2011 Match Results

Just wanted to comment on the above post with regard to Rush. My interview was nothing like the above, and was actually a great experience (as great as any interview can be). I was also on the rotator day, and found the interviewers to be interested in me and asking me about things I listed on ERAS as well as my life outside ortho. I did get asked about other programs I rotated at and how I liked them, which is something I got asked about at every single interview - definitely not unique to Rush. I did NOT get asked to rank/compare other programs to Rush. A lot of the residents were present at the social event the night before as well as during the interview day, and they were all super chill, not at all arrogant like the reviewer above is suggesting. They are actually some of the most humble, fun guys I've met throughout rotations/interview trail. Finally, would like to comment on the "legal battle" also mentioned above. Clearly the reviewer above did not do his/her homework, as while there was a lawsuit about supposed billing issues, the lawsuit was dismissed in its entirety in November for having absolutely zero merit and was completely frivolous to begin with. I actually asked the chair about faculty movement during my interview, and it seems like if anything, they are looking to potentially add, and no one is looking to leave. Rush has a lot of stability. Please see my complete rotation review (posted today) for more info.

All of your responses are very helpful.
I would encourage people that have not posted on this thread yet, to do so.
I am sure you all remember reading this thread last year and thinking it was great to hear a few first hand words about the programs.
So please contribute.

I am not gonna be as wordy as everyone else on here about every single detail but I did find it helpful when I was a 3rd year nervous about the whole process. As you might tell I was not very picky about what I wanted, I just really wanted to match in ortho. I'm an average joe who actually couples matched (wife to primary care, I posted about this elsewhere)

School - nothing special
Step I/II - 240s
Research - nothing in ortho, two posters, some undergrad stuff too
Letters - one from home program Chair, one from general surgeon, one from private orthopod, one from away rotation PD
Clinicals/Grades - about half honors, honored surgery
AOA - nope
Applied - 47
Interviews offered - 16
Interviews attended/ranked - 14 (turned down one 6 yr program and weather prevented my flight to the other one)

Programs in no order or tiers:

UT-Houston - great program, great city, awesome attendings, only taking 3 residents a year which is crazy with the amount of workload but are about to expand to 5 (with 2 MSII spots expected to be open next year), tons of trauma, great sports, LBJ hospital service is very resident dependent where a lot of growing up happens

UT-San Antonio - big program, great city, cool residents. I liked the way the trauma service was set up with the 12 on/12 off system and that when you're off service you're truly off service and not covering call every now and then, legendary old dogs still with the program as well which would be useful in fellowship hunting

Oklahoma - just recently expanded to 6 residents, I really like OKC, great residents, good moonlighting opportunities, solid program

Mississippi - was on probation at the time but for hours problems from the past which I didn't really care about, I'd never been to Jackson and it was a pretty cool little town, pretty nice hospital, great residents

John Peter Smith Hospital- cool community program, 4 residents a year, lots of trauma service, work a lot with community orthopods, their PD is the nicest guy in the world

Banner Good Samaritan - in Phoenix which is a great city, awesome interview trip, very research heavy (you are expected to complete a research project every year) so you will have a stacked CV by the end of residency, work a ton at the Mayo hospital in Scottsdale and use the so-called "Mayo model" where you work one-on-one with the attending

Greenville - Great well-balanced program, awesome attendings (Dr. Hawkins is a great guy), awesome residents, I loved this city

Atlanta Medical Center - Atlanta is awesome, I viewed this is a rising star with their relatively new PD/Chair, great exposure to everything as you work at many different hospitals in the city

KU-Kansas City - I had a good time in Kansas City, very good sports experience it seemed as they are the team docs for the Royals and Chiefs, nice hospital

KU-Wichita - the attendings were all very down to earth nice people and the residents were way laid back, they do have a 6 month peds rotation in St Louis during 4th year

Texas Tech - another very chill program in a city where you are the only facility in like a 6 hour radius so plenty of work going on there, residents were awesome, will start going to Cook's Peds Hospital in Ft Worth for Peds rotation

