MS3: Peds vs. Radiology

[drshakespeare]

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--also posted in peds--
Hey everyone--I've used this site as a guide through undergrad and med school, and it's been very helpful--thanks to everyone contributing to make it a great resource. This is my first time posting, and I really appreciate your ear (or actually, eyes) and any advice or help y'all might have to offer.
I'm wrapping up my third year, so the ball's rolling regarding dean's letter, CV, resume--all the residency app stuff. Mid-year, I had been through rotations like medicine, surgery, and OB-GYN and pretty much came to conclude my personality and strengths would be better fitted for a consult/behind the scenes role, like rads, anesthesia, path. I just wasn't energized by patient interaction and clinic like some people were; instead, it seemed to exhaust me (and that's just in the--let's face it--noncontributory role of the med student). I'm not a very warm and fuzzy person on the outside. So when my radiology elective came around, I was really looking forward to something very different, and I could kind of see myself in that role. The "expert" diagnostician, working with other physicians, getting to focus on one study at a time and not juggling social issues/fielding consults/prepping discharge that is the world of the inpatient primary. Also, everyone in rads was very chill and very much my kind of people. I specifically really liked peds rads, as pediatric disease can be so unique, and they seem to be the last people in the field who really get to touch every modality regularly (in academia, anyway). So, I was pretty sold on it at that point.

Then, peds came, and I got confused. I felt less stiff on the rotation and cared about the patients more. I still didn't care for social stuff, but I enjoyed patient care more because it wasn't your adult COPD/CHF/diabetes/HTN cocktail. It was usually one specific problem to work on and solve. And I also found that I really cared about the special needs kids (cerebral palsy, genetic syndromes, crippling epilepsy) a lot. They just made me think that these are the kids that need so much help, and no one really talks about them. Anyway, I didn't really give peds that much thought by the end of the rotation just because it was getting close to the end of MS3, I was tired, and I just settled in to having already made up my mind. Now, though, I'm finishing the year with a peds subspecialty elective, and I'm really having a great time and starting to seriously reconsider. Again, everyone in peds is happy, they bring me out of my shell, and many of the patients are a lot of fun. Also, a lot of the diseases afflicting them are terribly interesting.

I'm to the point where I'm working on my personal statement, and I just can't seem to find anything to say about radiology. I can think of a whole list for peds, though. Is that my answer? Anyone else out there struggle with a decision like this--if not exactly the same, between similar fields? Am I forgetting to think about something that I should really consider?

What mainly scares me about this is peds seems so, so different from radiology.

 

[colbgw02]

I have to say...peds vs. radiology is an uncommon dilemma in my experience. The most common ones seem to involve some sort of surgery, often times ortho, vs. radiology.

You're looking for an "a ha" moment, but I don't think you'll necessarily get one. Being able to think of interesting talking points on a personal statement is useful only inasmuch as it reflects legitimately held beliefs. It's up to you to decide whether or not you really believe the things you might write on a pediatric personal statement. I will say that I don't think a lack of passion for radiology is necessarily a disqualifier. As much as I'd like to see my future colleagues on fire about radiology, I understand that this is a field that people come to (and often eventually enjoy) after dismissing all the rest.

I don't subscribe to the idea that someone can only be happy in one field of medicine, but these two specialties are so different that I think you really need to decide what type of doctor you want to be. Are you okay with being behind the scenes vs. or do you want to be on the "frontline"?

By the way, cross-posting in multiple forums is a TOS violation.

 

[drshakespeare]

I have to say...peds vs. radiology is an uncommon dilemma in my experience. The most common ones seem to involve some sort of surgery, often times ortho, vs. radiology.

You're looking for an "a ha" moment, but I don't think you'll necessarily get one. Being able to think of interesting talking points on a personal statement is useful only inasmuch as it reflects legitimately held beliefs. It's up to you to decide whether or not you really believe the things you might write on a pediatric personal statement. I will say that I don't think a lack of passion for radiology is necessarily a disqualifier. As much as I'd like to see my future colleagues on fire about radiology, I understand that this is a field that people come to (and often eventually enjoy) after dismissing all the rest.

I don't subscribe to the idea that someone can only be happy in one field of medicine, but these two specialties are so different that I think you really need to decide what type of doctor you want to be. Are you okay with being behind the scenes vs. or do you want to be on the "frontline"?

By the way, cross-posting in multiple forums is a TOS violation.

Thanks for the reply. I kind of knew it was going to be a leap either way--it seems it's especially tough to know if you'd enjoy radiology. I liken the med student experience to watching someone else watch a movie (discounts the intellectual engagement but pretty much how I feel sometimes). I think my decision has boiled down to these two partly because, for better or worse, they are where I've felt most comfortable and engaged.

I apologize for the violation. I thought it'd be nice to get perspective from both sides, and I don't really know any other way to do that here other than double posting. I'll remove the other.

Edit: or not. Guess I can't do that myself.

 

[colbgw02]

Thanks for the reply. I kind of knew it was going to be a leap either way--it seems it's especially tough to know if you'd enjoy radiology. I liken the med student experience to watching someone else watch a movie (discounts the intellectual engagement but pretty much how I feel sometimes). I think my decision has boiled down to these two partly because, for better or worse, they are where I've felt most comfortable and engaged.

Watching someone else play a video game...not watch a movie...is the metaphor you're looking for.

If you felt engaged in radiology, then that's good sign. That said, everyone chooses a specialty, in part, because of their experiences as students. It's not a mistake that my school had both a great medicine clerkship and a high percentage of students going into medicine.

If you were already drawn to radiology, then I urge you to concentrate on what aspects of pediatrics that caused you to reconsider. Did you miss patient contact but just didn't previously have the right outlet? Then peds might be for you. Or do you generally dislike patient contact but reconsidered based on some great, but potentially unreproducible, experiences in peds? In which case radiology may be better.

 

[scootad.]

You should also consider that Peds Rads is a very small field. There are very few positions in Radiology where you can do 100% Pediatric Radiology and they are mostly limited to large academic centers. The competition for those spots may be tough. It's by no means a guarantee that if you pick Rads that you will get to practice only Peds Rads.

 

[Cooperd0g]

I know a guy who did a peds internship and then matched into a PGY2 spot for Rads. I'm not sure if he intends to go for a peds rads fellowship later or not. You have to do an internship in something so you could give thought yo a similar path. Maybe in the first few months of internship you could decide that you simply love peds and try to stay or realize that it wasn't all you hoped and go for rads.

 

[katielynn]

Hi there,

What did you end up choosing? I'm in a similar boat right now and am having a hard time choosing from these two as well..

 

[Radz123]

Consider Pediatrics Radiology. It's a very rewarding field.

 

[Cognovi]

I know a guy who did a peds internship and then matched into a PGY2 spot for Rads. I'm not sure if he intends to go for a peds rads fellowship later or not. You have to do an internship in something so you could give thought yo a similar path. Maybe in the first few months of internship you could decide that you simply love peds and try to stay or realize that it wasn't all you hoped and go for rads.

Second this. Although I would note that if you matched both peds prelim and rads and then wanted to stay in peds, you have to get released from your rads match somehow despite the binding agreement you signed by entering the Match. It can get dicey.

 

[Kazaki]

Consider Pediatrics Radiology. It's a very rewarding field.

hahahaha