Last update: January 19, 2025

Our Golden Tips of How to Get an Offer in 2025

Ophthalmology has built the reputation as one of the most difficult specialties to get into as a doctor. Now with the decrease in morale generally within medicine, many see Ophthalmology as a perfect career option with a reasonable work life balance, excellent job satisfaction and balance of medical and surgical work. This has made Ophthalmology more and more competitive to go into and therefore is now the main barrier to entry.

On this page:

  • Scores needed to get an offer
  • Awards Section Advice
  • Commitment to Specialty Section Advice
  • MSF Section Advice
  • Publications Section Advice
  • QI/Audit Section Advice
  • Presentations Section Advice
  • Teaching Section Advice
  • Layout Section Advice
  • 1:1 Tutoring Link
  • Email for Questions

You have three things to concentrate on to get an Ophthalmology national training number:

  • MSRA score
  • Interview score
  • Portfolio

In the past two years the scoring has been split as follows:

  • 20% = MSRA
  • 30% = Interview
  • 50% = Portfolio

For 2025 the new guidance states it will be:

  • 50% = Portfolio
  • 50% = Interview

How many points do you need to aim for?

Based on 2024 application cycle and prediction for 2025

2024

Total Number of Applicants in 2024 - 1383

Region

Total Number of Applicants

No. of Posts Available

Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

Score of Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

East Midlands

1383

4

63

68.9

East of England

5

68

68.4

Kent, Surrey and Sussex

5

53

70.1

London

18

30

74.9

North East

4

94

65

North West

8

64

68.7

South West (Peninsula)

8

92

65.1

South West (Severn)

47

71.2

Thames Valley

4

35

74.5

Wessex

3

67

68.4

West Midlands

7

74

67.7

Yorkshire and the Humber

8

89

65.8

Northern Ireland

2

59

69.2

Scotland

6

96

64.9

Wales

4

90

65.6

 2023

Region

Total Number of Applicants

No. of Posts Available

Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

(Pre Upgrade Deadline)

Score of Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

(Pre Upgrade Deadline)

Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

(Post Upgrade Deadline)

Score of Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

(Post Upgrade Deadline)

East Midlands

971

5

93

61

N/A

N/A

East of England

7

77

63

112

57.4

Kent, Surrey and Sussex

3

51

67.5

N/A

N/A

London

17

35

71.9

N/A

N/A

North East

5

102

59

N/A

N/A

North West

8

76

63

113

57.4

South West (Peninsula)

2

64

65.3

N/A

N/A

South West (Severn)

2

20

75.6

N/A

N/A

Thames Valley

2

23

75.3

N/A

N/A

Wessex

7

69

64

119

54.7

West Midlands

9

106

58.9

118

55.1

Yorkshire and the Humber

8

97

59.9

N/A

N/A

Northern Ireland

4

42

70.1

78

63

Scotland

13

109

58.2

111

57.5

Wales

6

103

59

115

56.8

2022

Region

Total Number of Applicants

No. of Posts Available

Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

 

Lowest Ranked Applicant Offered a Post

 

East Midlands

700

5

80

 

N/A

 

East of England

5

54

N/A

Kent, Surrey and Sussex

6

52

58

London

18

31

N/A

North East

3

48

37

North West

4

9

117

South West (Peninsula)

4

95

104

South West (Severn)

2

12

N/A

Thames Valley

4

32

N/A

West Midlands

8

94

98

Yorkshire and the Humber

6

96

N/A

Northern Ireland

1

N/A

68

Scotland

8

67

110

Wales

4

97

N/A

Each Section of Application

Portfolio

Estimated based on 2024 cycle and prediction for 2025.

Each year there are subtle changes in how the portfolio is scored each year but here are general principles and tips to hit a good score.

Qualifications:

This is the section which is most difficult to score points on. Most applicants will score 0 in this section and that is okay. If you have extra degrees then good for you! There are no points for intercalated degrees.

1 point for at least 8 months full-time or equivalent - MSc, BSc, PG Cert.

3 points for an MD or MPhil.

4 points for PhD or DPhil.

Awards:

This is also a difficult section to score points on, but more doable than the qualifications section. Don’t be disheartened if you score 0 in this section too. You can still get a top offer if you want.

