We have all heard that you are more likely to match at a program you rotated at or your home program. This is for obvious reasons -- orthopaedics is a tough field and a tough residency and programs are more likely going to favor someone they have worked with and gotten to know rather than someone they meet on a 15 minute interview.

From the applicants perspective, you are also more like to rank the places you rotated at in the top of your list because you know the ins and outs and you are well aware of the pros and cons of that program. You also have likely developed friendships and contacts at that program with residents and faculty.

With all that being said, I love the programs that I rotated at and my home program and they are amongst the top in my list. But there are a couple interviews I went on at other programs that I absolutely loved. They just weren't for whatever reason on my radar when I was scheduling away rotations midway through 3rd year. Although I didn't rotate at these places, and they only know me from my interviews (which I think went pretty well), what is the likelihood of matching at one of these reasonably competitive programs if I rank them 1 and 2. Again, I didn't rotate, didn't receive any phone calls from them or anything like that. Is matching at one of them just a pipe dream? Anyone experience this in past years and did end up matching at one of those programs?