Top 25 Midwest Med School
1 honor during 3rd year (Ob/Gyn)

Step1: 225
Step2: took it last week

3rd author on an AAOS presentation
1st author on an AAOS Scientific exhibit

Rotated: Northwestern, UConn, Minnesota

Interviews: UVM, UConn, Loyola, Georgetown, SIU, Northwestern, Minnesota, Beaumont, SUMMA, Grand Rapids, Wayne State

Didn't make it to Wayne State interview (date conflicts).
Ranked all that I interviewed at.

Matched at No. 1: Minnesota

nothin' like drinking at noon on a thursday

Top 25 US Med School

Pass/Fail first two years.
Honors in: Neurology/Neurosurgery, Peds, and all 3 Ortho AI's
Not AOA.

Step 1: 225
Step 2: 233

1st author in Ortho Biomechanics research in college
1st author in FES Ortho research in med school

Rotated at: CWRU, U Pitt, CCF

Interviewes: CWRU, U Pitt, CCF, Loyola, Wayne State, U Maryland, Henry Ford, West Virginia, SUNY Syracuse

Applied to one prelim surg spot - ranked it last.

Matched at: Wayne State

Happy that I matched - tough ortho year.

Primary care med school

Started two projects; AOA; Top 3% in class rank

Lots of involvement in extracurricular activities

StepI-235
StepII-same

Rotated at Baylor, Univ. of SC, and Wake

Applied to 44(22 interview offers)Interviewed at Baylor, Vandy, Wake, Campbell Clinic, Tulane, UT Cha, Greenville, Atlanta med ctr, MCV, UK, UTSA, and Univ of South Carolina.

Ranked all 12 and matched @ No. 1-Baylor--I am and will be living the dream for 5yr in H-TOWN.

Good luck to all the future orthopods. I'm getting F_ _KED UP tonight

P.S.-getting married in August-wish me luck

Middle tier state school

First two years (Honor/P/F) - honored gross anatomy, human development, pharmacology (most others were really high pass, except for two classes I squeaked by)

Step I - 239, Step II - took in Feb

Third year (Outstanding/Advanced/Proficient/Needs Remediation) - 5/6 Outstanding (believe it or not surgery was advanced)

Did aways at Mt Sinai and Rush (in addition to one at home program). Got a three great letters (2 from Sinai, one from Rush). My advisor wrote me the greatest letter in the world (my mom cried when she read it)

Had great extracurricular activities (lots of public service); at my interviews, these dominated the conversation. i also ran a triathlon (didn't do all that well but people were impressed and asked about it.

Research - got a late start (was orignially going into peds); got on two projects winter of third year in which my involvement was peripheral. One submitted (fifth author ) one still in progress.

Not AOA

Applied to 46 (originally 42, then added four more 'panic' programs)
Got 11 interview requests (UIC, Rush, U of Chicago, Kentucky, MCOW, LIJ, Vanderbilt, Stony Brook, Mt Sinai, Albert Einstein Philly, and turned down UVA because of date conflict)

Ranked all 10
Top 5:
1. Mt Sinai - great program with great operating experience and an even better environment (great residents, attendings).
2. LIJ - so impressed with the all around program at LIJ, went back for a second look.
3. University of Chicago - tight knit program with incredibly intelligent people who are big time resident advocates
4. Rush - incredible program, just didn't get the feeling that I fit in
5. Vanderbilt - probably the best program I visited as far as all around. Brand new ortho hospital opening soon, well funded department, great chairman, got knocked down only because my wife and I wanted to be near family

Matched at.....Mt Sinai, so excited.

PM me with questions

Well, I guess I'll throw my credentials up here as well:

Top 30 Medical School in the Northeast

First two years are Pass/Fail except for an outpatient medicine course that I recieved a Pass in

Step 1: 243
Step 2: Took March 17th - talk about cathartic

3rd year rotations - Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail basis:
got High Pass in Peds, Ob/Gyn, Psych, Neuro
Honors in Surgery, Pass in medicine
Honors in Ortho Sub-I at my home school

Did aways at UK and Iowa

Not AOA - Top 1/3 of my class

3 publications from research in undergrad (one first author) as well as presentations at two scientific conferences. Started a research project in ortho summer of my fourth year that is ongoing.

Applied to 44 programs - offered 8 interviews - CWRU, U of R, SUNY Upstate, SUMMA, MCO, UK, Stony Brook, Penn State

Ranked in that order except for Penn State whose interview I couldn't make.

Matched at SUNY Upstate ... looking forward to making it now 13 consecutive years in upstate NY after growing up just outside NYC.
Feel free to PM with any questions.

