2004 Post-match Poll

In addition to the poll above, if you would like to participate in the anonymous detailed listing of matched and unmatched applications (hopefully all matched on this board), then please submit a personal message to me. I'll post your stats without identification. Please use the template below:

--Board Scores:
--AOA and class rank: if known
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc)
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no pubs, ophtho pubs)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surge and med)
--# and where you did away rotations:
--# of programs you applied to:
--Where invited for interviews:
--Where matched:
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call from your advisor to another program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, etc)


Don't pay any attention to the percentages. They are a percent of the total poll. Because this is a multiple question poll, the percentages don't work out. I'll put the final percentages in the FAQ and link to this poll for details.

ADDENUM TO POLL. Below are statistics of applicants who wish to share their information with future students.
THANK YOU!
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*boards: 234
*no AOA, class rank N/A
*top 10 med school
*some ophtho research, no pubs
*three 3rd yr honors (not in surge or med)
*1 away rotation at Utah
*applied to 50
*interview invites: bascom palmer, wisconsin, utah, uc irvine, *minnesota, indiana, columbia, colorado, cincinnati, alabama, wake forest, nyu, arizona, vanderbilt, st vincents
*matched at wisconsin (#2 choice)
*my ophtho advisor called the program director at wisconsin
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*Step 1 - 257
*Member of AOA (senior), class rank N/A
*Non-prestigious school
*Some optho basic science research, no pubs
*Honors throughout first 3 years, except family medicine (HP)
*Away rotations at Ohio State, Mayo
*Applied to 31, interview offers at 21, went to 13
*Interviewed at OSU, Case Western, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Kresge, Florida, Vanderbilt, Emory, Wills, Bascom Palmer, Mayo, Iowa, MUSC
*Also offered by Henry Ford, Northwestern, Louisville, Kentucky, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Indiana, UIC
*Matched at Kresge - number 7 choice
*No big letters, mdphd, phone calls etc.
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--Board Scores: 239
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA, top 30% of class
--Reputation of medical school: Top 25
--Research: some gen surgery with no pubs
--Honors in clerkships: Honors Everything but Med and Peds
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 Away at Bascom Palmer
--# of programs you applied to: 30
--Where invited for interviews: 7, went on 6 and ranked 6
--Where matched: UT Houston
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--Board Scores:239
--AOA and class rank:20/145, not AOA
--Reputation of medical school: average
--Research: 5 projects, 1 pending publication in gen surgery, 4 other projects in ophthalmology without pubs, but in process
--Honors in clerkships: Surgery, Psychiatry, Opthalmology (home and away), Senior surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 away rotation at the University of Kentucky
--# of programs you applied to:40
--Where invited for interviews:
1. St. Louis University Eye Institue
2. UT- Memphis
3. University of Chicago
4. MCG
5. Northwestern
6. UF-Gainsville
7. University of Illinois, Chicago (10/9)
8. UVA (10/14 by email)
9. UAB (10/14 snail)
10. Arkansas (10/14 snail)
11. University of Louisville (10/15 snail)
12. Wake Forest (10/20 snail)
13. Cinci (10/20 snail)
14. U MO-Columbia(10/24 phone)
15. U MO- KC (10/27 snail mail)
16. U South Florida (10/31 phone)
17. Vanderbilt (10/31 phone)
18. UT-Chat. (11/6 email)
19. Eastern Virginia (11/7 snail mail)
20. University of South Carolina
21. University of Kentucky
22. Mississippi

Rejected from: Yale, Wash U, Ohio State, WVU, Indiana, Rush, Michigan, VCU, Duke, MEEI, Emory, Bascom Palmer

