Mention specialty in personal statement?

[shantster]

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Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything in the search.

I know that I really want to go into hematology/oncology as a specialty, so would it be to early to mention it in the personal statement? I became interested in the field in high school, and then in college I shadowed a hem/onc, and I elaborated on these in the personal statement. I know that this could change during rotations, which I also mentioned in the PS.

Should I keep this in there?

 

[Dr.Andrews]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything in the search.

I know that I really want to go into hematology/oncology as a specialty, so would it be to early to mention it in the personal statement? I became interested in the field in high school, and then in college I shadowed a hem/onc, and I elaborated on these in the personal statement. I know that this could change during rotations, which I also mentioned in the PS.

Should I keep this in there?

I have done something similar, I think it shows that you have thought about medicine and what you want to do.

 

[frostynorthwind]

Sounds good to me. As long as your interest is well-founded on experience in the field (be it shadowing a doc, volunteering, or working for a hem/oncologist) I would think mentioning it in your personal statement would show your sincere committment to hem/onc and that you understand the benefits and detriments of the field.

 

[notdeadyet]

Unless you have professional experience in the field (as in, a few years of full time work experience), I'd hesitate to start specifying a specialty choice before you've taken a single medical school class. Talk about wanting to become a doctor. Most folks change their mind on specialties several times before graduating medical school.

 

[DrBowtie]

I would mention it as an interest rather than "I am going to be a medical oncologist"

 

[notdeadyet]

I would mention it as an interest rather than "I am going to be a medical oncologist"

He said it better. And more tersely.

 

[SeminoleFan3]

I agree with Brett. I've read numerous posts that people were told by adcoms that they shouldn't pick a specialty because they haven't really been exposed to most of them. I'd just mention it as a area of interest.

 

[Monette]

Unless you have professional experience in the field (as in, a few years of full time work experience), I'd hesitate to start specifying a specialty choice before you've taken a single medical school class. Talk about wanting to become a doctor. Most folks change their mind on specialties several times before graduating medical school.

Word. If one of the secondary questions alludes to or asks about what field you are currently interested in, then you can talk about it then - but I would definitely leave it out of the personal statement. And even for such questions in secondaries, I have heard that it is more important to show that you are cognizant of the fact that you don't know enough to make an informed decision so early in your career and are therefore keeping your options open. You may come across as naive otherwise.

My 2 percent of a dollar. Do with it what you will.
Monette

 

[shantster]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to rephrase it so that it comes off as more of a strong interest rather than what I plan to go into. I've thought about pulling it out completely, but I think that it would be harder to explain what I got out of my shadowing experiences and such if I did that.

 

[Avalanche21]

If you mention it, I'd make sure to know some details about it (how long it takes, what's involved, family life). If you are asked about details and don't know them, then you might be perceived as naive. But as people said before, it's good that you have something in mind because they might ask you that too.

 

[LizzyM]

Obviously, something about the treatment of cancer got you interested in pursuing a career in medicine. You followed up with shadowing, etc, in the field of oncology. I think that is is fine to follow that thread from your initial interest in medicine as a career and describe how your life has unfolded since then. You can then give the disclaimer that you may find another area of medicine to be better suited to your interests and skills once you get into med school (rather than internal medicine you might end up in pediatrics and do peds/onc or one of the surgical specialties that does a lot of cancer treatment like urology or GYN) - or maybe something will hit you out of the blue and you'll do a 180 on heme/onc and decide on something that you can't even dream of today.

 

[Booner]

I'm not sure I'd go with the "strong interest," maybe just an area you've been exposed to and like. Last year I wrote about my great interest in orthopedics and was told by two interviewers that it's generally considered a bad idea to show such strong interest. So this year I've retooled the whole thing and I talk about my experiences shadowing an orthopedist, but I don't say that I would like to be one. Also, if you're really hoping to get into a school that's very proud of producing primary care docs it's a really bad idea. My interviewers at UW grilled me about wanting to become an orthopedist. For those schools it seems as though if you say you want to be anything other than a PCP they don't want you, which I find stupid because a lot of their graduates obviously don't go into primary care so they shouldn't shy away from admitting those with other interests.

 

[vtucci]

I have heard that this is a double edged sword-- that mentioning the specialty when most students change their minds during the course of med school may be perceived as not as convincing by the ADCOMs or it can be seen as someone with real direction particularly if there is a good reason behind the choice.

I mentioned Emergency Med in my PS and have no intention of changing my mind with respect to the specialty before I leave med school.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I agree with Veronica. I've been exposed (more than most premeds) to a large variety of medical specialties. Emergency medicine is the only specialty that has held my interest for any extended period of time. I do know courtesy of my experience that I have zero interest in OB/GYN, family practice, general internal medicine, and several other specialties.

