--Board Scores: 257/99 and 264/99
--AOA and class rank: No AOA at my school, no class rank at my school.
--Reputation of medical school: satellite campus of a medical school ranked in the lower tier
--Research: 6 ophtho pubs, none first author (all 2nd author) - 2 review articles, 2 case studies, 2 prospective articles. 1 research project outside of ophthalmology, not yet published, in the field of disabilities. However, 4/6 articles were published by the time I was interviewing.
--Honors in clerkships: DID NOT honor medicine, honored everything else
--# and where you did away rotations: 4 away rotations - 1 research rotation (highly recommend), 1 four-week clinical rotation set up privately with an attending at a top-ranked ophthalmology program, and 2 two-week rotations through VSAS. Interviews were offered to me at 3 of the 4 programs, although not all students who rotated received an interview at any of them.
--# of programs you applied to: 55
--Where invited for interviews: BPEI, JSEI, MEEI, Emory, Wash U, OHSU, CPMC, UC Davis, Cornell, Mt Sinai, Yale, UTSW, UIC, Rush, Northwestern, Cook County, Arizona, Wayne State, Wake Forest, Boston U, U Minnesota, Tulane. Rejected from many (notably, smaller programs like Seattle, Colorado, and Utah, and larger programs like Iowa, Wilmer, and Wills).
--Where matched: #1, BPEI
--Anything that helped your app: I think big-wig letter of rec opened doors, especially when coming from a lesser known, brand new school. Doing away rotations perhaps demonstrated some geographical interest, but I'll never know that for sure. My region (southwest) barely extended me any interviews, it was all SO random and as a result, I was very happy I had applied broadly and had done aways in many locations (west, east coast, midwest). I wrote about unique interests on my application and things outside of medicine, and these were brought up in many interviews, and possibly helped me stand out from others (again, I'll never know). Programs seemed to be impressed with the fact that I had accomplished a lot of research in a short period of time (aka, if you decide on ophtho in April of MS3, you can still get a lot of pubs if you get creative and work your tail off). Also, on a more personal note, I was open in my application about being involved in LGBT leadership and activities, and this was brought up in many interviews in a positive light (and never in a negative light). However, I'll never know if the inclusion of these items shut the door on some opportunities (although, undoubtedly, places I wouldn't have been comfortable training). Don't be afraid to be yourself.
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--Board Scores: Step 1: 244, Step 2: Not taken yet
--AOA and class rank: if known: AOA
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): State school in the south
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications): 1 publication in IOVS, clinical shadowing between 1st and 2nd year, working on case report
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine): Honor in all except surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 rotations in NYC, 1 month research and clinical at home school
--# of programs you applied to: 55
--Where invited for interviews: Mass Eye, Wills, Columbia, NYU, Colorado, Wash U, Tennessee, Oregon, Utah, Iowa, UTSW, Wake Forest, UVA, SUNY Downstate, Tufts, Oklahoma
--Where matched: #1- Mass Eye
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call from your advisor to another program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc): Long term interest in the field since before medical school, multiple projects at multiple schools, letter from chair and program director.
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--Board Scores: 249/99 No step 2
--AOA and class rank: not AOA
--Reputation of medical school: state school
--Research: 10 pubs, 2 first author, mostly in ophtho
--Honors in clerkships: surgery, ophtho, psych
--# and where you did away rotations: none
--# of programs you applied to: 62
--Where invited for interviews: invited to 34, went to 13, many of the top 10 programs
--Where matched: my #1 choice, a top 10 program
--Anything that helped your app: Good research, big name letters
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--Board Scores: 239/99 Step 1
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, class rank unknown
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) top 50
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications) first author publication that wasn't ophtho related, multiple non-ophtho projects, 2 small unpublished ophtho projects
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine) H in Surgery, Medicine, Anesthesia, Ophtho, HP in everything else
--# and where you did away rotations: none
--# of programs you applied to: 65
--Where invited for interviews: 12
--Where matched: #7, solid mid-tier program
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call from your advisor to another program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc) I applied more broadly than I originally thought I would and am really glad I did.
