for what its worth when i was interviewing last year several people spoke poorly of baylor as far as resident happiness/malignancy (one guy was actually a med student there).
i think you are right about the us news rankings not being entirely accurate as far as residency rankings. Of course it depends on what you are looking for in a residency

What up,

As mentioned before, the US News list is ranking orthopaedic departments across the country. These "rankings" are only looking at the depts. in regards to clinical medicine, patient care, etc. The list in NO WAY reflects residency program rankings or education. It's completely separate.

The only way I think the list may be used is, as stated before, to look at NIH funding. Additionally, I guess something can be said about the "prestige" value of being on the list. Although, there are plenty on there with subpar residency programs, or no program at all, for that matter.

The US News ranking does tell you one thing, and that is the general reputation of the center for care in a given specialty. You will find that many of the top academic orthopaedic departments are also on that list. However, the order does not seem to follow the prestige of these departments as training programs.

As for good sources of information, talk to as many people as you can. If you are interested in an academic career, then pay special attention to the programs that come up on many people's lists. If you are interested in an all clinical program, than simply consider these conversations with residents and faculty as additions to your list. Frankly, there are very programs out there that will not adequately train you to do orthopaedic surgery. If that is all that you want, then pick your favorite region of the country and apply to them all.
Your experience will be more determined by your own drives than by your program. Even at the most high-powered academic orthopaedics programs, the majority of residents do NOT end up in academics, nor do most participate in more than the single required project that officially, every residency requires, but they may quote the literature more than their experience, when they are done.

Do not use the US News rankings in your decision process. It does not reflect quality of training. Unfortunately, there is no ranking system for orthopedic training. You can't even use OITE scores. Some programs develop their core curriculum around doing well on the OITE, while others do not. Talk, talk, talk, with as many residents you can about their experience.

As far as for Baylor and UT-Houston, according to my advisor (also from Texas), not too high rankings for Baylor but likes UT-Houston and says that it is an up-and-coming program with a good program director.
:smokin: