Residency Review Thread 2014-2015

Med School: Northeast, top 20
Boards: Step 1: 240-245 Step 2: 255-260 (sent to programs)
AOA: Senior
Preclinicals: half honors
Clinicals: all honors, except hp medicine
Ortho: Home, 2 aways; all honors
Aways: 2 programs which were similar in ranking to home program, interview at both
Research: Ortho basic science lab since first year, co-author on 5 papers, presented several posters both basic and clinical. No research year
Extracurriculars: Normal med school extracurriculars (eg mentoring, volunteering at childrens hospital, etc)

What I was looking for in a Program: There are several things which I was looking for in a program:
1) Location – after living in small cities for most of my life, I was really hoping to get spend the rest of my 20s in a larger metro area.
2) Academic reputation – while obviously still early, I wanted a program that would allow me to pursue a career as an academic orthopod. I also wanted a program where I would be able to see some of the super rare cases in addition to the bread and butter.
3) Well rounded program – really wanted a program that had most everything in house. Didn’t like the idea of having to go elsewhere for a peds or tumor experience. Also didn’t want a program where you do 3 months of trauma every year, but then just a couple months of hand.


Applied to: 50
Offered Interviews: 16
Attended: 13

Tier 1:
Wash U: Wash U is likely the best training experience in the country. Every department has well known, accomplished faculty, Dr. Wright is arguably the best program director in the country, and the institution is top of the line. The operative experience is all there, with particular strengths in hand, peds, and spine. The residents get along great, and have a fairly even mix of married and single. The only downside is the location. St. Louis was not an impressive city. The program itself has no weaknesses, and even the addition of a new chairman will not change that.

HSS: Hard to argue that HSS is the best program in the country, and they know it. The resources here are second to none. There is an army of PAs to do all of the floor work, residency cars to drive you to non-HSS rotations, $800 rent on the upper east side and extra money if you operate on the weekends. There is actually a large amount of trauma done by the residents (9 months of the PGY-2 year) done at HSS, NY presby, and a hospital in queens. The interview day itself is kind of an interesting show, but is definitely one of the more unique days on the trail.

Harvard: Obviously one of the most prestigious and well known programs in the country, and not without reason. Dr. Dyer has done an amazing job making some very productive changes to the program. They have easily the largest and most diverse number of faculty of any program I looked at, along with some of the best research anywhere. I really loved the fact that you spend 6 straight months at Children’s as a 3, which seemed to be universally loved by the residents. The residents are a great group who really seem to get along. It’s a self-starter program, and it seemed like it would be possible to get lost if you didn’t really try and find your place in the program, however I feel like any large academic program will have similar issues. Last, but not least, Boston is easily one of the best cities in the country. I was looking for a large academic program with strong research, excellent clinical experience, and in a large city and this program easily matched all of those qualifications.

NYU: Definitely a work hard, play hard kind of program. If you want to go here, its really important to rotate. Last year 11/12 interns had rotated. It’s a big class, but the residents all seem to know each other really well. Dr. Egol works extremely hard to create one of the best training programs in the country. Its also one of the best locations of any program in the country. The trauma experience is really one of the best aspects of the program, with lots of time spent at Bellevue and at Jamaica Hospital in the Bronx. The program has a really specific personality, and really emphasizes fit.

Duke: Awesome program. The interview day is truly excellent. You can really tell how much work they’ve put into going over your application ahead of time. The program is obviously really strong in a lot of ways. The new chair is really pushing basic science research, and I really liked the direction their program is heading. Hardaker is the man, even though he won’t be the program director for much longer. Like many have said, they really like those who do a second look or rotate. Operative experience seemed on par with most programs, not as trauma heavy as some, but definitely still a level 1 center.

Tier 2:

Pitt: I really enjoyed this program. The residents work hard here, but come out really excellent surgeons. Half the class does an extra research year, and then takes attending trauma call as superchiefs. Dr. Fu has created a really great program here, and obviously takes a huge interest in the residents. He talked to us for an entire hour, as well as interviewing each candidate separately. Trauma here is really busy, with attendings sometimes running two rooms overnight on weekends during the summer. The faculty seems very responsive to resident feedback, and the sports rotations have recently been completely overhauled due to concerns about resident’s operative experience.

Columbia: Another program which surprised me on interview day. Easily the most fun social night of the entire interview trail. Dr. Levine is an amazing program director turned chairman, and is still extremely involved in the intricacies of the program. They have almost everything in house, with the exception of 2 months of trauma at shock trauma, and a month of spine trauma in Baltimore as well. They are really working on expanding the number of faculty in their program, which the residents say has really helped with the concern of ‘not enough operative experience’ that has been relatively widespread on this forum and among other residents. Overall, this is a program whose biggest weakness is quickly becoming ‘in a slightly less desirable part of Manhattan.’

Jefferson: This program really rose in my personal rankings after the interview. They have a very academic program. There is a lot of push for their residents to publish, and they have the infrastructure to back it up. The operative experience seemed great, with the exception of trauma (which is done in house) and peds (which is done at DuPont). Both of these are issues the faculty is aware of and they are actively making changes in order to correct this. The program seemed really responsive to resident feedback, and the residents themselves seemed really happy with the program.

Brown: Brown really sells itself as a producer of academic physicians. About 50% of their graduates go on to academic careers, which obviously makes the 6th year worthwhile. Personally, I wasn’t looking to spend an extra year in residency only to go on to do another fellowship. The program is great for the right person, and all of the PGY 6s really stood by doing the extra year. Providence was better than I was expecting, but still not a big city. Most of the residents were married and a large number had kids so its probably not the program for the single resident. Overall, obviously an excellent program with a really strong reputation, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t for me.

Stanford: Very solid program. Lots of bright shiny facilities and its impossible to beat the weather. The residents seemed to get along really well and hang out a lot outside of the hospital. The only downside for me was the location, as the west coast was a little too far from friends and family for me. I also didn’t like the idea of paying big city prices for housing in what was essentially suburbia. Nothing bad to say about the program though, as the chair and PD are actively recruiting faculty and operative experience seems excellent.

Tier 3:
Carolinas: The operative experience here is unreal. It’s a ‘priva-ademic’ program similar to Jefferson, although with a much larger private practice associated with it. OrthoCarolina has a huge, 125 partner practice, although only ~25 work with residents on a regular basis. The facilities are top of the line, with oak locker rooms and free sushi and salmon on the surgeon’s lounge. I think if you planned on doing private practice orthopaedics, you would be hard pressed to find a better program. My major concern was location, not a big fan of Charlotte, and the fact that per the residents generally >75% of the residents were married upon entering residency and many already had children. While the program was outstanding, the culture didn’t fit as well as some other programs.

Wisconsin: Had probably the best camaraderie of all the programs I visited. Madison is a great city, if obviously really undergrad-y. They seem to get a good amount of operative experience here. However, the the program director is stepping down. They didn’t explain why or say who the next PD was going to be, and so that kind of dropped them in my rankings a little.

