3rd year questions

Started by Kimv
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Kimv

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What are some good things for a new 3rd year student to do if I am thinking I may want to try to match in ophtho?

I'm in my 2nd week of an ophthalmology elective that I did just to fill some time and fulfill my school's surgery elective requirement. But I'm finding that I like it more and more. I don't want to say 100% that I want to be an ophthalmologist, but it's definitely something I could imagine myself happy doing. I guess it'll depend on how the rest of my clerkships go.

In terms of competitiveness: The only clerkship I've done so far is surgery, and though all the evals from the residents/attendings were very positive, I don't have the shelf grade or the final clerkship grade yet. Step 1 was 241, but no honors grades in the 1st 2 years, and my school does not participate in AOA. I have 2 non-ophtho journal pubs - "Neuroscience" and "Journal of the National Cancer Institute", but I am 6th and 3rd author.

What are some things I should start doing to beef up my application, aside from trying hard in my upcoming core clerkships (which I was going to do anyway)?

Also, what things, aside from doing more ophtho rotations, would you recommend to determine if this is really what I want?
 
Kimv said:
Also, what things, aside from doing more ophtho rotations, would you recommend to determine if this is really what I want?

Read the FAQ first: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=66427

Things to help 'beef' up your application: strong USMLE score, supportive LORs (must do ophthalmology electives/research to get these, and demonstrate commitment to the field (research, volunteering, and electives).