Residency Review Thread 2015-2016

I really look forward to the reviews as an applicant in 2016-2017!

Med School: Southeast
Boards: Step 1: 245, Step 2: 263 (took July of 4th year)
Rank: top 10%
AOA: n/a
Preclinicals: top 10%
Clinicals: top 10%
Ortho: Pass on a P/F scale, did a 2 week elective 3rd year, one month rotation 4th year.
Aways: Home rotation + 2 aways. Emory in Atlanta, GA and CMC in Charlotte, NC. Neither were reach programs for me, I interviewed at both places. Was looking to rotate at 2 programs with different feels in the SE region. Had great rotations at both, and they accomplished what I wanted them to.

Research: Published ortho research as an undergraduate, published ortho/gen surg research during med school. Ongoing research with exercise in the spinal cord injury population. Finishing a MS in Bioengineering this spring.

Extracurriculars: ~7 years of church/other volunteering, medical mission trip, Step 2 Firecracker subject editor, chair of student grand rounds program at med school, on med school admissions committee,

What I was looking for in a Program: My main career goals are to operate (obviously!), do productive research, and to teach. So I wanted a program that does all 3 of those things well. I also wanted broad exposure to all subspecialties, with good connections to fellowship programs. Particularly looking for good hand and peds experiences. Want to have access to good research resources so I can use them when I want to, and have the opportunity to teach medical students and other residents as I become more senior. Wanted a smaller/medium sized program (4-6 per class) in a good location, at a program with a solid regional/national reputation.


How many Programs:
Applied to: 63
Offered Interviews: 13
Attended: 12

[Programs in alphabetical order in each tier]

Tier 1: Would have been thrilled to be at any of these programs. Things they have in common: great cities, all rotations are on site or close by, good balance of operative experience and academics (one doesn’t take away from the other), and my interviews at each of these places felt solid/I got good feedback.

CMC: one of the places that I rotated, they take 5 a year with one being a research resident. Their residents are from all over the place. Charlotte is an awesome city, and CMC is a well respected institution in the region. This is a place that has solid operative experience with plenty of structured/guided research time, even if you’re not the research resident. They have resources out the wazoo. They’re strong in all subspecialty rotations (including tumor), and the relationship with OrthoCarolina strengthens that. This is a polished program, where if you’re not in the OR you’re wearing a shirt and tie to conference in the morning, etc. Conference wise they have daily didactics in the morning that are led by faculty and residents, these are intermingled with journal club and grand rounds presentations. They also have an intern skills month which was a plus for me.
The negative for me here were the presence of trauma fellows--I got mixed reviews from the residents, but most of what I heard was that their presence can limit you early on, but by the time you’re a senior resident you’re able to take over more of the trauma cases in the OR. Overall, it’s an excellent program in a great city that has far more strengths than weaknesses. They get good fellowships, and the residents and attendings are all awesome people.

Greenville: another place that I rotated. They take 4 a year, and similar to CMC, have a community program feel with an academic flavor. Residents are diverse and from all over. Their operative experience is excellent, with multiple trauma rooms running at a time, with a 2nd year and an attending taking one of those rooms on most days. The double scrubbing that I saw was for educational purposes, and the older guys are great at teaching and letting the juniors feel their way through cases. They also have great subspecialty rotations (including tumor), with the Steadman Hawkins Clinic, Blue Ridge Orthopaedics (Clemson athletics), and a Shriner’s Hospital on site. The residents have a great camaraderie, and work well with the attendings. They have a mix of rotators and non-rotators (similar to CMC), and don’t solely look at numbers in their applicants. The research is streamlined with multiple full-time study personnel, with plenty of opportunities to do as many studies as you want. Only fellows are a couple of sports guys, and they don’t interfere with your sports rotation at all from what I was told. Their didactics are daily in the morning, with a variety of topics led by a mix of faculty and residents, mixed with journal club/M&M/grand rounds (like most places). They also do monthly cadaver labs. Greenville is also an awesome city--smaller than ATL or CLT, but with a lot of big city amenities, and is rapidly growing. There weren’t many negatives about this program that I could come up with (maybe other than not having a dedicated skills month for interns)--it has an awesome reputation, and is turning out great surgeons to whatever fellowships they want.

Orlando Health: knowing nearly nothing about this program going into the interview, I was incredibly impressed by the residents, faculty, and facilities. Really the whole program in general. This is a place where you get annihilated for 2 years of call, then you get your own trauma room as a 3 (really). 2nd year you do exclusively peds and hand, which was a plus for me because those are two things I’m strongly considering. Rotation wise, a downside for me personally is having to go to Tampa for Tumor rotation for 3 months. It was a great group of residents, and some of the attendings are big names who have great connections.

Vanderbilt: take 5 per year. This is a place with a big academic name, where the academic part doesn’t seem to be shoved down your throat. They get residents from all over, for obvious reasons. They have some big name faculty in multiple different areas, and the residents are getting the fellowships that they want (there’s a trend in my Tier 1 programs here). Nashville is a cool city, and has a lot to offer. From talking to residents, it sounds like you get worked your second year (like most places), but come out on the other side feeling confident and competent with ED and floor consults. From what I was told, the operative experience is good here, and the residents seemed happy. From what I remember they do daily didactics. This is another place that takes a lot of 4th year, but their residents are a mix of rotators and non-rotators. I enjoyed the residents and faculty, and the interview day as a whole. This is a program that basically speaks for itself, in that it’s well established, has been around for a long time, and has a reputation for turning out great surgeons and research.