Medical College of Wisconsin: Great group of residents. If you wanted to go directly into private practice, this program would really set you up well for that. They have one of the most balanced curriculums of all the programs I looked at. They only have one spine attending which was a little concerning, although they did recently increase the size of their hand faculty that had also been a concern previous years. Overall, well balanced program, but less academic than I was looking for.

NOT RANKED: none

Matched at: (did away there, where on ROL, etc) #1!

Advice for future applicants: Hard and fast advice is difficult. The process is really random at times. A lot of programs where I thought I had a really good shot at an interview rejected me and programs where I thought I didn’t have a chance gave me interviews. Its impossible to over emphasize the importance of letters in the process. Personalized letters from surgeons who know you well and are names in the field goes much further than an extra 5 or 10 points on step 1 or an extra case report or two. Moral of the story is work really hard to control the things you can, and try to enjoy the process.

Med School: Northeast state school
Boards: Step 1: 258 Step 2: 262 (took in November)
Rank: No ranking system
AOA: Yes
Preclinicals: All pass
Clinicals: All honors
Ortho: Honors
Aways: Penn, Harvard, Brown (interviews at all)
Research: non-ortho publication from grad school, multiple non-ortho research posters at local school or state research fairs, started two ortho research projects as MS3, no publications.
Extracurriculars: Leadership roles throughout college and med school, travel and volunteer activities

What I was looking for in a Program:
1. Great people - wanted to get along with the residents and faculty. I really valued a program where everyone has a good sense of humor. I also wanted to be at a relatively large program, 5+ residents.
2. Great training - I wanted to come out a well-rounded surgeon with excellent operative experience. I was conflicted about the impact of fellows on training, but was strongly urged to do residency at a place with fewer fellows.
3. Minimal travel - I didn't want to be somewhere that I had to spend large chunks of time away from the main campus.
4. Location - I wanted to stay in the Northeast/East Coast area.
5. Research - many opportunities and easy to get involved in publishable projects

How many Programs
Applied to: 56
Offered Interviews: 28
Attended: 15

Tier 1:
Harvard - Big program, great faculty dedicated to teaching, excellent residents, lots of fellows, tons of research opportunities. You work at the best hospitals in the world and learn from the biggest names in the field. I really enjoyed this program. The only negative might be overlap between senior residents and fellows with competition for cases. Otherwise, had everything I was looking for in a program.

Tufts - I loved how they marketed this smaller program, with exposure to multiple different practice settings between Tufts MC, the Baptist, and Newton-Wellesley. The faculty seemed very interested in teaching, and I loved the location in the heart of Boston. I was concerned that the trauma experience here might be lacking, and didn't love the idea of spending 3 months at Brown as a PGY4. Otherwise, thought this program was well-rounded in the sub-specialties.

Brown - Great residents, dedicated faculty, well-rounded program, incredible trauma experience. These guys work hard! Only drawback may be the 6th year, and Providence isn't the most amazing city in the world. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this program and think you come out an extremely competent surgeon (esp. with the PGY6 year) with lots of opportunity for research.

Penn - I thought this program was very similar to Harvard, except without all the fellows. It is an all-inclusive program with well-rounded specialties, great trauma experience, access to CHOP for pedi rotations, VA for community exposure, and amazing emphasis on didactics and research. I think the residents here are some of the hardest working and come out with great surgical skills. I was also surprise at Philly, I had never spent much time there and really enjoyed it, which is surprisingly affordable full-featured city.

Tier 2:
Yale - I really liked this program, the residents seemed to be hard working, with good surgical hands on training (few/no? fellows) and opportunities from research. Seemed to have good access to trauma and subspecialties. This was probably higher on my list because of the location in the Northeast.

Dartmouth - Great program, wasn't thrilled about the rural location, but liked that it was in the Northeast. Residents were some of the nicest I had met and faculty seemed amazingly dedicated to teaching. There is definitely a work hard/play hard atmosphere here, with lots of the residents pursuing outdoor activities in their free time.

Johns Hopkins - I really loved this program, seemed to have great training and research experience, but ranked it lower because I wasn't sure I loved Baltimore. If I was ranking schools without regard to regional preference Hopkins would have been a Tier 1 program for me.

Wash U - Same as Hopkins, this program is amazing and had a reputation on the trail as probably the best residency program in the country, which seemed reasonable after seeing it on the interview. Again, if I were ranking programs without regard to location, this probably would have been in my Top 3 ranks.

UMass - Great blue collar program, less emphasis on research, more hands on training. Really great down to earth residents that work extremely hard and come out with exceptional surgical training. I was really impressed with the fellowship match for the graduating chiefs.

UConn - Same as above (UMass). Probably a bigger name than UMass, due to their Sports reputation.


Tier 3:

Case Western - I really liked this program. I thought the feel was very similar to Yale, well-rounded, good trauma experience, and research opportunities. I actually enjoyed Cleveland on the interview, but ranked it lower strictly based on preference for Northeast/East Coast

Michigan - Another great program, tons of research, faculty seemed very excited to teach and great Sports experience working at Michigan football games. Ranked lower because of location.

Cleveland Clinic - Same as Case, except I felt the focus here was more on subspecialties and slightly weaker in trauma. I wanted a trauma foundation for my residency with supplemented well-rounded subspecialties.

BU - Although I wanted to like BU, I did no like the residents. They seemed distant and all sat together at the interview. There is a lot of travel here, and things seemed a little too trauma-heavy.

UVM - The residents here seemed great, down to earth. The program was a little too small for me, I was concerned about being in a 3-person residency class, but it seemed like they get a great training, and emphasize their anatomy course, which they learn a lot from throughout their residency.

NOT RANKED: None

Matched at: Top Tier (did away there)

Advice for future applicants:
1. Obviously objective data matters for interviews: High Step 1 (250+), and as many clinical honors as possible
2. Rotate where you want to match - don't play the regional game, rotate at the schools you want to go to. It's a great opportunity to impress them and see if you really like the program
3. Show up and work hard every day. Prep for your cases, be nice to everyone, be early, never ask to go home.

Med School: South, top 20 research
Boards: Step 1: 256 Step 2: 266 (September)
Rank: don’t have it
AOA: (Junior/Senior) Nah
Preclinicals: about half and half H/HP
Clinicals: all H
Ortho: Home, 2 Aways – all H (none of the away grades were available)
Aways: 1 super academic private Northeast (I guess a reach), one slightly less stuffy/academic
Research: summer projects, 3 posters, NIH grant to my name, industry support
Extracurriculars: Ex-college athlete, student gov’t, volunteering, interest groups, academic support

What I was looking for in a Program:
1. People: Somewhere with good camaraderie, tight-knit group that gets along well and gives each other crap. Not super formal
2. Training: good operative experience, with some fellows, not a ton. The ability to do research without reinventing the wheel every time. I wanted a complete program with a lot of experiences at the home hospital (not a ton of traveling). This means I wanted a VA, a children’s hospital, and a private experience locally


How many Programs:
Applied to: 56
Offered Interviews: 19
Attended: 12

Tier 1: Alphabetical order – would’ve been absolutely thrilled to be here and would be perfect for me/my career

Duke – Bigger program (8 residents/year), but they do the interview day right. They know your name/face, know your applications inside and out. Very relaxed interview day with just enough formality to the program. The residents are super close, have a lot of fun together, and a ton of them showed up to the pre-interview dinner. They are very athlete heavy, and fairly bro-y, but all seemed super nice. They get a lot of great industry support, so that means a lot of extracurricular labs and “journal club” at a bar. There are tons of resources associated with the med center/university, which makes the experience pretty nice. Good amount of didactics with a lot of journal clubs and extra educational activities. They operate a good amount and tout a fair amount of autonomy, and have a well-rounded experience. Get shipped out to Asheville or Atlanta for several months at some point. Chair seems like the odd-man out, as he is super academic and a policy wonk, which is definitely not the feeling/character of the residents.

