2006 Match List

Congrats again to all

School: Wayne State
Pre-clinical grades (P/H): Mostly honors
Clinical grades: Honors in Med, Peds, OB/Gyn, Neuro, Psych, Pass in Surg, Family (I thought the pass in surgery would hurt, but was never even mentioned)

Research: Small general surg project btwn 1st and 2nd year, but no pubs and absolutely zero ortho research.

AOA

Step 1: 240
Step 2: 250-score was available and mentioned several times
Rotated: Home, NW, UMich
Applied to 52, offered 21, went on 15 and ranked all

(Loyola, NW, Umich, Beaumont, Cleveland Clinic, MCOW, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, UIC, Einstein/Montefiore, Henry Ford, USC, Vermont, SUNY Downstate, Baylor)

Didn't attend MCO, UMDNJ-RWJ, Flint, Mayo, St Lukes-Roosevelt, Temple

Matched at Cleveland Clinic...A little surprised considering it has a research year and I have not done any ortho research, but very happy. I think it helped that a wayne grad recently finished the program and is now coming back as faculty. The program is outstanding and I probably would have ranked it first or second if it were in michigan.

For those of you wondering about second wave interviews, CC was definately a second wave interview.

Some comments about the programs...

Loyola and MCOW were my other favorite programs. They both are academic programs where you get to operate a lot but still seem to have good lifestyles and are pro-resident. Residents also seemed very cool. Definately top notch in all aspects.

NW and UMich are good programs with ideal locations for me, but they have some flaws. At both places, even the upper level residents were stuck holding retractors in some cases, which was a turnoff. Also at NW, you get very little clinic which seems good, but at some point, you need to be able to make decisions. Other than those things, and the sat conf. at NW, they are both very good programs with cool residents.

As far as community programs, beaumont is definately a cut above. Very academic for a community program, and the residents operate a ton. Again, they don't have much clinic, and they don't get money for books, etc. Very little call, too. Outstanding program

Grand Rapids and Kzoo are also very good programs and both seem to be very clinically oriented. The cities are both nice, with gr a little bigger.

UIC was not as bad as I thought it would be and I got the impression that the training there was quite good. Chair is stepping down, so you never know if the program will head in a different direction. I think people wonder about it because you don't get to talk to very many residents on interview day. Again, Sat conf blows.

I also liked einstein/montifiore and Vermont. Training seemed to be very good and I like new york/Burlington, just wasn't sure if I wanted to be either place for five years.

As others have said, suny downstate was very mediocre in every way.

USC is a great program if you want a ridiculous amount of trauma. To be more specific, 4 months of q3/q4 in-house trauma call every single year of residency. I like trauma, but maybe not that much.

I thought baylor was ok. I am not as sure that things are as tranquil after the split and probation as they make it seem, but I know many others really liked the program. I was told by many residents that fellows definately get in the way on sports.

Good luck to future applicants. This has definately been an interesting experience. Feel free to PM with specific questions.

Northeast state school

step 1: 249
step 2: 257..got scores mid jan...sent it out, not downloaded by most places..Upenn and NYU saw it though since these were late january interviews.

Not AOA

class rank: top 10%
Apgar scores: both 9.....drexel, umdnj, unc wanted this...lool jk
No research:.....Got asked about this in at least 90% of interviews.
Almost nil extracurriculars in med school.
wrote a review article for orthohyperguide during one of my aways.....a few places asked about it.
Aplied 58
got 21 invites
attended 15
ROL: see ROL thread.

Matched @ Upenn 5yr.......

i hope i have a liver left by july....
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congrats fatman....

Thanks bones!

I'll tip a guinness for you tonight

Congrats!

Him of ever expanding waistband

Fatman

Medical school that you have never heard of
mostly honors thru years 1-3 (top 10% of class)
AOA
step 1: 250
step 2: not yet taken
6 orth pubs
3 very good ortho letters
applied: 46
interviews offered: 22 (sent my application in late which I do not recommend) NYU-HJD, U of Washington, Michigan, Vermont, Loyola, Grand Rapids, Wash U, Wisconsin, Beaumont, Henry Ford, Dartmouth, Pitt, Mayo, Miami, Iowa, USC, Boston University, Case Western, Indiana, Yale, Cincinnati, and Brown.

interviews attended: 10 (lots of interviews offered with the same interview dates--if you are ever offered an interview for a week day, take it)

ranked all 10

Matched at No. 1 UW. In my opinion, UW is the ideal residency program and Seattle is a dope city...very stoked to have matched there, however, I am sure that I would have been happy at any of the programs on my list...

