2006 Match List

Many congrats to all, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone from the interview trail at AO courses/etc during the next few years! Hope ya'll are taking time to relax prior to the fun beginning in July

My H&P
Fantastic medical school in the South, great folks
Did well during preclinical and clinical years
Step I 255, AOA
+ Research although no huge pubs
Wonderful faculty support, advice, and letters

Aways: Home, Mayo, Duke

Interview at: UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, UWash, UWisconsin, Mayo, Nebraska, Rochester, Case, UT Houston, UT San Antonio, Baylor, Penn State, Dartmouth, Michigan, UVA, Wake Forest, Duke, Pittsburgh

All the programs were amazing and I was fortunate to interview at them. They have been dissected extensively on this forum.

I matched at UCLA and am psyched!

UCLA is a fantastic program, recently merged with the Orthopaedic Hospital in Southern Cali and this only means good things. The residents were happy, intelligent, and received phenomenal fellowships.

Best of luck to next year's class and those to follow!

First off congrats to everyone who matched--Bill Brasky, Fatman, No. 1gunner and torn meniscus--Im pretty sure I met all of you guys on the trail or during away rotations--those are all awesome programs.

My app:
Not AOA
step I: 240's
stepII: 212 (not taken in time for interviews)--apparently did well on "musculoskeletal", failed ob/gyn part miserably
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3rd/4th year grades: mostly high passes, some honors (neurology, ortho), pass in psychiatry
letters: 4 ortho (2 excellent--commented on during interviews, not sure about the other two), 1 ortho chief, 1 research, 1 internal medicine
rotated at: Michigan, Loyola
Med School: highly ranked, midwest, with well connected ortho dept
research: musculoskeletal histology publication

Applied to 40-some programs, interview offers from michigan, loyola (during rotation), emory, case western, UW, Iowa, Grand Rapids, Beaumont, University of Chicago, MCO, Ohio State, Jeff, AGH, Henry Ford.

Was not able to go to U of C, Ohio State, and MCO due to conflicts.

Would have been happy at any program I interviewed at--all solid places to train with cool residents, my top 3 (based off of personal/family reasons, fit with program, location): Michigan, Emory, UW--Extremely happy to have matched at Michigan

My take on each of the programs:

Michigan- 6 residents/yr, all services are covered (new foot/ankle guy gets here in June) including Onc, very balanced experience (clinic and or), chiefs run the show (only one fellow on sports, but there are 4 sports attendings), Faculty are nice, enjoy teaching, great group of residents who are very laid back--easy to fit in, strong fellowship opportunities (the 4's this year: joints at HSS, shoulder and elbow at HSS, sports at Cleveland Clinic, spine at UCSF, trauma at Carolinas and Vanderbilt), good didactics (daily morning conference with resident and faculty teaching), two months of night-float as a 3 covering the ER, many research opportunities, 2 months fourth year for research or to do away rotations, very convenient (all facilities are within 3 mile radius, Mott-peds hospital attached to main University Hospital), Ann Arbor--convenient, very safe, affordable (easy to own your own place), VA experience

Loyola: 6 residents/yr, no fellows, all services covered including Onc, strong trauma experience, also very balanced overall (operative and clinic), good didactics ( thursday dedicated to full day of conferences), strong fellowship opportunities especially in spine (most recently WashU, Rush), hand (chair is Terry Light, former president of Hand Society), shoulder and elbow (Columbia, WashU), awesome group of residents who like go out and enjoy Chicago, very nice Faculty, good teaching, 6 month dedicated research block 3rd year, VA experience--where residents have a lot of autonomy, Hospital is in Maywood which is 15 minute drive outside of city (no traffic)--I lived in Wicker Park while I was there and had no problem getting to work, except for one day (bad traffic jam)--I had a ton of fun

All of the following info based off of interviews (one day impression)-

Emory- Top Academic Program in South, strong trauma experience (Grady), all the other services well covered--tons of or cases, 5 residents/yr, 2 or 3 spine fellows and apparently new trauma fellow coming this year--so much volume at Grady that I think this will make the residency even better rather than hurt the experience, awesome group of residents with "work-hard, play-hard" attitude--felt a little like a fraternity which I liked, very collegial atmosphere between attendings and residents, Roberson and Oskouei (new program director) were awesome, lots of autonomy, get top fellowships in all areas, lots of research opportunities but currently no dedicated research time (currently applying for sixth resident spot, which may free up months for this), Atlanta is an awesome city with great food, traffic can suck--drivers are terrible, but so much fun, interviewed 30 for five spots in addition to rotators

