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but I'm confident that my future will entail subspecialization in pediatrics,
House and Greys AnatomyOn what, exactly, do you base this confidence?
Those shows are way too depressing for me haha, I'll stick to The OfficeHouse and Greys Anatomy
That sounds like a great way to balance everything, thanks for the tips.I think it's more important to talk about the general reasons you're attracted to medicine in your personal statement. You obviously don't have to say you're interested in primary care if you're not, but I would avoid pinpointing a super specific career path. I think it's okay to say that (for example) your experiences working with children with metabolic disorders has influenced your decision to go into medicine, and that you hope that interest will carry over into your career, but saying "I am going into medicine to become a pediatric endocrinologist" is probably not the most tactful approach. It's better to leave room for ambiguity while still expressing passion than boxing yourself into a corner where you'll find yourself outmatched. However, if you have no experiences that point you towards a particular area, then I would leave it out of your PS altogether. Experience is the only authority you have to say things with here, and if you're saying you want to be a pediatric cardiologist on a whim just because it sounds interesting, you're going to weaken your personal statement. Now, there are specific questions on secondaries that ask what you envision your career path to be in 10 years or what specialty you're interested in, and in those instances it's appropriate to talk about a specific specialty, but in a general personal statement, it's probably not the best use of your limited space.
I don't have a desired specialty, just a desired patient population. Much broader, and much less likely to change. There are about a million branches off of peds, and I'm not claiming that I know which one I'll take. Just that primary care doesn't appeal to me.
Right now they want to know "Why do you want to become a physician", not what type of doctor will you be in 15 years. Personally, I believe that it's ok to talk about what you're interested in, so long as you aren't lying (e.g. I'm interested in ortho because I absolutely love sports and when my surgeon repaired my torn acl I was fascinated by the concepts involved in the surgery that allowed me to physically walk out of the hospital etc...not because I want to make money) That's something to talk about during the interview day, when it comes to your very specific interests within medicine and why you like that specialty/subspecialty, but overall, you should be focusing on why do I want to become a doctor.
Also, if you don't want to do primary care, don't say you want to do primary care just because you think it will help gain admission. Don't be afraid to speak your interests, but don't make it sound like you have to do X subspecialty or bust, or that you have a closed mind when it comes to what type of medicine you practice. In interviews when I've been asked what type of medicine I see myself entering/being interested in, I say ortho (which is what I believe I want to go into) but I've always made sure to mention that I believe it would be very naive of me to be hell-bent on doing ortho, and that I plan on entering medical school with an open mind to every possibility. Every school graduates different types of physicians, but make sure that your interests are genuine and you have an open mind. I included my interest in ortho in some secondaries, but only when it was asked/was appropriate (e.g. tell me what you're interested in).
Trust me, your interests will change. I'm only an M1, but my classmates have already changed their desired specialties.
I know most people's change, and I'll certainly keep an open mind about different fields, but I'm just saying that I think it's very unlikely in my situation, not that I'll be resistant to it. I don't think pre-meds tend to have as much experience with the fields they plan on entering as I do with peds, however. Could be wrong though.I said "specialties" (think multiple). And yes, your desired patient population can change as well. You might decide later on that you like geriatrics, it all depends on your experiences in medical school. Just be open to it. And admissions people want to see your desire to be a physician, no matter the population, and that you will do what you can for your patients.
I don't have a desired specialty, just a desired patient population. Much broader, and much less likely to change. There are about a million branches off of peds, and I'm not claiming that I know which one I'll take. Just that primary care doesn't appeal to me.
I'm not trying to convince anyone, just making a prediction about where I think I'll end up. I'll definitely keep an open mind.My desired patient population was the same as yours. I went through the pre-clinical years just as convinced as you are now, that I was destined to be a pediatrician.
Needless to say I am not a pediatrician.
It's great to have an interest, but don't feel like you have to convince anyone that your interests won't change. Just enjoy the ride and see where you end up.
Especially for schools that like to churn out primary care docs, or schools that largely focus on care of underserved populations, would it be detrimental to make it known in my personal statement (or elsewhere) that I want to enter a small and very specialized field instead of primary care? (just to clarify, I obviously don't know exactly where I'll end up, but I'm confident that my future will entail subspecialization in pediatrics, rather than primary care). Of course schools have mission statements that convey the values they look for in applicants, but is the goal of subspecialization ever a death sentence, or do they tend to have some leeway for applicants like me? Certainly no med schools have graduating classes with 100% of students pursuing primary care, right?
Even if the rest of my app proves that that's not the case?Yes, because it's most likely that you know nothing about the field other than it sounds cool.
Even if the rest of my app proves that that's not the case?
Exposure to other fields often changes career goals.Even if the rest of my app proves that that's not the case?
If you're saying that you rotated through your desired specialty, or specialties, for several weeks, then you can say that you know something about the field other than it looks cool. Even then, you don't know everything about the field. Not to beat you up or anything. I'm just saying to keep your mind open. Some of my classmates mentioned their desired specialties in their applications and they got in. But they also had good reasons to pursue medicine in general, that is what is most important IMHO.Even if the rest of my app proves that that's not the case?
I have pretty extensive experience with both general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists (for an undergrad, at least), through shadowing, and through volunteering in PICUs/NICUs/peds oncology departments/peds EDs/peds surgery units/peds cards units/etc., and some pretty dull general peds outpatient clinics.
