specialty choice question

Hi, I want to hear why people chose their specialty and at what moment did they realize they picked the right career.

Hi everyone, I'm wondering what fields do "average" or "below average" med students end up in? I have been below average my entire preclinical (we are a true pass-fail system in preclinicals but they release average scores and standard deviations), got a 230 on Step 1, and am looking to go...

Current M1. So far in med school I have just focused on passing and haven't done any meaningful research or started building up my CV for residency apps. From my still limited exposure, I feel that radiology may be a good fit. I was wondering how competitive it is and if research is very...

I know Med-Peds is typically 4 years and pulm/crit fellowship is another 3 years, but can anyone tell me how it would work if I wanted to be able to do pulm/crit on both IM & peds side? Is it still 7 years or how many exactly? And how many board certifications would that require?

.

As I prepare to enter medical school in July, I’ve started to think about potential specialties. I know the match is years away, but the idea of not being 100% sure of what I want to do for the rest of my career when the time comes to submit applications scares the crap out of me. My research...

Hey all! Planning on applying ophtho in '21-'22, but I'm without a home program at a mid-to-low tier school in the southeast. It's been hard to spend much time outside of a few days shadowing here and there, especially with the pandemic. So I figured to bring a few questions to the table here...

I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I'm not sure what specialties I should apply to for the upcoming application cycle. I was originally thinking Anesthesia but my performance in med school hasn't been the best and am not sure if I'll get in anywhere. I am seriously considering...

Hi there! I'm a MS3 at a mid-tier med school and am still so undecided on what specialty to do. Will take any and all advice! My top three choices are IM, Anesthesia, Neurology in no specific order. I definitely want to stay in california for residency and am not looking at super competitive...

Hi everyone! First time posting in the medical student forum, so I apologize if I have posted this thread in the wrong area. I just wanted to reach out for some general guidance with respect to this issue (I will also have to put in a lot more research, this thread would just be to point me in...

Very confused M3 trying to navigate the waters of different medical specialties, and I was hoping I could get some help. Some thoughts on my likes/dislikes so far: Likes: Being in the OR I love the big long cases I got to be a part of in gen surg, like ex-laps, thoracotomies, etc. However...

Hello, I’m an incoming M1. I haven’t decided which residency to pursue as I want to explore what’s out there. More about myself: F in early 20s, quiet & introverted, don’t mind seeing blood but prefer less surgery-heavy specialties I’m aiming for a less competitive to mod competitive specialty...

I was just wondering, in which specialties are doctors most likely to make errors? I know it depends on the individual doctor, and when it comes to surgical specialties it also depends on how skillful the surgeon is. I'm more interested in the specialties themselves. As in; a specialty where...

Hi all, I was hoping to elicit some advice from the SDN community out there for choosing M3 electives. I'm a rising M3, about to take Step 1, so this isn't something I want to be particularly worried about rn, but it's hard not to be because my school just gave us our clerkship schedules for...

Hey Pre-Meds! Stanford's back at it again with this year's parody music video (presented by the entering PA and MD classes of 2017):

.

Going into 3rd year with a completely open mind, I wanted to give myself a list of realistic specialties to make sure to explore throughout the year whether through electives or shadowing experiences. Here are my lists so far: Can Match Still: IM, FM, Psych, Neuro, OB/Gyn, Peds, Gen Surg...

delete

Hi, There are a lot of posts about how to choose the right specialty. But I'd like to specifically ask late residents and attending what drew them to their specialty and if this was a good indicator. There are SOO many books, adages, clinical opportunities and questionnaires out there, but...

Just wondering how immature it looks to adcoms to talk about a specific specialty that drove you to medicine. Mine was ID, and I talk about what aspects I shadowed brought me to want to be a clinician specifically. Is it bad to talk about an IM specialty...? I feel I have read it goes both...

Hi! I'm an incoming MS1 and so far I feel like OB/GYN is the only specialty I could really enjoy. I like the mix of medicine, surgery, procedures, and primary care. I've had enough exposure to OB/GYN that I know I would be really happy doing it for the rest of my life. However... I want to...

In the MSAR there is a tab "specialty choices" that list the specialties chosen by students by percentage. I am looking at the Einstein list [and other schools I've seen the same issue] and something does not seem to make sense: 1) The percentages add up to 58%. Are 42% of students choosing...

I'm getting toward the end of my third year and thinking of narrowing down my specialty choices. What are some good questions to ask residents and attendings to engage them and get information that will help me make a choice ? I'm choosing between EM, IM, and psych. Any other advice for choosing...