I thought some third years could benefit from this:

Step I 266
Honors in 4/5 clerkships taken during 3rd year
AOA

Out 2 months to have aortic valve replaced during 3rd year (don't know if this had any influence on where I matched)

Letters: 2 very positive from general surgeons and one from an orthopod that I had limited time with (early on I was thinking about neurosurgery and some other specialties and did not commit to ortho until pretty late in the game).

Research/publications: Limited research in neurosciences and zero publications.

Aways: Only time for one in Kalamazoo

About 40 applications, 13 invites, went on 12: Mayo, Henry ford, Penn State, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Flint, Loyola, Louisville, Cleveland Clinic, LSU, Grand Rapids, and Beaumont

Matched at Henry Ford which was middle of the pack for me. Am extremely happy to have matched, and think that the program will be a good fit for me, but think I would have gotten my first choice with a more balanced application.

My point is that if you have a high step one score, PROCEED WITH CAUTION. It's easy to buy into everyone telling you that you will get whatever you want and to become a little complacent. Regionalism, connections, and politics are a reality which can either help or hurt you. Big step one scores seem to be most useful for obtaining interviews. Once you get to that point, it becomes about a lot more than numbers. Good luck.

Ugh, I have a headache ...

Here's my crap:
Step I - 258
Step II - taken it next week
"Jr." AOA (we actually had early and late Sr. AOA, so whatever..)
Research - extremely minimal, 1 summer project in undergrad (that was in nephrology..)
>90% pre clinical Honors
All clinical Honors except Psych (which most ortho people found a plus )

Aways: Mayo
Applied:49
Offered: 36
Interviewed: 17

Matched at Mayo (top 3), couldn't be more excited....

ready to graduate from UT, memphis in may.
AOA as a senior
USMLE I 248, II 245
3.9 GPA and top 10% in class, all A's in clinicals

secondary author on paper and presentation at MAOS from year between college and medical school (didn't get in on the first try).

rotated at Campbell Clinic (home), U of Iowa, and Case Western,
applied to 31, 14 interviews offered,
took 11 interviews including above and U of Wisconsin, MCoW, Nebraska, SIU, UVM, Rochester, Mayo, and UC-Davis.

stoked to have matched, super stoked to have matched at Case.

my two cents: friends, mentors, connections, letter writers and advisors outwiegh scores, and having good ones help you get a "good match."

OK, here you go:

Middle-tier school in Northeast

Step 1: 236
Step 2: 225

AOA
Honors in Surgery, Medicine, Peds, Neuro, Ortho aways

1st author on general surgery paper, minimal ortho research

Applied 43 programs
12 Interview invites (Brown, UMDNJ-Newark, Gtown, WMC, Stony Brook, LIJ, Monmouth, MCV, Dartmouth, St Lukes, NYMC Brooklyn/Queens, St Joe's)

Matched at UMDNJ and very happy. It is a great program with dedicated attendings and a ton of cases. Good luck everybody.

Middle Tier Private school in Midwest.

50% Pre-clinical honors
Honored clinical rotations: Surgery, Medicine, Family Med, Ob/Gyn, Neuro.

Honored Ortho Trauma Sub-I.

AOA

Step I:232
Step II:240

Research in Ophthalmology, non-published.

Letters: Ortho Chair, Ortho PD, and very well-known ortho attending, and Medicine attending. All good letters.

Away at Mayo.

Applied at 48
Offered: 22
Interviews at 16

Matched at No. 1 Mayo

Boy, it is a great feeling to be here. PM me if questions.

My stats:

Average NE school
AOA, 3rd year Honors in surg, ob/gyn, family med...High pass others, Sub I's at Home site, AGH, Tufts and BU (Honors)
step 1 255
step 2 December...not seen by programs
2nd author on chapter in gen surg textbook, no other research

My App:

Letters from Home, AGH and Tufts, finalized application 9/20/03
applied to 54, 29 invites, went on 12 interviews (most cancellations were due to scheduling conflicts, I had 7 invites for 12/10 alone...

Matched at Maryland, Which is Awesome!!!!! GO Terps!!! And with the new weighted schedule I'll see plenty of my Red Sox at Camden Yards.

Midwest state school

Honors in about half of clinical rotations, inc. ortho and surgery.
Step I 262
Step II ???

Paper published in the Journal of Urology from undergrad work. Ortho research poster presentation.

No away rotation.

Applied to 35
14 invites
11 interviews, ranked them all

Matched at Nebraska. Very happy, but hung over.