Working with kids is my main motivation for going into medicine, and I know I couldn't be nearly as happy working with any other patient population. And primary care is quite unappealing to me, with all due respect to those docs. It just doesn't happen to fit my personality or interests. I have pretty extensive experience with both general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists (for an undergrad, at least), through shadowing, and through volunteering in PICUs/NICUs/peds oncology departments/peds EDs/peds surgery units/peds cards units/etc., and some pretty dull general peds outpatient clinics. No question about which environments appeal to me more. Don't worry, I'm not one of those ignorant high schoolers who "know they want to become a pediatric heart surgeon."
What kind of reactions did you get in interviews when you said you were interested in ortho? I'd imagine you'd have to walk on eggshells even more so with a specialty as competitive as that (but it sounds like you nipped it in the bud pretty successfully by saying it might be naive and that you'd keep an open mind).
That makes sense. I didn't mean to imply that I won't explore other options, but just that, as of right now, I think it's likely that I'll end up in peds. If my date thought the first thing on the menu sounded fantastic, said that she thinks she'll end up ordering that, and then continued looking through the rest of the menu anyways just in case, I wouldn't blame her. Perhaps I just came across as closed off to other options by expressing so much interest in peds.While I do not think I can add much to the excellent advice of @WedgeDawg, I have been musing over an analogy that may help you understand the adcom perspective on this issue.
Imagine you take a date to a fancy, expensive restaurant that they have never been to before. The person opens the menu, looks at the first item, then closes it and announces that the first item is what they will order. Naturally you would see that as rather silly, right? Why not at least peruse the other offerings before making a decision? Your date could offer a rationale for the haste, no doubt, and it might even be reasonable in some regards, but it doesn't change the fact that the choice was made without acquiring and considering all available information.
To that end, your clinical exposure is certainly compelling, but the simple truth is that all you can honestly say is that 1.) you want to do medicine for a career, and 2.) you could see yourself working somewhere in the realm of pediatrics. At this point acdoms are more interested in the former. The latter is all fine and good, but if you push the certainty too far you will simply come off as naïve.
Got it, I'll avoid saying anything that absolute.
One last thing that I'm not yet grasping (this goes to everyone): why is it the case that your ideal patient population and your ideal specialty within that patient population aren't mutually exclusive? For example, if someone falls in love with orthopedics during med school, shouldn't that be mostly independent of the age group in which they want to practice orthopedics? There are essentially all the same specialties in peds that there are in adult medicine, so how is it possible that you could like peds much more in general, but come across a specialty in which you'd rather practice it with an adult population? It doesn't make sense to me that one would need to sample every specialty in both peds and adult environments in order to know that the peds environments are the ones they enjoy more, regardless of specialty. I guess my hangup is that I can't imagine finding a field during med school in which I'd decide to not work with kids instead of just pursuing that field within peds.
Got it, I'll avoid saying anything that absolute.
One last thing that I'm not yet grasping (this goes to everyone): why is it the case that your ideal patient population and your ideal specialty within that patient population aren't mutually exclusive? For example, if someone falls in love with orthopedics during med school, shouldn't that be mostly independent of the age group in which they want to practice orthopedics? There are essentially all the same specialties in peds that there are in adult medicine, so how is it possible that you could like peds much more in general, but come across a specialty in which you'd rather practice it with an adult population? It doesn't make sense to me that one would need to sample every specialty in both peds and adult environments in order to know that the peds environments are the ones they enjoy more, regardless of specialty. I guess my hangup is that I can't imagine finding a field during med school in which I'd decide to not work with kids instead of just pursuing that field within peds.
That all sounds pretty reasonable. I'd imagine that a preference for a certain patient population would often outweigh a preference for different bread and butter cases, but obviously that's not always true, and might not end up being true in my case. Who knows. Time will tell.
I was referring to the differences between bread and butter cases in peds vs. adult within the same specialty (like peds ortho = a lot of scoliosis procedures, vs. general ortho = a lot of hip replacements), not different bread and butter cases between different peds specialties (obviously those differences are going to be much more drastic, like the ones you listed).I have no way of proving it, but from what I've seen the opposite is actually more common. People tend to figure out what they want their bread and butter cases to look like, and choose a field based on that. Then they adjust their desired patient population within that field. You can't say you're just going to "work with kids" without deciding if you'd prefer to:
Operate on them (gen surg --> peds fellowship)
Operate on a specific part of them (ex. Urology or Ophtho --> peds fellowship)
Manage them medically (pediatrics with or w/o fellowship)
Take care of them in emergencies (ER --> peds fellowship)
Take care of their mental health (psych--> peds)
And so forth. Those are very very different ways to end up working with the "same" population. Someone who'd be happy with one path would be quite miserable in another, and it'd be unwise to think the patient population decision should come first.
how is it possible that you could like peds much more in general, but come across a specialty in which you'd rather practice it with an adult population?
So it's probably pretty risky to go into a residency with the sole hope of getting into a specific fellowship afterwords, huh?Here's how it happens:
You love working with kids, but then you discover that you love pediatric ortho. So you go into ortho, planning on doing a pedes ortho fellowship. Then, sometime over the 5 years of your residency, you realize that you really love doing total joints, especially knees. You do a fellowship in that. Guess what? You now have a geriatric practice, and you love it.
It depends. Some fellowships go unfilled. Others are very competitive.So it's probably pretty risky to go into a residency with the sole hope of getting into a specific fellowship afterwords, huh?
So it's probably pretty risky to go into a residency with the sole hope of getting into a specific fellowship afterwords, huh?
I had subspecialization interest in my personal statement last cycle. Zero interviews.
This cycle, no specifications in my personal statement. Four interviews. Multiple acceptances.