EXPLORE
As with any important decision, you should begin choosing a career specialty by gathering as much information as possible. Start learning about your top 2-3 career medical specialties through online research, consultation with professional medical associations and informational interviewing.
FIND YOUR FIT
Choosing a specialty involves learning more about yourself: your interests, skills, and values. Plus your preferences for lifestyle, salary, and residency program competitiveness, just to name a few.
DECIDE
When deciding on a specialty, consider the competitiveness of the specialty and your competitiveness as an applicant.
Where to start? As with any important decision, you should begin choosing a career specialty by gathering as much information as possible. Start learning about your top 2-3 career medical specialties through online research, consultation with professional medical associations and informational interviewing.
Advising and Self-Assessment Tools
Year 1 students are required to complete the Medical Specialty Preference Inventory Revised Edition (MSPI-R) (CiM > Choose Your Specialty > Find Your Fit >Interests > Four-step career planning process) in late December/early January. The instrument measures your interests and generates a comprehensive overview of your medical and specialty interests by comparing your responses to those of medical students who have now entered residency in their chosen specialty.
In addition, you have the option to complete the Specialty Indecision Scale (SIS) (CiM > Choose Your Specialty > Find Your Fit > Interests > Four-step career planning process) to gain insight in identifying the factor(s) inhibiting their ability to make a career decision. The results will be categorized in 6 domains from student readiness to make the decision, information, identity, barriers/external conflicts, indecisiveness, and self-doubt.
You are required meet with their Societies mentor to review MSPI-R results (and SIS results, as applicable). The mentor reviews the AAMC Careers in Medicine (CiM) Advising MS1’s Checklist (CiM > Advisors and Liaisons > Advising Students) with the student. The mentors review the students’ portfolios and discuss summer opportunities such as shadowing and research experiences to support them in their career exploration.
Documentation of this session is logged in the Societies Portfolio, which includes the student’s personal accomplishments and goals.
Access to advising tools via the AAMC Careers in Medicine website is free to our students. You must follow the link from your email to sign in for the first time. If you haven’t already received this email, contact one of the UA COM – Tucson Careers in Medicine liaisons.
Gather Specialty Information
The AAMC Careers in Medicine website is a great place to start your search.
Other excellent resources are found on the AMA website:
- FREIDA Online
- How to Choose a Medical Specialty
- AMA Career Planning Resource
- AMA Wire: Here’s your must-have checklist for med school success (years 1 and 2)
Career Fair: Browsing Session and Residency Program Director Panel Discussion
Attend the UA COM – Tucson’s Exploring Your Options Specialty Fair & Panel with a Primary Care Specialty focus and the Exploring Your Options Specialty Fair & Panel with a Subspecialty focus.
These optional sessions are invaluable chances to dig deeper into common specialties and subspecialties. You will learn the ins and outs of physicians' experiences in the workplace, training requirements, match process, salary and more. Panel discussions with Residency Program Directors at the Career Fairs also offer insight into the residency application process, criteria and preferred qualifications, and degree of competitiveness. You will also have the chance to network with directors from UA COM – Tucson’s residency programs.
Clinical Shadowing Program
Starting with the AY 2015-2016, our assistant dean for career development has formalized a clinical shadowing experience program with clinicians from a variety of specialties. This program is open to medical students from all years of the program leading to the MD degree and ensures meaningful exposure to specialties well before students have to schedule away rotations and make a career decision.
Clinical shadowing in all years can also be facilitated by specialty clubs, Societies mentors and the Office of Student Affairs.
Class Meetings
At the semi-annual Conversations with the Deans each semester, you will learn about the process of making a medical specialty choice and are oriented to the career advising program and the resources and information to support them in their exploration. In addition, you will hear about specific student research/clinical opportunities available for gaining more information about various specialties.
Specialty Interest Groups/Student Clubs
Specialty interest groups and special-interest clubs sponsor many events, including specialty luncheons. Join these clubs and attend a luncheon to learn how physicians spend their days, hear about challenges they face with patient care, and get tips on becoming a competitive residency applicant. In addition, due to their network of physician advisors, specialty clubs can also help connect students to clinical shadowing opportunities.
Student Opportunities & Building your CV
Take advantage of student opportunities early on in your training including conducting research/publishing and gaining new clinical skills. Check out just a few of the many opportunities on the Student Opportunities Page you might consider. However, please note Student Affairs also regularly posts opportunities on the class listservs.
In addition to gaining important information to help you ultimately make your career specialty choice, experiences like these should be added to your CV, which is part of the residency program application process. For help developing your CV, see the Residency Application section.
Resources
Choices Newsletter (AAMC)
This free online newsletter "provides pertinent information about specialty choice, getting into residency, and other important guidance related to medical student career-planning."
Pathway Evaluation Program for Medical Professionals
Developed by Duke School of Medicine in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, this online program includes self-assessments, information on specialties including physician responses to critical factors by specialty, and a specialty compatibility assessment comparing your personal profile with those practicing across all specialties.
Medical Specialty Aptitude Test
Available through the University of Virginia School of Medicine, this is also an online assessment to help students choose a specialty. It compares your tendencies to those of physicians in each specialty. The higher your score for a given specialty, the more similar you are to physicians in that specialty.
In addition to gathering as much information as possible about medical specialties, the process for making a career specialty choice requires learning more about you, your interest, skills, and values and your preferences for lifestyle, salary, residency program competitiveness, just to name a few.
Advising and Self-Assessment Tools
Students are required to complete the Physician Values in Practice Scale (PVIPS) (CiM > Choose Your Specialty > Find Your Fit > Values > PVIPS) to help them define their values and principles that affect your decisions including your career and the satisfaction you feel working in your job.
Students are required to meet with their Societies mentor in January to discuss the results from PVIPS. The mentors review the CiM Advising MS2’s Checklist* (CiM > Advisors and Liaisons > Advising Students) with the students. Documentation of this session is also logged in the Societies Portfolio.
*Access to advising tools via the AAMC Careers in Medicine website is free to our students. You must follow the link from your email to sign in for the first time. If you haven’t already received this email, contact one of the UA COM – Tucson Careers in Medicine liaisons.
Class Meetings
Personal and Professional Development (PPD) Session
Year 2 students are required to attend a Personal and Professional Development (PPD) session on career choice, with a focus on how academic metrics may affect the Match using local data for the past five years.
Conversations with the Deans
Year 2 students are required to attend semiannual Conversations with the Dean. Students learn about planning Year 3 and determining their preferences for scheduling clerkships with an emphasis on career planning. In addition, students receive information about specialty advisors.
Career Fair: Browsing Session and Chief Residents Panel Discussion
Attend the UA COM-Tucson’s Exploring Your Options Specialty Fair & Panel with a Primary Care Specialty focus and the Exploring Your Options Specialty Fair & Panel with a Subspecialty focus. Attendance is optional, but the browsing session is a convenient one-stop shop for browsing medical specialties and subspecialties. You will learn the work the physicians do in their field, training requirements, match, and salary and workforce information.
In addition, the panel discussion with Chief Residents at UA COM-Tucson Career Fair offers unique insight into the life of a resident in their specialty and specifically at the UA residency programs.
Resources
AAMC Physician Specialty Data Book (AAMC login required)
This report compiles national-level data about 41 of the largest specialties broken down by various factors and characteristics. This helps you figure out how these fit in the current and future physician workforce, which is important information to consider in researching your training and career options.