What are my chances in ophthalmology?

[mar-op]

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Hello,

This is my first post on this forum, I have been a long time watcher. I would appreciate any advice you guys can give me.

I am a non-traditional student who is interested ophthalmology. I currently go to a low-tier medical school (MD) in the south. I have a 246 on Step 1, probably in the 2nd quarter of my class (definitely not AOA) with HP in all of my classes during the first and second years. Passes in Internal Medicine and Surgery; with honors in OB/GYN, Psych, and Family Medicine. I have 2 research projects neither in ophthalmology, but produced 2 abstracts and 2 posters. I know I am not a super-competitive applicant, but I am interested in staying at my home program. The dean at my school recommended that I have a back-up plan since there are many people from my school wanting to do ophthalmology, and I am not as competitive as they are.

Can anyone please give me an idea if I have a good shot at ophthalmology or is it too much of a long shot to risk the scramble? Thanks!

 

[ERDOC555]

Hello,

This is my first post on this forum, I have been a long time watcher. I would appreciate any advice you guys can give me.

I am a non-traditional student who is interested ophthalmology. I currently go to a low-tier medical school (MD) in the south. I have a 246 on Step 1, probably in the 2nd quarter of my class (definitely not AOA) with HP in all of my classes during the first and second years. Passes in Internal Medicine and Surgery; with honors in OB/GYN, Psych, and Family Medicine. I have 2 research projects neither in ophthalmology, but produced 2 abstracts and 2 posters. I know I am not a super-competitive applicant, but I am interested in staying at my home program. The dean at my school recommended that I have a back-up plan since there are many people from my school wanting to do ophthalmology, and I am not as competitive as they are.

Can anyone please give me an idea if I have a good shot at ophthalmology or is it too much of a long shot to risk the scramble? Thanks!

246 is a respectable score for ophthalmology (right about average) and honoring 3/5 classes is pretty good so far. It's good that you have some research in general, and I would encourage you to keep trying to get some more projects/posters/case reports done in the next few months, specifically in ophtho.

In a vacuum I would say that you have a reasonable shot, but as you mentioned having many other super great applicants applying from your school could potentially drown you out. I can't tell you how exactly that will play out. I know some schools will put 5-10 people into ophtho each year so it's certainly not an app killer to have multiple people apply with you. Solid away rotations will also mitigate your risk as those programs will hopefully interview you and want to keep you if you make a great impression.

I think you have reasonable stats for opthto and if it is really what you are passionate about I would definitely apply. If you're super worried/risk adverse you could always dual apply, which isn't ideal, but it prevents you having to SOAP.