SDN 2008 Match Poll

It's match time again and every year I collect and post applicants' stats anonymously. Your participation provides data that are not available elsewhere and are helpful to those who follow in your footsteps!

If you matched, then remember to join the American Academy of Ophthalmology. You can contact [email protected] for more information.

Consider this article by Ruben Sanchez, MD when making your match list:
http://www.medrounds.org/ophthalmology-pearls/articles/Sanchez-Match-Pearls.pdf

THIS THREAD IS CLOSED UNTIL AFTER MATCH DAY, JAN 17, 2008
Reminder: ranklists due by JAN 08, 2008, 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 if you prefer. (Click here for 2006 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)

Also, several faculty and I have started Pearls in Ophthalmology, which is a newsletter for new and current residents. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide you with review articles that will help new residents get up to speed and to stimulate review for current residents. If you would like to opt into this newsletter, then please subscribe at: http://www.medrounds.org/ophthalmology-pearls/2006/12/subscribe-to-free-pearls-in.html

These are anonymous stats I received:
=============================

Board Scores: Step 1 - 242 Step 2CK - 259
--AOA and class rank: Senior AOA
--Reputation of medical school: unranked
--Research: little research with no ophtho
--Honors in clerkships: Honor: medicine, FP, OB/GYN, Peds, Psych High Pass: surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 2
--# of programs you applied to: 44
--Where invited for interviews: 20
--Where matched: The Ohio State University
--Anything that helped your app: Didn't have any big wig letters or publications. Just a solid all around application. Decent amount of community service.
============================
--Board Scores: Step 1: 230, Step 2: 249
--AOA and class rank: not AOA
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) unknown, bottom half most likely
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications) 1 year off, 3 submitted for publication
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine) Family Med, all 3 ophtho electives
--# and where you did away rotations: 3
--# of programs you applied to: 50
--Where invited for interviews: 13
--Where matched: UC Davis!!!!
--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 wig letters and being a nice person!!
============================
--Board Scores: 224/92 and 244/99
--AOA and class rank: not AOA. rank unknown.
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) top 25.
--Research: some ophtho with pending, and some other pending publications, 1 year research in a different field
--Honors in clerkships: only surgery and one other. rest high pass.
--# and where you did away rotations: 3 altogether, 2 were aways but not where i matched.
--# of programs you applied to: ~45
--Where invited for interviews: ~15, went to 10
--Where matched: lower top tier / upper middle tier
--Anything that helped your app: A big-wig letter from a very nice person who really believed in me (I think that part matters) plus an additional strong ophtho letter given to them at the interview. If you sort of know what u want to do after residency, then be bold enough to bring it up in ur personal statement/interview - people who agree with ur views/ideas will love you /remember you for it. A year of research def helped for research-oriented programs, even in a different field. Definitely interview at ur favorite places last - there's a learning curve! Lastly, my advice is to NOT be discouraged from applying for ophtho by anyone or anything, but at the same time make sure you have back up plans... be realistic but optimistic through this loooong application process!
============================
--Board Scores: 240, 240
--AOA and class rank: not AOA upper half of class
--Reputation of medical school: middle to upper tier
--Research: some ophtho with no publications, and other non ophtho
--Honors in clerkships: Honors: Ophtho High Pass: OB, Surg
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: 40
--Where invited for interviews: 22 invites, went to 14
--Where matched: Case Western
--Anything that helped your app: good letters maybe (I really don't have a clue)
============================
--Board Scores: step 1: 246 step 2: 243
--AOA and class rank: no AOA, top 1/3
--Reputation of medical school: top 25
--Research: One trauma surgery poster, no ophtho research
--Honors in clerkships: Honor in Surgery, Med, Peds, Ophtho, neuro
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: 43
--Where invited for interviews: went to St. Louis, UVa, GW, Emory, Henry Ford, MUSC, Wake, Loma Linda, Indiana. Didn't go to BU and UNC
--Where matched: 2nd choice
--Anything that helped your app: just typical ophtho application. No thank you note/cards
============================
--Board Scores: 242/234
--AOA and class rank: not AOA
--Reputation of medical school: lesser-known med school
--Research: 2 publications pending, 3 abstracts
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine) Honors Ophtho (x2), Psych
--# and where you did away rotations: NYEEI, NS-LIJ, Wills
--# of programs you applied to: 60
--Where invited for interviews: Downstate, NYMC (Westchester & Brooklyn/Queens), St. Vincents, St. Lukes, NYEEI, Albert Einstein, Wills, Temple, Drexel, Georgetown, Tufts, Albany, Penn State, SUNY Upstate, Howard, Bronx-Leb, NUMC, NS-LIJ, UVA, SUNY Stonybrook.
--Where matched: Albert Einstein
--Anything that helped your app: Strong letters, Additional degree (MPH), additional research year.
============================
Board Scores: Step 1 - 222/90 Step 2CK - 234/94
--AOA and class rank: NOT AOA/ rank unknown
--Reputation of medical school: no one has ever heard of it
--Research: 1 year basic science ophthalmology at NIH
--Honors in clerkships: Honor: OB/GYN High Pass: surgery, peds, psych, family med Pass: Medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: 2
--# of programs you applied to: 60
--Where invited for interviews: 15
--Where matched: New York University
--Anything that helped your app: Didn't have any big wig letters, infact my school doesn't even have an ophthalmology residency program! I did however get 2 publications from my year at the NIH.
============================
--Board Scores: 247/99 Step I, Step II not taken
--AOA and class rank: AOA
--Reputation of medical school: top 25
--Research: 1 ophtho case report, several small ophtho pubs.
--Honors in clerkships: only surgery and medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: 40
--Where invited for interviews: 12
--Where matched: #2 Choice (top 5 ophthalmology program) -- was a toss up between it and what ended up being my #1
--Anything that helped your app: big-wig letter of rec, knowing people at where I matched as I did my away there.
============================
--Board Scores: Step 1 247
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA, class rank unkonwn
--Reputation of medical school: top 10
--Research: (Some non-ophtho, some ophtho with pending publication)
--Honors in clerkships: (Med., Peds, OB/Gyn, Family)
