To all visitors

[LADoc00]

There is sprouting interest in Path on this forum and I wanted to address a few things

1.) My job is not fun, somewhat entertaining but rarely the knee slapping, ground rolling bucket-o-laughs something like say Geriatric Medicine can provide!

2.) In terms of competitiveness, Path is insanely hard to get into now. Think becoming an astronaut, some of those guys go the Air Force Academy, spend years in flight school, maybe go a war, then comeback and wait for decades in stasis for chance to be on a shuttle mission. Path is basically the same thing, there are 10 people waiting for me to die just so they can get my job and Im only 31.

3.) In terms of compensation, Radiologists make crazy amounts more. In fact a local one-eyed radiologist with a bad limp and horrible halitosis working part time only on Wednesdays is making more than my current department chair in Path.

4.) The job is just plain hard. I literally have to know everything, it wieghs upon me everynight. I rarely sleep.

5.) Theres just too many of us now. Just the other day, an American Board of Pathology email was sent out asking for approval of a plan codenamed "Meaning of Life" where young junior pathologists are rounded up while still in training and sold off for use in medical experiments. (Of course I was abhorred and would never participate in such barbarism)

Other fields with tons of room to grow would include:
Radiation Oncology - OOLALA, big bucks here.
Radiology - of course
Nuc Med
Derm
Ophtho
PMR
Health Adminstration - Cha Ching! Medical Enron.
Cosmetic Surgery
Reproductive Medicine
Medicolegal Expert
Obesity Specialist - !! damn plenty of jobs here!look around the nurses lounge.
Pain Management - Da PiMp
Film Production Medicine - They need some doc on the set of Jessica Simpson's new flick, that could be you!!
Hair Removal Specialist- no derm needed here, just get a medical lic after a cush TY and open a shop with a bus. loan!!
Investment Banking - Think of all that specialist info you can provide to JP Morgan when they are considering go through with a biotech/med/pharm deal. Holy cow!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[yaah]

You think the hair removal specialists or the hair implantation experts are better off? I am not sure. My dad took care of a guy who was seeing a hair transplant doc and he had to pay like 5K for each visit, and there were 5 visits. And each one was like an hour, during which he saw the actual doc for about 5 minutes.

 

[yaah]

Oh, and p.s. as a resident I haven't gone home in 3 weeks. My girlfriend dumped me because I wasn't paying any attention to her and I was shouting out differential diagnoses of fibrous lesions of the retroperitoneum in the heights of passion. All I can really eat (when I can afford the time to eat) is cafeteria deli stuff. I wash myself in the common bathroom because I can't get home to my shower. Oh yeah, and I have to learn all that path stuff.

 

[LADoc00]

You think the hair removal specialists or the hair implantation experts are better off? I am not sure. My dad took care of a guy who was seeing a hair transplant doc and he had to pay like 5K for each visit, and there were 5 visits. And each one was like an hour, during which he saw the actual doc for about 5 minutes.

No, you run a combo practice of hair implantation and hair removal. Thus you hit both markets.

 

[Leukocyte]

I went to see my advisor this morning, and she told me that I have a very very slim chance of matching into Pathology, including the lowest ranking community programs.

Here are my stats

-USMLE 1 = 259.
-USMLE 2 = 261.
-AOA
-6 Publications in Pathology
-Presented papers at 3 ACP meetings
-Worked as a Medical Technologist before Med. School, and I have a MT(ASCP) certification
-5 LOR from respected pathologists.
-Have multiple connections in the Pathology.

I am very very worried, Please help. (If you know what I mean).

 

[b&ierstiefel]

your adviser is a ****** and should be shot.

 

[yaah]

your adviser is a ****** and should be shot.

No, no. He's right.

You could improve your application somewhat if you were to patent a new machine for running a coag assay faster and more accurately. Everybody's doing this now, however.

 

[Leukocyte]

your adviser is a ****** and should be shot.

Oh, I did not know that you were going to show up Andy. This was not intended for your eyes to see.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Oh, I did not know that you are going to show up Andy. This was not intended for your eyes to see.

should i delete my last post and pretend that i never saw this thread?

 

[LADoc00]

should i delete my last post and pretend that i never saw this thread?

Dude you are seriously sabotaging this!

Anyway, I was talking to a Repro Med guy and he said he works 3 days a week and brings home a cool mil a year. Damn! Thats far better than me, I was scrapping for dimes so I could buy some licorice from the gift store today.

 

[Leukocyte]

should i delete my last post and pretend that i never saw this thread?