  • If you are a medical student then take advantage of this and aim to get honours in your medical degree, this scores good points in all medical applications! Its 2 points for you here
  • Ensure to contact your university admin to stamp a letter confirming that your 1st/distinction was achieved by <15% of others
  • Sit the Duke Elder Award and aim for the top 10%. Worth 2 points, top 20% = 1 point, if top 60% then 0.5 points.
  • Medical students you can also sit any other specialties undergraduate competitive specialty examinations.
  • If you are presenting at a conference make sure you put 100% effort into it and aim to get the best poster/presentation prize, scores you 0.5 points
  • In medical school if you apply for a bursary / prize to fund attending a conference you could evidence this (but do not include if you are planning to use it in your presentations section).
  • Email your university admin team and ask them if you scored in the top 20% for any specific exams during medical school, each of these is worth 0.5 points. E.g. if you scored in the top 20% for your Year 4 OSCE exam then that is 0.5 points. If you scored in the top 20% in Year 1,2 & 3 written exams that's a total of 1.5 points.

Again any points in this section are a bonus.

Commitment to specialty:

Aim for full marks in this section if you can, if not and you have decided to go for ophthalmology close to application cycle, that's okay -  aim for a minimum of 9 points. This is definitely achievable even if you have zero prior commitment to Ophthalmology. Here's how:

Point

Advice for F1/F2+

Advice for medical student

Refraction certificate (2)

Not a priority but if you have time go for it!

FRCOphth pass (3)

FRCOphth fail (1)

Useful to get done but only 3 sittings per year and lots of work. Other points can be prioritised instead of this.

Non-peer reviewed publications (0.5 each, max 2)

This can be any non-pubmed website article related to Ophthalmology. Some ideas you can use for these are:

  • RCEM elearning cases (write a SBA series for them related to eye conditions in ED). https://www.rcemlearning.co.uk/contribute/ , https://www.rcemlearning.co.uk/clinical-case-digital-submission/ or email RCEMLearning@rcem.ac.uk 

  • Medical student journals (write a reflection about your experience in Ophthal while in medical school whether it was good or bad), eg British Student Doctor Journal, Bristol Medical Student Journal etc

  • Reflection submitted to EyeNews (eg reflection on your elective/taster week/ anything related to an experience in ophthalmology

  • Topic submitted to Journal of Foundations of Ophthalmology

  • Submit something to an online blog!

Aim to get all of these points whether its with case reports or non-peer review!

Case report in Ophthalmology (1 each, max 2)

Contact your local consultants and offer to write up and submit any of their outstanding interesting cases, they will usually have some that they haven’t had the time to write up or submit.

You must be first author.

Elective or separate undergrad project (1 each, max 2)

Ensure to have signed supervisor evidence and letter to state it was at least equivalent to 2 weeks full time work (i.e. 10 days).

No excuse for not arranging these. Make sure to get this signed by consultant supervisor.

Taster week (1)

Email your local department. Admin contact for Moorfields City Road taster week is avaliable online.

Aim to definitely secure this point!

To be arranged in F1/2.

10 Ophthal Clinic/Theatre sessions (1)

Must be stretched over course of 3 months. Do not use any sessions from your taster week.

During F1 you have 15 days study leave and 30 days in F2. Use them to get these sessions done!

Make sure to keep a register of each session you attend and then take the full list to a consultant at the end of the 10 sessions to get it all signed.

Aim to definitely secure this point!

EyeSi assessment (1)

Find your nearest EyeSi simulator here:

https://www.rcophth.ac.uk/training/simulation/eyesi-ophthalmic-surgical-simulators/ 

Email the lead for it and ask to attend.

It must be 4 hours of live training (so time on the menu pages do not count).

If you are struggling to get a response about arranging it, you could call or attend in person to ask how to get access to its use.

Aim to definitely secure this point!

Other ophth simulation training (1)

The most recognised way to get this point is through “RCOphth Introduction to Ophthalmic Skills Course”. The dates for these courses get booked up very quickly so you can get pre-notified about the upcoming dates by emailing: skills.centre@rcophth.ac.uk 

Current cost is £498 for foundation doctors/student BUT you can get this FULLY funded during FY2.

Use the course code FND0013 and contact your medical education coordinator to ensure this get refunded!

Aim to definitely secure this point!

Same as F1/2 advice but cannot apply for funding unless you can get a specific university sponsorship.

Aim to definitely secure this point!

Meetings attended: International/ National (max 3, 1 for each)

Examples of national meetings you can attend include:

BEECS (emergency eye care): £70 Leeds, Sep 2024 https://beecs.co.uk/meetings/ 

BIPOSA (paeds & squint): £250 North East, Oct 2024 https://biposa.org/biposa-north-east-2024/registration/ 

UKPGS (paeds glaucoma): ~£80, TBC https://www.ukpgs.org.uk/ 

UKNOS (neuro-ophthal): £70 London, Feb 2025, https://uknos.com/ 

BEAVRS (VR): Hull, Nov 2024 https://beavrs.org/ 

UKISCRS (cataract & refractive): London, Nov 2024 https://www.ukiscrs.org.uk/ukiscrs-events/ 

Oxford Society: £85-100 Oxford, July 2024 https://www.ooc.uk.com/registration (this may or may not be counted as national depending on the panellist, if not it will count as regional)

RCOphth: ~£100 for 1 day, Liverpool, May 2025


Tip 1: sometimes if you email the congress organiser in advance and offer to help with volunteering around the event on the day, they may be able to fully fund your ticket in exchange for your help!

Tip 2: during foundation years you can use your “discretionary course” funding to pay for your attendance of one of these conferences. This is separate to the FND0013 funding that you can use, it just needs your ES, TPD and head of school approval but that is only 3 emails to get a fully funded point (including travel, accommodation and subsistence)

Aim to definitely secure these points! It may be an investment unfortunately.

Unfortunately in this years 2025 guidance you cannot use the same meeting here as one which you use the presentations section.

Meetings attended: Regional (max 1, 0.5 for each if not fully scored in national section)

Examples of some regional meetings to join:

Tip: This website has up-to-date information of upcoming meetings: https://www.eyenews.uk.com/events/ 


Aim to definitely secure this point!

Discretionary section (max 2)

It is up to you what you put in this section e.g. ophthalmology commitment that does not fit anywhere else in the portfolio. 

Assume that most evidence included in this will be worth 0.5 points. Hence aim for 4 pieces of evidence minimum.

Examples of things you can use are Moorfields webinars, online courses such as Intro to Cataract Surgery from University of Michigan https://www.coursera.org/learn/cataract-surgery , Ophthalmology University Society involvement, memberships to ophthalmology subspecialty societies e.g. BIPOSA

Aim to definitely secure these points!

Multi-Source Feedback:

  • 0 points – for significant negative comments
  • 1 point – minor negative comments or non-satisfactory scores
  • 2 points – satisfactory scores with appropriate good comments
  • 3 points – satisfactory scores with multiple superlative positive comments, e.g. “best trainee I have ever worked with”.

Aim for 3 points in this section but expect 2 points. Let your colleagues know that the TAB/MSF is worth a lot of points for your application portfolio. That way they will know to be more detailed in their feedback.

Once this has been completed, attach the full copy of your TAB/MSF to your portfolio and underline all superlative comments in your MSF.

Only include your best TAB/MSF, not multiple.

Must have taken place within 18 months of interview date.

Publications:

  • 6 points max
  • 3 points for first author, pubmed indexed
  • 1 point for co-author, pubmed indexed 

This is a make or break part of the portfolio. Start early if you can and contact your local ophthalmology department at the tertiary hospital. Show you are eager to commit time to things but also be aware of which projects are timely. If a project looks like it will take too long then think about prioritising other projects.

For a fast turnaround you can use Cureus, a legitimate pubmed indexed journal that typically has a turnaround time of 4-6 weeks from submission to publication. https://www.cureus.com/ 

It does not have to be an ophthalmology related publication.

Quality Improvement/Audit:

  • 0 points – if no evidence of QI / audit work in portfolio.                              
  • 1 point – for participation but no specific roles documented or specific format followed.
    2 points – for initiation and design of the QIP / audit and some evidence of specific format.
  • 3 points – for initiation, design and writing up the QIP / audit and specific format followed.
  • 4 points – as above and was personally involved in implementing the QI strategy / completing the audit loop and implementing change
    5 points – for published audit (not to be added to Publications section) or QI guidelines implemented supra-regionally.

 For this section, to score up to 4 points you will need to evidence:

  • Copy of the QI/Audit including the standards used, results/findings and recommendations made based on project

  • Consultant signed letter summarising your role

Make sure to review the potential letter that you will have signed as your confirmation by a consultant.

Ensure you include in the text for the summary of your role, that you …:

  • Initiated the project

  • Designed the QI

  • Used specific guidelines for your QI

  • Led the QI

  • Completed more than 1 cycle 

  • Implemented a change

  • Wrote up the QI findings

Good ideas for topics that you can independently initiate, write up and publish are most quality improvement projects you do on the wards. For example a QIP on improving the accurate documentation of ward rounds in AMU or benefit of making an operation note template for appendectomies. 

Here are some published examples you can take inspiration from:

  • “Assessing the Correct Documentation of Time and Physician Information on MedicalRecords in the Emergency Department of Queen's Hospital: An Audit and Re-audit” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36712708/ 

If you are looking to publish an audit, look for specific journals related to your project's specialty. General journals that can be used include BMJ’s quality improvement section journal and Cureus. Both are pubmed indexed.

