I have heard that a lack of a home program in a given specialty is a significant disadvantage for applicants into that specialty due to less research opportunities and less opportunity to make connections in the field. Do any current students here have thoughts on the lack of an ophthalmology program? If you were theoretically very interested in ophthalmology, is it better to look to other medical schools?
I had the very same question as you last year and was stuck between UT Southwestern (strong ophtho program) and Mayo AZ. I ended up choosing Mayo because as absolutelynot said most research projects are not going to involve much in person interaction and the Research Dean at Mayo AZ is very receptive to you reaching out to other people at the other campuses.