surgery vs medicine

[swamprat]

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Having already completed and honored my surgery rotation at the time I hated it. It was my first rotation, I hated waking up early, staying late, being in the OR and the nasty people I had to deal with everyday. Well now that I'm trying to figure out what I want to do I can't help but think maybe I do like surgery.. maybe not general, maybe a subspecialty.

I am starting to rethink the reasons I hated it.. the getting up early.. it has gotten easier, altho still not fun.. I'm on ob now so hours are similar. I also had unrealistic expectations beginning third year like I wanted to play doctor and I hated that I basically was a glorified shadower and I felt so useless and I hate wasting time which I felt like I was doing. Staying late.. well idk you have to stay late for everything so that sucks regardless. The nasty people seem to be more centered in the general surgery arena and less so in the subspecialties. And the key thing is did I really hate the OR?

I remember countless times avoiding the OR, wanting to get out of the OR etc. Obviously I hated the OR right? Or is it really because I couldn't stand standing there for hours on end, not spoken to, not allowed to do or touch anything, not even really given a shot to suture or do anything and then after all those hours had to be the last one to leave the OR and wait for the patient to wake up and transfer the patient, get bitc*ed out by nurses etc.

What if I do like doing procedures? Sometimes I watch and I'm like wow I just want to do that, other times I'm like what the heck are they even looking at this looks to confusing I don't wanna do this.. but all in all I wonder how can anyone know if they like surgery if they are never allowed to do anything other than shadow? I'm sure everyone's experience may be slightly different but that was it for me. I haven't done medicine yet so I'm waiting to see what my thoughts are on that because some of the sub specialties I think could be very interesting. How did u decide? Anyone here a late bloomer or is everyone that goes into surgery gungho from the start? Def feeling some stress and pressure as third year is flying by and if I were to choose a subspecialty I'd need to schedule those audition rotations in the next few months.. all opinions and comments welcome. 👍

 

[MCAT08]

Having already completed and honored my surgery rotation at the time I hated it. It was my first rotation, I hated waking up early, staying late, being in the OR and the nasty people I had to deal with everyday. Well now that I'm trying to figure out what I want to do I can't help but think maybe I do like surgery.. maybe not general, maybe a subspecialty.

I am starting to rethink the reasons I hated it.. the getting up early.. it has gotten easier, altho still not fun.. I'm on ob now so hours are similar. I also had unrealistic expectations beginning third year like I wanted to play doctor and I hated that I basically was a glorified shadower and I felt so useless and I hate wasting time which I felt like I was doing. Staying late.. well idk you have to stay late for everything so that sucks regardless. The nasty people seem to be more centered in the general surgery arena and less so in the subspecialties. And the key thing is did I really hate the OR?

I remember countless times avoiding the OR, wanting to get out of the OR etc. Obviously I hated the OR right? Or is it really because I couldn't stand standing there for hours on end, not spoken to, not allowed to do or touch anything, not even really given a shot to suture or do anything and then after all those hours had to be the last one to leave the OR and wait for the patient to wake up and transfer the patient, get bitc*ed out by nurses etc.

What if I do like doing procedures? Sometimes I watch and I'm like wow I just want to do that, other times I'm like what the heck are they even looking at this looks to confusing I don't wanna do this.. but all in all I wonder how can anyone know if they like surgery if they are never allowed to do anything other than shadow? I'm sure everyone's experience may be slightly different but that was it for me. I haven't done medicine yet so I'm waiting to see what my thoughts are on that because some of the sub specialties I think could be very interesting. How did u decide? Anyone here a late bloomer or is everyone that goes into surgery gungho from the start? Def feeling some stress and pressure as third year is flying by and if I were to choose a subspecialty I'd need to schedule those audition rotations in the next few months.. all opinions and comments welcome. 👍

if you really liked surgery you would've known. I don't think the fact that you honored the rotation really means anything if you hated it at the time. Seems like you're now trying to convince yourself that you liked it.. did you hate everything else? or didn't do as well? have you had any other rotations that you really enjoyed? or you are not considering anything else but these two specialties? I know mostly everyone that wants to do surgery loves the OR and can't get enough of it, so if you think you MAY like it now why don't you try to shadow or use the OR time in Ob/Gyn and imagine yourself as the attending or residents and see if you would wanna have their life and be in the OR everyday, if not dont convince yourself you may like something you clearly dont. Good luck!!