Good luck to all in the future--the process is expensive and most of the time it sucks

I've been reading these for a while, can't believe it's my turn to write one!

NE state school
step 1: 266
step 2: 264 (after interviews)

preclinical and clinical: mostly honors
AOA+
undergrad molecular bio research with pubs
ortho related research article submitted
letters: strong letters, but not from "world renowned" faculty

rotations: home, lennox hill, USC, UCLA

applied: 48
interviews: 27 offered, 13 attended (CWRU, AEMC, Jefferson, Yale, NYU-HJD, UMDNJ-NJMS, UMDNJ-RWJMS, Tufts-NEMC, USC, UCLA, UCI, Harbor-UCLA, Monmouth)

Matched at UMDNJ-NJMS!

Advice: Choose where you rotate carefully, because rotations can be very important, both for you and the program. I rotated and interviewed out West but ultimately decided I'd rather be close to home, for multiple reasons, so all the LA schools dropped pretty low on my list (i know its hard to believe i wouldn't want to be in LA..lol). Also, be careful about the preconceived notions you have about schools, many of my impressions about programs changed drastically after rotating/interviewing there. In the end, it really does all come down to location. Although everyone likes to talk about the "top residencies", you'll quickly realize that there really isn't much of a difference between the training you get at different programs. Every program will train you to become a competent orthopedic surgeon, it's up to you to become a great one.

Undergrad: Prestigious, Top 50 USWNR
Major: Physiology
MCAT: 29
Grades: 3.5. I had a 3.9 during my last 2 1/2 years, but what can I say- freshman year involved a lot of drinking.

Med school: Less than prestigious

Grades: ~95% A's (high honors) years 1-4. Top 15 % of class.
AOA: Senior

Step 1: 241/97
Step 2: 224/90 - Studied for 2 days because I was hopeful it would never factor into my life; It's a good thing I didn't take it until Dec., and even better that I matched. Obviously I didn?t let any of my programs know.

Research: None from med school. 1 basic science pub in prestigious journal for ortho department from undergrad - asked about/ complimented on at most interviews.

Extracurriculars: a fair amount, including some great service projects (no one gave a shit, or at least they never mentioned). Most interviews revolved around sports and leisure.

LOR: 8 (2 ortho PD's from aways, 1 big name orthopod from away, 2 community orthopods, 1 medicine, 1 surgery, 1 chief ortho resident) - at least 4 were great (got to read them at George Washington interview).

Aways: UC Davis, OHSU, St. Marys

Applied: 47 that I was really interested in, but would apply to 80 if I could do it over again to relieve some of the stress about getting interviews and then scheduling them.
Interviews offered: 11

Interviews attended (chronologically): 11 (UC Davis (during rotation), UNC, USC, Albert Einstein (Bronx), SUNY Downstate, St. Lukes, Univ of Wisc, George Washington, NYMC, Temple, OHSU)

Ranked: all 11 (almost considered not ranking SUNY Downstate because of a poor impression and some bad word of mouth, but figured it would be better than not matching at all)

So excited to have matched at Temple!

While not my number 1 choice, it might have been if it was on the west coast. I told myself the day before the match that I'd be happy anywhere other than NY (I have a family and want to buy a house), so here I am - very happy! Temple is a great fit for me. It?s family friendly (20 kids among 20 residents) and there are tons of affordable suburbs. Furthermore, Temple is a kick ass, busy place that will give me a great education. I know I'm going to get my hands dirty early and looking forward to it. If you also matched here or are an upper resident, please PM me.

I wanted to comment on aways since it's all over this site, and I certainly had the impression that they?re a crucial factor to getting into ortho. In my case, I couldn't be more surprised at how little they mattered for me. And no I'm not an egotistical, arrogant, nerdy, jerk- on the contrary most people thought my personality would get me in somewhere. Perhaps it did, but on the interview, not because of an away. Also, I didn?t attend Temple?s night before party, and I showed up an hour late to the interview because I drove 4 hours from another interview! Who knows, the match is mysterious?

