Switching To Urology

[Hockeynut]

After much debate and after learning I can't do ENT, I've recently decided to switch to Urology. Note I'm in my last 2 months of third year med school.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on if I can be competitive switching this late to another competitive specialty? Would I be more likely to match if I went all in for gen Surg as opposed to Uro?

[collegedude22]

Completely doable. Try your hardest to switch up your electives. Learn lots of urology before your electives and get good letters. Try to write up a case report or some other type of research. Apply to surgery as well. 

[rmorelan]

you would be more likely to match only because general surgery is less competitive than urology. A lot of the prep for one surgical specialty can be transferred to another field. 

 

wouldn't hurt to use your school's student affairs office to see if you can create/advance a strategy etc. Networking time  

[Bambi]

Apply to both. Do as many electives as possible in uro, especially where you think you want to be. Good luck!

[JohnGrisham]

I'm curious, why is end of 3rd year considered late? Don't most schools have only core rotations in 3rd year anyways, as in the electives up for grabs haven't occured yet - or is it that its late in terms of switching up and securing electives in the new desired field?

[rmorelan]

I'm curious, why is end of 3rd year considered late? Don't most schools have only core rotations in 3rd year anyways, as in the electives up for grabs haven't occured yet - or is it that its late in terms of switching up and securing electives in the new desired field?

 

good question - for starters you have book electives often very far in advance and those sorts of concerns hit home right about now. It means you need to rapidly create (or relatively rapidly) create a new electives plan for the schools ideally you want to impress. 

 

Research is often transferable to other fields but some people think for obvious reasons if you want urology doing research specifically in that area is better than doing it in anything else. 

 

and their there is all the networking/observership time you won't have compared to others (potentially). Some of your competition may have spent the last 3 years really focused on the area you are now interested in - they likely know more than you about the field and that could transfer into elective performance. 

 

None of these are game enders. At some schools it may not matter at all. Still if you are going for a highly competitive field - like urology - you are looking for every edge you can get. 

[rmorelan]

After much debate and after learning I can't do ENT, I've recently decided to switch to Urology. Note I'm in my last 2 months of third year med school.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on if I can be competitive switching this late to another competitive specialty? Would I be more likely to match if I went all in for gen Surg as opposed to Uro?

 

out of curiosity - and of course you don't need to explain anything - but can't do ENT sounds usually final(?) How did you reach that conclusion? 

[thestar10]

out of curiosity - and of course you don't need to explain anything - but can't do ENT sounds usually final(?) How did you reach that conclusion? 

Sounds like stereoscopic vision requirement