UW- Top Academic program, 8 residents/yr, lots of fellows but residents said this didnt affect their experience adversely, strong trauma (cover 4 states: WAMI), all services well covered, amazing place to build connections (so many famous faculty, top fellows, strong residents--the shear number of people you will be connected to when done was impressive), Matsen (chair) was a great guy, Hanel (program director) also very cool--spent 10 minutes telling us about the downsides of living in Seattle (traffic, rain, etc.)--I thought this was pretty funny, plenty of research opportunities, residents get top fellowships, Seattle--is an amazing city with lots of outdoor opporunities (skiing, boating, hiking, etc.), although gray during much of the year, summers from what I heard are amazing--literally perfect weather, awesome seafood, residents were a great group, very laid back, also liked to go out, definitely seemed female-friendly, interviewed 50 for 8 spots including rotators, interview day--panel interviews with "pimping" of application--i wrote under hobbies/activities-- teaching for princeton review and grilled, asked to give a teaching point, and "what is the most unique dish you have ever grilled", probably on expensive side as far as cost of living--it seemed like a lot of the residents rented

Case- Top Academic program, very balanced, strong Trauma experience, get top fellowships--in everything from what I could tell, Cleveland although not New York or Chicago, gets a bad rap--I had a good time (check out Diamond Club), very affordable (houses under 200K), many research opportunities, 5 or 6 year (now can rank both separtely), new chair seemed like a great guy, motto-"where you train in orthopaedics is who you are in orthopaedics", protected time to serve as anatomy tutors for med students, protected time to learn orthopaedic histology/pathology

Iowa--Top Academic program, very balanced (clinic and OR), good Trauma experience, extroardinarily strong emphasis on teaching (especially in clinic)--thought this was a cool perspective, since clinic is often not looked on favorably--amazing place to learn orthopaedics, arthroscopy lab with cadavers, awesome chair, get top fellowships in all areas, including sending graduated residents abroad (New Zealand), nice place to raise a family, extremely affordable (houses under 200K)

Beaumont- Top community program with strong Academic feel--plenty of research opportunities, Herkowitz is very connected, residents operate a ton, clinic experience may be less, residents get top fellowships-(recently- hand at UW, sports at Harvard, if interested in Spine I imagine you could go anywhere given how huge Herkowitz is), smaller program (used to be 3/yr, now 4), strong emphasis on learning anatomy (9 months of dedicated dissection time/yr)

Grand Rapids- Top community program, 4 residents/year, operate a ton, very social atmosphere, residents definitely liked to go out together and have a good time, spouses recieve money from department to go out and have dinner, tons of money for food and books, strong operative experience (starts as a 1), they admitted that there were less opportunites for research, strong trauma experience, Grand Rapids very affordable (can easily buy house under 200 K), population- 500,000 when including surrounding areas, recent fellowships (trauma at Indiana, hand at Iowa, Sports in Miami--take care of Shaq)

Allegheny- Top Community Program, 3 residents/year, operate a ton (2000 cases logged by time of chief year), academic feel--although they admitted no huge emphasis on research, nice group of faculty and residents, pimped quite a bit on interview day, although nicely (x-rays, scenario with compartment syndrome), daily lectures, strong trauma experience, no social the night before--so difficult to get a sense about that

Jefferson- 7 residents/year--do tons of spine and joints, top fellowships in spine and joints--very connected in these areas, Philly is very cool city--go to Pat's for your cheesesteak, although many people also recommended Jim's, lots of history, nice faculty and residents, work a lot of hours as a 2 on the floors--so many patients-- i was told that the joints census can be 40 patients at times, nice faculty and residents, definitely the place to be if interested in spine or joints, also good for Hand (Philadelphia Hand Center), lots of research opportunities in this area--they put out their own journal

Henry Ford- 6 residents/year, good trauma experience, nice laid back group of residents--lots of comraderie, go to Minnesota for Peds experience third year (residents really like this), family oriented program, Detroit is not for everyone--lots of nice surrounding suburbs though, residents ask you to tell them a joke during interview, recent fellowships (Trauma at Carolinas, Texas Back)

