Career Planning Advice
At some point, you do have to actually decide what your disciplines of choice are! While closing the door on some things you find interesting can be difficult, it’s easier to move forward when you’ve established a specific direction for yourself.
Some students will feel most comfortable having just one specialty in mind, while others will prefer to continue to weigh their several options until they've actually been through their residency interviews - but either way, each student will have done some serious reflection to arrive at their choice or their "short list" of choices. We recommend that students have arrived at their "short list" of specialties by about April/May of 3rd year, to allow ample time to plan the remainder of their 4th year electives, although it takes some students longer than this, and others may have gotten there earlier.
In general, it is ideal to have decided on very competitive disciplines by the end of second year, but in most cases, you have until about Christmas of third year to determine your primary and/or secondary disciplines while still leaving yourself enough time to plan electives, etc.
Using some of the strategies outlined in this section may help you narrow your options.
I would recommend you look at “The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty – 3rd ed", available as an e-book in Mcgill here: http://mcgill.worldcat.org/oclc/794814083
Also try Iserson's Getting Into a Residency: A Guide for Medical Students by Kenneth V. Iserson (Galen Press) (available in hard copy only in the Career Advisor's office and the McGill Library, call number W 20 I78i 2003)
And finally, if you're having trouble making your decision, feel free to contact the Career Advisor at careeradvisor(dot)med(at)mcgill(dot)ca for an in-person, phone, or email discussion.