Matching with ophthalmology.

[jerkstore]

What to medical school?

 

Yes.

 

ten characters.

[rmorelan]

Yes.

 

ten characters.

 

ahhh I guess that is mostly public record at this point I guess - I have degree in computer science, psychology and economics, and biomedicine, minors in business administration and physics and did masters work in artificial intelligence using natural computation techniques to evolve a neural network system to interpret medical images. I have 3.99 GPA (since I took 14-16.0 credits from Sept to Apr that worked out to a 4.00 GPA for Western). I was a software engineer running my own company for over 5 years and developed adaptive emergency response software for widespread utility companies (electrical and gas) as well as a variety of web based medical education software for universities, vets and pharmaceutical companies. My system supported about 250 clients by the end. I also worked at the National research council as a programmer on virtual reality projects in fully immersive environments. I guess that is your 1 min summary

[jerkstore]

ahhh I guess that is mostly public record at this point I guess - I have degree in computer science, psychology and economics, and biomedicine, minors in business administration and physics and did masters work in artificial intelligence using natural computation techniques to evolve a neural network system to interpret medical images. I have 3.99 GPA (since I took 14-16.0 credits from Sept to Apr that worked out to a 4.00 GPA for Western). I was a software engineer running my own company for over 5 years and developed adaptive emergency response software for widespread utility companies (electrical and gas) as well as a variety of web based medical education software for universities, vets and pharmaceutical companies. My system supported about 250 clients by the end. I also worked at the National research council as a programmer on virtual reality projects in fully immersive environments. I guess that is your 1 min summary

 

and YOU got in?

[jerkstore]

I can't believe only 4 people on that list picked cardiac surgery as their first.

 

By the way what does Family Medicine - MOTP MMTP mean?

[Real Beef]

I can't believe only 4 people on that list picked cardiac surgery as their first.

 

By the way what does Family Medicine - MOTP MMTP mean?

 

I am going to guess military officer training program ... or something like that.

[rmorelan]

I am going to guess military officer training program ... or something like that.

 

very close - medical officer training program

 

and medical military training program

[1fuzzy2dino3]

ahhh I guess that is mostly public record at this point I guess - I have degree in computer science, psychology and economics, and biomedicine, minors in business administration and physics and did masters work in artificial intelligence using natural computation techniques to evolve a neural network system to interpret medical images. I have 3.99 GPA (since I took 14-16.0 credits from Sept to Apr that worked out to a 4.00 GPA for Western). I was a software engineer running my own company for over 5 years and developed adaptive emergency response software for widespread utility companies (electrical and gas) as well as a variety of web based medical education software for universities, vets and pharmaceutical companies. My system supported about 250 clients by the end. I also worked at the National research council as a programmer on virtual reality projects in fully immersive environments. I guess that is your 1 min summary

 

omg wow

[preppy038]

I can't believe only 4 people on that list picked cardiac surgery as their first.

 

By the way what does Family Medicine - MOTP MMTP mean?

 

It happens... when the majority of cardiac surgeon's work (bypass surgery) is taken over by interventional cardiologists (PCI) for coronary artery disease

[AnhydrAse]

Do you know how strong you need to be in the pre-clerkships to have a chance to match in ophthalmology?

Can excellents clerkships replace a "soso" pre-clerkships (around the average)?

Are the chances dead if you fail one exam? Or is there someting to do to fix that "error"?

 

Thanks!

[rmorelan]

Do you know how strong you need to be in the pre-clerkships to have a chance to match in ophthalmology?

Can excellents clerkships replace a "soso" pre-clerkships (around the average)?

Are the chances dead if you fail one exam? Or is there someting to do to fix that "error"?

 

Thanks!

 

First I should ask how your school handles that - I mean we are all in pass fail systems, so did failing the exam mean you failed the "course" you were in at your school? Did you have to do remediation, basically is there any evidence on the transcript of a problem even?

[tooty]

Any kind of blemish on your record is a red flag. I hear even in radiology you're out of the running with just one red flag. Ophtho is unquestionably more cutthroat.

 

With a fail on your transcript, you look better with excellent clerkship performance but I can imagine there are many who were equally good during clerkship without any failures pre.

[rmorelan]

Any kind of blemish on your record is a red flag. I hear even in radiology you're out of the running with just one red flag. Ophtho is unquestionably more cutthroat.

 

With a fail on your transcript, you look better with excellent clerkship performance but I can imagine there are many who were equally good during clerkship without any failures pre.

