2006 Match List

For the 3rd year students out there hoping to match:

Undergrad: Very important for me since I went to a big-time football school, and this was huge for interviews.

Med School: Decent private school with great parties; senior AOA; some extracurriculars

Step 1: 245
Step 2: took it yesterday

Research: 3 small, feeble projects, 2 were ortho. NO publications and nothing was even in the works. But I had enough to talk about during interviews until they got bored and moved on to a better topic.

Rotated at home school and at a very well-respected program ? got 1 letter from the away rotation, and it helped a lot. 3 letters from people at my school (2 ortho).

Other: I have a background in martial arts that I tried to emphasize to differentiate myself on paper. People loved talking about it at interviews (leaving less time to discuss research). You should develop your own unique characteristics when you put your application together and convey that to the programs.

Applied: ~42
Interviews Offered: ~26
Accepted: 15; Ranked 15

Top 8 (alphabetically): Baylor, Campbell Clinic, Carolinas, Colorado, Iowa, Miami, Rush, Wash U. The rest (alphabetically): Arkansas, Kansas, Mizzou, UM-Kansas City, Ochsner, Southern Illinois, Tulane.

Matched at No. 1 and couldn?t believe it.

Advice/Observations:
1) The reason I posted this is so that underclassmen can gauge their potential to match, since I found it helpful. Also, hopefully some of you will be able to estimate the right number of places to apply to based on your credentials and save yourself some cash. I obviously applied to way too many. However, it?s important to remember that this list has a rather severe selection bias towards those of us who are happy about our matches/matched at No. 1 (I?m obviously guilty of this too). But I still appreciated reading these things last year to learn about the process and learn some program names.

2) You can match at a great program with a weak background in research. It seemed pretty clear to me that you just need something to talk about when they bring it up.

3) I really liked every place that I visited; the ortho world has done an excellent job of ridding the country of bad residencies. Certain places just offer more than others, and those in my top 8 all offer all specialties (except some here and there missing tumor) and a more academic environment (in general). By the way, Tulane will be back to full force in time.

4) Finally, you do NOT need to have a famous program director/chairman doing behind the scenes work for you helping you match. I was under that impression based on all the residents I spoke to ? that you tell your chairman where you want to go and he makes phone calls, etc. I had some extenuating circumstances this year and was basically unable to speak to anyone in the department throughout the entire application process. But the match still worked out for me, and my feeling is that many, many more places stick to the basic principals of the match than do not.

cardinalred, so where did you match? Thanks.

This is really inspiring to see all of the people who have matched. Reading some of the stats reminds me that I need to step my game up...so much stuff that I still havent figured out. I am still looking for meaningful research that I can really be proud of. At anyrate...congrats to all you guys! I wish you all continued success. Hopefully (God willing) I can post my success on this board in 2008!

Once again Congrats Ortho-Docs!

I know there's a morbid fascination with USMLE scores, where to rotate, et cetera, but the most overlooked and possibly one of the most important factors was stated by cardinalred:

I had good scores and a lot of research, but it was the unique aspects of my application that stood out and, I think, a huge part of why I matched.[/quote]

i have a bit of an interesting background and outside-school activities, and some things that, for lack of a better term, "explain" some of my preclinical grades (i have no red flags, just a load of HP) and step 1 averageness ... but i'm having a hard time trying to work it into my personal statement (want to have some sketches of this before i start my 3 months of ortho rotations in june) without sounding non sequitur. suggestions as to places to look for personal statement examples for ortho, or how to integrate the more non-medical information about yourself into the statement?

First off congrats to everyone who matched--Bill Brasky, Fatman, No. 1gunner and torn meniscus--Im pretty sure I met all of you guys on the trail or during away rotations--those are all awesome programs.

My app:
Not AOA
step I: 240's
stepII: 212 (not taken in time for interviews)--apparently did well on "musculoskeletal", failed ob/gyn part miserably
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3rd/4th year grades: mostly high passes, some honors (neurology, ortho), pass in psychiatry
letters: 4 ortho (2 excellent--commented on during interviews, not sure about the other two), 1 ortho chief, 1 research, 1 internal medicine
rotated at: Michigan, Loyola
Med School: highly ranked, midwest, with well connected ortho dept
research: musculoskeletal histology publication

Applied to 40-some programs, interview offers from michigan, loyola (during rotation), emory, case western, UW, Iowa, Grand Rapids, Beaumont, University of Chicago, MCO, Ohio State, Jeff, AGH, Henry Ford.

Was not able to go to U of C, Ohio State, and MCO due to conflicts.

