Applying to ophtho and xyz at the same place

[GuP]

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What is the consensus on applying for ophtho and another field at the same hospital? Most, if not all, ophtho residencies are large university institutions and they tend to have other residencies. Lets say one applies to ophtho and ENT/rads/ortho/etc at the same place. Would this put your ophtho spot in jeopardy? Or, since it is a big place, no one would really find out? I know there will be institutional variability but I just wanted to get the overall vibe about double applying. Has anyone done it?

 

[V05]

I am an ophthalmology fellow.

I do not encourage double applying- it will work against you if you tell them (you are REALLY not interested in our specialty). If you do not tell them and they find out, it is also disasterous (you are dishonest).

In my opinion, double applying can only work against you.

It is also too time/energy consuming to double apply the specialties you listed. You also need to apply for internship- that is TRIPLE apply!

 

[GuP]

I am an ophthalmology fellow.

I do not encourage double applying- it will work against you if you tell them (you are REALLY not interested in our specialty). If you do not tell them and they find out, it is also disasterous (you are dishonest).

In my opinion, double applying can only work against you.

It is also too time/energy consuming to double apply the specialties you listed. You also need to apply for internship- that is TRIPLE apply!

What I am trying to find out is if the PD/chair/ will discover that you have double applied. Obviously, you don't want to volunteer info but if you are asked, you should be honest. I am not sure if this question is regularly asked on the interview trail - someone care to comment on this?

About the time/energy: I think it is time well spent to secure a job come July. I know it's a pain in the ass but ophtho is very competitive and it is always good to have an alternative plan.

 

[4424]

i wouldn't recommend it but if you do, i would definitely suggest not applying to the same institution. and the question during the interview of "what is your backup if ophthalmology didn't work out" was asked a few times.

if you did have to stay at the same institution for location reasons, you probably should just apply to a prelim position there and hope they could keep you on after your pgy-1 year but i personally would not dual apply to the same institution.

 

[FutureOph123]

The ophtho application process is so tough and time consuming that I would definitely not recommend double applying in a competitive specialty for a backup. Do NOT double apply to the same institution for sure. Plus, if you put your full effort into ophtho, why would you be able to match in another tough specialty? If you want to apply to a few categorical medicine positions as a backup, and schedule them in late january... then by all means. Also, if you do not match into ophtho and gave a halfway effort to match into oto, you probably will not match into it either, and you may have shot yourself in the foot for oto/etc. in the next application cycle. I think you need to be dedicated to ophtho to get the desired effect (good program, match, etc.) Nobody asked me what my backup was or if I was applying to two places, but maybe they would have if I had 5 ortho electives or something.

 

[MR1]

I would be very cautious double applying esp to the same program. It is a real possibility that the PD's of both programs could find out, even in a large academic center. The thing is there is no way to know before hand if those 2 PD's would or wouldn't find out and if they did I think it would hurt you

I for one on 12 interviews was never asked about my back up plan.

Even if the PD's of each program don't talk when your dean's letter goes out it will probably have all the rotations you have done. So if you are applying to ortho/ent/rads, etc also, those rotations will be there and you might get asked about it on your interview.

Lastly I agree with whoever said there is not enough time to do this, if you were considering medicine as a back up then yes would would have time. Specialities like what you mentioned though require the same if not more effort to get into compared to ophtho.

good luck with whatever you decide to do though, I know this process is stressful