OMS-1: Took the SDN Specialty Quiz. Accurate?

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KeikoTanaka

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I took it once at the beginning of the year, so about 11 months ago. I ranked 95% match to Diagnostic Radiology. I wasn't sure if it was right... I never really considered nor thought I'd be interested in being a Radiologist. So for ****s and giggles I took it again just today... 98% match to Diagnostic Radiology.

Now, I know I'm a first year so its waaaay down the road and I can totally change in 3 years, but, for people who have gone through this process, has anyone taken the quiz and matched and found it to be pretty accurate?

It's funny, I've always oscillated between EM and FM (I've scribed in both setting pre-med school) and I always thought I leaned more EM solely due to the instantaneous nature of the imaging, and that imaging and lab reading to me was the most fun part because they gave you that "definitive" diagnosis. Whereas in FM you just sent them for the imaging, and just trusted what the radiologist said.

So let's pretend I go through third year and find I do really want to do Radiology... I can't imagine it being a super DO-friendly specialty... considering there's no patient contact (Can I perform OMM on a computer?)... so what do DOs do who are interested in matching rads?

Also, I've always loved traditional medicine (Physical Exam, Writing prescriptions for drugs and knowing how the drugs interact with the physiology) - how much of there is that in Radiology? How much Pharm do you need to retain? I'm sure some things are pertinent...

Anyways, I'm going into my summer before OMS-2.... so I'll have this summer to try and shadow a Radiologist.

Thanks for anyone with insight!

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I took it once at the beginning of the year, so about 11 months ago. I ranked 95% match to Diagnostic Radiology. I wasn't sure if it was right... I never really considered nor thought I'd be interested in being a Radiologist. So for ****s and giggles I took it again just today... 98% match to Diagnostic Radiology.

Now, I know I'm a first year so its waaaay down the road and I can totally change in 3 years, but, for people who have gone through this process, has anyone taken the quiz and matched and found it to be pretty accurate?

It's funny, I've always oscillated between EM and FM (I've scribed in both setting pre-med school) and I always thought I leaned more EM solely due to the instantaneous nature of the imaging, and that imaging and lab reading to me was the most fun part because they gave you that "definitive" diagnosis. Whereas in FM you just sent them for the imaging, and just trusted what the radiologist said.

So let's pretend I go through third year and find I do really want to do Radiology... I can't imagine it being a super DO-friendly specialty... considering there's no patient contact (Can I perform OMM on a computer?)... so what do DOs do who are interested in matching rads?

Also, I've always loved traditional medicine (Physical Exam, Writing prescriptions for drugs and knowing how the drugs interact with the physiology) - how much of there is that in Radiology? How much Pharm do you need to retain? I'm sure some things are pertinent...

Anyways, I'm going into my summer before OMS-2.... so I'll have this summer to try and shadow a Radiologist.

Thanks for anyone with insight!

lol the ability to practice OMM has nothing to do with making a field "DO-friendly"
 
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lol the ability to practice OMM has nothing to do with making a field "DO-friendly"
I was making a joke haha, I understand it is much more multi-faceted and has more to do with prestige, notability, school-institution connections, research experiences/opportunities, and quality of clinical rotation sites which ultimately culminate in MD bias against DOs etc
 
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DO a rads elective and see if it is for you. If you have a residency program near by ask if you can come shadow on weekends or something. Test your interest and see if it is really for you.
 
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Since you’ve already started ceding your decision making to a computer algorithm, you will be great under the new AI overlords in radiology!

(I kid, I kid)
 
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I'm going to contend that as an M1 you don't have the insight required to take the quiz or pick a specialty at this point. Study hard and keep your mind open
 
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I'm going to contend that as an M1 you don't have the insight required to take the quiz or pick a specialty at this point. Study hard and keep your mind open
It was a personality-based quiz, not a medical knowledge assessment
 
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Since you’ve already started ceding your decision making to a computer algorithm, you will be great under the new AI overlords in radiology!

(I kid, I kid)
That's why I asked if anyone had any such knowledge as to how accurate it is. If anyone could speak anecdotally about their experience with the overlap between their preferred medical specialty and what their quiz results were. I wonder how much personality makes a difference in the specialty you'll ultimately end of liking / pursuing
 
It was a personality-based quiz, not a medical knowledge assessment
Yeah. You still dont know if you will like it until you actually are in it and practicing. Frankly most people dont even know if they truely love their field or if there is another better option/fit for them out there for them even when they have matched.

The best strategy IMO is
1. Think of a number of fields you would be interested in.
2. Pick the most competitive out of them.
3. Build an app that would allow you to match into that field.
4. Actually make the decision to either apply or go into someother field you are interested in after 3rd year.
 
