I need help with choosing a residency...

[jasmine0211]

Help

I don't know what I am good at. I dont know what medical residency to apply to. I heard there was a survey or something that I can take that tells me what medical residency I should be in based on my personality.Anyone know what this is or where I can find it?


Thanks alot

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[rockdoc]

Help

I don't know what I am good at. I dont know what medical residency to apply to. I heard there was a survey or something that I can take that tells me what medical residency I should be in based on my personality.Anyone know what this is or where I can find it?


Thanks alot

Try this:
http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/Home.cfm

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Help

I don't know what I am good at. I dont know what medical residency to apply to. I heard there was a survey or something that I can take that tells me what medical residency I should be in based on my personality.Anyone know what this is or where I can find it?


Thanks alot

You could always narrow it down with what you definitely do NOT like. Then factor in your grades and see if that excludes you from anything (derm, rad onc, ortho, ophtho, etc). Next try to imagine yourself 10 years from now. How much time do you want to spend at home, with family, outside interests, etc. Think about if being in the OR 100% of time sounds appealing or if you like a balance of OR/clinic time, or maybe no OR time at all. I know, there's alot to think about.

Check out that website you're talking about but I recommend you read Iserson's "Getting into a Residency." For the most part, his advice is good. See if it enlightens you. G'luck.

 

[synapse lapse]

Read Isersons, take his test, and see the test references he puts in book.

 

[orientedtoself]

Iserson is good, and I also found Brian Freeman's "The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty" helpful.

 

[skypilot]

First decide if you want to be a surgeon or not. Then decide how close you want your patient interactions to be. That should be a start.

 

[robotsonic]

I don't know what I am good at. I dont know what medical residency to apply to. I heard there was a survey or something that I can take that tells me what medical residency I should be in based on my personality.Anyone know what this is or where I can find it?

Are you a third year yet? If you haven't done any clinical rotations then don't worry about it - don't even bother taking those tests. I took them and they didn't predict the field I am now applying in. After third year you will have a much better idea of what the different areas of medicine are like and what you want to do. Good luck.

 

[Miler407]

Robotsonic,

For the more competitive specialties (Derm, opth, or even IM subspecs such as Allergy or GI) I've heard they look at research quite a bit and if you wait until after your 3rd year rotations to make a decision about your interests, are you behind the game in terms of research for the more competitive specialties, or is there still time your fourth year to be involved in enough research to strengthen your apps?

I was just accepted to med school about 2 weeks ago, so pardon my ignorance on anything that should be common knowledge...thanks!

 

[orientedtoself]

Don't feel like you have to rush into a decision about which specialty to enter the moment you enter medical school. It's enough to know that you want to be a doctor. If you know what you want to do, then that's great. If you don't, then that's an okay place to be also. Find out what you like and don't like. You will get a better idea after third year when you immerse yourself in the culture of different specialties as part of the team.

 

[lattimer13]

Are you a third year yet? If you haven't done any clinical rotations then don't worry about it - don't even bother taking those tests. I took them and they didn't predict the field I am now applying in. After third year you will have a much better idea of what the different areas of medicine are like and what you want to do. Good luck.

this is the best advice anyone can give you.

 

[robotsonic]

Robotsonic,

For the more competitive specialties (Derm, opth, or even IM subspecs such as Allergy or GI) I've heard they look at research quite a bit and if you wait until after your 3rd year rotations to make a decision about your interests, are you behind the game in terms of research for the more competitive specialties, or is there still time your fourth year to be involved in enough research to strengthen your apps?

I was just accepted to med school about 2 weeks ago, so pardon my ignorance on anything that should be common knowledge...thanks!

It is true that if you are applying for very competitive residencies you should look into doing research. But really, any research that you are interested in and put effort into will help you for residency. For example, you might do a year of research in ortho only to discover that you love derm - you still get points for the research, even if it isn't derm. Also, for the very competitive residencies, getting honors in your courses, getting elected AOA, and having a high board score are just as important as research. It's probably more important to focus on those things, actually, because a small research project won't make up for poor grades (in my opinion )

And as for IM subspecialties like GI, you apply for them while you are in residency, not during med school.

 

[deuist]

The websites:



-- The American Board of Medical Specialties has a description of how to pick a field: http://www.abms.org/which.asp

-- The AAMC has a smaller page dedicated to the same topic: http://www.aamc.org/students/cim/start.htm. Your school may also have given you a Careers in Medicine password.

-- Finally, SUNY at Buffalo has a quiz to match your personality with a particular specialty: http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/RESIDENT/CareerCounseling/interior.htm?self-assessment.htm. Also, the University of Virginia has its own quiz: http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/. These two websites give different results; so you should interpret the results as you wish. Just for laughs, there's also this quiz on Geocities: http://www.geocities.com/iqhometest/doctorb.html.

 

[monkey7247]

Wow, that goofy geocities quiz actually came up with the specialty I'm going into (ophtho).

 

[synapse lapse]

Wow, that goofy geocities quiz actually came up with the specialty I'm going into (ophtho).

hehe came up with surgery for me, definitely what I am interested in. I think it is the most accurate of the tests

 

[Gumshoe]

most of the stuff bores me, but i think it's because I'm someone else's slave most of the time, and not that efficiently used (who wants to spend time at the hospital just because they think you should - when not learning?). Right now it seems like Anesthesia, EM, or peds would suit me. Anyone else thought of stuff like this? I haven't done any of those yet, really ... I really hope I like one a lot. If a field is just OK, it sucks, I've found. Who wants to spend tons of time doing something that is just OK?

Gumshoe

 

[thackl]

.....and don't you get tired of everyone asking what you want to go into. I have no clue (well, maybe some clue, but not much).

 

[powermd]

As a third year one of the teaching surgeons sat down with my clerkship group and told us "you choose a specialty with your heart, not your head." I always found those words very meaninful. Try not to worry too much about specialty selection until you've spent time working in a few as a third year student. Different specialties attract different personality types, and it will start to be more apparent where you fit in, and where you don't.

Some specialties are very difficult to choose in an informed way. Anesthesiology is one of them. I wouldn't settle on this field until you've taken a hard look at all the others.

 

[Taus]

the above link from buffalo is AWESOME....very well done...thanks

 

[Unemployed]

any specialty out there that fit these requirements: 40 hour work week, non-surgical, good pay, independence, not cut-throat competitive to get into like derm? Thanks!

 

[deuist]

Unemployed,

EM has a lot of what you described. You could also do family practice or internal medicine, start your own practice, and then set shorter hours.

 

[skypilot]

any specialty out there that fit these requirements: 40 hour work week, non-surgical, good pay, independence, not cut-throat competitive to get into like derm? Thanks!

FP working in an outpatient clinic, Psych. All MD fields are well paid (or at least can be) so pay should not be your main consideration.

 

[azzarah]

What year are you? If you decide to do research do something that will apply to many fields. I Started med school thinking definitely internal medicine & public health with LOTS of meaningful and beautiful patient interactions....After doing a few rotations I quickly realized I much prefer something surgical with minimal or no patient contact.