Sometimes life throws you curve balls. I really was shocked by my step one score of 207. My predicted score based on my avg for USMLE world and for NBME practice tests was a 245, go figure. Anyway, I was wanting to go into ophtho and was wondering if I have still have any kind of chance? If I do well in clerkships and get involved in research will I get any interviews? Second question is, if I don't match, but still want to go into optho do you think I should try to then match in internal medicine and then switch residencies after year one (I have no idea if I would then be more competitive to switch to ophtho after doing one year of internal med)? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Step 1 score of 207! is ophtho out?
- Thread starter doc4F4
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My initial thoughts are:
1- Talk to someone from your school. Get set up with a mentor.
2- You will most likely be less competitive after 1 year of internal medicine than a 4th year medical student.
3- Your step1 score is low, and that will make ophtho such a reach, but if you honor all of third year AND crush step 2 in July AND get the best letters of rec anyone has seen, then yes you have a chance.
4- Ophtho is a small, self selected field. If you are the only applying from your call, and the ophtho department stands behind you, you have a shot.
5- Have a back up, as even your best shot is suboptimal.
6- Maybe doing a year of research between 3rd/4th year will improve your chances. I doubt it will improve them enough to warrant taking a year off.
Most importantly, see #1 above.
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Here are some numbers on the optho match in case you didn't find them yet.
http://www.sfmatch.org/index.htm
http://www.sfmatch.org/residency/ophthalmology/about_match/match_report.pdf
I think you should still try for optho, you never know who might take an interest in your application, there's certainly no harm in trying (except the $ of applying). Excellent 3rd year grades and a solid Step 2 will take you a long way.
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The harsh reality is unfortunately YES. Even with a killer Step 2CK score you will be rejected by a lot of programs. Apply broadly and have a good backup plan. Sucks, but you only get one shot at Step 1.
Somewhere between 1/3 to 1/4 ophtho residencies employ a USLME cutoff score so your choices have become more limited. The most important factors left that will be important in your application will be the grades in your required third year clinical rotations, ophthalmology recommendation letters and performance in your ophthalmology elective. These factors tend to be more important than your step 1 scores. Ophthalmology publications, medical school, and class rank, AOA or grades are also important. Taking a year off to do research may also help if you are a marginal applicant. Everything else in your application will also be considered when deciding on whether to offer you a interview. The interview is the most important factor in residency selection.
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Rescores are useless on the computer system.
Optho is one of those programs where a 230 cuttoff is essentially standard. If a PD tells you that "we dont have a step 1 cuttoff" they are lying. How does a residency weed through 1500 applications for 2 spots. Yeah, thats how. Who has AOA and what is your step score.
Foolish. Stupid. Waste of time. Lose potential applicants. Yadda yadda. Its true, but unfortunately there must be some objective approach to narrowing down which applicants get the time and effort of an interview.
Setting up a mentorship is not a bad idea. You need some one in your program to guide you. Honestly, though, if they give you a "maybe this" and "potentially that" start thinking about something else.
Optho, Ortho, Neurosurg, Derm, these are fields that take the best of the best and never have a spot unfilled. They look for reasons to get rid of people, not excuses for why you dont have a perfect record. There are more people than spots, and more people with perfect applications than spots.
While you plan your strategy for Optho, start to consider something else.
Optho is one of those programs where a 230 cuttoff is essentially standard. If a PD tells you that "we dont have a step 1 cuttoff" they are lying. How does a residency weed through 1500 applications for 2 spots. Yeah, thats how. Who has AOA and what is your step score.
Foolish. Stupid. Waste of time. Lose potential applicants. Yadda yadda. Its true, but unfortunately there must be some objective approach to narrowing down which applicants get the time and effort of an interview.
Setting up a mentorship is not a bad idea. You need some one in your program to guide you. Honestly, though, if they give you a "maybe this" and "potentially that" start thinking about something else.
Optho, Ortho, Neurosurg, Derm, these are fields that take the best of the best and never have a spot unfilled. They look for reasons to get rid of people, not excuses for why you dont have a perfect record. There are more people than spots, and more people with perfect applications than spots.
While you plan your strategy for Optho, start to consider something else.
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Slim and None.....and both are on vacation!
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Everybody's comments here are the same you hear from everybody...who's not doing optho.
The only optho resident that I actually know, had a much brighter outlook on the situation. His experience through the match was that optho was a "good ole boys" club, and much more about who you know than what you know.
If your institution has a program, meet the people, work with them. If they like you, there's an in at your program. Also if they like you - because the group is so small nationally - they can make a phone call to one of their old resident buddies at the program you want to go to, and your application gets dug out from underneath the step 1 cutoff pile. Then you impress at the interview.
Now, with that said, you won't get 15 interviews by way of your application like the guy who scored 260 did. But, networking can get you the 2 to 3 that you need, and no score is worth giving up your goals over.
The only optho resident that I actually know, had a much brighter outlook on the situation. His experience through the match was that optho was a "good ole boys" club, and much more about who you know than what you know.
If your institution has a program, meet the people, work with them. If they like you, there's an in at your program. Also if they like you - because the group is so small nationally - they can make a phone call to one of their old resident buddies at the program you want to go to, and your application gets dug out from underneath the step 1 cutoff pile. Then you impress at the interview.
Now, with that said, you won't get 15 interviews by way of your application like the guy who scored 260 did. But, networking can get you the 2 to 3 that you need, and no score is worth giving up your goals over.
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i really agree with this 👍 you have solid grades, what you need now is a mentor and to kickass on 3rd year.
a year from now, you might be justified in self-selecting yourself out of ortho, but for now it's too early to tell.