Good luck to the future ortho hopefuls. It should be clear from this string of posts, whether you went to a shitty school, had less than desirable USMLE scores, were far from AOA, or had no research, ortho is possible. I agree with an earlier post, your chances depend a lot on things you can't control like how your personality fits into orthopaedics, and probably more important how well you fit in with the programs.

First of congrats to all!

Stats:
Attend middle tier medical school in northeast
Pre-clincal grades: mostly honors
Clinical grades: honors in all but medicine and surgery, honors in all ortho rotations
Class rank: Top 10
Senior AOA
Research: All ortho (2nd author on book chapter and review paper; 1st author on case report)
Extra-curriculars: assistant head wrestling coach at local high school throughout med school (came up in every interview)
Aways: Einstein in philly, UPENN
LOR's: from what I was told they were very solid.

Applied to 43, got 28 interviews, went on 14, ranked 10, couples matched (S.O. doing peds) which made location a big driving factor:

1. UPENN
2. AEMC -- philly
3. Jeff
4. Temple
5. UCONN
6. GW
7. Geisneger
8. Drexel
9. UMDNJ
10: Montefiore/Einstein

Matched at No. 1 UPENN and very stoked about it.
My S.O. also matched at her No. 1!

Fatman and bonescrubsandhumerus looking forward for all the fun to begin!

ddog118

sorry, I forgot to add board scores, not that they are important or anything.


Step I: 230
Step II: 234

I poured over this thread last year before/after deciding to go into ortho.

Top-30 (USNWR) school in the upper-midwest.
Pre-clinical grades: half and half, HP and Honors
Clinical grades: HP in Ob/gyn and Medicine, all others Honors. Honors in ortho rotations (3).
Not AOA
Step 1: 249/99
Step 2: just took it.
Research: zero publications, 1 non-ortho presentation. 2 ortho projects started in 3rd year. smattering of other smaller projects prior to med school.

Applied to about 50, maybe 25 offers. Went on 13.

Matched at my No. 1, Utah.

in random order, some comments on the programs I saw:

Utah - Amazing program! Residents, faculty, facilities, location, reputation--the whole package with no weaknesses. Rotated, and was impressed from day No. 1 with the atmosphere there. Peds experience is top notch. New ortho center. They seemed to interview about 25-30, and not every rotator gets an interview.

Wisconsin - Also had everything that I was looking for. Great residents and staff. Very impressed with Dr. Zdeblick in the interview. Madison is an awesome city, and they are currently building a new peds hospital and research center (after finishing a new medical school last year). Great program, tough not to rank it No. 1.

Dartmouth - very impressed with everything. Residents and staff were a very happy, tightly knit group. Dr. Koval is now there, and the trend is for more research. The facility is the best teaching hospital I've seen. 4 residents per year, 5 years ago was 2. They operate early and often, with an emphasis on joints. Those interested in research, seriously check out the CECS--I thought it was great. Location can be veiwed as an asset or a detractor. Must go away for peds and onc.

University of Washington - Really liked the program. Have increased the # of residents in the past few years, which seems to have lightened the Harborview exprience. Seattle is great. Very happy residents, and the staff I met were very nice, notably the PD and the chair. Panel interviews are interesting.

OHSU - the reputation for Portland had been one of recent instability, but I was convinced by Dr. Yoo that he's there to counter that, and to increase the academic output of the program. Really like the residents and staff that I met. Loved the city.

Iowa - do a search if you're curious about the quality. I'd add that the faculty that I interviewed with impressed me with their personality and genuineness. Ditto for the residents. Iowa City is underrated, but seriously the only detractor.

Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) - another good program. doesn't get the hype, but i thought it had everything you'd need. Milwaukee is livable.

Mayo - obvious reputation. Very good interview day that had a presentation that emphasised discounting the rumors you hear. (such as no trauma, fellows galore, etc) Top notch training. Rochester, MN.

Pittsburgh - again, great reputation. Lots of research going on. 8 residents (4 research) with a "super-chief" year. Wine and dine interview day at Dr. Fu's sports center.