No, I hate my advisor. I like that you called her a ******....what a B!@#$

 

[yaah]

Dude you are seriously sabotaging this!

Anyway, I was talking to a Repro Med guy and he said he works 3 days a week and brings home a cool mil a year. Damn! Thats far better than me, I was scrapping for dimes so I could buy some licorice from the gift store today.

I have been saving up for 3 weeks so I can buy some licorice. Luckily a urology resident showed up and saw my scraggly appearance and gave me one.

 

[LADoc00]

Another thing....
In pathology you have to do forensics, which is NOTHING like CSI trust me. When I rotated through, we had a case of this baby the cops fished out of a local pond in a big park. When they eventually tracked down the mom, she matter of factly explained to us she tossed the baby out of her jogging stroller thing into the pond because the poor baby was interupting her tranquil jog that morning. She then came down to ID the baby and I wanted to bash her head in. I had nightmares for weeks after that.

Do want to have that shiat in your head for the rest of your life?

To compare, I heard a radiology resident at my program had emergency psych commitment because he had a nervous breakdown deciding between a BMW and a Benz. OOO the Horror!!

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Another thing....
In pathology you have to do forensics, which is NOTHING like CSI trust me. When I rotated through, we had a case of this baby the cops fished out of a local pond in a big park. When they eventually tracked down the mom, she matter of factly explained to us she tossed the baby out of her jogging stroller thing into the pond because the poor baby was interupting her tranquil jog that morning. She then came down to ID the baby and I wanted to bash her head in. I had nightmares for weeks after that.

Do want to have that shiat in your head for the rest of your life?

To compare, I heard a radiology resident at my program had emergency psych commitment because he had a nervous breakdown deciding between a BMW and a Benz. OOO the Horror!!

sorry for sabotaging your thread dude.

in response to your forensics comment, forensics is such a small part of residency training--one month at most as an elective at many places.

 

[LADoc00]

sorry for sabotaging your thread dude.

in response to your forensics comment, forensics is such a small part of residency training--one month at most as an elective at many places.

Forensics isnt an elective! Hahahaha dude, its core, its so core rotation its not even funny. There are as many FP ?s on the AP boards as cardiac, renal and molecular COMBINED.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Forensics isnt an elective! Hahahaha dude, its core, its so core rotation its not even funny. There are as many FP ?s on the AP boards as cardiac, renal and molecular COMBINED.

fine it's core. but it's short and for my purposes, it will be useful to help get my autopsy count up to 50.

 

[Freestyle]

Actually, don't you end up continuing to take loans for the rest of your life as a pathologist? Thank goodness for the William D. Ford Program.

 

[bananaface]

Women won't date pathologists because they are grossed out by the cooties they think they are going to get. Plus, who wants to brag to their lady friends that their husband runs a human chop shop? If you're male and going into pathology you can count on being single for a very long time. Like... forever.

 

[tsj]

Also, no one thinks you are a real doctor like a surgeon or pediatrician, even other doctors don't know you are a doctor.

 

[bananaface]

People ask pharmacists for medical advice before they ask pathologists. Some ******* rams a Q-tip in his ear and do you think a pathologist knows that subsequent hearing loss requires a referral to an otolaryngologist? NO.

 

[LADoc00]

Also, pathologists have the highest suicide rate after anesth. and the highest overall suicide rate when drug abuse is not considered. We are all major depressive disorder!

 

[bananaface]

Also, pathologists have the highest suicide rate after anesth. and the highest overall suicide rate when drug abuse is not considered. We are all major depressive disorder!

But, simultaneously unqualified to diagnose yourselves.

 

[gungho]

Also, no one thinks you are a real doctor like a surgeon or pediatrician, even other doctors don't know you are a doctor.

When I told my supervisor (boarded IM) last year that I was leaving to do a path residency, he said,"So what will you be doing, like working in a lab all day?"

 

[DrYo12]

Pathologists don't practice 'real' medicine. After all, if there were an emergency and a pathologist were around, his professional opinion would be 'you should call a doctor'.

 

[bananaface]

Pathologists don't practice 'real' medicine. After all, if there were an emergency and a pathologist were around, his professional opinion would be 'you should call a doctor'.

That's got to be very immasculating.

 

[LADoc00]

That's got to be very immasculating.

No wonder I feel ambigiously gay sometimes!

 

[DrYo12]

No wonder I feel ambigiously gay sometimes!

 

[bananaface]

No wonder I feel ambigiously gay sometimes!