My take on getting interviews and matching:
0.) Away rotations-- more often can really help you, can also hurt you (depends on the place, some places interview all rotators, and rank mostly rotators highly, others only will interview half their rotators--ask residents at specific programs to find out)
1.) AOA--opens lots of doors, if you dont have it thats ok--does not close many doors
2.) Step I score--many programs have cut-offs, if you are above it great, if not do an away rotation to get an interview
3.) Letters--extremely important must have good letters from orthopods--bigger the name the better, however quality of letter is also important, if you dont have a home ortho department then do an away rotation at a connected place in the region you are interested in, work hard and get good letters,
4.) "inroads at programs"--also very important--cant emphasize this enough, if your medical school has sent residents to program before, or attendings at program trained at your home medical school, etc.--this is huge, out of the 14 interview offers I recieved, 9 of the programs have taken a person from my medical school in the last 5 years, the other five--there was always some other connection--oh i see dr. "so and so" wrote a letter for you, I trained with him at "X"
5.) research--good to have some for talking points, publications not needed, however if you have publications i think it can really help at some of the top academic places
6.) extra-curric-- doesnt really matter what you talk about, whatever-- cars, golf, but dont exaggerate--dont say you are a avid rock climber if you have only done it once in the last 5 years
7.) Grades--other than ortho rotations, didnt really get the sense that people looked at these closely--i think they just categorize you as AOA, non-AOA, and maybe top 1/3 of your class, or top 1/2

Advice on rotating--show up on time, try to be helpful whenever possible (if there is foley to put in, or a note to write, or plaster to clean up, dressing to take down--take care of it, do whatever you can to make the residents lives easier), know your anatomy, be yourself

Feel free to PM with questions--especially regarding Michigan, as I will be spending five more years here. I dont think I have much more info to offer about the other places.

Looking forward to meeting everyone in the future. Good luck--

I had good scores and a lot of research, but it was the unique aspects of my application that stood out and, I think, a huge part of why I matched.[/quote]

i have a bit of an interesting background and outside-school activities, and some things that, for lack of a better term, "explain" some of my preclinical grades (i have no red flags, just a load of HP) and step 1 averageness ... but i'm having a hard time trying to work it into my personal statement (want to have some sketches of this before i start my 3 months of ortho rotations in june) without sounding non sequitur. suggestions as to places to look for personal statement examples for ortho, or how to integrate the more non-medical information about yourself into the statement?

I know there's a morbid fascination with USMLE scores, where to rotate, et cetera, but the most overlooked and possibly one of the most important factors was stated by cardinalred:

This is really inspiring to see all of the people who have matched. Reading some of the stats reminds me that I need to step my game up...so much stuff that I still havent figured out. I am still looking for meaningful research that I can really be proud of. At anyrate...congrats to all you guys! I wish you all continued success. Hopefully (God willing) I can post my success on this board in 2008!

Once again Congrats Ortho-Docs!

cardinalred, so where did you match? Thanks.

For the 3rd year students out there hoping to match:

Undergrad: Very important for me since I went to a big-time football school, and this was huge for interviews.

Med School: Decent private school with great parties; senior AOA; some extracurriculars

Step 1: 245
Step 2: took it yesterday

Research: 3 small, feeble projects, 2 were ortho. NO publications and nothing was even in the works. But I had enough to talk about during interviews until they got bored and moved on to a better topic.

Rotated at home school and at a very well-respected program ? got 1 letter from the away rotation, and it helped a lot. 3 letters from people at my school (2 ortho).

Other: I have a background in martial arts that I tried to emphasize to differentiate myself on paper. People loved talking about it at interviews (leaving less time to discuss research). You should develop your own unique characteristics when you put your application together and convey that to the programs.

Applied: ~42
Interviews Offered: ~26
Accepted: 15; Ranked 15

Top 8 (alphabetically): Baylor, Campbell Clinic, Carolinas, Colorado, Iowa, Miami, Rush, Wash U. The rest (alphabetically): Arkansas, Kansas, Mizzou, UM-Kansas City, Ochsner, Southern Illinois, Tulane.

Matched at No. 1 and couldn?t believe it.

