Med School: State school Midwest
Class rank: Top third
Step I: 231
Step 2: 241
AOA: No
Preclinical Grades: High Pass first year, Pass second year
Clinical Grades: Honors: Surgery. High Pass: Pediatrics, Family, Elective. Pass: OB/GYN, Neuro, Psych, Medicine
Ortho Rotations: Honors x4: Home and 3 Aways (Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana)
Research: 5 projects, 2 non-ortho, 1 non-ortho poster, 2 submitted papers by interviews
Extracurriculars: Some involved community service/volunteering brought up almost everywhere, otherwise the usual. Anything you put in your "interests," particularly if it's listed first and unusual, will invariably come up. Use this to your caution or advantage.
Applied: 78 (inflated because I added all top programs for fun)
Invites: 23
Attended: 16
Ranked: 17 (1 had 5 and 6 yr. option)
Ranking:
I'll do alphabetical tiers like everyone else, of which I had three. My hope is that this can help future years of applicants, so i'll be detailed, esp. since I'm neither a putz nor a star.
Tier 1:
Henry Ford: Enormous hospital system with a relatively new chairman/PD who is a strong resident advocate and continues to make changes to the program. As expected, a wee bit trauma heavy, but you're given the impression that the 80hr week is enforced (on the trail, you will be able to sniff out pretty quickly the places you will be working till 8pm post-call, etc. This is not one of those.) Detroit's burbs are great, and most people live 20 mins away in more of the "young professionals" areas. Only downside: they send you to Beaumont (in Royal Oak) and Gillette in Minnesota for Peds, so you have to uproot for 4 months, and I have no idea how this dynamic serves/hurts when applying to Peds fellowships, if you go that route. Very friendly residents, too, and I think a place that encourages 2nd looks.
Indiana: did an away rotation and really enjoyed it. Pediatrics has some of the big names, and the trauma is the fun/insanity you expect in a downtown metro area. Residents had a great variety of personalities, and more women were matching into this program in recent years (which, although a guy, was important to me on the trail). The chairman was not there much, and showed up late to the interviews, missing several people's, and no mention was made of making them up.
Medical College of Wisconsin: I felt this place presented itself very well, was in a great location, and had well-rounded training with all specialties covered. Nice peds hospital, and Milwaukee offers you pretty much everything you need. It's clear from the rank list here that snow/weather was not a consideration for me.
Michigan: Ann Arbor is a great place to live, you're close to Detroit but get the young, academic crowd to liven things up. Unparalleled Peds with 6 full time attendings, many of whom are well known and trained at top places like CHOP, DuPont, and Scottish Rite. Great group of residents, and most (but not all) are very friendly. New PD, this was his first year doing the match and the whole process, came from Henry Ford. One attending told me point-blank that a 250 Step I is a ballpark screening tool, although clearly my rotation helped me in this regard, and I know a few others with 230s that were given interviews. Great research is there if you want it, and probably get the best fellowships of any place on this list. Beautiful hospital system, new children's hospital being built, and everything is interconnected so you don't have to travel anywhere.
Rochester: presented itself better than any other place on the interview day. They are extremely proud of the clinical and research tradition, and have generations of chairmen and PDs floating around the interview day. The residents were very amiable, and they are the busiest trauma hospital in New York State (think about it - huge referral area, fewer MVAs in NYC). Phenomenal place to train. As a 2, you'd be "in the pit", which is basically a set, 24-hr trauma call you take every other day. Sounds awful, but there's no post-call, and every other weekend you're off from Friday a.m. until Monday a.m. You'd have to decide how you feel about that.
Wisconsin: phenomenal place to be, and Madison is fantastic place to live. I spent a month here, and the teaching is second to none, with the most friendly residents I met anywhere. The trauma is a bit more gentlemanly (gunshot or two a year, maybe), but no lacking in any respects. The spine is world-class and the chairman and PD are bigger resident and patient advocates than you will find in most places. In very high demand for an "under the radar" program -- I had 7 other rotators my away month. I think it's less under the radar than it was, because you'll see a running theme that everyone loves UW.
