Phase 2: Core Clerkships
Clinical Grades
Clerkship grades are more important than those on basic science courses as they are more indicative of your real‐world performance in the hospital. Of all of your clerkships, it is most important to achieve a good grade in your ophthalmology rotation. If you are undecided and want a glimpse of ophthalmology early on, we recommend taking your 2-week ophthalmology selective earlier on in during your core clerkships. However, some students prefer to schedule ophthalmology in the second half of the year. You will have become accustomed to the hospital during other less‐crucial rotations, yet still get a sense of ophthalmology early enough to confirm your interest in the field and pursue other ophthalmology‐related activities. It is also a good idea to let your residents and faculty know that you are interested in ophthalmology as they will pay extra attention to you during your time in the clinic and may even be your future mentors.
USMLE Step 1 Board Exam
Before you start your advanced clerkships at Iowa, you must take and pass the USMLE Step 1 Board Exam. Previously, your score on this exam was extraordinarily important when pursuing a competitive specialty. [2,5] For example, many programs have used this score as a screen to determine which applications to review: Nallasamy, et al. found that 78% of programs used Step 1 scores as a factor in their selection process and 51% used the scores to decide who to call for interviews. [2] In light of this data, the switch to pass/fail grading of Step 1 as of January 2022 is particularly relevant for ophthalmology. The average Step 1 score of matched applicants has steadily risen (245 in 2020), and it is significantly higher than the national average (232) or minimum passing score (194). [1,6]
In the 2021 and 2022 Match cycles, all applicants will have a traditional three-digit Step 1 score. In the 2023 cycle, many students will have a Step 1 score while others, such as CCOM students, will take the exam on a pass/fail basis. Although Step 1 is transitioning to pass/fail, it will still be important to learn the information well due to the considerable overlap in content between Step 1 and Step 2 CK (which will still be scored for all residency applicants).
Faculty Meeting
It is wise to set up a meeting with a faculty member in the department during your third year to express your interest in ophthalmology. This meeting helps introduce you to the department, and he or she can assess your competitiveness for the specialty. You should provide him or her with a CV and transcript to help with this process. Doing this earlier in your third year leaves you with time to buff out any potential weaknesses in your application before applying to residency programs.
Closer to interview season, you may want to set up a brief meeting with the department head and residency director to introduce yourself. At Iowa, these people are Dr. Keith Carter, Dr. Tom Oetting, and Dr. Pavlina Kemp. Make sure you come prepared with specific discussion points, questions, or material to review. You want to make efficient use of your time and theirs.
NEXT PAGE: Phase 3: Advanced Clerkships
