Pathology quest 2006/2007

[sapience8x]

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Okay I just HAD to start this thread! Who is in for pathology this year? I amhappy to say that it is FINALLY MY TURN!! i look forward to meeting you all on the interview trail. Provided i actually GET some interviews....

 

[tatabox80]

Pathology is at the top of my list right now! It's hard to believe that a year from now we will be matching.....

 

[randomlogik]

I've been lurking around for some time. Right now path is at the top of my list too. I agree. Its crazy to think of everything that's going to be happening within the next year.

 

[UTMed007]

I'm glad someone started this thread. I'm going for path as well unless something drastic changes. 364 days to go! Look'n forward to chatting with y'all.

 

[yaah]

Ah, the circle of life continues.

 

[Rael]

Good luck to all of you going for path next year. You've chosen an excellent field.

 

[31BaskinRobbins]

I'm glad someone started this thread. I'm going for path as well unless something drastic changes. 364 days to go! Look'n forward to chatting with y'all.

Me too! 😉 Can't wait for my path rotations to start in July!

 

[elperro]

It has been extraordinarily hard for me to decide what specialty to choose. I think that is mostly because I can be very indecisive when it comes to huge decisions, like what I want to do with the rest of my LIFE! I like patient care, but don't find it intellectually stimulating. I like path because it is so incredibly fascinating, but there is no patient contact.
Whenever I decide I am going to do something else, like ortho most recently, I always have major doubts (usually when my alarm goes off at 4:15 am for gen surg rotation) and I come back to path. I just feel most comfortable here personality-wise. I have heard over and over to "go with your gestalt." Well, that just what I'm gonna have to do, so I'm going for path!
Now I just have some major backtracking to do since I have an ortho advisor, who I did research with, who thinks I'm going into Ortho. This is gonna take some work, anyone want to break the news to him for me?

 

[sapience8x]

so where are you guys thinking about applying?
I want to stay in the south.

 

[elperro]

I am going to apply all over, but hopefully ending up out west.

 

[UTMed007]

When I started med school I thought I was going to hate patients, but I've actually kind of grown to like them, just in relatively small quantities. No me gusta DM, HTN, listening for heart sounds...

What I think a lot of people don't realize is that in pathology you have a lot of PEOPLE contact, just not PATIENT contact. It's much more difficult to deal with you peers (aka, other physicians) than it is to deal with patients. That whole hierarchy of authority helps a lot. Much easier to tell a patient something they don't want to hear (i.e. lose weight ) than it is to convince another doctor that you are right and they are wrong (like old school surgeons 😉 ). No wonder pathologists seem to have such great personalities!

But I will confess that I did fall in love with surgery and if it turns out that I HATE path after my electives then I guess that's what I'll have to do. I guess I just like to cut up things, I just don't care if they are dead or alive!

 

[UTMed007]

My fiancee and I are going to do the couples match 😍 ... path/rads. I think I would like to go somewhere not in TX, but I'm not really that picky. I don't think he cares where we go either, at least not yet! I guess we will probably be looking at cities with multiple programs for each that are relatively close together rather than any specific geographical location. Unfortunately DFW and Houston fall into that category, so we may still end up here. 😳

 

[elperro]

I'm couples matching too, my wife into peds. I think we'll have the same strategy, apply to cities with lots of programs, and hopefully both interview around the same days. Any of you veterans know when path interviews start, and into what months they typically last?

 

[randomlogik]

I'll probably be applying all over too. I promised my boyfriend that we would sit down at some point this summer and pick out the places. I'm probably going to aim to stay in Dallas since he has a good job here.

 

[yaah]

I'm couples matching too, my wife into peds. I think we'll have the same strategy, apply to cities with lots of programs, and hopefully both interview around the same days. Any of you veterans know when path interviews start, and into what months they typically last?

They start as early as october, most programs wrap them up before february, although many applicants complete them all before the new year. It depends on the programs too though- some just go later.

 

[sapience8x]

I for one am getting tired of the- "path?!! why path?!!! you have such a great personality!". i have never met a pathologist i don't like and they seem more balanced and relaxed because they get more sleep on average. then i tell them path is what excites me and hthey have nothing to say.

 

[31BaskinRobbins]

I for one am getting tired of the- "path?!! why path?!!! you have such a great personality!". i have never met a pathologist i don't like and they seem more balanced and relaxed because they get more sleep on average. then i tell them path is what excites me and hthey have nothing to say.

I get that a lot too... All I say is, "hey, if I have such a great personality, I don't want to lose it by going into surgery residency." I'd like to go back to Arizona or someplace warm for residency.

 

[randomlogik]

I've tried to use the line that I'm still undecided. Now that it's later in the year that has gotten more difficult. For the most part I haven't gotten negative reactions. However, sometimes I worry that people make the false assumption that just because I'm going into path I have no interest in learning about other specialties.

 

[Dipsomaniac]

I've tried to use the line that I'm still undecided. Now that it's later in the year that has gotten more difficult. For the most part I haven't gotten negative reactions. However, sometimes I worry that people make the false assumption that just because I'm going into path I have no interest in learning about other specialties.

I generally use the line, "I'm thinking about path, but I can still be persuaded." Usually followed up by the most enthusiastic and sincere smile I can muster at the time or a very quick change in subject! That has seemed to work well and in some cases even helped me out because they really wanted to persuade me (only works if they actually like what they are doing, though... 😱 )

 

[Dipsomaniac]

Part of what I like about path is that although I pretty much enjoyed all my rotations (with the exception of OB), I would get bored doing just one of them all the time. At least with path you have the opportunity to see a lot of different stuff and you have to know about so many different areas of medicine. I guess if you specialize in one area it would be different, but it seems like you would still have a pretty good chance of seeing something exciting every day (at least that is what I was told by one pathologist I know). I mean, how many times did you see something exciting on your family practice rotation (I personally didn't). When I have seen something cool/rare/exciting I always feel kind of guilty because I'm much more interested in making the diagnosis and in the physical aspects of the disease itself than I am in actually treating the patient. I'm more excited that my patient had such and such disease 👍 not so much that I treated it 👎 . I don't think I will feel so guilty about it as a pathologist.

 

[randomlogik]

When I have seen something cool/rare/exciting I always feel kind of guilty because I'm much more interested in making the diagnosis and in the physical aspects of the disease itself than I am in actually treating the patient. I'm more excited that my patient had such and such disease 👍 not so much that I treated it 👎 . I don't think I will feel so guilty about it as a pathologist.

I feel the exact same way. Last week I was scrubbed in on a hystrectomy, and the patient had very large fibroids, one of which was calcified. Pathology was called for frozens. I was completely distracted with the interaction between the attending and the path resident. The surgery residents ended up calling my name several times as they were waiting on me to cut some suture. I really wish I could have seen the frozen slides. It was just one of those moments when I realized path is where I really want to be.