South Alabama - another laid back program, interesting interview day, work between 3 hospitals in town, didn't get to tour them but they basically told us that was for a reason, ha, nice chill city

Louisville - excellent program in Midwest, great trauma/hand/spine exposure, very research heavy as well (I think 3 projects expected to be completed)

South Carolina Columbia - small program (2/yr) but very nice setup/town/hospital, you'd think with such a small program that you'd get slammed on call but that isn't the case, they care a lot for their residents

I don't know how useful this was and it's been a long time since I interviewed at all these places. I did match with my wife and I'm excited about it. Like I said I was nervous about it all and these forums helped me make some decisions. I guess I'd say don't overthink things or think you have to play games with programs to get ahead. If you are interested in a program, rotate there. If you want to apply somewhere that is far out of your region, who cares? Apply there. The process really is a crapshoot and makes no sense how this all happens but I guess it's worked for however long they've been doing it this way. I feel bad for those those didn't end up matching but I also have known many successful stories from the trails of people that ended up matching their second time around. Just BE YOURSELF on the trail, during rotations, and throughout the entire process. Apply where you want to end up. Everything will be FINE. Have fun everybody

Med School: private, northeast, not top 50
Boards: Step 1: 241, Step 2: 249
Rank: school doesn’t rank us
AOA: no
Preclinicals: majority pass, a few honors
Clinicals: Honors: Family, Peds, Psych; High Pass: OBGYN, Surgery; Pass: Medicine
Ortho: 3 away rotations, plus home; honored all of them
Letters: one of the most important factors, I was repeatedly complemented on strong letters so I think they really helped me to get interviews
Research: one project in the process of getting published
Extracurriculars: nothing too exciting in med school, D3 college athlete

How many Programs:
Applied to: >100, shotgunned it because my school has had trouble matching people into ortho
Offered Interviews: 32
Attended: 19; I cancelled mostly due to conflicts, ranked all programs I interviewed

Tier 1: (alphabetical order) All of these places could have been my #1 choice.

Georgetown: Old boys club. Has the operative experience of a high volume community program, but a good name and excellent didactics. Delahay really takes care of the residents and students. Rotates through Washington Hospital Center and Fairfax Hospital.

MCW: Amazing program. Well rounded, with every subspecialty represented, including 3 tumor surgeons. It is the only program in Milwaukee so it gets all the orthopaedic cases from a large area, giving you such a balanced experience. The attendings and residents are all great, it is the Midwest afterall, and excellent surgeons. Milwaukee is a great town as well, inexpensive, plenty of beer, and right on Lake Michigan so you can do any kind of water sport.

Tufts: It has the best of all worlds. They have a good name, Boston is a great town, and good training. At Tufts (New England Medical Center) they have a one on one mentor experience, at Newton Wellsley they get a high volume community experience, and at the Baptist they work at a huge name place with big name people. The residents all seemed happy as well.

University of Michigan: Probably has the best name of all the programs I interviewed at. They seemed to have a pretty good lifestyle since there are so many residents and just a few hospitals to cover on call. They have a lot of research going on, get tons of NIH funding. This year they are taking 8 residents instead of 6 and starting to rotate at St. Joseph’s hospital in Ann Arbor, so some new things going on. Cover any Michigan sports you want.

University of New Mexico: Great program. The people and the city make this program. The residents and attendings were all awesome guys. The program director literally had my personal statement memorized and started talking all about the things I wrote. He is big into the outdoors and Albuquerque is a great place to ski, mountain bike, pretty much anything. If that is your thing definitely apply here, during intern year they spend a month doing wilderness medicine. The orthopaedic training is excellent as well, with all subspecialites represented. Also like MCW where it’s the only show in town, and only Level 1 trauma center in all of New Mexico so they get plenty of interesting cases.