Vanderbilt – trauma heavy program in the south, but didn’t get the feeling it was super southern. The residents were all personable and seemed to get along well. Great PD with a good sense of humor. You get the feeling the residents get worked, as they are on call for Children’s and main, while being on triple threat (gen ortho, hand, spine). This means that the backup call person can be in-house as well the whole night. But they get great operative experience as a result. The didactics seemed solid, but I’d heard from rotators that you’re so busy that it almost interferes with learning. The facilities looked awesome, and there was a fantastic gym that the ortho/rehab department owns and has privileges to. The hospital has First Assists (surgical assistants) that the residents swear don’t interfere in your operative ability, but will admit that it’s another level of politics you have to deal with as they can make you look good and make your life easy, or really make your life hell. Nashville is a phenomenal place to live and there’s tons of awesome things to do.

Wash U St. Louis – what hasn’t been said about this program. Phenomenal training with incredibly bright and capable co-residents. Residents seemed to get along, but didn’t seem as close as some other places. Brand new Chair seemed nice, but definitely got the feeling he was just there to show his face and had almost nothing to say in the interview. Program Director (Rick Wright) seemed awesome, decisive, resident education advocate, and very willing to make changes immediately to make the program better. The ortho program gets a fair amount of respect in the hospital, so they seem to get what they want. The place is definitely top-of-the-line everything and super academic. Seems like they do a lot of research in their ‘free time’, and there’s definitely a little nudge to publish. St. Louis seemed like a cool place to live, but definitely some more city problems than benefits (crime without the awesome restaurants/cultural stuff…and landlocked).


Tier 2: would be happy to match here, but might’ve had a few things I would change if I could

UCLA – phenomenal weather with incredibly happy residents. They didn’t seem to get overworked, and were absolutely the happiest residents I saw on the trail. They seem to have their own things going on, so they don’t always hang out a ton outside of work. Even if you live a few miles away, that traffic can be prohibitive to hanging out. Living in LA seemed a little tough, coming from the east coast. But the resources are awesome, there’s a research year that some people take. Eckardt (Chair – tumor) seemed like an awesome dude. He hung out with us and told stories while we waited for interviews. The residents get a lot of variability at the different med centers, but that requires driving a LOT, which is no joke in LA traffic. There’s always been rumor that they don’t get the surgical reps they need to be proficient, and they addressed this at the interview day: it’s been fixed (according to them).

Michigan – bigger program, but with smaller program feel. All the residents seemed super nice, but definitely a Midwest/Michigan bias to them. Great research resources, and it seemed like you could publish without putting in a ton of effort. Definitely a University of Michigan sports place, as we went to The Big House on our tour. The operative experience seemed solid, but admittedly trauma light. There’s a good private practice/community hospital experience they’re building up that seems to be improving the gen trauma stuff. Ann Arbor seemed like a cool place to live, great college town, but definitely dominated by the undergrads. The Hospital is a behemoth, and they seemed to emphasize making the residents happy. Would’ve been higher if not for being in Michigan (it’s gray all winter and it was 6 degrees on my interview day).

UVA – Down to earth residents who don’t take themselves too seriously. Strong didactics and emphasis on teaching. Phenomenal young Chair (Chhabra – hand) who is really growing the program, growing the faculty, marketing the program, and growing it into a nationally recognized powerhouse. The residents seem to operate a ton, and get good support from the hospital. There is good research, with some residents putting out 20+ projects, incredibly strong sports department, and big hand center. The new outpatient surgical center/children’s hospital is gorgeous and state of the art. The call rooms have a nice gym and lounge area. It’s a night float system with 10 straight weeks of nights. Get shipped out to Roanoke (private hospital, high volume, good surgical experience) for 20 weeks as a PGY3 and 20 weeks as a PGY4. Charlottesville is an incredibly pleasant place to live with lots of great food, wineries, outdoor activity. Would definitely have been higher if not for the Roanoke stuff.

UNC: Great personable residents who really get along well. They have a big ortho library with computers that is their “home base’ which is a huge benefit. It’s definitely a blue-collar program, but the research emphasis is growing. It’s a smaller faculty with a mentorship model (10 week rotations one-on-one with the attending). Higher volume private affiliated hospital in Raleigh you go out to as a PGY3 and PGY4. You operate a lot (no fellows, no seniors kicking you out). Come out being able to operate your ass off. Some of the attendings rubbed me the wrong way, and the Chair seemed a bit odd. Chapel Hill is a great place to live, and everyone seemed pretty happy. The hospital, unfortunately, doesn’t have a ton of perks and the pay is relatively low. The residents are mostly married with kids, but there are definitely some single ones.

Tier 3:
UT-Southwestern, Kentucky, Orlando Health, MUSC, Cincinnati

NOT RANKED – None…I’m picky, but I’m not an idiot

Matched at: Tier 2 (did away there) – it’s a preference list, and you don’t always get everything. I’m going to be at a great program doing my dream career.

Advice for future applicants:
1. Do aways where you want to be. Regionalism thing didn’t work for me. I learned more about the stuff I wanted in a residency after my aways, unfortunately
2. apply broadly – its’ a total crap shoot. I got some interviews at awesome places, and didn’t get some interviews at ‘lesser’ programs.
3. don’t listen to a damn thing the programs say – I got phone calls and emails from my top tier saying I’d “be a great fit”, and “everyone thought incredibly highly” of me and that I would be “happy come March”. Well, I matched lower than I wanted…but I don’t blame them. I played the game as much as they did.
4. 3rd year grades matter, letters matter, and everyone knows each other. I got so many questions on interviews like “Oh, you’re from ___med school, is Dr. ___ still there? I trained with them” or “what did you think of Dr. ___ on that away rotation? I’ve known them for years”

Med School: Top 15 by USNWR
Boards: Step 1: 268 Step 2: 245 (December)
Rank: Top 5%
AOA: Yes
Clinicals: all honors (but the truth is that its pretty easy to get at my school)
Ortho: 1 home, 2 aways
Research: 2 non-ortho pubs, one ortho chapter
Extracurricular: clubs and volunteer stuff

One note is that my older cousin is an ortho resident, and he’s a pretty outgoing guy so through him I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak/email with a bunch of residents at various programs. I took their “insider” advice seriously and will try to represent it here. General pearls I got from these residents: 1) off-site rotations at other institutions were frowned-upon – the thought was that the educational experience is less rich without rotation repetition and invested attendings you get at a home rotation, 2) fellows are always bad – they are just one more set of hands between you and the knife, 3) look for a strong trauma experience because this will most directly influence your life regardless of specialty – you will be expected to have mastery of bread-and-butter trauma when on call - no exceptions.

