Ophthalmology Residency 2005 Post-match Poll

THIS THREAD IS CLOSED UNTIL AFTER MATCH DAY, JAN 20, 2004
Reminder: ranklists due by JAN 12, 2005, 12:00 PM (PST)

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 (Click here for 2004 SDN Match Poll).

If you send me a PM or post, then 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 publications, ophtho publications)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine)
--# 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, SDN Forum, 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.

Good luck! It's match day.

If you want to post your stats anonymously, then PM me with the above info.

-Top 3-4 Med School w/ a very well-respected ophtho dept.
-AOA w/ many clinical honors and no poor grades
-Step 1: 247/99
-2 strong ophtho letters (1 reasonably well-known, 1 not)
-Ongoing ophtho research w/o publications
-1 prior presentation
-Numerous community service activities
-Went on 15 interviews, received many more interview offers. My interviews represented a range of programs. Received offers from virtually every strong program except Mass Eye & Ear.
-Received very favorable feedback at all interviews and even some of those mailed letters.
-I am a very normal person. I would like to think that I interview effectively.

DID NOT MATCH

I have absolutely no idea how this happened. My chairman and program director are completely dumbfounded. My school had many people applying in ophtho this year. Maybe a combo of just missing the cut at the strong programs and "this kid won't really come here" at some of the weaker ones. The only thing that I didn't do was have people make calls for me or send blanket "I will rank you highly" to every program. They are checking to make sure SF Match did not make a clerical error of some sort.
============================

Here's my contribution, Thanks Dr. Doan. I'll see you at UCLA!

--Board Scores: Step I 261 / Step 2 265
--AOA and class rank: no AOA at my school, no class rank
--Reputation of medical school: top 30
--Research: ophtho with 1 publication
--Honors in clerkships: honors in all clerkships, except for high pass in medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 aways at bascom palmer and UCLA
--# of programs you applied to: ~50
--Where invited for interviews:Got about 35 offers, Went on 22 interviews, ranked 21 programs. Wilmer, Wills, Wash U, Michigan, UCSF, UCLA, Emory, CCF, Casey, and others.
--Where matched: Jules Stein / UCLA (#1 choice)
--Anything that helped your app: no phone calls, one really strong letter from a big wig faculty at my school, strong letter from away rotation that I sent after submitting the initial CAS, no MD/PhD, no other degree. Away rotation definitely helped.
=====================================

hey. thanks for all the advice. here's my small contribution...

--Board Scores: step 1 - 234, step 2 not taken
--AOA and class rank: AOA, no official class rank
--Reputation of medical school: top 25-30
--Research: 1 year of cardiovascular research w/publications pending, short ophtho research project (no pubs), several presentations
--Honors in clerkships: everything except medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 @ wills
--# of programs you applied to: 40+
--Where invited for interviews: wills, emory, wash u, nyu, sinai, einstein, bu, rochester, umdnj, albany, st. lukes, tulane, st. vincents, north shore-lij, drexel
--Where matched: nyu/meeth (#3)
--Anything that helped your app: good performance on home & away rotations, be nice

other:
i decided to apply into ophtho pretty late (june), so it was a little hectic trying to get everything together. on top of that, my application was delayed 3 wks past the target date because of a recommender. those two factors probably cost me a bunch of interviews, so i feel lucky and relieved just to have matched. so to all future applicants, make sure you have multiple letter writers just in case a similar situation occurs.
=====================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Board Scores: 255
--AOA and class rank: top 1/3, no AOA
--Reputation of medical school: top 25
--Research: ophtho pubs
--Honors in clerkships: none
--# and where you did away rotations: 1; MCW
--# of programs you applied to: 25
--Where invited for interviews: 20
--Where matched: Wisconsin (#1)
--Anything that helped your app: heavy research in department, big-wig letter.
==================================

boards- 223
applied-35 places
interviewed-10
matched- #1
honors- med,peds,psych
no aoa
two optho papers submitted, 1 arvo presentation
did rotation at institution i matched
================================

--Board Scores: 242
--AOA and class rank: senior AOA, 30/142
--Reputation of medical school: avg at best
--Research: unpublished review article
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 @ Vanderbilt
--# of programs you applied to: 24
--Where invited for interviews: 12
--Where matched: Vanderbilt
--Anything that helped your app: The away rotation was priceless for me. I know I'm not the best applicant numbers wise, but when a program sees you're competent, a hard worker, and that you actually have a personality it sure can't hurt.
==================================

