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Q. Does Boston University have a pre-med program?A. Yes, it does have a very strong premed program. It is one of the better feeder schools for MD and DO programs. It has one of the top 50 medical schools and a highly ranked combined 7 yr BS-MD program where acceptance to medical school is guaranteed (low GPA and MCAT requirements). My daughter was accepted into the program as well as USC and Case Western but ultimately chose to attend Stanford.Pre-Medical Pathways | Admissions (bu.edu)Your Pathway to MedicineWhile pre-medicine is not a major at BU, you can design your own unique course of study while fulfilling curriculum requirements for pre-medical, pre-dental or pre-veterinary studies. You can create your own undergraduate path to any of these careers and choose whatever major interests you most.The most popular pathways:College of Arts & Sciences:You will find the largest variety of majors in CAS, including common pre-medical choices such as chemistry, biology, physics, or biochemistry. There are scores of non-science majors too, such as psychology or anthropology.College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College:There are a host of majors to choose from, such as behavior and health, human physiology, physical therapy, and more.College of Engineering:A major in biomedical engineering will fulfill all of the standard pre-medical requirements and prepare you for a variety of careers in engineering and medicine.Pre-Professional Advising OfficeYour path is up to you. To help you find it, BU provides specialized pre-professional advisors for health-related careers. Your advisors will give you expert guidance on courses, research projects and other co-curricular opportunities that will help you apply to the best medical, dental or veterinary schools.Fast Track Your Medical CareerStudents admitted into one of BU’s Early Assurance Programs receive provisional admission to the Boston University School of Medicine. Admission to these programs is highly competitive.Seven-Year Accelerated Medical ProgramIf admitted into the Seven-Year Liberal Arts/Medical Education Program, you will complete a bachelor’s degree in medical science in the College of Arts & Sciences and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Boston University School of Medicine in just seven years.Applicants to the Accelerated Medical program must submit the Accelerated Programs Teacher Evaluation and complete other program requirements. Applicants will only be considered for the program to which they have applied.Application Deadline: November 15Modular Medical/Dental Integrated Curriculum (MMEDIC)In the spring of your second year at BU, you can apply to the Modular Medical/Dental Integrated Curriculum (MMEDIC) designed for qualified, highly motivated students. Students admitted to MMEDIC receive provisional early admission to the Boston University School of Medicine or the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, and take medical/dental school-related courses that fulfill undergraduate requirements and enhance students’ transition to the professional school curriculum. The medical track leads to a Doctor of Medicine degree and the dental track leads to a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree, most commonly in combination with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Arts & Sciences; the College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College; or the College of Engineering.Pre-Medical AdvisingLearn more about all the advising resources available to students interested in health professions.PRE-HEALTH ADVISINGPre-Medical Internship in the Heart of BostonAnubhav Nangia used his summer to intern at the noninvasive cardiovascular imaging center at the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.READ ARTICLESeven-Year Liberal Arts/Medical Education Program Requirements (bu.edu)This highly selective program offers outstanding students an accelerated pathway to a career in medicine through combined undergraduate programs and early admission to the Boston University Medical School.The application deadline for the program is November 15. It is only available to students applying as first-year students for September. Applicants to the Accelerated Program will be considered only for admission to this program.Application RequirementsIn addition to the application requirements for all first-year students, students applying to the Accelerated Medical Program must submit the following:Three Accelerated Program Teacher Evaluation forms—one each from a teacher of English, laboratory science, and either history or a foreign language. Your teacher should submit these forms via email to [email protected] in lieu of the Teacher Evaluation on the Common or Coalition Application.Accelerated Programs essay—available on BU’s member page on the Common and Coalition Application.Interview in BostonFinalists for these programs will be contacted by BU Admissions via telephone to schedule a mandatory interview. All finalists must interview on campus.Minimum Required Secondary School Course RequirementsEligible applicants must complete four full years of secondary school education and be a current senior when they apply. Students who have graduated from secondary school but have not enrolled in any college-level degree program may also apply.English: 4 yearsMathematics: 4 years(Must include Calculus)Social Science/History: 3 yearsForeign Language: 2 yearsBiology: 1 yearChemistry: 1 yearPhysics: 1 Year requirement14 of the Best Pre-Med Schools for Future Doctors (thoughtco.com)Steve Debenport / Getty ImagesAllen GroveUpdated July 08, 2019The best pre-med schools in the United States tend to be large comprehensive universities with their own medical schools and close proximity to teaching and research hospitals. Quality pre-med schools all have academic strengths in fields such as biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and psychology, as well as excellent advising programs for students seeking medical careers.Keep in mind that future doctors do not need to pursue a pre-med major or focus as an undergraduate. Your grades and your score on the MCAT will be the most important part of your medical school application, and English majors often outperform biology majors on the MCAT because of their strong reading and analytical skills. Prospective pre-med students will want to take some carefully selected biology and chemistry classes to prepare for the MCAT and meet med school entrance requirements, but any undergraduate major can lead to a successful medical school application.Also, remember that small liberal arts colleges can open the door to top medical schools just as well as larger universities. In fact, the small classes and personalized mentoring of a liberal arts college may better prepare you for medical school than some of the much more famous pre-med schools listed below. Nevertheless, all of these schools are well known for their successes both in and out of the classroom preparing students for medical school.01 of 14Boston UniversityCorbis via Getty Images / Getty ImagesBoston University's Early Assurance Program is an excellent choice for high achieving pre-med students. By enrolling in Early Assurance, students can earn their undergraduate and medical degree in seven years instead of the usual eight. The program is highly selective and requires SAT Subject Tests in Chemistry and Math 2, three letters of recommendation, a special essay, and an interview. Admitted students can expect to be promoted to BU's medical school upon completion of their undergraduate degree.BU pre-med students who don't apply for the Early Assurance Program will still have a stellar experience at Boston University. All pre-med students at BU work with an experienced pre-professional advisor who can assist with course selection and research projects, which helps to ensure that Boston University graduates are well positioned to apply to medical school whatever their major might be.02 of 14Columbia UniversitySpencer Platt / Getty ImagesColumbia University, one of four Ivy League schools on this list, is an excellent choice for students looking for a top-notch pre-med program in an urban environment. The university has a dedicated Office of Preprofessional Advising to assist students interested in health professions. Columbia does not have a pre-med major, but through its excellent advising programs, students are guided to take essential courses for both the MCAT and medical school requirements.Columbia University also provides students with opportunities to conduct research and gain clinical experiences. Both are important elements of a winning medical school application. Many Columbia pre-med students volunteer at nearby Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital.Finally, for students who decide on a medical career late in college or after graduation, Columbia is home to the nation's oldest and largest postbaccalaureate premedical program. The program has a medical school placement rate near 90 percent.03 of 14Cornell UniversityUpsilon Andromedae / Flickr / CC BY 2.0While the majority of schools on this list are located in urban centers, Cornell University offers a winning pre-med track in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York.Cornell has a Health Careers Program that provides students with a wide range of services to help them on their path to medical school: advising, health-related programs, information resources, and use of the Health Careers Evaluation Committee (HCEC). The HCEC will create a comprehensive written review of a student's candidacy for a health career that can be submitted along with letters of recommendation.Cornell is also home to PATCH, the Pre-professional Association Toward Careers in Health, a student organization that supports and advises students pursuing health careers. The group organizes an annual tour of SUNY Upstate Medical School to give undergraduates the opportunity to speak with current medical students and admissions officers.04 of 14Duke UniversityUschools University Images / Getty ImagesLocated in Durham, North Carolina, Duke University is one of the top private universities in the United States. Biology and biomedical engineering are two of the most popular undergraduate majors at Duke. The university offers undergraduates ample opportunities for research and hands-on experiences both in science labs and at the medical school.Duke has no pre-med major, but your choice of major really isn't that important for attending medical school. The university's excellent pre-med advising keeps students on track for a successful medical school application regardless of undergraduate major.05 of 14Emory Universityaimintang / Getty ImagesEmory University, one of the best colleges in the southeastern United States, has an enviable location next to both Emory Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The school's location makes it easy for students to pick up research internships to broaden their experiences and strengthen their medical school applications.Emory's PreHealth Advising Service provides students with advising, mentoring, events, and guidance as they take classes and prepare for admission to a medical school. The PreHealth Advising office also provides peer mentors for pre-med students. These mentors are current pre-health juniors and seniors who serve to support peers who are interested in health careers.06 of 14Georgetown UniversityKārlis Dambrāns / Flickr / CC by 2.0Georgetown University is one of the best Catholic universities in the nation. Its Washington, D.C. location gives students easy access to numerous medical facilities for research and clinical opportunities.Like Boston University, Georgetown has an Early Assurance Program (EAP) that allows students to apply to Georgetown's School of Medicine