third year, but if you think you might be interested in a bunch of the ones that aren't standard rotations, like urology, radiation oncology, ENT, plastics, etc. then you should check some of them out by shadowing during first year. You won't have time to rotate on every subspeciality during third year.

 

[drizzt3117]

I've known what I was going to go into before med school started (rads, have done 4 years of research in it) but 3rd year really helped me confirm my decision. Although I've really liked a lot of the fields I've encountered in medicine, none of them make quite as much sense to me. I think it'd be hard to make a decision based on what I liked, because I've liked much of what I've seen. That said, the three specialties I liked the most before 3rd year (rads, ortho, urology) are still my favorites.