Too specific?

[Clairity]

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I'm a freshman premed who wants to go into radiology (I know, I know...🙄) and I am leaning towards doing many ECs and shadowing hours toward radiology. I first learned about radiology at 7th grade from a health-related careers book and confirmed my interest when I got a chance to go to a field trip to a hospital in 9th grade. Since then, I have been researching radiology and found out more about it, even the dark sides . But, I also fell in love more and more with radiology because I am visually-oriented, puzzle-loving, and a sitting-alone-in-a-dark-room-in-front-of-computer mania. I even took the match quiz thing on SDN although I take it with a grain of salt and radiology came in second when it comes to matching my personality with 89% or some thing similar (the first was psychiatry, but I don't like psychiatry).

I am also currently a radiology lab assistant(work-study) at a hospital owned by my university. My employer is a really cool person who wants me to do a lot of things. Right now, I'm learning a software that renders scans into a 3d model for research purposes and will be teaching other radiologists in the hospital how to use it in the future. After this, my employer says I can start my research project with a medical team where I can put my own name as the first(and maybe sole) author and this research is very radiology-specific. This is my first year working here and I am hoping to work here for all 4 years and maybe even volunteer during summer. Even the radiology administration people said it would be great if I could work here for 4 years. So far, it's so much fun and every day I have to reluctantly depart from my work place because I have to go study and do homework even though I want to work more🙁.

So, what's this all about, you say....

I've seen people make fun of other people in SDN because they already knew they wanted to be x specialist even though they are just in UG and haven't been through rotations. There is also the competitiveness with radiology and I don't know if I'm smart enough to make it. So then, would it be bad for me to do such specific ECs geared towards rads? Maybe this huge opportunity as rad assistant is just raising my hopes up for nothing 🙁....

 

[Pose]

What would it hurt, exactly? Your chances of getting into med school? Doubtful. But you should try to stay as well rounded as possible, and explore other fields. Radiology might not be the best overall exposure to medicine, so be sure to shadow, volunteer, or work elsewhere before applying. Or at least I would.

There's nothing wrong with having interests.

 

[Lya]

It looks like your research assistantship is a lot of fun! It is great that you are already building connections with the rad department staff and administration. It is your interest and passion, so pursue it hard like you mean it.

Like the poster above, it will be also great if you could shadow other specialties and explore other serious interests. For example, pathology might be one of other fields that could be similar to rad.

Stay well rounded and broaden your interests, yet still keep your focus on rad since it is your main interest and passion.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

It sounds like you have a lot more basis for pursuing a field than most people. Your interest isn't based on looking at salary charts, prestige or seeing a scene in ER/Grey's Anatomy/Scrubs/etc - it's genuine and you are cultivating it.

Looks like you're surrounded by a good group. I would take it and run with it as long as you want to.

 

[ZeaL6]

I like what you're doing. Just keep heading that way and make sure you keep as close to a 4.0 as you possibly can. Make sure to be well rounded though as you might eventually find something you love moreso than rads!

 

[deleted407021]

None of what you are doing now will get you into a radiology residency, but it will keep you interested in and well aware of what the field entails. If you are truly interested in rads to this extent, right now, by all means gain exposure to it. You do need to extend into other areas of interest though, but you have lots of time for that. Good luck!

 

[terp720]

I do very similar work to what you are doing now (radiology research, image processing and reconstruction, etc), and it has been very valuable. Spending time with radiologists and shadowing them is a great experience, but since you are already working in a hospital, I would make sure that you take advantage of that and try to shadow other specialties as well. I think had I not shadowed in other departments besides radiology, I would have a very skewed perspective on what life as a physician is like. You should see other specialties, even if it's just to confirm that you like radiology the most.

 

[pre med 2014]

He or she will rotate through most all the specialties during rotations before applying for residency so there will be plenty of insight into other fields before committing to radiology.

 

[Pose]

I worked in the ED for 6 years before applying, and I was asked at every interview about my exposure to other fields, and whether I know what I'm getting myself into. Exposure to other fields is at least reasonably important when applying.

 

[terp720]

He or she will rotate through most all the specialties during rotations before applying for residency so there will be plenty of insight into other fields before committing to radiology.

true, but I wouldn't be surprised if an interviewer questions OP about whether he/she really has gotten to experience medicine having only ever spent time with radiologists.

 

[askamsky51]

It's great to have a goal. What's important now is to do well and matriculate. Your UG work unfortunately will have zero bearing on your residency competitiveness.

 

[Clairity]

Thank you for all the responses! I will be able to shadow some other areas as well. My employer told me that if I want to shadow someone, just ask him and he'll put me with someone. I also have a few IM friends that I may ask. I know I want to shadow IM and radiologists but I am not sure about other areas. Any suggestions? My employer also said if I quit my job and wants to work at some other area in the hospital, he can put me there as well. Yeah, he's awesome😀

Your UG work unfortunately will have zero bearing on your residency competitiveness.

Yeah, I guessed that. But maybe me being a female will😛

 

[askamsky51]

Thank you for all the responses! I will be able to shadow some other areas as well. My employer told me that if I want to shadow someone, just ask him and he'll put me with someone. I also have a few IM friends that I may ask. I know I want to shadow IM and radiologists but I am not sure about other areas. Any suggestions? My employer also said if I quit my job and wants to work at some other area in the hospital, he can put me there as well. Yeah, he's awesome😀


Yeah, I guessed that. But maybe me being a female will😛

>50% of medical students are women. Men are slightly in the minority these days. Not that it means anything.

 

[Clairity]

>50% of medical students are women. Men are slightly in the minority these days. Not that it means anything.

I was talking about radiology residency 🙂

 

[papi89]

That seems kind of specific that early on, and radiology is known as a well paying field so not sure how Admissions people might view that. Just my 2 cents...

 

[Pacna]

From my experience, do NOT, do NOT, do NOT mention in your application or interview that you want to go into radiology/orthopedic surgery unless your interviewer is a radiologist/orthopedic surgeon respectively. Other fields are VERY jealous of the salary they make, the hours they work, and the lack of emotional stress those fields take.

Nobody will come right out and say it to your face, so I will on this thread: people who aren't in radiology or orthopedic surgery (and some that are) that hear you want to do those professions immediately think you're in it for the money. After you say that, it will be impossible to remove that from their brain, no matter how compelling a story you follow this up with.

Do NOT mention you want to go into radiology. I can't capitalize "NOT" enough. You might as well tell them you want to go into pediatric neurology for the money and that you hate kids. It is really that bad of a stigma.

I would practice hiding this fact now so as to sell a convincing lie to medical schools that you want to go into primary care or that you don't know what you want to do. It really does hurt your chances.

 

[hmockingbird]

^Not just the stigma, but I always heard med schools didn't want you to be committed to a particular field right away... kind-of going with the having multiple shadowing experiences thing, they wanted you to have an open mind. I've known what I want to do forever and I'd be really surprised if that changes, but in my interviews I really made a point to say I was possibly interested in this now, but am open to exploring other fields as I got further into medical school. IDK if that advice was correct, but none of my interviewers seemed to have a problem with my answer either. And I didn't feel like I was lying because I knew there was always a chance I could change my mind. You could always phrase it as "I worked in a radiology department in undergrad and really enjoyed it, but I want to remain open to other fields throughout medical school" maybe?

For the OP - obviously all fields are going to use imaging, but I think EM might be another good one to shadow because it's a wide variety and you can see the decision-making process that matches up to the scans you'd read in radiology? Oooh and maybe RadOnc if your hospital has that? I'd also definitely shadow surgery because that's another entirely different ballgame, and maybe get some peds experience (or FM).