after completing four semesters at the university and earning a 3.6 or higher GPA. One of the benefits of EAP is that students who are accepted are not required to take the MCAT.Finally, Georgetown has a Pre-Medical Society that helps with everything from mock interviews to pre-med advising, and the club hosts lectures by accomplished members of the medical profession.07 of 14Harvard UniversityJoe Raedle / Getty ImagesHarvard University, which often ranks first among the nation's most selective colleges, is not surprisingly also one of the best schools for studying pre-med.Harvard gets high marks for its pre-med advising. All students will find pre-medical advisors in their residential house, and the Office of Career Services also provides pre-med advising. Harvard pre-med students tend to speak highly of the institutional support they receive, and the evidence of that support is in the school's extremely high med school acceptance rate.Also, Harvard's Extension School offers a premedical program for students who have completed their baccalaureate degrees but have not done the coursework necessary for medical school (typically biology, chemistry, physics, and English classes). The program is an excellent way to get the advising, experience, and sponsorship necessary for a successful medical school application.08 of 14Johns Hopkins UniversitySmith Collection/Gado / Getty ImagesJohns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, has a large population of students interested in health-related fields including nursing, public health, biomedical engineering, and the biological sciences. The university also offers an interdisciplinary major called Medicine, Science, and Humanities.JHU offers opportunities to conduct research and shadow doctors at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, and typical of top-tier research universities, motivated undergraduates will have little difficulty finding meaningful internship and laboratory experiences.Along with their non-major undergraduate pre-med program, the university offers a post-baccalaureate pre-med program for recent graduates who aren't fully prepared for medical school.09 of 14Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyJoe Raedle / Getty ImagesThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology consistently ranks as one of the best engineering schools in the country, so it may seem like a strange entry for a list of top pre-med schools. MIT, after all, does not have a hospital or medical school. That said, about 10% of MIT's graduating seniors go on to medical school or some other graduate program in the health professions.MIT pre-med students come from a wide range of majors, and the institute is hard to top for the quality of instruction students receive in biology, chemistry, and physics. MIT's Office of Global Education and Career Development offers professional advising for students interested in health professions and medical school. Finally, keep in mind that MIT students can cross-register at Harvard and take advantage of some of Harvard's pre-med resources.10 of 14Northwestern Universitystevegeer / Getty ImagesNorthwestern University, located just north of downtown Chicago, is one of the top research universities in the United States. Like many of the schools on this list, Northwestern's pre-med strengths come from a combination of excellent science programs and strong pre-med advising (through the university's Health Professions Advising office).Northwestern students can gain physician shadowing opportunities through the Northwestern Network Mentorship Program, the Northwestern Externship Program, and several other programs. Students can find research opportunities through UR@NU, Northwestern's centralized resource for undergraduate research. Finally, Northwestern's Engage Chicago program is an eight-week summer program whose participants attend seminars and gain field experiences in health fields.The university also has many student-run groups related to the health professions. One of these, the Pre-Med Peer Mentor Program (PPMP) links up first-year students with an upper-class student mentor.11 of 14Tufts UniversityDaderot / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainTufts University is one of several Boston area colleges to make this list. Tufts has an Early Assurance Program in which strong students can apply for medical school after their sophomore year. This is not an accelerated path to a medical degree, but an opportunity for students to be admitted to Tufts Medical School well before the majority of applicants.Tufts' Office of Undergraduate Education has two health professions advisors who work one-on-one with students, hold workshops, arrange speakers, and generally support pre-med students at the university. During any given year, the university's acceptance rate to U.S. medical schools is between 75 and 90 percent.12 of 14University of North Carolina Chapel HillLance King / Getty ImagesThe University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is the flagship campus of the UNC system. As a public university, it represents an excellent value, especially for in-state students.UNC-Chapel Hill is part of the Research Triangle with North Carolina State University and Duke University, and the school is home to a highly rated medical school. Students will find plenty of opportunities for shadowing doctors, landing internships, and conducting research. The university also has an extremely high medical school placement record.UNC's Medical Education Development (MED) Program is an intensive nine-week summer program designed to help students from underrepresented backgrounds learn about the realities of medical school and develop the skills necessary to compete successfully for admission to medical school.13 of 14University of PennsylvaniaMargie Politzer / Getty ImagesThe University of Pennsylvania is another of the prestigious Ivy League schools on this list. The