For future doctors, there are few decisions as important or as nerve-wracking as deciding
on a specialty.
Here are a few questions to get you thinking and help narrow down your options:
What are your areas of scientific and clinical interest?
Do you prefer direct or indirect patient care?
Do you want primarily a surgical practice with a lot of procedures, a medical practice
with few procedures, or a mix of both?
How important is work-life balance to you?
What type of patient population and outcomes do you prefer?
What are your strengths? What specialties complement those strengths?
How competitive is it to get into the specialty? Do you have a realistic chance of matching
into it? If not, how can you make yourself competitive?
What type of activities do you want to do outside of clinical practice? Research, teaching,
policy work?
Now that you have a few in mind, research the specialties you are interested in to gain
a deeper understanding. Our So You Want to Be series is a great place to start. Then
make sure to gain clinical exposure by shadowing, joining specialty clubs, and talking to physicians.
You'll never know if it's a good fit until you experience it for yourself.