Posted in advance of the Jan 2019 Ophthalmology Match Results.
To Ophthalmology Applicants who did not match Jan 2019:
I am LuckyOphtho. Last year, I did not match ophthalmology Jan 2018.
Maybe I drew the short straw? Or maybe I was not a competitive applicant? Who knows… The only thing that I knew for sure was that I loved ophthalmology.
This year, through perseverance and luck, I have managed to secure a July 2019 first year ophthalmology residency position at a southern USA program. During my time on the interview trail for July 2019 vacancies and for July 2020 general SF match positions, I met many competitive re-applicants. Some of them were completing their preliminary year (like me) or even starting a categorical program, and some of them were completing a year of research via an ocular pathology fellowship (remember that other funded research opportunities exist!).
I even met an MD / PhD (great guy) who failed to match in the general SF match 2 separate times! At the airport after our interview day for a vacancy position, he told me that he was going to give up. Reflexively, I told him that he should not give up if he loves ophthalmology. And lo and behold, he was offered the vacancy position!
So you have three options.
- Complete a research year then re-apply the next general match cycle
- Complete your preliminary year then re-apply for both vacancies (if any) and the next general match cycle
- Move on to another field
Your choice will largely depend on how much you want to be an ophthalmologist and on your current application and where it will be by the next application cycle.
If you feel that moving on to another field is the most appropriate for you, know that it is not the end, but rather it is a new beginning. We are truly blessed to be stewards of health for fellow human beings. You will understand once you start managing patients as a resident…
If you re-apply via either of the two paths, a lot of the strength to endure will come from understanding how much you love ophthalmology. Remember to express that understanding and level of love to both mentors and interviewers, hence why you chose to persevere and re-apply. From here on out, you must focus on what makes you unique! It should be expressed explicitly in your next personal statement and be the focus of additional things you will add to your CV as the months progress.
As someone who has gone through the distress that you are experiencing and made the hard decision to re-apply, I sincerely understand and want to help. I hope that my story and thoughts above can provide you solace, direction, and encouragement.
Beyond sharing my story and thoughts, I have decided to take things one step further. I would like to help ophthalmology re-applicants in a systematic and rigorous way. As a result, my research mentor at the Wilmer Eye Institute and I are implementing a research study on how to optimize ophthalmology re-applicant success! Besides the de-identified re-application data that we will be getting from SF Match, I believe we will find a lot of value through directly surveying and / or interviewing applicants who did not match and will be re-applying to ophthalmology.
Phase 1 of the plan is to look at the objective data provided by reviewing the applications of past re-applicants. Phase 1 is currently in progress. Then the *planned* Phase 2 will use those findings to guide the development of specific survey / interview questions to ask new re-applicants.
If you would like to contribute to the study to help optimize ophthalmology re-applicant success,
please personally message me your name and an email address that you check somewhat regularly. In good faith, I will keep your information private. I expect to reach out to you via email by September 2019 at the latest. The survey and / or interview (free response questions) will be entirely anonymous at both mass data collection and reporting in the manuscript.
Nevertheless, please use this thread as a community to discuss your experiences, thoughts, and insights.
Good luck and thanks for your contribution to the study,
LuckyOphtho