school's campus in Philadelphia adjoins the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. Those facilities, combined with the university's many research labs in the sciences, mean that students have no shortage of opportunities for applied learning experiences related to the health professions.Like other schools on this list, Penn has excellent advising services for pre-med students to help with everything from course selection to the logistics of med school applications. The university has an impressive placement rate for getting its students into quality medical schools. Penn also has a summer program to help underrepresented students succeed in a pre-med academic path.14 of 14University of WashingtonJoe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0The University of Washington in Seattle is a huge comprehensive public university with nearly 30,000 undergraduates. Roughly 17% of those students will graduate in biological fields such as biochemistry, biology, physiology, and molecular biology. Public health and nursing are also popular majors. The university has robust resources for pre-health advising, and students will also find many extracurricular options related to health fields.The University of Washington is home to one of the nation's very best medical schools, and undergraduates get plenty of opportunities to shadow medical professionals. Along with UNC-Chapel Hill, this public university is one of the more affordable pre-med options for in-state students (although you should keep in mind that financial aid can make any school on this list affordable for qualifying students).How is BU for pre meds? (collegeconfidential.com)

Q. How and when does a medical student discover that he or she is interested in a specialty? Is it during rotation or internship?A2A. Most people choose their specialties of interest during required clinical rotations in the third year. Senior year they take electives in the specialties of interest and then do more of the specialty chosen, perhaps away rotations at outside institutions to see different settings and as an audition where they hope to apply to.Internship would be too late although there are always first year residents who want to switch specialties or programs. It is different being a fourth year student in certain programs than actually perform as a lowly intern.The following are many different ways people choose their specialties.Personality, I was at a quandary after the required rotations since I had no strong interest in Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology. My senior year I took electives in Anesthesiology and Diagnostic Radiology. I chose the latter. So the first few senior year electives are crucial. I had senioritis the rest of the year , until internship loomed and I had to prepare for FLEX (now USMLE 3)All the best!choosing your medical specialty: 7 factors to consider and 3 lists to makeJanuary 30, 2016 in CareerOkay guys, I'm going to take a first pass at this HUGE topic. I also recommend our career profile series. Elyse"When you're choosing a specialty, you're deciding an old man's life with a young man's mind. Think about what you want for the future, not what's cool today. - unknown orthopedic surgery attending.Recently, I found a post in evernote titled “What I want to be when I grow up” written 11/11/2013. I’ve mentioned before that I wanted to to go to Emory and become a dermatologist since freshman year of undergrad, but there were other options that almost swayed me from both of those decisions (how I chose a medical school coming at a later date).Choosing a specialty is a huge decision. Unlike most other professional fields, changing medical fields as a physician is a huge ordeal that requires additional years of scut level training. It’s not impossible, but like most things - it’s easier just to get it right the first time.In this article, I’ll discuss factors to consider when choosing a specialty and then I’ll show you the contents of my “What I want to be when I grow up” note and encourage you to make your own. This article is based on the American system, but I hope that it will be useful for everyone. PS: I'm really enjoying learning about how the medical school process works in different countries. Thanks for your emails on the Australian and UK systems Florah and Louise!Factors to Consider:[ 1 ] intellectual curiosityWhen you choose to practice medicine, you make a commitment to life-longer learning; this is your duty to your patients. For this reason, it’s essential to go into a field you find interesting! Cardiology has many of the functional features I loved about dermatology (see below), but I could not make myself excited about lipid profiles or statins. With that point, every specialty has one or two really cool procedures, but you should ideally find the most mundane things the specialty does interesting because that will be your “bread and butter.” Chest pain is not interesting to me, but I can talk to you about acne all day, everyday. On my medicine rotations, I was always blown away by the medical students who knew all the recent NEJM studies. When were they reading this stuff? They were reading it on Friday nights when I was reading about acne. That’s why we’ll both be more successful in our chosen fields than if we tried to do something else. Be true to your own mind. Don’t let what other people think is important determine your life. Most people find the topic of dermatology to be the absolute worst. To me, that’s just job security.What topics do you find yourself reading about out of pure curiosity? In my opinion, this is the most important factor of them all.