v**********a
发帖数: 11 | 1 Recently, I was happy to see quite a few people are interested in
Ophthalmology. I’d like to share my two cents with folks who are
considering Ophthalmology residency, and for how much I appreciate all I
learned from all of you and our pioneers in this forum. I apologize for
using English, my typing in Chinese is embarrassingly slow..
Know your competition
As you know, Ophthalmology has been a competitive residency for many reasons
, which are also why you may be extremely interested. Moreover, recent
development in healthcare policies in US changed the popularity of some
specialties among ROAD. As a result, more AMGs are increasingly considering
ophthalmology as their top choice. Together with Dermatology, Orthopedics,
Neurosurgery, and plastic surgery, a residency position in Ophthalmology has
been challenging to secure. Besides working hard and aiming at good
performance during their clinical rotations in Ophthalmology, many AMGs opt
to take off a year or two, usually after their 2nd year in med school, and
work on clinical research projects in Ophthalmology to enhance their
publication profiles and establish strong connections with one or multiple
important faculties who, once convinced, will speak strongly for them during
application and ranking. AMGs will also have strong letter from their
rotations such as in internal medicine to show their good clinical ability.
Dilemma for IMGs
The competitiveness of Ophthalmology residency for IMGs is further elevated
by our rather limited options. For fresh graduates still in their home
countries, lack of clinical and research experience, and thereby lack of
connection in Ophthalmology in US pretty much shut the door. Visiting
scholars may have some advantages in establishing connections after they
come to US and usually work for stellar vision research scientists. However,
it is difficult to find and directly land a paid position working for
really accomplished ophthalmologists and leaders, such as department chairs
who often focus more on administration than research. Although most
outstanding vision research scientists, can help during your application if
they would like to, their best effort, which should be deeply appreciated,
may not be sufficiently game changing due to their limited administrative
responsibility and power. Calls may get you a few courtesy interviews, it
does not suggest the chance with those programs is absolutely great. That
being said, doing well in vision research, together with any previous
experience you may have, is still really important. It will be a strong
evidence in showing your potential, commitment and high standard, and may
help you establish new connections as the next step. It is definitely
challenging to pump out good papers while preparing for USMLE, both are time
consuming and demand major effort. By no means of being discouraging or
arrogant, it is helpful for any of us if we could give ourselves a
reasonable assessment in how much we could handle and make sure we will DO
WELL. Some visiting scholars have previous residency training in
Ophthalmology. It may seem to be an advantage, although for two reasons I am
not 100% sure. First, known to have previous training, you are expected to
be truly knowledgeable in Ophthalmology in comparison to US-trained
residents or fellows, and you are also expected to talk and behave like a
well-trained physician despite in a different culture and with a second
language. I am not sure if everyone could successfully do so in his/her
first two years. Secondly, many top programs are reluctant to re-train those
who have already trained in Ophthalmology, their goal is to train excellent
fresh AMGs with POTENTIAL to become future leaders in the field, and they
are confident to match with candidates from a pool of applicants with good
potentials, whereas previous experience in clinical Ophthalmology shows
commitment and interest, it is pretty much not needed in many programs, I
might be wrong though.
For IMGs, the best chance, if not the only chance, is to secure an extremely
strong connection with decisive administrative power, to pull you into the
specific program, and these connections have to be established with strong
performance in research, strong enough to get you in. Of course the
interview is also important and try to win over other committee members so
multiple persons can speak for you. Should you have strong research
experience and could show some achievements, the only programs that may be
interested in considering you as a candidate are those top academic
departments. Unfortunately, many middle- and most low-tier programs are not
extremely interested in vision research experience if you don’t have direct
connections. This dilemma really limits the options in programs. Most
likely we have to compete for top-middle programs. Obviously, top programs
in Ophthalmology can choose among 1) superstars; 2) their excellent internal
candidates, often AMGs from top medical schools. They will likely be ranked
higher even IMGs have the strongest possible connections and are excellent
in almost every way, except reasonable concerns about IMGs. In January you
will need lots of luck.
