Incoming OMS-1 - When to Shadow?

[theRatWhisperer]

As I prepare to enter medical school in July, I’ve started to think about potential specialties. I know the match is years away, but the idea of not being 100% sure of what I want to do for the rest of my career when the time comes to submit applications scares the crap out of me.

My research process so far has been listening to podcasts with various specialists and reading forums and articles online. As you might guess, this process hasn’t narrowed things down too much, although it’s given me an idea of things I might NOT like, which might be valuable in the long run.

My question for current osteopathic med students (especially those without large academic medical centers affiliated with their schools), is when I should begin reaching out to specialists in non-core rotation specialties (e.g. urology, PM&R, radiology, etc.) to set up some shadowing hours. I want to begin to see some of these specialties first hand to really help me start narrowing down my list. However, I know handling the transition to medical school is a big challenge for a lot of students, so I want that to be my top priority going in. Does anyone have any recommendations as to when I should start to set up this kind of shadowing? I’d love to have some under my belt by the end of first year, but really want to know if it’s worth it to start in the first semester, or better to hold off until second semester/summer of OMS-1.

Thanks for any advice!

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[Cranjis McBasketball]

As I prepare to enter medical school in July, I’ve started to think about potential specialties. I know the match is years away, but the idea of not being 100% sure of what I want to do for the rest of my career when the time comes to submit applications scares the crap out of me.

My research process so far has been listening to podcasts with various specialists and reading forums and articles online. As you might guess, this process hasn’t narrowed things down too much, although it’s given me an idea of things I might NOT like, which might be valuable in the long run.

My question for current osteopathic med students (especially those without large academic medical centers affiliated with their schools), is when I should begin reaching out to specialists in non-core rotation specialties (e.g. urology, PM&R, radiology, etc.) to set up some shadowing hours. I want to begin to see some of these specialties first hand to really help me start narrowing down my list. However, I know handling the transition to medical school is a big challenge for a lot of students, so I want that to be my top priority going in. Does anyone have any recommendations as to when I should start to set up this kind of shadowing? I’d love to have some under my belt by the end of first year, but really want to know if it’s worth it to start in the first semester, or better to hold off until second semester/summer of OMS-1.

Thanks for any advice!

Relax man. Focus on school for now. You'll figure it out 3rd year. You'll think one way first couple years and then be shocked when you enjoy or dont enjoy those specialties during 3rd year.

 

[calivianya]

Honestly it’s not necessary... but if you’re going to do it, I’d do it right now, before med school starts.

I really enjoyed what free time I had the preclinical years. I would have hated my life and myself if I’d wasted that free time shadowing. It’s even worse for third year - you’re not gonna want to hang out with the weekend crew in whatever specialty, if the specialties you’re interested in even have hospital or clinic hours on the weekends, after you’ve done a full week of work.

Besides, you’ll actually have things you can do in your free time in school - get involved with research, find some volunteering, whatever. Don’t waste that time shadowing if you feel like you have to be productive.


I will also let you in on a secret about shadowing, if you haven’t figured it out yet - whether or not you enjoy what *that* person does has no bearing on whether you’ll enjoy the specialty. We were forced to do primary care shadowing at my school, and the first guy I rotated with was a complete jerk - his patients definitely responded to that energy because they were all jerks, every patient encounter was a fight, and I swore I’d drop out and be homeless before I had a job like that. Then, I ended up with a FM guy who decided to specialize in HIV and he has the nicest patient population I’ve ever met. He still worked long hours, though. Then, on my third year FM rotations, I met the chillest preceptor I’ve had so far. She doesn’t show up until 9:30, she leaves early, and she has a huge patient load but she is incredibly efficient. Those 9:30-3p workdays? Awesome, and she leaves at 12 every Friday. She definitely has the best work/life balance of any doc I’ve encountered, in any specialty.

You will find that the person you are shadowing will color your opinion of a specialty, so shadowing can hurt just as much as it can help. You have a bad experience and you’ll write off a whole specialty erroneously.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Honestly shadowing isn’t really necessary at all. What you should do is take the most competitive specialty you could possibly be interested in and act as if that’s what you are going to do. If you get through rotations and decide it’s what you actually want then great, if you switch to something else then you will be well positioned to switch to that.

Unfortunately you aren’t going to get a great exposure to some specialties and will just have to make as informed opinion as you can.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

You should rule out nearly all surgical subspecialties unless you're at a state or a "top" DO school with tons of personal connections. Focus on FM, community/low-tier IM, PM&R, neuro, etc. I refer you to this reddit post

View attachment 335521

There is no such thing as a top DO school.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

It's just that some schools have more connections to residencies. I believe ~3 DO schools made up >3/4 of all uro and ophtho matches this year and I personally know people at "top" DO schools that had <500 COMLEX, no USMLE and matched rads but with strong family connections.

The Rads anecdotes have nothing to do with the school and are due to the family connections.

Schools with residencies do help in getting those spots, sure.

