Test What Specialty Fits Your Skills/Desires

[Excelsius]

http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/Home.cfm

This is an interesting test: 130 questions to match-make with your desired specialty. I got thoracic surgery as #1 but my 1st choice of neurosurgery was still within the top 15. I think this test more gauges your place within "patient-contact" or "academic" categories rather than precisely determining between neurology or neurosurgery.

Some maybe surprised to find that family medicine is better fit for them. It was the last one on my list since I don't care much about patient interaction.

Make sure to look at the scores on the left column. For example, even though I got NS to be ranked at #15, the score difference between thoracic surgery (50) and NS (45) was only five.

From reading this forum within the last couple of months, I think people are divided into three categories about why they go into medicine, more or less:

1. Wanting to help people (sometimes too vague)
2. Money
3. Interest in the science of medicine and the human body

For me, number 3 is the biggest reason, followed by the rest. Think about your own motivations, but be honest, at least with yourself. It seems that #1 is becoming more and more remote in medicine due to the encroachment of MBAs and insurance companies on doctors' decision making process.

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[justapremed]

Haha, I remember I've seen that at one point. I think I didn't finish it then though. I'll bb with my results

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Hah - I think I remember why. I thought I kept on seeing questions that were very similar (or maybe even same), such as "enjoy working with others "can work with others" "will work with others," etc. So towards the end of the test, I ended up overthinking each statement as they came up repeatedly, and I felt like I kept on clicking on different answers each time :-D

Anyway - I got #1 Occupational medicine (46)
#2 Physical med and rehabilitation (45). Wow, never would have guessed EITHER one... Hm.

#3 Ophthalmology (42). Again, interesting - I always thought being an ophthalmologist would be boring

Then comes all the surgery stuff followed by family med and psychiatry stuff at the bottom of the list. That I expected... intensive listening, long-term relationship oriented.

 

[MsJLewis]

The top 5 from my results:

1 - urology
2 - radiology
3 - gastroenterology
4 - emergency med
5 - dermatology

​

 

[justapremed]

The top 5 from my results:

1 - urology
2 - radiology
3 - gastroenterology
4 - emergency med
5 - dermatology

​

haha urology for me was #4 whereas emergency med was #31.

 

[ButImLETired]

1- Ophthalmology
2- Urology
3- OB/GYN
4 - Pathology
5 - Otolaryngology

Wow, I think i'll skip on 2-4, but ophthalmology might be fun, and otolaryngology also sounds pretty cool....hmmmmmmmm

 

[ChubbyChaser]

1) ortho
2) derm
3) urology
4) EM

weird...these 4 are all very different.

 

[Excelsius]

Man, all of you guys have urology in your top 5 list. What do you do in your spare time? Hahahahahahahaha. j/k.

 

[onemoreyear]

1 pediatrics
2 family practice
3 radiation oncology
4 rheumatology
5 nephrology

I though I was interested in family med, but I've never seriously considered Peds... I also think emergency medicine looks cool, but based on it's position (#36 on my list)...

Also, I was not aware of [SIZE=-1]aerospace medicine, but since it's apparently not for me...
[/SIZE]

 

[mike1618]

I have a feeling that my results will change drastically depending on what mood I am in. I am going to test this out this week.

 

[justapremed]

I have a feeling that my results will change drastically depending on what mood I am in. I am going to test this out this week.

Haha yeah. And when I realized there were going to be 130 Q's, I was like ok, I'm going to breeze through them all, so sometimes I gave answers I didn't quite mean without thinking. I'll try it again. I'm not sure that "occupational med" is for me. I didn't know that was a "specialty"

 

[HumidBeing]

We have some ties here.

nuclear medicine
infectious disease
neurosurgery
pulmonology
aerospace medicine
pathology




At the very bottom of the list (which is probably right where they belong)
pediatrics
colon & rectal surgery
family medicine

 

[punkindrublic]

Hm. 5 of my top 10 are surgical (ortho, thoracic, general, neuro, ENT).

Think that says something about my people skills?

 

[jackson1]

1. Pedatrics
2. Family Practice
3. Dermatology
4. Rheumatology
5. Physical med and rehabilitatoin


Pediatrics is actually what I think I want to go in to, I've never considered #'s 3-5 on my list though!

 

[jzyu]

1. pediatrics
2. hematology
3. dermatology
4. radiation oncology
5. anesthesiology

hmm i feel like my top 5 aren't really that closely related to one another...lol

 

[tiedyeddog]

General surgery and neurosurgery were my top two. I suspect this is as useful as the myers-briggs typology test (not very, I'm a intj by the way.)

