Orthopedics, Trauma, or Critical Care/Intensivist?

  • Thread starter Thread starter deleted830324
  • Start date Start date
Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
D

deleted830324

I'm only a freshman in college but I really am trying to narrow down what speciality I would like to go into! I'm really fascinated with Acute Care/Trauma surgery but I also will be shadowing an Orthopedic Surgeon soon! I already shadowed his PA and he seemed to love his job. This was at a private practice with a group of orthopedic surgeons in the Midwest. After watching Extremis I kind of have an interest in critical care. I still have a huge interest in surgery. People tell me to go with Orthopedics because it pays the best, which isn't the reason why I want to go into Ortho! I really like Ortho because of the tools they use and the skeletal system is really fascinating. I've heard though you have to do very well in medical school and score very high in the Step 1 (USMLE) to match into an Ortho residency. I've heard that General Surgery is much easier to match into?
Members don't see this ad.
 
The_Texan_Kid said:
I'm only a freshman in college but I really am trying to narrow down what speciality I would like to go into! I'm really fascinated with Acute Care/Trauma surgery but I also will be shadowing an Orthopedic Surgeon soon! I already shadowed his PA and he seemed to love his job. This was at a private practice with a group of orthopedic surgeons in the Midwest. After watching Extremis I kind of have an interest in critical care. I still have a huge interest in surgery. People tell me to go with Orthopedics because it pays the best, which isn't the reason why I want to go into Ortho! I really like Ortho because of the tools they use and the skeletal system is really fascinating. I've heard though you have to do very well in medical school and score very high in the Step 1 (USMLE) to match into an Ortho residency. I've heard that General Surgery is much easier to match into?
Click to expand...

Everyone is just going to tell you to "get into med school first and then think about specialty".
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Ditto to all above. But I would also recommend trying to see if you can get a research position in fields of interest. For example, a lot of students interested in Trauma get research associate positions in our schools trauma department.
 
The_Texan_Kid said:
I'm only a freshman in college but I really am trying to narrow down what speciality I would like to go into! I'm really fascinated with Acute Care/Trauma surgery but I also will be shadowing an Orthopedic Surgeon soon! I already shadowed his PA and he seemed to love his job. This was at a private practice with a group of orthopedic surgeons in the Midwest. After watching Extremis I kind of have an interest in critical care. I still have a huge interest in surgery. People tell me to go with Orthopedics because it pays the best, which isn't the reason why I want to go into Ortho! I really like Ortho because of the tools they use and the skeletal system is really fascinating. I've heard though you have to do very well in medical school and score very high in the Step 1 (USMLE) to match into an Ortho residency. I've heard that General Surgery is much easier to match into?
Click to expand...

If you're interested just keep shadowing. I'd just say to keep an open mind as most people change their mind about what field they want to pursue once they get into med school. For example, I was 99% sure I wanted to go into ortho and now I'm going into psychiatry (basically the polar opposite). Things change and sometimes you find you love other fields more than you thought you would. For now just get good grades and enjoy UG. You'll have plenty of time to be stressed and neurotic once you start med school.
 
The_Texan_Kid said:
I'm only a freshman in college but I really am trying to narrow down what speciality I would like to go into!
Click to expand...

Jesus, you’re the first person to ever think of that! You’ll be so far ahead!

Seriously though, worry about getting into medical school first.
 
Perform well in your introductory courses first. Maybe even take some fun humanities-based courses. (I personally did drama, art history, and psychology when I was an undergraduate student.) A professional tennis player does not become a grand slam champion by thinking about the trophy. His mind is set only on the current match...then the next match...then the next match.
 
I'm going to disagree with everyone else, I wouldn't even say to focus on getting into medical school. Just focus on having fun and exploring different careers and find the one that fits you and get all the A's you can.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Anything you’ll decide now will likely change anyways, so don’t spend too much thought on it.

Case in point: In high school I said I’d be a pediatrician. As a freshman in college I told everyone I’d be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Now I’m leaning heavily ER, and I bet I’ll change my mind again once I get into med school.
 
Start by taking your first college finals... you have plenty of time to change your mind about careers/specialties
 
It’s awesome that you have interests but keep an open mind. If you want more exposure, it’s never really too early to shadow.
 
List of specialties I thought I might want to go into between UG junior year and MS-4:
- CT surgery
- Cardiology
- ID
- Neurology
- General surgery

I didn't even think about anesthesiology until halfway through my MS-3 year, when a wise CA-2 (i.e., PGY-3 anesthesiology resident) convinced me to give it a try as an elective. I've sung that man's praises ever since.
 
Gross. I'm signing up for that 4.5 work days / week, outpatients, no rounding, all major holidays off and 1:15 call with 6 weeks vacation, 2 weeks CME and possibly making share / partners after 1 -2 years making north of 250K in my area. #FamilyMedicineFTW
 
Critical care is where it's at! That's what I want - 99% sure, wrote about it in my personal statements.

...I've also worked in critical care in a different role for four years now.

For you, just wait and see. No point in planning until you have significant exposure to those specialties.
 
I had it pretty rough when I was your age too. It was between Fortune 500 CEO, being The Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis ads, or going to medical school. After lots of thought, I chose the latter since it would give me enough time to achieve my life-long dream of making a coffee table book of Poodles wearing hats.

Get into medical school first. Then you can worry about getting into very competitive specialties. I dated a girl that was pre-med once. She did the same thing, and told me that she and her mom decided that she would become a neurosurgeon. Things didn't go quite as planned, and now it just looks and sounds silly.
 
The_Texan_Kid said:
I'm only a freshman in college but I really am trying to narrow down what speciality I would like to go into!
Click to expand...

And there's your problem. It's too soon. Get into med school first, take step 1, and then figure out what you want to do in life, and if your grades are good enough to pursue it.




Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Its totally fine to be thinking about different specialties and what interests you... BUT. Get into medical school first and then think about a specialty. I will be an M1 next fall and I am trying to go in completely open-minded. I figure that (hopefully) it will become an obvious choice once I finish up my clerkships. Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Reflection on the Cycle: Use SDN/Reddit Advice Cautiously and with a Critical Lens
Replies
7
Views
1K
wabbit
W
T
Volunteering or Leadership or Social Justice/Advocacy Classification
Replies
5
Views
306
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
triedtowalk
T20s and primary care focus
Replies
3
Views
1K
triedtowalk
triedtowalk
E
PS might be too critical of past doctors
Replies
24
Views
1K
RunnerDad
R
B
When to do a post-bacc or SMP or Masters?
Replies
4
Views
967
JevonKling
J
Top