So there's this guy in my class applying to orthopaedics this year who did an away rotation at a well-regarding institution in the southeast that everyone I know has had nothing but good things to say about. I was considering doing an away rotation there and asked him about his experience. I considered him a pretty good friend, so I stupidly believed him when he said he was abused (getting to hospital at 3am to make the list on the entire service, Q3 call, etc) and that the program wasn't as good as it used to be (big faculty just left, one questionable class of residents, etc). Taking his advice, I didn't go.

So now, I run into resident at another program from the school (with 3 of his good friend in the program), who tells me my friend is full of crap and that many of these things were outright lies. This program is pretty notorious for mostly taking rotators.

Moral of the story: you sadly can't even trust your friends in this twisted game. Yes, I was stupid for taking his advice, but I thought he would have the most candid, up-to-date advice available.