Which specialty are you interested in?

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Which specialty are you most interested in? (choices listed from aamc.org)

  • Allergy and Immunology

    Votes: 3 0.8%

  • Anesthesiology

    Votes: 22 6.0%

  • Colon and Rectal Surgery

    Votes: 2 0.5%

  • Dermatology

    Votes: 8 2.2%

  • Emergency Medicine

    Votes: 38 10.4%

  • Family Medicine

    Votes: 13 3.5%

  • Internal Medicine

    Votes: 34 9.3%

  • Medical Genetics

    Votes: 4 1.1%

  • Neurological Surgery

    Votes: 18 4.9%

  • Neurology

    Votes: 13 3.5%

  • Nuclear Medicine

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Obstetrics and Gynecology

    Votes: 14 3.8%

  • Ophthalmology

    Votes: 7 1.9%

  • Orthopaedic Surgery

    Votes: 40 10.9%

  • Otolaryngology

    Votes: 5 1.4%

  • Pathology

    Votes: 3 0.8%

  • Pediatrics

    Votes: 22 6.0%

  • Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

    Votes: 3 0.8%

  • Plastic Surgery

    Votes: 13 3.5%

  • Preventive Medicine

    Votes: 1 0.3%

  • Psychiatry

    Votes: 12 3.3%

  • Radiology

    Votes: 24 6.5%

  • Surgery

    Votes: 28 7.6%

  • Thoracic Surgery

    Votes: 14 3.8%

  • Urology

    Votes: 3 0.8%

  • Other/Not Listed/Undecided

    Votes: 22 6.0%
  • Total voters
    367
n3ur05ur930n

n3ur05ur930n

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Vote for the specialty you are most interested in pursuing at this time.
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Would you mind letting me know where on AAMC's website you can find this residency info? Thanks!
 
Nevermind, found it.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Good thread. There's one like it in the Allo board, but it's for female students to list most desirable specialties for (potential) male partners.

I went with EM, but I have a strong hankering for Neuro-surg. However, I think I'd be able to help more people with EM. Also thinking of psychiatry, since I'm really interested in mental illness (and the mind/brain in general), and helping people (adults or kids) through such things would be all the motivation I'd need. So one of these three.
 
Out of the choices, I selected EM, but really interested in Trauma Surgery. I work at an ED now, the regular cases can get kind of boring, but the traumas are really cool cases!
 
Well I guess people really do change their minds in med school, considering only two people here put down internal/family medicine. That ends up easily being the plurality four years from now.
 
Rafa said:
Good thread. There's one like it in the Allo board, but it's for female students to list most desirable specialties for (potential) male partners.

I went with EM, but I have a strong hankering for Neuro-surg. However, I think I'd be able to help more people with EM. Also thinking of psychiatry, since I'm really interested in mental illness (and the mind/brain in general), and helping people (adults or kids) through such things would be all the motivation I'd need. So one of these three.
Click to expand...
Neurosurgery! My true love!

EM is exciting too, and more varied. Trauma surg is actually pretty cool. I used to be interested in psychiatry until I realized I want something hands on. And really the skills you would use as a fantastic psychiatrist are well utilized in other specialties as well.
 
The specialty I'm most interested in is a specialty I'm sure I won't be able to match into.

I really really want to help people with their skin. I have a passion for ointments.

I know I won't be able to match into Derm.
 
futuremd22283 said:
Out of the choices, I selected EM, but really interested in Trauma Surgery. I work at an ED now, the regular cases can get kind of boring, but the traumas are really cool cases!
Click to expand...
At the risk of sounding gruesome, trauma is exciting. But head trauma is what really does it for me. TBI, intracranial bleeds, GCS, subdural hematoma, subarachnoid hemorrhage - better than sex (never thought that was possible!). Thus the interest in neurosurg.
 
tkdusb said:
The specialty I'm most interested in is a specialty I'm sure I won't be able to match into.

I really really want to help people with their skin. I have a passion for ointments.

I know I won't be able to match into Derm.
Click to expand...
With that attitude, you definitely won't.

