Name: 5 Signs You're Cut Out to Become a Surgeon
Uploaded: 2025-10-07T18:46:26.000Z
Duration: 11 min 48 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Many pre med and medical students think they want to become surgeons.

But deep down, there is a nagging question.

Surgery demands something most other specialties don't.

A specific combination of traits that can't be taught or faked.

You either have them or you'll burn out trying to pretend you do.

Students are drawn to surgery for obvious reasons.

Most surgeons make over $500,000 annually, with some earning upwards of 750k.

Surgery represents prestig skill and the apex of medical accomplishment.

Most students decide they want to be surgeons long before they understand the reality of surgery.

What they're chasing is an idea, not the truth.

By the end of this video, you'll know whether or not you're cut out to be a surgeon.

And also the single factor that caused me to quit plastic surgery.

Jubbal medschoolinsiders.com through med school insiders, we've guided thousands of students and we've seen which ones thrive in surgery and which ones burn out.

It's whether your personality, lifestyle preferences, skill set and drive align with what surgery requires of you.

Today I'm revealing five brutal signs that will tell you definitively whether you're built for surgery or destined to regret it.

The first sign you're built for surgery is that you naturally operate with obsessive precision.

In most medical specialties, approximation works.

An internist can try a medication, see how the patient responds and adjust accordingly.

A psychiatrist can modify therapy approaches over time, but surgery allows zero margin for error.

1 millimeter off during a delicate nerve repair can mean the difference between a patient regaining function or living with permanent disability.

It's about a fundamental personality trait where you strive for perfection.

You double check your work not because you're insecure, but

because you instinctively notice when the smallest detail is out of place or misaligned.

The surgeons who excel are the ones who can't help but notice these details.

They practice knot tying until muscle memory takes over.

Not because they have to, but because imperfection bothers them.

At a core level, this obsession with precision extends beyond the operating room.

Surgical residents must possess a photographic precision in anatomy, understand complex three dimensional relationships, and

plan procedures with meticulous military like preparation.

If you find satisfaction in getting things exactly right, this might indicate surgical aptitude.

But if you're comfortable with approximation, if close, close enough feels fine to you, surgery will be torture.

Which brings us to the next crucial question.

Do you actually enjoy the process of doing procedures or just the idea of being a surgeon.

The second sign is that you genuinely love performing procedures, not just observing them or talking about them.

There's a massive difference between being impressed by a complex operation and genuinely enjoying the process of performing procedures day after day.

I initially thought I wanted to become a gastroenterologist and because of my Crohn's colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease.

But during clinical rotations I realized something crucial.

While I enjoyed the hands on aspects of endoscopies and biopsies, they felt extremely limited.

I craved more challenge and I realized I wouldn't want to spend one or two days a week in the procedure suite doing endoscopies.

I'd rather spend most of my time in the operating room doing more complex surgeries.

That's when I understood I needed a procedure focused specialty, which led me to plastic surgery.

Surgery isn't just the exciting, complex cases you see on medical TV shows.

The vast majority are bread and butter procedures.

General surgeons do their hundredth appendectomy.

Orthopedic surgeons repair their thousandth torn acl.

The question isn't whether you find that first appendectomy interesting, it's whether you'd still find the 50th one engaging.

Can you derive satisfaction from perfecting your technique on routine procedures?

Or do you need constant novelty to stay motivated?

The best way to figure this out is through extensive exposure to various specialties early in medical school.

We have a detailed guide on how to choose your ideal medical specialty, which walks you through six specific steps to find the right match.

You can find that video right up here, but loving procedures is only part of the equation.

The third sign you're built for surgery is that you not only handle intense competition, you thrive on it.

Let's be clear about what you're up against.

If you visit specialtyranking.com, you'll notice something striking.

There are no surgical specialties in the bottom tier of competitiveness.

Every single surgical specialty ranks among the most difficult to match into.

The average successful applicant has a step 2 CK score of 257, which puts them above the 63rd percentile of all test takers.

They average 24 research items and have a 73% match rate.

Successful applicants typically have an average of 35 research publications, presentations and abstracts, a step 2 score of 256, and

a 75% match rate neurosurgery is currently the most competitive surgical specialty is which with a 69% match rate despite applicants averaging 37 research items and a step two score of 255.

These numbers represent years of sacrifice weekends in research labs, evenings writing papers, and

summers dedicated to surgical research instead of taking time off.

Even so called easier surgical specialties like general surgery require step two scores of 253 and around 11 research items with an 82% match rate.

Compare this to family medicine's 99% match rate, average step two score of 244 and only four research items.

The students who thrive in this environment find motivation in high stakes competition.

They're energized by challenge rather than overwhelmed by it.

Check out specialtyranking.com for yourself to see these brutal statistics.

You can manipulate the ranking rubric yourself and review official NRMP data from the past decades to see how competition has intensified over time.

But even if you love competition, succeeding requires something even more fundamental an unrelenting work ethic.

The fourth sign is that you have a work ethic and discipline that operate on a different level from your peers.

Let's talk about what it takes to accumulate 30 plus research items by the time you apply to surgical residency.

It means starting early in medical school and maintaining productivity throughout your training.

Successful surgical applicants juggle multiple research projects simultaneously while excelling in their coursework and clinical rotations.

Those impressive step 2 CK scores don't happen from a few weeks of cramming.

They're the result of years of disciplined study habits that often start back with MCAT preparation.

If you struggle to achieve a competitive MCAT score or required multiple attempts, this may be a red flag for the demands of surgical training.

The discipline required extends beyond academics.

Surgical residents maintain extensive surgical case logs, prepare presentations, and

often continue research activities, all while working 80 hour weeks.

This isn't about working hard occasionally it's about going above and beyond.

Absolutely critical for surgeons, but one of the most challenging subjects.

I even volunteered to be a teaching assistant back in medical school to get an extra edge.

Conducting the pro sections myself and teaching junior med students forced me to master the material, and

it gave me a ton of extra exposure to cadavers.

These days, learning anatomy is way easier.

Thanks to Kenhub, they've got everything in one place clear videos, progress tracking, and

an atlas packed with all the imagery and summary tables you need.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

5 Signs You're Cut Out to Become a Surgeon

specific

crucial

discipline

eventually