 

[Tragal Pointer]

You should rule out nearly all surgical subspecialties unless you're at a state or a "top" DO school with tons of personal connections. Focus on FM, community/low-tier IM, PM&R, neuro, etc. I refer you to this reddit post

View attachment 335521

The concept of a “top” DO school is ridiculous. I would question any advice from someone who used such terminology.

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

The concept of a “top” DO school is ridiculous. I would question any advice from someone who used such terminology.

I dont think theyve started school yet

 

[Kardio]

The concept of a “top” DO school is ridiculous. I would question any advice from someone who used such terminology.

I would question the advice of anyone citing a reddit post. It’s worse than citing Twitter as a ‘news source.’

 

[Ho0v-man]

You should rule out nearly all surgical subspecialties unless you're at a state or a "top" DO school with tons of personal connections. Focus on FM, community/low-tier IM, PM&R, neuro, etc. I refer you to this reddit post

View attachment 335521

Absolutely awful advice.

 

[Neopolymath]

I refer you to the NRMP match outcomes then. OP will have even a harder time than now considering both COMLEX and USMLE will be P/F

It's pretty clear the only person who needs to read Charting Outcomes is you here lol

 

[DOVinciRobot]

OP attends LECOM so it's a lost cause to even try. The charting outcomes results are abysmal for DOs and literally most, if not all, of the surgical subspecialty matches are from PCOM, TCOM, MSU, KCU etc which all have their own residencies. Data is more nuanced than you seem to be able to comprehend.

Uh no.....

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

OP attends LECOM so it's a lost cause to even try. The charting outcomes results are abysmal for DOs and literally most, if not all, of the surgical subspecialty matches are from PCOM, TCOM, MSU, KCU etc which all have their own residencies. Data is more nuanced than you seem to be able to comprehend.

Have you started school yet?

 

[theRatWhisperer]

OP attends LECOM so it's a lost cause to even try....

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

(MD)

Im not worthy

 

[Neopolymath]

OP attends LECOM so it's a lost cause to even try. The charting outcomes results are abysmal for DOs and literally most, if not all, of the surgical subspecialty matches are from PCOM, TCOM, MSU, KCU etc which all have their own residencies. Data is more nuanced than you seem to be able to comprehend.

Where did OP say they are only considering surgical subs?

Once again, you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Neopolymath]

rising MS-2 (MD)

That's funny. This thread is your first post on the forum and Goro quoted the post

This shows you changed your name and asked about applying in this thread from 2021.

You are a troll. Stop messing with someone's legitimate question with you fake answers and lies.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

That's funny. This thread is your first post on the forum and Goro quoted the post

This shows you changed your name and asked about applying in this thread from 2021.

You are a troll. Stop messing with someone's legitimate question with you fake answers and lies.

Lmao

 

[Spectreman]

I shadowed some surgeons in their clinic during M1 and it was a good experience. I also went to tumor board at our local core site starting the first week of med school and it was always a fun time. Can’t say it helped me match, but I think it’s just a good way to stay hungry.

 

[deleted952648]

Honestly shadowing isn’t really necessary at all. What you should do is take the most competitive specialty you could possibly be interested in and act as if that’s what you are going to do. If you get through rotations and decide it’s what you actually want then great, if you switch to something else then you will be well positioned to switch to that.

Unfortunately you aren’t going to get a great exposure to some specialties and will just have to make as informed opinion as you can.

Is there a problem with having all of your research in a specific competitive speciality if you end up switching out later? For example, if you have a ton of pubs in derm but don't score high enough on boards or change your mind. Would all that effort be wasted, or even worse, detrimental when applying to something else?

 

[theRatWhisperer]

Is there a problem with having all of your research in a specific competitive speciality if you end up switching out later? For example, if you have a ton of pubs in derm but don't score high enough on boards or change your mind. Would all that effort be wasted, or even worse, detrimental when applying to something else?

This is something I have thought about more too. I have spent the last 3 years in basic/translational neuroscience labs at a large academic medical center and already have a few pubs under my belt. That’s kinda why I want to start shadowing ASAP. If I find something more enjoyable from a clinical standpoint (I have been slightly bored by my experiences shadowing neurologists in clinic), then I want to be able to pivot to a different field of research to help my residency applications.

If I just continued with neuro research, would that be beneficial to any residency app or would it be frowned upon if I wasn’t applying neurology?

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Is there a problem with having all of your research in a specific competitive speciality if you end up switching out later? For example, if you have a ton of pubs in derm but don't score high enough on boards or change your mind. Would all that effort be wasted, or even worse, detrimental when applying to something else?

No. All you have to do is be able to answer questions about why the specialty you’re applying to instead of the one your research is in. People know that applicants change their minds

 

[Neopolymath]

Just focus on being productive. Don't turn down good projects worrying about this. It's really an overblown issue. It is always better to have good research in the wrong field than none or weak research in the correct field.

A good applicant can sell their research experiences to any field.