What I was looking for in a Program: I wanted to be the best surgeon possible from a program that has a strong academic/prestigious background

Applied to: 20
Offered Interviews: 17
Attended: 15

Tier 1

Duke:
Pros – Very well-rounded program, all specialties represented with rich traditions, nice facilities and prestigious name. I also liked the college-town environment. Great interview day.
Cons – residents seemed okay, high-stress type. They learn by watching in the OR. They need their surgical skills lab to help supplement their OR experience but they have that lab prepped and available to them at all times.

Harvard: Rotated here
Pros – One of the sexiest ortho names in the biz (perhaps rivaled only by HSS). You see every ortho procedure there is. Very good didactics. Boston is a wonderful place to live. Tons of perks; jackets, tickets, dinners, etc. Residents were a friendly group of guys.
Cons – Weak operative experience. Particularly in the area of trauma. Tons of fellows. No accountability (i.e. you can hide).

HSS:
You can basically cut and paste my Harvard evaluation here. Equally awesome. Equally problematic. One note is that the residents here were also very nice but maybe a little more “high-tone” than at Harvard.

Wash U:
Pros - Really dedicated to resident education. The didactics, the operative experience, all great. Fancy-smancy name. Many research opportunities. Famous attendings who appear very invested.
Cons – St. Louis. They get worked in the early years– not in the fun, operative setting – more in the floor/scut setting.

Yale: Did not rotate but I did stay for their department’s holiday party (long story)
Pros - One of the best operative experiences, particularly for an Ivy school. Cultivate surgeons who are comfortable in the OR and running the service. Residents are one of the most welcoming and cohesive groups I saw. Trauma for days.
Cons – Research good, not great - sounds like some specialties have a lot of opportunities while others are less active.

Tier 2:

Rush – Rotated here
Pros – Fun program, all specialties represented. Chicago is a great place to train. Tons of research (you literally can just have your name put on stuff – I don’t know if that's good or bad) – there is a 4th year with about 100 publications – seriously.
Cons – Fellows and the operative experience – not terrible but a little less than I’d like.

UCLA
Pros – Fun and flashy. Great sports experience.
Cons – Hit or miss operative experience. Trauma-light

UW
Pros – Trauma for days – any flavor, type or volume that you can imagine. Nice residents. First time in Seattle but I liked it.
Cons – Department seems to be going through a transition. Probably fine, but it was just a question mark. Otherwise it would be an easy Tier 1.

Vanderbilt
Pros – Very well-rounded and strong focus on the resident education. Good operative experience. Connected faculty.
Cons – Although I was looking for a fancy name, there was a bit of arrogance here. Residents make it clear that you either fit with them, or you don't - but to be clear, I do think that they have a good group of guys.


Tier 3:

Stanford – Just got a funny vibe from this place. It wasn’t for me. I don’t know, maybe it was me.

Please don’t put too much stock in these tiers. They helped with my ranking but I think that its really splitting hairs because the truth is that I would consider myself lucky to go to any of these programs. Also, this wasn’t an exhaustive list – it was just the ones that seem to stir up controversy so I thought I’d throw my two cents in there. Just work hard. Be honest with yourself and others.

Med School: USNWR Top 25
Boards: Step 1: 259 Step 2: 265 taken before start of 4th year, sent to programs
Rank: 2nd quartile
AOA: Noooope
Preclinicals: All P
Clinicals: H in peds, surg, medicine. HP FM, psych, OB.
Ortho: Home and 2 aways
Aways: 2 different programs in the west, interviews at both
Research: multiple non-ortho projects, 2x presentations, no pubs. 1 long-term ortho device project, no pub.
Extracurriculars: Lots, clubs, sports, leadership, nothing super outstanding.

What I was looking for in a Program:
Planning to go into private practice, so hand on clinical experience was paramount to reputation and academics. Region also a priority but less than good operative experience.

How many Programs:
Applied to: 69
Offered Interviews: 13
Attended:12

Tier 1:
Wash U in St. Louis (2014-2015):
This place is baller and they know it. 5/year The PD is a great business man who knows how to sell the program, but he snapped at a group of secretaries who were trying to herd us into our interviews, which I have heard is quite common for him. In speaking to rotators I have heard the atmosphere here is more formal in the operating room with some attendings. Had a lot of residents present for the interview day, and they were all kind of professional seeming but happy. They have all the resources to support your pursuit of any research or subspecialty goals, and they also have a newish outpatient ortho surg center which seems to be a resident boon at most programs due to number of cases churned out. Very pleasantly surprised by St. Louis. There are some really cool neighborhoods close to the med center which offer apartment options and great social stuff, probably have to live a bit farther out if looking to buy but sounds like this is an option as well. Sports and arts stuff throughout year. Fellows probably impact the resident experience somewhat but the residents didn’t bring it up. I got the overall impression that this was a fairly formal program that was trying to come off as more bro-ey and familial than it actually was. Great training and reputation of course. Tons of interviews (8-9), at least 3v1, two panel rooms 4-5v1. They had done you the service of reading your app for the most part, few stupid interview type questions. Pros: Outstanding reputation, training, and fellowship options. St. Louis seemed pretty good. Cons: More formal, sounds intense at times. Residents maybe less close here.

UC Davis (2014-2015):
I got a great feeling from this program. 5/yr, everything located centrally on one campus. All specialties represented, some thinner than others. Like the way the residents interacted at the social, and rotators said they got good operative experience. Strong in trauma and work hardest there in the second year as elsewhere. Has had some turnover in leadership and attendings recently, but everything seemed to be functioning smoothly while I was there. I think there is a fairly strong fellow presence here but as always the residents and faculty insist it doesn't make a difference. (As an aside, I wouldn't believe this for the most part. A fellow is always just another more senior pair of hands in between you and the knife regardless of the school.)

Utah (2014-2015):
Really liked this 5/yr program. Very balanced with plenty of attendings in each specialty. Basically all the stuff written in the past applies. One con may be that the residents here didn’t feel as close as some other programs I visited. They didn’t joke around much and seemed to be all about the work for the most part, certainly not a bro program. Also, it’s about 50/50 whether you’ll get invited back if you rotate, so keep that in mind. Interview day was about 8 1v1 interviews with faculty. Some interesting questions, mostly laid back. Chairman is a little odd, hard to read during interview. SLC great for the outdoors but not a cultural hotspot per se. I was disappointed by the lack of nightlife, weird liquor laws, and fairly sparse culinary scence.