And, it still doesn't bring the ladies. What is up with THAT!?

 

[quant]

That's got to be very immasculating.

you mean "emasculating"......

Ha gotcha!

 

[DrYo12]

you mean "emasculating"......

Ha gotcha!

another nice thing about pathologists...

anal retentive.

 

[quant]

another nice thing about pathologists...

anal retentive.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Pathologists don't practice 'real' medicine. After all, if there were an emergency and a pathologist were around, his professional opinion would be 'you should call a doctor'.

I never felt any reservations about this. I don't want people asking me medical management questions cuz I would end up giving equivocal cop-out answers like, "take an ibuprofen (note, I don't say advil cuz ibuprofen makes me sound smart )" or "drink lots of fluids and rest". Most people, when they ask me medical related questions, ask me questions that sound basic at one level but nonetheless, the exact answers are still elusive. I don't like feeling dumb and not being able to give precise answers...so go ask someone else who will feel more comfortable in dishing out half-assed answers. No reservations here

 

[RyMcQ]

There are as many FP ?s on the AP boards as cardiac, renal and molecular COMBINED.

B.S. There was one FP question last year. You might be thinking about the RISE.

By the way, if you practice in a state with a state medical examiner system, you can do 5 autopsies a year with no threat of ever getting a forensic case.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

He was probably making that point just to give me a sharp bitchslap across my face for thinking that FP was not core.

I checked my program's curriculum and sample schedules and it is core. 2 weeks! oh no!

fine, FP is core. you're right, i'm wrong again

 

[bananaface]

you mean "emasculating"......

Ha gotcha!

Yes. You got me. As an honorary pathologist I am obligated to get pwned on a daily basis. It hurts so good... Oh, wait. It doesn't.

 

[bananaface]

I never felt any reservations about this. I don't want people asking me medical management questions cuz I would end up giving equivocal cop-out answers like, "take an ibuprofen (note, I don't say advil cuz ibuprofen makes me sound smart )" or "drink lots of fluids and rest". Most people, when they ask me medical related questions, ask me questions that sound basic at one level but nonetheless, the exact answers are still elusive. I don't like feeling dumb and not being able to give precise answers...so go ask someone else who will feel more comfortable in dishing out half-assed answers. No reservations here

Pathologists don't help people.

 

[LADoc00]

B.S. There was one FP question last year. You might be thinking about the RISE.

By the way, if you practice in a state with a state medical examiner system, you can do 5 autopsies a year with no threat of ever getting a forensic case.

I dont want to start an argument, but there is definitely more than 1 FP ? a year, regardless it doesnt matter.

What if I practice in a group that say sends out their pap smears can I skip cyto rotations? What about a group that sends out molecular (like almost EVERYONE), can I skip my mol path rotation? Whether you end up doing it or not isnt the point dude. FP is core, end of story.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Pathologists don't help people.

so what? since when was i talking about helping people?

 

[bananaface]

so what? since when was i talking about helping people?

I was just pointing out that those who want to spend their lives working as competent clinicians don't belong in pathology. It has nothing to do with you.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I was just pointing out that those who want to spend their lives working as competent clinicians don't belong in pathology. It has nothing to do with you.

competence, and even more importantly, compassion are crucial in pathology.

 

[beary]

competence, and even more importantly, compassion are crucial in pathology.

I think I am going to be a really compassionate pathologist because I spent the day reading Dr. Seuss books to little kids.

 

[bananaface]

competence, and even more importantly, compassion are crucial in pathology.

Apparently comprehension is not. Have you still not figured out the purpose of this thread?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Apparently comprehension is not. Have you still not figured out the purpose of this thread?

do you not sense any sarcasm?

it's all about the compassion!

embrace it!

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I think I am going to be a really compassionate pathologist because I spent the day reading Dr. Seuss books to little kids.

wow, that's really compassionate to you.

 

[bananaface]

do you not sense any sarcasm?

it's all about the compassion!

embrace it!

*dabs Andy's forehead*

Sorry, I have to get used to this Florence Nightengale thing.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

i'm a compassionate person!

i want to help everybody!

 

[beary]

I like your new signature Andy.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I like your new signature Andy.

Thank you.

I came up with it myself.

 

[LADoc00]

Thank you.

I came up with it myself.

Whyd you get a BA and not a BS? Were you an English major or sumthin?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Whyd you get a BA and not a BS? Were you an English major or sumthin?

Hopkins has two schools: Krieger School of Arts & Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering. Students graduating from the former get a B.A. Those graduating from the latter get a B.S.