My very limited personal point of view –those old IMGs with long experience
in vision research and perhaps with a PhD, who are sometimes joked as the
futureless postdocs, might have a slightly better chance (life is fair when
you feel it may not be). Presentable achievement in research requires solid
learning and hard work, it takes time, much longer than anybody would like.
Depending on who, how much, and how reasonably they want to know and
evaluate you, extensive and in-depth research experience can demonstrate a
strong commitment and a desire in quest of excellence and refusal to
compromise. After many many years of hard work, when you present yourself in
your interview, one of the questions waiting for you will be why you are
considering the residency now. This is when you can let your colleagues know
more about you, your goal is to become an accomplished clinician-scientist
and you don’t quit prematurely before you can see some benchmarks
indicating you are ready for the component of independent vision research in
your future career. I hope you mean it and this is exactly what you are
going to do despite the temptation of making way more money in private
practice.
Improve ourselves
A few years ago I thought I was ready. Looking back I know I was far from it
. We’d be happy to improve, for ourselves as a positive philosophy and for
your connections who would be more than happy to speak for you. When you are
recommended to the admission committee by your mentors and friends, your
advocates hope they mean it. Therefore, do your very best to give them some
good reasons so they can help you on their ranking lists.
USMLE: really important, especially Step I. I have seen many discussions in
this forum about when to take it, whether USMLEworld + first aid are
sufficient. The question for you is: do you want your Steps scores as
something your connections can talk about during interview and ranking? A
good score does say something about you. It is challenging to score high but
this is perhaps the only component under a reasonable control in your
package. Many other components are much harder to deal with.
Spoken English: perhaps more important. Everybody understands the accent
issue, however, don’t you agree that it is polite to speak with a close-to-
native accent? In addition, physicians are expected to speak in a well-
educated fashion. It will give the program a lot more confidence that you
are less likely to miscommunicate, that your English is not too
uncomfortable to listen to, and that you are not reminding everyone as a
very different person in the team. Remember to improve spoken English
whenever you have a chance. It won’t be perfect but our desire to improve
and do well should be a built-in.
Academic discussion: it is hard to ask impressive questions in a well-spoken
and fast English in clinic. With a second language, your questions usually
cannot come out of you instantly, and often they may be asked by other
residents and students. A possible solution is to prepare ahead of time by
reading. In specific areas and subspecialties you can push yourself hard and
read slightly more, and perhaps you could ask some unique and good
questions at the right time.
Choosing target program: this is tricky. It should be approached very
carefully with extensive and frank discussion with your colleagues and
mentors. As I mentioned, give yourself a reasonable assessment in whether
you can handle all the tasks, do well, deliver impressive work, and convince
your mentor(s) to speak for you without any reservation. Remember those who
can potentially do so are usually academic leaders with extraordinary
vision and wisdom. They have seen and worked with many truly outstanding
clinician-scientists, fellows, residents, and students. They are not easy to
impress. Although this is not achievable in a short period of time, a post-
graduate training should be able to help you engage insightful discussion
and critical thinking even outside your field. Also, be frank with your
connections, let them know well you need help.
Living with your dream: it was the toughest for me, I don’t know how I did
not give up, only know I was stubborn and it will be even harder for me to
live a life without a dream. At the end, I was truly touched by seeing how
much I was helped by my mentors and friends. They never gave up on me.
Bless you all
Again, by no means I was trying to be discouraging or exacerbate the
challenges and risk ahead of you. These discussions are only my very biased
two cents. There should be many possible successful approaches unknown to me
, and there are many routes to an enjoyable life with your families, friends
and colleagues, and insisting on chasing a dream may not be the only
solution. I should have done much better in taking care of my family. Having
said that, I still hope to see more talented and hardworking students and
scholars from our country, who, after taking all the risks into
consideration, are still passionate to pursue a career in Ophthalmology or
any other your favorite specialties. Many of us are first-generation
immigrants, however that is not the reason to compromise too much when
choosing the future. We may be lucky enough to earn a little recognitions
among our colleagues through solid contribution to Ophthalmology, our talent
and hard work, our commitment and determination, our desire to improve
ourselves constantly, our pleasant, friendly and helpful personalities, our
appreciation to all the understanding and help from our mentors, friends and
families, and our choice of Ophthalmology as the lifetime career. Best
wishes to all of you! | a***n
发帖数: 428 | 2 Thank you vitreoretina for this powerful narration of your thoughts and
experience! | t******a
发帖数: 408 | 3 Dear vitreoretina (surgeon),
一口气读完，Yes! Very powerful narration, beautiful English.
