Talk about a specialty you're interested in during an interview?

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gdbath1995

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I have an interview coming up at my alma mater. I lost a family member to pancreatic cancer and got involved in pancreatic cancer research for 3 years with 2 publications, in a prestigious lab at that school. I know the Chief of Surgical Oncology and interviewed him for a documentary I did for a class at that hospital.

I spoke with a premed advisor who told me not to tell them what I am interested, and that it could hurt my interview. Is this true, even if my application is geared toward a specialty?

Thanks for the help!
 
The answer is complicated and depends on a lot of things, like whether the school's mission is to produce primary care physicians or not. Since you have a compelling reason (the family member) and demonstrated interest through your ECs, I think it may be fine to say something along the lines of "based on my experiences with XYZ, blank is something I am interested in pursuing. However, I am open to all specialities and am excited to get more exposure during my rotations so that I can find the right speciality for me".

If the school is primary care focused, definitely do not mention this.
 
If they ask address it. I was asked in all my interviews which field I could see myself in.
 
The answer is complicated and depends on a lot of things, like whether the school's mission is to produce primary care physicians or not. Since you have a compelling reason (the family member) and demonstrated interest through your ECs, I think it may be fine to say something along the lines of "based on my experiences with XYZ, blank is something I am interested in pursuing. However, I am open to all specialities and am excited to get more exposure during my rotations so that I can find the right speciality for me".

If the school is primary care focused, definitely do not mention this.

If they ask address it. I was asked in all my interviews which field I could see myself in.


"where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
I was thinking to say I want to be a physician-scientist in this field because XYZ...
Thoughts?? Thanks again!
 
"where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
I was thinking to say I want to be a physician-scientist in this field because XYZ...
Thoughts?? Thanks again!

By physician-scientist, if you mean MD-PhD, you would probably be in residency in 10 years.
 
By physician-scientist, if you mean MD-PhD, you would probably be in residency in 10 years.

I mean a physician who does clinical research, not MD/PhD. Regardless would be in Residency but I'd like to expand more than "I'll be in my fellowship"
 
Like what @ajb24 experienced, I was also directly asked what specialty I was currently interested in during some of my interviews. My application, similar to yours, was very obviously geared toward a certain field (in this case neurology). In fact, I had multiple interviews where the schools assigned me to interview with neurologists and I feel that this was no coincidence. I truthfully told them what I was interested in (backing it up with reasons of course) but emphasized that I am still an open minded person who is not dead set on what I am interested in now. I honestly dont think it would hurt to mention what you are currently interested in (especially if it is related to your application) unless what you are interested in does not align with what the school is looking for, as @fldoctorgirl previously said.
 
Just to reinforce what others above have said, if the school is primary care focused, then I would make sure to make it known that you are open to everything. My main interest is in a surgical field, I'm not entirely sure which one yet, but I know that I want to either pursue surgery directly or at least a specialty that allows for several procedures. To that end, my ECs kind of scream surgery as much of my shadowing was with surgeons and in addition, I mention surgery in my personal statement (as it relates to one of my experiences that significantly reinforced my decision to pursue medicine - I'm a non-traditional). Overall, for me, it would have been impossible for me to tell a school I'm mostly interested in primary care but when asked, I made it clear that I enjoyed all of my clinical/shadowing experience, including that in primary care, and at this time, I'm really open to and can see myself working in any specialty, primary care included. I was accepted at both schools at which this topic came up so I think, again as others have reiterated above, if you at least are open to everything, you should be able to mention what you think you're mostly interested in now.... aka - surgical oncology!

Good Luck!
 
Yeah definitely if at a school that has a strong primary care focus say that your are open to any field and primary care interests you. They say that the field you are interested in changes a bunch in med school so the interview is a good time to acknowledge that and let them know you have an open mind.
 
I would frame it along the lines of, "The experience of losing a family member to pancreatic cancer led me to this research, which has strengthened my decision to go into medicine. That being said, it's still too early to know exactly what field I want to go into, so I will go into medicine with an open mind."
 
I was asked what area I want to go into. I provided a sort of vague answer, saying perhaps internal medicine but still undecided.

