how competitive is allergy/immunology

[ThinkFast007]

out of curiosity how competitive is this field?

I hear it's on the forefront of becoming competitive, any validity to this?

thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[retroviridae]

out of curiosity how competitive is this field?

I hear it's on the forefront of becoming competitive, any validity to this?

thanks

3 or 4 years ago, I would have called it non-competitive. Now, it is probably fairly competitive. The general problem is that there are not many spots for training. Not that many programs for that matter. This is an incredibly boring specialty, but the hours are great and they pay is pretty good for IM. That leads to it becoming a lifestyle specialty.

 

[ThinkFast007]

3 or 4 years ago, I would have called it non-competitive. Now, it is probably fairly competitive. The general problem is that there are not many spots for training. Not that many programs for that matter. This is an incredibly boring specialty, but the hours are great and they pay is pretty good for IM. That leads to it becoming a lifestyle specialty.

i hear its boring as heccccccccck.

i'm not planning on going into this, but i just wanted to know what all the hype was about.

cool...thanks

 

[adennis]

why would you consider allergy/immunology boring?

I'm curious... this is one of the things that I'm considering specializing in, when the time is right...although I'd like to take it a little bit further and expand to include all auto-immune disorders - which aren't really organized into the allergy/immunology field but rather across several fields at this time...

all of this I find unbelievably fascinating... I'm curious as to why anyone would think it was boring...

 

[retroviridae]

why would you consider allergy/immunology boring?

I'm curious... this is one of the things that I'm considering specializing in, when the time is right...although I'd like to take it a little bit further and expand to include all auto-immune disorders - which aren't really organized into the allergy/immunology field but rather across several fields at this time...

all of this I find unbelievably fascinating... I'm curious as to why anyone would think it was boring...

in an academic setting, the immunology is fascinating. The practice of A&I, esp. in a private practice setting consists almost entirely of immunotherapy (allegry shots) and testing for allergies. It gets repetitive. A&I clincial care really hasn't changed in the last 50 years. Now if you study/treat primary immunodeficiency ... that's interesting.

 

[novacek88]

in an academic setting, the immunology is fascinating. The practice of A&I, esp. in a private practice setting consists almost entirely of immunotherapy (allegry shots) and testing for allergies. It gets repetitive. A&I clincial care really hasn't changed in the last 50 years. Now if you study/treat primary immunodeficiency ... that's interesting.

True and in addition to what you said, most immunodeficiencies are extremely rare congenital disorders. Thus, most AI docs don't even treat or deal with immunodeficiencies since they rarely see these types of patients and prefer to refer it out. Most patients sufferring from these orders will often travel to see a physician who specializes only in immunodefiency or there might me one or two AI docs in a city who are willing to see immunodeficient patients. Most AI docs prefer to treat allergic rhinitis and do skin tests since it's easy and pays well per procedure.

 

[fantasty]

why would you consider allergy/immunology boring?

I'm curious... this is one of the things that I'm considering specializing in, when the time is right...although I'd like to take it a little bit further and expand to include all auto-immune disorders - which aren't really organized into the allergy/immunology field but rather across several fields at this time...

all of this I find unbelievably fascinating... I'm curious as to why anyone would think it was boring...

I, too, think that the immune system is probably the most interesting part of the body, and I'd love to work in a specialty that encompasses this. But, I get the feeling that the autoimmune diseases are probably more often covered by rheumatology. And, my limited exposure is in agreement with the other posters - I think allergy tests are a big part of their day, even though I think the clinical immuno part would be pretty fun.

Here's the Careers in Medicine brief on Allergy/Immunology:
http://www.aamc.org/students/cim/pub_allergy.htm