question for Dr. Doan

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

madmax1000

New Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2003
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hi everyone and Dr. Doan,
I had a quick question, so I am not good at standardized tests and I got a 217 on Step 1; unfortunately I didn't honor any clerkships because of my shelf exam scores (need >90% to honor), even though I had a 90-95% (from orals and the rotation) going into it. I was informed by my deans office that one of my letter writers addressed this issue in one of my LOR, saying I was a very strong student who performed well above my clerkship grade.
That being said, 2 of my letters are from prominent faculty at top 5 ophtho programs, were I have spent 6 weeks at each place. I also have 2 papers in progress from these places and I am told my letters of rec are excellent.
Unfortunately so far I have only 1 interview at my home school (an average midwest program) and that is it. I don't know what to do, I was thinking of withdrawing from the match, doing a year of research, and then reapplying. Whats your advice? Anyone thinking the same, what should I do?
Thanks.
madmax1000

Members don't see this ad.
 
Andrew_Doan said:
Sit tight and wait to see how many interviews you get by the end of November. If you're able to get ~7 interviews, then give it a shot. Good luck.

I know the question was directed toward Andrew, but here are my 2 cents. I personally know of one applicant who had one interview at his home school. He interviewed, but later pulled out of the match. He would have been accepted had he stayed in. Don't select yourself out of anything. Let the programs do that for you. If things really aren't looking good, pick a backup career and get your application in line this year. You owe it to yourself, however, to see the ophtho thing through to the end.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Have a backup plan. And consider you backup plan carefully. It's easy to say "OPH or bust" and have your plan be to re-apply year after year until you match, however, the reality of that plan is not very attractive. Certainly, some people will do this and that's fine. But I would be very introspective and consider whether or not an alternative specialty would make you equally happy without the uncertainty of re-application. The statistics are against re-applicants, and I know from my experience that the prospect of having no where to go after your intern year is very disheartening.

Most importantly, have a set plan of action before match day. Otherwise, you will be pounced on with opinions from your medical school deans, OPH attendings, classmates, etc. I was heavily recruited to scramble into FP or IM when I went unmatched for OPH. Clearly there are better choices, but people will take advantage of you in your time of weakness to persuade your career choices toward their own gains. A solid plan is the anti-dote for misdirection and the flailing around that happens after going unmatched.

That being said, keep the faith! There are people with lower scores than yours who matched very well. In fact, there have been many people with much higher scores and stats who didn't match. One thing is for sure, though....you will never match if you withdraw from the match. I wouldn't put too much weight in a research year. It can bolster your application a little bit, but you can get stuck in that position and end up spending years in the research-application-research circle, all the while having the prospect of a match. The statistics say US seniors have the highest match rate, with US grads dropping to less than half that rate.
 
These are valid points. I agree with the above because I'm not sure how much a "research year" or extra-year truly helps. It does look good, however, if during the research year the applicant wrote several first-authored papers. Realistically, not everyone who does a research year will publish first-authored papers.

Some will state that applicants with ~7 interviews will likely match; on the other hand, I knew applicants who matched with less than 7 interviews, and I knew applicants who did not match with more than 7 interviews.

You owe it to yourself to follow through with this match unless you received zero interviews.
 
Thanks Dr. Doan, mdkurt, and GeddyLee,
I truly appreciate your help. Unfortunately, right now I am ophtho or bust, so I am deeply concerned. I guess I'll hold out for interviews; but if its less than 7 is it better to stay in the game, maybe not match, then do a research year and reapply; or to stop, start my research year now, and then graduate next year and apply next year, so I would still be considered a US senior?
thanks,
madmax1001
 
I would not withdraw, it only takes one program to accept you. Regardless of which program(s) that might be, it is what you decide to do while in residency that will determine what type of ophthalmologist that you will become.
 
To me, it's reasonable to do one year of research, but not more. Stay out too long out of medical school and it harms your career and clinical skills.

Many medical students are afraid of work, but I'd recommend general surgery if you don't match. That is a good stepping stone for unexpected vacancies in ENT, plastic surgery, urology, ortho, general surgery (and eventually either remain as a general surgeon, vascular, colo-rectal, etc), and even ophthalmology, to some extent.

Ophthalmology is a fine field but other surgical fields are equally good. Hand surgery and plastic surgery are good fields that involve microsurgery, high patient satisfaction, and clinical work in the office.

If you do internal medicine, you may have to stick with it, become an internist, and do no surgery.
 
madmax1000 said:
Hi everyone and Dr. Doan,
I had a quick question, so I am not good at standardized tests and I got a 217 on Step 1; unfortunately I didn't honor any clerkships because of my shelf exam scores (need >90% to honor), even though I had a 90-95% (from orals and the rotation) going into it. I was informed by my deans office that one of my letter writers addressed this issue in one of my LOR, saying I was a very strong student who performed well above my clerkship grade.
That being said, 2 of my letters are from prominent faculty at top 5 ophtho programs, were I have spent 6 weeks at each place. I also have 2 papers in progress from these places and I am told my letters of rec are excellent.
Unfortunately so far I have only 1 interview at my home school (an average midwest program) and that is it. I don't know what to do, I was thinking of withdrawing from the match, doing a year of research, and then reapplying. Whats your advice? Anyone thinking the same, what should I do?
Thanks.
madmax1000

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I definitely share Madmax's fears and concerns. I have only 3 interview invitations so far, and they include my home school and the 2 lowest-ranked programs. I am holding onto the slim chance that perhaps things will change once the supposedly-wonderful Deans Letter is broadcasted to Match Universe, which brings up the question: how much does the Dean's Letter matter, if at all? Thanks.
 
so dr doan, if most programs have indeed already selected the students they are going to interview, would this mean that if you havent heard from programs, then you probably wont be hearing from them at all...i mean, is there any reason, some schools are waiting to send out invites?
 
ZR1 said:
so dr doan, if most programs have indeed already selected the students they are going to interview, would this mean that if you havent heard from programs, then you probably wont be hearing from them at all...i mean, is there any reason, some schools are waiting to send out invites?

Well I hoping that all the invites haven't been sent out yet. A lot of my confirmation letters have "you can hear by" dates after the deans letter comes out. Still hopeful.

:scared: ... gotta calm myself down ... :cool: ... just have to be patient.

:luck:
 
hi everyone,

so once you have an interview, do board scores not matter anymore? is it down to how well you do in the interview? are "courtesy" interviews the same way?

thanks,
cyclops
 
cyclops said:
hi everyone,

so once you have an interview, do board scores not matter anymore? is it down to how well you do in the interview? are "courtesy" interviews the same way?

thanks,
cyclops

Hmm...I'd like to know what everyone's input on this too.
Has anyone been granted a "courtesy" invite -- and matched?
 
cyclops said:
hi everyone,

so once you have an interview, do board scores not matter anymore? is it down to how well you do in the interview? are "courtesy" interviews the same way?

thanks,
cyclops

I think they matter less after interviews are granted.

I'm not sure about courtesy interviews. Just be thankful they interview you! ;)
 
Top