Undecided College Student

[DrMrSrMrsMs]

Hello! My name is Khodi and I'm a future med school applicant.

I believe my EC's, test scores, rank, and GPA are strong. I aspire to attend a accredited University such as Mount Sinai, Harvard, JHU, Washington, Duke, or a host of other schools. (Please don't view me as stuck up, I've just worked really hard and feel that I am a prime candidate, as I have modeled all my actions for the last three years for these schools)

That's beside the point!

Cardiology has always been a favorite of mine. I don't know what I want to be yet but I was hoping that some of you might be able to give me some insight into the field.

Pediatric Cardiology looks looks promising.

I don't want to become a surgeon, but cathograms don't look that invasive.

What's you opinion on the field that would best suit my interests?

All advice is greatly appreciated

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[joejabjab]

Don't worry quite yet about deciding what kind of doctor you want to be

You are 8+ years from just starting a cardiology fellowship, let alone being a cardiologist (11+ years). Also, 10+ years from being a cardiac surgeon if desired.

Concentrate on getting into med school first. You'll learn that training to be a cardiac surgeon vs an adult cardiologist vs a pediatric cardiologist are very, very different routes in training.

Adult cardiology and pediatric cardiology do cardiac catheterizations and many other non-surgical (but indeed, invasive) procedures as well.

once in medical school, if you're still strongly interested in cardiology, find a cardiologist to shadow for a day or two. Later on, if you're interested in research, get involved in a simple project with the residents in your medical school's hospital.

Have fun with applications!

 

[timpview]

ahh.. pre-meds. love it.

 

[dragonfly99]

Agree with above. You're putting the cart before the horse. Worry about getting into med school first, and then worry more about picking a specialty once you are in. However, if you want to find out more about these fields now, try to find a cardiothoracic surgeon, an adult cardiologist and a pediatric cardiologist and see if you can "shadow" each one for part of a day, just to see what they do.