Forget your preconceptions and what anyone else tells you. If derm is your true passion and you would be thrilled to spend your entire life doing it, then goddamn it you WILL match in derm, even if it takes you 30 years. You start making the right moves now. Do research, publish, get phenomenal recs, make yourself the kind of candidate that no one can refuse. And most of all, don't quash your passion for the field. That's something that no amount of ass-kissing can emulate or synthesize.
 
drhouse said:
Well I guess people really do change their minds in med school, considering only two people here put down internal/family medicine. That ends up easily being the plurality four years from now.
Click to expand...
You're right Dr House. I'm willing to bet that once some of the glamour of the other specialties wears off, lifestyle plays a deciding role in the choice of specialty for match.
 
n3ur05ur930n said:
You're right Dr House. I'm willing to bet that once some of the glamour of the other specialties wears off, lifestyle plays a deciding role in the choice of specialty for match.
Click to expand...
Or they are not competitive for the specialty.
 
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Something like 75% of people start med school with one specialty in mind, and land up pursuing another one entirely. Once you get exposed to different areas and different mentors, and you find out what you're good at/not good at, etc., etc., etc....it all changes. For a lot of people, anyway.
 
Why are surgery subspecialties listed and not radonc?
 
Sports Medicine :)
 
Eight years ago I wanted to be an English professor . . . then, for five years, a firefighter/medic. So I'm going forward with a sense of humility as to my ability to predict the future. That said, I really love emergency medicine . . . I like to say that I love what I do (as a paramedic) I'm just looking to move up the food chain a little.
 
I think it's really interesting how diverse the answers have been so far. There isn't a clearcut runaway leader in the polls. I like that. May we each be this diverse when we enter our 4th years. :^)
 
wow! 106 votes and i am the first to vote for pathology....am i the only freak who is considering hanging out with stiffs for the rest of my life? ;)
 
BrettBatchelor said:
I know. Rad/Onc is in my top 2.
Click to expand...

Is Rad/Onc included in Nuclear Medicine?
 
I'm not decided. The only thing I know for sure is that I want to do surgery, but what kind, I don't know...
 
I have a few areas areas that I am interested in. At first I wanted to be some sort of primary care doctor (either family practice or adolescent medicine). Now I am kind of interested in Orthopedic Surgery, maybe further specializing in spine surgery. I got interested in that after I had back surgery and saw how much it helped me, and I thought it would be great to be able to help others in the same way my surgeon helped me. But the idea of operating on someones back is kind of scary...what if something happened and they ended up paralyzed? So that thought is steering me away a little.
 
That site is iffy since it really isn't medical knowledge. The residency of Nuc. Med seems to be dwindling and is only 2 years compared to 5 years for Rad Onc.

Google Freida and you can see the differences.
 
Rafa said:
I think it's really interesting how diverse the answers have been so far. There isn't a clearcut runaway leader in the polls. I like that. May we each be this diverse when we enter our 4th years. :^)
Click to expand...

I was really excited and surprised to see that too. I am sure that I want to go into surgery of some sort and I keep having nightmares that Grey's Anatomy is going to shift more popularity into the field and make matching into a program even more competitive.
 
Snowboarder said:
I was really excited and surprised to see that too. I am sure that I want to go into surgery of some sort and I keep having nightmares that Grey's Anatomy is going to shift more popularity into the field and make matching into a program even more competitive.
Click to expand...
Grey's Anatomy won't make people forget the tough surgery residency & lifestyle.
Don't worry.
 
I chose Internal med... and I intend to subspecialize in Infectious Disease.
 
BrettBatchelor said:
That site is iffy since it really isn't medical knowledge. The residency of Nuc. Med seems to be dwindling and is only 2 years compared to 5 years for Rad Onc.

Google Freida and you can see the differences.
Click to expand...

Oh, okay then. :)

I'm not really interested in that field anyway. Well, maybe Hem/Onc. I think Hematology is really interesting.
 
I picked Internal med but specifically Endocrinology.

Nothing like a specialty where the vast majority of your patients won't listen to you anyway. :laugh:
 
This poll proves what I have suspected all along: a majority of the people on SDN alternate between being on SDN and watching reruns of ER. Some (the gunners), do both at the same time.
 
