Someone help! Lost third year...

[nope80]

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So I'm almost done with the first half of third year and am starting to feel impending panic about next year and residency applications. I literally have no idea what I want to go into and I just feel very lost about what I should be doing right now. Our school hasn't offered any formal advice (granted I haven't sought it yet since this is the first time the reality is starting to hit) but I was wondering if anyone else felt this way??

I'm totally stuck since the two fields I actually like are very competitive 🙁 I didn't do so well on step 1 (I passed but not enough to make into radiology) and I just feel like I don't know where or what I should be pushing for. Do I just drop myself out of the running based on very average 1st and 2nd yr performance? i've high passed everything third year so far and have already lined up one great recommendation. I wasn't involved with extracurr during school but I have really great research and publications to vouch for. I just feel kinda lost and embarrassed to even talk to anyone in the fields i'm interested in for fear of being scoffed out for such a low step 1 score (I know, it sounds ridiculous).

Anyone else been in this position? How do I find my way? I feel like I am pigeonholing myself into thinking I need to do primary care because of the grades when I'm not that interested in it.

Please advise.

 

[Noeljan]

So I'm almost done with the first half of third year and am starting to feel impending panic about next year and residency applications. I literally have no idea what I want to go into and I just feel very lost about what I should be doing right now. Our school hasn't offered any formal advice (granted I haven't sought it yet since this is the first time the reality is starting to hit) but I was wondering if anyone else felt this way??

I'm totally stuck since the two fields I actually like are very competitive 🙁 I didn't do so well on step 1 (I passed but not enough to make into radiology) and I just feel like I don't know where or what I should be pushing for. Do I just drop myself out of the running based on very average 1st and 2nd yr performance? i've high passed everything third year so far and have already lined up one great recommendation. I wasn't involved with extracurr during school but I have really great research and publications to vouch for. I just feel kinda lost and embarrassed to even talk to anyone in the fields i'm interested in for fear of being scoffed out for such a low step 1 score (I know, it sounds ridiculous).

Anyone else been in this position? How do I find my way? I feel like I am pigeonholing myself into thinking I need to do primary care because of the grades when I'm not that interested in it.

Please advise.

can you do an elective in the field you are interested in? I have heard that is actually the most important thing in some fields (and the LORs/phone calls made for you). I think it's normal to feel little lost right about now.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

A lot of my classmates didn't figure out what they wanted to do until late in third year or even into fourth year. Some of those who thought they knew earlier ended up changing their minds. Focus on doing as well as you can, and building relationships that can lead to great LORs. Also work on doing really well on Step 2 - this helps to partially ameliorate a less-than-stellar Step 1 performance. Congrats on doing well on your clinical rotations - this counts for a LOT more than your pre-clinical grades.

Hang in there and good luck to you.

 

[nope80]

Do you think it is worth it to do electives in competitive fields if you think your numbers make you an automatic rule out? How about meeting with faculty advisors in the field - should I just be upfront and tell them my grades, step 1 scores from the get go to see if I even have a chance or should I just try to establish relationships, show interest and then work up to that?

Also, how do you figure out if you want to take a year off to do research? I feel really lost and I feel like time is passing so quickly and I'm just not going to be ready by the time 4th year comes around in a few months.

 

[RisingSun]

Do you think it is worth it to do electives in competitive fields if you think your numbers make you an automatic rule out?

Without knowing your numbers and fields you are interested in, we can only give general advice.

A more important question is what types of patients do you like working with, and where in the disease process to you prefer to intervene? And if all of a sudden you couldn't practice medicine, what is the one thing that you would miss the most (e.g. the OR, looking at films, talking to patients on the floor or clinic, working with trauma patients). We might be able to give suggestions to fields that you haven't considered yet.👍

 

[45408]

I don't think you should rule yourself out of radiology. If you have a 201-210 on Step 1, you've got a 50/50 chance of getting in. If you've got a 211-220, then you've got a 60% chance. The average score is high, yes, but that doesn't mean no one gets in with below average scores. You'll never know if you don't try.

 

[rachmoninov3]

To the OP: You are not alone! It's a shock to see all the 4th years applying for residency, realizing how close those job interviews are, and the fact that your school probably hasn't had too many chats with your class about anything after 3rd year.

Somethings that might help get you over your understandable fears:

1. talk to your dean of students or whoever is in charge of helping you with what you need to do after 3rd year. Come in with a list of questions.