 

[swamprat]

Thanks for the advice that's what i hear but how do these ppl love shadowing I don't get it? And I haven't had medicine yet so it's premature but I hear horror stories of rounding and I don't know if I'm gunna like that either and therefore I'm deciding between the lesser of 2 evils.

 

[tco]

If you hated it as a student, you'll hate it as a resident. Don't do it. Even the nicest surgery residents/attendings have an aura of miserable about them.

 

[Perrotfish]

Having already completed and honored my surgery rotation at the time I hated it. It was my first rotation, I hated waking up early, staying late, being in the OR and the nasty people I had to deal with everyday. Well now that I'm trying to figure out what I want to do I can't help but think maybe I do like surgery.. maybe not general, maybe a subspecialty.

I am starting to rethink the reasons I hated it.. the getting up early.. it has gotten easier, altho still not fun.. I'm on ob now so hours are similar. I also had unrealistic expectations beginning third year like I wanted to play doctor and I hated that I basically was a glorified shadower and I felt so useless and I hate wasting time which I felt like I was doing. Staying late.. well idk you have to stay late for everything so that sucks regardless. The nasty people seem to be more centered in the general surgery arena and less so in the subspecialties. And the key thing is did I really hate the OR?

I remember countless times avoiding the OR, wanting to get out of the OR etc. Obviously I hated the OR right? Or is it really because I couldn't stand standing there for hours on end, not spoken to, not allowed to do or touch anything, not even really given a shot to suture or do anything and then after all those hours had to be the last one to leave the OR and wait for the patient to wake up and transfer the patient, get bitc*ed out by nurses etc.

What if I do like doing procedures? Sometimes I watch and I'm like wow I just want to do that, other times I'm like what the heck are they even looking at this looks to confusing I don't wanna do this.. but all in all I wonder how can anyone know if they like surgery if they are never allowed to do anything other than shadow? I'm sure everyone's experience may be slightly different but that was it for me. I haven't done medicine yet so I'm waiting to see what my thoughts are on that because some of the sub specialties I think could be very interesting. How did u decide? Anyone here a late bloomer or is everyone that goes into surgery gungho from the start? Def feeling some stress and pressure as third year is flying by and if I were to choose a subspecialty I'd need to schedule those audition rotations in the next few months.. all opinions and comments welcome. 👍

I will admit I never understood how anyone deciedes to like surgery based on a medical school rotation considering that no medical student is ever allowed to perform surgery in any capacity. For that matter I still don't understand why the rotation exists at all, considering that there is no time to teach students the subject matter they are supposed to learn and no opportunity for them to attempt the procedures which they might, ultimately, want to make a career of. It should probably be eliminated and replaced with electives.

In any event I feel like surgery is one of the most consistently unhappy professions in medicine even among people who thought they LOVED surgery, so if you hated it I can't see you loving it in residency. If you're unsure, of course, you could always do a sub-I.

 

[neusu]

The proverbial ****storm that surgery is, gets better as you move up in the system. As a resident, the floor/unit/scrub nurses give you less trouble and the attendings actually show interest in you as a person and trainee. Patients trust you and begin to see you as their doctor since you're always around. While the hours don't improve much, the more you move up the less you have to pre-round and so on.

In some ways the hostility becomes a game/joke and you realize, though everyone is crazy and sadistic, they really aren't out to kill you.

 

[deleted497653]

This sounds so familiar to what I went through. Surgery was my first rotation and unlike you, I loved it and they let me suture. In a way, from first year I thought I was going to go into surgery so when I ended up liking the rotation, I was like, "this was meant to be."

So I initially declared surgery but I had many doubts as time went by and the decision I had made started to sink in. On thinking about it, gen surg's lifestyle was not the lifestyle I wanted: the nature of the surgeries they deal with mostly revolving around gut, I would have to do a fellowship so that was going to be too long in residency, and just a selfish reason, I don't like poop...ugh. I don't have the numbers to match into the subspecialities and overall I just like more variety and would get tired of lets say, ENT.

I had a mixed experience in medicine. The first month sucked and the second one was good but I think that first month kinda damaged the whole medicine experience. All this to say, there are other fields to choose from, try to explore all of them. I think sometimes students feel like they have to choose between surgery and medicine but there are many other things to choose from.

I don't think you should go into surgery because it doesn't sound like you liked it. Why do you feeling like you have to reconsider surgery? You know you have to respect the "gut feeling". Try shadowing in other fields that you might not get exposure to in third year...

