How to CHOOSE A SPECIALTY | 6 Steps

Choosing a specialty is one of the most important decisions you'll make in medical school. Everything from your life during medical school, to your life in residency, to your life beyond residency as an attending physician are all dramatically influenced by this singular decision. This is the systematic way to figure out which specialty is best suited for your personality.

01:14 The Data on Medical Specialty Selection
02:02 What Factors are Important to Decide on a Specialty?
03:40 The Systematic Approach to Choosing a Medical Specialty
03:47 1 | What Are your Areas of Scientific & Clinical Interest?
04:11 2 | Direct vs Indirect Patient Care
04:21 3 | Surgical, Medical, or Mixed Preference
05:31 4 | How Important is Work-Life Balance?
06:52 5 | What Type of Patient Population and Outcomes Would You Prefer?
07:30 6 | Tertiary Considerations
08:45 After You Narrow Your Specialty Choice, Confirm Your Decision

===============

Connect with me!

===============

May include affiliate links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through them (at no extra cost to you).

Disclaimer: Content of this video is my opinion and does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for general educational purposes only. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Kevin Jubbal, M.D. and Med School Insiders LLC will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death.

[rosyesquenazi]

Who else is watching this video and you haven't even graduated high school?

[carlosboterosuarez]

You should create a website with a sort of algorythm or test of sorts that can filter out specialties and give some possible good matches.

[geraldinesohn]

My dad left me because of a heart failure and I want him to see me as a cardiologist soon. Pray for me. ❤

2023: I'm now a Registered Nurse, not a Cardio. Thank you for those who believed in me. I'm wishing you all the best in life.

[maeveriver]

I'm 16 and I really love neuroscience. I'm pretty sure I want to get into neurosurgery. I'm also aware it is a very difficult field but wish me luck!

[mercedesaschulz]

I start med school in 4 weeks and IM EXCITEDDD. I’ve wanted this for

[bleachflavoredcockroach]

me watching all his videos and when i haven’t even finished middle school yet: 👁👄👁

[Fandomonium]

Never ever ever thought I’d go into orthopedic surgery lol. Thought I’d be a primary care physician all my life until subconsciously I loved/ excelled best in MSK/anatomy, and shadowed an ortho doc cause I was bored. Now I matched ortho, and will get my D.O. Degree next week!! Keep an open mind everyone, where you end up may surprise you :)

[umaa]

Me being 16
Also me : stressing the fuck out about what I want to be😭😭

[generalklytus]

Most med students I know had pre-existing ideas about the kind of physician they wished to be upon entering school. And many had changed their path by the end of their third year. I thought pediatrics would be for me - yet it was my LEAST favorite rotation of third year. I started third year with an Internal Medicine rotation and everything clicked. This was for me and fit my personality and strengths. Later, I planned to either specialize in GI, ID, or Pulm/Critical care. As time passed, I realized what I found most fascinating and rewarding was Infectious Diseases. I've now been in practice for 13 years and love being an ID doc. Your passion will come to you regardless of the pros/cons that come with that speciality. Medicine is endlessly rewarding and intellectually challenging, and it is privilege to care for people. Good luck and work hard! Thanks for your videos!

[yaozuli]

1. Area of interest
2. Direct patient care or indirect patient care
3. Surgical, Medical, or a mix
4. Importance of work-life balance (surgeons work longer hour, documenting paper are annoying for a lot of doctors)
5. Type of patient perfered
6. Assess your own skill, competativeness of speicalty, type of activity perfered outside of clinical practice (research, teaching, or policy work)?

Thank you Dr. Jubbal.

[rebeccax]

I kinda want to go into pharmacology just so I can say i’M a PoTiOnS

[reedprior]

Thanks for your YouTube channel. I teach advanced physics in high school, and many of my seniors are considering pre-med as an undergrad path. I direct them to your videos, which have proven helpful to them.

[poulamimazumder]

This platform of med school insiders is really helpful....😃💛👍

[Lucas_Possible]

I’m only 13 and I’m watching this is very helpful for my career as I want to be a doctor Thx Med School Insider

[georgesidarous]

got into medical school last week and I am INCREDIBLY excited!

[angel-jmpc]

i’m a sophomore in highschool. i’ve sort of had this underlying anxiety for as long as i can remember about choosing a specialty. i’ve never really known what i wanted to be, and would always put off taking the time to sit down and plan my future. this video definitely helped me so much :)! thank you ❤️

[mondewaldemar]

Wow!!! I have really learnt a lot from this video. I'm just a first year MD student. And my passion is to go to Orthopaedic surgery as a first choice and Cardiology as a second choice. I am really interested in surgeries.

[andylyly]

Good video, this will help many people!

[angelghaemi]

you guys I JUST GOT ACCEPTED TO MEDICAL SCHOOL!

[davidlakhter]

Love these kinds of videos!!!! This video is amazing, thank you for the great advice! Would definitely love to see more videos like these related to medical specialties!