--# and where you did away rotations: 1
--# of programs you applied to: 30
--Where invited for interviews: (Went to) Baylor, UTSW, UT Houston, UAB, Duke, U Michigan, Iowa, Vanderbilt, UCLA, USC, Casey, Wash U
--Where matched: Duke
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: MD/PhD, great letter from Ophto)
============================
--Board Scores: 248/99 (no Step 2 yet)
--AOA and class rank: not AOA (but I am A-OK!)
--Reputation of medical school: top 50, growing ophtho department
--Research: (none, some ophtho with no publications, ophtho publications) 1 non ophtho publication, 2 ophtho in preparation, 1 year research fellowship during school, at a different institution (
outside funding)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery and medicine) Medicine Sub-I, both ophtho aways
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 aways in Philadelphia
--# of programs you applied to: 64
--Where invited for interviews: 35, went on 18 (Columbia, NYEEI, Yale, Vandy, Rochester, SUNY Buffalo, Albany, Cleveland Clinic, Penn, Wills, Albert Einstein, Wash U, Iowa, Oregon/Casey, CPMC, Temple, Drexel, UIC), cancelled 17 (UVA, UNC, SLU, Syracuse, Geisenger, Mt. Sinai, Utah, Oklahoma, Mayo, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Arkansas, Memphis, Minnesota, Tufts, UTSW, CWRU)
--Where matched: one of my top philly programs!!!
--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 did a LOT of ophtho rotations got to know my letter writers very well. I am lucky that my ophthalmology letter writers are respected names in the field. My year out was with a fantastic mentor who made me genuinely excited about my research, which I think showed. A non-ophtho reference from my psych attending who could speak a lot about my personal qualities.
============================
--Board Scores: Step 1: 245/99, Step 2: not yet taken
--AOA and class rank: unknown
--Reputation of medical school: top 3
--Research: 10 papers, 1 in ophtho
--Honors in clerkships: Honors in neuro, optho, medicine sub-I
--# and where you did away rotations: none
--# of programs you applied to: 30
--Where invited for interviews: 20: Wilmer, Utah, Duke, Baylor, Michigan, UCLA, USC, UCSD, Bascom, Wills, Tufts, Cleveland Clinic, UW-Madison, Iowa, Casey. Could not make: UCIrvine, UCDavis, Stanford, Yale
--Where matched: UCLA!!
--Anything that helped your app: big-wig letter of rec, HHMI fellowship (research background), reputation of med school
============================
Board Scores: Step 1: 248/99 Step 2:247/99
--AOA and class rank: Junior AOA, #4 in Class
--Reputation of medical school: not a top 50, but very good Ophtho department
--Research: some research, 1 ophtho paper published, abstract on the way
--Honors in clerkships: everything, except just a pass in Neurology and a high pass in Internal Medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: no aways
--# of programs you applied to: 40
--Where invited for interviews: Invited to 22, went on 16: UTSW, Baylor, Michigan, Bascom Palmer, UIC, Colorado, Boston, Tufts, Cornell, Columbia, University of Chicago, UT Houston, UT San Antonio, Kresge, Henry Ford, UNC
--Where matched:Colorado!!!
--Anything that helped your app: Great letters of rec
============================
--Board Scores: Step 1: 209/85 Step 2:236/98
--AOA and class rank: definitely not, bottom third
--Reputation of medical school: solid regionally, probably unknown nationally
--Research: graduate work with several projects in neurosurgery, several ophtho, several papers with a few first name author
--Honors in clerkships: ophtho x 3, high pass in surgery,medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: 2, did not match at either
--# of programs you applied to:~70
--Where invited for interviews:13, went on 12 including arkansas, lsu-shreveport, lsu-ochsner, minnesota, cook county/stroger, loyola, SUNY Downstate, UMKC, kansas, nebraska, EVMS, nassau
--Where matched: top half of rank list
--Anything that helped your app:
step 2 saved my bacon , grad degree maybe helped, faculty advisor and advocate from elite program definitely helped, normal person with a sense of humor and of course
============================
--Board Scores: 220 (89), not taken
--AOA and class rank: No AOA, top 50%
--Reputation of medical school: Unranked, large state school
--Research: none
--Honors in clerkships: Family med; HP in Med, Surg, Psych, Peds
--# and where you did away rotations: 1, Henry Ford
--# of programs you applied to: 56
--Where invited for interviews: HF, Beaumont, Kresge/WSU, Rush, Stroger-Cook Cty, Buffalo, SUNY Upstate, Albany, Howard, Downstate, Bronx-Lebanon, NYMC-BQ
--Where matched: Kresge
--Anything that helped your app: Strong letters, Good interview possibly?
============================
--Board Scores: Step1 199/ Step 2 195
--AOA and class rank: AOA
--Reputation of medical school: not ranked
--Research: some ophtho with publication pending (although not 1st/2nd author)
--Honors in clerkships: pediatrics
--# and where you did away rotations: 3 away rotations in southern region
--# of programs you applied to: 80
--Where invited for interviews: 5
--Where matched: middle-lower tier program
--Anything that helped your app: AOA, big wig letter plus glowing LORs from home school (according to interviewers) and worked hard at away rotations
============================
--Board Scores: 248/put off 2CK until after the match
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, top 25%
--Reputation of medical school: average state school
--Research: 1 month research elective with 2 publications as co-author
--Honors in clerkships: Ophtho, Surgery, Peds, Family Medicine ("high passes" in Medicine, OB, Psych)
--# and where you did away rotations: 0
--# of programs you applied to: 55
--# of invitations to interview: 25
--# of interviews attended: 15
--interview invitations: Loyola, Northwestern, Cook County, UW Madison, MCW Milwaukee, Mayo Clinic, Temple, Drexel, BU, UMDNJ, Nassau, St. Vincent's NYC, St. Luke's NYC, VCU, EVMS, UVA, GWU, Howard, UNC, LSU/Ochsner New Orleans, UTSW Dallas, UT Houston, CU Denver, CPMC San Francisco, UC Davis.
--Where matched: Top of my list of programs, all of which I felt privileged to attend and would have been happy to join.
--Anything that helped your app: being true to myself à examples include: writing a truly personal statement, articulating clear professional goals during interviews, asking non-ophtho faculty to write strong LOR, answering questions honestly during interviews, being genuinely enthusiastic to learn about both the programs and their people during the interview days, not doing away rotations despite peers being hyper-intense about "ophtho being so competitive; you have to do aways!", focusing on peer teaching and community service projects rather than research during med school (ie. focusing on my passions, not a residency-acceptance formula), having a broad non-science academic and extracurricular background, trusting my instincts, following the sage advice in the pertinent chapters on 4th year/applications/interviewing in Jeff Wiese's The Answer Book.
============================