 

[Nocturnius]

This should be interesting! Thank you.

 

[MacMD1334]

1. Neurosurgery
2. Gastroenterology
3. Emergency Med
4. Radiology
5. Pathology

 

[TehDoc]

1. orthopedic surgery
2. colon and rectal surgery
3. urology
4. neurosurgery
5. anesthesiology

 

[DoctorDreamer]

Interesting...

My results:

1. Neurosurgery
2. Endocrinology
3. Gastroenterology
4. Allergy & Immunology
5. Physical Med & Rehabilitation

Some others of my interest are:

7. Neurology
9. Plastic Surgery
10. Cardiology
11. Emergenvy Med
12. Infectious Disease
17. General Surgery
19. Thoracic Surgery
21. Otolaryngology
22. Orthopaedic Surgery
25. Internal Med

They are all really close in score, though. Most that I have been very interested are on there decently high (They're all in my top 25, and within 7 points of each other.) Neurosurgery has been my thought for a while, though, so that's not a big surprise.

 

[slicknick5k]

1. Radiology-Yea, I kinda expected this one.
2. Allergy and Immunology ?????? Can't see myself doing this
3. Pulmonology
4. Pathology-Hell yes
5. otolaryngology

I stressed independence, specialty, working with my hands, problem solving, low work hours

 

[MilkmanAl]

1. dermatology
2. pathology
3. nuclear medicine
4. rehab
5. radiology

The two specialties I'm most interested in, anesthesiology and neurology, were 13 and 14.

 

[frikarika]

1 pediatrics
2 dermatology
3 med oncology
4 rheumatology
5 hematology


cool....

 

[PokerDoc]

hey this thing is pretty accurate

1) Occupational Medicine (wrong here but..)
2) Medical Oncology
3) Rad Oncology

 

[Squiddie]

My results were:
1. Dermatology
2. Gastroenterology
3. Emergency Med
4. Pediatrics
5. Orthopaedic Surgery

I'll skip 1&2, though I've always been interested in 3-5, between spending many days in the peds department of the ER myself (though as a patient...I was that kid who was always getting stitches or breaking bones), and I just think Orthopaedics is really cool. I think I could live with any of those, though I don't think I really have the attention span for ANY kind of surgery (orthopaedics was the only surgery in my top 20).

 

[166035]

x

 

[iampremed]

Interesting...

1. radiology (48)
2. nuclear med (46)
3. EM (45)
4. D[SIZE=-1]ermatology, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]allergy & immunology, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]obstetrics/gynecology, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]psychiatry, & [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]urology (44)[/SIZE]

 

[TupacalipseT96]

1 radiology 47
2 nuclear med 47
3 thoracic surgery 46
4 pulmonology 46
5 anesthesiology 46
6 radiation oncology 46

Tied for #1 I have radiology/nucl. med.
Tied for #2 I have RadOnc...which is actually something I'm interested in

Orthopedic surgery was way at the bottom of the list while thoracic is at the top? I wonder why that is...I said I didn't like long hours and uncontrollable schedules >.<

 

[dEterm1ned]

My top three tied too!


[SIZE=-1]pathology[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]neurology[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]nephrology[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]neurosurgery[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]nuclear med[/SIZE]

 

[tiedyeddog]

Orthopedic surgery was way at the bottom of the list while thoracic is at the top? I wonder why that is...I said I didn't like long hours and uncontrollable schedules >.<

Uncontrollable hours is pretty much the definition of an orthopod... I can still recall my dad getting back from a trauma at 5 in the morning and having to go back in at 7... Harsh.

 

[chad5871]

I took this test a few years ago, and my number one (by a lot) was aerospace medicine. I thought to myself, I don't even know what that is!

 

[TexanGirl]

1) Physical Med & Rehabilitation (Tied)
2) Pediatrics (Tied)
3) Psychiatry (Tied)
4) Rheumatology
5) Med Oncology

Interesting, although I admittedly don't know enough about each specialty to say if all these specialties are on par with my actual interests. PM & R has never even crossed my mind. Pediatrics, psychiatry, and rheumatology would probably all be good fits.

 

[EspereUneMinute]

1 gastroenterology 42
2 endocrinology 42
3 infectious disease 41
4 radiology 41

Kind of fits I guess, although I want to be an ob/gyn (scored 38 on that one)

My last-place finish was Family Medicine...I find that hilarious for some reason.

 

[HumidBeing]

I took this test a few years ago, and my number one (by a lot) was aerospace medicine. I thought to myself, I don't even know what that is!

I was just scrolling through to see if that had come up at the top for anyone else.

That was my same reaction when I saw it.