Which Residency Should I Do?

[peanutbutterm&m]

Hi! So I'm a late teenager getting my Masters (biology), and I'm applying to med school soon. I was trying to figure out the best medical schools for specific specialties when I realized I have no idea which specialty I want to do lol. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to brainstorm?

Some notes about me:
- It would be really hard for me to be a surgeon due to some autoimmune conditions (thank you, epilepsy, lupus, and type 1, you're my favorites -_-) so please don't recommend surgery
- Thanks to said autoimmune issues, I have a lot of trouble with bright light (especially sunlight - fluorescents are fine if I have my specialized glasses) and would prefer to work nights
- I'd prefer not to do a residency and/or fellowship longer than 4 years

Anyway, thank you so much! 🙂

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[Mr.Smile12]

Have you checked out

Medical Specialty Selector

Quiz to find the best medical specialty match for your personality, interests and abilities. Based on How to Choose a Medical Specialty by Anita Taylor.

www.studentdoctor.net

We are updating the material, but you should get some insights there.

 

[Dral]

Nice and fun to think about now, but part of medical school is experiencing things and deciding at that time. A lot of people have an idea up front and pivot during med school (me included).

It's better to think in broader strokes in terms of school strengths such as which schools are more geared toward primary care vs getting folks into specialties in general.

 

[chilly_md]

Moved to Pre-Medical. Have you looked at how applying to medical school works? That's a whole area to tackle before thinking about specialties. As Dral mentioned above, many people change their minds or are exposed to specialties that lay people usually don't think of.

 

[Goro]

First get into medical school, and then worry about residency

 

[AJS59]

As others have said, I'd first worry about getting into med school and deciding what schools to apply to based not on specialty but broader strokes interests (and your own competitiveness, of course). Examples of this would include: Do you value primary care, or research? Do you want to learn urban medicine or more rural medicine? Are there certain patient subgroups you're passionate about (ex. LGBTQ, immigrant, native, etc.). Do you want to see how medicine combines with things such as public policy or engineering?

And of course there are other factors to consider when choosing which schools to apply to - these include proximity to family/support systems, curriculum type, aspects of physical location, etc.

My point is that as long as you go to a USMD or USDO institution, you'll be able to match into almost any specialty (side note: yes, some are more difficult than others, but given that you've already kinda ruled out surgery I think you'll be able to match into just about anything if you work hard enough).

That being said, focus on the getting in part first. That's the area where most people struggle

 

[Rachapkis]

If you'll permit me to go off on a bit of a tangent, there are a lot of good books that you may enjoy reading and may inspire you before beginning a journey into medicine. Here are a several that I enjoyed: 1) The Emperior of All Maladies, The Gene, and The Song of the Cell, all written by Mukherjee; 2) When Breath Beomes Air, written by Kalanithi; 3) Being Mortal, Better, and Complications, all written by Gawande; 4) The Butchering Art, written by Fitzharris; 5) The House of God, written by Shem, and 6) This is Going to Hurt, written by Kay.