University of Michigan

Michigan does not favor its rotators - I believe of all the residents in the program now, only one did a rotation (who wasn't a UM medical student). That being said, Michigan doesn't get that many outside rotators to begin with so if you do a superb job it obviously will help you out but doing a rotation is by no means necessary to get an interview.

Does anyone have any idea why applicants don't choose to do away rotations there? Is it an issue of program strength or Ann Arbor as a location?

I'm curious because I have family in the area, and am therefore considering Michigan seriously.

I think they might be changing it, but in the past they have charged $500 to do an away rotation. This obviously limits the number of people who do rotations there. However, I recently interviewed at Michigan, and I really liked the program.

I interviewed at U. of Michigan this year. My overall impression was that it is a solid program that is fairly well-rounded. I can't really say what they're strongest in (actually sports seemed like it might be pretty strong), so maybe someone else can chime in on that. Ann Arbor is a nice place, but is surprisingly pricey for a smaller upper midwestern town. It's only 40 miles away from Detroit if being near a big city is important.

The program seems proud of their history/heritage as the former chairman gave a 30 minute presentation on interview day about the entire history of the program. Don't know what to make of that...are they living in the past? Or just proud of their program? In all fairness, likely the latter. The chairman is young and very energetic and seems to have a pretty bold vision for the department. They just separated from the dept. of surgery a couple of years ago which I think can only be a good thing. They're in the process of building brand new research space and I got the impression that research was important to them. One of the interviewers was a research guy (PhD type) and was really trying to ascertain your research interest and experience.

The residents seemed like a happy group. I couldn't detect any malcontent. They have a pretty sweet moonlighting gig in the pgy3 or pgy4 year and on at a local hospital ED (they used to rotate their in the past). I think the residents said they could earn $700-$800/night and got to see some decent stuff. They also have some other perks like a bonus of 7% of your annual stipend in the Pgy2 year (and yearly after that I think...but I'm not sure). The facilities are nice and modern. Word is they're going to build a new peds hospital in near future.

So that's about all I can say. Hope it helps. Overall I don't think you could go wrong with their program and in fact would do quite well.

OF

Orthofixation,

Thanks for the solid info. Sounds like a great program. I suppose Ann Arbor is surprisingly pricey, but overall I like college towns. There seems to be a decent amount to do in Ann Arbor. Plus, several Fall weekends to see Michigan's football team.

I agree with the strengths of the Michigan program previously listed. They have a good didactic experience -- they got rid of the saturday morning conferences and spread them out to 30 minute power conferences QAM. It seems to be working well. The guys there are well rounded people, a great group of residents. The faculty are also laid-back and approachable. Heavy operative experience starts during PGY 3 year, but most PGY 2 guys get several 'bread and butter' cases. Overall solid program.

i'm a new ortho intern at U of M and really enjoy the program so far. some info for you: the program takes 6 residents a year. all the ortho subspecialties are covered well. there are faculty teaching conferences every weekday morning. no saturday conferences.

u of michigan is a busy level one trauma center, but the daily ortho case load is not overwhelmed by trauma, especially in the winter when the trauma load slows down. the hospital covers a large region of primary patients and tertiary referrals, in addition to u of m athletes, to support a big elective practice.

currently we are probably strongest in sports and weakest in hand. our chairman is a big sports guy, and we have a primo outpatient facility called MedSport which is expanding to make new day-surgery ORs. as for hand, we share a lot of our hand-call with plastics as we only have one full-time and one part-time staff, we are currently interviewing for another position or two.

there is only one fellowship position, sports. so far the fellow has not taken cases from the residents, from what the upperlevels tell me. no fellows in other departments means more primary surgeon or first assist roles for residents. michigan is one of the few academic programs with such a lack of fellows, which i argue is a good thing.

the intern year is well-balanced with two months on the ortho trauma service, a month of bone radiology, rheumatology, ER, and ortho-related general surgery months like trauma, plastics-hand, vascular, etc. but basically, only 6 months of general surgery pain.

the PGY 3s take 2 months of night float and cover all the overnight consults in the ER. the PGY 2s cover the ER and floor consults during the day while on 2 months of trauma. 4 and 5s divide up chief call from home and come in for operative stuff only.

3 weeks vacation are spread out during the intern year. then 4 weeks every year afterwards.

if anyone has questions about the program, drop me a line. and if you like college sports, outdoor parks, and beer, ann arbor is definitely worth checking out. i will admit that if you are only used to living in new york, chicago, or san fran, this place will probably be a bit small for you. otherwise its a great town. it has a surprising number of good american and ethnic restaurants, bars, and brew pubs for a midwest city its size, likely from the multicultural undergrad. and i've definitely had a blast with fellow interns so far. but its really cold as hell in the winter here, so all hawaiians should think about their decision carefully.

good luck with the application and interview process.

most importantly, enjoy 4th year.

I am also a 1 at U of M. I did do an away here so I can speak to that part of the question. The hardest part of the away was scheduling it, I don't know if the same lady is in charge, but if so talk directly to her, don't wait for a call back, 'cause it ain't happening. This was the only away that I did in 4th year. Liked it a lot, was very laid back and a great way to get to know the people here and the staff. I did two weeks on sports and 2 weeks on trauma and I thought both were great. I thought that the attendings here were all extremely approachable and seem really interested in helping the residents learn how to be good ortho docs. Ann Arbor is not New York, but it is a good town, and the people here are all solid which is huge. It is a good college town, with lots of bars, restaurants, and the like (PBR $1.50 at some of the higher brow places...)Intern year so far has been very tolerable. MedSport, the sports facility is very slick and the Sports program here is strong. All in all a strong program with great people. Feel free to drop me a line if there are any questions out there not addressed. Good luck with the interviews and such.

i've had a few people email me with interest in the program. here is a new website which can answer a few questions. feel free to drop me a line.

I'm currently a PGY-2 at Michigan. If anyone has questions about our program, feel free to PM me. Good luck with remaining interviews and the match.