--Where matched:University of Kentucky, #1 Ranked program

Anything that helped your app: OUT ROTATION! Also, call programs that you are interested in to inquire about your application status. I got an interview at Vanderbilt by asking them to re-review my application and basically begging them to interview me after the interview decisions had already been made.
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--Board Scores: 240
--AOA and class rank: AOA (senior), 12/145
--Reputation of medical school: Average
--Research: PhD in vision research with 2 first-authorships
--Honors in clerkships: 3rd year-all but OB/Gyn & Psych, 4th year-3 ophtho (2 clinical, 1 research)
--# and where you did away rotations: N/A
--# of programs you applied to: 20
--Where invited for interviews:
Attended: Vanderbilt, UAB, Wilmer, Ohio State, U of Louisville,
Cincy, Kentucky, IU, UT-Memphis
Declined: Florida, S. Carolina, UNC, Temple
--Rejected by: Bascom, Duke, Wills, UPenn, Emory, WashU
--Where matched: U of Louisville (5th choice)
--Anything that helped your app: MD/PhD--may have helped with Wilmer invite, but aside from that....
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*Board Scores: 254
*AOA and class rank: AOA #4 of 207
*Reputation of medical school: top 20
*Research: some ophtho with pubs, no ophtho pubs
*Honors in clerkships: All Honors
*# and where you did away rotations: 1 at Utah
*# of programs you applied to: 23
*Where invited for interviews: University of Wisconsin, Medical College of Wisconsin, UT Southwestern, UT Memphis, Baylor, UC Davis, Utah, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Colorado, Wilmer, MEEI, Loma Linda, Minnesota, Casey eye institute
*REJECTED FROM:
ohio state, Michigan, scheie, Seattle, Wills, Duke
*Where matched: Casey
--Anything that helped your app:
I have no clue. Honestly, looking back on this whole process it seems more random than not. I got interviews at places I never thought I would - then I got rejected by places I thought to be "safe" schools. Then, just to keep sane during all those interviews was an accomplishement by itself. Finally, to be able to match at a great place . . . I'm just happy to be here.
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--Board Scores: 243
--AOA and class rank: no AOA, upper 20% of my class
--Reputation of medical school: Average
--Research: multiple research pubs and presentations; some dating back 10 years
--Honors in clerkships: honored most subjects during first 2 years, few honors in 3rd year (no surg or med)
--# and where you did away rotations: did 2 aways- USC and UCLA
--# of programs you applied to: 50
--Where invited for interviews: 25 invites- most cal schools (except UCSF), UIC, UT-Southwestern, UF, NYEE, etc., etc.
--Rejected by: Bascom, Duke, Wills, UPenn, Emory, WashU
--Where matched: Wilmer
--Anything that helped your app: VERY strong letters and research
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--Board Scores: Step1 231, step2 235
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, class rank unknown
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) top 30
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no pubs, ophtho pubs) one ophtho publication in print (first author), two minor publications (approx. tenth author)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surge and med) surgery, medicine, peds
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: 39
--Where invited for interviews: OSU, Michigan, Pitt, UVA, WFU, Mizzou, Iowa, OK, S&W, UTSA, CO, PSU, UT-M, UF, Cincy, UK, MUSC, UNC
--Where matched: Oklahoma-#1 choice
--Anything that helped your app: international experience
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Step 1-232
No-AOA
Average Medical School
Optho Research, several optho case reports, non-Optho research w/ 1 primary author paper, master's in basic science w/research
Honors in all 3rd year clerkships, and Optho Aways
2 aways: research at Cleveland Clinic, Iowa
applied to: 42
Interview offers (19): Northwestern, MCW, Mayo, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, SLU, Missouri-Columbia, Memphis, Michigan, Alabama, Louisville, Rochester, Scheie, Maryland, UNC, S. Carolina, Cleveland Clinic, Colorado
Matched: 1st choice Iowa
Aways and letters obtained at aways were the clincher, research
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--Board Scores: 233
--AOA and class rank: Jr. AOA
--Reputation of medical school: unknown school
--Research: non-ophth pubs with ophth pubs submitted
--Honors in clerkships: All Honors
--# and where you did away rotations: CCF, Wash U
--# of programs you applied to:30
--Where invited for interviews: OSU, CCF, Kellogg, Kresge, Scheie, NYEE, Yale, Wilmer, Emory, Wash U, Northwestern, Iowa, UT-Southwestern, Baylor, UT-Houston, U Minneapolis, Utah, OHSU, Denver
--# of interviews: 12
--Where matched: Emory (#2)
--Anything that helped your app: Research & STRONG letters
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--Board Scores: 250's
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, upper 15% of my class
--Reputation of medical school: Top 15
--Research: 8 basic science optho pubs, 3 more in the works
--Honors in clerkships: Honored or High passed all clinics
--# and where you did away rotations: none
--# of programs you applied to: 30
--Where invited for interviews: 27 invites- Wilmer, Wills, MEEI, NYEEI, Columbia, Scheie, Duke, Emory, Bascom, Vanderbilt, U. Alabama, Cole, Wash U, Baylor, Southwestern, Michigan, Iowa, UCLA, UCSF, USC, UCLA, UC-Davis, UC-Irvine, UC-San Diego, Stanford, U. Washington, one more I can't remember
--Rejects: Tufts, Yale, Casey
--Where matched: UCSF
--Anything that helped your app: Very strong letters from big wigs and phone call to my first choice
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Step I- 258
AOA/rank- junior AOA/ #3 of 160
School reputation- average
Research- 1 ophtho pub, another submitted
Clerkship Honors- all except Peds, Psych
Away Rotations- none
#programs applied to- 26
Interviews- offered 21 (went on 16) including Wilmer, Wills, Bascom, USC, UCLA, Baylor, OHSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Emory
Matched: Kellogg (#2)
Anything that helped: One strong letter. It doesn't seem necessary to do away rotations if your med school has a strong program- unless you know exactly where you want to go.
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--Board Scores: 236
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA, no class rank
--Reputation of medical school: not top 25
--Research: some ophtho with no pubs
--Honors in clerkships: Honors or Near honors in everthing except Med and Surg
--# of programs you applied to: 40
Interviews: Invited to 12, went to 9
--Where matched: unmatched
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Board Scores: >260
AOA and class rank: junior AOA / NA
Reputation of medical school: average
Research: non-ophtho (2 pubs), and ophtho (1 submitted)
Honors in clerkships: all third and fourth year clerkships
# and where you did away rotations: 1 away
# of programs you applied to: 25
Where invited for interviews: > 90% and all top 10 programs that I applied to
Where matched: #8 on my rank list
Anything that helped your app: 2 very nice letters from big-wigs
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--Board Scores: 248 (99)
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA, class rank in top 30%(?)
--Reputation of medical school: top 15
--Research: one ophtho publication
--Honors in clerkships: some H's during basic science years, no H's in Surgery in Medicine; 3 H's in other clerkships
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 away rotations
--# of programs you applied to: 50
--Where invited for interviews: ~20
--Where matched: #8 on my rank list.
--Anything that helped your app: one big-wig letter; however, no phone call; other two letters were relatively weak in retrospect; did not work with big-time people or people on adcom committee during away rotations.
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Step 1 > 235
AOA and class rank: NA / NA
Reputation of medical school: Top 50
Research: non-ophtho (5 pubs), and ophtho (2 pubs, 1 ARVO abstract)
Honors in clerkships: mostly honors and high passes
# and where you did away rotations: 1 away
# of programs you applied to: 38
Where invited for interviews: 15, including UCLA, Stanford, UWashington, Cleveland Clinic, BU, MEEI, CPMC, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, Mt. Sinai, Vanderbilt, UC Davis, UTSW.
Went on 11 interviews and ranked 11
Where matched: DID NOT MATCH
Anything that helped your app: 2 nice letters from big-wigs, personal calls from them to top 2 choices