 

[ArcGurren]

Having already completed and honored my surgery rotation at the time I hated it. It was my first rotation, I hated waking up early, staying late, being in the OR and the nasty people I had to deal with everyday. Well now that I'm trying to figure out what I want to do I can't help but think maybe I do like surgery.. maybe not general, maybe a subspecialty.

I am starting to rethink the reasons I hated it.. the getting up early.. it has gotten easier, altho still not fun.. I'm on ob now so hours are similar. I also had unrealistic expectations beginning third year like I wanted to play doctor and I hated that I basically was a glorified shadower and I felt so useless and I hate wasting time which I felt like I was doing. Staying late.. well idk you have to stay late for everything so that sucks regardless. The nasty people seem to be more centered in the general surgery arena and less so in the subspecialties. And the key thing is did I really hate the OR?

I remember countless times avoiding the OR, wanting to get out of the OR etc. Obviously I hated the OR right? Or is it really because I couldn't stand standing there for hours on end, not spoken to, not allowed to do or touch anything, not even really given a shot to suture or do anything and then after all those hours had to be the last one to leave the OR and wait for the patient to wake up and transfer the patient, get bitc*ed out by nurses etc.

What if I do like doing procedures? Sometimes I watch and I'm like wow I just want to do that, other times I'm like what the heck are they even looking at this looks to confusing I don't wanna do this.. but all in all I wonder how can anyone know if they like surgery if they are never allowed to do anything other than shadow? I'm sure everyone's experience may be slightly different but that was it for me. I haven't done medicine yet so I'm waiting to see what my thoughts are on that because some of the sub specialties I think could be very interesting. How did u decide? Anyone here a late bloomer or is everyone that goes into surgery gungho from the start? Def feeling some stress and pressure as third year is flying by and if I were to choose a subspecialty I'd need to schedule those audition rotations in the next few months.. all opinions and comments welcome. 👍

I also got honors in my surgery rotation, for what it's worth, and I still hated the OR. If you don't like the OR, then it would NOT be a good idea to go into surgery. I always liked procedures as an undergrad and as a preclinical student, but I decided I'd rather have it in another setting than a traditional OR.

I also still like procedures along with the "cerebral" aspect of IM, so that's why I'm interested in an IM subspecialty. You can look into those. There's also the option of specialties like Anesthesia (lots of small, less invasive procedures, especially if you do something like cardiothoracic anesthesia or critical care anesthesia) or PM&R (lots of injections, aspirations, EMG, etc) and Derm (lots of skin biopsies, Mohs "surgery", etc).

Keep an open mind, but if you really hated the OR that much, I seriously doubt it will get better as a resident. I thought so until I met a resident who thought the same and was switching to Peds because he realized he was still miserable as a resident.

 

[ArcGurren]

I will admit I never understood how anyone deciedes to like surgery based on a medical school rotation considering that no medical student is ever allowed to perform surgery in any capacity. For that matter I still don't understand why the rotation exists at all, considering that there is no time to teach students the subject matter they are supposed to learn and no opportunity for them to attempt the procedures which they might, ultimately, want to make a career of. It should probably be eliminated and replaced with electives.

In any event I feel like surgery is one of the most consistently unhappy professions in medicine even among people who thought they LOVED surgery, so if you hated it I can't see you loving it in residency. If you're unsure, of course, you could always do a sub-I.

I 100% disagree with the notion of eliminating surgery as a core rotation. It's covered on the boards to some extent, and I found that seeing actual surgical pathology in real life helped me understand some of the diseases way better. I learned the most in fact when I was doing ER consults and evaluating people who might have surgical diseases; I think that it's an absolute necessity as part of the basic knowledge base a doctor should have. I understand the sentiment, as I came out of the rotation fairly jaded and annoyed, but it still has an educational value.

 

[lowbudget]

How can you hate surgery if you avoided the OR? Are you sure you hate surgery?... Or, (more likely) do you hate being a 3rd year medical student on surgery rotation? Because there is a difference.

I'll say this because as someone who honored surgery, I think you can take it: In medicine, as in life, but even more so in surgery, you're not entitled to anything. Zilch. Nada. Why? Because there's a live patient with a family and people who care in that bed under that drape, who has entrusted his/her life to be placed in the surgical team's hands. Yes, you may be at a teaching hospital; but no, you cannot touch the patient much less take out his gallbladder until you've demonstrated that you can be trusted. That takes time, and training, and struggle, and effort, and perseverance... if you want it. You have to be able to stand there and watch, before you can walk, before you can run, before you are allowed to hold the Golden Retractor. But earn your keep, and one day you'll be given the privilege to earn the trust of someone to hack someone up in their sleep.