FutureDrCynthia said:
I have a few areas areas that I am interested in. At first I wanted to be some sort of primary care doctor (either family practice or adolescent medicine). Now I am kind of interested in Orthopedic Surgery, maybe further specializing in spine surgery. I got interested in that after I had back surgery and saw how much it helped me, and I thought it would be great to be able to help others in the same way my surgeon helped me. But the idea of operating on someones back is kind of scary...what if something happened and they ended up paralyzed? So that thought is steering me away a little.
Click to expand...
You should always be prepared for bad outcomes in medicine. They are a part of any specialty (though the stakes and risks are different for different specialties).

Your patients can die or become paralyzed as an IM doctor as well - you have to be prepared for that with the understanding that you will do the best for each patient whether you are prescribing Xanax or doing a craniotomy.
 
My interests (in no particular order) are: neurology, neurosurgery (I'm a NS major), Infectious Disease or other IM, EM or OB. Intellectually these fields interest me, but since they are so different in what you actually do as a doctor, I think that I won't have too much trouble narrowing it down once I get some actual experience and figure out what I want to do on a daily basis.
 
"Emergency Medicine" is topping the polls.
I guess pre-meds watch ER :laugh:

“I heard a rumor that ER is nothing like an actual ER”……..
 
tacrum43 said:
Oh, okay then. :)

I'm not really interested in that field anyway. Well, maybe Hem/Onc. I think Hematology is really interesting.
Click to expand...

I'm a hematologist. (doing a diff as I type this) Not the most exciting field but to each his/her own.

I personally want thoracic surgery. But who knows.
I'll settle for "doctor" :D
 
I voted for 'other' because I could not find Cardiology up there. If it is and I missed it, in my own defense it is really late and I'm tired!! Anyways, it is either Cardiology for me or Family Medecine.
 
IM subspec for me - gastro
 
jbone said:
I'm a hematologist. (doing a diff as I type this) Not the most exciting field but to each his/her own.

I personally want thoracic surgery. But who knows.
I'll settle for "doctor" :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to do thoracic surgery. But this is good, we need a variety of doctors.
 
FutureDrCynthia said:
I have a few areas areas that I am interested in. At first I wanted to be some sort of primary care doctor (either family practice or adolescent medicine). Now I am kind of interested in Orthopedic Surgery, maybe further specializing in spine surgery. I got interested in that after I had back surgery and saw how much it helped me, and I thought it would be great to be able to help others in the same way my surgeon helped me. But the idea of operating on someones back is kind of scary...what if something happened and they ended up paralyzed? So that thought is steering me away a little.
Click to expand...


Spine surgery is awesome to see. I want to specialize in pediatric orthopaedic surgery and the spine would be another area that would be cool to specialize in within pediatric orthopaedic surgery. I will admit though that operating on someones back is real scary, just because of what can go wrong if you are not careful. But the surgeons I've seen operate are very careful when drilling and there are multiple tests they do during surgery to make sure everything is going ok, (EMG, fluroscope, wakeup test etc.) As long as you are careful before and during surgery, spine surgery does not have to be more risky or that much more risky than other types of surgery.

All types of surgeries are risks, you just perform it when the benefits outweigh the risks.
 
Obstetrics and Gynecology.
 
Right now I'm sort of on the fence. I'd love to explore pediatrics, but I'm also interested in obstetrics. I've got a reasonable amount of time to decide though.
 
emcsquare said:
...“I heard a rumor that ER is nothing like an actual ER”……..
Click to expand...
No, ER's not much like the real thing. People don't shout medical jargon all over the place (not that there isn't shouting). Everybody already knows what they have to do and there's no time for med speak.
 
QofQuimica said:
Pain medicine. So I put anesthesiology.
Click to expand...
Neurology also deals with a lot of pain. Plus you have the EMU (Epilepsy Monitoring Unit), which is fascinating. I just found out the other day that epileptic seizures are actually painful to patients. Wow.
 
n3ur05ur930n said:
Neurology also deals with a lot of pain. Plus you have the EMU (Epilepsy Monitoring Unit), which is fascinating. I just found out the other day that epileptic seizures are actually painful to patients. Wow.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think that neurology would be an interesting specialty also. But it's apparently a lot easier to get a pain fellowship coming from an anesthesiology background. Plus, I've had some experience doing anesthesiology research, and so there is that element of familiarity also. I wouldn't be opposed to considering neurology though. :)
 
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