 

Yeah I won't lie - it is tough to recover from anything like that on the transcript for the competitive things. They are just looking for someone way to pair it down.

 

This is the primary problem with P/F systems - It is simply not granular at all. You could be kicking ass in everything - well above average - and yet have one bad test then bang you have a remediation mark on your transcript.

 

It is really hard to say absolutely the effect - the optho group is very small, very close knit and doesn't talk that much. It would be rare that someone is going to admit they have an issue at some point and of course at the very least that has to be a very rare event.

[AnhydrAse]

Thanks for your honesty! I appreciate.

I prefer be prepared to that deception.

 

I've been sick just before that terrible exam... Just hope they'll show some empathy and give me a chance...

 

2 years left to prepare a B plan to get there!

 

Thank you! And good luck to you, guys!

[rmorelan]

Thanks for your honesty! I appreciate.

I prefer be prepared to that deception.

 

I've been sick just before that terrible exam... Just hope they'll show some empathy and give me a chance...

 

2 years left to prepare a B plan to get there!

 

Thank you! And good luck to you, guys!

 

Just do what you can! Research and solid LORs are key for that field. It is amazing what some networking can help you do.

[Jochi1543]

FWIW, I briefly worked with a nurse who worked (and still works casually) in ophtho for 3 decades and she said that it's pretty hopeless for anyone to match into it unless you're someone's son or daughter. She said the entire program is overrun with nepotism and very little effort is made to hide that. I can confirm that, as an ophthalmologist who ran our small group once thought nothing of bragging about all the strings he pulled to get his son into the specialty.

[tooty]

The ophtho situation may be more optimistic than that. I had a talk with an associate ophtho prof and a past PD of ophtho who denied that rumor. Both pretty awesome upfront guys.

 

What they value in residents are common sense attributes that all specialties like to see: strong interest, strong work ethic, collegiality, academic excellence, and research.

 

I have a friend in PGY-1 ophtho, his parents are not ophthalmologists. He did, however, start networking almost from day 1 of med school.

 

The past PD did not have ophtho parents. The prof has an ophtho parent, but he went unmatched his first try and did a year of research, killed it, and matched the next year. These are young guys.

 

It's still cutthroat competition in the sense that you need the marks, electives, research, show that you're a strong team player on the wards, and know the right people, but anyone can do it.

 

It may look like nepotism when it's a combination of higher % of interest among ophtho 'families' and more opportunities to network etc. These things happen in all of medicine. You have the Metcalfes in uro and Glasgows in ortho. Probably have an element of favouritism in there but not to the extent that it's rumored to be.

[jerkoutnow2]

i don't get why ppl want ophtho,

 

what's so fun about looking at eyes all day... it's not intellectually challenging at all... almost like dentistry

[medtech]

i don't get why ppl want ophtho,

 

what's so fun about looking at eyes all day... it's not intellectually challenging at all... almost like dentistry

 

You'd be surprised on the amount of ocular diseases out there. I think most people just assume Opthos are just surgeons... there's a medical side as well which can be very rewarding. It is a very "Visual" field like derm though. No pun intended . It's a very clean and elegant type of surgery, very delicate work not to mention a field with a lot of potential. With the raising rate of diabetes, eye complications are expected to rise in the future as well.

[shady]

To get ophthalmology, you need to either have a powerful relative in ophthalmology or be a sexy charming girl. Never saw anyone who wasn't one of these two things match to this field. I also never mentioned anything about intelligence, work ethic, personality or adaptability because it makes no difference here.

 

Any field where the average income is 650k, with 2mil being realistically possible, will have a huge element of nepotism involved.

 

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread, but I wanted to say you are being too hard on optho. I know a friend who got into optho without any connections (he's a first gen immigrant). His father was an optho as well, but he's an IMG from a 3rd world country and has never set foot in Canada so I can't imagine him having any effect on the faculty. The only effect I can think of is his son might have looked up to him in choosing optho.

 

Anecdotal evidence, I know, but so is the evidence for nepotism. What I'm trying to say is getting an optho residency CAN and HAS been done without any family connections. Actually, I'm willing to bet that nepotism is limited in the field.

[thebouque]

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread, but I wanted to say you are being too hard on optho.

 

He's being too hard on a lot of fields (especially mine ), but don't take it personal, it's part of his charm. You know what Leonard Cohen once said: ''don't go home with your hard on''.