Blogging with The Doctor Job

Terry is one of the staff of writers for The Doctor Job. Do you need your personal statement edited, or do you need help in writing one from the beginning? Click here for more information.

Once in a while when I am assisting a medical student or FMG with a personal statement for residency applications, I get this question: What specialty (or specialties) do you think I should choose?

While I like to think of myself as very wise and insightful, I can’t imagine why anyone would ask me this question. Having only known these individuals for a few days, I am hardly qualified to determine what they should do with the rest of their lives.

Choosing a medical specialty requires a lot more time and effort than you’d put into choosing a breakfast cereal. But it seems that many medical students make the decision lightly. Even if you don’t have a ton of time to spend carefully evaluating each specialty, there are some basic things you should keep in mind when making this important decision.

1) Unless you absolutely must, don’t base your decision on what program you think will be easiest to get into.

I understand that for some medical students or FMGs, the main objective is to actually get accepted into a residency program vs. choosing the specialty that best suits them. If you feel your chances of gaining acceptance are slim, then yes – it makes sense to go for the specialties that are less competitive.

But if you feel strongly about a certain specialty (and you have decent credentials), by all means go for it! After all, someone has to get into those competitive specialties. Why shouldn’t it be you? If you feel that Dermatology, Radiology, Ophthalmology, or Orthopedics is your calling, don’t be afraid to put at least some of your eggs in that basket. You can always apply to a “fall-back specialty” (such as Family Medicine) in case your ideal one doesn’t work out.

2) A great clinical rotation doesn’t necessarily equal a great career in that specialty.

When I was a high school student I absolutely loved my biology class. As a result, I thought that biology would be an excellent major for me in college. I was wrong. It turned out the only reason I absolutely loved my biology class was that I absolutely loved my biology teacher. He was dynamic and engaging, and he challenged me to do my best. The actual subject of biology, absent of this teacher, bored me to tears.

So before you make a decision based on the fact that you loved your Ob/Gyn or your Pediatrics rotation, really think about what it was you liked about that experience. Make sure it was the subject matter itself that fascinated you rather than the cute resident who supervised you or the excellent turkey wraps in that hospital’s cafeteria.

3) Remember that your passion, or lack thereof, about your specialty will come through in your application & interview.

Think of a food that you absolutely detest. Now pretend you must eat a giant forkful of this food and convince the person sitting across the table from you that you think it is delicious. Not so easy, right? Even if you manage to get the word “yum” out between gags, chances are you won’t fool anyone.

Now while you might not detest a certain medical specialty the way you detest liver pate, it will still be clear to the person interviewing you that you aren’t totally thrilled about entering this career. Why? Because the same person interviewing you will be interviewing lots of candidates who ARE thrilled about this career. While you are reciting cliché phrases about a career in surgery being great for you since you have good eye-hand coordination, your competitor will be proudly displaying photos of himself at 8 years old dissecting a grasshopper.

More “things to consider” will be forthcoming in my next post…