UC - Irvine - I liked it. Great location. One interview room was notably not very fun. The chair and PD were great. No "rotations" as in no joint/trauma/hand team etc. Meet the day/week before and decide who does what in the OR.

Grand Rapids - Kind of surprised to really like it. Great people. Research if you want it. Nice city.

Syracuse - Staff really impressed me with thier personalities and demeanor. Some of the residents, however, didn't, to be honest. They have a nice new research facility and a great location close to the mtns, and wineries.

Allegheny - asked knowledge based ortho questions during the interview, in a nice way. Operate a TON. Over 2000 cases by graduation. Don't have a permanent chair. Resident said that it didn't make that much of a difference. Ok.

my 2 cents:

Rotations - Important in orthopedics. I recommend doing 2. (home, away, away) Pick 2 places you'd like to go, with differing "competitiveness" (look through this site to get an idea--but take it with a grain of salt). Look into it, as far as people/training connections between your school and the other (on the program websites). Note that I didn't do this. Also, I would imagine that some schools are better than others, as far as "yield" for rotators.

Applying - go big and go diverse, but make sure to include your school's region.
Grades - work hard.
Research - try to at least get involved with something, even if it's halfway through 3rd year, but the earlier the better. work hard.
Step 1 - work hard.

Other (most important) - believe in yourself. be nice. be honest. try to have fun. have interests outside of medicine. think about the big picture. work hard. smile. laugh. relax.

and congrats to everyone else who matched this year
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Second D.O. posting....

Boston Univ undergrad....decent GPA...too much fun in beantown..
MCAT - 32

Good D.O. school, if you want to label it as that...
Teaching scholarship in Anatomy and Pathology at med school
1/3 honors in pre-clinical
2/3 honors in 3rd year rotations
4/4 honors in 4th year ortho rotations - did one DO and three MD rotations

COMLEX I - 96th percentile
USMLE I -237

Research - 3 ortho pubs, a handful of poster presentations at AAOS, one at AANA, a podium presentation at a local hand conference. 4 more publications and a couple of abstracts awaiting acceptance/submitted...

Pretty good LOR's, one from big name in NY, one from a big name from the southeast.


applied to both MD and DO programs
here's where it got tricky, as I think I had a good shot at getting into one of the MD programs I rotated at -Hamot, VCU, Al Einstein in Philly...
but...these were all just "good chances.

Had early interview at a great DO place in ohio...and decided to take it....really had a great feeling while there and when I left....can't really explain it...

Still wonder what would have happened if I had only applied to MD...but won't matter in a few years.....

tough choice for all you DO people out there, about whether to apply for both MD and DO programs. DO your homework, and really take a look at your application. If your USMLE step is not over 230...I wouldn't even both applying for MD programs. There are excellent DO programs out there....just mostly in PA, OHIO, and Michigan....not too much along either coasts.....

All three MD places I rotated at either had DO's on staff, or had taken DO's into their program in the past...that, I think, was a key factor in my decision...

consider this...although my application was pretty good comparitively speaking, I applied to 90 MD programs and got only.......

3....that's right...3 interviews (not including places I had rotated at)
goes to show you how hard it is for DO's applyign for MD places....so choose your battles wisely...and always stock up on your Killians' irish red...
just a little advice from you uncle Larry...(if anyone remembers that last line you should pat yourself on the back...)

'sconie - i'll see you at utah!!

Med School: Mid-tier midwest with no home ortho program.

Years I-II: Mostly honors.

Year III: Honors in IM, Peds, OB/GYN, Psych, Ortho; only a "pass" in surgery.

Senior AOA

Step I: 234/95
Step II: 256/99 (NOT available to programs b/c took it end of Jan)

Research: One month of ortho research early fourth year, no abstracts/posters/presentations/papers...but was talked about at all my interviews.

Rotated: William Beaumont, Thomas Jefferson, Loyola-Chicago.

LOR: All were strong to quite strong. 1 ortho chairman (Dr. Herkowitz at Beaumont, lots of weight), 1 gen surg, 1 family, 3 ortho (1 Beaumont, 1 Jefferson, 1 Loyola), 1 chief resident. Sent out 4 to each program based on location.