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First things first is I’ve always thought it’s either surgery vs not surgery. Then outpatient or inpatient. Then you go to the subject matter
 
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I took it once at the beginning of the year, so about 11 months ago. I ranked 95% match to Diagnostic Radiology. I wasn't sure if it was right... I never really considered nor thought I'd be interested in being a Radiologist. So for ****s and giggles I took it again just today... 98% match to Diagnostic Radiology.

Now, I know I'm a first year so its waaaay down the road and I can totally change in 3 years, but, for people who have gone through this process, has anyone taken the quiz and matched and found it to be pretty accurate?

It's funny, I've always oscillated between EM and FM (I've scribed in both setting pre-med school) and I always thought I leaned more EM solely due to the instantaneous nature of the imaging, and that imaging and lab reading to me was the most fun part because they gave you that "definitive" diagnosis. Whereas in FM you just sent them for the imaging, and just trusted what the radiologist said.

So let's pretend I go through third year and find I do really want to do Radiology... I can't imagine it being a super DO-friendly specialty... considering there's no patient contact (Can I perform OMM on a computer?)... so what do DOs do who are interested in matching rads?

Also, I've always loved traditional medicine (Physical Exam, Writing prescriptions for drugs and knowing how the drugs interact with the physiology) - how much of there is that in Radiology? How much Pharm do you need to retain? I'm sure some things are pertinent...

Anyways, I'm going into my summer before OMS-2.... so I'll have this summer to try and shadow a Radiologist.

Thanks for anyone with insight!

If you know that you're interested in Diagnostic Radiology, bang out a 230+ on USMLE Step 1 and start networking with your Rad preceptors, go to these conferences, and hustle hard for contacts.

But, these specialty quizzes are not reliable. The way I make my decision literally go like this:

1) Patient contact or no patient contact - if you can't stand patient, go to Rads or Path
2) So, you're ok with patient contact. How much? Mild, mod, or a ton? If mild to moderate, decide bet surgery or no surgery? If you love patient contact, consider FM, Peds, or Psych.
3) For mild to mod patient contact, do you like the OR or not? If you like the OR, consider GS, surgical subspecialty, or Anesthesiology. If not, consider Derm, or an IM subspecialty.
4) Lastly, the specialty future prospect in term of increasing demand with static supply in 10 years. Is there a lot of research being poured into this field? Will there be a ton of innovations that will change the way of practice, as well as increasing the demand of your specialty. A checkbox on all of these categories mean a high paying specialty with your ability to dictate practice model, money, and location when you become an attending physician.
 
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I agree also peds vs adult

The problem is I think I like outpatient, and subject matter is... well everything. Which kind of leads me to Primary care, but I'm gonna have over 400,000$ of debt so that's kind of a scary thought lmao
 
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My result: three way tie between Peds, IM, FM. MedOnc was next, which was my original first choice specialty.

Pretty accurate (for me)
 
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The problem is I think I like outpatient, and subject matter is... well everything. Which kind of leads me to Primary care, but I'm gonna have over 400,000$ of debt so that's kind of a scary thought lmao
You dont really know what you like yet you may have an idea but wait till 3rd year rotations concentrate on your studies for now. My anatomy tutor was 100% all in on OB and did her OB rotation and hated. ended up loving FM
 
The problem is I think I like outpatient, and subject matter is... well everything. Which kind of leads me to Primary care, but I'm gonna have over 400,000$ of debt so that's kind of a scary thought lmao

I still wouldn't be worried about paying off loans even with PC. Lots of good PC jobs out there if you know where/how to look. At least for the next while I believe that students should still choose what their interest is and not try to play predict the future with regards to outlook in different fields. That's how you end up miserable.
 
That's why I asked if anyone had any such knowledge as to how accurate it is. If anyone could speak anecdotally about their experience with the overlap between their preferred medical specialty and what their quiz results were. I wonder how much personality makes a difference in the specialty you'll ultimately end of liking / pursuing

It was pretty close to my choice. It wasn’t the top thing selected on my quiz but it was in top 3. However, the other 2 in my top 3 I would have never ever been able to do. So I’m not sure that that means it’s accurate.

Start picking between surgery vs medicine. And if your answer is neither or either then pick rads.
 
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That's why I asked if anyone had any such knowledge as to how accurate it is. If anyone could speak anecdotally about their experience with the overlap between their preferred medical specialty and what their quiz results were. I wonder how much personality makes a difference in the specialty you'll ultimately end of liking / pursuing
It was eerily accurate for me.
 
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Idk how accurate the specific SDN speciality quiz is...I took it and got PMR, which I think is one of the last specialities I would have any interest in. Also, when I read the explanations, they matched me with certain fields that didn't "value" a lot of the stuff that I did way higher than they matched me with things that had almost all of the same values as I had, so not really sure how that works.
 
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Haha I got Thoracic Surgery as my best personality match ( I'll have to tell my Thoracic Attending), then IR, then Plastics, Then GS.
If I was a medical student I wouldn't base my career off of the results, but spend 5 minutes for the entertainment value...sure.
 
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