Tier 2: sorry too lazy to write about each program
Albert Einstein Philadelphia
Akron
Allegheny General Hospital
Drexel
Geisinger
Henry Ford
Long Island Jewish
Monmouth
Seton Hall
St Luke’s / Roosevelt
SUNY Stony Brook
Temple
UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson
Wayne State

NOT RANKED: none

Matched at: top tier

My advice to future applicants: Pick your aways carefully since they are the most likely places you will match, even though I matched at a place I did not rotate. Be realistic as to your competiveness, the major mistakes people make and thus not matching is doing aways at places which are out of their range or not applying to a wide range of programs. Most programs provide excellent training, its all about matching. Step 1 scores get you in the door, but I think letters of recommendation play a huge role in getting interviews as well. To get good letters obviously work hard, know your stuff, and don’t be a douche, but there is obviously an element of luck and developing a good relationship with the attendings.

There seems to be a paucity of posts about west coast programs, anyone with input about California programs, Oregon, or Washington. Thanks, for your help.

Med School: private, northeast, not top 50
Step 1: 240s
Rank: Top 1/3
AOA: Senior AOA
Preclinicals: mostly honors
Clinicals: Honors: Family, Peds, Psych, Ob/Gyn, Ortho, HP everything else
Ortho: 2 away rotations, plus home
Letters: home chairman, home program director, home well-known spine surgeon, 1 non-ortho from 3rd year medicine rotation. All letters were pretty strong, but I have a hard time believing someone will write a letter that is weak for any student. Name matters a lot and I was consistently asked about my letter writers.
Research: A very important part in my opinion. 2 papers in print, 2 submitted, 1 book chapter, 5 abstracts (1 accepted, 4 submitted). 6 of these were 1st author, rest were 2nd or 3rd. Work hard here, it’ll pay off later.
Extracurriculars: leadership roles in a professional club, a service club, and student council.

How many Programs:
Applied to: ~80 (overkill in hindsight, but better safe than sorry)
Offered Interviews: 24
Attended: 17
Did not attend (mostly conflicts): BU, Indiana, Maryland, Maimonides, USF, SUNY Upstate, Campbell Clinic

What I looked for: Good mix of academics and operative experience. No deficiencies (ie need strong mentorship in departments in case you want to go into a particular specialty). City location (single scene, activities). Strong resident camaraderie. Good leadership but down to earth faculty also. Needs to be strong in things I’m interested in (spine, joints, peds, sports).

Tier 1a (aka would be ecstatic to go to any of these)
1. Northwestern: rotated here. Great program with a great location in a great city. Big program (9) with residents that I got along with. Faculty are very supportive. Didactics every morning, and residents are committed to learning from the books before learning with the knife. World-class facilities. Only downsides: recently tumor surgeon and future chairman unfortunately passed away, faculty are dedicated to education but academics is not very pervasive here for some reason despite all the resources, trauma-light (could be considered as a pro also), operative experience was average.

2. University of Miami: My favorite program all together. Did not rotate here. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was blown away by the interview day. Loved that the program had no deficiencies in any department, resident camaraderie was very very strong, great Miami location, faculty were all down to earth. Very strong in Spine, Trauma, and Tumor. Residents also hang out outside and enjoy Miami a lot. Also, residents operate like crazy, and from what I understand, they get top fellowships for this reason as well as the strong leadership from their chairman. Cons were getting killed as a PGY2 (which is at every program), work hard/play hard may not be for everyone, Miami was far from home.

3. UCLA: rotated here. Close to home, so very tempted by its location. Great academics. Faculty is dedicated to teaching and well-represented in every field. Biggest knocks were very very slow trauma service, operative experience rumors (I thought it was average, others said it was not…this is a program where you learn properly how to operate from teaching but not from repetition). Bottom-line: great academic name with a great location but average operative experience.
Tier 1b(aka would have loved to match here)
4. NYU: strong program in awesome location. Big (12 residents), cool residents, mixed personalities due to size. Faculty are supportive, but lots of staff means mixed personalities. They operate a lot and have a strong academic profile. Didactics were pretty good. Cons were NYC unionized nursing system can be a hassle and rumors of malignancy (not sure how true these are).