As I am reading, I am struck, I feel you standing in front of me, sharing
your passion and tireless pursuit of your dream.
So inspiring!!!
Your essay is a pearl that anyone embarking on the USMLE road, regardless of
the specialty, should not miss.
Truly appreciate your sharing.
I will see if I can use my administrative power one LAST time to place your
post on top.
All my best
" your goal is to become an accomplished clinician-scientist and you don't
quit prematurely before you can see some benchmarks indicating you are ready
for the component of independent vision research in your future career. I
hope you mean it and this is exactly what you are going to do despite the
temptation of making way more money in private practice. " | t******a
发帖数: 408 | 4 写得这么精彩的文章，
难道不应该得到双份的包子吗？
权做夜宵，如你在大学校园里时一样。
请查收。 | s********6
发帖数: 282 | 5 Thanks for sharing the remarkable vision and wisdom. Is it possible you can
share a little bit of your previous experience in terms of clinical and
research training in ophthalmology and vision field?
reasons
considering
【在 v**********a 的大作中提到】
: Recently, I was happy to see quite a few people are interested in
: Ophthalmology. I’d like to share my two cents with folks who are
: considering Ophthalmology residency, and for how much I appreciate all I
: learned from all of you and our pioneers in this forum. I apologize for
: using English, my typing in Chinese is embarrassingly slow..
: Know your competition
: As you know, Ophthalmology has been a competitive residency for many reasons
: , which are also why you may be extremely interested. Moreover, recent
: development in healthcare policies in US changed the popularity of some
: specialties among ROAD. As a result, more AMGs are increasingly considering
| d******d
发帖数: 121 | 6 这么长段的英文吓得我一开始没敢读，可写得太好了，一口气读完。 特别是最后一段
对我们CMG 的特性和长处说得很精辟-We may be lucky enough to earn a little
recognition
among our colleagues through solid contribution to Ophthalmology, our talent
and hard work, our commitment and determination, our desire to improve
ourselves constantly, our pleasant, friendly and helpful personalities, our
appreciation to all the understanding and help from our mentors, friends and
families, and our choice of Ophthalmology as the lifetime career.
不仅仅对眼科，对其他科的准备和申请都是不可多得的好文，需要反复玩味，可能过来
人有更深的体会。 | b***x
发帖数: 86 | 7 真搞不懂，一个中文论坛用英文写了那么多，要是在SDN上面倒也算了。
我来说说吧，一句话：
如果你是IMG，你就忘了眼科吧，基本不可能，Period. | i******b
发帖数: 1780 | 8 作为一个AMG, 能进入眼科都是小概率事件.IMG进入眼科不是不可能,但是也不比中彩票
概率高哪里. | v**********a
发帖数: 11 | 9 这位朋友，您说的很对。谢谢。很惭愧我的中文输入实在慢的可悲，经常被老婆朋友嘲
笑。另外中文和英文都很糟糕。上学时，语文和英语老师没一个喜欢我。爸爸常听写生
词，每次都是噩梦，还气得他把书摔在地上。修改作文也要用掉整个星期天，结果他还
经常不满意。高中时经常看到前女友和她闺蜜在上学路上边走边复习单词，虽然很想加
入，只怕太丢人。高三时这两位学霸面授怎样提高中文和英文的方法，啥都没听懂，也
没记住，只记得寒冬里羞愧的汗水不停流下。她们还经常聊聊诗词，小说，散文啥的。
我基本没读过，也插不上话。到现在都不明白为什么有人可以把语文学得那么好，只怪
自己语言中枢只长了三个神经元。见笑了：）
【在 b***x 的大作中提到】
: 真搞不懂，一个中文论坛用英文写了那么多，要是在SDN上面倒也算了。
: 我来说说吧，一句话：
: 如果你是IMG，你就忘了眼科吧，基本不可能，Period.
