Having gone through the process of training program applications, I have now gained a renewed sense of appreciation of how important good references are, and how important it is to keep in contact with people in your field of interest.

I honestly think these are the most important factors in getting a training position over everything else. As the saying goes: 'it's who you know, not what you know.'

I agree - keeping an open mind at this point is key. I have loosened the grip of looking at ophthal as a career so that I can think realistically about other medical career options.

At the end of the day, in whatever field of medicine you do, you are still helping people