Careers in Medicine

Visit the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Careers in Medicine website!

For a moment, when you get accepted to medical school, you may think that all of your career decisions are over. You are going to be a doctor! Of course, this moment is short lived, and you soon realize that a huge number of specialties exist, some of which you've never heard of. And there are other decisions - community versus academic practice, research versus clinical, urban versus rural versus international.

These decisions do not need to be made right away. A specialty choice isn't usually made until the beginning of the fourth year and other decisions may not be made until you finish your residency training. But we certainly don't suggest that you wait until the last minute to begin the thought process.

There are two basic steps in this decision making process:

1. Know yourself.
2. Know the specialties

The first step - self-assessment - can begin as early as the first year. The Careers in Medicine Program, an online resource, offered by the AAMC, aids students in understanding their personality types, skills, interests and values. Students are introduced to the website in the first year of medical school and then participate in various workshops throughout their medical school career. These workshops focus on exploration of specialties, decision making, and implementation.

During the third year of medical school, there is a Residency Fair in which students come together and network with representatives from the major specialties. Vanderbilt also has a faculty advising process as well as active specialty Interest Groups which bring speakers to campus and host numerous events and gatherings.

Dean Rodgers is always available to help guide individuals through dilemmas. If he can't help, he can direct you to many other members of the Vanderbilt community who have specific expertise in the areas of concern.