What the He** am I supposed to do?

[TacoGirl]

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I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out what to do with my life.

Here's my stats:
AOA
USMLE 1 :258
no research whatsoever
mediocre extracurriculars
If i can count college activities than above average extracurriculars.

Strengths:
Talking
Building patient rapport quickly
Moving around, preforming procedures, working with hands
Pressure and stress are okay but not ideal

Weaknesses:
being bored
working too hard/ too many hours
not getting sleep
not eating...very bad if this happens. I get PISSED.
Working with jerks.

Clarifying points:
I want a family
My work is not my life however I still want to at least like it and help people

Any ideas? My current thoughts are IM, Peds, Derm, EM, anesth.
I would really appreciate some input.

 

[medguy83]

Although I'm not a med student yet, I think your standing is pretty good. Your 258 is killer and AOA adds a lot. I spent some time with an ophthalmologist from Drexel. He spends around 4 or so days a week working 9-5. Makes great money, and has enough time to do what he wants with his family on nights and weekends. Something like that that or derm might be a suggestion. The lack of research might hurt you somewhat when it comes to derm and ophth, but I think your stats are still pretty competitive. Good luck, I would do anything to be in your shoes.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I vote for peds. You seem like a person who would enjoy working with children.

 

[edmadison]

First, you need to decide what work environment you like (i.e. what do you like to do?). Try answering some of these questions:

Do you like working with your hands?
Do you like interacting with people?
Do you like long term relationships with patients?
Do you need to be constantly stimulated or do you like spending lots of time with patients?
Do you like working with immediate problems, or do you like working with more long term ones?
Do you mind having your patients die?

Answer those questions and then look at your list. I think you can narrow you list thinking of two factors: procedural vs. non-procedural and high patient interactions vs. low patient interactions.

Your list is quite broad. Gas and peds are about as opposite as they come (I guess except for path).

Good luck!

Ed

 

[Law2Doc]

I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out what to do with my life.

Here's my stats:
AOA
USMLE 1 :258
no research whatsoever
mediocre extracurriculars
If i can count college activities than above average extracurriculars.

Strengths:
Talking
Building patient rapport quickly
Moving around, preforming procedures, working with hands
Pressure and stress are okay but not ideal

Weaknesses:
being bored
working too hard/ too many hours
not getting sleep
not eating...very bad if this happens. I get PISSED.
Working with jerks.

Clarifying points:
I want a family
My work is not my life however I still want to at least like it and help people

Any ideas? My current thoughts are IM, Peds, Derm, EM, anesth.
I would really appreciate some input.

Ignore your stats, strengths, weaknesses -- what do you like? Have you done any rotations and if so, what did you like about them? Do you like procedural things? Do you like the more cerebral, diagnosing things? Do you like working with kids, old people?

 

[Long Dong]

I vote for peds. You seem like a person who would enjoy working with children.

If you like kids then think about pediatric derm. But don't worry, as I recall you are just starting 3rd year, as you go threw rotations you'll figure out real quick what to rule out. It's still early in the game, I wasn't 100% in my specialty until begining of 4th year. Heck when applications went out I was going to apply to 2 specialties, then I did a sub I and ruled that other one out within the first 3 days of the rotation.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Ignore your stats, strengths, weaknesses -- what do you like? Have you done any rotations and if so, what did you like about them? Do you like procedural things? Do you like the more cerebral, diagnosing things? Do you like working with kids, old people?

Exactly. One thing that one of our attendings really harps on (almost excessively) is to do what you like! If you sit around with a bunch of M1/2/early 3's it's all about hours, pay, lifestyle, stereotypes etc. You just have to go into what excites you.

I have a really good friend who wants to be a Trauma surgeon. If you are looking for a field where you will not have a life, trauma is it. Long training, relatively low pay for hours worked, high stress, lots of litigation, overnight call your entire career, drunk patients, malignant work environment -- it kind of sucks. But guess what? He loves trauma.

One of the OPs factors was that he doesn't like being bored, how does that help you make a decision? Beware of trying to weigh all these difficult to quantify factors and just go for what excites you.


*Law2Doc: we always seem to copy each others posts and agree with them. Great minds.

 

[psipsina]

Exactly. One thing that one of our attendings really harps on (almost excessively) is to do what you like! If you sit around with a bunch of M1/2/early 3's it's all about hours, pay, lifestyle, stereotypes etc. You just have to go into what excites you.