[ 2 ] skill setBe honest with yourself. What are you good at?If you're not a "people person," maybe you shouldn't go into a predominately clinic setting. With that said, just because you hate one clinic setting does not mean you do not like clinic at all. Clinic is a completely different experience depending on the patient population, your attending, your role, and the topic. I didn't care for primary care clinic, ophthalmology clinic, or breast clinic but ENT, derm, melanoma, and gynecology clinic were my favorite rotations of medical school.If you're clumsy with your hands, maybe you shouldn't go into a surgical or procedural specialty. If you're a third or fourth year, realize that your skill set will increase with residency, but if you're significantly less coordinated that a normal human being, do some soul searching on this; residency and the match might be very difficult for you. If you're a first year and you're interested in a surgical or procedural specialty (this includes dermatology, anesthesiology, and emergency medicine) I suggests you pick up a hobby that requires good hand-eye coordination - such as video gaming, knitting, or cooking.i was explicitly asked "are you good with your hands?" during interview season.[ 3 ] lifestyleIt pains me a little to write this section because I genuinely think dermatology is so freaking cool, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. It was really frustrating having to compete with people who were doing dermatology solely because of desired lifestyle and their aptitude for standardized tests, but it is not my place to judge, especially since I have come to realize lifestyle is also important to me.For whatever reason, the idea of lifestyle gets a bad rap in medicine - as you can tell by the previous sentence, I've been brainwashed myself. There’s the idea that if you’re a doctor, that is your primary identify and the most important thing in your life. Don't drink this tea.don’t let anyone make you feel bad for wanting a life outside of medicine. at the same time, don’t let anyone make you feel bad for not caring about a life outside of medicine. we all want different things and that’s okay.What’s important is that you’re honest with yourself. As a dermatology resident, I will have more time outside of the hospital than my surgery counterparts. I will be able to attend more weddings, more funerals, more trips to the dog park, etc. However, I will never acutely save anyone's life and I will never guide another infant into this world. This summer, the UAB orthopedic, trauma, and vascular surgery teams saved my seventeen year old cousins life when he was at the brink of exsanguination. Now, he's going on college interviews. I am so grateful to all of my friends who are becoming surgeons.As more women become physicians and more men fight for the privilege to be present in their family's lives, every field becomes more lifestyle friendly. Obstetrics, for example, used to be notoriously awful for both attending and resident, but now it's common for attendings to share call and obstetric responsibility with their group members. The same is true of internal medicine now that hospital and ambulatory responsibilities are mostly split. The residency training for both of these careers are still incredibly tough though.Also keep in mind that academics is a skewed view of what most of medicine actually looks like. If you have the time, reach out to someone in private practice to get a good view of all of your options. Although, I will say, the doctors at my private hospital appear to work way more clinical hours than my attendings in academics.Final note - one of my colleagues was advised that "If you can see yourself being equally happy in two fields, chose the one with the better lifestyle."[ 4 ] length of trainingA popular piece of advice people give is to “look at the attending’s lifestyle - not the resident’s - because that will be your life.” I agree and disagree with this depending on how long your residency training will be and at what point you’re at in your life. Residency occurs during most people’s late 20s/early 30s - this is a very important time of life where most people are starting families, making lifelong investments, etc. If those things are important to you, you should think long and hard about a 7+ year residency.image source: scutmonkey comics[ 5 ] expected salaryThis is another thing that medicine demonizes, but don't lose sight of the fact that you are choosing your career. If you expect to live a certain lifestyle, you should be able to afford it. If you have a significant amount of loans, you will need to earn more money than a classmate who doesn’t have any loans to maintain the same lifestyle. Most of my friends who went into pediatrics don’t care about money. That’s important because they won’t make a lot of it (relatively speaking), but they won’t be resentful to their career or their patients because they knew what they were getting themselves into.The other side of the coin is medical reimbursements are volatile and will most definitely change during our lifetime. A primary care attending once told me that when he was a resident, the smartest people went into primary care because specialties didn’t make any money at that time. bahahaha. Oh how things have changed. So, keep expected salary in mind, but this should be a small consideration. Also, keep in mind that salaries can be very variable depending on your patient population and your "niche." Skin cancer and cosmetics are two of the highest paying areas of dermatology, but I'm not particularly interested in either. I want to work with inpatient dermatology, skin or color, and patients with systemic rashes.