Pediatric Neurosurgery

This past week I had two very contrasting interviews. The first one took place early in the week and was with the Chief of Surgery at UT Southwestern. To be frank, I was slightly nervous for the interview considering this doctor's status and reputation. The interview did not start off as well as I would have liked. I would ask a question and he would answer with as little elaboration as possible. The long pauses of silence were awkward and it seemed he would rather be anywhere but there. However, I kept pushing for answers. At one point, he turned around me and challenged me with a question to which I did not know the answer. Although I was initially stunned for a moment, I realized something extremely important - as far as a mentorship is concerned, I need someone who is going to push me to the limit and ask me questions that I do not know the answer to. From there on, the interview went splendidly. The subtle sarcasm and witty retorts kept the interview itself interesting. It was interesting to note that this doctor had initially planned to be a pediatric neurosurgeon but decided to become a general neurosurgeon primarily because of the greater variety of surgical procedures. It had only been about thirty minutes before he had to leave for a business meeting and I was sad to cut the interview short. Beyond just gaining knowledge about the field of neurosurgery, I learned more about myself and what I needed in a potential mentor.

Later in the week, I had an interview with a very opinionated pediatric neurologist. Just based on the fact that this interview was twice as long as any of my other interviews, it is safe to say that this doctor had a lot to say. One thing I took away from this interview is that different doctors have very different opinions on the same matter. For example, this particular doctor was extremely opposed to ObamaCare and felt that doctors needs to be paid more. For him, money seemed to be a big motivator. Personally, I feel that when in such a career as medicine, it cannot be for just the money. You have to have a genuine passion and love for the field otherwise the numerous sacrifices and challenges will not be worth it.

In addition to these two interviews, I focused on writing my topic proposal. We have spend the last 8 weeks or so researching and scheduling interviews, and so the topic proposal allowed us to formalize into words exactly what we were expecting to gain out of this year. For me, this assignment opened my eyes up to the greater picture in a sense. It forced me to analyze why I was passionate about this field, why I was suitable for this career, and why I wanted to have this opportunity.

This coming week, I have an interview with a pediatric neurosurgeon. In addition, I plan on writing interview assessments for past interviews and writing thank you cards. I am also starting to think about possible ideas for my display board and portfolio cover.