The interviewer said "why not oncology?" due to some family stuff I wrote about. And I was like "yeah, that's definitely on the table for an option after internal med."

Medical schools want to see that you're not fixated on one thing (especially not one competitive area). What percentage med students who are fixated on ortho or derm end up with the board scores to make that a possibility? None of us know, but it is certainly less than 100%.

The schools don't want you to be disappointed or unhappy if you can't get that competitive residency or competitive subspecialty fellowship. Telling them you really want primary care internal med/Family med/peds is very different than telling them that you want a surgical specialty.

If you feel you want to mention it, say you're considering it but are open to other options as you learn and grow.
 
My "why medicine" spiel ends up being pretty specialty specific. But having that specific focus allowed me to talk about "why medicine" with a lot of passion, so I hoped that the trade-off would be worth it.
 
You could try answering this, and all other interview questions truthfully. Crazy idea, but it just might work.
 
You could try answering this, and all other interview questions truthfully. Crazy idea, but it just might work.
It is not untruthful to say you are open to all specialties because you should be. Medicine is so diverse how does anyone know what they want to be for absolute certain
 
I have an interview coming up at my alma mater. I lost a family member to pancreatic cancer and got involved in pancreatic cancer research for 3 years with 2 publications, in a prestigious lab at that school. I know the Chief of Surgical Oncology and interviewed him for a documentary I did for a class at that hospital.

I spoke with a premed advisor who told me not to tell them what I am interested, and that it could hurt my interview. Is this true, even if my application is geared toward a specialty?

Thanks for the help!

"Pancreatic cancer" is not a specialty. You could want to be the primary care physician who fields the first complaint, the radiologist who visualizes the mass, the gastroenterologist who does the biopsy, the pathologist who reads the biopsy, the radiation oncologist who irradiates the mass, the surgeon who does the Whipple, or the oncologist who orders the chemotherapy and manages most of the care.
 
Yeah definitely if at a school that has a strong primary care focus say that your are open to any field and primary care interests you.

Please don't tell us what you think we want to hear. Without support from your EC's and other experiences you just end up looking silly.
 
Please don't tell us what you think we want to hear. Without support from your EC's and other experiences you just end up looking silly.
I see you only quoted the portion of my comment that best fit your opinion.
 
I see you only quoted the portion of my comment that best fit your opinion.

I'd do it again.

"Yeah definitely if at a school that has a strong primary care focus say that your are open to any field and primary care interests you."
 
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"Pancreatic cancer" is not a specialty. You could want to be the primary care physician who fields the first complaint, the radiologist who visualizes the mass, the gastroenterologist who does the biopsy, the pathologist who reads the biopsy, the radiation oncologist who irradiates the mass, the surgeon who does the Whipple, or the oncologist who orders the chemotherapy and manages most of the care.
Or the anesthesiologist who does a room air general anesthetic when the patient freaks out in the CT scanner, then sedates for the biopsy, then does general anesthesia while the thing is irradiated, then does general anesthesia for the Whipple, and then gets called for IV starts when the veins have been torched by chemo. booyah-comic-pop.jpg
 
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"Pancreatic cancer" is not a specialty. You could want to be the primary care physician who fields the first complaint, the radiologist who visualizes the mass, the gastroenterologist who does the biopsy, the pathologist who reads the biopsy, the radiation oncologist who irradiates the mass, the surgeon who does the Whipple, or the oncologist who orders the chemotherapy and manages most of the care.

I didn't specify, but Medical Oncology is what I am interested in.
 
I'd do it again.

"Yeah definitely if at a school that has a strong primary care focus say that your are open to any field and primary care interests you."

Why so hostile? We ask these questions because we have been told otherwise by our premed advisors. Glad we can hear from other faculty and get their input.
 
I didn't specify, but Medical Oncology is what I am interested in.

Good, this helps. The most commonly cited surveys indicate that approximately 80% of incoming medical students ultimately choose fields different than their respective starting interests. Usually this is for one of three reasons: (1) the actual day-to-day practice of the speciality doesn't align with what the student really wants, (2) another, more appealing speciality is encountered and takes the lead, or (3) the student lacks the academic credentials to match into the specialty of choice.

