Was Path anyone's first choice?

[thirdunity]

I'm still pre-med, and at this point pathology is my first choice - path and physiology are among my "geek interests" - I know that most people change their minds once they're actually through med school. I'm curious if anyone started off knowing they wanted to be a pathologist?

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[Brian Pavlovitz]

I will be applying this Fall for Residency, and I wanted Pathology before I went to med school.

 

[yaah]

I'm still pre-med, and at this point pathology is my first choice - path and physiology are among my "geek interests" - I know that most people change their minds once they're actually through med school. I'm curious if anyone started off knowing they wanted to be a pathologist?

Before I started med school I wasn't even sure what a pathologist did. I knew there were people who did autopsies. And I knew there were people who ran labs. But I didn't know about any overlap, nor did I actually realize that interpreting biopsies was such a big job. I was an idiot! Not sure what I was thinking. Now that I know what the field is though, I would have probably wanted to go into it in college.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Before I started med school I wasn't even sure what a pathologist did. I knew there were people who did autopsies. And I knew there were people who ran labs. But I didn't know about any overlap, nor did I actually realize that interpreting biopsies was such a big job. I was an idiot! Not sure what I was thinking. Now that I know what the field is though, I would have probably wanted to go into it in college.

Ditto what yaah said.

I made the firm decision to go into pathology during 3rd year of med school. Before that I was dead set on going into IM because according to my PhD boss, that's where a lot of the big research was being done. He overlooked pathology when he was giving me this advice.

Realized that IM didn't mesh well with me, however. Of course I knew pathology meshed very well with research too. When I broke the news to my boss, he told me that he hadn't thought of pathology before and thought I had made a most excellent decision. So I ended up picking pathology.

 

[yaah]

I think the problem a lot of the time is that people don't think of path as a potential career. The only exposure is second year labs, and then people get themselves so jazzed up for "clinical encounters" and all that garbage that they get focused on that, and forget about path, even when they inevitably start realizing that clinical medicine is not what they expected it to be, and they "settle."

 

[deschutes]

Never considered pathology until I knew what it was, and then knew it would not get any better than this. When I heard from a resident that a classmate of his had backed-up his pathology rank list with Family Med and matched to Family Med, I didn't even bother listing any other specialty.

What I didn't like about physiology was all those darned squiggly lines! Slides at least have two dimensions

Got that people-person line again today.

"Pathology? But you're such a people person!"
"Exactly. Which is why I'm going to spend most of my time dealing with other doctors instead of with paperwork!"

Practice makes perfect.

 

[Stinger86]

I will be applying this Fall for Residency, and I wanted Pathology before I went to med school.

Same here. I tried to keep an open mind throughout the first three years of med school, but it just didn't work. The thought of waking up to wards, rounding, clinics, h&ps, etc. makes me physically ill.

Bring on the stuff I enjoy. At last.

 

[A.D.O.R.]

It's currently my first choice. I've been interested in Pathology since the summer before my first year in medical school. If I enjoy my fellowship, I'm pretty sure I'll choose to match in pathology fourth year.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

Before med school, I worked in a peds hem/onc clinic. I used to love looking at slides and reading about all the cool leukemias, lymphomas, and solid tumors that these kids were diagnosed with. When I got into medical school, I assumed that I would end up doing hem/onc because I loved learning about those diseases. I didn't realize that Pathology had existed (and could be for me) until 2nd year. 3rd year pretty much sealed the deal for me in terms of not wanting to do a patient care specialty (I liked most of the patients, I just hated doing H&Ps, rounding til I was dizzy, sleepless call nights, etc). If my PJF works out, I will apply to path. If I decide that it isnt for me, I will probably pursue Rads with the intent of doing IR (I like doing procedures w/o having to do actual *patient care* like surgery). We'll see what happens.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I think the problem a lot of the time is that people don't think of path as a potential career. The only exposure is second year labs, and then people get themselves so jazzed up for "clinical encounters" and all that garbage that they get focused on that, and forget about path, even when they inevitably start realizing that clinical medicine is not what they expected it to be, and they "settle."

