Ophthal vs BPT
Currently having a pretty massive career dilemma and honestly have no idea what to do.
I’m a PGY2 and been offered a spot in a good BPT network. I genuinely like medicine. I’ve really enjoyed gen med (done regional) and a couple of medical subspecialties (metro) and I can absolutely see myself being happy as a physician (though am currently unsure exactly what I want to do). I like the intellectual side, complex patients, MDTs, teaching etc. So this isn’t a case of me hating medicine and wanting to escape.
BUT I’ve also spent a lot of this year exploring ophthalmology and I genuinely really like it. I’ve done an ophthal term, eye work in ED, research/education stuff, an overseas observership etc. I also have a lot of rural points and have started a masters. I applied for ophthal jobs this year and got an interview for one of the more competitive metro jobs but didn’t get it.
I then came to terms with my bpt role and have been getting rlly excited for the job and to move back to metro and doing study etc to prep.. (have been regional last 5 years and ready for the city).
Now I’ve very randomly got an offer/opportunity for an ophthalmology job in a regional area next year which has thrown me.
And this is where I’m losing my mind lol.
The job itself sounds pretty good. I’d get proper ophthalmology experience, there are supportive people there, there’s time for research etc. However, I rlly don’t want to stay regional for another year. It would also set me up for a regional training pathway, which could be an advantage if I wanted to pursue that route. The downside is that I don’t want to spend my whole training journey regional and getting the job doesn’t mean I’m guaranteed ophthalmology training anyway.
If I take it, I’d have to turn down my physician training offer and move away from my partner in metro (also a doc).
The annoying thing is I KNOW I want ophthalmology to some extent.
If I was offered an ophthalmology job at one of my ideal tertiary hospitals in the city, I think I would take it without much hesitation. And if my partner was working in the same regional area, I’d also be MUCH more tempted by this regional job.
But I don’t know if that means I genuinely want ophthalmology enough to take this opportunity, or whether I just really like the idea of ophthalmology when the circumstances are favourable. I do worry some of my motivations for ophthal are that it’s got great QOL as a consultant and procedural work which I enjoy and makes good $$ so maybe I’m just being greedy and want ophthal because it’s so scarce and pays well (but also is that bad??). I also worry abt the fact it’s a more independent specialty and I think I like to work in teams but who knows ..
On the other hand, if I take physician training now, I think I’ll be very happy. I already know I like medicine and I have a fairly clear training pathway. I’ll finish my RACP and be able to chose from a number of really interesting specialties (some which even have a procedural element) - there’s so much less uncertainty and as someone that enjoys a large number of different areas of medicine I’m almost guaranteed to be happy whatever specialty I pick. I think I’ll most likely be rlly happy in bpt but I’m scared I’ll spend the rest of my life wondering if I should have just given ophthalmology a proper shot.
I can probably reapply for physician training (as not as competitive ) if I take the ophthal year, but obviously it would be harder than just taking the position I already have. This feels like my last golden ticket to ophthal and much harder to reapply in future. If it take the job I would probably enjoy and I could end up spending 2–3+ years trying to get onto training and at that point would definitely fall to the sunk cost mindset and keep trying just another year. If that doesn't work and I eventually go back to physicians, I'd be starting much later than I otherwise would and would be much harder to get a good network too as unsure what referees I would even use after a few years in eyes (and I won’t lie this would make me a little resentful). On the flip side hey maybe I get on PGY4 and go damn so glad I took that opportunity.
Some people think I should take physicians because I genuinely like medicine and the risk of delaying everything for an uncertain ophthalmology pathway is huge (especially when I’m not sure I even want it more).
Some others think I'm crazy for not taking the ophthalmology job because they think it's a rare opportunity and I can always go back to BPT.
And I genuinely don't know who is right.
The thing that has really fucked with my head is that when I recently got told “okay, you're taking the ophthalmology job”, my first reaction was actually feeling sad about giving up bpt and I feel I keep asking around and wanting people to tell me that taking bpt is ok.
But then when I imagine ophthalmology completely disappearing as an option, I also feel sad and think “fuck, what if I could have been an ophthalmologist?”
So yeah. Both feel like real careers I could be happy in. My gut is saying just do bpt but I also don’t know if that’s because I’m rlly burnt out from job apps and rejections that I don’t feel up to the ophthal grind atm. Equally I’m also feeling a little silly for running around telling everybody I’m ophthal keen all year and now just turning down a job?
Please make my decision for me !?