another typical what are my chances thread

[dude111222]

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wondering if some residents might be able to answer this one:

I am a current ms4 who didn't match into ophtho despite a good record. i've been thinking about applying for anesthesia next year (do a prelim 1st?)

what about my chances? esp. applying as a US graduate, rather than senior med student? [I am especially interested in the top programs]

top-25-50 school/aoa/248.
some ophtho research, nothing in anesthesia
many honors in clinical rotations

and no, I am not a "troll." just curious. also, should I jump right into a prelim medicine year for next year, or do something anesthesia-related, like some crit-care research/etc. I have contacts in ophtho, but none (yet) in anesth, and wonder if there's any benefit to the research route.

 

[el guapo]

Dude, you have AOA/248 US allopathic with research in the field and you went unmatched in ophtho?

Geez..that blowz, I am genuinely sorry to hear that. Did you underapply? No "safety" programs? Not interview well? I'm just curious, I knew ophtho was competetive, but that is just absolutely brutal.

I think you should be fine to match a great program in anesthesia, IF you get involved in the field and get AT LEAST two LORs, as strong as possible. Make sure you actually ENJOY the field, it IS high stress, life and death, with a great deal of responsibility, not all kick back. An anesthesiologist not 100% into his job will not be around for long, and you can probably guess why. As far as getting into the field research is prob. not necessary, just put in the clinical time somehow, get a prelim year where you can do an anesthesia and a critical care rotation.

Please share the rest of your story even though this isn't an ophtho board. How were interviews, etc. We are generating our rank lists and if you made some missteps in that department maybe we can learn a thing or two.

Best of luck.