Campbell Clinic:
Being from the west, this place was a bit of a wild card for me. I had heard amazing things about it being the "last bastion of resident autonomy," etc., and I was actually really impressed on the interview day. It is the first ortho residency program in the country, and they have a lot of history. Huge names in the field mixed with young attendings create a very nice mix, and all seemed interested in teaching from my experience and in talking to rotators. CC has an infamous trauma experience, 2s work 24 on 24 off, but in return they operate a ton. It's definitely chiefs leading juniors on trauma with variable attending presence, seemed like some attendings didn't even come in. Otherwise it's peceptorship on other services. Memphis is a little rough around the edges but the parts of town they took us through on the tour were pretty cool and I think you could make it work with a little knowledge of the bad areas. 8-9 1v1 interviews.

Tier 2:
Western Michigan (2014-2015): Smaller program (3 per year) with really down to earth residents who are obviously there to learn how to operate in a setting that isn’t going to destroy their lives. They seem to get most of the perks of a larger program, the hospital that they rotate at the most is quite nice, and seems to provide ample trauma and caseload in general. Almost all faculty are “community Faculty” with many having trained at WMU. The attendings I met were all nice and down-to-earth, the slideshow showed all the residents grilling and water skiing at one of the attending’s lakeside houses. The attendings actually screen all patients in the ED before the resident sees them, which seems ridiculous, and may actually be too much oversight, or may be really nice as you’re not getting woken up for foot pus. The residents seems to get along well, but don’t really get to spend much time together on service as it’s mostly a mentorship model. Kalamazoo seemed like a nice town, 200-300K, with a college and good sized university. It has all the bars and food that you could want and real estate is incredibly affordable. Residents all played up the quality of life aspect here, with many having families before or during residency. They say they get good fellowships and that research is possible here, but I think you would really need to be proactive on both fronts to ensure your own success. They do have a rotation in 4th year to go scope out a fellowship if you want. Interview day: 6 1-person interviews, very laid back. Pros: Good lifestyle, good operative experience, fun-seeming town, collegial atmosphere. Cons: Small program, very low profile, not widely recognized nationally.

University of Arizona (2014-2015):
Smaller program located in Tucson, which is a pretty good sized city. Very laid back atmosphere on interview day here, with the PD saying that residents should turn on a college football or basketball game on the overhead because the applicants were being too quiet and awkward. Takes 3 residents per year. There are two grads there right now with one being a graduating chief and the other a PGY3. Everyone I met seemed really nice, and they spoke candidly about their program. They rotate for 2 months at Utah in their 2nd year which apparently is an enjoyable rotation for the residents as the faculty have offered to find another solution and the residents have opted to keep the current arrangement. Also have to go to Phoenix as a 5 for tumor. Research is an option here although like other small programs you probably have to be a bit of a go getter. They do have the ever-present “research requirement” that you’ll find everywhere. Usual perks. Interview day: 6ish 1-3 person interviews, generally very laid back but the chairman room seemed a little like a “bad cop” room to me. Pros: Small program, nice faculty, out west, nice winters, good operative experience. Cons: Lots of traveling as part of program, somewhat thin in some specialties but definitely not a deal-breaker, hot in the summer, Tucson has typical border state issues

University of Rochester (2014-2015):
A larger and more academic program located in Rochester, NY. They take 7/year here and have a stellar reputation among the rest of the ortho community. They are in the top two for ortho research funding and they like to let you know that on interview day. They just lost their chairman who left to take the chair position at Wash U, and he had a large research lab which he’s taking with him. Everyone on the interview day was quick to say this wouldn’t affect the program’s history of excellence, and I tend to believe them. I missed the social with was a hockey game, but the residents I met on interview day were great and eager to talk about the program. I got the impression that the program was very well balanced ad that their trauma experience is the most grueling aspect of the residency. These guys get great matches for fellowship, and all residents endorsed their program highly. Rochester seemed like an OK city, but I didn’t get much of a look at it at all. Residents both buy and rent, with the buyers living somewhat farther from hospital (15 mins), but they say both are great options and there are many safe neighborhoods. 4-5 laid back 1 on 1 interviews, applicants all interview with different faculty. Didn’t feel like most of them had looked at my app. Pros: Great program that would allow residents to pursue any career they want. Rochester somewhat of an unknown but upstate NY is nice and the city is large enough to offer a lot of opportunities but small enough to be safer and affordable. Cons: Few direct flights in. Harder working than smaller programs.

Nebraska:
5/year in Omaha. Social at a brewery, somewhat sparse resident showing but those that came were really chill and had good things to say about the program. Seemed to know each other well and get along great. UNMC just started taking trauma patients 24/7, which they historically had split with Creighton which is also there. Apparently Creighton is taking on water and the UNMC program seems to be severing most ties with that hospital. Residents didn’t seem to care. Everything actually pretty well represented, unfortunately they are losing their main F&A person to private practice so will likely be looking for a hire there. Research is not emphasized here with the exception of this ridiculous biomechanics run by a kooky guy named Hani Haider. You will get a tour of his lab, which mainly tests wear and total joint implants, but also has a lot of biomechanical side projects. The tour is mostly Haider telling you why he is great, but I found it amusing. 6ish 2v1 interviews. Faculty were good for the most part. Liked the PD, Mormino, who seemed pretty serious about the program and the resident experience. Pros: Relatively balanced, laid-back program. Close resident comradery, good lifestyle and housing market. Cons: Less well-known, maybe thin in some sub-specialties. Not research heavy.

U Washington:
Sadly unimpressed with this big name program. From what I could tell the great trauma experience is really only great for the fellows. There are FIVE trauma fellows, and they definitely seem to have priority when choosing cases, per those that rotated. The residents that I met on interview day were nice, but I heard that this wasn't always the case in the trenches. Seattle is amazing but starting to achieve San Fran status in terms of COL. Lots of driving to difference clinical sites. I do think this program has a great breadth of experience but the culture of the program is of the "put your head down and do it" mentality. Would be concerned that even though I had seen a great deal of amazing trauma, I wouldn't actually know how to do it when I was the attending in practice.

Tier 3:
Colorado (2014-2015):
Very hard working program 6/yr. Intern at the county hospital arrive at 3:30, leave between 6-7pm, 6-7 days per week. Residents very competitive and rank is pronounced here as said before. I witnessed chief residents cutting down junior residents in conference, and this attitude seems to pervade as you go up the resident totem pole. Junior residents were great, but it’s tough to say if they’ll stay great in that culture. Also the sites are super spread out with leads to lots of driving in crappy Denver traffic. May not get invited back if you rotate, they changed that this year. I wouldn't necessarily rotate here anyway given my experience with the program. I know rotators who didn't come back for an interview even when invited because of their experience.

UCSF-Fresno (2014-2015):
Newer program graduating their first chief class this year. All have chosen to pursue fellowship and sounded like they were satisfied with their options coming from this program. It seems like this program has had some issues in the past with the growing pains of a new program with rotations and faculty issues, but the chiefs said most of the kinks were worked out and that the new PD Matirosian was responsive. Chairman also seemed great. The faculty I met on interview day were great. They do a number of rotations with a private ortho group with apparently is a good experience but more on the observership end of the spectrum. They do boast a very heavy caseload at the main hospital, and all residents seemed satisfied with their experience there. They go to UCSF for tumor. Fellow interference non-existent. They will try to sell you on Fresno but it seemed a little rough to me. Definitely not SF or LA, but closer to outdoor and agriculture stuff. 5-6 1v1 or 2v1 interview rooms. Laid back. Will talk about your background and why Fresno doesn’t suck. Missed social but they had it at one of the resident’s house and they were making jokes about beer pong so I assume it was fun. Pros: Small program with good op experience. Town affordable. No fellows. Congenial residents and faculty. Awesome staff gym on site which apparently they all use daily. Cons: Little known name, still somewhat questionable on fellowships though I feel like this is an overplayed worry for matching MS4s. Not sure how valuable private rotations are to op experience.

