Medical Specialty Aptitude Test

This morning I took the Medical Specialty Aptitude Test from Virginia University Medical School. It’s a 130 question test that helps guide you in terms of which specialties might best fit you. It’s open to anyone, so if you are just curious what kind of a doctor you might be if you followed that path, give it a try.

I am actually quite impressed with how close it is to specialties I am currently considering: general surgery and anesthesia (both of which came out in my top 7). Colorectal surgery is a fellowship after general surgery, so those really don’t sit independently. Nuclear medicine is a fellowship after Radiology. Urology is a surgical subspecialty. Dermatology is its own subspecialty, which precludes the need for a 3 year internal medicine residency.

Also impressive is that the bottom choices are also what I consider to be my bottom choices through personal reflection. Psychiatry, neurology, internal medicine and family medicine are all important fields, but I do not fit into them at all.

I am amused by the fact that aerospace medicine (whatever that is) lies so low on the list considering that I am married to an aerospace engineer.

Rank	Specialty	Score
1	colon & rectal surgery	47
2	nuclear med	46
3	urology	45
4	general surgery	45
5	dermatology	44
6	radiation oncology	44
7	anesthesiology	43
8	emergency med	43
9	nephrology	43
10	pathology	43
11	occupational med	42
12	radiology	41
13	thoracic surgery	41
14	obstetrics/gynecology	41
15	gastroenterology	41
16	hematology	40
17	ophthalmology	40
18	plastic surgery	40
19	otolaryngology	39
20	orthopaedic surgery	39
21	pulmonology	39
22	infectious disease	39
23	med oncology	38
24	neurosurgery	37
25	rheumatology	37
26	cardiology	37
27	allergy & immunology	36
28	endocrinology	36
29	preventive med	36
30	pediatrics	36
31	aerospace med	35
32	psychiatry	34
33	neurology	34
34	physical med & rehabilitation	30
35	general internal med	30
36	family practice	29