MS III late interest in ophtho

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Hey guys,

Im a third year medical student, and wanted to know how important is research when applying. My step 1 score is little over last yrs avg for ophtho(i got 238), and im ranked in the top 1/3 of my class. However, I dont have ANY research experience in medical school. I didnt think I would do well enough to do ophtho (and so i didnt pursue any research) , but after getting my step 1 score, im realy looking into it. Will it hurt my chances significantly with no research? Also, will it be beneficial to attend the AAO conference in chicago this year? Do medical students actually attend this conference (bc from the looks of things, the lectures seem to be geared towards attendings, and residents). Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[drizzt3117]

you won't benefit from going to conferences if you're not presenting, at least for application purposes.

 

[ACSurgeon]

Hey guys,

Im a third year medical student, and wanted to know how important is research when applying. My step 1 score is little over last yrs avg for ophtho(i got 238), and im ranked in the top 1/3 of my class. However, I dont have ANY research experience in medical school. I didnt think I would do well enough to do ophtho (and so i didnt pursue any research) , but after getting my step 1 score, im realy looking into it. Will it hurt my chances significantly with no research? Also, will it be beneficial to attend the AAO conference in chicago this year? Do medical students actually attend this conference (bc from the looks of things, the lectures seem to be geared towards attendings, and residents). Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

I'd suggest you talk to an ophtho attending (or even the PD) about this ASAP. I hear it is very competitive and no research can be detrimental. You're still early at this point. However, third year will fly by so you better act fast. You should be able to pick up a clinical project/case series that you can work on during third year. You might want to block off a month in 3rd or 4th year for research. If your preliminary data seems presentable, you might be able to submit an abstract to conferences before next September.