I have a really good friend who wants to be a Trauma surgeon. If you are looking for a field where you will not have a life, trauma is it. Long training, relatively low pay for hours worked, high stress, lots of litigation, overnight call your entire career, drunk patients, malignant work environment -- it kind of sucks. But guess what? He loves trauma.

One of the OPs factors was that he doesn't like being bored, how does that help you make a decision? Beware of trying to weigh all these difficult to quantify factors and just go for what excites you.

Yeah, as a M2 I have some ideas of things that interest me but I know that I won't really know until I'm in the thick of it experiencing each of these specialties during M3 . . . I know I like surgery but I don't know if I love it enough to overcome the lifestyle issues . . . I think the one thing I do take into account that I didn't as a premed is how well I fit in with/get along with the personality type that is attracted to a particular specialty . . . I have really been pulled towards some specialties that I wasn't thinking of before, like EM and peds, because of the vibe within that specialty.

Btw I know a trauma surgeon who spoke about the possibility of the subspecialty moving over to shift work within the next few years, how sweet would that be, surgery with no call!

 

[Llenroc]

Yeah, as a M2 I have some ideas of things that interest me but I know that I won't really know until I'm in the thick of it experiencing each of these specialties during M3 . . . I know I like surgery but I don't know if I love it enough to overcome the lifestyle issues . . . I think the one thing I do take into account that I didn't as a premed is how well I fit in with/get along with the personality type that is attracted to a particular specialty . . . I have really been pulled towards some specialties that I wasn't thinking of before, like EM and peds, because of the vibe within that specialty.

Btw I know a trauma surgeon who spoke about the possibility of the subspecialty moving over to shift work within the next few years, how sweet would that be, surgery with no call!

Yeah no call, except during that 5-7 year period they call residency, which just happens during the best years of your life.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

Ophthal or ENT?

 

[Encephalopathy]

I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out what to do with my life.

Here's my stats:
AOA
USMLE 1 :258
no research whatsoever
mediocre extracurriculars
If i can count college activities than above average extracurriculars.

Strengths:
Talking
Building patient rapport quickly
Moving around, preforming procedures, working with hands
Pressure and stress are okay but not ideal

Weaknesses:
being bored
working too hard/ too many hours
not getting sleep
not eating...very bad if this happens. I get PISSED.
Working with jerks.

Clarifying points:
I want a family
My work is not my life however I still want to at least like it and help people

Any ideas? My current thoughts are IM, Peds, Derm, EM, anesth.
I would really appreciate some input.

EM looks like it fits your strengths and weaknesses well. Derm's always worth a shot, though.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Although it is MUCH better than being a person who knows what they want to do and not having the scores to be competitive, having high scores and not knowing what you want to do is a pain in the ass because it seems everyone has an opinion on what they think you should do. My parents want me to do derm because they know a dermatologist who works 4 days a week and pulls a massive salary. My friends are well meaning but after hearing "You know, I think you'd be perfect for..." the thousandth time it gets old. I also get a lot of "Just because you got a high score don't rule out..." talks about less competitive residencies.

 

[funkless]

Go derm. You can always "trade down*" while it's almost impossible to "trade up."

*I'm referring only to the competitiveness of the fields, not making any judgments about the fields themselves.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

One of the OPs factors was that he doesn't like being bored, how does that help you make a decision? Beware of trying to weigh all these difficult to quantify factors and just go for what excites you.

I suspect TacoGirl is probably a she. Just saying because the whole presumed male thing always bugs me.

 

[MSKalltheway]

Would you be able to write up a case study to replace the lack of research? Those technically count as "publications" as well, so if you are concerned about research you can make up ground for it there, esp if you do it in a field you are interested in. I wouldnt worry too much though, from what I hear about the clinical years, most find out what they like and what they dont pretty quickly Your stats make you very competitive for pretty much anything!

 

[jdh71]

anything but derm, f**k derm - zits, sores, rashes - here's some cream (with or without steroid) . . .

horrid

 

[ZagDoc]

anything but derm, f**k derm - zits, sores, rashes - here's some cream (with or without steroid) . . .

horrid

horridly profitable with horribly modest hours for a physician

 

[jdh71]

horridly profitable with horribly modest hours for a physician

sure, if you don't mind selling out . . .

 

[ZagDoc]

sure, if you don't mind selling out . . .

haha isn't that how it is with all things in life?

 

[Tiger26]

dude, emergency medicine