What's your top tier and why?

How to decide where to do aways came down to 3 big factors for me:

1) location - I applied geographically so this was the big one for me

2) where did my school's grads match? gives a realistic picture of your potential competitiveness, esp if you can talk to the 4th years about their scores and where they got interviewed

3) where did I think I'd get shut out of an interview without a rotation? this one turned out to be a dud. i had a lot of places i thought were "backups" and that i'd certainly get an interview without an away, but it didn't happen. seems to be getting more and more competitive, and that rotating is getting more and more crucial. sad, but that's how it goes at least in the more desirable geographical areas (Cali, NYC, Philly, Boston, Chicago, Miami, etc.)

so bottom line, first figure out where you want to end up. because the places i rotated turned out to be the top of my rank list... and thus they are where i am most likely to match.

as far as discussing particular programs, i don't think this is the place for that. ask people who you know and hopefully trust about those programs. i don't think of this forum as a place to give or receive legitimate analysis of individual programs, because this information is anonymous and you never know what kind of biases people have. you will feel very different about some programs than other people will. it's all about finding a good fit for you.

Thanks for the input. I still would like to here what people's impressions were from the interview trail and what programs they will be ranking highly. I have a good idea where I want to rotate but when you are thinking about applying to 70+ programs it helps to have all the input you can get. Anyone surprised by a program or willing to endorse their top ranks? What are your top tier programs?

The first thing I would say is always take everyone's recommendations with a grain of salt. No one interviewed or rotated at every strong program. People are going to have different priorities and things that they value in a program. One person might say Harborview is hands down the best training you could get, another might scoff at that and say you don't get to operate early and it's too trauma heavy and the argument could go round and round with most programs. But I will mention a few that I think are well rounded strong programs that people seem to enjoy being at.

Obviously you have the programs everyone talks about, UW, Wash U, Iowa, Mayo, Jefferson, etc etc etc.

I found that I was surprised by the following programs:
CMC - great benefits, work hard but treated like an attending in many regards, top notch faculty.
Vermont - incredible location, great camaraderie between residents and faculty, well rounded.
Vanderbilt - big name, extremely well-rounded, great didactics and operative experience
UTSW - definitely trauma heavy, 2nd year would be terrible but you seem to get that time back 4th and 5th year. Well respected program around the country. Definitely give off the "we're first on your list or you won't match here" vibe but don't know how much they stick to that
New Mexico - this place really surprised me. Sounds like great operative experience. Dr. Treme had to be the nicest PD I met and seems to have great ideas about how he wants to shape the program in the coming years.

I would say when you think about aways think about a couple things. 1, think regionally, if you know you want to be on the west coast, do rotations there. 2, try to rotate within your limits if that makes sense. If you know you are not competitive, don't rotate at super competitive programs. You may think it will make your application seem stronger, and it might, but chances are you won't match at that program and you are giving up on rotating at a place where you could really be increasing your chance of matching.

I hope some of this is helpful. There are so many good programs out there. Even if everyone interviewed at the same places people would have very different ranks lists based an so many factors. Find the best place for you and forget about dont worry about whether everyone else thinks its the best.

I completely agree with the previous posts. Programs become the "best in the country" only based on reputation, big name faculty, new shiny facilities, research funding, and the program telling you "we are the best program in the country." You will realize that there are so many fantastic programs in the country and the only reason the "top" programs are considered that way is due to superficial things that are mostly unrelated to how you will be trained as a resident and how you will fit in for 5 years.

So called "Top Tier" Programs where I interviewed(reputation, big name faculty, research funding, new shiny facilities, the program tells you they are the best in the county)

WashU
Thomas Jefferson (big names all across the board)
Vanderbilt
Iowa
Duke
Mayo

Not "Top Tier" Programs that really impressed me:
Penn State
USF
Greenville, SC
VCU
Wake Forest

My final top five on my ROL:
WashU
USF
Greenville SC
Vandy
Jefferson

I hope this demonstrates to future applicants that there are schools not mentioned as "Top Tier" that have everything (and sometimes more than) the top tier programs offer: ample research funding, big-name faculty, exceptional operative experience, awesome benefits, great locations, and nice facilities. Also, I am so excited about the quality people going into ortho (both residents and applicants), and can say without a doubt nearly every residency will offer an awesome team of people that you will be happy with for the next 5 years!

Good Luck on the Match Everyone.