50 views and no replies? Wow. I'm really surprised how many people just lurk on here. I'll throw you a bone lol...
I picked podiatry because it's interesting to me. At the hospital I worked at during undergrad, podiatry was suggested to me by a friend who worked as a CRNA. I made a point to learn more. At the time, I was fascinated with many many different health care jobs that I was seeing while working around the hospital. I shadowed a DPM for a couple weeks, spoke to other DPMs, asked other docs and nurses about podiatry, and read around on the net quite a bit about podiatry and other health care fields. I read and heard good things, but most importantly, I saw them. Shadowing is definetly the best way to learn about any job and if you could see yourself doing it and enjoying it every day.
I found plenty of variety, great income potential if you work hard, and many aspects which interest me in podiatry. Namely, a good DPM can make a direct difference in patient comfort and quality of life, often even with just conservative treatments. I've used that motivation to work hard in school. The education is tough, but I'm very happy and doing well so far. I fell I've learned a lot in basic sciences and am excited to start clinic this summer where I feel I will learn even more.
FYI, you might want to note that OCPM is moving to a new campus pretty soon. Cleveland Clinic keeps growing and I think they're about to eat up that real estate that OCPM's current building and parking lots are on. I believe it's next fall (2008?) that the school moves to a new location that's fairly far from the current one, but check their website or ask them.
