When did you decide?

[samyjay]

I know this has been posted, but since ENT is a surgical subspeciality with minimal exposure through medical school, when did you decide to go with ENT as a career choice? I am just finishing my general surgery rotation, and i think I like the OR, but not necessarily gen surg. I am trying to do a month at my home institution in June, but i have done absolutely no research so far. Can anyone send me to a website where there are some match statisitics, I know boards and grades have been beaten to death, but numbers on how many apply and how many match. Thank you

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[TheThroat]

I know this has been posted, but since ENT is a surgical subspeciality with minimal exposure through medical school, when did you decide to go with ENT as a career choice? I am just finishing my general surgery rotation, and i think I like the OR, but not necessarily gen surg. I am trying to do a month at my home institution in June, but i have done absolutely no research so far. Can anyone send me to a website where there are some match statisitics, I know boards and grades have been beaten to death, but numbers on how many apply and how many match. Thank you

I was thinking oto or ophtho mid way through my third year, and a buddy convinced me to do oto. I don't have a new website on match stats after oto dropped sfmatch. You can look on otomatch.com, which is another forum that deals only with oto.

 

[DW3843]

go here for some good stats from the 2006 NRMP match:
The tables include the basics like positions offered, ranked, matched, unfilled, etc.
http://www.nrmp.org/2006advdata.pdf

Does anybody know of other references with some more official data regarding things like average Step scores or other info. I know there is tons of stuff on otomatch.com, but that site has so many random polls and threads going on that it can be difficult to get a good idea of what realistic statistics are for those who successfully match.
I mean, I've seen the poll that shows over half of the responders saying they matched with less than a 220. Then I scroll down and read about somebody going unmatched with a 250 step, AOA, and 10 interviews.
(and yes I do realize numbers are not everything)

There is so much anecdotal evidence out there, but is there a source for some good hard data regarding successful (or unsuccessful) applicants?
Thanks

 

[Dunce]

I am also interested in knowing when people become interested in Otolaryngology enough to seriously consider it as their future career choice. I am at the end of my second year now and think that ENT is an attractive option. But I have not had a chance to shadow any physicians so my opinion is based more on what I have read or heard from others. I feel like I am interested early enough that I have time to figure out if I like the field and prepare myself to be a good applicant if necessary.

For the people who are already set on going into ENT, when did you make that decision and what type of key experience led you to that choice?

 

[TheThroat]

I am also interested in knowing when people become interested in Otolaryngology enough to seriously consider it as their future career choice. I am at the end of my second year now and think that ENT is an attractive option. But I have not had a chance to shadow any physicians so my opinion is based more on what I have read or heard from others. I feel like I am interested early enough that I have time to figure out if I like the field and prepare myself to be a good applicant if necessary.

For the people who are already set on going into ENT, when did you make that decision and what type of key experience led you to that choice?

If you think that you like ENT, do your surgery or other surgical rotation early, to see if you like the OR. If you don't like the OR, DON'T think that you will like any surgical subspecialty. The first decision to be made re: figuring out what you want to do is to decide between surgery and non-surgery.

I decided on oto about midway through my 3rd year, but knew after my first rotation in OB/GYN that I would be a surgeon. Then, during vacation time, I shadowed with an ophtho, an orthopod, and two otos, for a day or two each. I would highly recommend this for any med student, to be done early in your third year, no matter what you are interested in.

 

[Dunce]

If you think that you like ENT, do your surgery or other surgical rotation early, to see if you like the OR. If you don't like the OR, DON'T think that you will like any surgical subspecialty. The first decision to be made re: figuring out what you want to do is to decide between surgery and non-surgery.

I decided on oto about midway through my 3rd year, but knew after my first rotation in OB/GYN that I would be a surgeon. Then, during vacation time, I shadowed with an ophtho, an orthopod, and two otos, for a day or two each. I would highly recommend this for any med student, to be done early in your third year, no matter what you are interested in.

Thanks for the advice. I did some research for a surgeon before med school which gave me the opportunity to get into the OR enough to get me wanting more. My Surgery rotation is scheduled in the first half of the 3rd year (late Oct to early Dec), so that should give me the chance to know if the OR is the place to be. I plan to try to shadow an ENT physician on faculty at my school before 3rd year starts if I can work it out. If not, I will definitely spend a few days over the holiday break during 3rd year to test out the waters, so to speak.
I'm at a school with a heavy focus on churning out primary care doctors. There are no opportunities for electives during 3rd year, so exposure to specialties can be considerably lacking for many of the students. Also we have an Oto department but no residency program. (I can already see positives and negatives to this)