Great forum. I wish the best for all of you come Jan 2005 during the match.

I am finishing up FP residency this year and plan to apply to ophtho next year. What are my chances against all the young gun medical school seniors?

Step 1 - 220's
Step 3 - 230's

Why the additional training for me? I caught the surgery bug during my FP residency and fell for Ophtho.

Give it a shot because it doesn't hurt to try. You can moonlight or do locum tenens while you wait to start your residency.

The only problem I see is the committee may question your motivations. When I see people switch fields, I am always a little concerned about an applicant's true motivations.

Board scores are only one set of information on your application. If you have strong assets, then you may be a highly competitive applicant regardless of your board scores. You'll need at least 2 strong letters from ophthalmology faculty. I suggest you find a pre-residency fellowship in ophthalmology where you get to work with several faculty members.

One thing that might hinder your acceptance has nothing to do with your ability as a resident, but rather a purely financial reason. From my understanding, residencies only receive government funding for a resident until five years post-graduation. This will put you at a disadvantage because a program will have to supply your salary for the last year out of their own budget. And, as we all know, money is tight at almost every program. You might want to address this in interviews by saying that you will help the program seek out funding in alternative manners--grants, scholarships etc...

Good luck!

One thing that might hinder your acceptance has nothing to do with your ability as a resident, but rather a purely financial reason. From my understanding, residencies only receive government funding for a resident until five years post-graduation. This will put you at a disadvantage because a program will have to supply your salary for the last year out of their own budget. And, as we all know, money is tight at almost every program. You might want to address this in interviews by saying that you will help the program seek out funding in alternative manners--grants, scholarships etc...

Good luck!


This is a very good point. My program director informed me of this too.

Residency is funded by Medicare and there's only so much funding for each individual.

One thing that might hinder your acceptance has nothing to do with your ability as a resident, but rather a purely financial reason. From my understanding, residencies only receive government funding for a resident until five years post-graduation. This will put you at a disadvantage because a program will have to supply your salary for the last year out of their own budget.

One program director told me that this is often used as a bogus excuse. The funding is divided into direct and indirect costs. See the internet for a detailed explanation.

The short of it is that institutions do not get hit very much by accepting someone with prior residency training. The department does not get hit at all at some institutions.

Furthermore, if you started out in general surgery (5 years) and did 2 years or less, there is no difference in funding because you are given 5 years of funding and could use 2 for surgery and 3 for ophthalmology. If you did 3 years of surgery, there would only be a slight reduction in the hospital's reimbursement for your last year. If you started in a six year plastics program, you could do 3 years and not affect ophthalmology funding. Therefore, don't be scared of work and do a medicine internship. Do the better fields like surgery. You will be on better grounds if you switch fields.

Like it or not, family practice has low prestige so it's harder for a family practice resident to get into ophthalmology compared to an Orthopedics or Urology resident.

thank you for everyone's counsel.

The desire is definitely there. It looks like an exciting uphill battle is ahead.

thank you for everyone's counsel.

The desire is definitely there. It looks like an exciting uphill battle is ahead.


Go for it. There are MANY ophthalmologists that took the same road you're looking at, usually from IM to ophtho. You're making a good choice.