In thinking back when I was a MS3 and in watching MS3's, I notice that medical students spook each other out. Maybe it's the thrill of the anticipation, but everyone loves to share their rotation "horror stories". I was told that unless I wanted to be a surgeon, I should spend less time in the OR and spend more time studying for the shelf-exam. The cart before the horse. How do you know you don't want to be a surgeon if you don't spend time in the OR?

Some people see it as a punishment to stand still for 4 hours watching someone work. I see it as a privilege, a back stage all-access concert pass, to watch and see what only a few people in this world will have a chance to do and see in their lifetime. Everybody else gets to watch it on TV, but you've be bestowed an honor... which most medical students piss away because of some preconceived bias.

Today, you will watch; until one day, you will be asked to help. Then again someday, you will earn the chance to do. But you are not entitled to anything... ever.

Surgery was my first rotation too. I had heard all the horror stories and given all the tips on how to do well on the rotation. Heck, I knew all about the rotation before the rotation started. And, while I was on rotation, everything everybody said was true. And yet, I enjoyed my rotation and learned a lot. I went into medical school to become a family doctor and I am a family doctor today. I had no concept of what being a surgeon would have been like, but I kept my mind closed to the possibility because all the horror stories closed my mind and all I could think about was turning on my survivor mode.

... until I was a 2nd year FM resident, and had watched my 10th gazillion C-section, and had assisted my 20th gazillion C-section half asleep. I had seen and assisted so many that I could anticipate the surgeon's next step. So, that became my challenge. How fast could I help this thing go so I can go back to sleep? Trust me, we became efficient.

Then, one day, my attending handed me the scalpel. The Golden Scalpel. My first took 1 hour to do. My second 30 minutes. My third 20 minutes and each time I was given the opportunity to be the primary surgeon, I looked at how much fun I was having, how far I've come, and how much I didn't deserve it, because I didn't care or wanted it.

I took what I learned in the OR in OB and took it with me to the OR with Ortho in my sports medicine fellowship. I had so much fun in the OR. I learned so much, bonded with my attendings, and learned so much from that relationship. But, it was not easy, because I had to put forth the effort and dedicate myself in learning the steps to the surgery (in general), and learn where the pitfalls are. It has helped me understand, now, as a sports med family doc what the potential complications are and why, and I come up with a diagnosis and plan better now, because I understood what happened in the OR.

Doxy, I think you should keep an open mind and not let your (limited) "experience" on a 4 week rotation dictate the course of your professional career. Give surgery another chance. Only you will know if surgery is right for you. But realize that how things are today isn't what it's going to be like tomorrow, if you put the effort into making tomorrow a different day.

 

[45408]

I will admit I never understood how anyone deciedes to like surgery based on a medical school rotation considering that no medical student is ever allowed to perform surgery in any capacity.

Because it looks fun?

What should students be allowed to do?

For that matter I still don't understand why the rotation exists at all, considering that there is no time to teach students the subject matter they are supposed to learn and no opportunity for them to attempt the procedures which they might, ultimately, want to make a career of. It should probably be eliminated and replaced with electives.

In any event I feel like surgery is one of the most consistently unhappy professions in medicine even among people who thought they LOVED surgery, so if you hated it I can't see you loving it in residency. If you're unsure, of course, you could always do a sub-I.

You've posted this a number of times before, so it's not like I'm going to change your mind overall, but my surgery rotation was not like yours. There was quite a bit of emphasis on student education, and we had 2v1 sit-down sessions with surgeons (two students, one surgeon), small group sessions, lectures, well-defined roles like carrying the consult pager and the trauma pager (and when you go to a trauma, you have a role, including some minor procedures), etc. Everyone has a suggestion for unnecessary rotations - I thought my family medicine and neurology rotations were useless. Outpatient peds was pretty low on the list of utility. Many people have questioned the need for OB or psych. I think inpatient medicine is basically the only rotation almost no one would get rid of for an M3.

Doxy, I think you should keep an open mind and not let your (limited) "experience" on a 4 week rotation dictate the course of your professional career. Give surgery another chance. Only you will know if surgery is right for you. But realize that how things are today isn't what it's going to be like tomorrow, if you put the effort into making tomorrow a different day.