Advice/Observations:
1) The reason I posted this is so that underclassmen can gauge their potential to match, since I found it helpful. Also, hopefully some of you will be able to estimate the right number of places to apply to based on your credentials and save yourself some cash. I obviously applied to way too many. However, it?s important to remember that this list has a rather severe selection bias towards those of us who are happy about our matches/matched at No. 1 (I?m obviously guilty of this too). But I still appreciated reading these things last year to learn about the process and learn some program names.

2) You can match at a great program with a weak background in research. It seemed pretty clear to me that you just need something to talk about when they bring it up.

3) I really liked every place that I visited; the ortho world has done an excellent job of ridding the country of bad residencies. Certain places just offer more than others, and those in my top 8 all offer all specialties (except some here and there missing tumor) and a more academic environment (in general). By the way, Tulane will be back to full force in time.

4) Finally, you do NOT need to have a famous program director/chairman doing behind the scenes work for you helping you match. I was under that impression based on all the residents I spoke to ? that you tell your chairman where you want to go and he makes phone calls, etc. I had some extenuating circumstances this year and was basically unable to speak to anyone in the department throughout the entire application process. But the match still worked out for me, and my feeling is that many, many more places stick to the basic principals of the match than do not.

I thought these posts were helpful during third year so here goes:

Undergrad: does this matter? went to big ten school. Took a year off before med school and did basic science research in a cadiovascular lab.

Med school: mid tier midwest school

Step 1: 234
Step 2: just took it a few weeks ago

Preclinical- HP and H
clinical-HP and H

AOA: senior (but didnt actually get it till after interviews were over so wasnt a factor)

Research/pubs: Ortho and cards research. Two basic science pubs in cardiology (first author on one). one first author ortho pub. and another first author ortho manuscript submitted by the time of interviews. Podium presentation at national meeting

Rotated at home program, Univ of Chicago and St. Mary's in san francisco

Interviews: Univ of chicago, st mary's, UCSD, Univ of Washington, UIC, OSU, Akron General, Case western, Cincinnati, BU, Tufts, Yale,

Offered but couldnt go b/c of conflicts: St Lukes, Temple, U Minn, Henry Ford, Beaumont.

Ranked: I ranked every program that i interviewed at including a few six year tracks at CWRU and BU
Ended up matching at my No. 1 Univ of Washington! cliche, but i'll say it.... couldnt be happier.

ramblings: I'll just comment on the two programs I rotated at.

University of chicago:
this is a great program that doesnt get mentioned very often. My experience there was great. The attendings are all approachable and willing to teach if you show some interest. I particularly liked Dr. Bernie who is one of the hand surgeons there. The residents are all smart, hardworking, and like to have fun. The case load here seems to be smaller than other places ive seen, but I think this may be an advantage because attendings are not rushed and have time to teach. Morning conference is everyday and the didactic schedule is very good. Operative experience is early with interns getting into the OR, at least on the orthopaedics month. Call nights arent bad because UofC is not a level 1 trauma for adults, but it is level 1 for peds. also the call schedule is very reasonable. Research opportunities are definitely available, with some protected time in your fourth year. they also give you elective time in 5th year that you can use to check out potential fellowships/do rotations that you are interested in or feel deficient in. They end up placing into top fellowships all over the country. Dr. simon is the current chair and a big name in the oncology world, but I'm not sure how many more years he plans on staying. Dr. Peabody is the rez director and is likely to take his place if/when he leaves which will make for a smooth transition. The only weaknesses to this program may be the trauma experience (however they do rotate at loyola for a few months) and spine. I think overall this is an excellent place to train and I would have been happy to match here. I ranked seattle higher only because I wanted to head out to the west coast.

St. Mary's (san francisco ortho residency program)
My experiences while rotating here were excellent as well. The residents are really sharp and fun. There are basically three hospitals they rotate at:
1) st. mary's - cushy, private, good sports/spine/joints experience, generally considered their light rotation.
2) kaiser oakland - high volume, lots of different attendings in every specialty with good teaching, very busy.
3) highland county - busy county hospital, great trauma experience, lots of autonomy

I think the various hospitals provide an excellent well rounded surgical experience. conferences are on monday and tuesday afternoons at the various hospitals with most lectures being given by residents but attendings are generally present. I didnt take call while I was there, but I imagine its light at st mary's and busy at highland/kaiser. It is home call for all years. Research opportunities are okay, with some protected time in the second year, but this is not really stressed by the program. Residents get great competitive fellowships of their choice. The new chair is Dr. McGann. He is one of the best attendings I've ever worked with: very smart, great with patients, loves to teach. He will provide the program with stability and continue to improve the residency.

As far as their probation goes, I dont think it should cause concern. we were told that the main issue is the RRC likes to see a program's home hospital give financial support to the residency and prove its dedication. In the past the program was supported entirely by alumni. They have worked out a deal with st. mary's hospital for financial support which will take them off probation on the next audit.

Again, I think this is a great place to train, and would have been very happy to match here as well. However, at this point I'm considering academics and thought I will have more opportunities at a university program. St. mary's is ideal if you know you want to go into private practice.

This post is way too long but hopefully it will help somebody. Congratulations to everybody else who matched!

Don't worry drillbit, we will get that bench over three plates.

Fatman

Undergrad]
drill....unless u r refering to the tarheels i'd retract this statement immediately..

hehehe, Anywyz,congrats men...see u all soon.

Maybe you are correct. The Step I score is decent, but I sort of meant all the other stuff. I did not have any ortho research, cannot bench 300 lbs, did not come from an extremely well known medical school. I am from the south and was trying to match outside my home region. Maybe other folks felt this way as well, but when I interviewed at places many consider top notch, the folks seemed like they were all superstars. These guys were getting invited for second looks, getting calls from program directors, and I was not. So not exactly the average Joe, but certainly not what one would consider ortho royalty either.

I'm not knocking your post in any way, and congrats on matching, but I don't think your post was for the "avg joe", lol. You got a 240 or greater on the boards. I think that is for the avg 5% of joes.

If someone matched with a 210 or 215 then that would be for the Avg 95% Joes.

This one is for the average Joe who didn?t get 287 on his boards and have a fracture classification named after him but who worked hard?

Undergrad: high-powered, top tier in academics and undisputed No. 1 in NCAA division I basketball; MCAT 35

Med School: state school in south with focus on primary care

AOA: senior year

Board scores: Step I 240s, Step II CK 220s (pitiful considering I put 5 weeks into this piece of?)

Away rotations: home program, Emory (3 weeks), Yale, Stanford

Research: 10 weeks between 1st and 2nd year medical school at the NIH (non-ortho related) with one pub that was talked about at EVERY program

Extracurriculars: didn?t do squat in college except ROTC and was in Army reserves; stepped up in medical school and held various leadership roles, started major screening projects with huge budgets and that sort of jazz.

Applied: 63 programs, mostly in big cities or big names. Notables that I did not apply to were Harvard, Mayo, Brown, Dartmouth, and the state of Texas. Applied to almost every Cali school. Would hate to list them all here?

Interviews offered: 21 but did not take Howard, Atlanta Medical Center, Tufts, Washington University/Barnes-Jewish (conflicted with Penn), St. Luke-Roosevelt, University of Tennessee/Campbell, MCV/VCU because of conflicts. I took every interview that I could (14) and ranked all programs including research tracts (3).

Rank list:

01. Stanford
02. Penn 5 yr
03. UCSF 5 yr
04. UCSF 6 yr
05. Penn 6 yr
06. Emory
07. Yale
08. Mt. Sinai
09. Michigan
10. Carolinas Medical Center
11. UVA 5 yr
12. Wake Forest
13. Florida-Shands
14. UVA 6 yr
15. Long Island Jewish
16. Henry Ford
17. Medical College of Georgia

Matched at University of Pennsylvania 5 year program, and I could not be happier. I would have been thrilled to match in any of my top 6 programs and would have been very content with my top 11. I ranked Stanford above Penn simply because they have home call throughout the entirety of their residency and the allure of California. From all that I have heard and from the interview experience, Penn was the most amazing and well-rounded program. The chairman actually said that this was a program designed for residents and fellows were ?tolerated.? Early operative experience and awesome group of residents (see mustache post above). #8 in NIH dollars. The other thing that struck me about the program is that there are 3 onc guys that do over 1000 onc cases with NO fellows. Whether or not you want to do onc is not the point; these guys are doing amazing s%it like total scapula replacements, and taking part in these surgeries can only make you a slicker surgeon. They also have an elective in your 5th year to do essentially whatever you want (going overseas to practice, etc.). Also, only a handful of programs have a neuro-orthopaedist; Penn is one of them. Every specialty is covered with multiple attendings, and there is no blatant focus on any one specialty (you won?t get killed by trauma). I could go on and on about this place, but I?ll stop. One possible downside of the program is that there is not a dedicated research block built into the curriculum. Needless to say, I am grateful beyond what words can say that I have matched to one the powerhouse ortho programs. Maybe in was a computer glitch, but it just don?t matter no more!

