Hey everyone. I'm ready to submit my app but concerned that my projected area of interest (oncology) will turn schools away!! Would it have been wiser to emphasize primary care (or maybe 50-50 each area?) even though I don't have a particular interest in it? (or the direct experience to back it up!!) I wanted to be truthful. Should I have tried to use a more effective strategy? What do you guys think?
I don't think it matters. The admissions committee people understand that student's interest often change during medical school, but it's a good idea to express your current passion in oncology (just don't write anything to indicate that you are not open to any other options besides oncology). Why say say you want to go into primary care if you are not interested in that field (and as you have pointed our, you've no experience to back up that "interest"). You may think that an interest in primary care may give you an edge in the application process, but whether that's true or not is unclear to me... I do know that some schools give more "points" to applicants who express interest in primary care, but the extra points may not be that significant in the end... Just be honest about what you like and portray yourself to be open-minded about your future (and of course, actually be open-minded ). Good luck!
Lover of Thai Food is right. The reason is to discover if you have given any thought to the future and if so, how do you see that future and why. It is not meant to be a binding contract and you don't have to be cagy about it. Experience shows that many medical students change their minds about the area of medicine they want and others have their minds changed for them by their medical school records and USMLE scores. You can make up a fairy tale that you think will impress, but experienced adcom members and interviewers can usually spot that and possibly put YOU on the spot during an interview, unless, of course, you are an experienced and successful con artist. It is not necessary to resort to invention and you SHOULD already have given some thought to that, especially if you have a fair amount of medically related experience. In a sense, it like saying you want a PhD in biology without any thought whatsoever about what area of biology interests you and why you want the PhD. Why would any reputable PhD program want you? Because you have high grades and GRE scores? No way.
I agree with the other posts. It won't matter much in the secondaries re: selecting you to interview. When you go to interview, especially if it's a school with a primary care focus, just make sure you emphasize that you understand the value of (and look forward to) receiving a primary care education, as it is the foundation of all patient care. This worked for me in my interviews, even though I had commented on specific specialties in my personal comments. Good luck!
Jacky, I also agree with the other posts. The most important thing you can do during the application process from the AMCAS to the interviews is to be yourself, and to convey your passion for what you have done and what you hope to do. If you have no interest in primary care but act as if you do, your interviewer will see right through that, and it may work against you. In fact, depending on which schools you apply to, your interest in a subspecialty may greatly help you, especially if you have experience in that area, or have done any research.
