Hello everyone,
I am 5th year Medical Student in Europe (6yr MD program), step 1 mid-250, 10 pubs mostly in surgery, 10 poster/oral presentations in european conferences, great LoRs from US-trained surgeons who were my professors and gonna have 5 month electives in US in peds and surgery. I am more than interested in doing pediatric surgery, however I am not sure about how feasible this may be and the pathway is going to be very long: 2yr postdoc, 5 year gen surg + 2yr research, +2-3yrs peds surg. I like general surgery, but although I can manage working that long hours, esp in the OR, it is not something I may like be doing for the next 12 years as I do not love working with the elderly. On the other hand, I really love pediatric cardiology (more dedicated time with children and family talking, interventional procedures in cath lab, hearing murmurs, reassuring parents, U/S). How can I be sure that I can sacrifice everything I have accomplished in general surgery, including my research and my mentors' assistance in making connections for a pediatric subspecialty like cardio or nephro? Will my research count positively for peds, although it is on surgery? And what if I do so and then I miss the OR? I mean many would kill for having accomplished so much and having built a base for matching in surgery, how can I discard all my work? I always loved surgery and was constantly saying that I am going to be a surgeon, but I didnt know I would like working with children so much.
Any advice would be helpful.
I am 5th year Medical Student in Europe (6yr MD program), step 1 mid-250, 10 pubs mostly in surgery, 10 poster/oral presentations in european conferences, great LoRs from US-trained surgeons who were my professors and gonna have 5 month electives in US in peds and surgery. I am more than interested in doing pediatric surgery, however I am not sure about how feasible this may be and the pathway is going to be very long: 2yr postdoc, 5 year gen surg + 2yr research, +2-3yrs peds surg. I like general surgery, but although I can manage working that long hours, esp in the OR, it is not something I may like be doing for the next 12 years as I do not love working with the elderly. On the other hand, I really love pediatric cardiology (more dedicated time with children and family talking, interventional procedures in cath lab, hearing murmurs, reassuring parents, U/S). How can I be sure that I can sacrifice everything I have accomplished in general surgery, including my research and my mentors' assistance in making connections for a pediatric subspecialty like cardio or nephro? Will my research count positively for peds, although it is on surgery? And what if I do so and then I miss the OR? I mean many would kill for having accomplished so much and having built a base for matching in surgery, how can I discard all my work? I always loved surgery and was constantly saying that I am going to be a surgeon, but I didnt know I would like working with children so much.
Any advice would be helpful.
