UT Southwestern

even better would be some insight!

i only interviewed there this past year....no rotation. i was not very impressed w/ the program. the interview was more of a grill session w/ them trying to pick apart my application to see if i lied about anything. the talk of the town is the new chairman from washu...i don't remember his name. the whole fricken interview w/ him he talked about how UTSW was going to be the next washU or even better than washU. every 5th word was washU. during my interview i didn't get a good sense of genuine happiness in being there from the residents. it was hard to get some of my questions answered as well. they do talk about how trauma heavy the program is and being able to handle most anything once you're done w/ the program. i believe it...but i got the feeling the training comes w/ a price. in the end it wasn't very high on the ROL, but again this is just based on my observations and experience of one day at the program...so take it for what it's worth.

I rotated and interviewed at UTSW.

I loved the program and the residents. It's not necessarily a "top 20" program overall, but it's very good. No program is perfect, but you're overall education/learning experience is good, and they get a lot of good fellowships.

First, trauma is king there. The have great traumatologists and their new program director from WashU (Dr. Borelli) is also a traumatologist. I think the Joints, Spine, and Hand are pretty well covered. I think F&A is solid, but thin. Probably weighing most in my decision not to rank it number one is that I did not feel the Sports and Shoulder services were up to par. I interviewed with Dr. Borelli one-on-one and he basically told me the same thing. His vision is to improve those deficits by bringing in more faculty, plus providing more academic teaching sessions, on the level of the top programs.

I also interviewed at WashU, and thought it was a great program. Maybe the best from an educational standpoint. I just didn't click with the residents and felt the place stuffy. Dr. Borelli did enjoy hearing my thoughts on WashU and talked about it a lot, but I definitely think he is focused on UTSW and making it a "top 20" program.

Just from my rotation, probably the best strength of the program is the residents. They're smart and just seemed to be good guys/gals. They work their asses off (me too on my rotation...be prepared), but it's very front loaded. The 2nd and 3rd years bear the brunt of the work and then as 4th and 5th years, you pretty much show up to operate. Kinda nice.

They also operate fairly early. Not the earliest I saw, but definitely more than the big name academic programs. Depending on your upper level resident, you can expect to be doing a lot in the OR as a 2nd year, and most as a 3rd year. My only wish was that there are more faculty so the junior residents are truly one-on-one with faculty in the OR. Dr. Borelli said he was working towards that goal and that the state (or whoever) had approved a ton of additional faculty slots.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope it helped. Very program, and I seriously considered ranking is #1 until close to the end.

I know a few who have rotated there within the last couple of years, though I have not rotated there myself. Have heard similar stories about the rotation but very mixed reviews from what people take away from it, which is likely based on what someone is looking for in a program. Going along with what bonebuilder said, it is front-loaded, which includes both younger residents and medical students working VERY hard. Have heard some people say that it may be one of the most labor intense rotations in the country, and that over 100 hours a week was common for students. Some people thought it was a great experience, while others felt scutted out pretty frequently. I think it depends on whether you're willing to accept some scut (albeit medical scut, such as lots of dictations, paperwork, etc, not "getting your resident coffee" type scut) in exchange for some great trauma and overall ortho training, both as a student and as a PGY 1/2/3. Overall though it appears to be a very solid program even if it's not everyone's style.

I'm going to be rotating at utsw this fall. Wondered if anyone had any updated info on how the program is doing recently and what I can expect as a visiting student.

i can shed some light here.

rotated? check
interviewed? check
ranked number one? check
so glad to be at UTSW? check

Rotating: this will be an insanely busy rotation. very few days off and q4-5 call throughout most of the months. the trade-off is that you learn ALOT, you get to do a large number of the splints in the ED, and (unless you rotate on sports) you will actively participate on nearly every operation for your service.

Residents: currently 28 males and 2 females. the true strength of this program. great people who are hard workers and party together often. I consider myself to be friends with everyone in the program and don't think you could find a bad apple. As with every institution, there are varying personalities, but I believe that we attract a certain type of individual.

Services: I would agree that historically the sports and shoulder experience have taken a back seat to trauma and joints. This being said, before December of this year there will be 2 (possibly 3) new sports faculty and 7-9 new faculty members in total. This is a growing, thriving program that people want to be a part of. Dr. Borelli has this program in the right direction and it will only get bigger and better.

Fellowships: obviously parkland residents have their pick of trauma fellowships ( HSS, Tampa, shock, Parkland, etc) because of the experience and connections. in addition to this we have chiefs who are going to San Diego for Peds, Stedman Hawkins and Jimmy Andrews for sports, and other big name places that I honestly can't think of off the top of my head.

Lastly, if anyone has further questions about this program feel free to ask. One more thing...there are tentative plans to expand to 8 residents at some point in the future.