Tier 2:
Emory: 6 residents/year. A lot of your time is spent at Grady downtown. The operative experience at Grady is awesome, with minimal to no double scrubbing and one on one time with attendings. They work on a night float call system, usually just carry pager for one service at a time but sometimes you’re on triple threat call (hand/spine/peds). Grady is an older hospital, but the Emory Ortho and Spine Hospital is top notch and super nice. Research here was a surprising weakness, but is on the up and up. One of their new trauma attendings is spending 1 day a week in a basic science lab. They definitely have the name/resources/funding to do lots of research. Didactics in the morning are service-based, but their main didactics are Thursday night and Friday morning. They do OITE review and industry-sponsored anatomy labs that are really nice. All of the attendings were great that I worked with. The residents are diverse from all over--important to note that all but 1-2 of their residents were rotators, so they are VERY rotator heavy. I interviewed at the end of my rotation, and they were 4 interviews for 15 minutes each. Very laid back, everyone enjoys their time there. The big drawbacks for this program to me were the location (I’m not a huge fan of Atlanta), and the need to drive a LOT to get from place to place as everything is really spread out in the city. They’re a great name, land good fellowships, and the residents and faculty are good to work with, but the location/lack of organized research/my gut caused me to rank them 2nd tier.

Medical College of Georgia: this is definitely a community program that draws strongly from their own medical school. I didn’t get the sense that they favor rotators, but I’m sure it helps here since they take so many from MCG. The overall feel I got was that this is a tight-knit group of guys who work hard. One major drawback for me was the fact that they only have 1 trauma attending. The residents I talked to didn’t think this was a bad thing, but I personally would like to see multiple approaches and methodologies of fixing the same problem, especially in trauma. They’re definitely not strong in research, although they do have a research coordinator and had a list of recently published things, so it does get done. Overall the residents and attendings are great, and their PD was especially nice to interview with (Vanderbilt trained, dual boarded in tumor and joints). This just wasn’t academic enough for what I was looking for, and I wasn’t in love with the town of Augusta.

UMMC: another very southern community program that takes a lot of local guys. The main thing with this program is that it has the reputation of turning out incredibly skilled surgeons. Their PD is an awesome guy who is bought into resident education, and really wants people to succeed. Their call is extremely front loaded, with years 3-5 becoming much easier from a call perspective. With their PD being so invested in education, they have an excellent didactic curriculum from what I could tell. The things that made this a tier 2 program for me, despite the solid faculty, was the lack of organized research opportunities and the location (I didn’t really get to explore Jackson that much, but it’s not the ideal spot for me for the things I enjoy doing in my limited free time!)

West Virginia University: another community program with a research flavor, that felt similar to Greenville. They have an amazing group of residents that I really enjoyed getting to know at the social. They get good fellowships, and many seem to come back to WVU as attendings (I interviewed with several). They have a night float call system. They do have a research resident each year, and have dedicated PhDs to research, but I wasn’t super impressed with their research facilities. They overall seem to have a great balance of an academic and community program feel. The two things that pushed them to tier 2 for me was location (Morgantown just isn’t my cup of tea) and that the interview day kind of threw me off. It was 5 minute interviews with like 12 people, and they all asked the same questions. I had a couple of odd questions thrown in too that wouldn’t have added anything to my application, or their knowledge of me as an applicant.


Tier 3: Not going to say a ton about each of these, but they just didn’t give me the same feeling as the other places I rotated/interviewed, and were each lacking in one or more areas that I heavily desired to have in a program.

George Washington University: in DC, more of an academic feel. Program is well respected from a “name” perspective. They do all rotations in house. Their lack of research personnel support and their rotation structure were the biggest downsides for me. They do team based rotations, where one is essentially trauma, and the other is a catch-all, where you don’t do the typical 10week/3 month rotations, but each day is different. You could have a foot/ankle case one day, and a humerus the next. It just doesn’t lend itself, in my opinion, to being able to master any one area well and would make it hard to get through a textbook/study resource in any set amount of time for studying purposes. Also don’t do pes until 4th year. Call is q4 during 2nd year, no night float. PD/Chairman said they will eventually move to a specialty based rotation system, but it won’t be a drastic/sudden transition.

Palmetto Health/USC: very small program (2/year) in Columbia, SC. Very much a community program that is good at turning out generalists. Residents have to work a little harder to cover call because there are so few of them. Have only 1 spine guy (new) and one peds guy (I believe). They just don’t have the big name fellowship connections that other places have, and is a smaller program at a smaller hospital than what I was looking for. I got the impression that it is on the upswing, though

St. Louis University: I just didn’t have an awesome feel on this interview in general, and the city and resident culture/collective personality isn’t what I’m looking for.

Western Michigan/Homer Stryker: good community program (3/year) in a small city (Kalamazoo, MI). Seem to have a good operative experience. Call is odd in that all calls have to go through an attending first--for me this was a big minus because I want to learn how to field calls and weed out what needs to be weeded out. Don’t have a lot of fellowship connections--residents essentially said that you need to do an optional “away rotation” in order to get good contacts for fellowship programs--this was a big minus for me. They also don’t do a tumor rotation at all, they have a 1 day seminar to cover board relevant tumor topics. These things combined made this a Tier 3 program for me.

