Undergraduate grades + Ophthalmology

[sab3156]

Hi all,

How much importance is given to undergraduate academic records for ophthalmology residency applications?

Thanks.

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[walkthesun]

They aren't important at all. MAYBE they would be brought up if you failed a bunch of classes for some reason. But in that case you probably wouldn't be in medical school anyway.

 

[RookTookIt]

I asked this question a couple of years ago and the general consensus was that nobody really cares about undergraduate transcript. I suspect however, that I have one of the more remarkably bad undergrad GPAs that these programs see. In one interview I was asked about it fairly aggressively (i.e. “How did you even get into medical school?”) and was even asked to explain a single grade that I had received — a D for a one-credit journal club course from sophomore year. Bear in mind that I had taken 4 years off between undergraduate and medical school so this interviewer was asking me to explain a single credit course from 10 years ago.

The other way to interpret this story is that I have a horrendous undergraduate transcript and only one interviewer even asked about it. But who knows what role it played in the decision to interview/rank me at other places.

 

[CapnJazz]

Lol i didnt even list my undergrad gpa in ERAS or my transcript from undergrad. Were you supposed to?

In any case it doesn't seem to have affected my in terms of getting interviews in the region im looking to go

 

[ojoseco]

one interviewer on the ophtho interview trail looked over my undergrad transcript during our interview, dont think it meant much (mine is unremarkable)


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[DrZeke]

one interviewer on the ophtho interview trail looked over my undergrad transcript during our interview, dont think it meant much (mine is unremarkable)


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*cough* mine is unremarkable *cough* dude... you're awesome in general, but that was a total Humbrag lol.

For those of you freaking out, here's my thoughts from an underdog loser who has been known to self sabotage ... undergrad isn't a big deal if you have an upward trend and are awesome in med school. Also, if you have a reason for the bad grades. It could be as simple as "i was an immature turd and got my act together" or it could be as serious as "my father was sick and passed away". If it is one class it could be "hey I didn't know how to study this subject it was really challenging". If your step 1 is ok and your med school grades are decent You really don't need to worry. Just don't lie if asked about it.

Even for me who kinda repeated the trend of being a tool that didnt put forth effort at different stages in my life I didn't get asked about grades.

Don't worry too much. Just be prepared to answer with maturity and clarity if you get asked.



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[itsneverlupus]

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[sab3156]

Thanks for the replies. The reason I am asking is that I am an incoming DO student with a strong background in ophthalmology, and already have research in summers and several possible big name letters lined up. However, I have a few F's and some D's and C's on my transcript (retaken and did well in the courses, and have a strong upward trend). Assuming my medical school transcript and class rank are very strong, do you think college grades would be a factor?

Maybe I should come back to this forum in 2 years?

 

[DrZeke]

undergrad may not be a factor, but DO will be....

Work hard to maintain those relationships. And continue to do research.

Study for step 1 like your life depended on it.


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[Trichromatic]

I was asked by the chair of the program where I also did my undergrad why my college grades were so mediocre. It was tough to swallow that question given my college's notorious deflation and the chair's college's notorious inflation, but I kept my cool. Talk about maturity, learning how to learn, in my case taking on too high of a course load, etc. If all else fails just point out your honors and high step scores, and hope the interviewer moves on. That's what I did. Still put me off the program a bit to be honest, and I ranked it lower (other reasons as well). That was the only person of 15 interviews that asked.