If you're a pre-med or a pre-MS4, please don't respond. This forum is rife with pre-ejaculatory die hards.
I finished my Sub I at my home institution. I definitely enjoyed it, but there were days I asked myself if I could do this for the rest of my life. I'm not particularly fond of my program because of a lack of research focus. I'll be doing a Sub I next at what I think would be my first choice, which is a research heavy institution. I'm hoping this Sub I will let me parse out if I'm having second doubts relative to institution or to neurosurgery in general.
I've considered almost every other specialty and can't see myself doing any of them.
-Medicine/Neurology people talk too much
-Rads/Path makes me fall asleep
-Anesthesiology is boring af
-OBGYN/Peds - not my turf
-FM, going the way of the NP, chronic diseases
-Ophtho, too meticulous for me
-Plastics/Ortho/GenSurg/ENT/Vascular/CT, all as difficult as NS in many respects, none as interesting
If you put a gun to my head and said do anything besides NS, I'd probably have to do rad-onc. My interests are in onc.
I'm just wondering if this is normal. Is this just the stress of Sub Is, applications talking.
What would you tell your brother in this situation?
(06-06-2017, 11:22 AM)Guest Wrote: If you're a pre-med or a pre-MS4, please don't respond. This forum is rife with pre-ejaculatory die hards.
I finished my Sub I at my home institution. I definitely enjoyed it, but there were days I asked myself if I could do this for the rest of my life. I'm not particularly fond of my program because of a lack of research focus. I'll be doing a Sub I next at what I think would be my first choice, which is a research heavy institution. I'm hoping this Sub I will let me parse out if I'm having second doubts relative to institution or to neurosurgery in general.
I've considered almost every other specialty and can't see myself doing any of them.
-Medicine/Neurology people talk too much
-Rads/Path makes me fall asleep
-Anesthesiology is boring af
-OBGYN/Peds - not my turf
-FM, going the way of the NP, chronic diseases
-Ophtho, too meticulous for me
-Plastics/Ortho/GenSurg/ENT/Vascular/CT, all as difficult as NS in many respects, none as interesting
If you put a gun to my head and said do anything besides NS, I'd probably have to do rad-onc. My interests are in onc.
I'm just wondering if this is normal. Is this just the stress of Sub Is, applications talking.
What would you tell your brother in this situation?
Drop out of med school since clearly getting a PhD would have suited you better.
(06-06-2017, 11:32 AM)Guest Wrote: (06-06-2017, 11:22 AM)Guest Wrote: If you're a pre-med or a pre-MS4, please don't respond. This forum is rife with pre-ejaculatory die hards.
I finished my Sub I at my home institution. I definitely enjoyed it, but there were days I asked myself if I could do this for the rest of my life. I'm not particularly fond of my program because of a lack of research focus. I'll be doing a Sub I next at what I think would be my first choice, which is a research heavy institution. I'm hoping this Sub I will let me parse out if I'm having second doubts relative to institution or to neurosurgery in general.
I've considered almost every other specialty and can't see myself doing any of them.
-Medicine/Neurology people talk too much
-Rads/Path makes me fall asleep
-Anesthesiology is boring af
-OBGYN/Peds - not my turf
-FM, going the way of the NP, chronic diseases
-Ophtho, too meticulous for me
-Plastics/Ortho/GenSurg/ENT/Vascular/CT, all as difficult as NS in many respects, none as interesting
If you put a gun to my head and said do anything besides NS, I'd probably have to do rad-onc. My interests are in onc.
I'm just wondering if this is normal. Is this just the stress of Sub Is, applications talking.
What would you tell your brother in this situation?
Drop out of med school since clearly getting a PhD would have suited you better.
Sorry boo. Don't want to be a PhD.
pick something that doesn't require as much time so you can be miserable for less time. Find a field with heavy research, rad-onc seems like a solid choice. It's a little late for any other route really, dropping out isn't financially feasible.
Could be just sub-I stress too, but i never had it that bad, but I also hate research and love to operate. Good luck
Feel free to ignore since you don't want advice from younger people but here are my thoughts: I think if you are questioning whether or not you can do this for the rest of your life based on the clinical experience at your home institution, then this is problematic. This is primarily because even in academics, protected research time can be hard to come by (~20%). You will be operating, seeing patients, etc the majority of your time even if you are in academics at a research-heavy institution.
I think your only hope at this point is if being active in research makes you enjoy the clinical side more, then you might be okay. Your sub-I may help with this. But I can't imagine having a little research time will make you flip from having seconds thoughts to loving every minute of the clinical side.
Hope that helps at least a little and good luck.
Thanks for the advice.