Again, it does not have to be Ophthalmology related.

Presentations:

If you are presenter or first author points are as follow:

Level of presentation

Oral

Poster/ePoster

Regional

1 point

0.5 points

National

2 points

1 point

International

3 points

1.5 points

If you are a co-author (i.e not presenting or first author) then points are as follows:

Level of presentation

Oral

Poster/ePoster

Regional

0.5 points

0.25 points

National

1 point

0.5 point

International

1.5 points

0.75 points

Examples of conferences:

  • Regional: any conference which is specific to an area only. For example: London Trainees Network, North of England Ophthalmology Society, Yorkshire School of Paediatrics
  • National: any conference by a national society in the UK. For example: ASiT annual congress, UK Paediatric Glaucoma Society, British Orthopaedic Association Congress, Foundation Trainees Surgical Society National Conference.
  • International: any conference by a society culminating attendees from multiple countries. For example: European Society of Endocrine Surgeons Congress, European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons, World Congress of Psychiatry. 

If you have a project and are not sure where to submit it, ask your supervisor. If not, google which societies are linked to your project’s topic and submit it to them. Conferences usually accept abstracts as long as it is legitimate research. If you’re still stuck then you can drop us an email and we can see if we can help you find somewhere.

If you are including a presentation on a project that you have used in the publication section you will NOT score the points unfortunately.

Current guidance states accepted but not yet presented presentations WILL be awarded points. The evidence that will need to be provided in this case can be the email/letter of acceptance, along with the abstract.

Meetings included in this section must not be included in Ophthalmology Specialty Links section. You should choose which domain to include the work in.

 Tip: Often the biggest barrier to getting these points is the anxiety of submitting an abstract. Once you’re over that, the points roll in!

Tip: one thing that also puts us off these points is the cost of conferences. There are some free conference you can go to e.g. ASiT Future Surgery. Most regional conferences are free so you can try and stack up those points if you can.

If you’re an F2 you can get the cost of a national conference FULLY funded using the discretionary funding. Or get 50% of the full cost of an international conference. Both decent options for return of investment!

 Aim to get 6/6 in this section, it is doable!

Education and Teaching:

Activity

Example

Score

Design e-learning tool

https://www.rcemlearning.co.uk/quick-revision-new-menu-2/ 

0.5 points

Helping with an educational course (more than one session)

Clinical skills teaching for medical students (ask your medical education fellow if you can help them with 2 of their teaching sessions)

0.5 points

Writing an e-book

https://www.mso.org.my/index.cfm?&menuid=95 

0.5 points

Teach the teachers course

Options:


https://www.medicalinterviewsuk.co.uk/medical-teaching-courses/teach-the-teacher-online-course-for-doctors/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwO20BhCJARIsAAnTIVRp8paNUuT13M58WTGhFyPmdeeaZ4-7cOvhljo3z5zxqhZNRO3j4u0aAqxeEALw_wcB (guarenteed points but costs £180)


https://www.coursera.org/learn/instructional-methods-education#modules (free, but cannot guarantee you’ll get these points)


https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/train-the-healthcare-trainer (free for NHS staff)

0.5 points

Formal OSCE examiner

Ask your local medical school, they often need volunteers so they will likely give you a slot. 

There will be August resit OSCEs you can volunteer for!

0.5 points

Organising a teaching programme (3 sessions over 3 months)

Every rotation you do, organise to give 3 teaching sessions spread over the 4 month rotation! Technically these points can be cumulative so if you organise 4 sets of different teaching programmes you can get 4 points!


Collect your feedback and include it in your signed letter or separately.


“Multiple experiences in similar areas (e.g. multiple teaching courses designed and delivered) will only be given points if additional attainment is described.” 2024 evidence folder guidance

1 point for each (can be multiple)

Higher teaching qualification

PGCert in Medical Education

PGDip

CILT

Some foundation schools will fund this. For example Barts Health affiliated foundation trainees can do CILT for free at Queen Mary University.

2 points

Write a chapter in post-graduate academic book 

 

2 points

Write a post-graduate academic book

 

3 points

 Layout:

This is a subjective score up to 3 points.

Rumours are that points are deducted in this section if too much unnecessary information is included in the portfolio.

Aim for 3 points but expect 2, it was notoriously difficult to get 3 points for this section in 2024.

Use Canva to organise your portfolio. 

 

1:1 Tutoring:

Hope you found this useful, if you would like further guidance on the portfolio or a 1 to 1 session to go over your porfolio with a sample portfolio from 2024 then follow this link:
https://www.optimedic.co.uk/tutors 

 

Questions:

Email us at optimedic.ltd@gmail.com