How do I know which specialty I want to go into as an incoming MSI student?

[cms]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello med students,

I am a student about to enter medical school this Fall.

Ever since I got into my first medical school this year, I've been asking medical students and residents I know about how and when I will find out which specialty I want to go into.

Most of them say that I'll know once I do clinical rotations. However, I'm not sure how rotating through certain specialties for few weeks will be able to tell me if I want to go into it for life. So I was wondering if anyone could share their experience or wisdom about how/when they found out!

Also, many med students told me that it'll be advantageous to sort of know what field I want to go into as I enter medical school so that I can focus my activities and research plans towards that direction once I'm in med school. Is this really the case? And if it is, should I do my best at this point with the experience I have so far to try to at least figure out several specialties/fields I would want to go into?

I'd appreciate it if you could all reply and enlighten the young and optimistic budding med student!

thanks

 

[D elegans]

A few weeks can definitely help you rule out or rule in certain specialties. I would recommend getting involved in interest groups in things that sound appealing to you. Also you can spend some time visiting clinics if you just ask. However, you have plenty of time. I would focus on learning the material presented to you very well in your first two years. You'll probably start to get any idea over that time

 

[Brain Bucket]

What they mean is that by the time you finish your third year:

1. You'll know which fields you are competitive for based on your Step and preclinical/clinical grades.

2. Which fields you're certain you don't want to apply to (ob/g and peds for me)

If you already have an inkling as to your specialty of choice, by all means, start padding your CV, but not at the expense of your grades.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[Winged Scapula]

Moving to Pre Med forum. Medical students that wish to respond may do so there.

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

Moving to Pre Med forum. Medical students that wish to respond may do so there.

Good call, pre-meds have all the answers.


And OP to be honest, unless you've always wanted to be something, it won't just come to you. Like a lot of people have always wanted to go into surgery going into medical school, i don't think you really know until end of MS3, Don't worry about that now. Worry about it when the time comes. I think most people change their minds a lot during the course of medschool anyway

 

[Goro]

I suggest that you wait, keep your mind open, and see what comes to you. At the end of year III, most of my students only know what specialty they don't want to do!

Hello med students,

I am a student about to enter medical school this Fall.

Ever since I got into my first medical school this year, I've been asking medical students and residents I know about how and when I will find out which specialty I want to go into.

Most of them say that I'll know once I do clinical rotations. However, I'm not sure how rotating through certain specialties for few weeks will be able to tell me if I want to go into it for life. So I was wondering if anyone could share their experience or wisdom about how/when they found out!

Also, many med students told me that it'll be advantageous to sort of know what field I want to go into as I enter medical school so that I can focus my activities and research plans towards that direction once I'm in med school. Is this really the case? And if it is, should I do my best at this point with the experience I have so far to try to at least figure out several specialties/fields I would want to go into?

I'd appreciate it if you could all reply and enlighten the young and optimistic budding med student!

thanks

 

[yuiness]

I would say that for highly competitive fields, med students who have known what they wanted to do since the beginning of medical school and have been working toward that goal since the beginning of medical school usually do have an edge come application time. That said, many students are undecided and the majority will change their minds at least once during medical school. If you don't happen to be one of the few who know what they want and aren't going to change their minds, there's really nothing you can do about it, so it isn't worth worrying over too much.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Good call, pre-meds have all the

SDN protocol is to move questions to the forum where it fits best. The Allopathic forum is for topics of interest to current and former medical students. As the OP is a Pre- Med, the question belongs here. And despite popular belief, there are plenty of med students, residents and attendings who visit this forum and can answer her question.

 

[LostinLift]

As someone in the same situation I would do research into fields of interest and even try to get some shadowing before school starts. Doctors will most likely be much more willing to let you shadow if you say you are going to be a medical student this fall.

I think you should find the most competitive field you are interested in (Derm, Ortho, ENT, Radonc, whatever), and begin medical school as if you were going to pursue that specialty. That way if you want to do something less competitive, you'll already have a solid CV and if you still want to pursue that competitive specialty or a similar one, then you should be in a decent position to do so.

I have a specific specialty in mind that I'm going to pursue early on. I also have eliminated a few specialties that I am 100% sure I don't want to do, i.e. I worked in the ED for 2 years and definitely don't want to do that.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Since the vast majority of medical students pick a specialty based on those "few weeks" and some other factors (e.g., what organ systems they found most interesting, prior experience with a field, mentors), I venture your experience will be the same. I went into medical school planning on an IM subspecialty (most likely Endocrine) or FM. Everyone told me I'd be a great PCP and surgery was the farthest thing from my mind, until those "few weeks" when I found that I loved being in the OR and had some talent at doing it. I'm sure something will click for you as well.

The above advise about working toward the most competitive specialty you might be interested in is good. A solid CV will hold up regardless of what you end up pursuing.

 

[Davida]

Following up on your question, I have a question directed at med students/former med students - did any of you do preceptorships, and if you did, did they help you at all with this decision? Did it give you at least some idea of what you might or might not want to pursue before third year, or were they not really a good use of time?

I anticipate having a lot of trouble narrowing down a specialty, because everything is so interesting to me. My school lets you do as many preceptorships as you want, but I don't know if they're a good use of precious time.