best programs

What's the operating experience like at those places though? Im not be sarcastic I really don't know.

I am a resident at pitt and there is no question that the upper levels do most of the cases, however, once you get to that point the o.r. experience is phenominal. I think we have one of the best spine experiences in the country as there are usually 12-16 cases a week, the residents usually do all the lumbar cases, often times skin to skin. Trauma, hand, peds and joint experience is also great. We have two great tumor attendings whom are very knowledgable and allow interns to operate, I did a shoulder hemiarthoplasty as an intern (walked in room and to my surprise was me and the attending). Sports is fellow heavy but you get plenty of scopes at the va, on the shoulder service, and as senior level resident. Our chiefs can opperate when they leave this place. I can honestly say when I ask my chiefs, most all would be comfortable going directly into practice after residency. What seems to make most do fellowships is where they ultimaltely want to practice (location) mandates fellowship training to be competitive.

Number 7 is new york presbyterian, not NYU... and it's only columbia because HSS covers cornell.

This list is silly for ranking residency programs. It ranks the hospital. WashU isn't in the top ten of this list but everyone knows it's an awesome residency program. Rush isn't up there either.

It's sort of a bonehead (pun intended) thing to rank your residency choices based off this list, but please go ahead and do so, making the process even more self selecting.

this is simply the us new and world report ranking, we all know that is a poor way to judge how good an ortho residency program is as there are many great programs that are not listed. If it is acknowledged that this is a poor way to do it why dont you propose a better ranking system. I simply do not have enought knowledge about other programs in order to do so

Without knowing how that list is compiled, I wouldn't put much stock in it. I'm not sure USNWR really takes resident education into account when making those lists.

Picking am ortho residency isn't like picking a college or even med school. It's not about just finding "the most PRESTIGIOUS PLACE" you can get into. There were guys in my med school class who could have named their residency program - AOA, Scores >250, great letters, all that stuff. They opted to go to community programs that are barely discussed on this site. Why? Because they liked the location, they weren't interested in pumping out papers and joining academia, and (most important) they were a good "fit" with the other residents and the attendings.

That's why I think asking for a listing of the "top" programs is pointless. That definition varys from person to person depending on what they are looking for. If you want to do a lot of papers, network, get the top fellowships and be a program director someplace, then those places are probably right for you. But if you just want to learn to be a good orthopaedic surgeon and practice in the community, then you probably want to go to a place that'll give you the opportunity to do a ton of cases. And IN GENERAL the places listed above aren't really ideal to do that.

Finally, and this isn't intended to call out the poster above, but if you ask about a program, a reisdent will ALWAYS say that the interns are doing cases, and that their chiefs are graduating ready to enter private practice. The only way you are ever going to know if they are for real or not is if you actually spend a significant period of time at that institution.

i agree with your post, at the end of the day its about fit, as i know people at big name places that are not happy, and people that are small programs that are doing very well. As for my opinion about my program, true there is intrinsic bias, no doubt, but from my limited experience at other places and being at my program for 2 years that is my honest interpretation. However your point is well taken