--Board Scores:step 1 238
--AOA and class rank: senior AOA, no class rank
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): top 50
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications): 1 year off from med school to do research; 1 presentation, 1 poster at ARVO, 3 publications (submitted)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine): honors in all except peds
--# and where you did away rotations:2 away, Penn, Baylor
--# of programs you applied to:51
--Where invited for interviews:UCSF, Baylor, WashU, Iowa, Penn, UIC, Oklahoma, Indiana, Loyola, Rush, Kentucky, Oregon, UC Irvine (total of 35)
--Where matched:Baylor!
--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 big letters
=============================

--Board Scores: 253, 255
--AOA and class rank: AOA, 1st in class
--Reputation of medical school: Mid-lower tier
--Research: some ophtho with no publications
--Honors in clerkships: n/a
--# and where you did away rotations: UT Memphis
--# of programs you applied to: 43
--Where invited for interviews: UTSW. UAB, U Arkansas, UT memphis, WashU, Oklahoma, UVA, Emory, UF Galveston, NYEEI, Brown, Cincinnati, Baylor
--Where matched: U Arkansas
--Anything that helped your app: big-wig letter of recs


Thanks for running the forum - I appreciate the chance to read what other people are up to. Hope my info helps.
=====================================

--Board Scores:247/99
--AOA and class rank: Non-AOA
--Reputation of medical school:Top 30
--Research: 2-month research elective with a big wig
--Honors in clerkships: Honors in family medicine, OB/GYN, and OPHTHO, high passes in everything else
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 clinical at home institution, 1 clinical away, and 1 research away
--# of programs you applied to: ~40
--Where invited for interviews: 19 (I went to 16)
Kellogg, NYEEI, Mount sinai, Montefiore, Yale, UWash, LIJ, Temple, Brown, Albany, Syracuse, Nassau, NYMC, St luke, Drexel, Bronx-Leb, Penn state, USF, Howard
--Where matched: #4 (my home institution)
--Anything that helped your app: Two strong ophtho letters (1 from the big wig that I do research with, 1 from the residency director of my home institution)Some people say doing an elective is a 2-way sword, but I think it can always help you to get noticed and is always a plus (their expectation for your ophtho knowledge/skill as a med student is really not that high and you can impress them if you make extra effort to do some reading before the rotation) The key is to impress the decision makers(residency director, chairman, and selection committee) during the elective.
Good luck to those applying next year.
========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Board Scores: step 1 (99)
--AOA and class rank: senior AOA
--Reputation of medical school: top 30
--Research: some ophtho with abstract/pubs pending at time of interview
--Honors in clerkships: all except surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 (UPenn)
--# of programs you applied to: 56
--Where invited for interviews: invited to about 30, went to 18 including NYU, NYEE, Columbia, Cornell, Cleveland Clinic, MEEI, BU, Baylor, UTSW, UNC, UVA, UCLA, Duke, UIC, etc.
--Where matched: UCLA
--Anything that helped your app: no big-wig letters from a chairman or anything, but one nice letter from a younger guy who is pretty well-known in his field. no phone calls.
==========================

--Board Scores: 244/99
--AOA and class rank: no AOA or rank at my school
--Reputation of medical school: top 10
--Research: 4 ophtho pubs (2 first auth), took 1 yr off for research
--Honors in clerkships: no grades at my school
--# and where you did away rotations: 0
--# of programs you applied to: 22
--Where invited for interviews: 20
--Where matched: #1
--Anything that helped your app: 2 big-wig letters, phone call, have an MS (but I don't think that helped)
===========================

--Board Scores: 246/99
--AOA and class rank: Junior AOA, no official rank.
--Reputation of medical school: Rinky-dink, bottom tier US MD school.
--Research: Some eye-related neuroscience with 2 minor presentations.
--Honors in clerkships: everything but OB/Gyn.
--# and where you did away rotations: Did 1- at the Mayo Clinic.
--# of programs you applied to: 35
--Where invited for interviews: 27 of 35 offered interviews. Went to: TT, UW (Seattle), OKC, UArk, UTMB, Mayo, UVA, UFL, USF, UW (Madison), Colorado, MCG.
--Where matched: Ooooooooklahoma! (2nd choice)
--Anything that helped your app: Prayer. Can't think of anything other than that and the above. My letters were from our surgery chair (a plastic surgeon), a pediatrician, and a community ophtho. They were good letters, but not anyone that an ophtho program director would know. No one made any phone calls, and I didn't do any real schmoozing.