[ 6 ] colleagues/environmentThis one is somewhat tricky. Usually certain personality types are attracted to certain specialties, but programs tend to have clusters of certain personalities. So, just because everyone in your dermatology program is mean (are there mean dermatologists?) does not mean that is true everywhere. I wouldn’t let this factor too much into your decision. It’s very unlikely that you can't find a group of people that you like who practice your same specialty; you just might have to do some searching. “Eventually soul mates meet, for they have the same hiding place” applies to more than romantic lovers. Away rotations are a good way to get a better glimpse into this.image source: scutmonkey comics[ 7 ] competitivenessI hate that this is a factor, but it very much is. Have an honest conversation with someone about your chances of matching into your desired specialty. We’ve reached a point where every specialty is continually becoming more and more competitive. There are a few options when applying to a competitive specialty - 1) apply to that specialty with a backup plan if you don’t match 2) apply to that specialty and a less competitive specialty at the same time 3) take time off before applying to boost up your application and then do option 1 or 2. If you have your heart set on something that you're maybe not competitive enough to do, realize that there are probably less competitive alternatives. All hope is not loss. For example, instead of orthopedic surgery, you could do an internal medicine or family medicine residency then do a sports medicine fellowship. Charting Outcomes in the Match is a great resource that makes everyone wet their pants. It's published every two years. I've linked to the most recent 2014 data.Keep in mind that grades are not the only way to be competitive. There are multiple components of your application including clerkship grades, step I & II scores, AOA status, research experience, and letters of recommendation. Each of these items hold different weight in different specialties. Letters of recommendation matter a lot in small fields because all of the applicants are so spectacular. It just makes sense to take someone that your respected coworker vouched for.My clerkship grades were above average, but not perfect, and in the words of my mentor, my step I score was "fine, but won't blow anyone away" (my step II score was in the blow away range). I think the strongest aspect of my application lied in the fact that Emory is a highly regarded dermatology program and the chair and vice chair of the department put onto paper how highly they regarded me. Don't get me wrong, I worked my butt off for a dermatology spot. I have JAAD publications from the first year of medical school to just this month. I worked with everyone in the department either in clinic or on research. The faculty in the department watched me grow up from a little first year that didn't know anything to a confident and competent fourth year. That consistent and productive interest and energy, in my opinion, was my most competitive feature. (Disclaimer: I don't actually know why programs ranked me.)Related articles: Find your competitive advantage with our personal SWOT analysis and the 5 people to have in your inner circle for successOne question I got on instagram while making this post is the question of exposure:how do you decide on a field that you've had very little exposure to?You don't! This is why it's so important to take advantage of your time as an M1 and M2 to shadow different physicians. Dermatology, ophthalmology, ENT, orthopedics, radiation oncology, urology, and emergency medicine are fields that people are notorious for changing into at the last minute (read TeawithMD's story here), or switching to during residency, or completing a second residency for, or just missing out on all together. Take the time before rotations start to read about different specialties and then get exposure to fields that peak your interest. Ask residents in fields you are interested in what else they considered (I'm working on a list for the blog too). Of course, the shadowing experience you get as an M1/M2 won't be enough to decide on a specialty, but it will be enough to peak your interest in doing an elective early on.If you're a third year and already into rotations, try hard to make time to get exposure to these fields. Definitely talk to residents about their experiences so far, why they chose that specialty, and what they're planning to do after residency. Always talk to residents. You can also use our career profile series as a resource. I ask all of the residents how they made their specialty decision.The AAMC careers in medicine is also a useful resource.okay, with all that said - here are the contents of that evernote document i mentioned earlier:I encourage you to make three lists:Things that are important to you (your values)Topics that interest you (what do you want to know more about). These topics don't have to be obviously related to medicine. This will allow you to imagine different career paths in different specialtiesThe specialties you're deciding between with a quick word vomit about how you feel about each specialty.Related articles: I wrote this post before Yentil wrote "From dreams to objectives: Identifying your vision, mission and values," but it's amazing how similar the approaches are!When I made this list I'd completed all of the rotations except for cardiology, dermatology, and allergy.things that are important to me (in no particular order):strong doctor-patient relationship; long-term relationshipsfeeling like I have accomplished something at the end of the dayI have to use my handsvariety in day to day worklifestyle / salaryi want to make people feel beautiful. i want to help people fall madly in love with themselves.topics that interest me (in no particular order):the philosophy of beauty - what does it mean to be beautiful? how the perception of beauty changes over time, between cultures, and between individuals within the same cultureimmunology - autoimmunity, gut microbiomenutrition - how what we eat affects us physiologicallywomen's healthddx:dermgood mix of quick procedures/chronic medical conditions, happy, friendly patients, RASHES ARE AWESOME, large quality of life impact, I get to use my hands and my mind; very competitive.. (because it’s awesome)ob/gynwomen’s gynecology clinic has good balance between procedures/routine follow-up, happy, healthy patients, I