It's funny how things get interpreted in a post. When I said my home institution doesn't have enough research, it does not mean I don't like the clinical side. I love working with patients, I can spend the entire day in the OR, I enjoy it. I do have goals for myself in terms of academics, I just thought my home institution would be a dead end for me in that sense only. They have great operative volume which is awesome.
Are you saying you don't like long hours?
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(06-06-2017, 11:22 AM)Guest Wrote: If you're a pre-med or a pre-MS4, please don't respond. This forum is rife with pre-ejaculatory die hards.
I finished my Sub I at my home institution. I definitely enjoyed it, but there were days I asked myself if I could do this for the rest of my life. I'm not particularly fond of my program because of a lack of research focus. I'll be doing a Sub I next at what I think would be my first choice, which is a research heavy institution. I'm hoping this Sub I will let me parse out if I'm having second doubts relative to institution or to neurosurgery in general.
...
What would you tell your brother in this situation?
First of all, premature ejaculation isn't just for med students. This scourge plagues our specialty at the resident and attending level as well, and we look to the younger generation to find a solution to this devastating neurosurgical problem.
Second, I wasn't wild about my home rotation, just because I didn't like the vibe there. I didn't gel with the people, and I didn't think they were very happy. But in my experience there's at least as much variance in the life you'll have between institutions as there is between specialties. (ie. Some medicine guys get crapped on all the time, and some neurosurgeons actually have a pretty cushy gig.) I don't think this is necessarily a clinical focus vs. research focus thing. Getting slammed on call can be really fun if you feel supported, empowered, and like the people you work with. My other rotations tipped me from 'probably won't' to 'enthusiastically will.' If you still think you have good reasons for wanting to do neurosurgery (but not totally sure I heard those in your post - mostly just heard about why you don't want to do other things) I'd spend another month to sample the vibe at another institution.
Third, nothing wrong with having some doubts, and now is the time to have them. (Although it's common for people to project total commitment, I think you'd be crazy to approach a nsg residency without giving it some serious side-eye.) But decide before you apply. Interviews are not a time for indecision, and once you match changing course gets much harder.
- TT
(06-06-2017, 12:21 PM)TimeTraveler Wrote: (06-06-2017, 11:22 AM)Guest Wrote: If you're a pre-med or a pre-MS4, please don't respond. This forum is rife with pre-ejaculatory die hards.
I finished my Sub I at my home institution. I definitely enjoyed it, but there were days I asked myself if I could do this for the rest of my life. I'm not particularly fond of my program because of a lack of research focus. I'll be doing a Sub I next at what I think would be my first choice, which is a research heavy institution. I'm hoping this Sub I will let me parse out if I'm having second doubts relative to institution or to neurosurgery in general.
...
What would you tell your brother in this situation?
First of all, premature ejaculation isn't just for med students. This scourge plagues our specialty at the resident and attending level as well, and we look to the younger generation to find a solution to this devastating neurosurgical problem.
Second, I wasn't wild about my home rotation, just because I didn't like the vibe there. I didn't gel with the people, and I didn't think they were very happy. But in my experience there's at least as much variance in the life you'll have between institutions as there is between specialties. (ie. Some medicine guys get crapped on all the time, and some neurosurgeons actually have a pretty cushy gig.) I don't think this is necessarily a clinical focus vs. research focus thing. Getting slammed on call can be really fun if you feel supported, empowered, and like the people you work with. My other rotations tipped me from 'probably won't' to 'enthusiastically will.' If you still think you have good reasons for wanting to do neurosurgery (but not totally sure I heard those in your post - mostly just heard about why you don't want to do other things) I'd spend another month to sample the vibe at another institution.
Third, nothing wrong with having some doubts, and now is the time to have them. (Although it's common for people to project total commitment, I think you'd be crazy to approach a nsg residency without giving it some serious side-eye.) But decide before you apply. Interviews are not a time for indecision, and once you match changing course gets much harder.
- TT
Thank you TT! Also, hilarious.
This seems to be what I was skirting around. Although my home program is a good program, I didn't see myself among this group of residents, it's just a difference in culture.
I want to sample another institution to see which way I sway. If I feel the vibe there, I'm all in. If not, I will admit to myself I am not for neurosurgery, and pursue another field.
(06-06-2017, 12:21 PM)Guest Wrote: Are you saying you don't like long hours?
Where did you read that? Or are you joking?
In before old guard vs. millennial/SJW rant.
I will work until I'm dead. And then work some more.
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Can't say I didn't have doubts along the way, but I could never envision myself doing anything else in medicine.
Only way to find out for sure is do the second sub-i and evaluate again. There are less painful paths to oncology. But none of them are neurosurgery.
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