| h*******p
发帖数: 54 | 10 楼主作为CMG成功match上了，所以觉得这条路可行。有看客可能觉得如果是自己估计不
行，朋友圈里也没有能成功的，所以认为不行。大家都是根据自己的人生经验说话，都
没有错。
我认识的CMG做眼科的楼主已经不是第一个了。不仅眼科，连脑神经外科都有成功的。
没错，他们是少数。
众多看客中必有能力超强的，也自然有能力弱些不管怎么努力也不行的。我觉得楼主文
章的意义在于为那些有能力并且对眼科有兴趣的人提供一个思路跟信心，相信一定会有
人看过这篇文章后有所收益，在这条路上走通。 | | | a******a
发帖数: 313 | 11 非常非常赞，谢谢！恭喜成功match！
reasons
considering
【在 v**********a 的大作中提到】
: Recently, I was happy to see quite a few people are interested in
: Ophthalmology. I’d like to share my two cents with folks who are
: considering Ophthalmology residency, and for how much I appreciate all I
: learned from all of you and our pioneers in this forum. I apologize for
: using English, my typing in Chinese is embarrassingly slow..
: Know your competition
: As you know, Ophthalmology has been a competitive residency for many reasons
: , which are also why you may be extremely interested. Moreover, recent
: development in healthcare policies in US changed the popularity of some
: specialties among ROAD. As a result, more AMGs are increasingly considering
| b***x
发帖数: 86 | 12 你客气了。 你的帖子本意是好的，但是会给有些人错觉。
我要是在美国出生的，就不可能来买买提。自己来美国来的晚了，读了个高中，本科，
还觉得自己是个中国人，如果换我弟弟就不愿意打中文了，呵呵。
我很清楚眼科的竞争到底有多厉害。我是美国前五医学院毕业，几年前match
Radiation Oncology.眼科的竞争不会低于Radiation Oncology。CMG还是务实的瞄准比
较实际的专科比较好。说老实话会比较刺耳，抱歉，以后也不会经常上论坛了。祝所有
的同胞好运。
【在 v**********a 的大作中提到】
: 这位朋友，您说的很对。谢谢。很惭愧我的中文输入实在慢的可悲，经常被老婆朋友嘲
: 笑。另外中文和英文都很糟糕。上学时，语文和英语老师没一个喜欢我。爸爸常听写生
: 词，每次都是噩梦，还气得他把书摔在地上。修改作文也要用掉整个星期天，结果他还
: 经常不满意。高中时经常看到前女友和她闺蜜在上学路上边走边复习单词，虽然很想加
: 入，只怕太丢人。高三时这两位学霸面授怎样提高中文和英文的方法，啥都没听懂，也
: 没记住，只记得寒冬里羞愧的汗水不停流下。她们还经常聊聊诗词，小说，散文啥的。
: 我基本没读过，也插不上话。到现在都不明白为什么有人可以把语文学得那么好，只怪
: 自己语言中枢只长了三个神经元。见笑了：）
| C******e
发帖数: 193 | 13 支持楼主给大家提供的宝贵信息
但是也愿意看到有像你这样的人发出不同的声音
我想 正是因为听到两方面的声音
才能让大家对一个topic有更客观和全面的认识
就读帖子的人来说 两种声音是互相促进的 并不是互相对立的
【在 b***x 的大作中提到】
: 你客气了。 你的帖子本意是好的，但是会给有些人错觉。
: 我要是在美国出生的，就不可能来买买提。自己来美国来的晚了，读了个高中，本科，
: 还觉得自己是个中国人，如果换我弟弟就不愿意打中文了，呵呵。
: 我很清楚眼科的竞争到底有多厉害。我是美国前五医学院毕业，几年前match
: Radiation Oncology.眼科的竞争不会低于Radiation Oncology。CMG还是务实的瞄准比
: 较实际的专科比较好。说老实话会比较刺耳，抱歉，以后也不会经常上论坛了。祝所有
: 的同胞好运。
| b****k
发帖数: 409 | 14 Thank you you are great! appreciate your courage for pursuing your dream | f****b
发帖数: 2410 | 15 你的意见很宝贵。补充一点，眼科住院女生达到８０％。这位仁兄的感
受是因为是男性，CMG女生机会是很高的。
【在 b***x 的大作中提到】