 

[vtucci]

Forgot to mention, there is one student in my class that I recall mentioning that he wrote about hem/onc in his personal statement but he is also a PhD and had been working on cancer research prior to applying to medical school.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

I have heard that this is a double edged sword-- that mentioning the specialty when most students change their minds during the course of med school may be perceived as not as convincing by the ADCOMs or it can be seen as someone with real direction particularly if there is a good reason behind the choice.

I mentioned Emergency Med in my PS and have no intention of changing my mind with respect to the specialty before I leave med school.

That's awesome for you, but for a PS it's a gamble. As some have suggested, it would be better to phrase things as "I had really good experiences shadowing in the ED/oncology clinic/FP clinic/OR that led me to think that medicine was for me." If you say "I am going to do X" you run the (small) risk of an interviewer sort of grilling you about it, and what if your interviewer has a particular hostility towards that field? It's unlikely, but possible.

I think it's awesome when people get excited about a field in medicine and then stay pumped all the way through med school and enter that field. But things change, alot.

I went to med school BECAUSE I wanted to be a certain kind of doc, dropped that interest within the first semester. With all due respect, even if you shadow for 200 hrs you really don't know what being a doctor entails until you get pretty far into med school. I include myself in this list b/c I'm only a rising M3.

Good luck w/ everything.

 

[njbmd]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything in the search.

I know that I really want to go into hematology/oncology as a specialty, so would it be to early to mention it in the personal statement? I became interested in the field in high school, and then in college I shadowed a hem/onc, and I elaborated on these in the personal statement. I know that this could change during rotations, which I also mentioned in the PS.

Should I keep this in there?

Hi there,
Feel free to mention an interest in a specialty but add a disclaimer that lets the reader know that you are aware of the realities of medicine and medical school. Be sure to add a line such as, while I have an interest in going in to specialty X or Y, I know that I could develop a love for specialty Z as I get experience during third or fourth year as you have stated above.

From personal experience, I went in with experience and interest in Adolescent medicine and now after four years in general surgery, I am the happiest person on earth. I was totally dedicated to pediatrics right up until I scrubbed my first case during my third year clerkship in surgery. I was all ready to hate surgery and was hooked from the first cut.

Medical school gives you experiences that you will never have anywhere else. There are things like holding a beathing human heart in your hand or watching a newbornly born human take their first breath. I am surprised on a daily basis.

njbmd 🙂

 

[DropkickMurphy]

watching a newbornly born human take their first breath

I've delivered three babies in ten years as an first responder and then an EMT, personally it still makes me nauseous. OB/GYN is the rotation I am going to loathe during medical school.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

I've delivered three babies in ten years as an first responder and then an EMT, personally it still makes me nauseous. OB/GYN is the rotation I am going to loathe during medical school.

Obviously there's nothing nasty like that in the ED.

 

[vtucci]

That's awesome for you, but for a PS it's a gamble. As some have suggested, it would be better to phrase things as "I had really good experiences shadowing in the ED/oncology clinic/FP clinic/OR that led me to think that medicine was for me." If you say "I am going to do X" you run the (small) risk of an interviewer sort of grilling you about it, and what if your interviewer has a particular hostility towards that field? It's unlikely, but possible.

I think it's awesome when people get excited about a field in medicine and then stay pumped all the way through med school and enter that field. But things change, alot.

I went to med school BECAUSE I wanted to be a certain kind of doc, dropped that interest within the first semester. With all due respect, even if you shadow for 200 hrs you really don't know what being a doctor entails until you get pretty far into med school. I include myself in this list b/c I'm only a rising M3.

Good luck w/ everything.

I agree it definitely was a risk and I got asked about it. To the OP, be able to discuss the reasons for this choice other than it was what you have done so far. Because as others have stated, many students change their minds. If there is a more compelling reason and you are comfortable articulating it, it can make you stand out. Also, I agree with Amory that 200 hours is nothing--it is a couple of weekends.

For me, I had a very dramatic reason for this- my experience with 9/11-- and I also had a lot of EMT and ED research experience prior to applying. I am also an older student if that puts it in perspective so I know my own mind.

I have also experienced a number of other fields including internal medicine (with well over 1000+ hours in a VA) and psych with my longitudinal clinical experience in the first year of medical school (I had an acquitance with the field given various member of my family prior to med school-- my grandmother and uncle are bipolar and a cousin has seasonal depressive disorder. Another aunt had depression).

Personally, I love EM because of the fast pace (I love the inner city ERs-- I realize not all ERs have the same pace) and great variety of complaints and the ability to work up a problem from scratch without a presumed diagnosis being handed to you by another department.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Eh, I can deliver babies if I have to....but I don't want to do it day in, day out.