2. Buy first aid for step 2 ck/cs. This at least gives you the illusion that you're doing something productive, brownie points if you actually open them up and review. I hear it's a real b*tch studying for this 4th year when you don't want to study at all, so I'm going for getting it over with asap.

3. Aerobic exercise. When I'm going insane and have no control and no way to prepare about a situation, running gets the extra worry out...or maybe it's just the repetitive motion.

 

[nope80]

Without knowing your numbers and fields you are interested in, we can only give general advice.

A more important question is what types of patients do you like working with, and where in the disease process to you prefer to intervene? And if all of a sudden you couldn't practice medicine, what is the one thing that you would miss the most (e.g. the OR, looking at films, talking to patients on the floor or clinic, working with trauma patients). We might be able to give suggestions to fields that you haven't considered yet.👍

Hmm, I definitely don't like pediatrics or very old geriatric type patients. I like listening to peoples life stories, but I'm definitely more soft spoken and introverted. While I like some aspects of primary care, I find myself beyond exhausted by the end of the day to the point where I don't feel like doing anything else. What else...I like figuring things out, thinking through complicated problems. I will do anything within my power to avoid the OR btw (so surgery is completely out). Thats all I can think of as of now...

 

[smq123]

Hmm, I definitely don't like pediatrics or very old geriatric type patients. I like listening to peoples life stories, but I'm definitely more soft spoken and introverted. While I like some aspects of primary care, I find myself beyond exhausted by the end of the day to the point where I don't feel like doing anything else. What else...I like figuring things out, thinking through complicated problems. I will do anything within my power to avoid the OR btw (so surgery is completely out). Thats all I can think of as of now...

Have you considered psych?

 

[FractureFixer]

Have you considered psych?

Ding, Ding, Ding!! We have a winner!

*I am on psych right now and I think you would enjoy it very much. It also has a pretty decent work week as far as hours go.

 

[nope80]

Psych is something I have definitely considered - however it is my last rotation of third year!! Radiology is my second to last. I will be done with them in July - I feel like that is cutting it so close. How will I ever be able to form the connections, do my research, figure everything out in a few short months..it just makes me so nervous. I don't have crazy high numbers that make me a shoe in to any program and so therefore have the luxury of simply applying like many others.

Also, my only concern with psych (and granted I haven't done the rotation to know) but as fascinated I am with things like that, I don't know how drained i'd feel after seeing a million depressed, mentally unhealthy people. I can imagine it gets really emotionally and mentally draining....

 

[45408]

My school has a Pyschiatry Interest Group, and they've got guest speakers all of the time. Go to something like that, and talk to the speaker afterwards. Do you know any internal medicine docs? Ask one if there's any psychiatrist they work with or know that would be a good student mentor. Then you just e-mail the psychiatrist and say "Dr. Medicine said you were a good contact for students, can we meet?"

I met with several different surgeons by starting with one and then finding out from them who else was a good contact. I then e-mailed that second one and said the first one recommended meeting with them. Nobody said no.

 

[McGillGrad]

With your score, I would only apply to select competitive residency programs after making sure to apply to many programs in a non-competitive speciality that interests you. There is a point at which program director draw the line when it comes to step scores (usually due to the high volume of applications).

 

[GoodmanBrown]

I second the advice of just calling a few psych docs and seeing if you could shadow. They'll probably be happy to have a med student shadow instead of a pre-med who knows little about medicine.

Two, I vote for infectious disease! That has no OR time, has interesting, tricky cases, and could give you a good mix of young and old patients (or as good a mix as non-pediatric medicine gives, i.e. you'll still mostly see older folks). Finally, I feel like it has big potential in the coming years as we continue to battle MRSA, VRE, etc. With lots of new antibiotics in the pipeline, you'll be carrying knowledge that lots of doctors want to know about.

 

[Futuredoc1364]

Honestly, I think no one field is all awesome or all terrible but it is good that you are considering all the different aspects of different fields you are interested in...

It seems for your personality radiology is a very good match. But then again you wont know until you finish your rotation in it. Also psych seems to be a good match for you as well and it is a lot easier to get into...If you have good research, then getting into radiology could be a lot more possible as I know a person who has had about 10 interviews and been to 4 I think and have heard good things about how they thought his research was very interesting, etc. And I think taking a year off for research wouldn't hurt.

 

[goodoldalky]

Agreed with the previous posters. You sound like an ID/psychiatry/neurology kind of personality... give them a look, you may be able to do ID/Neurology during your peds and/or IM rotations as selectives as well. We are able to do that at our institution, 1-2 weeks each.