Applied to 50 (shotgun approach), offered 18 interviews (including Loyola, which gives you an interview during your rotation): U of Illinois-Chicago, Loyola, Med Coll of Wisconsin, Henry Ford, Beaumont, U of Mich, Grand Rapids, Flint, Case Western, U Penn, Jefferson, Drexel, Temple, Syracuse, Tufts, Brown, George Washington, UNC. Went on 15 interviews, but did not go to Cuse and Temple b/c of time conflicts, did not go to Flint b/c I don't want to live there.

Ranked all 15 places I interviewed at and 3 six-year spots (Penn, Case, UNC).

ROL: Based on location, gut-feeling after hanging out with the residents/attendings, program strength, and fiance input (played a big role). Top 5 were Penn, Jefferson, Brown, Case, and Loyola (in no particular order). The rest of the top ten were MCOW, UNC, GW, Grand Rapids, Beaumont.

Matched at #2 Loyola and am very excited (would have been happy at any of my top 10)!!!

My two cents on some programs:
Loyola-great residents who are happy, very well-rounded program (good for a guy who has no idea what he may eventually do), strong academic structure, impressive operative experience. Awesome place to do an away b/c you will get good lectures about ortho basics.

Jefferson-amazing attendings and residents, had a lot of fun rotating there. I have heard rumors about Jefferson like having to round every day at 3AM b/c of the insane amount of patients, but I did not experience this (I was on the spine service and got there at 4:45AM). Great in spine, joints, upper extrem; they send you away for trauma (although the experience is supposed to be good).

Beaumont-outstanding attendings, the best facilities I have ever seen, more volume than you can believe.

Penn-many of the residents grew mustaches for the interview...enough said. Seriously a great place with amazing training.

Brown-extensive training with strong didactics (required 6 years and A TON of lecture time), great facilities (esp the ER/trauma bays), their chairman Dr. Ehrlich seems awesome and seems very supportive of residents.

Case-it and Loyola were the most well-round programs I saw. Their chairman Dr. Marcus seems liek a great guy. Attendings are solid. Amazing academic/didactics. At your interview, you play football.

MCOW-very impressive, residents are all very happy and get great benefits.

UNC-top-notch program, has a mentorship type training (one-on-one with attending, Penn also has this for some of its residency) which I think is a great way to train.

Grand Rapids-quite possibility the best residents I encountered. Extremely friendly program. Grand Rapids is a great city with good hospitals. Can't say enough good things about this program.

Congrats to all that matched, and good luck to all future applicants.

Haha, is this an inside joke or something? Or just something goofy the residents decided to do? I'm just curious - I'm a first-year and don't really know much about the process...

Sorry, I did not mean to confuse anyone. At University of Pennsylvania, some of the residents grew mustaches for the interview process, and they looked like 70's swingers, the actors from Anchorman, etc. It was funny. The point was, gee if these guys are fun enough to have some humor during the interview process, this is a place I would like to be at. On my interview trail, that was one of the things I was looking for: whether I could get along with the residents for five years. I really did not mean anything by the comment. Penn is a great place and has a very strong program...and some its residents have a sense of humor. And mustaches are funny to me because I can't grow one.
Also, my opinions from my above post are simply that: opinions. Everyone's experience is different and I was trying to comment on what I noticed and perceived from my interviews and rotations. I guarantee that everyone has different opinions. And for the record, I was on Jefferson's SPINE service; I cannot comment on their joints service. Sorry for any confusion.

This one is for the average Joe who didn?t get 287 on his boards and have a fracture classification named after him but who worked hard?

Undergrad: high-powered, top tier in academics and undisputed No. 1 in NCAA division I basketball; MCAT 35

Med School: state school in south with focus on primary care

AOA: senior year

Board scores: Step I 240s, Step II CK 220s (pitiful considering I put 5 weeks into this piece of?)

Away rotations: home program, Emory (3 weeks), Yale, Stanford

Research: 10 weeks between 1st and 2nd year medical school at the NIH (non-ortho related) with one pub that was talked about at EVERY program

Extracurriculars: didn?t do squat in college except ROTC and was in Army reserves; stepped up in medical school and held various leadership roles, started major screening projects with huge budgets and that sort of jazz.

