Incoming MS1 wanting to get a head start on ophtho-- how to best prepare myself?

[gomernation]

I'm matriculating to medical school this year and wanted to ask this forum for advice on how to best prepare myself for applying to ophthalmology residency programs. I understand it may be premature to narrow my specialty interests this early, but ophtho seriously appeals to me because of its work/life balance, ability to seriously improve patient QoL, interesting pathology and research avenues, and room for global/community health. Also during undergrad I worked part time at a oculoplastics practice and did community health work with another ophthalmologist whose lifestyle left a huge impact on me (they owned their own practice, taught at big universities as adjunct faculty, and did global health work by traveling to countries that lack the level of ophthalmic care we have in the U.S. and doing pro bono cataract surgeries/teaching surgery to physicians there). For these reasons I'd like to prepare as best I can for a potential ophtho match.

My question is: how can I get a head start on my residency application? What do you think residency directors look most closely at when reviewing applications beyond grades/honors and good STEP scores? Off the top of my head I can think of: field-specific research (papers/posters/conferences); recommendation letters from home institution and away rotation attendings; interesting electives... anything else that would be considered useful or impressive?

I'm also planning on reaching out to ophtho faculty at my med school early in MS1 to ask to hop on research projects. What areas of ophtho research are considered "hot" at the moment? For the academic faculty on this forum: what research skills/attributes would be attractive in a medical student? Fwiw I did research in a basic science lab during undergrad, have 5 pubs in good journals (average IF ~15), and have extensive experience with mouse genetics and molecular biology. I'll have a good 2-3 months before school starts so I am thinking of teaching myself python/R and advanced biostats for clinical projects but not sure how useful those will be in the world of ophtho research...

Your help would be much appreciated!

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[martianmonster]

I'm matriculating to medical school this year and wanted to ask this forum for advice on how to best prepare myself for applying to ophthalmology residency programs. I understand it may be premature to narrow my specialty interests this early, but ophtho seriously appeals to me because of its work/life balance, ability to seriously improve patient QoL, interesting pathology and research avenues, and room for global/community health. Also during undergrad I worked part time at a oculoplastics practice and did community health work with another ophthalmologist whose lifestyle left a huge impact on me (they owned their own practice, taught at big universities as adjunct faculty, and did global health work by traveling to countries that lack the level of ophthalmic care we have in the U.S. and doing pro bono cataract surgeries/teaching surgery to physicians there). For these reasons I'd like to prepare as best I can for a potential ophtho match.

My question is: how can I get a head start on my residency application? What do you think residency directors look most closely at when reviewing applications beyond grades/honors and good STEP scores? Off the top of my head I can think of: field-specific research (papers/posters/conferences); recommendation letters from home institution and away rotation attendings; interesting electives... anything else that would be considered useful or impressive?

I'm also planning on reaching out to ophtho faculty at my med school early in MS1 to ask to hop on research projects. What areas of ophtho research are considered "hot" at the moment? For the academic faculty on this forum: what research skills/attributes would be attractive in a medical student? Fwiw I did research in a basic science lab during undergrad, have 5 pubs in good journals (average IF ~15), and have extensive experience with mouse genetics and molecular biology. I'll have a good 2-3 months before school starts so I am thinking of teaching myself python/R and advanced biostats for clinical projects but not sure how useful those will be in the world of ophtho research...

Your help would be much appreciated!

I think your head is in the right place. Research and making strong ophtho connections are probably the most important things you can do. Of course, none of that really matters if your grades/board scores aren't there. Learning biostats will serve you well... If you keep to this formula and are a good likeable person you should do fine.

 

[LightBox]

I'm matriculating to medical school this year and wanted to ask this forum for advice on how to best prepare myself for applying to ophthalmology residency programs. I understand it may be premature to narrow my specialty interests this early, but ophtho seriously appeals to me because of its work/life balance, ability to seriously improve patient QoL, interesting pathology and research avenues, and room for global/community health. Also during undergrad I worked part time at a oculoplastics practice and did community health work with another ophthalmologist whose lifestyle left a huge impact on me (they owned their own practice, taught at big universities as adjunct faculty, and did global health work by traveling to countries that lack the level of ophthalmic care we have in the U.S. and doing pro bono cataract surgeries/teaching surgery to physicians there). For these reasons I'd like to prepare as best I can for a potential ophtho match.

My question is: how can I get a head start on my residency application? What do you think residency directors look most closely at when reviewing applications beyond grades/honors and good STEP scores? Off the top of my head I can think of: field-specific research (papers/posters/conferences); recommendation letters from home institution and away rotation attendings; interesting electives... anything else that would be considered useful or impressive?

I'm also planning on reaching out to ophtho faculty at my med school early in MS1 to ask to hop on research projects. What areas of ophtho research are considered "hot" at the moment? For the academic faculty on this forum: what research skills/attributes would be attractive in a medical student? Fwiw I did research in a basic science lab during undergrad, have 5 pubs in good journals (average IF ~15), and have extensive experience with mouse genetics and molecular biology. I'll have a good 2-3 months before school starts so I am thinking of teaching myself python/R and advanced biostats for clinical projects but not sure how useful those will be in the world of ophtho research...

Your help would be much appreciated!

Ummm, you just thinking about Ophtho gives you an edge compared to >90% of applicants out there. I did not even know that Ophtho existed until Spring semester of my 3rd year and somehow I matched. But then again, the CVs of today's Ophtho applicants are truly amazing. I'm pretty sure that I would never match today I also agree that Ophthoquestions is indispensable.