If you had to pick your specialty today...

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Lol Im still comtemplating, TBH I have alot of specialty in Mind. but I still have a long time to decide which one I want.

1) Surgery- General- Trauma/Burn Surgical critical care ( adrenaline junky haha)
2) IM- Cardiology, Dermatology ( the cadiologist on my telemetry Unit are amazing at what they do.)( derm Because I used to have Terrible acne so I wanna find a cure to that I guess..lol
3) OB/GYN ( I want to deliver babies lmao)
4) Endocrinology( an interest of mine also)
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Probably emergency medicine or neurology.
 
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Neurology I think - my phd is going to be in neuroscience and while people have told me that the two are completely different, right now it fees weird to think about something else.

But 7 years is a long time so I'm sure I'll know more as I start shadowing the various specialties.
 
Internal Medicine. Then probably a sub-specialty in oncology.
 
1) Pediatric Oncology- always enjoyed working with kids and am interested in cancer treatment (would be tough to deal with though)

2) Emergency Medicine- great variety of cases and good lifestyle

3) Orthopedic Surgery (esp. Sports Medicine)- always played sports and enjoy working with athletes; would also consider non-surgical sports medicine
 
I honestly would not mind working in some lab, pharmaceutical company or something. Almost do exactly what you already have been doing for labs in school but actually get paid for it, sure!
 
EM. Shiftwork. You see everything. You win.
 
if i had to choose today, id go with hematology/oncology.
 
Anyone know much about medical genetics? What sorts of procedures/diagnosis stuff you do in an average day? Work hours? Salary? Whether you would be working mostly with kids or if you could work primarily with adults?
 
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I flipflop pretty often.
When this thread started I was all about Anesthesiology.
Now I'm all about Heme/Onc :p
 
I'm definitely interested in some pediatrics subspecialty, though not sure which yet ... probably pediatric oncology

I'm also really interested in global health/medicine and outreach, .. which is why I was interested in general pediatrics for a long time. However, after talking to all the MPHs I work with, I think having specialty training would make you more valuable in those kinds of settings.

Btw, random but @Goosewing: I ****ing love Atul Gawande. He's one of the most articulate and concise writers I've ever read
 
IvyHopeful20 said:
Neurology I think - my phd is going to be in neuroscience and while people have told me that the two are completely different, right now it fees weird to think about something else.

But 7 years is a long time so I'm sure I'll know more as I start shadowing the various specialties.
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They may be very different, but they are also heavily intertwined. If you have both knowledge bases, you'll be set for life ;)

(I work in a neuroimaging research department and while a lot of our faculty have a physics or engineering background, there are also several from neurology who collab on things like stroke and epilepsy research - the PhD in neuroscience will give you the background on all things brain function as well as all types of imaging - EEG, MEG, PET, ERPs, MRI, fMRI, Spect, etc... The neurology interest is what makes all of that so much more applicable)

Anyway, I have many colleagues I could put you in touch with if you have any interest in hearing more about the common nature between the two. PM me if you want!


As for my specialties of interest: definitely Peds, probably work in general peds for a few years pre-fellowship and then maybe neurology? Or there's always neurorad :love:
 
Orthopedic surgery, of course. It's exactly like my current job, only I'll be chopping up bones instead of wood and aluminum, and best of all, the tools will be either handed to me or be on a little tray at the right height. Sometimes I wonder if the only reason I'm going to put myself through ten years of class and residency is that I'm too lazy to squat to reach my toolbox.
 
Do medical schools expect you to have a specialty in mind before matriculating? Does the question of specialty come up often during med school interviews? I ask this because I haven't a clue which specialty would be the best fit for me.
 
Geneticist said:
1. Do medical schools expect you to have a specialty in mind before matriculating?
2. Does the question of specialty come up often during med school interviews? I ask this because I haven't a clue which specialty would be the best fit for me.
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1. Absolutely not. It's okay if you do though, as long as you stress that you have an open mind and you find x specialty interesting because of specific reasons (not money or lifestyle, lol).

2. Sure. I had a lot of people ask whether I would prefer primary care/specialty, and what specialties I was interested at the time and why.

