Early Match and "Regular" match

[DoximityRocks]

I am currently an M3 torn between two specialties for residency - Emergency Medicine and Ophthalmology. I have been searching around for information on applying to early match and regular match at the same time. I have found so many conflicting ideas from like 5-10 years ago. I'd like some recent opinions to help me make my decision.

I'm not the most competitive applicant for Optho (stats below) and would like to have a back up plan in case I don't match into optho. I know Optho is an early match but I also don't want to wait until after January to start applying to my Backup specialty just in case I don't match into Optho. So the question is, is it okay to apply to both at the same time? I know the word on the street is to not apply to same programs for two specialties - how Important is this? There are certain programs that have both specialties which work the best for me geographically speaking - Would it be too risky to apply for both here? Money for applications won't be an issue.

Is scheduling interviews for EM in January and only attending if I don't match for Optho a bad Idea? Please please someone drop a giant knowledge bomb on me.


Here is where I stand as far as the application on paper part goes:
- School - State School (Mid tier) with No residents
- Step 1 - 235
- M1/2 grades - Outstanding on 1/3rd of the classes, Satisfactory in Rest (On an O/S/U Scale)
- Clinical Grades - Outstanding in Psych, Advanced in Family Med, Peds, and Ob/gyn (On an O/A/P/F scale), On surgery right now, Starting IM in 6 weeks
- Research - 2 years worth of Lung cancer research with two presentations, and eventual first author publication (though the publication may not be official until after the applications), Currently in talk for possibly optho research
- Extracurricular - Part time job during M1, Active part of two community work organizations with many community improvement activities (M2/M3), Active Board position for two interest groups, 1 year EMT experience from undergrad

Edit - Thank you everyone in advance
and no need to sugar coat what you think is the reality, give it to me straight.

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[Daodejing]

Spend the rest of your time in M3 finalizing what you truly like more between ophtho or EM. There isn't much overlap. I would not recommend applying to both; EM is not a backup plan for you.

If after all's said and done, your heart's set on ophtho I would absolutely kill step2, make inroads with your home dept, and perform well on aways...and at least present a poster/oral presentation in the field. You won't be matching Bascom Palmer, but you'd have a shot otherwise.

 

[DoximityRocks]

Spend the rest of your time in M3 finalizing what you truly like more between ophtho or EM. There isn't much overlap. I would not recommend applying to both; EM is not a backup plan for you.

If after all's said and done, your heart's set on ophtho I would absolutely kill step2, make inroads with your home dept, and perform well on aways...and at least present a poster/oral presentation in the field. You won't be matching Bascom Palmer, but you'd have a shot otherwise.

Now that I read over my post, I made it seem like I was looking at EM as a guaranteed match as I kept referring to it as a backup. I guess I meant that I'm a little bit more competitive for EM and probably have a better shot at matching in EM than Optho - So would it be worth it to try to give my self a second chance during regular match if the early match optho doesn't work out? (Probably should have used the phrase "Second chance" Instead of "Backup" in original post).

Why do you not recommend applying to both? Purely because there is no overlap?

 

[AdmiralChz]

Yeah, you need to figure this out. Probably the best way is to schedule a quick optho rotation ASAP (start of 4th year) to ensure that's what you want to do. Schedule an EM rotation afterwards as well. You will probably be best served picking one and going with it. The problem with doing both (as opposed to IM backup) is that EM is competitive as well. While not as much as optho, you would need to probably apply broadly to be safe for EM and attend > (guess, not looking at the charting outcomes document) 8-10 interviews to feel safe. I don't know tons about optho, but I know it's competitive and you will need to do more (and probably much more) to be more competitive in the absence of a home program. An outside rotation will be mandatory, and as early as possible, and since it's such a small field I would get on the research yesterday as you are already behind the ball. Sorry to be blunt, but trying to be honest with you.

This year we have had several applicants apply and interview at my program (anesthesiology) as a backup for surgical subspecialties. From the interviewer/committee end it actually is pretty easy to sniff out somewhat-feigned interest in a field which essentially closes the door on that person more or less immediately. Keep this in mind as you go forward.

 

[DoximityRocks]

Yeah, you need to figure this out. Probably the best way is to schedule a quick optho rotation ASAP (start of 4th year) to ensure that's what you want to do. Schedule an EM rotation afterwards as well. You will probably be best served picking one and going with it. The problem with doing both (as opposed to IM backup) is that EM is competitive as well. While not as much as optho, you would need to probably apply broadly to be safe for EM and attend > (guess, not looking at the charting outcomes document) 8-10 interviews to feel safe. I don't know tons about optho, but I know it's competitive and you will need to do more (and probably much more) to be more competitive in the absence of a home program. An outside rotation will be mandatory, and as early as possible, and since it's such a small field I would get on the research yesterday as you are already behind the ball. Sorry to be blunt, but trying to be honest with you.

This year we have had several applicants apply and interview at my program (anesthesiology) as a backup for surgical subspecialties. From the interviewer/committee end it actually is pretty easy to sniff out somewhat-feigned interest in a field which essentially closes the door on that person more or less immediately. Keep this in mind as you go forward.

No need to apologize for being blunt. Being blunt and straight forward is what I need right now. My plan was exactly that for start of the 4th year - do an away optho and Em rotation to get a better idea of what to pick. For EM I've heard 12 interviews to be the "magic" number for the average applicant. For Optho the match result that just came out for 2017 showed 70 being the average number of application. So you're right it would be a lot of effort, time, and money - in the end it may even backfire like you're saying but i'm scared ****-less of having "No Match" written on my optho early match results.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If you want to have a real chance at Ophthal, you're going to need to do 2-3 ophthal rotations and some research in the field. A single rotation isn't going to cut it. When you apply to EM, PD's are going to see all of those Ophthal rotations on your transcript and have a good guess of what's going on. When I see this, I usually dump the application -- I have no interest in spending my time/resources on someone who really wants to be somewhere else. You could write in your PS that you were originally interested in Ophthal but now have refocused on EM instead -- but that would be lying if you're actually applying to Ophthal. In addition, you'll need a SLOR from EM, and they may not be excited about writing you a positive one if they know you're not primarily interested in EM.

So although it can be done, you may find it very difficult. Plus going on 10+ ophthal interviews and 10+ EM interviews is going to be very challenging, and it's unlikely you'd be able to pack all of your EM interviews after the Ophthal match.