I have been looking forward to filling out this form for a LONG time! It feels great to finally be on this end of things. Congrats to everyone who matched.

**Make sure you get involved politically in Oklahoma! 😉**

--Board Scores: Step 1 210 Step 2 226
--AOA and class rank: 18/104 AOA
--Reputation of medical school: LSU Shreveport
--Research: none
--Honors in clerkships: All except peds and ob/gyn
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 UT-memphis
--# of programs you applied to: 40
--Where invited for interviews: 14 of 40
--Where matched: Wake Forest
--Anything that helped your app: personality
====================

I'm in the army and matched at an army program. So I'm not sure how relevant my stats are, but I did also apply to the sfmatch and then withdrew back in december upon matching in the army.

--Board Scores: 237
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, top quartile
--Reputation of medical school: top 50
--Research: one small project submitted to arvo that was done with a well known attending
--Honors in clerkships: mostly A's, but no honors
--# and where you did away rotations: 2, both at army programs: walter reed and bamc
--# of programs you applied to: 32 civilian, 3 army
--Where invited for interviews:
civilian: Univ of Maryland, Drexel, Temple, St. Luke's, St. Vincent's, NYMC brooklyn & queens, Henry Ford, georgetown/wash hosp center, summa, arkansas, oklahoma, lsu shreveport, eastern virginia, WVU, Kansas, nebraska
army: all three programs
--Where matched: Walter Reed (#1 choice)
--Anything that helped your app: Even though my research project wasn't that great, I still think it helped a lot b/c it was with a well known attending that all of my interviewers asked about.
====================

Much Thanks to Dr. Doan and all that have contributed to this message board! An invaluable resource. 👍

--Board Scores: Step 1 = 246, Step 2 = Pending
--AOA and class rank: Senior AOA
--Reputation of medical school: average
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications) 1 non-ophtho w/ abstract presentation, 1 ophtho in progress
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine) Honors Medicine, Family Med, Ob/Gyn
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 away
--# of programs you applied to: 44
--Where invited for interviews: UIC, Texas Tech, LSU New Orleans, USF, UMDNJ, UCSF, St. Vincents, Nassau, King/Drew, Loma Linda, Drexel, Howard, MCG
--Where matched: #2 Texas Tech
--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) nope, just emphasized what was in my apps.

👍
===================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Andrew and everyone else on this forum! Congratulations to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--Board Scores: Step I 225/ Step 2 235
--AOA and class rank: no AOA
--Reputation of medical school: lmid to low tier
--Research: 1 ophtho project no pubs, 2 ophtho case reports publication pending
--Honors in clerkships: honors in all clerkships, except for high pass in medicine, surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 aways
--# of programs you applied to: ~40
--Where invited for interviews:Got about 10 offers
--Where matched: #3 choice (a community program)
--Anything that helped your app: no phone calls, one really strong letter from a big wig faculty
=======================

--Board Scores: Step I, 239
--AOA and class rank: senior AOA, top 25%
--Reputation of medical school: top 50
--Research: 1 rad onc publication; some ophtho, hoping to get published
--Honors in clerkships: everything but peds
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: ~40
--Where invited for interviews: invited 20, did 14
--Where matched: #6
--Anything that helped your app: lor from away rotation

I did about half my interviews at top places, half at good but not top places. I was surprised (and a bit disappointed) that I had to go down to #6.
=========================

--Board Scores: Step I 232/ Step 2 220
--AOA and class rank: IMG, 1st of 104
--Reputation of medical school: NA (Med degree in Greece)
--Research: reserach fellow in Canada for past year. Five articles accepte for pub, 2 more submitted and pending, multiple presentations.
--Honors in clerkships: honors in all clerkships, except ENT subclerkship.
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 (Boston for ohtho and Canada for OB/GYN)
--# of programs you applied to: 41
--Where invited for interviews:Got 2 offers
--Where matched: Did not match...
--Anything that helped your app: apparently nothing... maybe I am overshooting...
==========================

