Thank you so much for your guys responses. I'm disappointed there doesn't seem to be a direct match for medical students. I really want to take care of the heart, and right now I'm torn between CT surgery and cardiology. Either way, I'm 100% sure I do not want to do general surgery. I could be happy in many of the IM subspecialties if things didn't work out for cards.
Then almost assuredly you need to pick a non-surgical specialty. You will spend 5 years doing general surgery and speaking from experience, its incredibly difficult to go in everyday when your heart isn't in it. Obviously you can do it, many have, but you do have to see it as a "means to an end" and be able to find some joy in the OR.
I am not sure it would be worth the risk of potentially not getting CT surgery and being stuck as a general surgeon my whole life, because it is definitely not something I want to do.
There are other options besides CT surgery, but yes...you do need to have a Plan B if it (CTS) becomes competitive again and you don't match.
The rumor among the medical students is that CT is the most malignant of all the surgical specialties, would you guys say this is the case?
Obviously everyone's experience is colored by where they train. As I noted in another post elsewhere, in medical school our Pediatricians were arses, despite the stereotype of these guys being warm and fuzzy. Our surgeons were interesting, fun to be around and frankly, encouraged and noticed me. That makes a whole lot of difference when it comes to choosing a specialty.
If your definition of "malignant" is unpleasant, I would venture that many would agree with you that surgeons in high stress fields like CTS do tend to be curt, demanding, arrogant and unpleasant. I've known some that are not, then again I've known many who are. YMMV.
The nastiest surgeon I ever worked with was a Peds CT guy...very nice out of the OR but a complete PITA in the OR.
The nastiest guy out of the OR, who would slice and dice you behind your back, was MIS.
The most irrational was Surg Onc...you couldn't discuss anything with this guy if it wasn't done the way it was done at "BIG NAME HOSPITAL" where he trained.
Finally, the most demanding and protective were the Peds guys. It took a long time for them to trust you touching their kiddoes.
So, you see there is a wide range of surgeons, spread out amongst the specialties. A certain type of person is drawn to surgery and a certain other type to CTS. They DO have the stereotype of being malignant, but its more a function of basic personality tempered with the stress of the work. Bottom line is that many people who work in high stress environments with patients who are critically ill tend to be difficult to deal with.