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--Board Scores: 253/99, 263/99
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, school does not rank
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) lower end of the top 25
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications) 2 non-ophtho pubs (none first author), several large ophtho projects in a dedicated research year underway, but nothing published
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine) honors in all
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 at a top 5 program
--# of programs you applied to: 45
--Where invited for interviews: invited to 23, attended 14: Wills, BPEI, MEEI, UCSF, Michigan, UCLA, Duke, Casey, CPMC, Cornell, Yale, UVA, U Washington, Stanford. Did not attend Drexel, Storm, Georgetown, Einstein, Colorado, UMDNJ, Case Western, Maryland, NYU
--Notable rejections: all Chicago programs, Wilmer, USC, Emory, NYEEI
--Where matched: my #1
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call from your advisor to another program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc)
2 strong letters from well known people definitely helped, as these were mentioned often in interviews. One of these letters came from an away rotation, and I think this opened many doors for me as I was coming from a fairly small home program. Also, at some of the heavily academic places I was told that without the dedicated research time I had underway I would not have been invited there. Unique life experiences and a few unusual extracurriculars were also discussed at nearly all of my interviews. But if you put anything on your CV, definitely be prepared to back it up (sometimes by live demonstration)!
One last thing to note is that my interviews were pretty random geographically. I had read on this forum that you were most likely to interview/match in your home area, but I actually ended up with equal numbers of interviews on the east and west coasts, almost none in the middle of the country, and ended up matching on the opposite side of the country from where I'm from. This definitely surprised me, so I guess this generalization isn't always true.
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--Board Scores: Step1 248/99, Step2 247/81 (didn't take until late october)
--AOA and class rank: We dont rank, not AOA though
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) "Less prestigious" MD school
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications) Did research during my third year and a block during fourth. Got two publications from it but not until December - I still had something to talk about during interviews though.
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine) psych, ophtho, Away ophtho, Away ophtho research
--# and where you did away rotations: 3, two clinical and 1 research
--# of programs you applied to: 78
--Where invited for interviews: 15; Nassau, SUNY stony brook, LIJ, Drexel, NYMC Valhalla, NYMC Jamaica, Penn St, U South Carolina, LSU - Shrev, UMaryland, Loyola, Cook County, Summa, Bronx Lebanon, UChicago (couldn't attend)
--Where matched: #7/14
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call from your advisor to another program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc) I really didn't have anything outstanding to help me with my application. Standard letters from my home chair, research advisor, and a medicine attending. I didn't have anyone to go to bat for me and call programs on my behalf. I was kind of dissapointed to have gone so far down the rank list but I'm happy I have a home in 2013.
The biggest advice that I have is CONTACT PROGRAMS for interviews. Do this early and contact the programs often. I definitely got some interviews simply by picking up the phone, calling, and expressing my interest.
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--Board Scores: Step 1 253, step 2 256
--AOA and class rank: top 20%, AOA
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): top 25
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications): some ophtho with no publications, 1 ARVO
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine): honors in 1/2 and high pass in 1/2
--# and where you did away rotations:none
--# of programs you applied to:53
--Where invited for interviews:10
--Where matched:#3, strong southern program
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call from your advisor to another program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc) nothing in particular, did not have an ophtho letter other than standard chairman's letter and I think that hurts a bit, also away rotation may have helped a bit, especially in showing interest in ophthalmology; there's a field for ophtho related activities on CAS and leaving it blank DOESN'T help, but very happy with where I matched!
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--Board Scores: 252/99, 270/99
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, don't know class rank
--Reputation of medical school: top 20
--Research: 1 basic science paper published in undergrad, 1 ophtho project without publication, other smaller projects without publications
--Honors in clerkships: A in all except 1 clinical year rotations (A in medicine and surgery)
--# and where you did away rotations: no away rotations
--# of programs you applied to: 40
--Where invited for interviews: 20 invitations, 17 interviews (Tufts, Duke, Kansas, UF Jacksonville, MCG, Baylor, UTSW, Memphis, Emory, SLU, WashU, Northwestern, Loyola, UIC, Utah, Iowa, Virginia, Michigan, UCLA, Wakeforest)
--Where matched: #1
--Anything that helped your app: strong letters of recommendation, research, personal statement. I was asked about my letters (especially my one ophthalmology letter from a very well-known person) everywhere and my personal statement almost everywhere (it wasn't really at all about ophthalmology). Same with research.
My advice: get GREAT letters (strong non-ophtho letters are better than weak ophtho letters), write an essay that is interesting
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--Board Scores: Step 1: 258, Step 2: 263
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, class doesn't rank
--Reputation of medical school: middle-tier
--Research: 4 ophtho pubs, none as 1st author
--Honors in clerkships: Family med and psych only (ouch!)
--# and where you did away rotations: none
--# of programs you applied to: 54
--Where invited for interviews: Albany, SUNY upstate, Cincinnati, Indiana, Nebraska, Arkansas, UT San Antonio, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Utah, OHSU, CPMC, U Minnesota
--Where matched: #1
--Anything that helped your app: no phone calls or big-wig letters. I think my numbers allowed me to get some good interviews and from there it was just a matter of getting people to like me on the interviews. I had some interesting points on my application that usually drew a lot of conversation and I just tried to be very fun and personable.