Applied: 63 programs, mostly in big cities or big names. Notables that I did not apply to were Harvard, Mayo, Brown, Dartmouth, and the state of Texas. Applied to almost every Cali school. Would hate to list them all here?

Interviews offered: 21 but did not take Howard, Atlanta Medical Center, Tufts, Washington University/Barnes-Jewish (conflicted with Penn), St. Luke-Roosevelt, University of Tennessee/Campbell, MCV/VCU because of conflicts. I took every interview that I could (14) and ranked all programs including research tracts (3).

Rank list:

01. Stanford
02. Penn 5 yr
03. UCSF 5 yr
04. UCSF 6 yr
05. Penn 6 yr
06. Emory
07. Yale
08. Mt. Sinai
09. Michigan
10. Carolinas Medical Center
11. UVA 5 yr
12. Wake Forest
13. Florida-Shands
14. UVA 6 yr
15. Long Island Jewish
16. Henry Ford
17. Medical College of Georgia

Matched at University of Pennsylvania 5 year program, and I could not be happier. I would have been thrilled to match in any of my top 6 programs and would have been very content with my top 11. I ranked Stanford above Penn simply because they have home call throughout the entirety of their residency and the allure of California. From all that I have heard and from the interview experience, Penn was the most amazing and well-rounded program. The chairman actually said that this was a program designed for residents and fellows were ?tolerated.? Early operative experience and awesome group of residents (see mustache post above). #8 in NIH dollars. The other thing that struck me about the program is that there are 3 onc guys that do over 1000 onc cases with NO fellows. Whether or not you want to do onc is not the point; these guys are doing amazing s%it like total scapula replacements, and taking part in these surgeries can only make you a slicker surgeon. They also have an elective in your 5th year to do essentially whatever you want (going overseas to practice, etc.). Also, only a handful of programs have a neuro-orthopaedist; Penn is one of them. Every specialty is covered with multiple attendings, and there is no blatant focus on any one specialty (you won?t get killed by trauma). I could go on and on about this place, but I?ll stop. One possible downside of the program is that there is not a dedicated research block built into the curriculum. Needless to say, I am grateful beyond what words can say that I have matched to one the powerhouse ortho programs. Maybe in was a computer glitch, but it just don?t matter no more!

Some random advice? there is a lot of hocus-pocus in getting interviews. For example, I got shut out in DC, Chicago, denied at Greenville, SC, but was offered interviews at places like Penn, Wash U., Michigan. I got UCSF, which is arguably THE program in the west, but was denied at every other west coast program including lesser known Cali schools. A friend of mine who had the exact same board score, not AOA but a much bigger name med school only got 5 or so interviews and had to scramble. So the only thing I can say is do as many aways as possible and work your a$$ off. Also, have some research to talk about, and have something outside of medicine as well. I had the military experience and a crap load of leadership/volunteer stuff. This kept the interviews going without any uncomfortable pauses or silences. I also had a computer science background, which I highlighted to set myself apart (who knows if it made a difference). Oh, one last thing, KEEP YOUR SUIT CLEAN AND PRESSED. There were definitely some guys that just flat out stunk; I don't know what the deal was, but one dude reaked at every interview I saw him at. Don't know where or if he matched, but I can't imagine that helped his cause. Just play it safe, don't be that guy, and drop the extra $20 bucks.

This post is getting too long, so if anyone has any questions about my rank list or programs I rotated at, feel free to PM me. Fatman, bonescrubsandhumerus, and ddog118, I look forward to meeting ya?ll. Let the fun begin...

I'm not knocking your post in any way, and congrats on matching, but I don't think your post was for the "avg joe", lol. You got a 240 or greater on the boards. I think that is for the avg 5% of joes.

If someone matched with a 210 or 215 then that would be for the Avg 95% Joes.

Maybe you are correct. The Step I score is decent, but I sort of meant all the other stuff. I did not have any ortho research, cannot bench 300 lbs, did not come from an extremely well known medical school. I am from the south and was trying to match outside my home region. Maybe other folks felt this way as well, but when I interviewed at places many consider top notch, the folks seemed like they were all superstars. These guys were getting invited for second looks, getting calls from program directors, and I was not. So not exactly the average Joe, but certainly not what one would consider ortho royalty either.

