Help Me Find Best Fit Programs

[ophthoorbust]

Hi all,

Long term lurker of the forum, and I'm excited to finally post on here. I'm trying to see what are some recommendations of programs to apply for next cycle, particularly if top programs are realistic for me as well as California programs. While I will apply for a LOT of programs, I'd like to see if I can have a little more specificity.

MS3 in California, applying next cycle (not taking year off)

Step 1: 249; Step 2: Will not show up on applications
AOA: Probably not
Clinical grades: Honors in Neuro and ophtho only (unfortunately H/P/F system that is very strict) ---> Is this a red flag?

Research Publications:
-Non-ophtho: 3 1st author published, 3 co-author published (2nd-4th author), 2 under review
-Ophtho: 1 1st author under review, 2 1st author in progress, 1 second author in progress, 2 case reports in progress. All of this I'm *hoping* will be published by the time I apply.

Note: I have 2-3 other ophtho projects in progress, but they are in early phase so I'm not sure if I'll publish for them before I apply.

Conference presentations:
-Non-ophtho: 3 at local/state conferences
-Ophtho: 4 abstracts submitted to ARVO (1 1st author, 3 2nd author), 2 abstracts submitted to ASCRS (1 1st author, 1 2nd author)

I've been networking my butt off, and I anticipate to have a couple strong letters from faculty at my school.

Really appreciate your help, and I hope to pay it forward!

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[EyeApply]

You will likely get a good number of interviews. No one can tell you about “fit” from your step score and publications. That is something you find for yourself on away rotations or during interviews. You shouldn’t worry about which programs to apply because you will likely apply to a over 70% of the programs like everyone else. Don’t worry about honors- unless you get AOA no one cares. If you are aiming to match at a top program you will need either AOA, come from a top medical school, have done something incredible, or have really strong letters from someone famous in ophtho.