I've always had an interest in becoming an orthopedic surgeon. However, since I live in an underserved community, the pressure from people around me is compelling me toward the route of a primary physician, which is definitely something I have little interest in. I know there's a shortage of primary care physicians, but in my heart, my passion is with orthopedic surgery or the surgical field. Now, I feel so lost. I mean...what can I do? I don't want to upset those around me, but at the same time, I know I will not be happy if I become a primary physician. Please, any advice would help. 🙁
Torn between two choices
- Thread starter qwe7791
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Get into med school first?
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If you aren't happy, then you can't live your life to full satisfaction. Forget what other people say. If they can't understand what you want to do and be happy for you, they are the selfish ones, not you.
Yeah, that is definitely something that should happen first. But the thing is all the extracurriculars that are offered here are dealing with the underserved communities, and I don't really want to go around giving food to the homeless, etc. I prefer something like working in the hospital and those types of environments... I know I'm somewhat contradicting myself, but kind of how I feel... 🙁
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Get into medical school, get through the first two years, get a board score that actually will allow you to get into ortho and then make this decision.
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the underserved have knee, hip, shoulder, spine, and other joint problems. two birds
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You really shouldn't be worrying about this right now. What extra-curriculars you engage in now shouldn't have any bearing on how well prepared you are to enter a specialty later on in medical school.
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What drizz said. Also, chances are good that if you get to the point where you are actually considering residencies, you will pick something else entirely.
What if my options for extracurriculars strictly deal with the underserved communities? To be blunt I love patient interaction, but the thing is that I have no passion toward the underserved communities and would prefer to volunteer in a "professional" setting such as a hospital, etc. I'm starting to think I'm just confusing everyone...
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If you don't have passion to work in underserved communities, then don't do it. You'd be doing them a disservice too. As for being so set on orthopedic surgery, what do you know about ortho? It's a pet peeve of mine when people have already decided on some competitive specialty without knowing what it actually entails.
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This!!!!
How in the world can you possibly know that you will like orthopedic surgery??? I think I would love to be a neurosurgeon but I have never shadowed/performed/done rotations for it; there is nothing wrong with having interests and wanting to explore fields but to be honestly trying to decide between the two before your even IN MEDICAL SCHOOL is mind baffling to me. And definitely don't go into your interviews saying "I definitely want to be an orthopedic surgeon." it looks bad to adcom's and you will be perceived as closed minded and ignorant.
Ha ha! No kidding...
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Are you sure you've explored all of your options? I find it hard to believe that you have no other choices. Most of my premed friends work/volunteer in underserved communities, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things to do. If there is a hospital that you want to volunteer or work in, have you explored the opportunities there? Do you have a premed adviser or any other kind of adviser to talk to for help?
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Honestly, it's not like you're going to be doing anything or see anything even borderline medically related in a hospital. All you're going to do is wheel around people, bring them food, and other remedial things. And I volunteer in a neuro-ortho unit of a decent hospital. You're not going to be doing anything too significant.
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Don't do primary care just because you feel like you have an obligation to; there are plenty of primary care doctors out there to fill that role willingly.
Do orthopedics if you're truly passionate about it! But also keep an open mind throughout your volunteer experiences and eventually med school in case other specialties spark your interest.
Do orthopedics if you're truly passionate about it! But also keep an open mind throughout your volunteer experiences and eventually med school in case other specialties spark your interest.
K
kpcrew
Drizzt don't be so insensitive. OP is so torn between his two passions.
