<p>Pharmagal, everyone figures it out. I think that the majority of people don’t know what they’re going to to into at this stage. Supposedly only something like 10% of people go into what they thought they would go into when they started med school. He’s got plenty of time.</p>
<p>You pretty much have to go through third year to figure out what you want to do. That’s why it’s ridiculous to read all of these posts from high schoolers who’ve wanted to be neurosurgeons since they were 5. Neurosurgeons at my school are some of the most unpleasant people I have ever been around. It’ll take you less than 3 minutes before you decide whether you want to interact with these people for the rest of your life or not. I still have a few classmates who are not sure what field they want to go into despite the fact we were supposed to have set our schedules a month ago.</p>
<p>I’m assuming this isn’t particularly common, but assuming one wasn’t sure of what they wanted to do as fourth year rolled around, would any of these be a reasonable decision:</p>
<p>(1) Do some sort of research year like the Doris Duke/Howard Hughes programs and gain some clinical experience during it.
(2) Match into a transitional or prelim-medicine PGY-1 year, take as many electives as possible at the beginning of the year, and reapply for PGY-2 spots in the next cycle.
(3) …something else?</p>
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<p>Me too. And I’ve had more than a few who have switched within the last month (either because they’re on a clerkship now with which they’ve completely fallen in love or because they just changed their minds).</p>
<p>Tufts, #1 is definitely an option. Tons of people take research years either to decide or to make themselves more competitive applicants or because they want a masters in something or just because they want to. I’m less certain how #2 would work. </p>
<p>As for #3, depending on how unsure a student is, there are people who apply in two specialties, though I don’t think that’s particularly common. So if a student were trying to decide between two, they could apply to programs in both specialties and then decide somewhere along the way (ideally before interviews, but it can come as late as when they’re making their rank list as well). Obviously this doesn’t work if someone is trying to decide between 8 specialties, and there’s the drawback that you have to explain to everyone with whom you interview why you’re not totally certain you want to go into that person’s specialty. I’ve heard of a very small number of people who more or less let the match tell them what they’re going into. They rank programs in more than one specialty and see where and what they match into.</p>
<p>I think that I might go crazy if I tried that (not that the process of matching even when I know what I want to go into isn’t maddening enough).</p>
<p>I’d argue that it’s more common that people think that students end up torn between multiple specialties. Those that know, and those that are applying to competitive specialties probably are exceedingly more vocal about their choices. </p>
<p>My roommate’s (now) husband was stuck between anesthesia, psych and ophtho, all of which required a transitional year as well. He applied to programs in all fields and eventually went on multiple interviews in each, though he quickly realized on the interview trail that psych was definitely not for him, and that (in part) he wasn’t that competitive for ophtho which left him with lower quality programs he wasn’t happy with. Still really liked ophtho, but because anesthesia and ophtho were pretty much neck and neck for him, he might as well go in the direction where he’d end up in places he (and my roommate) wanted to live.</p>
<p>Most people don’t end up with 8 specialties to choose from, instead coming down to only a couple. The other thing I think that’s important is that once you get past surgery or no surgery question, you rapidly narrow your choices. If you fall on the medicine side of things, then you have another 2 years to figure out specialty. Plenty of people go into medicine and pediatrics residencies knowing they aren’t going to do general medicine or peds, that some sort of fellowship is in order, they just don’t know which one. The possibilities for specialization are pretty broad in spectrum - even broader in peds than in medicine - that most people can find something that gets them going.</p>
<p>Just met with my radiology adviser (a straight shooter) today. Boy, the numbers are sobering. I think I’m looking at a mid-tier academic radiology program.</p>
<p>Right now, working on my personal statement and doing some light radiology reading in preparation for my radiology rotation. ERAS tokens get distributed in about a week. Eeek!</p>
<p>I’m feeling you NCG…</p>
<p>I sent out drafts of my CV and personal statement to my letter writers today. I’m a little anxious about the compressed schedule that exists for the fellowship match. Unlike residency, where the College of Medicine secretary takes care everything, all my things have to go a central clearinghouse. Just another step in the process where things can break down. Left having to pay extra for priority mail. And given interviews start in late August (Match Day is November 30th), if there’s a problem with a letter it just gets magnified…</p>
<p>That said, I’ll take it over having to go through Neonatology match (my friends doing neo started their applications last December, and their match is at the end of September…)</p>
<p>Hey BigRed,</p>
<p>I think you mentioned it before, but what fellowship are you considering?</p>
<p>My radiology adviser happens to be in charge of the IR fellowship application process and showed me some of the most recent numbers on neurorads and IR (the two fields I potentially want to enter into). Both have roughly 87% or so match rates with a fair amount of unfilled spots. It’s a little early for me to be thinking about fellowships but it’s not a bad idea to keep them in mind when I’m ranking my residency choices, especially since the radiology board is practically pushing everyone to do 1-2 fellowships after residency.</p>