5. UCSF: most balanced program I saw. Once again, great academics, good location, cool residents. Something with the vibe didn’t fit well with me. Cons: SF is not for everyone, expensive, rumors of malignancy? (not sure again)

6. Jefferson: Rotated here. Strong program in Philly with especially strong spine, joints, and shoulder/ elbow. Program is creating a larger trauma/ tumor base, so it should be even better in coming years. Cool residents who match well into fellowships. Huge volume = less time to learn from your mistakes in the OR. Very busy. Would love to do a fellowship there, but for residency I wanted a program more focused on education.

7. UCI: Very impressed on interview day. Complete, no deficiencies, strong leadership, great fellowships, operate early and often. PD and chairman will vouch for you down the line for jobs also. Residents were OK, mixed bag, some weren’t very social. Orange County is nice, but its very suburban, and I wanted a city.

Tier 2 (aka I liked all of these, ranked by location)
8. UChicago: Really wanted to live in Chicago if I didn’t match in my top tiers. Awesome chairman. Got a great vibe on the interview day, felt welcomed, and I fit right in. Very strong in tumor. Residents have to drive around a lot.
9. UIC: Wanted to live in Chicago. Nothing stood out, but nothing looked bad. Cush life for residents, but they operate a lot. All of them seemed to enjoy it. Lots of driving.
10. USC: SoCal location, and they operate like crazy. Cool group of residents who can handle anything. Maybe too trauma heavy for me which left less time for other specialties. Residents all loved it. Weak didactics. Big program (10, I think)
11. GWU: Strong program in DC. Residents operate a lot, and academics is pretty strong. Peds exposure starts in PGY4, which was a big downside. Chairman is old-school, but an advocate nonetheless. All-in-all, well-balanced and DC is a great town to live in.
12. UMDNJ- NJMS: No program operates as much as UMDNJ. Faculty are all very supportive. Residents were friendly. Newark is not a desirable location for me…close to NYC but not in it.
13. Drexel: Trauma-heavy Philly program. Complete, no deficiencies. Residents liked being there. Hospital is a bit run down. Lots of driving.
14. Ohio State: A very strong program. New chairman has really turned things around and this will be a powerhouse in coming years. Promises are not guarantees though. Beautiful new facilities. Columbus is a college town, but still has a metropolitan feel. Location was the key that made me drop it down.
Tier 3:
15. SUNY Downstate: Operative-heavy Brooklyn program. Hospital gets a lot of dump-off cases from other NYC hospitals and many unique cases. A bit run-down, but residents come out ready to handle anything. Not much academics.
16. Loma Linda: Great program for operative experience. Not my cup of tea in terms of 7th Day Adventist feel and suburban setting.
17. Wayne State: Relatively new program. Cush life, not too busy, operate a lot. Detroit suburbs was not cutting it for me despite having some family nearby.

Matched at: Tier 1a and I’m very very excited to get started.

My advice to future applicants:
1. Pick your aways carefully, go where you would like to go for residency and not where you will get a strong letter. I didn’t use a single letter from my aways.
2. For your aways, be helpful but also be a human being. They want people who they can get along with and a share beer after work with. Know your stuff in the OR. Don’t try to show-off.
3. Letters matter a good amount, but the content will not be terribly different from one to another. Get letters from people who you know will support you if they receive a phone call from a PD at a program you interviewed at. Having people who will make calls for you down the stretch is key also.
4. Research matters and I think it was a good reason I got some interviews. The more the better, but the key is to have something to talk about during your interview.
5. The interview matters a lot. Be yourself, be personable, smile. I cannot emphasize this enough. This is an interview for them to see how you are normally. Don’t try to be overly serious, but don’t try to be too loose either.
6. Be humble and apply broadly. Interview broadly. You don’t want to mess things up when you’ve worked so hard for 4 years.
7. In my opinion, 95% of programs will train you well. Know what you want in a program and don’t let reputation or academic name cloud your judgment. Every program matches well into fellowships.