: 你客气了。 你的帖子本意是好的，但是会给有些人错觉。
: 我要是在美国出生的，就不可能来买买提。自己来美国来的晚了，读了个高中，本科，
: 还觉得自己是个中国人，如果换我弟弟就不愿意打中文了，呵呵。
: 我很清楚眼科的竞争到底有多厉害。我是美国前五医学院毕业，几年前match
: Radiation Oncology.眼科的竞争不会低于Radiation Oncology。CMG还是务实的瞄准比
: 较实际的专科比较好。说老实话会比较刺耳，抱歉，以后也不会经常上论坛了。祝所有
: 的同胞好运。
| d**o
发帖数: 618 | 16 这种一查即知的数据你张口喷个80%等着被打脸有意思么？
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20100094
眼科难不难跟性别是没关系的。
【在 f****b 的大作中提到】
: 你的意见很宝贵。补充一点，眼科住院女生达到８０％。这位仁兄的感
: 受是因为是男性，CMG女生机会是很高的。
| g******g
发帖数: 55 | 17 其实大家说的都没错。对于一些热门专业，很多AMG都望而却步，或失败一年，作了
prelim后再战（所以如Micasa所说，有些prelim resident其实很牛的，人家来年成功
也未必是prelim的功劳）。但几乎每年都至少有一俩个CMG成功match到了某热门专业，
比如皮肤、眼科、外科，虽然这些人未必都在光荣榜上通报。好像这些人都是老CMG（
如果不全是这样，恕我孤陋寡闻），原因何在？对于内科、家庭等IMG比例较大的专业
，年轻CMG相对于老CMG往往有YOG、美国（知名）医院的hands-on经验、甚至成绩和语
言的优势，但是这些优势相对于AMD/DO/加勒比/甚至欧洲印加中东IMG并不存在。而老
CMG虽然不遭绝大多数专业（病理除外）和program的待见，但我们有一份不一样的CV和
背景：有科研、有对本专业的强commitment，有强connection; 哪怕只有一个program
喜欢你，跟你竞争的人并不多。vitreoretina是老CMG，他上面也谈到了这些观点。
bengx是亲民思源但如假包换的AMG，对老CMG不甚了解。各位看官归于哪一类，有什么
样的背景，有无胆量去申申那九死一生的专业，就自己定夺了 | v**********a
发帖数: 11 | 18 While Dojo's comments may be based on stats of mostly AMGs, 5 other
Ophthalmology IMGs who I personally knew are all ladies, four are Asians,
and they are all really sweet. I cannot help but wondering female IMGs might
have some advantages. Kind ladies could leave an impression of being more
approachable, pleasant to work with, and perhaps having better communication
and interpersonal skills. With all my bless, although hard work is still
necessary and risk is still high, I'm delighted their chances may be >10X
better :). Again, I see this is another evidence showing that AMG-based
studies and stats for Ophthalmology and other competitive specialties do not
necessarily apply to us, and unconventional approach may give us slightly
better chance.
【在 f****b 的大作中提到】
: 你的意见很宝贵。补充一点，眼科住院女生达到８０％。这位仁兄的感
: 受是因为是男性，CMG女生机会是很高的。
| v**********a
发帖数: 11 | 19 Just recall another Ophthal IMG I know, she is also Asian. Perhaps I'm
hopelessly biased.:) | f*********h
发帖数: 3 | 20 I know a guy matched in Ophthal,
he was from PUMCH,
Did you know him, vitreoretina? | f****b
发帖数: 2410 | 21 事实上，没象你想的那么难，但你一定要进眼科，难度就大的无边了，实际比中彩票要
高很多。
【在 i******b 的大作中提到】
: 作为一个AMG, 能进入眼科都是小概率事件.IMG进入眼科不是不可能,但是也不比中彩票
: 概率高哪里.
|
|