would love to support women through specific issues, but hate the political air that surrounds the field, also, i hate obstetrics, surgeries are fun and quickpsychIs there a greater betrayal than to be betrayed by one’s mind??? It would be an honor to help people through difficult times. I find the concept of how we perceive ourselves vs how society perceives us very interesting. Really interested in the budding research into how autoimmunity and inflammation affects (causes?) psychiatric conditions. Such a good feeling to discharge a patient that came in psychotic or depressed at the VA, but horrible feeling working at mental health hospital for lower socioeconomic patients; they have no social support, that makes me very sad and frustrated, I had a couple of patients threaten me or become infatuated with me during my rotation. I don’t think I would like that for the rest of my life.. plus, psychiatrist aren’t the best at interpersonal relationships themselves. also, i need to use my hands.med/psychI could really see myself as an eating disorder specialist or a physician who specializes in medical care of psychiatric patients. hmm...cardiologyumm dr. love the cardiologist that fixes broken hearts??? SOLD! I like the idea of a clinic based practice and I could read echos 1-2 half days a week for a break from clinic. Oh you have chest pain after you walked a mile for the first time in 8 years? okay.. here’s a statin. I'm absolutely not interested in gunning for another 3 years to get a cardiology spot.allergy and immunologyatopic kids are my favorite patients! This is a niche I am most definitely comfortable with. After all, all of my research is in chronic pruritus, most of which has an allergy component. I would have to do a medicine residency though because peds is out of the question.. Also, i like the allergic component of different diseases, but I also like non-allergy related aspects of dermatology - acne, hyper pigmentation, hair loss, etc. However, derm doesn’t deal with asthma and food allergies which I also find interesting. I’m particularly interested in the new budding idea of “sensitivities” vs complete allergies. I wonder if I could do an allergy fellowship after dermatology?Without going into my personal statement, I chose dermatology because of the fact that I find the pathology really interesting and the day to day practical aspects enjoyable. My small group, to this day, insists that I should be an ob/gyn. haha.Specialty Profiles (wire.ama-assn.orgThe Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty, Third Edition: Brian FreemanHow to Choose a Medical Specialty: Sixth Edition: Anita D. TaylorMedical Specialty: How To Pick?!'Whatever you are, Be a good one.' - Abraham Lincoln.When we are in medical school we find some students who are firm about what they want to do. Some of us, like myself, are in a constant state of confusion. There are people who affect our opinion would be our parents, inspiring teachers, someone in the family with an illness, successful doctors, a relatives hospital, and our own whims and fancies that make us consider varied specialties.I've picked and rejected my choices very often. To the extent of considering specialties beyond medicine. Cardiology, radiology, family practice, radiation oncology, sleep medicine, endovascular surgery, biomedical engineering, healthcare management, health policy, palliative care, allergy, hospitalist, aerospace medicine...the list is endless!But after all the confusion I have realised that there is a certain way of going about it. First, you must list your priorities; the basis on which you would pick specialties. The length of training, satisfaction, amount of patient contact, amount of procedures, lifestyle, average salaries, the type of patients you see, type of research opportunities, and some more things that you think are relevant to you.Next you must try the Pathway Evaluation Program For Health Professionals. It provides students with current information about 42 specialties based on data compiled from surveys completed by 2,407 practicing physicians. I have tried this at different points of time because with time my ideas of what I want to do and what I feel I would be good at, has changed.Another test helping students pick their specialty, is the Medical Specialty Aptitude Test by University of Virginia. Here, tendencies of students and that of physicians in each specialty is compared.I would also recommend taking a personality test like Carl Jung and Isabel Briggs Myers Personality Test or Advanced Jung/MBTI Personality Test or the newer Big 5/Global 5/SLOAN Test or the IPIP NEO (Long or short version). The purpose of personality testing is to help you increase your self-knowledge. Self exploration of this kind is a useful part of the decision-making process. The results of self-analysis can also be used effectively to narrow the number of specialties to include.The NHS Website correlates your personality with the specialty that suits it. Also, a study done on ~5000 physicians to correlate their Myers Briggs Personality Type and Choice of Medical Specialty.Also, have a look at the Medscape Physician Lifestyle Report of 2012 to get an idea about the lifestyle of doctors in the field of our choice.Once you come down to a few choices, try and do extra rotations/shadowing in that field. You could also do rotations in a specialty that you aren't going to pick so that by the end of the rotation you are no longer hesitant about you you are not picking it.The key is to arrive at a few differentials to diagnose your specialty confusion. If you haven't rotated in them, try to. Finally make a choice, and work hard to achieve it. Whatever path you take, you will be helping patients eventually. I end this post by an inspiring line by Abraham Lincoln, who said "Whatever you are, be a good one."Thank you for reading.Kushal NaikOther recommended sources would be:Canadian Medical Association Journal: The