I am a third year medical student and discovered that I wanted to do ophtho this year. I have 3 total publications in Hypertension and American Journal of HTN (2nd,3rd author) and an abstract and poster presentations. My question is .... should I do an elective month for ophtho research at my school (in glaucoma) without the slightest possibility of getting published etc... or just stay with what I have (Hypertension does effect the eyes) and pass on the research month? I can talk about my research extensively, but its not straight ophtho.

I had 4 pubs and a poster in breast cancer research from my time before med school. I am sure ophtho research would have helped and been something easier for interviewers to talk about but I still got plenty of interviews at good programs and matched where I wanted to be. Per program director from med school, it's not so much that you have dedicated ophtho research as it is you have something in the box on the application.