alrightythen Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 I'm 95% sure I want to go into internal medicine. My sub-speciality interests are cardiology and geriatric medicine. I'm incoming to Western and have no clue what I should be doing - I have no family/friends in medicine at all so this is all brand new to me. I constantly feel like I don't know something everyone else does and when it comes time to match I'm going to go unmatched and become a statistic. Should I find out who the internists and cardiologists are at our local teaching hospital and ask to shadow them? How does one get involved in actual research where you are listed as an author (I have no clue, I have no research experience)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 1 hour ago, alrightythen said: I'm 95% sure I want to go into internal medicine. My sub-speciality interests are cardiology and geriatric medicine. I'm incoming to Western and have no clue what I should be doing - I have no family/friends in medicine at all so this is all brand new to me. I constantly feel like I don't know something everyone else does and when it comes time to match I'm going to go unmatched and become a statistic. Should I find out who the internists and cardiologists are at our local teaching hospital and ask to shadow them? How does one get involved in actual research where you are listed as an author (I have no clue, I have no research experience)? you know knowing people in medicine isn't as big of an advantage as it is made out to be - in part because there are a ton of steps to help equalize. FIrst as you know cardiology and geriatric medicine are sub specialities you will be applying for 6 years from now. Getting into internal medicine would happen first and that has a high match rate if you do it properly. You are going to find when you get there that there are a bunch of clubs to help you explore your interests, arrange shadowing opportunities, and help network/setup research. Your job is to explore the options and help narrow things done and make sure you know what you want to do - plus of course learn medicine. Relax you have time, and a system is in place DrOtter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambi Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 When I entered med school, I knew 100% I wanted OBS-GYN. I kept an open mind! Immediately prior to CaRMS application submission deadline, I also applied to a surgical specialty, I was selected and love it in practice. This is all to say that you are far too early in the game to truly know your ultimate preference. As rmorelan says "relax"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sterntaler Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 If it's allowed, I would definitely try to do observerships! Not necessarily for the purpose of matching for CaRMS, but to explore your own interests, within and outside of internal medicine. I'll be starting residency in internal medicine this year, and there are a few subspecialties that I just never got to explore during medical school. If you apply broadly to internal medicine, you will most likely be fine, although I can understand why you are stressed (I was in your shoes in the past 4 years!). And if you parallel plan with family medicine (you can try looking into FM+1 in care of the elderly), your chances of matching is basically 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shikimate Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 Is IM this competitive nowadays that you have to gun for it starting from M1? I thought that only applied to derm. I thought IM you just have to do a few CTU electives and be a good student and there's good chance you'll match. As M1 you can do some observerships in IM and get to know the staff. If you are that worried about matching to IM maybe you should do the USMLE. There are way more IM programs down there, but some are crap, some are ok, some are good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACHQ Posted June 26, 2021 Report Share Posted June 26, 2021 IF you know for 100% sure you want to do IM, you can relax and just wait until clerkship before "gunning". Most of matching into IM (like any specialty) is based off of clerkship performance and reference letters. The one caveat I will add is if you knew you wanted cardiology OR Geriatrics, it could be helpful at least getting yourself set up in research in that area. Most people going into IM don't know what subspecialty they want or change their minds, so this can be a waste but for those that know from the womb that they want cardiology, its good to set yourself up in that, otherwise don't sweat it too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearded frog Posted June 27, 2021 Report Share Posted June 27, 2021 If you honestly don’t know see if you can get early observerships in surgery to rule it in or out early, then, assuming you rule it out, do one in peds, EM, and psych to see if they interest you at all, or you can rule them out. Usually schools make you do FM observerships early regardless. Eventually you will find something to investigate more or be confident in your IM choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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