This post is not meant to start a pi$$ing contest. The point of it is to help applicants know where programs stand from an academic standpoint. This by
NO means ranks the best program, as there is no such universal program. The best program is the one you match at and fits your career goals and lifestyle aspirations.
By academic standpoint, I mean: graduates pursing academic careers, research grants, research facilities, research staff, well known academians, cutting edge surgical procedures and development, Programs with all subspecialty areas covered and with depth, referral centers, publication output, graduates going into academically oriented fellowships, etc. This list is based on MY own conversations with academians, other residents, and publication and presentation observation. It is not a definitive list as it is opinion and there is no ârightâ list. I hope that it opens up
mature dialogue about this subject and is helpful to those applicants applying. Please post any changes you would make, discussion is the point. Any ACGME sponsored program will provide adequate training and the trick is to find what suits your tastes, I hope this helps those with more academically oriented tastes.
Cluster A
UCLA
Pitt
Rush
U Iowa
Hopkins
Harvard
Mayo Clinic
Washington U St. Louis
U Rochester
Hospital for Special Surgery
Columbia NY Presbyterian
Hospital for Joint Diseases
Duke
Case Western
Cleveland Clinic
U Penn
Jefferson
U Washington
U Utah
Cluster B:
UC Davis
UC San Diego
UC San Francisco
Yale
University of Florida
Emory
Northwestern
U Michigan
Dartmouth
Mt. Sinai
UNC
Brown
U Tennesee Memphis Campbell Clinic
Vanderbilt
UT Southwestern
U Wisconsin
U Virginia
Cluster c
USC
University of Alabama
UC Irvine
Stanford
Colorado
University of Connecticut
Georgetown
George Washington
Jackson Memorial
U Chicago
Loyola
Indiana U
Maryland
Boston U
William Beaumont Royal Oak
U Minnesota
Wake forest
Carolinas
Ohio State
Oregon Health Sciences
Penn State Hershey
UT San Antonio
Baylor
U Vermont
Cluster 
University of Arizona
University of Arkansas
Loma Linda
Harbor-UCLA
Orlando Regional
Medical College of Georgia
U Illinois Chicago
U Kansas
Louisiana State New Orleans
Union
Tufts
U Massachusetts
Henry Ford
Grand Rapids
St. Louis U
UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson
U New Mexico
Albany
Albert Einstein
Buffalo
Lennox Hill
SUNY Upstate
Summa
Cincinnati
Mt. Carmel
Louisville
U Oklahoma
Drexel
Temple
U South Carolina
UT Galveston
UT Houston
Texas Tech Lubbock
Texas AM
Virginia Commonwealth
Medical College of Wisconsin
West Virginia University
