Advice Needed on ReApplying

Started by ZR1
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ZR1

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Ok. I need some advice and everywhere i go i get totally conflicting advice so i figured lets see what these guys have to say. Alright so somehow i managed not to match in ophtho this year. Sux, but its part of life and i'll move past it. Now i still wanna do ophtho. I matched at Christiana Care for my prelim year (which is suppsoed to be a competative prelim bc it is a very resident friendly program), but anyways the problem is its not a university nor does it have an ophtho program. Now grades and board scores and all that jazz are done with, nothing i can really do about that. I finished in the top half of the class and got a 230 on step1. Step2 i got murdered (not that i should make excuses) but i didnt study one day cuz i figured hey, it didnt matter and it was in the middle of interview season. Big mistake now as i have to reapply. Ok so now im thinking what do i need to do. The program has allowed me to do two away electives in ophtho, so first if i decide to do this i need to find a good program. if anyone knows if their program would be willing to take a visiting elective rotator (pgy1) please lemme know.
The other question is or whatever is that should i somehow get out of this match and do a year of unpaid research somewhere. The hard part about this is getting in contact with ppl and having htem respond in time. SO again, if anyone knows of anyone that wouldnt mind taking someone who would do research for them, lemme know.
So basically what to do with next year and help with any contacts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for ur time guys, i know i made this long.
Take care.
Congrats to those who matched. Thats awesome and im happy for all u guys.

Z
 
I would strongly advise you to do the prelim and not a year of research. I was in the same situation you are in last year and I chose to do research, which, looking back, was not the right choice. The point of doing a year of research is to work with someone well known in ophthalmology and to get a great recommendation letter from them, or to publish. But there is just not enough time from when you start working on your research to the time you have to re-apply for ophtho for someone to get to know you well enough to write you a very strong recommendation letter. And only a very, very strong letter will help you. So, you end up wasting a year, because the research only helps you marginally. The better thing to do is to go ahead with the prelim and get new letters from your ophtho electives. The other advantage of doing a prelim now is that if an ophtho spot becomes available next year you would have already completed your internship and would not have to waste a year at all. And spots in ophtho do open up, because people drop out or change programs. I'm sorry you did not match and I'm sure you feel terrible about it. But let me tell you, it is not the end of the world. I know, I have been there. If you want to be an ophthalmologist, then you will be one.
 
hey ronnin thanks for the advice, i appreciate it. and thanks for the closing comments as well.
 
well then so this leads me to ask if any current ophtho residents know if their program would welcome a pgy1 (visiting) rotator...if so plzzzz lemme know soon, im trying to put my schedule together 4 next year.
thanks
 
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