Don’t close any doors.

One new physician said he honestly did not know he was going into academic medicine until mid-way through his fellowship, but he had not closed any doors. He pursued private practice opportunities, and the interview experiences proved extremely valuable. They helped shape his decision to go the academic route. If he hadn’t experienced the private practice job search – the interviews, the offers, the whole nine yards – he said he would not have been so sure that the academic route was the right route.