Howard Univ

I'll gather myself before I post my reply. Okay, I'm good.

Howard. Last place that I interviewed. I ranked it No. 11 of the 12 places that I interviewed. Residents are REALLY cool. Some of the coolest residents that I met on the trail. Attendings were nice people (there were a couple of well-known ortho guys there). DC is an awesome city. Pretty much down hill from there. Seemed like there was a lot of inbreeding going on there (if you're serious about applying there, you may want to rotate). Not a first tier program in my opinion (more like third tier). I applied there to have a safety net program. Little to NO operating experience in the first TWO years. Very top heavy in terms of operative experience. The University hospital has about 300 beds and is a complete hole. They do rotate through the other DC hospitals though. I believe they had a full compliment of the ortho subspecialties. I must admit that they DID place some of their residents into good fellowships. Over all, the training program seemed a little shaky. With that said, I felt that I "fit in" very well there and I would have had a great time if I had matched there. I'm just not sure if I would have been able to get a job when I was done
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I must say though, that I ran into some of the Howard students and rotators at my interview and they were pretty HIGH on the program. My opinion is just coming from one interview day. Just my 2 cents.

Okay, here's the scoop on Howard's program...note that this is coming second hand via my conversations with a couple of residents/interns and attendings familiar with the program.
Bone Jock wrote that the University Hospital is a complete hole...that's about right but I think of it more as the "county hospital" associated with the program. For those not up on current events, DC General closed last year causing Providence and Howard Univ Hosp. to pick up the slack. True the University Hosp is not as elegant as the Univ Hospitals of Cleveland but it wasn't nearly as h$%&ish as that slab of concrete in LA, known as LA County Hospital.
If you're looking for a University Hospital in a serene setting in a picturesque college town...keep looking.
Anyhow, the interns spend the entire first year at Howard Hosp. (2 mos. gen surg, 2mos. trauma, 1m plastic, 1m neurosurg, 1m SICU, 1 ER, 1 Internal med, and 3 mos ortho.) After that ONLY 3mos per year are spent there. You then rotate through about 5 different hospitals (providence, Children's Nat'l, VA, Sinai in B-more, Wash. Hospital Ctr) during the 5 year progam.
NO Saturday Conference! But 6am conferences on MWF.
As for their fellowships...better check that one out for yourself...can't remember their website but it's out there. Big name fellowships since the early 80's, coast to coast, primarily concentrated in Cali and the East Coast.
Didn't seem to inbred to me...about 50%, which is "not uncommon" for a 4 person program.
As far as operative experience, I have heard that it is virtually non-existent until >2nd year, however...Ortho residents at my home institution advised me not to weigh early operative experience too heavily because you are so busy doing scut work that although you may use the knife/drill/hammer etc. you really need to spend that time learning WHY you're doing what you're doing instead of "just doing it".
And to answer the original question: "Of course it is difficult to get into the program...It's ORTHO...AND it's in DC".
Just remember, for those of us who took the straight path, our ortho residency will be the conclusion of our 20's, you better believe location played a factor for me. I wasn't ready to plop down in Toledo, Witchita, or Lexington...I'm a BIG CITY GUY.
:smokin:

the guy with the last post is obviously single. Not bashing you at all, but i would not dream of leaving my wife at home alone if i were on call in DC, the former murder capitol of the US. I like big cities too, but there is also something to be said for the fact that my mortage payments on a 5yr old 3 bedroom house will be less than my buddys rent who will be starting at georgetown.