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[Ophthodoc2018]

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[DrZeke]

Not sure you need to do more than 1 away rotation. You are a competitive applicant. I would do it outside the NE. Seems you spent enough time there.

Will you get a letter from the big name institution with which you did research between m1 and m2?




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[DrZeke]

Your paper application looks very strong to me especially with your scores, publications, motivation and letter from this well known attending. Aways can be exhausting and you need a lot of stamina to complete multiple. With your app you are more likely to hurt yourself than help yourself. However if you are confident that people love you and you are awesome then go ahead and do them. I think they benefit borderline applicants the most. You are far from a borderline applicant.

In the end there is no wrong or right answer.


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[DrZeke]

Resident and about to embark on fellowship in 5 months.

Not so experienced, maybe just observant and detail oriented to a fault.

Best of luck to you. I'm sure some others on here can also shed some light on aways.


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[EyingTheFuture1012]

Hi everyone!

I am a current MS3 applying to ophthalmology residency this year for the January 2018 match. My school's curriculum is sort of unique in the sense that we finish our core clerkships in February of our 3rd year and begin our 4th year electives in March 2017. So, I technically have a lot of time for electives/research (March until applications).

Firstly, I was born and raised in a northeastern state, went to high school, undergraduate, and medical school in the same state. I am not sure where I would exactly like to end up for residency, but the northeast is preferable (all family + friends are here). Nevertheless, I would still like to keep my options open all across the country.

Here is a brief summary of my profile:

Board Scores: Step 1: 250+, Step 2: N/A
--AOA and class rank: TBD
--Reputation of medical school: Midtier school in NE (~50 rank according to USNews)
--Honors in clerkships: Honors in 4 rotations, HP in 2, and currently completing my last clerkship.
--Research:
In between Ms1/Ms2, I did a summer research program at a top ophthalmology research institute with big researchers
-Submitted (first author) paper to 'Ophthalmology'
-Submitted to 'Survey of Ophthalmology' (2nd author) @ home institution
- Poster presentation (first author) @ ARVO 2016
-Two abstracts/posters from ARVO (my poster and 2nd author on another one)
-I plan to do a couple months of straight research during March/April 2017 @ my home institution (not very strong in ophthalmology)
--Other: I went on a cataract surgical mission trip in Africa in the summer between Ms1/Ms2

I know that NOT going to a top tier medical school with a strong ophthalmology program will hurt me, despite having strong research/scores/mission trip. Any advice of my chances of landing interviews at solid programs all across the US and/or Northeast?

I already applied to one away elective in the NE for summer 2017 (waiting approval). I assume that if I do another away in the NE, I will basically be shut out from other regions. I can do 3 aways all together, with 2 being in the NE, and 1 in midwest/Chicago area or is that overkill? I assume that the best shot I have of going to a good program is in the northeast, so I am unsure of what my strategy should be (do all aways in NE or diversify?).

Thank you in advanced for all your input. The ophthalmology administration at my home institute isn't the best with advice, so anything would be much appreciated.

Congrats on your academic success up to this point. Your board scores and strong relationship with research mentor will set you up well for interview season.

As far as away rotations go, I agree with Zeke. Background is I was an applicant this past year and also don't come from a top 10 medical school. Went on 2 away rotations outside of my geographic region. One away rotation provided the ability to know what I wanted in a residency program, but the second one was little overkill.

If there is a specific/dream program you desire, then go after it. But also understand just because you do an away rotation at a program does NOT garuntee an interview spot. If I were to do it all over again I would only do one away elective because I don't think it would've changed where I received interview offers nor impacted where I matched. Best of luck!

 

[EyingTheFuture1012]

@DrZeke @EyingTheFuture1012

I completely agree that doing 1 away might be the best idea.

Just one more question:

if I do ONLY 1 away at my 'dream' program' that happens to be in the NE but not in the same state as my medical school, will it close doors in other regions? Should I balance it by doing a 2nd one in a different region? or will it make 0 difference? Thanks!

During my interview trail, the locations which I did my away rotation rarely came up. Most programs probably don't look too closely at the application portion where you include electives.

I asked my mentor to contact a few programs outside of the Midwest on my behalf. Fortunately received interviews at all 4 programs. I believe this was more beneficial to getting interviews outside of my geographic region.