My specialty choices: Neuropath :love:, Neurology, ID... among others. Not enough experience to know obviously, but love the brain and any kind of imaging, and not sure my grades etc will be up to par for radiology or neuroradiology.
 
Geneticist said:
Do medical schools expect you to have a specialty in mind before matriculating? Does the question of specialty come up often during med school interviews? I ask this because I haven't a clue which specialty would be the best fit for me.
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I have had the question "what kind of doctor do I see myself being?" come up in a couple of interviews. It's not that they expect you to know what you want to do, but it's a chance for them to see how much you've considered the career you're embarking on.
 
mauberley said:
I have had the question "what kind of doctor do I see myself being?" come up in a couple of interviews. It's not that they expect you to know what you want to do, but it's a chance for them to see how much you've considered the career you're embarking on.
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LRAccord624 said:
1. Absolutely not. It's okay if you do though, as long as you stress that you have an open mind and you find x specialty interesting because of specific reasons (not money or lifestyle, lol).

2. Sure. I had a lot of people ask whether I would prefer primary care/specialty, and what specialties I was interested at the time and why.
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I had to quote both because they were great responses...

Will they think it naive of me to choose a ROAD specialty? I'm really interested in derm but I don't want to sound obnoxious by choosing something really competitive...
 
Geneticist said:
I had to quote both because they were great responses...

Will they think it naive of me to choose a ROAD specialty? I'm really interested in derm but I don't want to sound obnoxious by choosing something really competitive...
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As long as you have good justification for choosing it, you have the right to be interested in whatever you want. I'd think it would help if you'd done extensive derm shadowing/had other experience with it.
 
I'm very interested in occupational/environmental health issues, so maybe something along those lines (I have a strong background in environmental science so it would be really cool to blend that with my soon-to-be acquired medicine background and help make people healthier)

other things that seem cool

oncology-cancer is a fascinating disease, and it's of course partially environmentally influenced in ways that are not fully understood

infectious disease--you can help sooo many people, it's cool at the level of an individual (volunteering at an ID clinic helped me learn this) and at the level of the population (loads of super cool public health issues that manifest in the individual, for instance, it was surprising how many TB patients came through that ID clinic)

no matter what it's looking like an IM residency for me. hopefully I'll like it when I get to be an M3
 
Geneticist said:
Do medical schools expect you to have a specialty in mind before matriculating? Does the question of specialty come up often during med school interviews? I ask this because I haven't a clue which specialty would be the best fit for me.
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98% of the posters in this thread have no idea what they're going to specialize in... they're just unaware of this fact.
 
Orthopedic Surgery Please :oops:

If not pediatric anesthesiology working with ortho surgeons :)
 
WingedOx said:
98% of the posters in this thread have no idea what they're going to specialize in... they're just unaware of this fact.
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I am completely aware of this fact...it gets so annoying when family members and friends ask what you want to specialize in. Rather than explaining to them how rotations work, I just say Orthopedics
 
poshdoctor said:
I am currently not interested in plastics, however I would like to hear why you fell that way.....
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Because, statistically speaking, you [as a future med student] will not have very good odds at matching into it. He wasn't insulting you, but rather making an objective aside.
 
Some kind of surgery, but im guessing thats what about 80% of people want to do...
 
Frazier said:
Because, statistically speaking, you [as a future med student] will not have very good odds at matching into it. He wasn't insulting you, but rather making an objective aside.
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Right.

53% of people get matched into plastic surgery. I'm not saying you can't do it, but the odds are against you. Then again, we're all looking to beat the odds in one way or another so who knows...
 
I'm not sure because at this point I'd really like to live in a rural area, and by rural I mean similar to where I grew up, like <4000 people (not 50000 like some people consider rural). That would probably limit me to something like Family Med, EM, OB, Gen Surg, etc. I like the idea of rural gen surg though. All of the super-specialized fields (Cardiac EP, Interventional Rads, etc.) are really interesting to me though so who knows. I guess in clinicals I'll find out whether I love a specialty enough to live in a big city, or whether I'll stick to the smaller towns with a more general field. Obviously scores and grades might have something to do with this to...:smuggrin:
 
HBSlim said:
I'm not sure because at this point I'd really like to live in a rural area, and by rural I mean similar to where I grew up, like <4000 people (not 50000 like some people consider rural). That would probably limit me to something like Family Med, EM, OB, Gen Surg, etc. I like the idea of rural gen surg though. All of the super-specialized fields (Cardiac EP, Interventional Rads, etc.) are really interesting to me though so who knows. I guess in clinicals I'll find out whether I love a specialty enough to live in a big city, or whether I'll stick to the smaller towns with a more general field. Obviously scores and grades might have something to do with this to...:smuggrin:
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Rural areas still need derms, rads, and opthos, too. There aren't too many specialties that are exclusive to urban areas.
 
