Take this test & find out which specialty is right for you...

[Dr. Chiquita]

Someone posted to this link long time ago, but I thought you guys might like to try this. It is called Medical Specialty Aptitude Test. They ask you 130 questions on your preferences, personality types, etc to determine which specialty is right for you. Enjoy

For what it's worth, they think I am a perfect match for pathology (yeah, right...) followed by plastic, thoracic, and general surgery (like that).

Stupid of me, didn't post a link.

www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/

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[Sharkfan]

I took it... I'm not convinced. But fun to do anyways!

 

[peterockduke]

Good God I hope not! The only way this could have been worse is if I had a whole bunch of surgury fields listed first....

It had my first choice listed as LAST. This might have something to do with my unwillingness to take long hours, but hey, a man can dream can't he?!

At least peds and dermatology were tied for 3rd - b/c they're almost the same thing?!?

 

[premedmadness]

I'm on question 62. This is funny. So far, they have asked me about 10 times if i enjoy problem solving, 7 times if i enjoy listening to people, 9 times if i can accept long term results, 8 times if i am a decision maker.... this is the same 4 or 5 questions repeated over and over.

 

[deleted36260]

My top 3.....

1 thoracic surgery 49
2 orthopaedic surgery 49
3 obstetrics/gynecology 48


#2 should be #1 and #3 shouldn't be on the list

 

[premed]

I'd say it was pretty accurate...the 3 fields I'm interested in placed 1 (radiology), 3 (dermatology) and 4 (emergency medicine). 2 was pathology, which, now that I think about it, wouldn't be too bad. I spend 40 hours a week right now immunostaining and looking at mouse xenograft tumors anyways...how bad can it be?

 

[Spitting Camel]

1 radiation oncology 49
2 urology 47
3 dermatology 46

Veeeeeeeery Interesting... My first choice, OB/GYN is at #23

 

[jlee9531]

1. pediatrics
2. med oncology
3. rad oncology

 

[fun8stuff]

Actually, it matched my interests quite well...

 

[MErc44]

radiology wtf?? i always thought i was going to be an orthopedic surgeon

 

[thewebthsp]

Preventive medicine?!!? Aerospace medicine?! (tied for 1)

Well oncology was #8 for me

Neuro was #10.... hmmm

 

[mlw03]

pretty interesting... it got my #1 right (thus far), but the rest of the top-10 had some weird stuff. i think it's kinda silly to use a test to pick a speciality - we'll just wait till the end of 3rd year like every other med student does.

 

[TRUE]

I'm still doing it, but I'd just like to point out that they could really cut out some of the 130 questions if they eliminated the repeated ones

 

[ewing]

Originally posted by jlee9531
1. pediatrics
2. med oncology
3. rad oncology

Funny. I also had Rad Onc ranked really high (#2). I bet an oncologist made the survey.

The two specialties I'm really interested in, Gas and ER, came in at #10 and #11.

It's all good, I guess.

 

[bigbaubdi]

Originally posted by thewebthsp
Preventive medicine?!!? Aerospace medicine?! (tied for 1)

Well oncology was #8 for me

Neuro was #10.... hmmm

Those were my top two as well and I am equally perplexed.

I agree w/ facted, I must have answered 4 or 5 questions about 3 or 4 times each.

 

[meanderson]

1) radiology
2) pathology
3) dermatology
4) anesthesiology


bottom:
-ortho
-neurosurgery
-ent
-family practice

 

[Chet Rogers]

The difference btw. #1 and #36 is by 11 points.
1 nuclear med 38
2 radiology 37
3 dermatology 37
4 pediatrics 36
5 general surgery 35
6 med oncology 35
7 anesthesiology 35
rad,der,gas,peds = I love it

 

[CharlesCA]

1 nuclear med 42 no thanks
2 urology 41 no thanks
3 radiology 41 and no thanks

5 orthopaedic surgery 41 yea!
6 general surgery 40 yea!
7 neurosurgery 40 yea!

Bottom
35 pediatrics 31 hurt kids suck
36 anesthesiology 31 talk about BORING!

 

[G0S2]

I always wanted hem/onc and it picked:


1. burger flipper
2. rad onc
3. med onc
4. hematology

 

[jberg4]

The repeated questions are a technique used by surveyers to evaluate your answer to basically the same question worded in a slightly different way and following different types of questions. Sometimes people change their answer which tells the surveyer something about how you view that question in different contexts.

I remember learning a little about this in one of my anthropology classes, but most of it didn't stick to well. Anyways, just wanted to let you know there is a method to that madness.

 

[UCLAstudent]

1 general surgery 47
2 hematology 47
3 physical med & rehabilitation 46

Umm... no thanks!

