Switching speciality from surgery to something easier?

[NorthwesternHPME]

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I was wondering if (hypothetically) I enter medical school with the mindset that I want to specialize in surgery, will I most likely have to switch to an easier speciality? And if so, then is it because surgical residencies only accept the cream of the crop of medical students? Or is it because I'll probably end up losing interest in surgery?
Thanks!

 

[LucidSplash]

I don't understand your question. If you are interested in surgery then you can pursue it. There are a variety of surgical specialties and while some of them are competitive enough to require top grades/scores and research etc, good grades and test scores are enough for others. I'm not sure how we are supposed to know if you will lose interest in a specialty or not.

 

[NorthwesternHPME]

What I was trying to ask is why do so many students (40-50) get matched to an internal medicine residency, while there are much fewer for each surgical speciality? How competitive is it to get a surgical residency (general, plastic, orthopedic, cardiothoracic, etc.)? Sorry for the convoluted question

 

[deleted804629]

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[LucidSplash]

Actually, the number of residency spots for surgery is largely limited by case volume. You have to show you have enough cases for residents to meet the requirements in each category.

 

[NorthwesternHPME]

So do a large number of med students become disappointed with the outcome of what they match into? And is there less of this problem in top tier med schools (top 30) . Thanks!

 

[deleted804629]

So do a large number of med students become disappointed with the outcome of what they match into? And is there less of this problem in top tier med schools (top 30) . Thanks!

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[FrkyBgStok]

So do a large number of med students become disappointed with the outcome of what they match into? And is there less of this problem in top tier med schools (top 30) . Thanks!

I think you are over estimating the number of people who actually want surgery. Sure there are some that want it and don't get into it, but the vast majority of people I know who didn't go into surgery didn't want to. I came into medical school thinking that surgery could be a possibility, but my third year, surgery was the most miserable month of my life. It just didn't fit me. And many people discover this in med school.

When you look at the lifestyle, the training, the sacrifice, the attitude, etc. that surgery has, you see it self selects fairly well. The majority of surgeons I've worked with were kind of "meant" to do surgery, because all the things that I hate, they love.