Taking Step 2 For Ophthalmology Thoughts

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When should I take Step 2?


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big study

BigStudy
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I have heard different things about the best time to take Step 2. Some say that choosing your Step 2 test date depends on your Step 1 score competitiveness and the general strength of your application. If you have a strong application, then it is best to wait because Step 2 can only stand to hurt you, but if you are not as strong in some areas it is best to take Step 2 early and do extremely well if you plan to go into Ophtho…

Others say that taking Step 2 early is a part of a complete application and that more and more schools consider Step 2 scores now…

As individuals applying to or accepted by Ophthalmology programs I would love your thoughts? My situation: Step one: 241, 2 High Passes and 1 Honors (FAMILY, PEDS, & OB/GYN respectively), one publication in the works (not Ophthalmologic) and three additional projects currently working on (all Ophthalmologic), coming from a top tier school. Thanks in advance!

Oh, I also read the post from 5 years ago that is pertinent to my question, but felt it prudent to see what programs are currently doing.

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I think that the traditional wisdom of using Step 2 to bolster a borderline application is still valid. I was pleased with the strength of my application and so I stalled taking it... a very long time. I was always going to take it late, but due to a series of personal issues I actually didn't take CS until Jan and CK until March! :eek: Obviously, this is after I had already matched for ophtho. In fact, my scores were not even available to my TY/transitional year programs before they had to submit their rank lists. Now, I would not recommend this as it did cause me a significant amount of stress wondering how it was going to affect my intern year. I was not too concerned about how it was going to influence my ophtho match though. It seems to me the majority of programs really don't care very much.

For you, I'm not sure which way to go. Your Step 1 score, while excellent by most standards, is the average for matched applicants last year. Although, I'm not convinced it could be strengthened by an improved Step 2 score. Your grades are also going to be middle of the road given the strength of the applicant pool. Will you have any of your projects completed by the time you submit your application? How confident are you in the strength of your letters and are any of them from "big name" people?
 
Thanks for your reply.

It sounds like Step 2 can wait till later in the application cycle. As you said, my stats are average for Ophtho and rocking Step 2 might beneficial, but doing poorly on it would not help me at all... I have one project that I am hopefully presenting at ARVO, I find out next month whether I am or not. Another project should be in the process of submission while I am applying to programs in August and I will be the primary on that one (it is a clinical research paper). My final project is actually an Ophthalmology relief trip in Asia I am doing later in the year. It fits well with who I am as a person and my goals in Ophthalmology so I think it will be a great addition to my application and more importantly it is going to be an amazing experience!

As far as the letters are concerned I plan to have a community Ophthalmologist who knows me really well write one and I believe that one will be very strong. My second one hopefully will be from an Academic Ophthalmologist that is quite well known... I just have yet to meet him... and hopefully impress him...

Any other thoughts and/or comments would be much appreciated and thanks in advance.
 
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I debated about how to approach step 2 for quite a while and decided to take it straight out of third year, something that I definitely do not regret. I had a 250+ step 1 score so I didn't want to perform poorly on step 2 and recognized I was taking a little bit of a risk. I also thought that the longer I stalled the worse I might do. I was fresh out of 3rd year clerkships and had just taken the IM shelf so I couldn't bear the thought of either taking vacation time later to re-learn everything I already knew and I didn't want to be on the interview trail worrying about taking step 2 (and I encountered many of these situations on the interview trail this year). I now tell people to take it early regardless of step 1 score because (generally) you'll perform better having just taken all your shelf exams and then the rest of your 4th year will be a breeze. That said - if you wait, you'll also be fine. It still is mostly all about step 1. Good luck.
 
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I took CS in July of fourth year and CK in September. I recommend everyone get CS out of the way early. CK was late enough that it didn't have an impact on my ophtho application, but early enough that I still remembered a lot of medicine. Ultimately I was satisfied with this decision.
 
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