You are really planning early to be applying to programs. Do your rotations and ask residents who have matched for a better list. It is very important to recognize that different people do like different things. My personal ranks which dropped off my list were based on gut feel at the interview of people in power. The only one of those which I care to mention is medical college of ohio. The chairman weirded me out. That simple. I believe residents there are trained as well as the next program.

early??? im lookin at the 2005 match.. im in the process of choosin aways etc.. in my opinion its definately not too early to start thinking/researching.. i want to start lookin through things now.. and not try to research programs when im busy flyin from one interview to the next .. tryin to categorize programs in my head for my own purposes.. when current residents made their ROL and decided where they wanted to end up.. they were in the same place that ppl in the current match are in.. just lookin for things that ppl didnt like certain programs for.. (maybe those particular characteristics will be ones that attract me to those very programs) not lookin for ppl to slander programs here...

It is very important to recognize that different people do like different things. My personal ranks which dropped off my list were based on gut feel at the interview of people in power. The only one of those which I care to mention is medical college of ohio. The chairman weirded me out. That simple. I believe residents there are trained as well as the
next program.

i recognize what you are saying..in my original msg above i said]im sure some of the programs were at the top of the list for some ppl and vice versa.. and not trying to imply that the programs themselves are inferior... different ppl fit in at diff places.. so tryin to get a feel for the criteria ppl are usin to eliminate the programs they dont see themselves at...

this info would really help me (and others out)
would really appreciate any input anyone has..

Orthochikk,

Your question is a valid one in many senses, but overall if you sample enough applicants you're going to hear at least one person say a pretty negative thing about every program. I think this stems from a. we're all unique people and b. we all have different priorities. Check out the thread about 'priorities' that's currently going and you'll get a sampling of what I am talking about. I've interviewed at 16 places and will rank 15. The one I am not ranking is quite popular with many people and widely considered prestigious, but because of my personal priorities I chose not to rank it. Furthermore, I'd be thrilled to match at any of the 15 I ranked and in the end, many programs are the same, but have individual characteristics that vary. I know this is hard to believe for upcoming applicants--I had a hard time with this myself. There's a lot of talk about 'top programs' but I think a lot of that is hot air. Also realize that this board is likely populated with generally outstanding applicants and so there tends to be a lot of chatter about HSS, Penn, Harvard, HJD, Mayo, Iowa, Northwestern, etc. These are all generally regarded as prestigious and academic, etc. My real point here is that the programs that get the most airtime seem more likely to be perceived as the best programs. But who's to say that the programs not being talked about aren't great? In the end, do what you do because it's what you think is best for you and try not to do things too much based on what others think or say. Best of luck.

OF