Colorado program

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I rotated there. You do 2 weeks at Denver General which is pretty much straight trauma with occasional joints, hand, and sports stuff being done in the ORs. The other 2 weeks you have the choice of the VA, Univ of CO Hospital, or the peds hospital. It seems like the VA is the best experience for most of the rotators as you get to do more and the attending who works over there is a little more vocal in the selection process. I personally was over at the university hospital which I was not a huge fan of as it is basically 6 joints cases every day where you get to do absolutely nothing.

One thing I would suggest is rotate there early in the season. It seems that the people who did had a LOT better experience overall, got to do more in the OR, enjoyed themselves, etc.

Overall, I think you would get good training there, Denver is awesome, you can ski a lot. I ended up matching somewhere higher on my list (I didn't end up ranking Colorado very high). If you have any questions, ask away.

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I pmed you dvizurr

I agree with the general consensus that it's pretty difficult to find information about the colorado program.

Are there any residents / previous rotators at colorado who would be willing to share some more information about the program? a) Operating experience b) case-load c) lifestyle & call schedule d) how residents do after graduating from the program e) How important the away rotation is for MS4 students

It looks like a great program - heck, who wouldn't want to live in denver
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Training at CU is phenominal with the best of all worlds. You can not beat the trauma expereince (staff is demanding and requires you know your stuff). The VA expereince is excellent with more primary joints and scopes than you will feel confident upon completion. The peds rotation is at a top 5 childrens hospital with more staff than some residency programs.

Residents are all easy going and very team oriented. The upper levels look out for the younger guys and let them do the cases that they want. Residents hang out together outside of the hospital which shows they definetly get along.

Negatives: extremely competitive, rotating there does not guarentee you an interview, trauma experience is busy, if you can not take critism and need to be padded on the back then this is not for you.

Top fellowships are a real possibility with the political power at this program.