What motivates medical students to pursue a certain career path?The answers are both complex and individualized.

Recent data on specialty choicelooks at the question from a broad vantage point.The Association of American Medical Colleges 2019 Graduation Questionnaire asked students why they chose a specialty. The 16,000 plus respondents offered insight on how influentialvariousfactors were in choosing their specialty.

For those considering their steps after medical school,FREIDAs Specialty Guideand correspondingseries of videosoffering expert insight on specialty choiceprovidesa clear, approachable overview ofmedicalspecialties and subspecialties and canhelpyou choosea career path. Its designed to simplify medical students specialty selection process, highlightmajor specialties, detail training information and provide access torelated association information.

Learnaboutthe right time to choose a medical specialty.

Top factors

A career path is a matter of personal preference and interest. In ranking 11 factors that influence specialty choice, student respondents made that very clear.

When asked about the importance of a specialtys fitwith personality, interests, and skills, 87% of respondents indicated that it had a strong influence. Similarly, contentof specialty was selected by 83% of respondents as having a strong influence. The third most frequently cited strong influence on specialty choice by 2019 graduates was rolemodel influence at 50%.

In each of the past five years, according the AAMC, personal fit, content and role modeling were the top three choices among medical school graduates.

Learn ifresidency training length should influence specialty choice.

All 11 factors

Combining the factors that either a strong or moderate influence the entire list reads:

Otherfindings

In terms of the resources students used to research their specialty, the top picks among student respondents were advising and mentoring, which 47% of respondents found very useful and 27% found moderately useful; and participation in in-house and extramural electivesvery useful for 44% and moderately useful for 26%.

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The 11 factors that influence med student specialty choice - American Medical Association