<p>I was talking to one of the department radiologist 2 weeks ago and he mentioned how things are so different than when he was in residency. Doing a fellowship was rare, and he was still required to read everything once he got a job after residency (MSK, body imaging, mammo’s, chest, and some basic neuro). Now a days many (possibly the majority) of radiologist are doing a fellowship in one of the above. I wonder if it has to do with today’s litigious environment or b/c most feel they don’t get the exposure needed in residency to be confident in multiple modalities.</p>
<p>ASMAJ - I’m applying for Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowships. Luckily it’s a buyer’s market; there have been more spots than applicants for last five or so years. Plus, while I’m not at a program that’s a “name” program with peds (which has more to do with being in a Southern state - there’s definitely bias against the South), my program is actually really highly thought of in critical care circles. There are several faculty members who are highly, highly regarded nationally, and we’ve sent people off to CCM fellowships at all the big name places. And of course, they just happen to be writing letters for me or are my quality improvement project mentors…so I’m confident I’ll match, it’s just a matter of finding a place I love (even if that means staying put).</p>
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<p>I think it has more to do with the interventional nature of neurorads and IR. Let’s face it, one of the major downsides of diagnostic radiology is that you have very little of a therapeutic role and very little interaction. IR is just a one-year fellowship and allows you to use your diagnostic radiology knowledge as well as hands-on skills to actually participate in patient care. Not surprisingly, I don’t know of a single person in my med school class who plans to do just diagnostic radiology. Everyone wants to do IR (shocking that med students are attracted to procedural-based specialties, right?). </p>
<p>The only downside is that my adviser said I should do a surgical internship for my PGY-1 year if I want to do IR. He was evasive when I asked how many of his IR fellows had done a surgical internship. He himself hadn’t done a surgical internship. So, I’m guessing most radiology residents probably elect to do a medical internship or a transition year for their PGY-1 year.</p>
<p>hey norcalguy, if you don’t mind answering… what did you get on your mcat? And you went to cornell undergrad or med (remember reading something about cornell). </p>
<p>Thanks, feel free not to answer if you wish to do so.</p>
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<li>Why do you ask?</li>
</ol>
<p>awesome job. Im just curious. :)</p>
<p>norcalguy, what was your g.p.a and major? Do you think psychobiology is easier than neuroscience?</p>
<p>The younger generation seems to be more “eager” to get to the bottom of this :)</p>
<p>NCG did quite well in college. Without going to the details (as I should not as I am not him), I believe he belongs to the “upper-left” category of the GPA/MCAT (i.e., the highest GPA/MCAT combination) grids published by his college. There were like a half of dozen to a dozen of premeds with the stats like his in his graduation class, as I believe. (Maybe your next question is “which college?” LOL.)</p>
<p>Talking about which college: I went to a doctor about half a year ago. The doctor posted the name of his college as well as the name of his medical school (maybe also where he went to for his residency) on the wall.</p>
<p>I can understand why he posted where he went to medical school. But I really can not understand why he posted the name of his college. Is this the usual practice, or does this doctor have a particularly strong “school pride” for his college (it is a big-name school which is famous for its football - UT Austin.) Hmm…maybe more patients would relate to his college than his medical school?</p>
<p>Most patients probably won’t even see the inside of his office. I think if you went to a big time college (either academically like an Ivy League college or sports-wise) or if you are simply proud of your college, there’s no reason not to put your diploma up. As of right now, I’m not exactly sure where my diploma from Cornell is. Probably with my parents. </p>
<p>Most doctors will have their med school diploma, their residency diploma, their fellowship diploma, and their board certification hanging in their office. I noticed that the chair of plastic surgery at my school also has his Phi Beta Kappa certificate hanging as well alongside the others which is cool because I graduated Phi Beta Kappa as well.</p>
<p>And, yes, I had a 3.9+ in college. I don’t know what psychobiology nor neuroscience is as neither was available as majors at Cornell.</p>
<p>Parents LOVE to collect diploma/awards for their kids. I think we still keep DS’s award from kindergarten days 
Quite an effort when we move. Since the parents more likely stay where they are, it makes sense for them to keep these. We keep all kinds of records for him and DS just calls us when he needs any of these. (The immunization records are a recent example.)</p>
<p>I do not know there is a certificate for Phi Beta Kappa. (or I forgot about it.)</p>
<p>Hmmm…I remember that, at the end of ceromony, all inductees need to go to the front to sign something. Maybe they get the certificate at that time? I heard about the “key” which we did not purchase. (The money is better saved for medical school interview expenses.)</p>
<p>LOL! And archivists also love to collect diplomas and certificates. As part of my job, I develop and maintain a historical archive documenting the history of the research institute I work for. We have all sorts of diplomas and certificates that belonged to our founders. We have an original residency certificate from St Mary’s Hospital in St Louis, dated 1905 that belonged to one founder. We also have the 8th grade promotion certificate for another founder. And his med school diploma. As well as later honorary degrees and awards from around the world. </p>
<p>Also have an original 1676 surgical casebook written by a surgeon who started as a 14 year old apprentice to barber. (In surprisingly good condition too! Mostly because it was printed in linen paper made from the clothes of plague victims–wonderful fun being able to research the provenance of this stuff.) And an original Michelangelo medical illustration.</p>
<p>(And the really cool part is occasionally I get to put on my white gloves and handle all of them!)</p>