Tier 2:
John Peter Smith (Ft. Worth): Surprisingly cool place. Residents and attendings were crazy friendly, and made everyone feel wanted. The chairman wasn't at the interview, but the PD was a big warm/fuzzy guy, and was very direct about what kind of applicant they are looking for, and what kind of training you are likely to get. The group seemed pretty close, and most everyone was doing a great fellowship in recent years. Fort Worth is the blue-collar half of the Dallas area, but really has it's own culture and night-life. Don't count this one out.
Kalamazoo (Michigan State): The interview day was LONG because you had something like 7 or 9 separate interviews, all of which were too short to be substantive. Kalamazoo was surprisingly sweet, but of all the programs I went, this probably had the cushiest life. They told us they averaged about 55hrs/wk between the 2-5s, so this would more likely be in the 60hrs/wk for the 2s. They have all bases covered except tumor, and have a new peds guy. Still, going away for Peds can be a mixed blessing. Very family oriented; I would say that by year 3 90% of the residents are married and 75% have babies.
Ohio State: good, big program in a period of transition. Hasn't had a stable chairman for a number of years, but the PD seemed to be on top of all administrative duties and tough to tell how it would affect a prospective trainee. During my interview they talked at length about the chairman they were bringing in at the start of '09, Calhoun from Missouri. So I think much hinges on his leadership, but apparently he has a great history back at Mizzou. They wined and dined particularly well, and the residents were generally nice and approachable. Columbus is a big, clean, white-collar city. You could do much worse.
Southwestern: If you want to go into Pediatrics or Trauma, and know that now, you can't go much wrong here. Probably has the best Peds fellowship on planet Earth at Scottish Rite. The 2s tell you rather directly that you'll be destroying the 80hrs, and that some of them "choose" to unofficially skip their 2 weeks of vacation that year. Has a very old-school feel, with lots of fire and brimstone attendings. Stilll, in a period of transition and a bunch of attendings left in the last couple yrs with a new chairman coming in. I don't think that affects the quality of training, though.
SUNY Syracuse: Almost didn't escape because of the snow burying the entire airport (which is weeny and irritating, just fyi). The residents that led us around were kind of butch and proud of being overworked to some degree, and it may have given me a slanted impression early on. They're the only Level I between Rochester and Albany, and if this means nothing to you, check out a google map in your free time. It's no joke. Building a new Peds hospital (or Peds wing of the main hospital, I couldn't honestly tell), which seems nice, modern, and capacious. They harped on research quite a bit, and had some of their PhDs show us the biomechanics and basic science labs. I think you'd be able to do top notch research in Syracuse, honestly, but the town was a little small for me. Plus the 80 hrs would likely be stretched.
Wright State: the thing I remember most about my interview, honestly, was the fact that you held and carried your own app around all morning. So you could sit and peruse your letters, or just how the whole package looked, which was interesting. The residents were friendly, for the most part, and seemed happy and not too overworked. Miami Valley is the busiest trauma hospital in Ohio, so don't overlook this program if you're thinking "Dayton, c'mon." It's proximity to Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Indianapolis can't be ignored. Overall, only lacking in serious tumor and there are 4 spots (2 are 6 year), so you really have to apply for both to have a reasonable shot.
Tier 3:
Akron General: The interviews at both Akron programs are very personal, and they do 1 or 2 applicants at a time. This on no less than 20 some interview dates. I think that's honestly the way to do it. The residents were very capable and direct about the experience you'd have. Some interviewers were kind of unusual, but that's not a big turn-off. I think that I would have been happy here, even at the bottom of my list. There was a real-estate tour that included a drive-by of LeBron's house, and that has to rub you as a bit parochial. Good fellowships.
Kansas-Wichita: The only interview where I did weird stuff, like play Labyrinth in front of three attendings, while telling a joke. Wichita was kind of a cool place, and this is the community arm of the UKansas family. Like all other places that aren't a "name," most everyone goes into good fellowships. And like most community places, the in-service scores are quite good. Do not apply if you're from the coasts or Florida; the current chairman/PD told me explicitly he does not interview these applicants. Historically, he has never seduced such a person to come to Wichita (unless they had a family reason to be there). You have to hand-write your personal statement at this place, and that does not guarantee an interview (but again, it is necessary).