NOT RANKED: none

Matched at: #1.

Advice for future applicants: Work hard! And don’t sell yourself short, but be realistic. Away rotations will be your friend if you go and work hard, build relationships, and treat people well. I would get involved in research early on at your med school/hospital, and make connections with ortho people early on. Use those connections to get away rotations, interviews, etc. In my case, building relationships with residents and attendings did a lot for me. Having solid scores alone won’t do it (usually), and neither will just being a nice person (unfortunately). Having a combination of good academic performance, extra-curriculars (something interesting to talk about in interviews!), and having a personality that people can work with for 5 years goes a long way. As far as away rotations are concerned, don’t do them at 3-4 places that are all alike. Even if they’re in the same region (as mine were), you can choose several different types of programs so that you can really figure out what you like and don’t like in a program.
Ultimately, this is about finding which program is the best fit for you personally and your future career interests. Yes, program rankings and OITE scores and number of publications turned out per year are all important, but they’re not gospel. Work hard, do well on boards, do away rotations at places that interest you, and go for it. Good luck!

Hopefully this is helpful to someone! If anyone has questions about any of these programs specifically, feel free to DM me on here.

I will throw in my experiences. I used this forum during my 3rd year and while applying and I found it very helpful. Hopefully, someone out there will find my reviews useful. This is geared mostly for the average applicant, like myself.

Med School: Southeast
Boards: Step 1: 242, Step 2: 253 (July 4th year), took and passed CS in July also
Rank: top 1/3
AOA: no
Preclinicals: mostly A's, some B's
Clinical: A's on all rotations except family medicine which was a B
Ortho: P on a P/F system for 4th year
Aways: Home + 2 aways. Louisville and UT-Southwestern, interviewed at both. I wanted to get a feel for a less academic, more community-ish program (louisville) and a bigger academic center type program (UTSW). I wanted to stay in the south. Both rotations gave me the information I was looking for.

Research: Wasn't initially interested in ortho, so started out doing peds research which resulted in some presentation and no pubs. Switched over in middle of 3rd year, worked really hard and got a publication. Continued working on projects that I could talk about during interviews, which worked out well.

Extracurriculars: typical volunteer activities, MCAT prep class, adult soccer league (talked about quite a bit during interviews)

What I was looking for in a Program: A good, well-rounded program. I couples matched, so it was important that my wife have a good program where she could be happy (tough road). I wanted great operative experience with a good mix of education thrown in. I wanted a program with few or no fellows so that residents are the main focus of education. I did not want a research heavy program, but I wanted the opportunity to be able to do research. Mostly, a well rounded program is what I was looking for.

How many Programs:
Applied to: 80
Offered Interviews: 7
Attended: 6 - one program would not interview my wife for some reason

Programs are listed in alphabetical order and not tiered.

Allegheny Health (Pittsburgh): Did not know much about this program going into the interview, but I enjoyed what I saw here. From what I could gather on the interview day, it was more of a down to earth, work hard program, which is what I wanted. I feel like you would get a lot of experience here as it has a large trauma presence, from my understanding. All specialities were covered. There are fellows, but according to the residents and faculty, residents have preference over fellows. This wasn't a research heavy program, which is something else I was looking for. In all, seemed like a great place. Good operative experience, good fellowships, and a well rounded education.

Arkansas: Great program. All of the residents are great friends and get along very well. In my opinion, this is a hidden gem that many people tend to pass over. Everyone I talked to on interview day really enjoyed it. The residents work hard and get great operative training and subsequently, great fellowships. There are more attending than residents, so there are more than enough cases. Call is q3-4 at home. Seems like people get called in at least once every night, but everyone says it is great to be able to go home and eat dinner with the family before things get too crazy. Every speciality is covered and covered well. Didactics are on Tuesday morning. In all, great program where you will work hard and get the rewards of doing so.

Louisville: Rotated here, enjoyed it. First and foremost, wow on the operative experience. Chiefs basically run a room with a junior resident. Most of the time the attending did not even scrub. Furthermore, many of the upper level residents taught the trauma fellows how to do some procedures. Definitely would not leave this program not knowing how to operate. They do trauma every year of their training and it shows. Trauma is the only rotation that takes place at the UL hospital - the rest are with private groups. This was the major reason for me wanting to rotate here. I wanted to see how this worked. I enjoyed this aspect more than I thought I would. All of the private groups that they work with are top notch, and you learn how to be efficient. You learn all specialities very well through all rotations. There are fellows, but you by no means are behind them in any way. Night float system in place that covers 2 hospitals (UL + Peds hospital) and is fairly busy from my experience. This is a very resident geared residency. My only problem was the lack of didactics. They have Friday morning didactics that is mostly resident run. People tend to trickle out as the time progresses. This was my only problem. All residents got along great, but tended to be spread out among the private hospitals if not on trauma.

St. Louis Univ.: I agree with the previous poster. I just didn't get a good vibe from my interview day and I don't think I would have been happy here. Something was just off to me and I could not put my finger on it. Oh yeah, and it is a 6 year program with a research year during PGY2.