Would have been happy at any program I interviewed at--all solid places to train with cool residents, my top 3 (based off of personal/family reasons, fit with program, location): Michigan, Emory, UW--Extremely happy to have matched at Michigan

My take on each of the programs:

Michigan- 6 residents/yr, all services are covered (new foot/ankle guy gets here in June) including Onc, very balanced experience (clinic and or), chiefs run the show (only one fellow on sports, but there are 4 sports attendings), Faculty are nice, enjoy teaching, great group of residents who are very laid back--easy to fit in, strong fellowship opportunities (the 4's this year: joints at HSS, shoulder and elbow at HSS, sports at Cleveland Clinic, spine at UCSF, trauma at Carolinas and Vanderbilt), good didactics (daily morning conference with resident and faculty teaching), two months of night-float as a 3 covering the ER, many research opportunities, 2 months fourth year for research or to do away rotations, very convenient (all facilities are within 3 mile radius, Mott-peds hospital attached to main University Hospital), Ann Arbor--convenient, very safe, affordable (easy to own your own place), VA experience

Loyola: 6 residents/yr, no fellows, all services covered including Onc, strong trauma experience, also very balanced overall (operative and clinic), good didactics ( thursday dedicated to full day of conferences), strong fellowship opportunities especially in spine (most recently WashU, Rush), hand (chair is Terry Light, former president of Hand Society), shoulder and elbow (Columbia, WashU), awesome group of residents who like go out and enjoy Chicago, very nice Faculty, good teaching, 6 month dedicated research block 3rd year, VA experience--where residents have a lot of autonomy, Hospital is in Maywood which is 15 minute drive outside of city (no traffic)--I lived in Wicker Park while I was there and had no problem getting to work, except for one day (bad traffic jam)--I had a ton of fun

All of the following info based off of interviews (one day impression)-

Emory- Top Academic Program in South, strong trauma experience (Grady), all the other services well covered--tons of or cases, 5 residents/yr, 2 or 3 spine fellows and apparently new trauma fellow coming this year--so much volume at Grady that I think this will make the residency even better rather than hurt the experience, awesome group of residents with "work-hard, play-hard" attitude--felt a little like a fraternity which I liked, very collegial atmosphere between attendings and residents, Roberson and Oskouei (new program director) were awesome, lots of autonomy, get top fellowships in all areas, lots of research opportunities but currently no dedicated research time (currently applying for sixth resident spot, which may free up months for this), Atlanta is an awesome city with great food, traffic can suck--drivers are terrible, but so much fun, interviewed 30 for five spots in addition to rotators

UW- Top Academic program, 8 residents/yr, lots of fellows but residents said this didnt affect their experience adversely, strong trauma (cover 4 states: WAMI), all services well covered, amazing place to build connections (so many famous faculty, top fellows, strong residents--the shear number of people you will be connected to when done was impressive), Matsen (chair) was a great guy, Hanel (program director) also very cool--spent 10 minutes telling us about the downsides of living in Seattle (traffic, rain, etc.)--I thought this was pretty funny, plenty of research opportunities, residents get top fellowships, Seattle--is an amazing city with lots of outdoor opporunities (skiing, boating, hiking, etc.), although gray during much of the year, summers from what I heard are amazing--literally perfect weather, awesome seafood, residents were a great group, very laid back, also liked to go out, definitely seemed female-friendly, interviewed 50 for 8 spots including rotators, interview day--panel interviews with "pimping" of application--i wrote under hobbies/activities-- teaching for princeton review and grilled, asked to give a teaching point, and "what is the most unique dish you have ever grilled", probably on expensive side as far as cost of living--it seemed like a lot of the residents rented

Case- Top Academic program, very balanced, strong Trauma experience, get top fellowships--in everything from what I could tell, Cleveland although not New York or Chicago, gets a bad rap--I had a good time (check out Diamond Club), very affordable (houses under 200K), many research opportunities, 5 or 6 year (now can rank both separtely), new chair seemed like a great guy, motto-"where you train in orthopaedics is who you are in orthopaedics", protected time to serve as anatomy tutors for med students, protected time to learn orthopaedic histology/pathology

Iowa--Top Academic program, very balanced (clinic and OR), good Trauma experience, extroardinarily strong emphasis on teaching (especially in clinic)--thought this was a cool perspective, since clinic is often not looked on favorably--amazing place to learn orthopaedics, arthroscopy lab with cadavers, awesome chair, get top fellowships in all areas, including sending graduated residents abroad (New Zealand), nice place to raise a family, extremely affordable (houses under 200K)

Beaumont- Top community program with strong Academic feel--plenty of research opportunities, Herkowitz is very connected, residents operate a ton, clinic experience may be less, residents get top fellowships-(recently- hand at UW, sports at Harvard, if interested in Spine I imagine you could go anywhere given how huge Herkowitz is), smaller program (used to be 3/yr, now 4), strong emphasis on learning anatomy (9 months of dedicated dissection time/yr)