Goo Tolerance Index.BLOG: How To Pick A Medical Specialty. Advice For Medical Students.LANGE BOOK: The Ultimate Guide To Choosing A Medical SpecialityPOWERPOINT: Personality Type & Medical SpecialtiesAssociation of American Medical Colleges - Career Planning and Specialty ChoiceHow to Choose a Medical Specialty (schools.studentdoctor.net)How to choose your medical specialty (rcplondon.ac.uk)The World's Most Sophisticated Algorithm for Choosing a Med Speciality - The Almost Doctor's ChannelPOSTED BY DR. FIZZY ON OCT 24, 2013 IN MED SCHOOLDecisions, decisions… You’ve spent the majority of your life in school working hard for the big prize: the prestigious two letters after your name, “MD”. But, now that your real life dream is creeping closer, you have to make that difficult decision, what kind of MD? This highly accurate algorithm is for the “almost” MDs who are still clueless and could use some help.Personality types and specialist choices in medical students (researchgate.net)Myers-Briggs Type and Medical Specialty Choice: A New Look at an Old Question (researchgate.net)How Should I Choose a Medical Specialty? (medscape.com)I realize that the specialty I choose will largely define my medical career, but there are so many things to consider. How do I decide which specialty will suit me best?Response from Daniel J. Egan, MDDaniel J. Egan, MDAttending Physician, Emergency Medicine Department, St. Vincent's Hospital, New York Medical College, New York, NYThere is something very strange about medical training. Early on, students are forced to make decisions about their future on the basis of relatively minimal information. How should you make this decision? For me, the choice was easy; I had always dreamed of being an emergency physician. But my decision was also based on real-life experience, and I think that is the key element in reaching your decision.Once you reach your third year of medical school, you really begin to practice clinical medicine. You are given a responsibility that is uniquely different from the shadowing experiences you have had during the preclinical years. Every 4-8 weeks, you rotate to a new specialty and learn the subject matter in great detail. During this time, you likely will be trying to impress your residents and attendings, and you will be studying hard so that you can do well on the shelf exam. You also need to pay attention to the subtleties of each specialty to see if it may be a good fit for you.Medical students base a lot of their decision on their clerkship experiences. However, most practicing physicians will tell you that what happens during your medical school rotation is quite different from everyday life in that specialty. For example, in the world of internal medicine, many practitioners spend most of their time in the outpatient setting, forming long-term relationships with their patients. For a surgeon, not every day is spent in the operating room as it is when you are the student. In obstetrics, the labor floor and postpartum evaluations are only a small part of the practice. It is clear that what you see as a student will help you understand what it will be like as a resident in that specialty. But one could argue that even residency may not perfectly emulate a long-term career in that specialty.As you try to decide, I recommend going back to the preclinical years and thinking about role models you may have encountered. Call those people up and ask them if you can spend time with them in their practice. Perhaps there is a subject matter that grabbed your interest and you can find a clinician in that field. As you go through your clinical rotations, identify mentors who may be able to show you what life is like outside the hospital as a physician in that specialty. Also, pay attention to the consultants you encounter. Maybe radiation oncology is something you would love, but your only chance to see what they do was when they consulted on your medicine patient with newly diagnosed spinal metastases. In my opinion, there are many options available but our medical education exposes us to so few.The difficult part for physicians is that when we choose a specialty, we are locked into that field for the rest of our careers, unless we choose to pursue additional training in another field. Unlike nurses or physician assistants, who can change career paths, we are somewhat committed to one area of medicine for the long haul. Obviously, this needs to be a specialty you love. The content of the medicine must excite you. You need to try to find an area in which reading about a topic or treating a patient with a particular disease makes you crave more. Perhaps your interests are limited to the nervous system, for instance. Or, perhaps you have enjoyed all of your clinical rotations and want a field that can incorporate all of them, like family practice or emergency medicine. Or perhaps your clinical years showed you that interacting with patients on an everyday basis is not something you desire, so you might consider radiology or pathology. In addition, many would argue that certain specialties have personalities that are drawn to them. Look at the residents during your clinical rotations and see if they are people with whom you could see yourself spending several years in training.Finally, ask questions. Ask questions not only about the specialty itself but about life outside of work. People love to talk about their own specialty, and frankly, many people in medicine just love to talk about their own work in general. Try to get a sense of what life is like once residency is over. Residents have a unique perspective on things that may be somewhat limited to the lifestyle they experience during training. These are important issues to understand, as you will spend several years of your life in that role, but the rest of your life involves many more years after residency training.Quiz: What's the ideal medical specialty for your personality? - The DO