Hope this helps!

Says the guy with Northwestern, Jeff, Miami, and HJD at the top of his list. LOL.

Just mentioned a few of the places that I really liked

Med School: top 10
Boards: Step 1: 240s
Rank:
AOA: N
Preclinicals: (Honors, HP, E, P, what ever your school uses.)
Clinicals:
Ortho: (Home and Away rotations and grades you received.)
Research: had some publications
Extracurriculars:

What I was looking for in a Program:good work environment, location, great training


How many Programs:
Applied to: 40
Offered Interviews: 18
Attended: 9

Tier 1:
Vanderbilt: This place was awesome. Great group of residents, fun affordable town, nice facilities. Everyone works really hard but seems to be enjoying themselves.

Rush: Another really great place. Brand new clinic space and a new hospital that will be completed within a year or so. Residents are all friendly and easy to get along with. Solid didactics, huge names in the field to learn from, and research opportunities that must be some of the best in the country. Of note, there was a recent lawsuit brought against Rush that was frivolous and ended up being dropped. I did some research and found that it really was a totally ridiculous lawsuit and it will not affect the program in any way.

UCSD: Everyone seemed really happy here. Obviously everyone works hard, but it definitely had a little more laid back feel to it. Mandatory research year, but everyone said it was a productive, useful year. I did a sub-I out here and had a lot of fun.

Stanford: The residents get treated pretty well out here, which was definitely appealing. The chairman is great, and it seems like you get quite a bit of hands on experience. Beautiful area of the country.

Columbia: Dr. Levine, the chairman, is the man. If you can deal with NYC, this is a superb program. The advocacy and support the residents get from the department is impressive and they all leave very well trained.


Tier 2:

Tier 3:

NOT RANKED

Matched at: Top Choice

My advice to future applicants: Work hard and treat everyone with respect

What I was looking for in a Program: Great PD, RD, residents. Great training. Good location.

Alphabetical, with some of my thoughts.
Every program says they operate early, 99 percentile on OITE, and are happy. Talk to the rotators and people from that program to get a good feel of the program.

Banner – Great residents! We went to a Suns game for the social which I thought was great. Really liked this community program and felt as a newer program you would get great training.

Grand Rapids: Definitely a hidden gem. Really liked the residents and thought I got to know all of them well. They even knew you well by your application. Surprisingly a lot of places don’t don’t. They have a post interview social at one of the residents house which was a great way to see if you fit. Have a day float/night float system which works well. Can moonlight later in your residency.

Henry Ford – Almost canceled this interview, but was glad I didn’t. Very nice staff and residents. It is in downtown Detroit, but most people live in the suburbs. Do peds rotation at MN which is one drawback.

U of Indiana – PD is stepping down.

U of Kansas – Hard to get a good feel of this program. No presentation, but was impressed with most of the people I interviewed with. They do also do a lot of flaps which is unique.

Minnesota: Large program, 8 a year. Trauma heavy, but seemed to get great training. Just had a turnover in RD, but I liked the new guy. Lots of MN grads in the program. Very female friendly program.

Mount Carmel – Probably the most cush residency in the county. They don’t work on Sunday and have to be gone by 5 during the week. Have PAs and NPs do everything. Seem to operate a lot and can moonlight. Although, the moonlighting was nice it may go away now that it has to be added to the 80 hour work week. Debated if I would get good enough training with how easy this training seemed.

Nebraska – Solid program, good residents. A few non-traditional residents in the intern class, but were great guys.

Summa – Gym by the call room!! I liked this place, thought it was the better of the two Akron programs. Saw Akron general residents here when I was interviewing. I believe they were building a new ortho hospital, but not for sure on that. Residents seem like good guys. The residency director was a great guy. Young dude and easy to talk to. Interview 2-3 at a time and I watched a 3 do a total knee by himself.

Toledo – Unimpressed.