Here's my info:

Top 5 school in Midwest

Good preclinical grades (1st year p/f though)
3/7 third year H, rest HP
H on Ortho subI at home school
3 aways (BAD IDEA)- 2 HP, 1 H

Not AOA, middle third of class

Research= 1 ortho project, had it for 2 1/2 years, JBJS publication

Very good LOR's

Applied to 50ish programs
Offered 10 interviews, attended all of them:
Pitt, UCLA, Wash U, Maricopa, Einstein, St Luke's- Roosevelt, Jacksonville, Tulane, Loyola, GWU
Ranked 8/10 (not Maricopa or Jacksonville)

Matched at #2 GWU- very excited!!!!!

(XX for anyone who cares)

(My school had 2 unmatched candidates this year and I don't have any idea what distinguished me from them, but I'm happy anyway!)

I forgot my shady Step 1 score, oops.
Step I- 223
Step II- 230, but I didn't use it in the application process.

I consider myself very lucky!

Very happy to match!
Step I-227
StepII-230 (received yesterday)
25% pre-clinical honors
Only clinical honor in psych (oops!)
Obviously not AOA.
Research manuscript written, but not yet submitted.
One away rotation.
Matched at Medical College of Ohio; one of my top three!
email PM if also matched at MCO

hope this info helps the ms3's

boards:
step 1 >250
step 2 >250

honors: aoa

research: none, not even a science fair project

letters: 1 ortho chairman, 1 ortho attending, 1 medicine attending

rotations: dallas-southwestern, new mexico

interviews offered: michigan, wash u, duke, harvard, miami, southwestern, campbell, ucla, ui-chicago, mcv, brown, dartmouth, carolinas, henry ford, new mexico, galveston, ut houston, ut san antonio, jps ft worth, baylor, texas a&m, ochsner, greenville, lennox hill, albany

matched: numero uno, michigan

my 2 cents: good numbers get you the interviews. however, in ortho having cool extracurriculars really helps i think. especially non-medical activities. like sports, camping, leadership roles, biking, photography, underwater basketweaving, whatever. programs like people who are well-rounded, not necessarily someone who is 100% ortho all the time. interviews go much better when you can kick back and talk about something other than medicine. just my input.

i'm totally psyched about the match. good luck to all.

Average School in philly with MassHole

Step 1 223
Step 2 taken after match lists turned in

20% honors during first 2 years
Honors surgery, Ortho, surgery sub-I, High Pass Medicne, OB, Peds, Family Med Pass Psych

Non AOA Top 1/3 of class probably

Five loR Home PD, Away PD, Ortho doc I published with, Home trauma surgeon, and surgery clerkship director. All suposedly excellent.

Rotated AGH (home), SUMMA, and Cleveland Clinic.

research: Fairly decent amaoun with 1 pub

Matched at #3 SUNY Upstate!!!!! Am very happy. although I may need a heavier winter coat.

Good Luck Third Years

NY State School
(with great!! ortho program)

Step I - 239
Step II - ???

20% honors during first 2 years
Clinical Honors (Medicine, Surgery) rest HP

AOA+
3 LOR's (well known faculty)
Research (2 pubs being submitted, 2 abstracts, 1 poster, 1 podium pres)

No away rotations

Offered 14 Interviews (Ohio State, CASE, CCF, PENN, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Baylor, UVA, MCV, Boston U, NYU-HJD, SUNY Upstate, SUNY Buffalo) attended 9 because of conflicts.

Ranked based family considerations and program quality.

Matched!! Baylor (Houston)!!!! warm weather here I come!!!

Congrats to all!!

Here's my stats (sorry, Busticate, need to post accurate info for the girls out there)

Top 15 Med School
One of two female candidates (of 5 total) at my school
All A's/honors except for 3rd year neuro month
Step I: 257
Step II: pending
AOA +
A few non-ortho pubs and one 1st author ortho pub pending

One away rotation -- UPenn
Applied to 32, offered 28 interviews, got lazy and only took 9
3 of the programs had both 5- and 6-year spots, so ranked 9 programs for 12 ranks total
Top 5 were UPenn, Vandy, Harvard, HSS, Pitt

Matched at No. 1 UPenn, sweeeeet! We went 5/5 at my school and everyone was extremely psyched. Congrats to everyone!

It's cool...

Top 15 med school
All A's/honors except for 3rd year psych
Step I:>230 - I maintain that this doesn't matter. See earlier posts
Step II: Pending
AOA+
One ortho presentation, 5 non-ortho pubs, one on-going ortho project
Letters: 2 chairman, one PD, one ortho society chairman. All strong letters
One away rotation at CMC - great month for me because I was able to contrast a high powered academic program with a somewhat more community oriented program (although CMC does a hell of a lot of research and is extremely busy)
Applied to 34, offered 30. Went on 10 (Vandy, HSS, Wash U, Harvard, Florida, CMC, Duke, UNC, Wake, UT/Campbell clinic).

Matched at #2 Vandy - unbelievably excited!!! Best of luck to all!