Any Benefit to a Future in Optho?

[missFutureDoc]

Hi everyone!

I am currently a very confused high school junior and could really use the advice of any practicing physicians. After shadowing ophthalmologists for the past 2 years, I can pretty confidently say that this is the career I want to devote the rest of my life to. I am also starting to look into colleges to apply to and know I want to spend my undergrad years developing skills that will help put me at an advantage for my career in the future. If you could go back in time, what major would you choose and why? Currently I am considering the prospect of majoring either in Computer Science/Computational Biology (numerous interesting research opportunities, and I feel that tech skills will always be useful) or in something Business related(this seems like it would be helpful if I go into a private practice/keeps door open for administrative positions). Do you think either of these would be especially useful in the future, help me stand out as a candidate for any positions in the future, and/or benefit me in any other way? Should I just focus on majoring in something that I know will ensure an amazing GPA? Any insight on this, especially in relation to what may be beneficial for a career ophthalmology specifically would be much appreciated!

Thank You!!!

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[walkthesun]

It's good that you've already shadowed quite a bit, I didn't completely decide on ophthalmology until my third year of med school. I'm an MS4 and even though I just matched, I still haven't truly started the ophtho journey yet.

My advice to you would be to keep an open mind. When I was a senior in high school I was interested in orthopedics, so things could easily change for you as they did (multiple times) for me since the time I was in your shoes.

Your main goal at this point should simply be to pick a university that you think fits best for you, work hard, remember to have some fun, study something interesting (I majored in finance) and focus on getting into med school. The rest will come in due time. And try shadowing other specialties too, who knows maybe you will discover another specialty or even something other than medicine that you are more passionate about.

Best of luck on a career in medicine! It's a long road ahead but it will go by quicker than you think.


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[DrZeke]

Agree with this... study something that you will enjoy and want to read about.

Also, just as a reference, when I was your age I participated in a shadowing program and thought everything was fascinating and all the doctors I met were excellent. I still remember the ENT day and I thought that was fantastic. However I never got to shadow an Ophtho and who knows if back then I would have even enjoyed it. My point is, and please don't take this In a bad way, you have yet to experience so many things in life and picking your medical specialty should be done with a lot of exposure and thought and more than just role modelling. I know people who picked a specialty for superficial reasons or reasons they wanted to matter to them but didn't really and they've ended up fairly unhappy and even switching specialties part way through residency.

When you are picking a specialty, you may be married, you may have struggled through med school, you may have found out you love a different specialty... and so on... your life will likely look vastly different than it does now.

Major in something you will enjoy and make sure you take the med pre-reqs at the appropriate time. If you love what you are doing the rest will fall into place.

Good luck.


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[EyeDR_oo]

As always Dr. Zeke offers sound advice. One caveat, there are some people who just know out of the gate. My wife knew she wanted ophtho, and never looked back. She did, as you mention, enjoy the subtleties of other specialties, but ultimately continued on track. Personally speaking now, I shadowed a big time retina guy at Wilmer's (about 20 years ago, highschool -- **** I'm old), and had next to no interest. Time changes all things...or not.

Enjoy the ride, and don't let anyone define it as it is yours to build!

 

[DrZeke]

[QUOTE="ericr29, post: 18625584, member: 188247". Personally speaking now, I shadowed a big time retina guy at Wilmer's (about 20 years ago, highschool -- **** I'm old)[/QUOTE]

When I wrote my response about shadowing people "when I was your age"... I thought I refuse to calculate how many years ago that was!!! I also feel old now...


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