William Beaumont – Read good things on here about this place and expected a lot, but this place was terrible. The staff showed up in jeans and sweatpants. One guy even had on slippers. The residents were very cocky the night before at the social. I got asked very inappropriate questions in the interview and have heard others having the same experience. Would not recommend this program especially if you are female. PD was an old dude… reads your application as he asked you about it. Very strange interview.

U of Wisconsin: Amazing residents… best group of guys that I had met on the interview trail!! Dr. Squire, RD, great guy. Dr. Z, PD, is a huge name in spine. Talked with rotators on the interview trail and all seemed to love this place. Residents operate a lot and get along well. The staff will take you out on the lake to ski and wakeboard!! Really loved this placed and couldn’t see any flaws.

Vanderbilt – Great residents… Seemed like a solid program. Call was q10. Rotators had good things to say. Amazing new facilities. Would have been happy here.

Med School]Top 10 USNWR
Boards]Step 1: 239, Step 2: much worse, but didn't submit
Rank]Somewhere in the middle
AOA]No
Preclinicals]2 Honors
Clinicals]Honors in surgery and psych; High Pass everything else
Ortho]3 home and 2 away (felt pretty good about the difference between a tension band plate and buttress by the end)
Research]nothing in print, but 4 submitted papers, 2 posters, and a couple projects in the pipeline
Extracurriculars]D1 sport as undergrad, but now napping, golfing and going to the race track.

What I was looking for in a Program]
- Strong trauma
- Good didactics
- Fun place to live

How many Programs]
Applied to]48
Offered Interviews] ~18
Attended]12

Tier 1] (alphabetical order)
Brown] Despite the sixth year, I thought this is one of the best residencies. Dr. Ehrlich tries hard to convince you how great of a program is, but he's right and clearly dedicated to resident education. With Dr. Born backing you up as a junior attending, you are going to feel very confident taking trauma call.
Duke] I didn't rotate here, but was blown away by the interview day. As already mentioned they already can put your name to your face before you show up, which was really fun. Residents get to be the team physician for basketball in 4th and 5th year. Former resident created Wheeless. When I left the interview, this was my top choice. The revisit was less fun and ultimately I didn't think I could live in Durham without being married.
Penn] Lot of history with this program and despite the turnover in attendings, the new chair, Dr. Levin is clearly committed to turning this program around. Residents seemed very happy and for peds, there's probably no place better. I rotated here and loved it.
UCLA] I rotated here as well and enjoyed every minute of it. Clearly not the operative experience that you will get at other programs. But the residents here enjoy their life and aren't ashamed to say it.
UW] I was sold when the program director invited us to his floating home the night before for sushi! Their is obviously no better place for trauma and the residents seemed really laid back despite how hard they work as juniors.
Wash U] Another amazing residency program. Their didactic curriculum was very impressive and the away elective sounded awesome. Obviously a great program for fellowship as well. Not surprisingly, a lot of residents go into hand.

Tier 2]
Rush:This really is a tier 1 program, but I missed the dinner 2/2 weather and for no good reason didn't rank it very high. The attendings here are phenomenal and the residents love being here.
USC: Lots of trauma and the residents love it. Not enough didactics for me.
Drexel: I've never seen residents get along with their chair as well as they do with Dr. Johanson.
Georgetown: Interview with Dr. Delahay was the highlight of the interview trail.
Harbor-UCLA: USC with less research and closer to the beach.
San Antonio: Best food on the interview trail: breakfast tacos and BBQ.

Matched at: My top choice.

My advice to future applicants:
- Don't sweat scores in the 230's.
- Choose good aways. I rotated at two very different programs in terms of trauma experience and competitiveness. Be ready to explain why you rotated where you did and how that relates to whatever program you are interviewing at that day.
- The revisit is tricky and annoying, but I'm glad I did it.
- LORs are the x-factor. I truly believe that's why an average candidate like myself got interviews at WashU, Duke and Brown. Unfortunately, it's hard to get a good sense of the strength of your letters until you already apply. Nevertheless, work your behind off to get good letters from well known people.