McLaren-Flint (Michigan State): The only problem with McLaren is that's it's small (2 residents) and Flint, Michigan doesn't sex anybody up. Still, the operative experience, in terms of quality and volume, seems off the charts. Expect 3000 cases, easily. They are so busy that about half of their cases go uncovered, and the chairman is the kind of joint guy that does everyone's revisions and disasters. The get-together the night before really tells you what kind of residents are there, and this is probably a good way to see if you like the place considering it's size. If location isn't a big issue to you, it behooves you to check out the little programs, too. The PD is a Cleveland Clinic guy and seems to be aiming upwards for the program, and his was the most pleasant and interesting interview. Lots of extra $$ is available via moonlighting or just plain required call, if that's an issue, and some of the 5th years were making 90-100k. This wasn't a consideration for me, but something I remembered.
SLU: In no way do I want to disparage any places, but SLU was the only place that didn't seem to try and make a good impression on applicants during the interview. We were told where and when to show up, and that's really it. There were no handouts, no outlining of the curriculum, no "hello" or 2-minute introduction and welcome from the chairman/pd, or anything like that. Just jumped right into the interviews or a tour, and then left. No powerpoint, no hello and welcome from a chief resident, nada. You didn't leave with one more piece of paper than you came with. I think this was an unfortunate way to welcome people from across the country. I missed the night-prior gathering because of travel, but this was harped on and asked in every interview, and the big "no" next to "dinner" was circled on every eval sheet, so just be aware of that. They spoke at length about the well roundedness, the hospital being in good financial shape, and that they were a very tight-knit, jokey group. Tried to gauge if I was at all conservative (not politically, but I think interpersonally), and if I had been, this would have been a turn-off to them. Truth be told, it was probably in the slummiest area I interviewed, even considering downtown Detroit, and they cautioned walking a block to your car without escort. All in all, very surprising presentation of a medium-sized university program.
Matched at Henry Ford, and am eager to start. This is a good place for me, for a number of reasons, and you can read about my thoughts above. If I could make three over-arching pieces of advice, which could be short-lived if everyone adopts it: destroy Step I. The conventional wisdom does apply in getting a foot in the door. It will make or break many interviews you receive. Although we are all theoretically "equal" once we make it to the interview, this is not really the case. Most PDs admitted to me that a computer formula takes all of your grades and scores and ranks all interviewees. Then this list is tweaked as the attendings see fit. Even at places I rotated and ranked high, I honestly think that I was more hindered by my middle-of-the-road board score than helped by an ass-kicking, 4am-7pm-for-30-days-always-on-the-tip-of-my-toes-best-behavior-never-ingratiating-but-ever-vigilant-away-rotation. Now, don't get me wrong-- don't turn it off after Step I. You have to get honors in Surg and a couple other things, at least. And you have to have some ortho research, and hopefully things submitted. Furthermore, having a cool volunteering experience definitely helps you, and gives you some humanity among all of these otherwise cuthroat peeps. You never want to be relying on one part of your application to "make up" for another.
Next, never ever believe anything a PD or chairman tells you. Even if it's handwritten calligraphy with flowers. They might tell you they had a very positive impression of you from your interview, or that it was great to have you, or all manner of things. Attendings might tell you that they'll stick up for you, or that you should be recruited to their institution. Some friends I know, in ortho and other fields, were nigh-on-guaranteed certain spots, or intimated as much (and therefore nigh-on-violating-the-Match), but ended up somewhere further down the list. This isn't because PDs are bad people, but they've often been at this game longer than you've been alive. Try not to forget that stuff.
Apply to TONS OF PLACES. An extra 20/30 bucks? Who cares!! I have friends who didn't match who may have looked like me on paper, but only applied to 35 or 40 places. They ended up getting 7 or 8 interviews and this is not a comfortable number these days. If you had to choose between applying to 30 and applying to 100, you take 100 in a heartbeat. Very few of us have such strong CVs (I certainly did not) that we can be selective. Currently, programs do not know how many places you have applied, and you can use this to your advantage. Especially when many top-notch applicants will sit on multiple conflicting interviews and then release all but one the week before their dates. Also, it will give you some unexpected diversity of options, and you might see and be impressed by places you otherwise wouldn't have known about.
Of course, congrats to everyone, and good luck to those going ahead. PM if you want more details about being my caliber of applicant, because so many people on Orthogate are just distractingly studly.
