What are you interested in?

[Disco]

Im just curious,
When you're on a rotation that's not exactly your field of choice, and your attending/resident ask you what field you're interested in going into, how many of you tell the truth? Or do you just play the "I dunno, I'm still undecided" game to show them you're still interested?

One of the fellows on my psych rotation asked me this last week, and I just told her that I am hoping to go into General Surgery. I hope she doesnt think that I'm not interested in what we're doing now.......any comments or ideas?

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[Brian Pavlovitz]

Im just curious,
When you're on a rotation that's not exactly your field of choice, and your attending/resident ask you what field you're interested in going into, how many of you tell the truth? Or do you just play the "I dunno, I'm still undecided" game to show them you're still interested?

One of the fellows on my psych rotation asked me this last week, and I just told her that I am hoping to go into General Surgery. I hope she doesnt think that I'm not interested in what we're doing now.......any comments or ideas?

Well, although I'm interested in just about everything and will try to show enthusiasm in all cores, I am probably going to end up in Pathology (unless I totally fall in "love" with something else). I don't intend to lie about it.

 

[bigfrank]

I think if you lie, people will see through it.

 

[Hercules]

I unintentionally played the opposite game. I told everyone all along that I was interested in ob/gyn. Unfortunately, when I got to my ob/gyn rotation at the end of the year, I decided on a different field and had to tell them I wasn't going into their field either!

 

[doc05]

you should say "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" to everyone. this works until the end of 3rd year, even sometimes until early 4th year. unfortunately, when you reply with a field other than theirs, residents will unfortunately not treat you very well...

e.g. obgyn rotation, telling them you're going into ophtho. bad idea. or surgery rotation, telling them you're going into GI.

 

[starayamoskva]

Most attendings and residents will see through you if you claim to be interested in their specialty and you could really care less.
I knew ObGyn was my first choice and said so if anyone asked what I was interested in. I generally said, depending on time of year, I am very interested in ObGyn, but I want to keep an open mind and look at all the possibilities. I enjoyed all my rotations with the exception of IM and was enthusiastic and worked hard whether or not I thought it was something I would do for the rest of my life. Don't pretend to be interested, just be interested because what you think you want to do as a third year may not be what you end up wanting to do.
If you really don't know what you want to do tell them that, say I am not sure what I want to do, can you tell me what it is about (insert specialty) that attracted you?
Good luck.

Remember that your fellow students will get really really sick of hearing you say on every single rotation that you have always loved (insert specialty) and want to do it more life itself and the eyes rolling behind you when you say it speak a thousand words to the resident/attending.

 

[Samoa]

What would be wrong with saying, well, it's all interesting to me, but right now I'm planning on _X_...?

 

[lindyloohoo]

I told the truth. I told an interventional cardiologist that I was thinking about radiology, especially interventional radiology. He said why do you want to go into a dying field! (and I think he was serious) Talk about balls to the wall, tellling the truth!! I got razzed about that for the last week of that rotation!

From the experiences of a few upperclassman, it's best not to say I'm thinking about IM when in the IM rotation, surgery in the surgery rotation, etc. They'll obviously know you're lying about your undying devotion to psych when you're paying more attention to the cartoons on the TV than the patient on rounds!

 

[imtiaz]

i told my IM preceptor that i wasn't sure about what i wanted to go into and it really backfired on me, big time. i guess it probably was the fact that whenever one of my internal med patients needed a chole or any other kind of surgery i was going into the OR to watch them do it. one day he got called by the chief of surgery here and they talked for a while and he mentioned that i met him at the american college of surgeons conference this past year and that i was interested in surgery. then my attending tried saying the "let's ask the future surgeon" line to me and i was aww $h!t cause i knew what had transpired. then he point blank asked me if i met the cheif at the surgery conference and i gave in and told him. i still got H's from him. i got lucky.

 

[carol ann]

I found it was always best to be honest -- I was pretty sure I wanted to do IM from the very beginning and if people asked I answered, "I am not 100% sure, but I am leaning towards IM" but later in the conversation I always pointed out how much I thought I could learn in the current rotation and how it would help me in my career development.... At least I was able to be honest about my future and I was still able to let them know that i really was interested in learning a lot about their field.

 

[fourthyearmed]

1) Don't tell everyone that you are interested in their field of medicine if you are not. Your fellow med students who rotate with you will tell the residents what you are up to and then you'll look like a gunner/brown-noser.

2) I have been told that if a department know that you are interested in a different field but then you still work hard in theirs, they are more impressed than if they think you are trying to make a good impression because you want to go into their field. For instance if Internal Medicine knows you want to do Surgery but you still work your butt off on your Medicine rotation they think highly of you.

 

[Disco]

Thanks for the tips! I appreciate everyone's input on this.

 

[sandman1]

Take a look at the older attendings; are they happy, angry, maladjusted? Take a good visual census and decide if that is how you want to be when you have been doing the same respective specialty for 30+/- years. I was initially interested in Gsurg because I like to opperate, but a few months on rotation with these folks will tell you much more. Also, politics and attitudes can vary from each specialty. Read between the lines when you are on your rotations.