Temple University: I enjoyed this program a lot more than I thought I would. I found that this place would have been a good fit for me. They had a lot of trauma based on what the residents told me. Seemed to have a well rounded education. Thought they had a good mix of didactics and operative experience. Seemed like the PGY2s got hammered with call - from my understandings it was q3 with a post-call day and very busy overnight as the hospital is located in the bad part of Philly. I enjoyed everyone I met and thought that it was a great program. I ranked it a lot higher than I thought I would when I got the interview offer.

UTSW: Rotated here and enjoyed it a lot. I rotated here as it was a larger program with a busy, county hospital. This is definitely a working residency and you will come out of here with the knowledge to be a great surgeon. All residents are great and are very close - it is like a family. There is the opportunity for research, and everyone does at least one project, but it is not a large research powerhouse, which I enjoyed. The residents work hard - and I mean hard. They get excellent operative experience and there is plenty to go around. They have a night float system with a PGY2 and 4. The 2nd year does all the work and the 4 is there if you need help, which is not very often. All services are covered. The 3rd year is essentially spent on peds and spine, if I remember correctly. Didactics are on Wednesday morning and are done well. Didactics are well balanced here. In summary, this is an excellent program, in my opinion. Residents work very hard, but it pays off with great fellowships and amazing experience.

NOT RANKED: none

Matched at: #1 on ROL.

Advice for future applicants: As said previously, work hard. This year was rough for interviews and matching. Many of my classmates/friends had between 5 and 10 interviews and most matched, but not all. I think the biggest advice is to bust your butt. Work hard during 3rd year and impress as many people as you can. You would be amazed at the different attendings/residents who talk and know each other. Also, when picking your aways, shoot for something that will broaden you experiences and give you an idea of the kind of program you are looking for. I shot for community and big city/county hospital as my aways because my home program was more or less in the middle of those 2. My aways led me to know what I wanted. When it comes time to rotate, work your butt off. Be there early and stay late. Working hard will pay off and help make up for some deficiencies in your application, at least at those places where you rotate.

Hopefully someone finds this small review useful. I know I thought they all were when I was going through them. As usual, if anyone has any specific questions, feel free to message me. Good luck.

Hope some people who interviews on the Coasts (east/west) can post some of their thoughts!

Agree with the above poster. Would like to thank you all for taking the time to put these reviews together and would be grateful to hear about others experiences!

Med School: Texas
Boards: Step 1: mid 240s Step 2: mid 260s (July 4th year)
Rank: Top 5%
AOA: Yes - Junior
Preclinicals: All A's
Clinicals: All Honors
Ortho: All Honors or pass on pass/fail scale
Aways: (Home + 2 aways – one in TX, the other in Northeast at a big name program)
Research: A couple ortho publications, one first author
Extracurriculars: Intramurals, typical volunteering

What I was looking for in a Program (I developed this list after doing my away rotations): Strong early operative experience, emphasis on resident autonomy, good didactics/good OITE performance, research opportunities without research being the major focus, and a level 1 trauma center with a strong trauma emphasis. Also I preferred to live in Texas since its home and my family is here, etc.

How many Programs:
Applied to: 62
Offered Interviews: 14
Attended: 10 (Due to scheduling conflicts) These included a few "top 10" places in the northeast that have been thoroughly reviewed in previous posts. After rotating I knew that I wanted to stay in Texas, so my reviews are of Texas programs in two tiers in alphabetical order:

Tier 1:
Baylor (Houston): A no-nonsense, blue collar residency program with great operative experience that produces strong surgeons. They have great case volume and have cases scheduled throughout the night most nights for the resident on call. Oftentimes the 3rd year residents would do the entire case with minimal supervision (although the attending was around to help if needed and they schedule the cases based on what the resident was comfortable with). Some viewed this as a negative, but it provides great autonomy for the residents. One difference from other blue collar programs on the list is that the operating starts a little later here (3rd) year with more clinic and floor based work the first two years. Baylor utilizes the level 1 county hospital, Ben Taub, which gives them a great number of cases and variety. They emphasized that in a city the size of Houston that there should be many more level 1 trauma centers that the two that are there now. This translates to tons of cases. Didactics seemed good. Residents here were close and very personable. The residents are also good teachers and provided students with the opportunity to do quite a bit in the ED. Research is not a huge emphasis at this program, however, opportunities are available for residents who seek them out. There is not any protected research time here. Overall a blue collar program with great operative experience and resident autonomy. Because of the call set up the autonomy that residents have here is the highest that I encountered on the trail.