 

[CalBeE]

Originally posted by jberg4
The repeated questions are a technique used by surveyers to evaluate your answer to basically the same question worded in a slightly different way and following different types of questions. Sometimes people change their answer which tells the surveyer something about how you view that question in different contexts.

I remember learning a little about this in one of my anthropology classes, but most of it didn't stick to well. Anyways, just wanted to let you know there is a method to that madness.

Some questions are actually repeated in the EXACT wording, they're probably trying to see if the order of the question affects your answer. A lot of times the questions that you see previously can have a subtle influence on your answer to the answer you answer at the moment.

For me, I got Internal Med on the top, and some internal med sub specialties below, which I thought were accurate.

However, I got ophthlamology as second, and some oncology specialties on the top of the list, and that surprise me. I don't think I'll ever go for those stuff.

 

[finnpipette]

seems pretty accurate for me. it lists 1. peds, 2. EM, which are my top choices...i dunno about derm

 

[Sean2tall]

Mine said radiology, which is pretty much what I'm thinking right now, so I was excited. But the question is: Did it say radiology because I wanted it to? Or is that really what I want? Hmmm. . . .

Also I think the survey helps you figure out more like the nature of the job you want rather than what you are interested in. For example, I think surgery is really neat, but what I look for in a job is more the independence, technology, etc. which led to it saying radiology.

 

[lizzylu]

My top two were
1. opthomology
2. neurosurg

Intimidating! I'm a decent student and all, but that's crazy --I guess the test thinks I'm a gunner

 

[Rendar5]

fairly accurate. It put me into EM, which is what I'm pretty sure is right for me at this point.

1 emergency med 49
2 gastroenterology 47
3 pulmonology 46 (wha? I don't know **** about this yet)
4 dermatology 46 (sure, why not. good hours)
5 radiology 46

 

[LoneCoyote]

i think it was pretty right on for me:

1 psychiatry 44
2 pediatrics 44
3 aerospace med 43
4 emergency med 43
5 preventive med 42

though i really do NOT want to do psych, though i think i'd be good at it since i'm therapist for everyone in my life already. and i can defnitely see myself in 2, 4, or 5. but what is aerospace medicine anyway?

 

[gschl1234]

Maybe this shoudl be obvious but what do the numbers after the specialty mean? Like: 1. anesthesiology 48? What's the 48?

 

[gschl1234]

Originally posted by ewing
I bet an oncologist made the survey.

Anita D. Talyor, M.A.Ed.
Associate Proffessor

Department of Family Medicine

Oregon Health Sciences University

School of Medicine

Portland, Oregon

Publisher: W B Saunders Co; ISBN: 0721674623

It looks from the website that she made the survey.

 

[clumpymold]

My top choices:

1 nuclear med 43
2 pathology 42
3 neurology 41
4 radiology 41


The specialties I will most likely go into:

8 allergy & immunology 41
9 infectious disease 40
10 rheumatology 40


Not too bad, I guess.

 

[clumpymold]

Originally posted by gschl1234
Maybe this shoudl be obvious but what do the numbers after the specialty mean? Like: 1. anesthesiology 48? What's the 48?

I'm guessing the percentage that specialty matches you based on your answers. So if you actually got 100, then that field is DEFINITELY the specialty you should go into.

 

[clumpymold]

Originally posted by clumpymold
My top choices:

1 nuclear med 43
2 pathology 42
3 neurology 41
4 radiology 41


The specialties I will most likely go into:

8 allergy & immunology 41
9 infectious disease 40
10 rheumatology 40


Not too bad, I guess.

Hmm, I'm quoting myself here. Interesting. Anyway, what decides which specialty goes above what if the percentages are the same? I just noticed that #3 to #8 have the same percentage (41). Or is that a rounded number?

 

[hilikus]

preventative medicine #1...

i thought i wanted to do othro...hmmm


but it did have nephrology and er listed in my top 10 which are other 2 i am considering.

 

[gschl1234]

Originally posted by clumpymold
I'm guessing the percentage that specialty matches you based on your answers. So if you actually got 100, then that field is DEFINITELY the specialty you should go into.

That's kind of what I guessed but I was hoping it couldn't be right cause we're all matching in the 40s. Maybe I should have gone into some other field. Oh well.

 

[looseygoosey]

WTF???

1. Occupational Med
2. Preventitive Med
3. Physical Med & Rehab
4. Aerospace med
5. Dermatology (finally..a possibility)

I have no clue what any of these specialties (1-4) are about.