Grand Rapids- Top community program, 4 residents/year, operate a ton, very social atmosphere, residents definitely liked to go out together and have a good time, spouses recieve money from department to go out and have dinner, tons of money for food and books, strong operative experience (starts as a 1), they admitted that there were less opportunites for research, strong trauma experience, Grand Rapids very affordable (can easily buy house under 200 K), population- 500,000 when including surrounding areas, recent fellowships (trauma at Indiana, hand at Iowa, Sports in Miami--take care of Shaq)

Allegheny- Top Community Program, 3 residents/year, operate a ton (2000 cases logged by time of chief year), academic feel--although they admitted no huge emphasis on research, nice group of faculty and residents, pimped quite a bit on interview day, although nicely (x-rays, scenario with compartment syndrome), daily lectures, strong trauma experience, no social the night before--so difficult to get a sense about that

Jefferson- 7 residents/year--do tons of spine and joints, top fellowships in spine and joints--very connected in these areas, Philly is very cool city--go to Pat's for your cheesesteak, although many people also recommended Jim's, lots of history, nice faculty and residents, work a lot of hours as a 2 on the floors--so many patients-- i was told that the joints census can be 40 patients at times, nice faculty and residents, definitely the place to be if interested in spine or joints, also good for Hand (Philadelphia Hand Center), lots of research opportunities in this area--they put out their own journal

Henry Ford- 6 residents/year, good trauma experience, nice laid back group of residents--lots of comraderie, go to Minnesota for Peds experience third year (residents really like this), family oriented program, Detroit is not for everyone--lots of nice surrounding suburbs though, residents ask you to tell them a joke during interview, recent fellowships (Trauma at Carolinas, Texas Back)

My take on getting interviews and matching:
0.) Away rotations-- more often can really help you, can also hurt you (depends on the place, some places interview all rotators, and rank mostly rotators highly, others only will interview half their rotators--ask residents at specific programs to find out)
1.) AOA--opens lots of doors, if you dont have it thats ok--does not close many doors
2.) Step I score--many programs have cut-offs, if you are above it great, if not do an away rotation to get an interview
3.) Letters--extremely important must have good letters from orthopods--bigger the name the better, however quality of letter is also important, if you dont have a home ortho department then do an away rotation at a connected place in the region you are interested in, work hard and get good letters,
4.) "inroads at programs"--also very important--cant emphasize this enough, if your medical school has sent residents to program before, or attendings at program trained at your home medical school, etc.--this is huge, out of the 14 interview offers I recieved, 9 of the programs have taken a person from my medical school in the last 5 years, the other five--there was always some other connection--oh i see dr. "so and so" wrote a letter for you, I trained with him at "X"
5.) research--good to have some for talking points, publications not needed, however if you have publications i think it can really help at some of the top academic places
6.) extra-curric-- doesnt really matter what you talk about, whatever-- cars, golf, but dont exaggerate--dont say you are a avid rock climber if you have only done it once in the last 5 years
7.) Grades--other than ortho rotations, didnt really get the sense that people looked at these closely--i think they just categorize you as AOA, non-AOA, and maybe top 1/3 of your class, or top 1/2

Advice on rotating--show up on time, try to be helpful whenever possible (if there is foley to put in, or a note to write, or plaster to clean up, dressing to take down--take care of it, do whatever you can to make the residents lives easier), know your anatomy, be yourself

Feel free to PM with questions--especially regarding Michigan, as I will be spending five more years here. I dont think I have much more info to offer about the other places.

Looking forward to meeting everyone in the future. Good luck--

Many congrats to all, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone from the interview trail at AO courses/etc during the next few years! Hope ya'll are taking time to relax prior to the fun beginning in July

My H&P
Fantastic medical school in the South, great folks
Did well during preclinical and clinical years
Step I 255, AOA
+ Research although no huge pubs
Wonderful faculty support, advice, and letters

Aways: Home, Mayo, Duke

Interview at: UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, UWash, UWisconsin, Mayo, Nebraska, Rochester, Case, UT Houston, UT San Antonio, Baylor, Penn State, Dartmouth, Michigan, UVA, Wake Forest, Duke, Pittsburgh

All the programs were amazing and I was fortunate to interview at them. They have been dissected extensively on this forum.

I matched at UCLA and am psyched!

UCLA is a fantastic program, recently merged with the Orthopaedic Hospital in Southern Cali and this only means good things. The residents were happy, intelligent, and received phenomenal fellowships.

Best of luck to next year's class and those to follow!