John Peter Smith (Fort Worth, TX): This is a work hard, down to earth program that produces outstanding surgeons. Residents here get great early operative experience. Most of the interns had been to the OR and put in IM nails, etc. The R2s do the full case (with supervision from faculty/upper levels) with most procedures. The interns carry the pager here during the day so that the R2s can just focus on operating which was a plus. OITE scores were emphasized here during the interview and the residents do very well (70-90th percentile every year). Research is not emphasized here, although many residents end up publishing multiple papers during their 5 years. Of note they do provide protected research time 3rd year (a few months) where residents have the opportunity to work on as much or little as they want. JPS is a level 1 trauma center with great variety. There are no fellows, plastics residents, or neurosurgery residents to compete for cases. Because of this the residents have a great breadth of experience with common and more complicated cases (e.g. pelvic fractures). The program director and faculty are attuned to resident's concerns and changes are made every year to improve the program. Foot and ankle is probably the biggest subspecialty weakness here. JPS has a podiatry program that shares the foot and ankle cases with orthopaedics. During the interview they addressed this and stated that changes were being made to bolster foot and ankle. Additionally a new medical school is being built in Fort Worth at TCU which they said will add to the research opportunities, funding, etc. Overall a blue collar program with great operative experience, resident autonomy, and resident education. This was the most well-rounded program that I encountered on the trail.

UT San Antonio: This program has a great tradition with names like Rockwood, Green, Wilkins, and Heckman. This program is blue collar and the surgeons coming out of here don't need fellowships. Operative experience is great, with residents getting into the operating room early with good autonomy (especially at the VA). There is also a rotation with a guy who trained in plastics were you get to run your own room as an R1 which was distinctive. Residents here have good didactics run by the upper levels and attendings that prepare them well for OITEs. Research opportunities are available, but not a major emphasis for the program. Of note there is protected research time (4 months total) in the R2 and R4 years that can be used to work on as many projects as the resident wants. UTSA utilizes a variety of hospitals including University Hospital which is a level 1 trauma center. The program director is attentive to the residents’ suggestions and they make changes here to improve the program every year. Biggest weakness is probably pediatrics because they lost a contract with their children's hospital for political reasons, however, this is being addressed and they have recently hired some new pediatric faculty. Overall this is a blue collar program with great trauma, early operative experience, and well-rounded education. This program had the most big names and storied history of all the programs that I interviewed at in Texas.

Tier 2:
UT Southwestern (Dallas): As blue collar as it gets. Still has a few big names and residents here get outstanding operative experience. Interns get to do some cases (especially foot and ankle) and the R2s are doing full cases all year (with supervision from residents/faculty). One drawback was that R2s have to carry the pager sometimes which seemed to pull them away from the OR. OITE scores are not an emphasis here and didactics seemed like a weakness. Research was surprisingly not an emphasis here and takes a lot of effort on the residents part to get publications. Many residents have multiple publications by the time they graduate though. Parkland is a level 1 trauma center where the residents see everything. There is a trauma fellow, but there are so many cases that the residents get a great case load for both bread and butter as well as more complicated cases. They just hired a new chairman so changes are coming to the program. Foot and ankle was probably the biggest weakness of the program, however, this won't be for long as the new chairman is a foot and ankle specialist. The new Parkland Hospital, where the majority of the training occurs, was built last year and is state of the art. Pediatrics is also a big strength here with the affiliation to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. As far as drawbacks, the culture here was a bit different than at some of the other places I interviewed. The residents are very close and getting into this program is mostly based on what residents think of you (I was told this explicitly by the interim chairman during my interview). This along with meeting a few faculty and residents who seemed pretty arrogant rubbed me the wrong way. I have heard others describe this program as "malignant," although I wouldn't go quite that far. Overall a blue collar program with great trauma and case load. In my tier 2 because of the culture and it didn't seem as well rounded. Lots of operative experience at the expense of didactics, etc.

Houston Methodist: A white collar program that is graduating their first class of residents this year. Residents start operating pretty early and R2s play a large role in the cases. Teaching model is one on one with an attending. Trauma rotation occurs with UT Houston and is strong, just not as long as most of the blue collar programs. Didactics and research are emphasized here and the program director has an impressive research lab with tons of PhDs. The residents have lots of publications and most start research their first year. This was the least structured program that I interviewed at with residents following the schedule of their attending (e.g. if the attending is off, you are off). There is a lot of free time that you can use to operate with other surgeons, do research, or watch Netflix. This was a negative for me although what I saw as a lack of structure the residents there viewed as a great opportunity to pursue research etc. Overall a relatively new white collar program with great research opportunities and one on one teaching model. In my tier 2 because I was looking for a bit more structure and an emphasis on trauma.

Texas Tech (Lubbock): A blue collar/community program where a fellowship is not required. Level 1 trauma center with a good exposure to each specialty. The residents get to operate early and seemed very confident. Didactics were average. Research is not emphasized here; however, they are pushing to do more resident research. One negative for me was that the pediatrics rotation was off site (Fort Worth) and required moving there for 4 months during residency. Some of the residents viewed this as a positive and they do provide a fully furnished apartment for this rotation. Lubbock was surprisingly nice, however not quite nice enough for me to spend 5 years there. Overall a blue collar/community program that provides good operative experience.

NOT RANKED: None

Matched at: #1

Advice for future applicants: With as competitive as things are in orthopaedics, matching into an orthopaedic residency program requires many factors. To get your foot in the door for an interview you have to have good scores, grades, and letters of recommendation. High quality research in any field can go a long way but cannot take the place of these. Get involved in orthopaedics research early with a mentor who publishes frequently and has a track record of working with students. Away rotations are a great way to show a program that you are a good fit, but you have to be on your game since it really is a one month long job interview.