Good post. If I were the OP, I'd look over the options of surgical subspecialties, see what is interesting, and try an elective there.

 

[duckie99]

OP, unfortunately making the decision is tough. I did not choose surgery not because I did not like it... but because I found something else I liked a lot more (IM). Do I like everything about IM? hell no. But of the bunch it was the best fit for me. I imagine in short order you'll find the thing that is a best fit for you (including personality of people you work with, comparison of work flow, etc).

I will say however that it sounds like you are trying to convince yourself to like surgery or a subspecialty of it. I will let you in on a secret... surgery, no matter the specialty is all essentially the same - i.e. you get referred a patient, you work the patient up, you do the surgery in the OR if necessary, you follow the patient for a little while after looking for complications or perhaps other surgical therapy, and then you are done. It doesn't matter if you are doing abdominal surgery or neurosurgery. The procedures change but the basic workflow is the same and it revolves around doing lots of surgeries in the OR.

My advice is that if you simply didn't really like the OR then don't do surgery. You can make excuses all you want like "well, I didn't like it because I didn't do anything" or "the surgeries I saw were just long" or etc etc. Look, med students never get to do anything on pretty much all rotations, never have enough knowledge to make truly informed decisions (e.g. if the surgeon is not talking his/her way through an operation it's hard to see the thought process), etc.

So from reading your initial post it sounds like you just don't like surgery and are trying to convince yourself to like it. Do yourself a favor and don't do it because you'll be miserable if you do something you don't really like. As I said I am not in love with all of IM or even the subspecialty I may be potentially interested in but I made the choice based on how much I enjoyed the rotation, how I fit in with the personalities of the residents and attendings, what I was looking for in terms of patient contact, what I saw in the decision making of IM vs surgery, etc etc. It honestly wasn't based on hard facts. It was a gut feeling. I did not enjoy the OR, did not like how a surgeon approached a patient, didn't like the work flow, etc.

So to me, again, if you are avoiding the OR on your rotation I honestly do not think you like the OR. And because the OR is part of the surgeon's life probably 3 days a week depending on the exact practice/field you better be able to at least enjoy it in the beginning. Avoiding it as a student is not a good start. The people I know doing a surgical field like the OR, enjoy the approach to the surgeon problem solving, want to do certain types of procedures, did not like sitting back "doing nothing" like IM does, like thinking the buck stops with them, etc. It's just a totally different mindset and approach with the OR thrown in. You don't have to be a surgeon to do procedures but you do have to be a surgeon to do surgery...


edit:
btw when I started med school I thought I would be a surgeon. So what you are dealing with is definitely not unique. People change their minds all the time... even during or after residency.

 

[ArcGurren]

OP, unfortunately making the decision is tough. I did not choose surgery not because I did not like it... but because I found something else I liked a lot more (IM). Do I like everything about IM? hell no. But of the bunch it was the best fit for me. I imagine in short order you'll find the thing that is a best fit for you (including personality of people you work with, comparison of work flow, etc).

I will say however that it sounds like you are trying to convince yourself to like surgery or a subspecialty of it. I will let you in on a secret... surgery, no matter the specialty is all essentially the same - i.e. you get referred a patient, you work the patient up, you do the surgery in the OR if necessary, you follow the patient for a little while after looking for complications or perhaps other surgical therapy, and then you are done. It doesn't matter if you are doing abdominal surgery or neurosurgery. The procedures change but the basic workflow is the same and it revolves around doing lots of surgeries in the OR.

My advice is that if you simply didn't really like the OR then don't do surgery. You can make excuses all you want like "well, I didn't like it because I didn't do anything" or "the surgeries I saw were just long" or etc etc. Look, med students never get to do anything on pretty much all rotations, never have enough knowledge to make truly informed decisions (e.g. if the surgeon is not talking his/her way through an operation it's hard to see the thought process), etc.

So from reading your initial post it sounds like you just don't like surgery and are trying to convince yourself to like it. Do yourself a favor and don't do it because you'll be miserable if you do something you don't really like. As I said I am not in love with all of IM or even the subspecialty I may be potentially interested in but I made the choice based on how much I enjoyed the rotation, how I fit in with the personalities of the residents and attendings, what I was looking for in terms of patient contact, what I saw in the decision making of IM vs surgery, etc etc. It honestly wasn't based on hard facts. It was a gut feeling. I did not enjoy the OR, did not like how a surgeon approached a patient, didn't like the work flow, etc.