UC Irvine
This was probably the weirdest interview day that I had. The chair is super confident in the way that he welcomes the applicants and talks about the program, almost to the point where you don't believe him because he is so nonchalant about it. The PD seemed nice but I agree with others that he seemed to take backseat to Dr. Gupta. The interviews themselves were pretty random, some super laid back, some with pimping, and some where the chair just used the whole time to debate whether their new pamphlet should have orthoPEDics or orthoPAEdics. Left without a good feel for how the residents liked the program as I only saw 2-3 the whole day, and the ones I did see were kind of strange. Probably good operative experience in a beautiful yet extremely expensive part of CA.

NOT RANKED
None, would obviously be a luxury, and probably an unwise choice in this specialty regardless.

Matched at: (did away there, where on ROL, etc)
Top tier.

Advice for future applicants:
First, do well in clerkships, USMLE, etc. You know all this. Choose your aways carefully, and wouldn’t do more than 2. I also don’t believe in “opening up regions” with your aways. Pick somewhere you either want to get a closer look at the program or somewhere you think you can really impress people and get a good shot at landing an interview. AOA does count for something, especially for tip top tier places, but clerkship grades are subjective so don’t stress if you aren’t. Apply broadly I guess, but ortho applicants nationwide are shooting themselves in the foot by applying to so many places, but that’s the reality for now. As far as the interview trail, just enjoy seeing new places and don’t stress, almost all interviews were chill and get to know you in nature. I think the bottom line, and probably this year more than any before, is that this whole application process is a crap shoot. There are SO MANY highly qualified applicants with outstanding board scores, or 10 publications, or prior D1 athletic experience, or all of the above, that it is very easy to get lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately I don’t have any great advice about how to stand out. I think we would all fare better if people limited their applications a little bit more, but it’s kind of a prisoner’s dilemma and isn’t likely to improve save outside intervention. Last, cooperate with your fellow applicants from home and elsewhere as they can be great resources for programs you don’t know much about. GOOD LUCK.

Med School: USNWR Top 25
Boards: Step 1: 264 Step 2: 271 sent to programs in mid-December
Rank: 1st quartile
AOA: Yep
Preclinicals: 110% plus a gold star (Does this actually matter anywhere?)
Clinicals: H in all clerkships (Surg, Med, OB, Peds, Neuro, Psych, General Surg Sub-I)
Ortho: Home and 3 Aways, H in all
Aways: East Coast, Midwest, West Coast — just looking for the best programs possible
Research: 2 First author publications, one of which JBJS, another in general surg. Podium presentation. A variety of silly urology abstracts.
Extracurriculars: Fulbright (came up on every single interview), tons of state/local/national medical groups with conference/presentations record, various other things that probably didn’t matter but took up space
Typing speed: 52 wpm
Personal connections: None. Always nice to have someone in your backcourt besides good letters. I’m about as connected as a 1996 Gameboy.

What I was looking for in a Program:
Really complex situation b/c I couples matched. Initially I wanted the absolute best training program I could find (fewer fellows, strong didactics, hands-on, resident-centric program). Couples match = compromising from day 1. Geography (coastal, mountains, oceans) was ideal but less important than program quality.

How many Programs:
Applied to: 50
Offered Interviews: 35
Attended:19

Side note: I don’t care what any angry person says. I appreciated these ‘tier’ systems and am genuinely curious how other people perceive these programs. Reputation/connections matter depending on where you want to end up after residency.

Didn’t make it b/c scheduling conflicts or personal choice:
Mayo, Iowa, Cedars-Sinai, Utah, UTSW, Baylor, UIC, Michigan, UNC, Dartmouth, Brown, Emory, Boston U, Einstein, OHSU,

Outstanding Programs: (In no particular order)

HSS: Amazing hands-on training despite fellows—however you’ll still do less than blue-collar style places. Best connected program in America. Hand pick whatever fellowship you want. Agree that trauma here is actually very good between sites. Manhattan + $800 housing = Wow. It’s an honor to get an interview here.

NYU: Most energetic, ambitious, and fun group of residents in the country (IMO). Huge name faculty. Standalone orthopaedic hospital like HSS and in Lower East Side, amazing setup. Great hands-on atmosphere with research culture maybe second only to Rush. Got to be a self-starter in this big program, but it’s as good if not better than anywhere.

UCSF: Phenomenally well-rounded program with down to earth, easy-going residents. SF General is the flagship with great surgical training. You’ve got to love working in a county hospital for half of every year. SF is pricier than NYC these days, but it’s a vibrant exploding city with amazing geography nearby. Great fellowship match. Not a touchy-feely faculty group but no sense of malignancy at all in regards to prior posts.

Rush: Pretty much the sweet spot for academic programs. You get 3 publications every time you sneeze (residents routinely have 20, 30, 80 publications) and call schedule is ridiculously easy. Chicago is super livable. Honestly the most “elite” fellowship match list I saw anywhere solely based on academic reputation. Only downside is operative experience. You WILL do less than elsewhere but these residents are still well-trained. Dr. Levine the PD is a huge advocate, great guy to work with.

Wash U: Seemingly always fighting for the “Number 1” spot. Angry that Doximity put HSS #1 and admitted so on interview day. Every factor in place here to make you the best *academic* orthopaedic surgeon in America. Not a fun set-up (tense environment, high expectations, St. Louis) but you’ll be very, very well-trained. Personally I think it’s peaked (New Chairman, just lost a bunch of faculty) but it’ll still be a great program for years to come.

Penn: Double-edged sword. I put it in top tier b/c it’s phenomenal training. It’s also not a very fun place. Tough, blue-collar, work-you-till-you-die-general-surgery atmosphere. With that said, Dr. Levin is the most ambitious chairman I met and I’d take him in my corner any day. Outstanding research. Shiny new trauma center. There are no training weakness but definitely lacks any fun/exciting element like the above programs.

Pitt: Pretty much the same story as Penn. I don’t love Pittsburgh but this is an outstanding hands-on training program. May very well put out, on average, the best surgeons in America given the volume and expectations. 6-year track is liquid gold for academic routes. HOWEVER, you’ve got to really buy into the Freddy Fu culture around here. His pictures (with celebrities) adorn every orthopaedic hallway. Not for me, but I respect the hell out of this program.

Excellent Training, Lacking in various realms:

Stanford: Great well-rounded training. Some historical reports of poor op-exerience but I have no major concerns. Palo Alto is a suburban paradise. Great college atmosphere if that’s your thing. IMO Dr. Avedian the PD is also a class act.