Undergrad]
drill....unless u r refering to the tarheels i'd retract this statement immediately..

hehehe, Anywyz,congrats men...see u all soon.

Don't worry drillbit, we will get that bench over three plates.

Fatman

I thought these posts were helpful during third year so here goes:

Undergrad: does this matter? went to big ten school. Took a year off before med school and did basic science research in a cadiovascular lab.

Med school: mid tier midwest school

Step 1: 234
Step 2: just took it a few weeks ago

Preclinical- HP and H
clinical-HP and H

AOA: senior (but didnt actually get it till after interviews were over so wasnt a factor)

Research/pubs: Ortho and cards research. Two basic science pubs in cardiology (first author on one). one first author ortho pub. and another first author ortho manuscript submitted by the time of interviews. Podium presentation at national meeting

Rotated at home program, Univ of Chicago and St. Mary's in san francisco

Interviews: Univ of chicago, st mary's, UCSD, Univ of Washington, UIC, OSU, Akron General, Case western, Cincinnati, BU, Tufts, Yale,

Offered but couldnt go b/c of conflicts: St Lukes, Temple, U Minn, Henry Ford, Beaumont.

Ranked: I ranked every program that i interviewed at including a few six year tracks at CWRU and BU
Ended up matching at my No. 1 Univ of Washington! cliche, but i'll say it.... couldnt be happier.

ramblings: I'll just comment on the two programs I rotated at.

University of chicago:
this is a great program that doesnt get mentioned very often. My experience there was great. The attendings are all approachable and willing to teach if you show some interest. I particularly liked Dr. Bernie who is one of the hand surgeons there. The residents are all smart, hardworking, and like to have fun. The case load here seems to be smaller than other places ive seen, but I think this may be an advantage because attendings are not rushed and have time to teach. Morning conference is everyday and the didactic schedule is very good. Operative experience is early with interns getting into the OR, at least on the orthopaedics month. Call nights arent bad because UofC is not a level 1 trauma for adults, but it is level 1 for peds. also the call schedule is very reasonable. Research opportunities are definitely available, with some protected time in your fourth year. they also give you elective time in 5th year that you can use to check out potential fellowships/do rotations that you are interested in or feel deficient in. They end up placing into top fellowships all over the country. Dr. simon is the current chair and a big name in the oncology world, but I'm not sure how many more years he plans on staying. Dr. Peabody is the rez director and is likely to take his place if/when he leaves which will make for a smooth transition. The only weaknesses to this program may be the trauma experience (however they do rotate at loyola for a few months) and spine. I think overall this is an excellent place to train and I would have been happy to match here. I ranked seattle higher only because I wanted to head out to the west coast.

St. Mary's (san francisco ortho residency program)
My experiences while rotating here were excellent as well. The residents are really sharp and fun. There are basically three hospitals they rotate at:
1) st. mary's - cushy, private, good sports/spine/joints experience, generally considered their light rotation.
2) kaiser oakland - high volume, lots of different attendings in every specialty with good teaching, very busy.
3) highland county - busy county hospital, great trauma experience, lots of autonomy

I think the various hospitals provide an excellent well rounded surgical experience. conferences are on monday and tuesday afternoons at the various hospitals with most lectures being given by residents but attendings are generally present. I didnt take call while I was there, but I imagine its light at st mary's and busy at highland/kaiser. It is home call for all years. Research opportunities are okay, with some protected time in the second year, but this is not really stressed by the program. Residents get great competitive fellowships of their choice. The new chair is Dr. McGann. He is one of the best attendings I've ever worked with: very smart, great with patients, loves to teach. He will provide the program with stability and continue to improve the residency.

As far as their probation goes, I dont think it should cause concern. we were told that the main issue is the RRC likes to see a program's home hospital give financial support to the residency and prove its dedication. In the past the program was supported entirely by alumni. They have worked out a deal with st. mary's hospital for financial support which will take them off probation on the next audit.

Again, I think this is a great place to train, and would have been very happy to match here as well. However, at this point I'm considering academics and thought I will have more opportunities at a university program. St. mary's is ideal if you know you want to go into private practice.

This post is way too long but hopefully it will help somebody. Congratulations to everybody else who matched!