Is it bad to talk about this in your essay...

[surfguy84]

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Specifically, what type of physician you want to be. Personally, I am hugely drawn to PMR. I've done a lot of work with the disabled in the past, and frankly, being able to be a PMR doc is what has inspired me to take my pre-reqs and apply to med school.

That said, I worry that schools may think I'm too close-minded, won't be happy if I don't get PMR, etc.

Is it a bad idea to tell schools exactly what type of doc you want to become?

 

[Pacna]

I think the general idea is that it's not a positive and should be avoided, but it's all about what you think is important.

 

[Jennyfishy]

From past threads, most people have said that discussing any specific specialty /can/ be a good thing if done correctly, but mostly if it relates to working with underserved/primary care. My understanding is that as a general rule of thumb, discussing why you want to work towards any specialty (e.g. radiology, etc.) is a bad thing/should be avoided.


HOWEVER, if your past experiences inspired you and shaped/defined who you are/and working with a PMR physician eventually led to your desire to pursue medicine, it sounds important to discuss and I don't see that on the same "do not write about it" category 😛

 

[SN12357]

Specifically, what type of physician you want to be. Personally, I am hugely drawn to PMR. I've done a lot of work with the disabled in the past, and frankly, being able to be a PMR doc is what has inspired me to take my pre-reqs and apply to med school.

That said, I worry that schools may think I'm too close-minded, won't be happy if I don't get PMR, etc.

Is it a bad idea to tell schools exactly what type of doc you want to become?

I think the best direction to go in would be to talk about your work with the disabled and how it has influenced you wanting to be a physician, and that you would like to work with that population in the future. This showcases your interest without looking like you're only interested in one specialty. Wanting to work with the disabled is a big positive--there is a lot of need and the particular issues people with disabilities face are not well addressed within the current medical system.

I did something similar; I talked about my interest in working with a certain population. It has gone very well for me so far in this cycle.

In general saying you want to go into one particular and hugely competitive specialty would be looked on poorly, but expression interest in more general practice/primary care would not. I am pretty sure LizzyM said this at some point on these forums.

 

[mcloaf]

I think the best direction to go in would be to talk about your work with the disabled and how it has influenced you wanting to be a physician, and that you would like to work with that population in the future. This showcases your interest without looking like you're only interested in one specialty. Wanting to work with the disabled is a big positive--there is a lot of need and the particular issues people with disabilities face are not well addressed within the current medical system.

I did something similar; I talked about my interest in working with a certain population. It has gone very well for me so far in this cycle.

In general saying you want to go into one particular and hugely competitive specialty would be looked on poorly, but expression interest in more general practice/primary care would not. I am pretty sure LizzyM said this at some point on these forums.

This is good advice. Saying you're only interested in one specialty tends to rub people the wrong way as it's generally interpreted as naive.

 

[pietachok]

You write the essay about PMR when you apply to residency. You write an essay about medicine when you apply to medical school. Writing an essay overly focused on why you want to do PMR makes about as much sense as writing a college personal statement that explains to me why you want to be a doctor . . . and then squeezing in "and I have to go to college to become a doctor." Overall, you need to write about this step and convince people you're on the right path and know what you need to get from and bring to this part of your training.

This doesn't mean you can't talk a lot about your experiences in PMR, but you need to frame it properly. Until you've done clinical rotations, you have little credibility saying you're going to do PMR, b/c it's like saying your favorite fruit is apples when you've never tried bananas, oranges, or peaches. However, you can credibly explain how that apple made you excited to try other fruit -- how did PMR make you excited to pursue medicine and see if there's maybe even a better fit or simply more wonderful aspects to PMR? PMR in so many ways is an amalgam of parts of multiple fields, so if you are attracted to PMR there should be underlying reasons/themes that can be fleshed out to explain why you want to go into medicine. Articulating how this specific experience relates to your potential/fit/attraction of medicine as a whole also gives an opportunity to show that you put mature, thoughtful consideration into a very big life decision.

Other potential pitfalls of writing a love letter to a/this specific field: being misconstrued to be belittling of other specialties that you haven't even tried, being perceived to be overly focused on pay/hours since PMR is increasingly being seen as a lifestyle specialty.

 

[sobored]

You write the essay about PMR when you apply to residency. You write an essay about medicine when you apply to medical school. Writing an essay overly focused on why you want to do PMR makes about as much sense as writing a college personal statement that explains to me why you want to be a doctor . . . and then squeezing in "and I have to go to college to become a doctor." Overall, you need to write about this step and convince people you're on the right path and know what you need to get from and bring to this part of your training.

This doesn't mean you can't talk a lot about your experiences in PMR, but you need to frame it properly. Until you've done clinical rotations, you have little credibility saying you're going to do PMR, b/c it's like saying your favorite fruit is apples when you've never tried bananas, oranges, or peaches. However, you can credibly explain how that apple made you excited to try other fruit -- how did PMR make you excited to pursue medicine and see if there's maybe even a better fit or simply more wonderful aspects to PMR? PMR in so many ways is an amalgam of parts of multiple fields, so if you are attracted to PMR there should be underlying reasons/themes that can be fleshed out to explain why you want to go into medicine. Articulating how this specific experience relates to your potential/fit/attraction of medicine as a whole also gives an opportunity to show that you put mature, thoughtful consideration into a very big life decision.

Other potential pitfalls of writing a love letter to a/this specific field: being misconstrued to be belittling of other specialties that you haven't even tried, being perceived to be overly focused on pay/hours since PMR is increasingly being seen as a lifestyle specialty.

Bingo. Enough said.

 

[LizzyM]

Specifically, what type of physician you want to be. Personally, I am hugely drawn to PMR. I've done a lot of work with the disabled in the past, and frankly, being able to be a PMR doc is what has inspired me to take my pre-reqs and apply to med school.

That said, I worry that schools may think I'm too close-minded, won't be happy if I don't get PMR, etc.

Is it a bad idea to tell schools exactly what type of doc you want to become?

You could get around this my emphazing that you are particularly interested in working with the disabled. Now PMR is a logical choice but many other specialties also treat patients with disabilities (rheumatology and neurology are two that come to mind as well as many pediatric specialties) so you would not be boxing yourself in to say that you have had positive experiences with this population and are particularly interested in serving them.

 

[Goro]

It's fine.

Specifically, what type of physician you want to be. Personally, I am hugely drawn to PMR. I've done a lot of work with the disabled in the past, and frankly, being able to be a PMR doc is what has inspired me to take my pre-reqs and apply to med school.

That said, I worry that schools may think I'm too close-minded, won't be happy if I don't get PMR, etc.

Is it a bad idea to tell schools exactly what type of doc you want to become?