Risk to expressing interest in Pediatrics, Geriatrics, etc?

[Kirby Smart]

If someone were to stress in their applications/interviews how one of their main motivations for pursuing medicine is their interest in helping a certain population such as children, the elderly, etc., would it come off as a negative, as if they aren't interested enough in medicine in general, or in helping other populations?

I think theres probably value in creating a strong narrative around your experiences/passions and your medical career goals, but I worry sometimes that stressing this too much will send a negative message that my mind is too made up about a specific specialty or something.

Am I thinking too much into it?

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[LizzyM]

Neither specialty pays well so more power to you if that is your motivation and specific interest. I've known both pediatricians and geriatricians on the adcom. They are always pleased to see strong applicants with an interest in their field and they tend to champion those applications.

If you are motivated to treat teens with acne or professional athletes with fractures... not as great an idea. (There seems to be bias against those who come into medicine with a specific interest in derm or orthopedics).

 

[Kirby Smart]

Thank you both for your insight! Definitely haven't been afraid to mention my interests/motivation in general but it's this one "where do you see yourself in 20 years" secondary prompt that was making me wondering if I should make sure not to come off as too closed-minded or anything. But thanks!

 

[sadpremed121]

Neither specialty pays well so more power to you if that is your motivation and specific interest. I've known both pediatricians and geriatricians on the adcom. They are always pleased to see strong applicants with an interest in their field and they tend to champion those applications.

If you are motivated to treat teens with acne or professional athletes with fractures... not as great an idea. (There seems to be bias against those who come into medicine with a specific interest in derm or orthopedics).

What do we say for prompts asking what specialty we’re interested in? What if we actually want to do surgery or cardiology. I don’t really want to lie and say I want to do family medicine just to appease adcoms.

 

[LizzyM]

Just say that you like tools and procedure-based medical practice and feel paraticularly drawn to a specialty that will give you the opportunity to work in the operating room or cardiology suite. We get that. Some people know that they like the "high tech" procedure-based areas more than fields like gen peds or geriatrics.

 

[sadpremed121]

Just say that you like tools and procedure-based medical practice and feel paraticularly drawn to a specialty that will give you the opportunity to work in the operating room or cardiology suite. We get that. Some people know that they like the "high tech" procedure-based areas more than fields like gen peds or geriatrics.

Ok nice that’s almost what I wrote word for word in my secondaries that I already submitted. Phew

 

[PA_dud3]

Just say that you like tools and procedure-based medical practice and feel paraticularly drawn to a specialty that will give you the opportunity to work in the operating room or cardiology suite. We get that. Some people know that they like the "high tech" procedure-based areas more than fields like gen peds or geriatrics.

Could you offer some advice on expressing interest in an area such as Nephrology? I have concrete reasons that I won't get into here for the sake of not derailing the thread, but I feel like if I brought it up to adcoms or in a PS it might be received badly. I genuinely enjoy seeing the difference many things can make in people's lives with regards to renal function, and think the field itself is fascinating.

 

[LizzyM]

Could you offer some advice on expressing interest in an area such as Nephrology? I have concrete reasons that I won't get into here for the sake of not derailing the thread, but I feel like if I brought it up to adcoms or in a PS it might be received badly. I genuinely enjoy seeing the difference many things can make in people's lives with regards to renal function, and think the field itself is fascinating.

That is a subspecialty within medicine. It was nothing much until dialysis came along and then it was a golden age (turning a lack of urine into gold); kidney transplants became more feasible after anti-rejection drugs were developed.

So you are interested in internal medicine and perhaps in an area that combines long-term relationships with procedures. The same could be said for liver disease, some rheumatology and pulmonary medicine too. Endocrine is similar with regard to physiology and pathophysiology and chemistry out of balance. I'd try not to be specific about nephrology but what it is about nephrology that makes caring for patients with kidney disease appealing.
Keep in mind, too, that if we develop a artificial kidney or lab-grown kidney that can replace a damaged one, nephrologists could be out of business the way pulmonary disease specialists hit the skids after the polio vaccine went public. Dig deep about what is attractive about that career that might translate to similar ones.

 

[Goro]

If someone were to stress in their applications/interviews how one of their main motivations for pursuing medicine is their interest in helping a certain population such as children, the elderly, etc., would it come off as a negative, as if they aren't interested enough in medicine in general, or in helping other populations?

I think theres probably value in creating a strong narrative around your experiences/passions and your medical career goals, but I worry sometimes that stressing this too much will send a negative message that my mind is too made up about a specific specialty or something.

Am I thinking too much into it?

It's only a problem if it's something you have absolutely no experience with, and come across as starry eyed.

 

[907914]

It's only a problem if it's something you have absolutely no experience with, and come across as starry eyed.

In a similar “on topic but my own situation” question, what quantifies as having substantial experience with something? For instance, not a direct specialty but a field of clinical engagement I am most interested in is molecular epidemiology. However, my experience with the molecular contributions to disease is through my research (thus far bone diseases, although vasculature is my primary physiological interest) and my experience with population-level health and risk factors is limited to conversations with patients and being a mental health advocate. Would that be sufficient exposure to make a convincing arguement that this is the kind of clinical ‘bench to bedside’ work that I want to do?

 

[M&L]

so, Across all my essays and my ECs, i expressed that i want to do pathology. I had internship in pathology lab, i did advanced classes that point that way, etc. So, you can see it through all my essays. That being said, i put it like "right now my main interest is in pathology... blah blah blah, but i understand that, realistically, i havent been exposed to a lot of other specialties yet, and i decided that i will be going in with open mind, and work hard in each specialty, to see what happens, but for now it iS pathology".
worked out for me.

 

[Kirby Smart]

so, Across all my essays and my ECs, i expressed that i want to do pathology. I had internship in pathology lab, i did advanced classes that point that way, etc. So, you can see it through all my essays. That being said, i put it like "right now my main interest is in pathology... blah blah blah, but i understand that, realistically, i havent been exposed to a lot of other specialties yet, and i decided that i will be going in with open mind, and work hard in each specialty, to see what happens, but for now it iS pathology".
worked out for me.

Hmm, I had a "but I'm still going to be open-minded" sentence in my response to this particular secondary prompt, but with only 750 characters to use, I ended up cutting it in lieu of adding more descriptive content towards the question.

But I'm hoping no sane adcom be too critical of me not including this in the minuscule amount of characters allowed to answer their prompt.