Oooooooh! Good question! I'm in the same boat. Can the people voting in the poll make sure to post a blurb of explanation. I guess I will see you wherever the posts tell us to go, bone-shark.
-Gary
P.S. What power! orthogate users sending two bright-eyed med students across the country!

i thought i should add my $.02.

even though i ended up at my first choice, vandy was a real close second (although my final rank list after my top choice was mostly affected by location).

i felt that this was the most complete program of all that i visited, and most importantly for me, the chair is a resident advocate.

i think that if you are looking for a complete program and are interested in a great southern city, you'd be hard pressed to find a better program.

Although a close call Univ. of Washington definitely has one of the best programs in the country. Plus, it's location is a fantastic balance of an urban setting with great outdoor activities. Great place to live for five years. With it's several world renounded attending, their residents can basically write their own ticket after finishing the program. Not only are their residents smart but cool as hell I hear. It would definitely be tough to turn down U of Wash. Congrats on getting both.

Joints

Dude,

Anyone who tells you Vandy has probably never been to Seattle. The program at U Washington is great. And Seattle is one of the coolest places to live in the entire US, especially if you have any appreciation for the outdoors. When you interview, ask the Seattle residents if there's any who wished they went to Vandy.

When all else fails, just go further west.

from what I have heard, they are both great programs and can't go wrong either way. I have choosen to interview at U Wash instead of Vandy because i'd much rather live in seattle than nashville. go with whatever city you'd rather live in for the next 5 years of your life.

Just to be a devils advocate:
I am also in the same boat, however having lived in Seattle for several years, I can tell you it's not all its cracked up to be. Traffic is unbelievable, it is the rainest place on earth so if you like outdoor activities you'd better like getting wet, and it's expensive to live there; not quite san fran but not reasonable either.
BUTYou will be able to choose your fellowship after graduating this program and no one is going to tell you that graduates from there don't go on to positions in academia.
As previously stated, a tough decision.
Anybody going to toot their horn about Vandy....?

Seattle is a very EXPENSIVE city to live in (used to live there). On MSN a few months ago they had a list of the top 10 most overpriced cities to live in, and Seattle was No. 1.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/forbes/P92017.asp

The traffic is indeed pretty bad. Some I-5 traffic jams can mean 2 hours late (though this is rare at Ortho Resident commute hours). It is close to the Cascades, and those are great for skiing in the winter, and hiking/camping in summer if you get time. Puget Sound/San Juans are great for Kyaking. You can row in lake union in the morning, or just do tons of biking on local trails. These are all nice features.

The program is very well known, but is one that many have told me might be better for a fellowship than a residency. I did a month at Harborview, and I found it to be very top heavy, with many cases dominated by fellows, and chiefs 2ndly, but the attendings doing a lot of the cases ("sticky hands" so to speak). 2s get worked real hard at Harborview with q3 in house, and in the ER for the entire 24hrs of call, and not following cases to the OR.

The other rotations are pretty nice, with great sports, very good joints, peds, tumor, Shoulder/Elbow and Hand are top notch, but there are many fellows on all of these as well. Academically very strong. Top notch names for attendings. I think you would get great training, but might still be learning as a chief on some things. And, like many of you have said, you can probably choose any fellowship you want when leaving here.

Thanks for all of the helpful replys. I would love to hear some more comments about UW and Vandy, so if you are filling out the poll, please take a moment and let us all know what you are thinking.
Thanks,
BS

Without a doubt UW
Vandy is a good program, but not a great one. If you want an overall awesome program go to UW

Although I have no direct knowledge of the residency program at either institution, I will give you some words of wisdom.
FELLOWS LOOOOOOOVE TO STEAL CASES!!!
I'm an ortho resident looking at fellowships nationwide and have been very attracted to UW's programs.
You may wish to check on the number of fellows at each program, as you may not like to watch ME operate all day.
My program interacts with both joint and spine fellows. They lure you into the cases with promises that "YOU'LL DO THE CASE", then you grab the retractor and watch for 2-10hrs.
Being FIRST (AND ONLY) assistant to the attending is always better than second.
-Hulk