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--Board Scores: 234/99, step II not back yet
--AOA and class rank: if known: not AOA, 2nd quartile
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): Average NE school.
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications). Ophtho related - 1 first author pub, and several ongoing projects. Also some non-ophtho publications
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine). Peds, Family Med, all ophtho rotations.
--# and where you did away rotations: 2
--# of programs you applied to: ~65
--Where invited for interviews: 14 - NYMC, NYMC Jamaica, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Stony Brook, Albany, Bronx Lebanon, NYU, LIJ, UAB, Geisinger, EVMS, Howard, UTMB-Galveston, UMKC.
--Where matched: #2
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call from your advisor to another program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc). Good letters of recommendation which were personal..these were brought up during several interviews. Research in the field and ophthalmology related activities.
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--Board Scores: Step 1: 243; Step 2: 242
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, top 25%
--Reputation of medical school: solid state school in NE
--Research: 1 publication in Retina, 1 first author pub submitted to Retina, multiple other pubs in other areas of medicine. Presented at ASRS, and other conferences not related to ophthalmology
--Honors in clerkships: Honors in all except HP in Family Med and Ob/Gyn
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: 53
--Where invited for interviews: Emory, NYEE, Einstein, BU, Beaumont, Henry Ford, Case Western, UMDNJ, Buffalo, NYMC-Jamaica, NUMC, NYMC- Valhalla. Invited but did not attend: Albany, Stony Brook
--Where matched: Emory, my #1
--Anything that helped your app: away rotation, strong letters of recommendation, research experience, phone call from advisor to program I was most interested in.
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--Board Scores: 233/97, 242/99
--AOA and class rank: no AOA
--Reputation of medical school: top 50
--Research: 1 4th author manuscript non ophtho, 1 abstract ophtho
--Honors in clerkships: no third year honors
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 away rotations
--# of programs you applied to: 86
--Where invited for interviews: UAB, U Arizona, Yale, U Kentucky, LSU-Shreve, Tulane, BU, Tufts, UMKC, Wake, UMDNJ, Upstate, Penn State, UTSW
--Where matched: #1
--Anything that helped your app: I had relatively mediocre grades and board scores. You have to apply broadly and audition in that situation. Only 1/6 of my programs interviewed me which translated to a comforting number but I was nervous. Ended up matching at my #1 which was an away rotation so I'll never know.
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--Board Scores: Step 1: 232/99, Step 2: 238/99
--AOA and class rank: no AOA, no class rank
--Reputation of medical school: lower tier
--Research: 2 ophtho projects with a publication in progress (2nd author)
--Honors in clerkships: ophtho x2, surgery, ob/gyn, neuro, family med, HP everything else
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 research (top-tier), 2 clinical (1 top-tier, 1 middle-tier)
--# of programs you applied to: 78
--Where invited for interviews: 15, all over the country, but mostly in the northeast
--Where matched: my #1 choice in Cali!
--Anything that helped your app: letters from two big-wigs, my research projects, doing AWAY rotations, interesting hobbies, and being persistent and positive!
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--Board Scores: 237/99 and 264/99
--AOA and class rank: no AOA at my school, rank 7/172
--Reputation of medical school: well-established DO school
--Research: some ophtho with no publications
--Honors in clerkships: A's in all except Psych
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 research elective. 4 aways at DO programs
--# of programs you applied to: 52 (12 of which were DO programs)
--Where invited for interviews: MD: Cook County, EVMS, Loyola, UTHSC-San Antonio, U Chicago. DO: St John Detroit, Doctor's Columbus, Grandview Dayton, Valley Las Vegas.
--Where matched: my #2 MD program
--Anything that helped your app: very solid LOR's. I hold a very prominent national student leadership position, which was talked about during a few interviews. Calling programs to gain interviews helped some. Talking about positives of family location and/or re-locating helped too.
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--Board Scores: 261/99 and 268/99
--AOA and class rank: AOA, no class rank
--Reputation of medical school: Top 25 Med School
--Research: One non-ophtho project, two ophtho projects, no publications
--Honors in clerkships: honors in all
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 away
--# of programs you applied to: 42
--Where invited for interviews: UTSW, Baylor, UIC, Columbia, Ohio State, Georgetown, MUSC, UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, Kentucky, UT-Memphis, UT-Houston, Mt Sinai, Yale, Boston U, Louisville, Case Western. Rejected from BPEI, Wills, Wilmer, Iowa, Cleveland clinic, VCU.
--Where matched: My #1
--Anything that helped your app: Definitely contact programs if you are very interested. I received several interviews after emailing programs expressing my interest.
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