Got good vibes from most programs, and yes, I am a normal, nice, loving human being just like the rest of you.

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Step I: 240's
AOA/rank: No AOA, rank n/a
Reputation of med school: I dunno, above average
Research / Pubs: 1 non-oph pub, oph research in progress
1 non-peer reviewed medical publication
Clerkships: Pass Medicine and Surgery (don't be ******ed and take these as your first rotations like I did)
High pass and honors everything else
# and where you did away rotations: 1 away
# of programs you applied to: 47
Where invited for interviews: UTMB, UAB, UVA, UF, U of SC, UNC, Wake Forest, UT-Memphis, UT-Chatanooga, Cleveland Clinic (I went to these 10), others include: Penn State, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Cincinatti, Akron, UT-Houston, Eastern Virginia
Where matched: DID NOT MATCH
Anything that helped: apparently nothing

Anyway...this should be a great example of how not to be a ***** and cancel 1/3 of your interviews. You should also completely disregard any comments made on the interview trail regarding your chances of matching. And finally, don't be an idiot and be afraid to ask big-wigs for LOR's. I only had one OPH letter, because I felt like in the bouncing around that happend on my OPH rotation, I didn't know anyone else well enough to ask.
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Boards: Step 1 - 253
AOA & Rank: Senior AOA, class rank 7
Med School: Average med school
Research: book chapter to be published this summer and retrospective review in the works (nothing actually published yet), one ophtho and one non-ophtho poster presentation at student research day
Honors: not applicable
# of applications: 42
Away rotations: One month at Bascom, One month at Wilmer, and two weeks at UT Southwestern
# of interviews: 11 (probably about 20 offers but mucho scheduling conflicts)
Interviewed at: 11 places (but not offered Wilmer or Bascom despite my time there and great letters)
Match results: NY Eye & Ear (#1)
Extras: Letters from Bascom and Wilmer impressed many interviewers. However, I spent most of my time at these institutions with Junior faculty (and that won't get you an interview at these top programs).
Other: I agree that where you go to med school makes a difference in what types of programs will interview you. I was at the top of my class with great board scores and even a little research in the works - the top 10 programs aren't impressed with med schools that they have never heard of. Despite all that, I could not be more pleased with my match results. I may have liked to interview at a few other places, but my rank list would still be exactly the same!
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bump... may be helpful for applicants.