What do you do if you fall in love with a competitive speciality too late in four years?

Dear QMR, 
What do you do if you fall in love with a competitive speciality too late in four years? 
Sincerely, 
Head over heels but not enough time

Dear Head, 

Ahh, every med student’s biggest fear: finding your “soulmate” specialty too late. I have two thoughts on this. 

First, how late is “too late”? As avid planners and overachievers, I think most med students feel very uncomfortable jumping into something they didn’t prepare for. But that doesn’t mean discovering you love OB in Block 5 is actually “too late.” Most preceptors in your new chosen field are thrilled to help you discover their career and write letters, and you can reorganize your electives up until 16 weeks before they begin with ease or up to six weeks with some difficulty. You could actually argue that it makes your “story” (which you will write about ad nauseum for CaRMS applications) more interesting. The true “too late” is after CaRMS applications, which are due in November of your fourth year. But even then, many people switch in residency.  You’ll hear of them a lot more in clerkship, but it happens all the time. So I don’t think you’re ever truly stuck, it just depends on what you’re willing to do to get to your “dream job.” 

Which relates to my second thought: know yourself! Are you someone who struggles with risk? Does the thought of not matching make your literal skin crawl? If so, going through the process of a truly late switch might not make the most sense for you. You have to live through the journey, and it can’t all be about when you’re an attending in X number of years. This is about making a choice that is right for you, as a person and as a med student, and accepting that there are so many ways to be happy and find your niche in medicine. 

I hope this helps!

Sincerely,
All you need is love