Interviews are offered with a great regional bias. Unless you have an impeccable record, it will be tough to count on any individual programs outside of your med school’s region to provide an interview, unless you rotate there or grew up there. In my experience away rotations do not open up regions for interviews, just a possible interview at that program. This process can seem very random at times and probably is to some extent. Rotate wisely, apply broadly, and hope for the best.

Rank programs thoughtfully. There is a tendency to be focused on rankings like those on Doximity which can give you a good idea of the relative prestige of a program, however, these are mostly based on the power of a program’s research machine and not things like surgical training which really matters and is difficult to quantify. Research is important in getting fellowships and starting a career in academics, but you don’t have to go to a research powerhouse to gain these skills. You just need some personal motivation and a mentor who is willing to guide you through the process and help you to become self-sufficient. Also be aware of programs that provide prestige and research experience at the expense of operative experience (e.g. having to watch fellows and attendings do the majority of cases until late in residency) and autonomy in the OR. No amount of research experience can make up for a lack of technical skills and confidence in the OR (which requires hands on experience and opportunities to be the primary decision maker). If your main goal in life is to publish 50 papers per month you should probably be getting a PhD instead of applying for an ortho residency.

Due to the ACGME requirements pretty much any orthopaedic program can train you to be a competent surgeon. Most programs in the country have produced both leaders in the field and folks you probably wouldn’t want to emulate. Although your residency program is an important stepping stone, ultimately the quality of surgeon/researcher/leader you become is based on you as an individual and not where you train.

Hoping more people can post some of their reviews!

I found this helpful as I was applying last year, so happy to contribute some short reviews from what I remember.
(**Edited to add some information about rotating at these programs. Would have been helpful to know this a year ago)

Med School: Northeast
Boards: Step 1: 259 Step 2: 256 (before applying)
AOA: Yes
Preclinicals: Pass/Fail curriculum
Clinicals: Mix of Honors and High-Pass
Ortho: Honors
Aways: 2 aways in the Southeast
Research: NIH funded research year between MS3-4. About 8 publications, plus a number of abstracts.
Extracurriculars: Nothing special.

What I was looking for in a Program: Nice place to live, well rounded training with busy trauma experience, "resident centered" vs. fellow centered, and happy residents.

How many Programs
Applied to: 33
Offered Interviews: 20
Attended: 12

I was impressed by all the programs I visited, so I'll just say a few brief things about the places I interviewed. Would have been happy anywhere, but some were better fits than others. Alphabetically listed.

Brown - Busy community style program with the mandatory "super chief" year. Nice group of residents who seem to get solid training. I got the impression that you graduate a better surgeon after 6 years, but you also graduate in 6 years... Have to decide whether that's something you want. "Resident centered"
Rotation: Didn't get a good sense for the rotator experience.

CMC - Great private/academic blend with CMC and OrthoCarolina. Operative heavy trauma rotations at CMC with 1-on-1 training at OrthoCarolina on all rotations other than trauma, peds, tumor. Charlotte is very affordable and a nice city. Very happy and friendly group of residents. A program that is very much on the rise when talking to others, if it isn't already there. "Resident centered"
Rotation: 4 each month. About 50% invited back for interviews.

Duke - Do you like second looks? I felt pressured to come back for a mini-rotation in January if I wanted to be seriously considered for their rank list. I was impressed by the competency based curriculum that Dr. Alman is driving, and they put a lot of time into the interview day. Not the busiest trauma experience from what I could gather, with UNC down the road and Duke not having a burn unit. Ship you to Atlanta for 6 months as a 4 for peds (major downside for me). "Resident centered"
Rotation: Not really sure about the rotation. Don't have to do a second look if you rotated, I believe.

Emory - Extremely busy trauma program that is investing in it's research infrastructure. Their young faculty hires are all big on research, and they are trying to tap into Grady as a resource. Lots of single guys. Bad traffic. Didactics are only 2 days a week (one night, one morning). Definitely would come out of here extremely well trained. "Resident centered"
Rotation: Lots of rotators. About 60 total, and they are all interviewed during rotation. Only 30-40 non-rotators are interviewed.

HSS - Very happy residents, in what felt like a pretty cushy program. It's a certain kind of residency experience... Hard to beat the elective volume here for joints and sports, even with the 50+ fellows. Subsidized living walking distance from the hospital. Short white coats until you're a chief. Wasn't the experience I was looking for. "Fellow centered"
Rotation: All on one service. About 100 rotators from what I was told, and ~30-35 are invited back for the interview day. Sounded like a really relaxed rotation, never work on the weekends.

Michigan - Solid mid-west program with well developed research. Happy residents, affordable living. Not the busiest trauma or call experience, because you're in Ann Arbor and don't have a big city population. "Resident centered"
Rotation: Not really sure...

Penn - Beautiful new facilities and aggressive chairman who has been driving the program forward. 2 research residents. Busy trauma and great operative training. Hard working group. "Resident centered"
Rotation: Not really sure...

Rochester - Very well rounded clinical and academic program, with some big NIH dollars going to their msk center for research. Busy trauma experience. Very affordable. Happy residents. "Resident centered"
Rotation: 5 each month. 100% invited back for interviews.

Rush - Similar style of training to HSS. Heavy elective volume and light call. Travel for trauma as a 4, 80 miles away. Very happy residents. "Fellow centered"
Rotation: Lots of rotators, not sure how many. Separate interview day for rotators in early January, so I think everyone is interviewed(?).