231/94
not AOA
unknown state med school
some ophtho research, 1 pub submitted
Honors in peds and FP, not Med or Surg
2 away rotations, 1 at university program and one at community program
applied to 58
received 15 interviews
went to 11 interviews
matched at #4 (university program rotated at)
No big-wigs or anything, but did have LOR from chairmen of program that I matched at.
I am an average applicant, don't let the insane stats of other applicants discourage you.
==============================

--Board Scores: Step 1 235-240
--AOA and class rank: Junior AOA
--Reputation of medical school: top 30, top 10 eye dept
--Research: one 1st author pub with big wigs
--Honors in clerkships: most at a hard school
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: 30
--Where invited for interviews: 15 of 30: Wilmer, Doheny, Michigan, Scheie, Wisconsin, UCSD, CPMC, BU, Tufts, etc, etc.
--Where matched: #11 of 11
--Anything that helped your app: very disappointed with the match. considering *other options* at this point. Unfortunately many programs subvert the match by trying to rank people they think will rank them #1 rather than ranking applicants according to their abilities. So, advice to future applicants: be unscrupulous just as program directors are. Top tier programs obviously get their pick, but tell a handful of middle tier programs you will rank them #1. You need to realize how much backroom dealing goes on in the match. If they say only 20% of matched applicants are AOA, look how people with AOA on this board matched. Some didn't, others did poorly. So a lot of the decision rides not on the applicant's credentials, but on other "backdoor" factors, like if you're somebody's lab slave for a year, kid of a colleague, from the midwest, south, etc. Programs (especially the mid-level ones) like to boast about how close to the top of their list they match, so they stack the deck in their favor. This happens to too many people every year.
===========================

--Board Scores: 261
--AOA and class rank: AOA/unknown
--Reputation of medical school: Avg. Solid ophtho department.
--Research: non-ophtho in undergrad with one pub. Ophtho since 2nd year clinical and non-clinical with 3 manuscripts (accepted and submitted)
--Honors in clerkships: Honor all 3rd year except for medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 away (not at the place I matched to)
--# of programs you applied to: 24
--Where invited for interviews: 19 (all top programs except for Michigan and Duke)
--Where matched: MEEI
--Anything that helped your app: Great letters from 3 ophtho faculty (well known) and possibly pubs. I did not do the phone call or write a letter stating who is my number one choice. In retrospect, probably a good idea though.
=====================

thanks for keeping the forum such a great source of information!

Here are my stats:

--Board Scores: step 1: 242/98 step 2: 259/99
--AOA and class rank: no AOA, no class rank
--Reputation of medical school: Foreign medical school
--Research: some ophtho with no publications, Biochemistry research with 1 publication
--Honors in clerkships: outstanding in surgery, rest above expected
--# and where you did away rotations: Wills
--# of programs you applied to: 46
--Where invited for interviews: 17 (including Wills, Duke, Emory, NYU, LSU, SLU, Kresge, Vanderbilt...)
--Where matched: Wills
--Anything that helped your app: 2 big-wig letter of recs, away rotation, 1 year at US Medical school
==========================

Board Scores: Step 1- 206, Step 2- 252
AOA: nope
Class rank: no class rank at my school
Repuation of med school: top 40
Research: 6 publications in oncology; one pending publication in optho.
Honors: Ophtho, FM, Imed, Peds, Surgery
High pass: OB/Gyn, neuro, psych
# of Away Rotations: 0
# of Programs applied to: 50+
Interviews: invited to 18, went to 16, ranked 14
Matched: Henry Ford!
Other: taking time off between undergrad and med school to travel and do research, letters of rec.
==========================

--Board Scores: 229/93
--AOA and class rank: no AOA, top 1/3
--Reputation of medical school: mid tier
--Research: started ophtho research late. no pubs. no other research
--Honors in clerkships:Honors in FP. Near Honors Surgery.
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 away rotation at not big-name program. no letter
--# of programs you applied to:57
--Where invited for interviews: invited to 16, went on 11
--Where matched: #5 choice
--Anything that helped your app: Doing a rotation where I matched. I am not a stellar applicant, so showing people you work hard and have a good personality goes a long way.
==========================

thanks to dr. doan and this super helpful board.

