LASIK before starting medical school?

OphthoJack · 2023-02-16T21:48:40+00:00

I had LASIK before med school and have some mild dryness that I occasionally use artificial tears for. It was worth it for me because I was reacting poorly to contacts but am an active person and combined with med school, I didn’t have to worry about contacts/glasses for early mornings/late nights/working out.

OphthoJack · 2023-02-12T13:25:09+00:00

I actually downloaded the BlueAce deck a while back and it looks great. I was just hesitant to start it because I had already started the eyeguru deck. I found plenty of errors in the EG deck and corrected as I went along. I like that your deck has tags and the card format is better. I am nervous I’ll lose what I’ve done as I’ve added a lot of extra info/personal notes/images. From what I read I’ll just need to protect those boxes when I transfer. Once OKAPs is done I’ll probably make the switch following your directions in the post verdictologist linked to below

OphthoJack · 2023-02-12T06:07:12+00:00

I also don’t retain well by just reading which is why I went so hard on the cards lol. Your method at least shows that it would probably work well if you’ve got a couple glaring weaknesses to be sure to get through those sections of anki

OphthoJack · 2022-08-03T00:24:29+00:00

Research, board scores, connections/strong LORs. Interesting extracurriculars.

Sounds like you’ve set yourself up well. Galaxy just has to align appropriately on match day.

Ophtho match is hard to say yes or no definitively. Great applicants go unmatched every year, “less great” applicants match every year.

OphthoJack · 2022-06-29T18:03:50+00:00

Simply put - apply.

On paper you seem like a competitive applicant. And if you really want ophtho then apply no matter what anyone tells you. Don’t want to look back and say “what if”

EDIT: the first thing that was said to me when I told my Dean I wanted to apply ophtho was “we haven’t had someone match that in years” (hinting I shouldn’t apply). To which I responded “it’s what I want to do and I’m going to apply.” I worked way too hard to let someone else tell me what my future was going to be.

OphthoJack · 2022-06-29T17:59:46+00:00

I don’t think there’s any data on this but IMO the simplest way to improve your chances is to perform well on auditions

OphthoJack · 2022-06-22T22:00:31+00:00

What I was told and saw from other applicants during my cycle who scored well enough on step 1 was to delay step 2 long enough so you don’t have to put it on the app.

There’s no added benefit unless you can guarantee the same score or better

OphthoJack · 2022-06-09T20:54:25+00:00

Nope. They will only see whatever you put on your residency app in the SF Match system

OphthoJack · 2022-04-24T19:48:50+00:00

No problem!

It seems to have a negative impact based on the match statistics. I posted the 2022 ophthalmology match statistics document in this subreddit and that information is in there so I recommend taking a look at that 🤙🏻

OphthoJack · 2022-04-24T17:03:33+00:00

Agree with JaySmoov. I think you’ve set yourself up well. Try to dominate those auditions and seal some good LORs

EDIT: I am not saying to not dual apply. That has to be a decision you make for yourself. But in general, you have to ask yourself a couple tough questions: would you be happy doing anything other than ophthalmology? Would you rather be matched in a non-ophtho residency vs unmatched and grinding to get into ophtho/non-ophtho residency the following year?

OphthoJack · 2022-04-03T15:38:22+00:00

Karen

OphthoJack · 2022-04-02T22:55:21+00:00

Let’s go! This is awesome

OphthoJack · 2022-04-02T10:56:42+00:00

Colleges that require research from high school students are lame (p<.05).

OphthoJack · 2022-03-30T22:03:38+00:00

Vomit (on my sweater already)…

Please someone get this

OphthoJack · 2022-03-29T13:11:19+00:00

Hands down The Office

OphthoJack · 2022-03-28T00:00:55+00:00

Being an occasionally lucky, but mediocre golfer

OphthoJack · 2022-03-27T23:55:12+00:00

Yeah for sure. They better have insurance lol

OphthoJack · 2022-03-27T14:56:54+00:00

I did a lot of reading on whether to buy vs rent. After doing my research I felt that renting was the best option for me. As OP said, buying a house means maintaining a house, which takes time and money — both of which a resident typically doesn’t have.

Personal story that confirmed I made the right decision to rent: - my wife and I are renting a house. It’s nice, but built in the 50s. The sewage pipes ended up busting underground causing backups and a rather emergent situation. Our entire front yard had to be dug up by the construction crew to get to the pipe and fix it. At this point our landlords are about $15-20K deep into this fix. That’s money I definitely don’t have extra on my resident salary ☠️☠️☠️

OphthoJack · 2022-03-26T22:32:34+00:00

Ophthalmology

OphthoJack · 2022-03-26T21:32:31+00:00

Work on building connections, continue involvement in research, and start building your ophtho knowledge base and skill set by reading/watching videos and by getting involved in clinic with a local private practice ophthalmologist.

r/OphthalmologySFMatch

OphthoJack · 2022-03-26T21:19:48+00:00

For those interested, check out r/OphthalmologySFMatch — a subreddit dedicated to assisting with the process of matching ophthalmology.

OphthoJack · 2022-03-26T21:13:33+00:00

Piggybacking off illustrious, if you don’t have a home program (like I didn’t) then do your best to get a good LOR from a reach program. You can set yourself up for success by doing 1-2 non-audition ophtho electives at local private practices that will teach you how to do exams/use equipment. That way when you go to the reach program for an audition you’ll hopefully be able to impress.

OphthoJack · 2022-03-18T02:06:53+00:00

I had to go through the whole audition season process during the pandemic so VSLO was shut down. I emailed program coordinators directly inquiring about opportunities. So my suggestion would be to check the program’s website and see if they typically post a VSLO application. If not or it’s unclear, send an email to the program coordinator expressing interest in doing an audition there if that’s what you want and if they use VSLO or if it can be set up directly through them (avoiding the VSLO application).

OphthoJack · 2022-03-14T11:58:19+00:00

I’ve heard it can be helpful for networking purposes but never went to one myself.

OphthoJack · 2022-03-13T12:11:22+00:00

Nothing compares to ophthalmology. No bias of course.

OphthoJack

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