Well as a resident at kalamazoo i can only speak for our program. I did not interview at grand rapids (schedule conflicts).
First, let me tell you that I think we do plenty of trauma. ANd i come from a med school that does A LOT of trauma (actually too much) Now, we dont get the kind of penetrating stuff that a big city will, but that is mostly food for general surgeons in my opinion. There are plenty of car wreck/multiple extremity trauma cases as we are located on the main highway that runs between chicago and detroit, so there is a lot of traffic in our neighborhood.
Second, the lifestyle thing is definatly a plus. While having home call all the time may sound weak, during the busy times it basically means you have a chance to go home and eat dinner with your wife before going back in. Other times you throw a no hitter (not in the summer though!) Also, you wont find one resident here that does not love it and has any regrets about coming here. As far as the clinic thing goes, the amount of clinic you do varies by your year and the hospital you are at. Thats funny you say that, b/c some of the applicants this year asked if i felt we got enough clinic time?? Certainly not as much as mayo, where it is every other day (of course they are the mayo CLINIC)
Last, as far as fellowships and attendings we do have all the bases covered ex tumor, and recently the foot guy retired early for medical reasons. We have two joint guys that did their fellowship at harvard, several sports guys who take care of the local university, spine(if thats your thing) and one of the chiefs from this year is coming back (after doing his trauma fellowship at carolinas med center) and hand.
Those pluses being said, this is not the place to go if research is your thing. It is just not a focus here (which i find a plus, but others may not)
From what i hear of Grand Rapids, i think anyone would be happy at either program and get trained well. Good luck guys, this time b/t the rank list is in and match day seriously sucks. I dont envy you!