Jill Hartle from the AAO e-mailed me and confirmed that AAO Membership forms will be mailed to everyone who matches after they receive the information from SF Match.

This is what she said:

From: Jill Hartle [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 9:46 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Future Resident Ophthalmologists

"Hi Andy, I got a great response to your posting regarding free membership for the match folks. Unfortunately, you were a bit ahead of us. We have not yet received the Match information so we have not been able to input the information into our database to begin communicating with these guys. We will respond to the 10 docs who emailed me and plan to get an email out to the entire Match group as soon as possible. It would be great if you could put something out again about this in a couple of months. Thanks for your help. The enthusiasm about the AAO is great! -- Jill"

--Board Scores: Step 1 266
--AOA and class rank: AOA, top 5%
--Reputation of medical school: top 25
--Research: 3 non-ophtho publications and a few ophtho posters and on-going projects
--Honors in clerkships: all but Psych
--# and where you did away rotations: none
--# of programs you applied to: 39
--Where invited for interviews: 27
--Interviews attended: 14 = UT Southwestern, Johns Hopkins, Baylor, Loyola, Univ. of Michigan, Northwestern, Washington Univ., Vanderbilt, Emory, Maryland, UCLA, UCSF, Univ. of Washington, Cleveland Clinic
--Where matched: UT Southwestern (my 1st choice)
--Anything that helped your app: having fun on the interview trail, Chairman's letter, prior to medical school work experience