ortho residency - still possible?

There is always a chance. I would suggest that since you don't have a home program, search out some docs in the community to give you guidance. Also, you have to have some orthopods at your hospital even if there isn't an official residency program. Talk to them, make connections. I'm trying like hell to make as many connections as I can, community docs, friends of friends and family, etc. That's how you make it in this world.

Yep, you have a chance. Do it.

You're board score is good. Comparing yourself to the few people who post their scores on here will not give you an accurate idea of what the applicant pool looks like.

The typical advice is to apply to a ton of programs but that is what everyone applying to ortho (and all other residencies) does.

You have a chance, but the most important thing you can do right now (in my opinion) is to figure out why you're not doing better on your clinical rotations. I think third year clinical grades end up being pretty important no matter what specialty you choose.

I'd also try to get involved in some ortho research. Are there any academic ortho departments in the same city as your medical school?

You are also at a disadvantage not having a home program. Generally speaking, your home surgeons are your biggest advocates. You really need to work your ass off on aways to get some good letters from those surgeons.

should this person really be that worried???
he's middle of the pack right?
bc then im in trouble too.

I think he has a good shot at it. That being said, yes he should be worried. Everybody should be worried. There are no guarantees for anybody. Look at some of the other recent posts where people from top med schools, great letters, 260s on the boards and research "fall through the cracks" and don't match. Based purely on a board score of 236 and data from the 2009 match he has about an 80-85% chance of matching. Those are great odds. I would put money down on that every time. But, it doesn't matter what the odds are if you end up getting the the sh*t end of the stick.

Some of the re-applicants have posted a lot about this and I remember a post about someone going unmatched twice in a row. Sadly, there are others from this year that did not match also. I'm sure a lot of them were excellent candidates as well and didn't think they had to be too worried either.

I was a very strong applicant, but after hearing stories from friends I'm just really glad to get a spot. I don't think I fully appreciated just how competitive this field really is until match day.

The stats show that a significant percentage of american graduating seniors don't match. The odds are probably in his and your favor that you will match. In fact, people match every year with much lower board scores. For the record I think mid 230s is great and he should be congratulated on doing well.

In the end, all it takes is one program to like you and you're in. But if I learned one thing this year its that it doesn't matter how baller you think your application is, you have to apply broadly and seriously consider if you would rather go unmatched than spend 5 years at a program that you are not that excited about.

Good luck

When are applicants going to realize that, unless you are a serial killer, the answer to this question is going to be yes? SJust stop posting this question in all its variations.

You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.