Minnesota: Very strong under-the-radar program. Minneapolis is a beautiful city and you get to rotate through amazingly strong hospitals (VA, TRIA sports, Hennepin County, Minnesota). Really amazing training. Residents weren’t super researchy but tons of opportunities around for those inquisitive enough.

UW: I want to love this program but unfortunately 75% of rotators here have really, really bad experiences. Hard to reconcile that. Exposure to the best trauma in the country, perhaps, but even residents admit it’s not hands-on in the OR. Other hospitals seem to shore up deficiencies so I truly believe they come out well trained. Seattle is a phenomenal city with so much to do (and eat). Honestly the program is sort of ‘coasting’ these days and doesn’t have the ambitious drive that a lot of other (Wash U, NYU, Pitt, Pen, USC) top programs do.

UCLA: Are you the type of guy/girl that needs 1 carry to get the first down, or do you need 4 carries? The is a gentlemen’s program through and through. Superb facilities, reasonable call, Santa Monica. No doubt you’ll operate less than other places, but I’ve spoken to enough graduates of the program to see that they still get excellent training. More smiles than anywhere else on the trail. UCLA wins for happiest orthopaedic residency program in the universe.

USC: Dr. Lieberman (Chair) is a mastermind. This program is on a meteoric rise in the ortho world. Always had one of the best trauma/blue-collar training programs in the country thanks to LA County, but Lieberman is re-constructing the research side to make this a legitimate top program. Far more blue-collar, longer hours, harder call than down the street.

Northwestern: Winner of best location in America. Right on Lake Michigan. Beautiful facilities. Brand new (mostly) ortho hospital opened up next door. Dr. Peabody (chair) is a wonderful guy. Still making transitions from the ‘gentlemen’s program’ or yore. Less hands-on than other places but Peabody continues to recruit faculty to change this.

U Chicago: Outstanding faculty support for resident education. Beautiful new primary hospital and superb lifestyle (easy call, hours, etc.). Downsides IMO are rotating through Loyola, North Shore for trauma b/c farther away. Lower volume cuts into training. Regardless I still think this is a phenomenal program that doesn’t get enough respect. Great fellowship match list.

Case Western: Outstanding training program whose only real negative is Cleveland (not bad for everyone admittedly). Probably best spine training in America. Other strengths are trauma and peds. Great research support and low cost of living.

Less Desirable, Should still come out well trained (not much to say about these, I’ll keep my thoughts in the positive realm):

Yale, Loyola, Cincinnati, George Washington, Ohio State

NOT RANKED: None. I didn’t accept any interview I wasn’t willing to rank.

Matched at: (did away there, where on ROL, etc): Top-tier. So stoked can’t wait to start residency.

Advice for future applicants: Everyone is looking for something different but at the end of the day we all have one thing in common: Just trying to match. I really have no idea why I got some interviews and didn’t get others, but just be the best applicant you can be: Honor as many things as possible, kill step 1, and get to know your home attendings so you can get good recs). Having some extra feather in your cap (varsity athlete, work experience, in my case a Fulbright) also helps you stand out. Lastly, just be normal and hard-working on away rotations. I saw so many people shoot themselves in the foot b/c they ‘tried too hard’ and came off pushy are aggressive.

Best of luck to next year’s applicants. The interview season starts with your first away rotation and ends on match day. It’s a long process. Godspeed.

This was helpful for me last year, so I thought I'd chip into the discussion. I won't post my stats for anonymity, but as a whole (and this can be seen in that stats spreadsheet in another thread), lots and lots of ppl have step 1 of 260+, AOA, and multiple pubs, and it's so hard to distinguish yourself especially during interviews at certain places like HSS, NYU, WashU, Rush, etc. This process is a crapshoot, and choosing your aways wisely may be the most important thing you can do. I'll shed light on my personal "Tier 1" as these are programs I either rotated at or know the most about through talking to other interviewees, attendings, and just researching them just because they ended up being in my top 5.

Iowa:
Extremely well balanced program, with 6 residents (told us on interview day usually 3 of them are away rotators that end up matching). This really is the place to go if you're unsure if you want to go into private practice vs. academics, since the opportunities for both are excellent. The faculty are very down to earth, very committed to resident education (no fellows), and seem extremely approachable. Seems like the residents have a lot of operative autonomy and for the most part the residents seemed very happy. Research is also abundant, but it seems like most people there do administrative database work--for example, two of the residents there have mined NSQIP like crazy and each have like 20-30 pubs. Not so sure about the research opportunities otherwise since that's really all I kept hearing about in terms of publications, but it's Iowa, and I'm sure there's plenty of things to put your name on it if you choose to. A lot of people of course complain about the location, but some of the upsides are that Chicago is only a 3 hours drive, it's a good college down, and it's extremely cheap (a lot of residents bought in 3-4 BR houses and seem to be living very comfortably). A knock on it may be diversity, though, and a lot of the residents just seem extremely extremely similar. One thing to note also is that they did lose a lot of their spine faculty if you're interested, but I'm sure they'll get people to replace those lost.

NYU HJD:
Drs Egol (PD) and Zuckerman (chair) did not fail to impress during interview day. From what I've heard and saw, this is probably the most resident focused program in the Northeast, and one of the most in the entire country. The residents seemed to operate frequently and early, and I think the key really is the huge amount of volume they get here, spread amongst HJD (ortho hospital), Bellevue (VA), Tisch (main NYU hospital), and Jamaica (community hospital in Queens). Seemed to be extremely trauma heavy, but the resident class seemed to be pretty diverse in interests--6 out of 12 matched into Hand for example, all at their 1st choice. The location cannot be beat (lower east side of manhattan), but this does come at a very hefty price--although I heard NYU residents are the highest paid in the city. Another plus, if you're into it, are research opportunities, as numerous residents get thrown research projects and many come out with 40+ pubs if they want to. A potential knock on the program is that with a 100+ attendings, and 12 residents, it's very easy to get lost and attendings may not even know who you are, and hence you really have to be pro active and a self starter to make things happen here, otherwise it's easy to slip through the cracks. But then again, there's a very specific personality here that is very apparent in interview day that they seem to take (also very rotator heavy--11/12 last year), so it probably ends up working out in the end.

Vanderbilt:
In my opinion, the best program in the southeast, although I'm sure others would argue for Duke and/or Ortho Carolina. In terms of operating experience, I'm not sure what other program in the country is better than them. Attendings that I've talked to specifically rave about how well trained the guys that come out of Vandy are, and it's mostly because of the autonomy they get in the OR along with their insanely hard work ethic. During my interview day, you can tell that the residents here really really pride themselves on hard work--my interviewer for example just finished up 36 hour call (as a chief), and still decided to come in on Saturday straight from the hospital to interview me. The facilities were amazing (honestly the nicest gym I've ever seen in a hospital), and the attendings seemed very approachable. Research opportunities do exist here, of course, but it seemed like it wasn't as academic as other places I saw on the trail. Be wary that very very few rotators get an interview here--I heard only about 9 or so do every year. Nashville is a plus or a minus, depending on just how big of a city you want to live in, but at least it isn't too expensive and the weather is nice. All in all, an excellent program, and definitely one of the more underrated ones.