Board Scores: Step 1 236/ 95
--AOA and class rank: AOA/no class rank
--Reputation of medical school: Top 50
--Research: took one year off, presented at arvo and aao, several first author ophtho pubs (in ophthalmology and archives)
--Honors in clerkships: all except high pass in surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 rotation at my #1
--# of programs you applied to: 35
--Where invited for interviews: 22 went on 13 including wills, bascom, nyu, cornell, mt sinai, stanford, casey, ucsd, uc davis, uic, yale, tufts, baylor
--Where matched: #1
--Anything that helped your app: no md/phd, one strong letter from big wig at my school, away rotation really helped - as someone else has said on this board, if you are serious about a specific program, do a rotation there. it shows your sincere interest.

=============================

--Board Scores: Step 1 240-250
--AOA and class rank: Junior AOA
--Reputation of medical school: Unknown
--Research: Ophtho + Nonophtho with 2 ophtho pubs in major journals (nowhere near first author) + 1 abstract + case report pending
--Honors in clerkships: Honors in all but Surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: No aways, but not a bad idea in retrospect
--# of programs you applied to: ~47
--Where invited for interviews: Invited by 28 programs, went on 20 interviews, ranked 17 programs. NYU/MEETH, Iowa, Baylor, Bascom, Emory, Duke, Cleveland Clinic, UIC among others
--Where matched: Top Tier program across all categories
--Anything that helped your app: no phone calls, no aways, Two strong Ophtho letters from a Big Wig and lesser known faculty member, felt very good about my interview on that day.

Where you go to medical school matters, and who writes your letters matters if you're from a lesser known ophtho department
=======================

--Board Scores: Step 1 239/97 Step 2 - 233/94
--AOA and class rank: Senior AOA 82%ile of 160 person class
--Reputation of medical school: top 25
--Research: 1 year of research at NEI, M.S with Ophtho thesis, 1 AAO poster, 1 ARVO poster, 4 papers submitted, 1 published.
--Honors in clerkships: no honors at school, 95%ile for 3rd year grades
--# and where you did away rotations: 0
--# of programs you applied to: 30
--Where invited for interviews: UAB, Baylor, Stanford, George Washington, Yale
--Where matched:George Washington
--Anything that helped your app: Not sure; only got 5 interviews from 30 applications to a wide variety of programs. Research experience probably helped some.
======================

--Board Scores:225/91
--AOA and class rank: top 1/3
--Reputation of medical school: low teir(not ranked)
--Research: 1 ophth research project/no pubs
--Honors in clerkships: everything except med, surg, obgyn
--# and where you did away rotations:1
--# of programs you applied to:41
--Where invited for interviews:9
--Where matched:#1 (NOT where I did an away)
--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) strong interview skills and strong letters.
=======================

--Board Scores: 242/98
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, 2nd quartile
--Reputation of medical school: top 20
--Research: none
--Honors in clerkships: Surgery and Medicine
--# and where you did away rotations:no away otations
--# of programs you applied to:40
--Where invited for interviews: invited to 17, went on 13: UTSW, Baylor, UT Memphis, SLU, UVA, MCG, Case Western, Temple, Scott & White, UTSA, OU, UMKC, UM-Columbia
--Where matched: UTSW!! Woohoo!!
--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): none of above except LOR for well known ophtho chairman. My undergrad deg in chem engineering seemed to help, as well as took year off before med school to do missions work in foreign country, worked as engineer for short time. I think versatility really helps!

--Board Scores: Step 1: 233, Step 2: 222, Step 3: 222
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA, 2nd quartile
--Reputation of medical school: Top 50
--Research: some ophtho with no publications
--Honors in clerkships: None
--# and where you did away rotations: UMDNJ-Newark, Wilmer
--# of programs you applied to: 80
--Where invited for interviews: UMDNJ - Newark, Univ of Minnesota, Temple, Albany, Syracuse, SUNY-Brooklyn, Univ South Carolina, Eastern Virginia, Buffalo, LSU-Shreveport
--Where matched: Temple
--Anything that helped your app: non-ophtho research, some ophtho research, semi-fluent in Spanish, prior medicine residency