Specialty preferences of undergraduate medical students: What do they choose and why?

Background: The choice of choosing a specialty after completing MBBS is influenced by multiple factors. Personality traits like extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and open-mindedness form the intrinsic factors. Factors like early financial stability and cost of education form the external factors. This study evaluates the association between these factors and the specialty choice. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study including students from first year to intern doctors in India. An online questionnaire was used for data collection which included questions about demographics, choice of specialty, personality traits, and external factors affecting their choice. The Big Five Inventory-2-S 30-item Scale (BFI-2-S) was used to assess the personality traits. Results: One thousand nine hundred and twenty-one students participated in this study (57.6% females). Most participants, 1761 (91.7%) opted for clinical branches. Only 13 (0.7%) students wanted to pursue a non-clinical branch. Only 20 (1.0%) participants wanted to pursue a pre-clinical branch. Participants who opted for clinical branches were more extraverted, and more open-minded than those who chose non-clinical branches. Participants who opted for surgical branches were more extraverted, more conscientious, and had fewer negative emotions than their peers who chose medicine-related branches. High income generated per annum (65%), early financial stability (within 2-5 years) (60.7%), cost of postgraduate education (46%), and gender predominance (35.3%) were the most influential external factors. Conclusion: These findings show that there are distinct personality traits and external factors associated with specialty choices. This will aid counselors to guide undergraduate medical students to choose a specialty for post-graduation.