is pathology isolating?

I certainly hope WEBB PINKERTON is just being sarcastic.

I'm a 4th year medical student on my third path elective, and I have not felt isolated ever, nor do I think any of the residents or attendings feel isolated. There are lots of conferences, tumor boards and other meetings, sign-out, consulting each other, eating lunch together, etc.

I consider myself fairly physically active. I go nuts after about a week if I don't exercise. So far the idea of getting a DVT or PE has not crossed my mind, lol.

There are trade-offs. What I lose in patient interaction, I gain in getting to know the residents and attendings even better, and have high-quality relationships with them (more so than in any other clerkship/elective I've ever done).

So, Dermalicious123, keep an open mind, try to get both derm and path experience in 3rd year, and see where it goes. You might be surprised. You might find that, like me, even though you are great with patients and most of your patients really like you, you also happen to really love path, and end up choosing it. Don't fall for the stigma that all pathologists are impersonable droids. I have not found it to be true, yet.

Might I also add.... if you really like variety, you might like path over derm. If you're a competitive applicant and you want to have more of a choice of where you go for residency, then pick path. I've seen people manage to get into derm, but end up in places I would not want to live.

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is pathology isolating?