Infectious diseases and nephrology. With a fellowship in cynical misanthropy.

Edit: Actually leaning towards pediatric something-or-otherology. Maybe EM. Maybe just straight peds. But rest assured, I'll be the Dr. House of peds.
"Do you just want your Teddy, Billy, or do you NEED your Teddy?"
"Dr. Vivalavie, what are you talking ab--"
I rip Teddy's head off, revealing the insulin little Billy has been injecting the whole time.
"Everybody lies. Classic Munchausen, turf him back to childcare, he'll be back to fingerpainting and faking syncope in no time."
 
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Geneticist said:
Rural areas still need derms, rads, and opthos, too. There aren't too many specialties that are exclusive to urban areas.
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Very true. Looking back I wasn't very comprehensive in my rural list:oops:. I guess most of the more specialized things that I was thinking of were more in the realm of being limited to academic hospitals and larger community hospitals (cath labs, more specialized and pediatric surgery). That being said, a town of 12000 near me recently got a cardiac cath lab so who knows.
 
vivalavie said:
Infectious diseases and nephrology. With a fellowship in cynical misanthropy.

Edit: Actually leaning towards pediatric something-or-otherology. Maybe EM. Maybe just straight peds. But rest assured, I'll be the Dr. House of peds.
"Do you just want your Teddy, Billy, or do you NEED your Teddy?"
"Dr. Vivalavie, what are you talking ab--"
I rip Teddy's head off, revealing the insulin little Billy has been injecting the whole time.
"Everybody lies. Classic Munchausen, turf him back to childcare, he'll be back to fingerpainting and faking syncope in no time."
Click to expand...

:scared: not a very nice pediatrician......lol
 
Geneticist said:
Right.

53% of people get matched into plastic surgery. I'm not saying you can't do it, but the odds are against you. Then again, we're all looking to beat the odds in one way or another so who knows...
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I've seen that but I don't know if it's only for integrated plastics or if it also includes people who applied after a Gen Surg residency.
 
HBSlim said:
Very true. Looking back I wasn't very comprehensive in my rural list:oops:. I guess most of the more specialized things that I was thinking of were more in the realm of being limited to academic hospitals and larger community hospitals (cath labs, more specialized and pediatric surgery). That being said, a town of 12000 near me recently got a cardiac cath lab so who knows.
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Oh there are plenty of opportunities to specialize in rural areas. I wouldn't worry about that. ;)
 
Geneticist said:
Right.

53% of people get matched into plastic surgery. I'm not saying you can't do it, but the odds are against you. Then again, we're all looking to beat the odds in one way or another so who knows...
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I'm not interested in plastics! :)I'm interested in Orthopedics. Where can I find the residency stats on Orthopedics and Anesthesiology??
 
Trauma Surgery...I work in an ER and whenever the really cool cases come in they always get sent up to trauma. Guy with a branch through his abdomen? ...send him to trauma. A criminal went all high noon and tried to have a shootout with the cops?...trauma.
 
poshdoctor said:
I'm not interested in plastics! :)I'm interested in Orthopedics. Where can I find the residency stats on Orthopedics and Anesthesiology??
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Check this website. Anesthesiology actually isn't that competitive. When I first saw the match statistics for anesth, I was quite surprised...
 
poshdoctor said:
:scared: not a very nice pediatrician......lol
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Oh come on, don't defend Billy, the little bed-wetter robbed his mom to support his little insulin habit, and with the revolving-door policy in today's time out corners he'll be back in the school yard hustling meds for sparkly stickers in no time flat.
 
Either Medical Oncology, or Infectious Disease (Im taking immunology right now and its pretty awesome).
 
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