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The one book medical students must read before they choose their specialty Here is the first medical-specialty selection guide written by a resident for students. Readers will find an inside look at the issues surrounding medical specialty selection, blending firsthand knowledge with useful facts and statistics. The author includes invaluable insights from his personal experience, candid reports from current residents, and a wealth of research. This unique resource is divided into two sections, the first of which delves into the art of choosing the right specialty and covers personality assessment, considerations for women and couples who are matching, specialty overviews, and the ins and outs of the residency application and match process. The second section comprises 19 chapters, each written by a resident in a particular specialty. These chapters include “The Inside Scoop”—revealing specialty lifestyles, training requirements, and predominant personality types.

Amazon Sales Rank: #52338 in Books Published on: 2007-05-02 Original language: English Number of items: 1 Dimensions: .99" h x 6.08" w x 8.83" l, 1.45 pounds Binding: Paperback 460 pages

From the Back Cover ATTENTION MEDICAL STUDENTS: DON’T CHOOSE YOUR SPECIALTY WITHOUT READING THIS BOOK! Finally! Someone who conquered the obstacle course himself writes the essential book to help you answer the most urgent question of your career — what specialty? Brian Freeman knows the anxiety of that all-important choice. He knows what information you need to choose the specialty that’s just right for you and that will make all you’ve invested in medical school --- and all that you will invest in your residency training — pay off. AVOID AGONIZING UNCERTAINTY AND THE WRONG CHOICE Dr. Freeman’s The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty delivers a user-friendly, anxiety-calming mix of real-life answers—insights from his own personal experiences, candid reports from current residents in each specialty, and a wealth of hard-dug research. The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty brings you— *All the information the author—a recent medical school graduate—wishes he had when choosing his specialty *“Vital Signs,” detailing each specialty’s average salary, type of practice, hours worked per week, job satisfaction rankings, match statistics, and much more *Detailed reports “from the trenches” on the excitement, challenges, and rhythm of their lives from current residents in the twenty major medical specialties *“The Inside Scoop,” exposing specialties’ lifestyle realities, training requirements, and predominant personality types *Answers to the question: “Does personality really matter?” *Specialty-specific tips to enhance your chances for acceptance in your chosen field *What to do if you still can’t decide *Bonus— a complete Internet resources guide, advice for women and couples, and much more THE PERFECT GUIDE FOR BEFORE, DURING, AND END OF MEDICAL SCHOOL About the Author Brian Freeman, M.D. is in his last year of residency for anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Chicago.

Most helpful customer reviews 27 of 27 people found the following review helpful. Keep a few things in mind when you read this book By James M It is an informative book. Students will learn a lot from reading this book. But the authors for each specialty are merely telling you the positive aspects of their specialty. Students still should seek more information about some of the issues why you may not want to choose a specific specialty. For an example, in Ob/Gyn the author for that section addresses males in the specialty as 'still having a role' in ob/gyn. True. But, in many, many metropolitan areas males ob/gyns struggle to find jobs. You'll not find information like that in this book. Pathology section doesn't mention how for the past 10 year or so the job market has really suffered. Because the duration of residency has decreased from 5 years to 4 years many residents are not equipped to function fully as an attending. Hence many employers seek out applicants with a fellowship in a subspecialty. This has created a huge demand for fellowship training which is very limited in number in comparison to the number of residents seeking fellowships. It, as I've been told, is one of the few physician specialty where you are not really guaranteed a position after residency. But the book doesn't tell you things like that. Anesthesiology section doesn't paint the real picture of the power struggle between CRNAs taking over MD anesthesiologists' jobs. Rather it more or less states how they all need to work together. In the meanwhile Colorado has just become the 16th state to allow CRNAs to practice without the supervision of an MD. So, use this book as a book that tends to advertise each specialty without informing you on issues that may cause you not to choose a certain specialty. 36 of 38 people found the following review helpful. You must pick this up! By Michael T. I'm a third-year medical student, and I've been worrying for some time now about how I'd decide what specialty to go into. Of course, nothing substitutes for some good, old-fashioned soul-searching, but Dr. Freeman's book will certainly kick your inner dialogue into gear.What impressed me most about this book was the quality of information--everything was accurate, up-to-date, and written in an engaging way. I learned many things about each of the specialties I am consdering that I'd never read anywhere else. I also appreciated the fact that each specialty chapter is written by someone who's actually "been there, done that"--they're all written by residents.Overall, I highly recommend this book to any medical student who is pondering what specialty to choose. 23 of 24 people found the following review helpful. A Must Read for Every Medical Student By John Vickery I read this book during my second year of med school and found it to be an invaluable resource. The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty is divided into two parts. The first has general information about specialties and the Match along with strategies to approach both. The information on the NRPM alone is reason enough to buy the book. After reading Part One, I had a much better understanding of how to plan for residency while still in the early stages of medical school. The second part of the book profiles individual types of residencies. Each chapter is written by a resident or practicing physician in that area. They provide a glimpse into what it is like in those specialties. Each chapter focuses on personalities, scientific interests, lifestyles, and the residency experience. The book even provides details and statistics covering match percentages, employment data, average weekly work hours, and median compensations. The only valuable piece of information that it does not provide are average GPAs and USMLE scores for the specialties. It also briefly covers fellowships for each residency. The specialty chapters are in alphabetical order for easy reference. Although it does not cover every single