 

[Tiki]

1 pathology
2 allergy & immunology
3 nuclear med
4 neurology

 

[musiclink213]

i took it a while back, and it said EM was #1, aerospace was #2. the thing you have to realize with that is that most people have a general idea of what field they want to go into, and so they can pick their choice based on that field, so it isn't reallly objective.

 

[lotanna]

Rank Specialty Score
1 pediatrics 49
2 emergency med 47
3 dermatology 47
4 family practice 46
5 med oncology 46
6 physical med & rehabilitation 46


31 plastic surgery 38
32 general surgery 38
33 colon & rectal surgery 38
34 neurology 37
35 pathology 37
36 thoracic surgery 36

14 radiation oncology 43
15 anesthesiology 42

ones i've an interest for



Hahaha, they were right about surgery, thats a big no no for me, especially since i'm not a perfectionist
I LOVE kids, but no to peds, and family practice. Derm is a possibility, cause i hate long working hrs, and have other interests outside medicine. Emergency med would be cool, with days on and then days off. Medical oncology and PM&R are also stuff i've thought about. I think it did mine based on wanting time off.

 

[Peachy720]

Mine was pretty accurate:

for some reason however, they kept repeating themselves various places in the list:

Pediatrics (1 2, 3)
Dermatology (4,5,6)
Physical Med & Rehabilitation (7,9,11)
Emergency Medincine (8,10,12)

bottom 3:
Aerospace Med (98,102,108)
Pathology (93, 99, 107)
Cardiology (100, 105, 106)

 

[Newquagmire]

i think the questions are repeated to get a better feel for how you're ranking things after you get a feel for the kinds of questions they're going to ask you and if your ratings change based on the immediately previous asked questions...

1) derm 47 --> could do
2) nuclear med 45 --> no idea what this is
3) neuro 44 --> not interested
4) rad 44 --> not interested
5) psych 44 --> been considering this lately
7) peds 43 --> what i said at interviews
11) med onc 42 --> what i said at interviews
12) infectious disease 42 --> been considering this lately
14) allergy & immuno 42 --> what my parents think i should do since it's cushy and i am a multi-sneezer

 

[CaptainZero]

1) Allergy/Immuno...interesting...never thought about it but I'm not opposed to the idea
2)Radiology...definitely one of my top 5's
3)Ob/Gyn...I'd rather be a lawyer

Unfortunately Rectal surgery was at the bottom of my list, and that's what i've dreamed of doing my entire life. j/k.

My ideal field was 18...Bummer.

And can someone please tell what aerospace med is...maybe I've been living under a rock, but I've never heard of it...and its #4 for me.

 

[frank51]

seems pretty accurate:
1 urology 43
2 radiology 43
3 colon & rectal surgery 43
4 dermatology 42

 

[Cerbernator]

i dont understand that stupid repetitive test

 

[docmemi]

1 pathology 47
2 urology 46
3 gastroenterology 46
4 dermatology 46
5 endocrinology 45
6 ophthalmology 45


never pathology for me. maybe uro, gastro or derm.

 

[kmjannie]

1 radiology 43 ---YES! My current #1.
2 plastic surgery 42 ---Have considered this...
3 otolaryngology 42 ---Have also considered this...
4 ophthalmology 42 ---Interesting...
5 emergency med 42 ---I don't think so...
6 colon & rectal surgery 42 ---Don't know if I could look at that day after day after day...

 

[Gleevec]

WTF

I retake this test and suddenly it says Derm #1. I look at personality types by specialty, and Derm is up there.

STAY AWAY DARKSIDE, I WANT TO WORK ON CANCER!

There's always melanoma, but still, don't want to deal with lifestyle gunners for the rest of my life (the older derms I have encountered are really cool, but it seems more and more the new entrants in the specialty care less about the field and more about the lifestyle)

Jeeze, aren't there any intellectually challenging specialties that DONT require call. I guess some people think its cool to get paged from your kids soccer game (to show how important you are), but Id rather not have to deal with that.

 

[Marina9]

1 rheumatology 42
2 endocrinology 42
3 dermatology 42
4 gastroenterology 41
5 allergy & immunology 41
6 general internal med 40

I was thinking internal med, but those subspecialities also look interesting. I dunno about derm...

 

[BlackstarNYC]

Dermatology at #1

 

[Indebt4Life]

1. Emergency Medicine
2. Urology
3. Radiation Oncology

My top choice was # 20

 

[rgporter]

1 pathology 47
2 urology 46
3 gastroenterology 46
4 dermatology 46
5 endocrinology 45
6 ophthalmology 45


never pathology for me. maybe uro, gastro or derm.

Why not? I work for pathologists and the residents who come through our lab say it's the best kept secret in medicine. They work low hours have high salary and interesting work. Sounds like a good deal to me.