So to me, again, if you are avoiding the OR on your rotation I honestly do not think you like the OR. And because the OR is part of the surgeon's life probably 3 days a week depending on the exact practice/field you better be able to at least enjoy it in the beginning. Avoiding it as a student is not a good start. The people I know doing a surgical field like the OR, enjoy the approach to the surgeon problem solving, want to do certain types of procedures, did not like sitting back "doing nothing" like IM does, like thinking the buck stops with them, etc. It's just a totally different mindset and approach with the OR thrown in. You don't have to be a surgeon to do procedures but you do have to be a surgeon to do surgery...


edit:
btw when I started med school I thought I would be a surgeon. So what you are dealing with is definitely not unique. People change their minds all the time... even during or after residency.

QFT - awesome post. Although lol @ the idea that the buck stops with the surgeons

 

[Kahreek]

Having already completed and honored my surgery rotation at the time I hated it. It was my first rotation, I hated waking up early, staying late, being in the OR and the nasty people I had to deal with everyday. Well now that I'm trying to figure out what I want to do I can't help but think maybe I do like surgery.. maybe not general, maybe a subspecialty.

I am starting to rethink the reasons I hated it.. the getting up early.. it has gotten easier, altho still not fun.. I'm on ob now so hours are similar. I also had unrealistic expectations beginning third year like I wanted to play doctor and I hated that I basically was a glorified shadower and I felt so useless and I hate wasting time which I felt like I was doing. Staying late.. well idk you have to stay late for everything so that sucks regardless. The nasty people seem to be more centered in the general surgery arena and less so in the subspecialties. And the key thing is did I really hate the OR?

I remember countless times avoiding the OR, wanting to get out of the OR etc. Obviously I hated the OR right? Or is it really because I couldn't stand standing there for hours on end, not spoken to, not allowed to do or touch anything, not even really given a shot to suture or do anything and then after all those hours had to be the last one to leave the OR and wait for the patient to wake up and transfer the patient, get bitc*ed out by nurses etc.

What if I do like doing procedures? Sometimes I watch and I'm like wow I just want to do that, other times I'm like what the heck are they even looking at this looks to confusing I don't wanna do this.. but all in all I wonder how can anyone know if they like surgery if they are never allowed to do anything other than shadow? I'm sure everyone's experience may be slightly different but that was it for me. I haven't done medicine yet so I'm waiting to see what my thoughts are on that because some of the sub specialties I think could be very interesting. How did u decide? Anyone here a late bloomer or is everyone that goes into surgery gungho from the start? Def feeling some stress and pressure as third year is flying by and if I were to choose a subspecialty I'd need to schedule those audition rotations in the next few months.. all opinions and comments welcome. 👍

What did you end up going to?

 

[docbsb2015]

What did you end up going to?

Looks like EM->Pain from previous posts

 

[Choledocholithiasis]

OP, reread the first 2 sentences of your first post. Maybe you should try to take a step back and make a list of some of the positives to surgery or to any other specialty you are considering. For me personally I would hate surgery and love IM, so there would be no positives to surgery on my personal list 😛.

And maybe you should rethink saying general surgery has more "nasty" people than subspecialties. Honestly, I think this is a little judgy and makes me think you have some growing up to do.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

I'm going into gen surg.

If you don't LOVE the OR, and didn't "see the light-" that aha moment when you think spending 5 years in residency is worth it, then don't do gen surg.

See how medicine goes. If you love medicine, think about IM. If you love medicine but hate rounding all day, maybe consider Family Medicine. If you only like medicine, hate rounding and love bedside procedures, maybe consider EM.

If after medicine you are still at a loss, and NO other core clerkship specialties resonate with you, here are some surgical/procedure-based specialties with a different flavor:

Anesthesia
Interventional Radiology
Ophthalmology
ENT
Urology

 

[Redpancreas]

I'm going into gen surg.

If you don't LOVE the OR, and didn't "see the light-" that aha moment when you think spending 5 years in residency is worth it, then don't do gen surg.

See how medicine goes. If you love medicine, think about IM. If you love medicine but hate rounding all day, maybe consider Family Medicine. If you only like medicine, hate rounding and love bedside procedures, maybe consider EM.

If after medicine you are still at a loss, and NO other core clerkship specialties resonate with you, here are some surgical/procedure-based specialties with a different flavor:

Anesthesia
Interventional Radiology
Ophthalmology
ENT
Urology

For those, you also need 245+ Step scores and an application tailored to that specialty.