Utah - Certainly made their case for best program west of the rockies. Impressive health care system at the U of U, with a beautiful setting in SLC. Extremely happy residents who seem satisfied with the training. Probably the nicest social event of the trail, hosted by Dr. Aoki at his house with all the residents and a few dozen attendings. "Resident centered", with a bit of a fellow presence on some services.
Rotation: Not sure how many each month, but only ~50% invited back for interviews.

Vanderbilt - Impressive place in a fun city. Definitely a busy program and they turn out great surgeons. Residents got along really well and seemed happy. "Resident centered"
Rotation: Around 8 each month. Probably about 1/3 invited back for interviews.

Yale - More bow ties than I saw at any other programs. Not the busiest program, but residents seemed to really enjoy their experience and they have a pretty sweet compensation package (>10k/year more than some other programs). Chairman is stepping down.
Rotation: Not sure.

Matched at: #1

Advice for future applicants:
Be honest with yourself when deciding what you want out of your residency experience. Away rotations are a good chance to see different style programs up close - it's hard to tell from an interview day what the experience at a place is really like. Enjoy the process and trust that it'll work out the way it's meant to.

Anyone else out there want to add some reviews? Pretty quiet forum compared to years of the past. This forum is extremely helpful for future applicants because there are very little resources to help you decide which programs to apply to. If you know someone who recently matched, encourage them to post on here!

Since the time for new ortho interns nears (well new interns around the nation), I was hoping there would be some others who could post their thoughts and reviews so others like me can obtain some info. Anything is appreciated!

Med School: not NIH top 25
Boards: Step 1: 259 Step 2: 262 (July)
Rank: top 25%
AOA: nope
Preclinicals: A's and B's
Clinicals: A's and B's
Ortho: Pass (P/F)
Aways: 2
Research: nothing special. 2 minor ortho projects. 1 non-ortho publication
Extracurriculars: former D1 football player

What I was looking for in a Program: Location (should be important to everyone) and operative experience. For operative experience I valued things like having exposure to a big high volume county hospital and a VA. I wanted a high volume trauma program because I am a firm believer that trauma is where you learn how to operate and get your bread and butter ortho (fracture fixation). Early operative experience as a 2 and autonomy as a chief were big for me as well. I definitely believe chiefs should be walking 2s and 3s through cases and get to run a room on their own. Doing a fellowship should be for marketing purposes, not because I need an extra year of training. Also, the fewer fellows around the better (fellows eat from the same plate).

How many Programs:
Applied to: 72
Offered Interviews: 19
Attended:12

Tiers are stupid. People have different priorities and location preferences. Some people want to build a big academic resume, others just want to operate. Some people want to be around big academic names, others want attendings who are invested in training good surgeons. In no particular order, some of my favorites...

UT Southwestern: blue-collar hard working program. Parkland is one of the busiest trauma centers in the country. The 2nd year residents here get crushed, but they are better for it and get to live a better life as an upper level resident. The absolute strength of the program is the experience on Trauma as a 2 where the expectation is that they are doing the cases skin to skin. Obviously they'll just be assisting the attending on tabs or bad pilons and plateaus, but overall it’s really a great operating experience. The other services are probably more average in their operative experience, but the foundation they get in trauma as a 2 is great to build on. Other perks of the program are a big VA, fantastic Peds experience at Scottish Rite, and an optional 3 month rotation in England as a chief where they function as an attending across the pond. Culturally, super bro-heavy complete with full bench and squat rack in the call room. Very tight knit group that gets pizza together every Monday night and does brunch on Sundays. Academically, they don’t care much about OITE scores and the didactics are much more focused on operative technique than OITE type questions. Also, they didn’t really honor protected didactics time. However, they just hired a new chairman who may bring a more academic focus. Overall, a really solid operative experience with a great trauma experience. Super rotator heavy.

Duke: Overall a well balanced program. More academic than most of the programs I seriously considered, but operating and teaching were still the focus of the program, not research. Trauma volume is adequate but definitely not huge. A more graduated operative experience than the Texas programs, but chiefs were still quite good, especially on joints. The sports and joints rotations are very strong, and they do a great job of not letting fellows get in the way on those rotations. A very good VA experience is probably what sets Duke apart from other programs of similar academic prestige. The volume and autonomy at the VA were great. On peds, I liked seeing a pedi spine 10 level fusion where the attending let the 4 do her entire side without interfering. Sports is very strong with great attendings and great relationship with industry (Friday morning cadaver labs for the junior residents to practice rotator cuff repairs, etc). Culturally, a big focus on teaching, from both residents and attendings. The only downside to this was a little bit of hand-holding for the 1s and 2s seeing consults, but overall very positive environment. Big on tradition which I liked. Academics are fitting of Duke, but I was happy that research was not the focus of the program in the slightest. Residents were a nice group with lots of former college athletes.

