Guest Ian Wong Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 Here's an interesting question aimed towards all of you folks who will be attending medical school this fall, or who are already in medical school. Q: What specialties are you interested in, and why? A: Myself, I wanted to go into neonatology because I thought there would be no specialty as important or as rewarding as helping the most fragile members of our future society. I thought internal medicine would also be very interesting in solving other people's medical problems while they were in the hospital. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest monkey Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 hey well i've been debating a few fields in my head ever since i got the acceptance letter, and the ones that are in my head at the moment are radiology,hematology,cardiology and possibly forensics...but i'm really NOT sure!!! to be honest i am not even sure what goes into these 4 that i've mentioned. i mean, i know something about them, but not a lot. exactly what the doc would do when they specialize in this field for example is a thing i dont know about very well. its sort of scary, but at the same time good i think b/c you go into the school with a blank slate . this is good b/c then you pick up on things you really like, instaed of beliveing what you SHOULD like. so this way you arent biased towards one field and sort of blinding yourself from experiencing and finding more out about other fields. plus, once you find a field you sort of start liking, you can job shadow and see more about that field...and truly figure out if thats what you want. i guess for me i am HOPING this system works. otherwise me SOOO screwed... PS: anyone else the way i am (in terms of not knowing what they want to specialize in)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medicator007 Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 Monkey, No need to feel alone, I am in the same boat as you. I have some ideas about what I might find interesting but nothing really concrete. Like you said, at this point we really don't know what is involved in each of the specialities. As well, I don't want to limit my possibilities by going into my clerkships with some kind of pre-conceived notion of what I would like to do. I am sure that eventually a clearer notion will form in my brain after some schooling, rotations, research and job shadowing... but for now i see no reason to worry! Enjoy the summer and it think it will all come into place! Cheers, Medicator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted June 9, 2002 Report Share Posted June 9, 2002 Thank god for electives! I think almost all med schools encourage their students to "shadow" doctors for the day in the community. Here at UWO, 3 such placements are a mandatory part of the curriculum, and you have tues & some thurs afternoons off to spend time with docs. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend taking advantage of this opportunity. . . though must admit I didn't myself. As for me, I'm 100% sold on Emerg. Well, that's the situation currently. 30 minutes ago, I was 100% sold on Pediatrics. Seriously though, the areas that have piqued my interest are Emergency, Rural Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Opthalmology, Internal Medicine, Physiatry (aka PM&R aka Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine,) ENT, and general surg. In other words, I don't really have a clue. . . but I have been leaning towards Emerg & Rural family medicine (as you get to work emerg, as well as internal medicine, peds, and a gazillion other things!) On a final note, I think choosing a specialty early definitely gives you an advantage as you can do some research in that area and do some targeted electives to get to know the docs in the department. But don't worry if you do know. . . I find that almost more natural, particularly if you haven't even started med school yet. After all, how the hell can you be sold on cardiac surgery if you don't even know what it really is? (ie what a cardiac surgeon does day in and day out.) Most specialties aren't that competitive in the grand scheme of things, and even for the ultra-competitive ones it's possible to get in deciding only in 4th year, though that's not really a good thing to bank on if you really do know what you want to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Oz10 Posted June 10, 2002 Report Share Posted June 10, 2002 Pediatrics for me. I've been set on that for years and don't see changing my mind. My subspecialty is another issue. Not sure yet...possibly developmental or haem/onc, or psych. In a way, it is easier because I can focus where I do observerships and research. I don't think I am missing out by not really examinig other specialites because Peds is a particular population, rather than a field of medicine (like surgery, ENT, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MD2006 Posted June 10, 2002 Report Share Posted June 10, 2002 I too have always been leaning on the side of Peds since I just think kids are so darn interesting! Since I haven't started meds yet and been exposed to a lot of different areas, I want to keep my mind and options open. So far I've done some volunteering in Pediatric Medical Genetics (only about six months) but for the past two years I've been doing clinics in Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The MD who runs the clinic has a lot of CP and Muscular Dystrophy pateints that he has been seeing ever since they were babies which makes it really cool to read their files. There are alot of things I like about PM&R, but during my time there I also found what I really enjoyed was seeing the same patients over and over again, I got to know them, they got to know me....you get to see how they improve, how they relapse, so now I'm thinking that perhaps I would also be interested in Family Meds....but then again, I might find something else that I'm really excited about too. On the other hand, I have been doing research in immunology for two years and the immune system is amazing as well, which makes me think maybe I'd like Internal Meds, oncology, so many choices!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Queens Med Lurker Posted June 13, 2002 Report Share Posted June 13, 2002 From day one I was 95% sure I would end up in peds heme/onc. I tried to keep an open mind and do lots of observerships (electives) and I'm finding reconstructive surgery (under plastics) really cool as well. That being said, tomorrow is my last day of a week in obs/gyn. Still trying to keep an open mind! I'm like a kid in a candy shop over here! I am getting better at knowing what I DON'T want. Pathology, ortho, derm, family, gyne, radiology just to name a few! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strider2004 Posted June 15, 2002 Report Share Posted June 15, 2002 I've changed my mind 3 times since I got into med school. At this time last year, the only thing I was sure of was that I didn't want internal medicine. What do I want now? Internal medicine! Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sigmund Posted June 17, 2002 Report Share Posted June 17, 2002 psychiatry for me, without a doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IronLord Posted October 29, 2002 Report Share Posted October 29, 2002 sigmund, I agree that psychiatry could be pretty interesting, because it is so abstract. First, i wanted to become an emergency surgeon, then a general surgeon, then internal medecine, and now anesthesist. So I'm pretty lost too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medicator007 Posted October 29, 2002 Report Share Posted October 29, 2002 Iron Lord, I don't think there is any concern in being lost... from what i hear its common to change ur mind about 1,000,000 times... Just for clarification though, especially if you one day (as i do for the moment ) want to go into that field... it is Anesthesiologist and NOT anesthesist.... they are now big on this distinction since the advent in the US (not sure if it is here yet) of Nurse Anesthesists Cheers, Medicator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cheech10 Posted October 29, 2002 Report Share Posted October 29, 2002 I think probably internal medicine, then heme/onc or cards, but as an MS1, it's too early to be sure (or anywhere near it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted October 29, 2002 Report Share Posted October 29, 2002 I am only an M1 but I am pretty sure I want to do radiation oncology in a large academic medical center... Cancer is very interesting to me plus I did my undergrad in physics and math and I found medical physics one of the most interesting applications of physics. moo UBC, Class of 2k2 Northwestern University--The Feinberg School of Medicine, Class of 2k6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MDCY Posted November 9, 2002 Report Share Posted November 9, 2002 I came into med school wanting to go into pediatrics, and I still would like to but I'm liking radiology and cardiology too. I don't know and I probably won't know till later. We'll see. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted August 7, 2005 Report Share Posted August 7, 2005 Floating back to the top. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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