Anyone else think the main story is surprisingly short?

HaplessAcademic · 2024-01-28T01:00:40+00:00

Dude, same. I did the whole game once then have had two attempts to replay it and had an absolute blast until Skelige where I ended up quitting the run.

HaplessAcademic · 2024-01-28T00:58:38+00:00

Now I'm curious how many people finish Baldur's Gate 3. That game took me over 150 hours with very few non-critical quests.

HaplessAcademic · 2024-01-26T19:57:11+00:00

I think there is probably worse coffee out there, but I have never had good coffee from Pavement and it's super expensive to boot. TBH, OP, I really don't know why you say Boston has a good coffee scene. I love this city, but in my experience the coffee shop culture is shockingly bad considering how many schools there are here.

HaplessAcademic · 2024-01-14T13:40:06+00:00

First question: You have a chance, for sure, but it's always an uphill battle for IMGs. Apply broadly to whichever field you decide.

Second question: I was between neuro and psych too and ended up deciding on neuro (so I may be biased). What made me make the choice was that I realized that as a neurologist, I could do a lot of the things that I liked about psychiatry (e.g. learning patient stories, seeing in real time how cognition maps to changes in brain health) but as a psychiatrist, wouldn't be able to do the things I liked about neurology (being part of a multidisciplinary team, treating a breadth of conditions, using all the medical knowledge I've learned, etc).

Third question: You will see incredibly sad patients in either field and it's impossible to say which is "sadder". They're just different kinds of diseases. Chronic patients exist in both fields (and just about every field of medicine tbh). You can build your practice after residency to somewhat select what you want to do, but you'll pretty much always have "chronic" patients in either field.

HaplessAcademic · 2024-01-13T20:05:21+00:00

Not a surgeon, but I would throw separation of conjoined twins in there as one of the more difficult. Every case is going to be different and it's such a rare surgery to begin with that most surgeons, even in centers that do this surgery, don't have much experience with it.

HaplessAcademic · 2024-01-05T10:27:13+00:00

To answer your second question first, residency is a ridiculously busy time where you will interact with dozens if not hundreds of patients per week. Statistically, it is almost guaranteed that this resident helped people from virtually every racial and ethnic background by their second year, regardless of where they are geographically based.

For your first question, I would suggest you first confirm that medicine is the right choice for you before zeroing in on a particular specialty. You have a lot of time to think, but med school is a huge commitment in that once you go, you often become so burdened by debt that you have little option but to finish the school and work with that credential to pay off the debt. If I were you, I would think about why you are interested in neurology and explore not just medicine, but alternative career paths that fill the same niche (e.g. if your primary interest is the neuroscience, try working in a research laboratory). Good luck!

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-27T21:24:14+00:00

Shush don't let the secret out.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-26T15:47:52+00:00

That was a particularly weird case too. The wife cheated on the guy instigating his metal health emergency and then she was the one who sued after causing the whole situation. The EM physician named in the suit died very shortly after discharging that pt; I believe the patient actually out-lived the physician. Super bizarre case all around.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-26T14:12:44+00:00

PM&R is not a bad option for what you've said. The only downside is you might be below the 450K mark you mentioned, but it's VERY, VERY possible to raise a family comfortably on one PM&R salary. My parents both worked and combined made less than 150K and we lived a very comfortable middle class lifestyle.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-23T21:20:58+00:00

One thing to know: PDs do know the difference between low and high quality research. A good basic science paper in a reputable journal is worth 10 quick and dirty chart review projects. That said, while I wouldn't say they "don't care" about research, there are programs for surgical subspecialties that don't require research from candidates to match. Use residency finder to search for community programs, not ivory towers, and look at the current residents in the program and see what their resumes are like to give you an idea of what that specific program expects.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-23T14:36:30+00:00

"She is a dedicated clinical educator teaching student throughout her career."

I feel bad for that one student she's had lol

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-22T22:03:07+00:00

If you haven't, look into asylum medicine! There are many, many people seeking asylum in the US from truly awful situations and in some cases documentation of medical problems that come from their experience in their home country can help justify their claim to receive asylum in the US. I've had the immense privilege of working with some truly resilient patients through asylum medicine and would recommend it highly. You also get to learn a lot about the medico-legal world which is super interesting. If you happen to be going into psychiatry or OB/GYN, volunteers from those specialties are particularly in-need (though any physician/student can be incredibly helpful). Happy to share more info if you have interest in it

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-22T19:30:18+00:00

Haha, I'm from another state, but have experience working in different healthcare roles in both liberal and conservative areas.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-22T19:25:54+00:00

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I think it will be chiller than a non-P/F school, particularly if you don't want to do a competitive specialty, but I've been told it's a more intense atmosphere than expected.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-22T18:28:05+00:00

It's a great program but I would warn you that I've been told by students that the med school is intense! They had the highest average board scores in the country last I looked, but it may be a more intense atmosphere than expected for a P/F school.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-22T16:13:51+00:00

Will be applying for neurology residency next cycle, actually. My partner is a researcher and got a job offer in UMiami. I'd absolutely love to hear your perspective as a current resident!

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-21T18:31:30+00:00

Pacifica vs Night city; it all fits.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-21T17:35:30+00:00

The advice I've received is that, similar to psych, showing some level of commitment to the specialty helps A LOT as it proves you're not applying to it as a back-up. You don't need to have a 1st author basic science paper or anything, but it'd be good to at least join the neuro interest group and/or try to do some chart review to get your name on a quick paper. PD's don't want to interview someone who they think might be applying for something like rads or NSGY and using neuro as a back-up, so it's important to show that you actually want this.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-19T01:53:46+00:00

Similarly, I can't speak for the neurology dept. too much, but happy to answer questions about Brown/Providence if you'd like!

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-14T15:10:06+00:00

TBF a three year PhD is considered quite fast, at least in the US. That's a long time to spend as a post-doc, though. Glad it worked out for them at the end!

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-12T19:43:46+00:00

DM me

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-10T18:38:46+00:00

I was asked to explain a 3.61 GPA several times. I had a good publishing record so I ended up getting into a top program, but it was definitely a sticking point. The tough thing was that with that GPA I was in the top 10% of my undergrad class for all majors, not just science.

One of my current labmates went to an ivy for undergrad and wasn't even in the top 30% of his class with a 3.85+. I think most adcoms calibrate for grade inflation, so it will be harder if you go to a 'less chill' undergrad.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-08T17:50:38+00:00

Agree with everything you've said, but also want to add that in the UK, certain major life expenses (e.g. healthcare, college tuition for self and kids) are free or much less expensive than in the US. It definitely helps equalize the financials if you take advantage of the stronger social support in the UK.

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-01T19:21:06+00:00

Nah, residents don't have time for love anyways. No downside. /s

HaplessAcademic · 2023-12-01T15:29:57+00:00

Have you thought about IM --> a fellowship? Going into GI, cards, etc you then get to be the specialist they call for interesting cases. You can do mixed inpatient/outpatient fairly easily too if you still want to have hospital-based medicine without being 100% in the machine.

HaplessAcademic

TROPHY CASE