Ophtho credentials

[Svmophtho]

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Hi- I'm new to the SDN site and actually just had a question regarding if I am a 'competitive' applicant for ophtho. I just finished 3rd year at a fairly large, well-known medical school. My Step 1 is 232/99. In my rotations, I received 3 honors, 4 high passes, and unfortunately I have 1 pass in surgery. I honored my ophtho surgical sub, peds, psych; the rest were high passes). My school had a notorious history for being very very selective in giving out honors.

In addition to the above, I know my ophtho department well. I am writing a case report with one of the physicians I've known since 1st year and working on a project with thr dept chairman as well. After this year's grades I thought it may be necessary to take 1 year off for research and the department set me up with a prominent ophtho and allowed me a nomination for a prestigious medical student research fellowship which we are applying for. I've held leadership positions in ophtho student groups since 2nd year. I guess my main concern is that despite board score and research, my 3rd year grades will hinder ms from a residency spot. Any thoughts?

 

[JMK2005]

Hi- I'm new to the SDN site and actually just had a question regarding if I am a 'competitive' applicant for ophtho. I just finished 3rd year at a fairly large, well-known medical school. My Step 1 is 232/99. In my rotations, I received 3 honors, 4 high passes, and unfortunately I have 1 pass in surgery. I honored my ophtho surgical sub, peds, psych; the rest were high passes). My school had a notorious history for being very very selective in giving out honors.

In addition to the above, I know my ophtho department well. I am writing a case report with one of the physicians I've known since 1st year and working on a project with thr dept chairman as well. After this year's grades I thought it may be necessary to take 1 year off for research and the department set me up with a prominent ophtho and allowed me a nomination for a prestigious medical student research fellowship which we are applying for. I've held leadership positions in ophtho student groups since 2nd year. I guess my main concern is that despite board score and research, my 3rd year grades will hinder ms from a residency spot. Any thoughts?

I think you should do fine. No need to do a research year unless you want to. Apply broadly and you should match. If you're gunning for a top 10, then you may need extra help.

 

[200UL]

Everything on your application looks fine to me (including grades and Step 1 score). They are in the ball park so you will get looks. It appears your letters will be strong and from big wigs so you could rank higher than even some of the applicants with 250s out there if I were reviewing your application (stong letters are more imporant than board scores to me). I view everyone 230 and above as pretty much equal.

I hope you are doing the year of research because you want to (not simply trying to improve the application). Not sure if you need it. With it, however, you may get even more looks from the top programs.