It's perfectly fine to raise this as a field you are interested in pursuing, because you have experiences to back up the assertion. Everyone simply has to respect the fact that minds can change when confronted with more complete information. Oncology is a fairly polarizing specialty, with people either loving or hating it. And I'm not sure that you can necessarily choose which side of that fence you will end up on.

Why so hostile? We ask these questions because we have been told otherwise by our premed advisors. Glad we can hear from other faculty and get their input.

Not hostile, more a mix of bemused and exasperated by those who think being lightly disingenuous is a good strategy. The saving grace is that it's so common that we hardly even notice.
 
Good, this helps. The most commonly cited surveys indicate that approximately 80% of incoming medical students ultimately choose fields different than their respective starting interests. Usually this is for one of three reasons: (1) the actual day-to-day practice of the speciality doesn't align with what the student really wants, (2) another, more appealing speciality is encountered and takes the lead, or (3) the student lacks the academic credentials to match into the specialty of choice.

It's perfectly fine to raise this as a field you are interested in pursuing, because you have experiences to back up the assertion. Everyone simply has to respect the fact that minds can change when confronted with more complete information. Oncology is a fairly polarizing specialty, with people either loving or hating it. And I'm not sure that you can necessarily choose which side of that fence you will end up on.



Not hostile, more a mix of bemused and exasperated by those who think being lightly disingenuous is a good strategy. The saving grace is that it's so common that we hardly even notice.
Is it disingenuous to say you are thinking a certain field but know that in medical school it can change and telling them you are open to other options? Once again quote my whole post next time
 
Let me clear this up. I will never tell you to be disingenuous and if my old post seemed that way I apologize. I’m saying in your interviews it is good to have a passion for one specialty but don’t disregard all the other areas of medicine you will be learning about throughout med school. It is good to acknowledge that passions change and you are open to other fields as well. I’ve met so many people that have said they would “never” go into a certain field and at the end of 4th year they find themselves in the very residency they said they would never do.
 
I will never tell you to be disingenuous and if my old post seemed that way I apologize.

It seemed that way. You literally suggested telling interviewers at schools with a primary care focus that he is interested in primary care, despite having a clear interest in a subspecialty. Telling them you are keeping an open mind is good, but don’t tell them to fake an interest in primary care. Maybe that’s not what you meant, but it’s what you said.
 
I have an interview coming up at my alma mater. I lost a family member to pancreatic cancer and got involved in pancreatic cancer research for 3 years with 2 publications, in a prestigious lab at that school. I know the Chief of Surgical Oncology and interviewed him for a documentary I did for a class at that hospital.

I spoke with a premed advisor who told me not to tell them what I am interested, and that it could hurt my interview. Is this true, even if my application is geared toward a specialty?

Thanks for the help!
I was asked about specialties during some of my interviews. I talked about radiology and anesthesia. I was accepted at these schools.
 
I talked about sports medicine, which seems to be one of the less popular specialties to talk about with ortho being so competitive. However, I was able to tie my experiences and goals into it very concisely. I am also fortunate to have experiences in sports med realms outside of ortho-- physiatry, primary care sports med, etc. So I could talk about being open to helping athletes/active people through those specialties (which is the truth).

TL;DR --- I talked a lot about ortho, which may not seem like a great move, but I talked with enthusiasm and hopefully conveyed my openness to other similar paths, and I got acceptances out of it
 
Or the anesthesiologist who does a room air general anesthetic when the patient freaks out in the CT scanner, then sedates for the biopsy, then does general anesthesia while the thing is irradiated, then does general anesthesia for the Whipple, and then gets called for IV starts when the veins have been torched by chemo. View attachment 227497

I have to say, despite the trope that anesthesiologists and radiologists don't like to interact with (awake) patients, some of my best conversations have been with physicians in those specialties. Maybe it's exceptional acting skills, maybe they save up social energy during the non-patient times... Regardless, imo, when going in for surgery having a kickass anesthesiologist is equally as reassuring and important as having a kickass surgeon 🙂
 
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