UT San Antonio: Criminally underrated program, especially given it’s the home of Rockwood, Green, Morrey, Heckman, Wilkins, DeLee, and Wirth. Big, high volume county hospital with tons of high velocity polytrauma. Residents spend a total of 13 months on trauma over their 5 years, so they basically graduate with a mini trauma fellowship relative to most programs. Operate at night far more than most programs. They have an interesting trauma team set-up, which makes life tough on trauma (q3, even as a 5) but very nice when not on trauma for good balance overall. Strong VA experience as well that provides good bread and butter experience. Have a cool experience as an intern where they spend 2 of their “non-ortho” months doing plastics with a ortho-plastics guy where they function as a chief in the OR and get to do a ton, including nerve repairs, flaps, tendon repairs, skin grafts, etc. Strong shoulder and elbow experience, as you would expect at the House that Rockwood Built. Culturally, blue collar program with down-to-earth, family-oriented residents. Research hasn’t been a big focus, but the chairman and the PD are increasing the resources in that capacity. Academics were fine but nothing special. Several new young faculty members have been hired and seem to be popular with the residents. Overall just a really great program that doesn’t get its due on orthogate.

Campbell Clinic: big-time name with a blue collar atmosphere and good “ortho dudes.” Great trauma and expectations of resident autonomy. 24 on/24 off schedule when you’re at the Med is obviously grueling, but a good mix of private practice on non-trauma rotations. Rotators I talked to were impressed with operative autonomy and surgical skills. All residents and rotators indicated that Dr. Throckmorton is an awesome PD. Biggest negative is the amount of driving between sites.

JPS: super solid program with great operative experience and really happy residents. Chiefs had huge case numbers, and from talking to rotators, those numbers don’t seem inflated with BS. Despite being a trauma heavy Texas program, they had some really impressive OITE scores to brag about too. Dr. Wagner was one of my favorite PD’s I met. Ft Worth is an awesome city and is quite affordable. Overall this is really an underrated program that everybody who interviewed there loved.

Vanderbilt: really solid program top to bottom. Seems to have maintained the “work hard and operate” mentality even though it’s a fancy academic name. Good blend of public, private, and VA experience. Big consult volume with a huge draw area. Only knock I have against them is that they interview very few of their rotators, which just seemed weird. The rotators I did talk to were impressed with the residents operative autonomy and surgical skills though. Also, Nashville is an amazing city, but fairly expensive. Would be an awesome place to be a single guy.

Texas A&M - Scott & White: well-rounded, blue collar Texas program. Not in a big city but the catch area is huge so the trauma volume is on par with most big city programs. Also, Baylor-Scott&White is the largest hospital system in Texas so they have a massive referral base for their private practice stuff. This place and Duke had the faculty who seemed most invested in teaching their residents. Culturally, super tight-knit, family oriented feel. Almost all residents are married and most with kids. Residents all seemed really happy. Seemed to put a huge premium on fit during interview process. Rotators I talked to were impressed with the operative autonomy and surgical skills, with chiefs usually running own room or walking junior through the case. No fellows, which is great. Being in Temple is probably a negative if you're single, but a positive if you're married +/- kids because it's so cheap.

NOT RANKED: None. If you don't rank a program you interview at then I hope you don’t match.

Matched at: a good program

Advice for future applicants:
Take everything you read on here with a big pinch of salt. I don’t think the average poster on here is indicative of the average ortho applicant, and certainly not indicative of the applicants from the South and Texas. It’s really easy to get caught up in “prestigious” names, but I promise you that the name of the program does not produce a better surgeon, and, from what I gathered, often the fancier name has a more delayed operating experience. Talk to every resident, fellow, and young attending you encounter about their experiences as medical students, residents, and fellows. Their thoughts will be a lot more accurate than what you read on here. Ultimately, you’ll be happiest if you make your rank list based on what feels right to you, not based on doximity rankings.

UAB: Great program in Birmingham, Alabama. Program director Dr. Khoury has recently given the throne to someone else but program has solid leadership and offers excellent training. Chiefs were extremely competent in the OR and Birmingham is trauma central. Saw chiefs doing tabs and 3's looked extremely comfortable nailing, plating, etc. Interns on trauma sometimes get to go to the OR and are walked through cases by the upper levels. Peds and sports (andrews SMI nearby) seemed strong. No doubt that anyone here will be well trained upon completion of their residency. Not super research oriented but UAB is a massive facility with unlimited resources so If you want to do research you can definitely take advantage. As far as culture, the program was very laid back, for the most part great friendly residents, mostly married/serious relationships. Birmingham is a very small city with not too much to do but is expanding and is definitely on the upswing.

USF Tampa: Large trauma center in Tampa, FL. As a rotator you rotate on trauma/VA/Sports/Tumor. Tumor rotation was phenomenal, Moffitt cancer center is home to some huge names in tumor and you get to learn from some of the best. There is a tumor fellow and an Orlando PGY3 there so operative experience for the PGY2 resident isn't stellar. Sports rotation was very hands off, with Dr. Leffers (awesome resident advocate) operating less and less resulting in residents not getting to do much. VA seemed like ok operative experience although in typical VA fashion you could barely do 2 cases a day there. On trauma you work with Drs. Mir and Sanders who are big names in the trauma world. Unfortunately there are 3 fellows that seemed like they were taking all of the cases and this was clearly hurting the residents. After seeing some of the upper levels operate I am not convinced that there is enough hands on learning at this program. That being said, the program runs FIVE labs and seemingly has unlimited resources for research/cadavers/labs/etc, but operative experience is clearly lacking.