WashU:
What hasn't been said about this program? One of the best and really prides itself on its residency program--even talking about its doximity ranking on its residency website. Dr. Gelberman (previous chair) and Dr. Wright (PD) have done an amazing job in resurrecting this program from the 90s to the powerhouse it is now. If you're looking for a big time academic career, I can't think of a better place to go. The research opportunities here are probably the best, with residents partaking in anatomical/basic science studies and really high impact research (not just the database stuff). In addition, the operating experience IMO was top notch as well, not to mention the fellowship placement. My only concern, however, is that the program may have peaked and now may be at the risk of declining--a new chair, and HUGE names that just left for Columbia, including Lenke and Riew. I also heard rumors about the PD and others (including Dr. Yamaguchi) leaving as well for potential chairmanship, but these of course are just rumors. Other weaknesses may be the large amount of floorwork that juniors as well as seniors had to do, paper charting and over 4 EMR systems throughout the enormous hospital which seems like a pain, and the fact that St. Louis isn't one of the beautiful cities in America. Regardless of these factors, I think this is still an amazing place to end up and will continue to be in the future as well.

UCLA:
Probably the happiest residents I saw in any of the places I visited. It really is amazing to live here, great lifestyle, amazing city, perfect weather, seriously the best way to live as an ortho resident compared to anywhere else. That alone honestly made this my "top tier" program. The big knock on this program, however, is the operative experience here, as the case load seems lax and there's no way residents can live this well and still do 8-10 cases a day. After talking to residents, it is true, they don't operate as much as other places, but to their justification, doing 500 tibial nails doesn't necessarily make u better than the guy who did 250 if all it takes is say 150 to be proficient at them. Honestly, as a med student, I don't know what "good" operative experience really is, and I think we all base it off volume. I think these guys probably come out great surgeons regardless and their fellowship match is simply amazing. In addition, 2 residents do an additional year of research, which is a plus or minus depending on the person, but having a year off in downtown LA isn't a bad gig, plus can only boost ur resume. All in all, an excellent program IMO.

Wow. Well, if you’re an MS3 reading these, please realize that the wide, wide, WIDE majority of applicants are not as glorious as those who have posted before me. My resume is far more normal, and far more similar to the vast, vast, VAST majority of guys (and gals!) I met on the trail. Never fear; though you certainly have to paddle feverishly in the water, you don’t have to actually walk on it.

Get your 250, attempt some research, prep thoroughly with Hoppenfeld’s, and don’t be an arrogant prick. Such will have you well endowed when flexing on Match Day.

School: Texas.
Rank: Top ~3rd
AOA: No, sir.
Rotations: 2, Northeast
Step 1: >250 (Plan ahead. Finish UWorld).
Step 2: LOL. Taken a few weeks before match day haha
Research: Zero actual journal publications, but four ERAS “publications” (you will know what this means when the time comes)
Career aspirations: Service oriented academics
Ideal program: 2 parts public, 1 part private. Blue collar, baby.
Preferred culture: looked to see whether or not 1) residents wore scrubs on interview day, and whether or not 2) Attendings routinely allowed music in the OR. Surprisingly, the latter was not universal haha Go figure.
ECs: Nothing truly memorable. Played some crappy college ball.
Applied to 60, invited to 15, went to 13.

Favorites:

The U (Miami, FL): Perfect ratio of public to private. Very bro (but two mad cool ladies in the program). Several big names that one wouldn’t expect to be there. Night life culture quite prevalent if you want. If not, the other half of the guys are just as chill as every other program. Excellent balance of operative experience (Jackson/VA…) and lifestyle (30, count em, 30 weeks of research, weekends off for half of intern year, minimal to no overnight call intern year, home teams for all 4 major sports leagues, ACC Sports, city/suburban/beach living all prevalent). +1 for scrubs, +1 for music during cases.

Bottom line: Become a skilled surgeon and have fun while doing it, but learn Spanish and empty your bank account.

Campbell Clinic (Memphis, TN): Perfect ratio of public to private. Southern gentlemen (but surprisingly, lots of diversity of thought, if you know what I mean), plus 2-3 mad cool ladies. Several big names in each and every specialty, as you would expect. Beale Street is legit, but Memphis does indeed leave quite a bit to be desired (though is it very affordable). Excellent balance of operative experience (The Med…where you go 24 on / 24 off for the first 1-2 years, I believe) and lifestyle (OFF of The Med, you live the life of Campbell Clinic Attendings, IE quick turnovers and golf). Smaller city/suburban living. FWIW, Lots of non-salary money to be made doing random physicals and covering high school games. +1 for scrubs, -1 for music in the OR (questionable), +1 for Tony Allen being first team All-Defense.

Bottom line: Personally thought this was the best all around Residency Program in the country. Memphis is the only drawback (for most).

Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, MD): ROTATED. Hospital is perceived to be private, but is actually QUITE public (of note, excellent culture of teaching permeates the entire building; from scrub techs to residents to cafeteria workers). Very diverse (all of my Chiefs were female; two black residents which is unicornally rare). Lots of big names, but less than you would expect. Quite obviously, large portions of Baltimore leave quite a bit to be desired…so avoid those areas; the charm of “Charm City” is actually pretty easy to find. Surprisingly, this is a blue collar, operative-heavy, hands on program in a research oriented, academic powerhouse. Such juxtaposition is *rare*. However, the environment was quite tense; unusually anxious atmosphere. Was rather off-putting, coming from the jovial south. +1 for scrubs, +1 for music in the OR, +100 for Dr. Jim Ficke, who is extraordinary.

Bottom Line: A hands-on, "learn by doing" Northeast program. If Northeast is your vibe, check Hopkins out. Rare up there to learn by doing...as opposed to watching.

Very Pleasant Surprises:

Stony Brook (on Long Island, NY): Another operative-heavy Northeast program, without the typical bite of the Northeast. Very bro program, with very very cool guys. Beer, biceps, and beards. Basically a Texan program transplanted to the Northeast. I saw Cowboy boots with snow on them. Long Island is great, if you’re a suburbs type of person. Very pricey though. +1 Scrubs, +1 Music

Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, NC): If you’re a smaller city type of person who enjoys warmth and people smiling, give Winston-Salem a very good look. Apparently lots and lots of hand on training (per rotators), and a few big names to boot. Dr. Teasdall, the PD, clearly getting his Chiefs whatever Foot and Ankle fellowships they want. Genuinely welcoming faculty and residents, who were hilarious throughout the day. ACC Sports coverage. Relaxed, diverse mid-Atlantic/Southern program with great training to boot. -1 Scrubs, +1 Music.

Advice:

As above, get your 250, attempt some research, prep thoroughly with Hoppenfeld’s, and don’t be an arrogant prick. Such will have you well endowed when flexing on Match Day. And oh yeah:

Matched: Number 1, despite not being AOA, not having any journal pubs, nor sportin’ a 260. Stay caffeinated and motivated, my friends. You can do well. Most of you will. So just do it.