Yeah, the second year pathology labs poorly approximate what pathology is; it only allows one to catch a small glimpse of what actually happens in pathology. It's not like 3rd year clinical clerkships when you see exactly what kind of work is done in a given field and you're part of the action.

I don't know about you but back when I was an M1 and M2, I heard a lot of discouragement regarding going into pathology.

"The job market is horrible."
"10% of people who finish pathology residency can't find jobs. What the hell is up with that. When you finish your medical training, you should be 100% guaranteed a job!"

blah blah blah blah blah.

Even if you were interested in pathology, when you hear this negative nancy talk from people left and right, why would one seriously consider pathology?

Remember that post tiffanychang made regarding that survey done several years ago. Yeah, when that survey was done, I think I had just started med school then. No wonder I heard all that negative talk. Who knows if things have really changed? Who knows if the job market is better in the academic vs. private practice sector?

in any case, more food for thought.

 

[sapience8x]

Got that people-person line again today.

"Pathology? But you're such a people person!"
"Exactly. Which is why I'm going to spend most of my time dealing with other doctors instead of with paperwork!"

Practice makes perfect.

funny, i keep getting this people person line and think to myself- do you expect me to be in a lab in outer space by myself?
funny i had path PHD and Path assistant as backsup if i didn't get into med school so i dont' even know why i am entertaining other specialties. clinical rotations will be the deciding factor, i suspect.

 

[1Path]

I'm still pre-med, and at this point pathology is my first choice - path and physiology are among my "geek interests" - I know that most people change their minds once they're actually through med school. I'm curious if anyone started off knowing they wanted to be a pathologist?

I'm a premed too and path became my first choice 3 years ago just before started a predoctoral fellowhip in surg path. I also did some work toward a PhD in Pathlogy.

I get that "people person" speech too in additon to everyone saying I'll probably change my mind. While I'll admit an interest in Oncology, Neuro, and Rads, the "lifestyle" issue in path pretty much puts those other fields out of consideration.

 

[beary]

I don't know about you but back when I was an M1 and M2, I heard a lot of discouragement regarding going into pathology.

"The job market is horrible."
"10% of people who finish pathology residency can't find jobs. What the hell is up with that. When you finish your medical training, you should be 100% guaranteed a job!"

blah blah blah blah blah.

I was chatting with an M1 today and told her I was going into path. She immediately started telling me how terrible the job market was and how I would never find a job. I tried to tell her that these things are cyclical, that all fields have ups and downs, and that the path job market isn't that bad anyway. She absolutely refused to believe me and continued to insist that there are absolutely no jobs in path.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I was chatting with an M1 today and told her I was going into path. She immediately started telling me how terrible the job market was and how I would never find a job. I tried to tell her that these things are cyclical, that all fields have ups and downs, and that the path job market isn't that bad anyway. She absolutely refused to believe me and continued to insist that there are absolutely no jobs in path.

Well, many people like to think in terms of "absolutes". Others think in terms of "relatives."

So when you're looking at the pathology job market and think of absolutes...then yes, the path job market has stunk in the past and it still stinks. No matter how you spin it, the job market in pathology just isn't as good as or "automatic" as other clinical fields like opthy, derm, and rads. People who think this way will think that the path job market will continue to suck unless there is a 180 degree turnaround and thousands of pathologists die in a short period of time.

When you think in terms of relative job market situation now compared to before, perhaps it has gotten at least a little bit better. These people are better able to appreciate the cyclical nature of the job market. These folks will realize that the job market will never be perfect but will still be able to appreciate when things are better and things are worse. So who knows. To each his/her own.

Then there's the academic vs. private practice arena. Two quite different job markets both with their pros and cons. I have been told by more than your fair share of pathologists that the academic pathology/researcher job market is hurtin' for people. Problem is, these jobs pay like stool compared to private practice jobs. Oh well.

 

[LADoc00]

I read this very odd book entitled something like "The Insider's Guide to Medicine" It had elaborate charts, figures, salary info, call schedules, malpractice exposure etc. Ive never seen all in place, either before or since reading it. The author was a Jewish guy but I cant remember the name. He said there was really only 5 things worth doing in modern medicine (he explained why), I read it and wrote those 5 fields down in my wallet. 4 years later, I pulled out the list and started working my way down, Path happened to be at the top.