Some random advice? there is a lot of hocus-pocus in getting interviews. For example, I got shut out in DC, Chicago, denied at Greenville, SC, but was offered interviews at places like Penn, Wash U., Michigan. I got UCSF, which is arguably THE program in the west, but was denied at every other west coast program including lesser known Cali schools. A friend of mine who had the exact same board score, not AOA but a much bigger name med school only got 5 or so interviews and had to scramble. So the only thing I can say is do as many aways as possible and work your a$$ off. Also, have some research to talk about, and have something outside of medicine as well. I had the military experience and a crap load of leadership/volunteer stuff. This kept the interviews going without any uncomfortable pauses or silences. I also had a computer science background, which I highlighted to set myself apart (who knows if it made a difference). Oh, one last thing, KEEP YOUR SUIT CLEAN AND PRESSED. There were definitely some guys that just flat out stunk; I don't know what the deal was, but one dude reaked at every interview I saw him at. Don't know where or if he matched, but I can't imagine that helped his cause. Just play it safe, don't be that guy, and drop the extra $20 bucks.

This post is getting too long, so if anyone has any questions about my rank list or programs I rotated at, feel free to PM me. Fatman, bonescrubsandhumerus, and ddog118, I look forward to meeting ya?ll. Let the fun begin...

Sorry, I did not mean to confuse anyone. At University of Pennsylvania, some of the residents grew mustaches for the interview process, and they looked like 70's swingers, the actors from Anchorman, etc. It was funny. The point was, gee if these guys are fun enough to have some humor during the interview process, this is a place I would like to be at. On my interview trail, that was one of the things I was looking for: whether I could get along with the residents for five years. I really did not mean anything by the comment. Penn is a great place and has a very strong program...and some its residents have a sense of humor. And mustaches are funny to me because I can't grow one.
Also, my opinions from my above post are simply that: opinions. Everyone's experience is different and I was trying to comment on what I noticed and perceived from my interviews and rotations. I guarantee that everyone has different opinions. And for the record, I was on Jefferson's SPINE service; I cannot comment on their joints service. Sorry for any confusion.

Haha, is this an inside joke or something? Or just something goofy the residents decided to do? I'm just curious - I'm a first-year and don't really know much about the process...

Med School: Mid-tier midwest with no home ortho program.

Years I-II: Mostly honors.

Year III: Honors in IM, Peds, OB/GYN, Psych, Ortho; only a "pass" in surgery.

Senior AOA

Step I: 234/95
Step II: 256/99 (NOT available to programs b/c took it end of Jan)

Research: One month of ortho research early fourth year, no abstracts/posters/presentations/papers...but was talked about at all my interviews.

Rotated: William Beaumont, Thomas Jefferson, Loyola-Chicago.

LOR: All were strong to quite strong. 1 ortho chairman (Dr. Herkowitz at Beaumont, lots of weight), 1 gen surg, 1 family, 3 ortho (1 Beaumont, 1 Jefferson, 1 Loyola), 1 chief resident. Sent out 4 to each program based on location.

Applied to 50 (shotgun approach), offered 18 interviews (including Loyola, which gives you an interview during your rotation): U of Illinois-Chicago, Loyola, Med Coll of Wisconsin, Henry Ford, Beaumont, U of Mich, Grand Rapids, Flint, Case Western, U Penn, Jefferson, Drexel, Temple, Syracuse, Tufts, Brown, George Washington, UNC. Went on 15 interviews, but did not go to Cuse and Temple b/c of time conflicts, did not go to Flint b/c I don't want to live there.

Ranked all 15 places I interviewed at and 3 six-year spots (Penn, Case, UNC).

ROL: Based on location, gut-feeling after hanging out with the residents/attendings, program strength, and fiance input (played a big role). Top 5 were Penn, Jefferson, Brown, Case, and Loyola (in no particular order). The rest of the top ten were MCOW, UNC, GW, Grand Rapids, Beaumont.

Matched at #2 Loyola and am very excited (would have been happy at any of my top 10)!!!

My two cents on some programs:
Loyola-great residents who are happy, very well-rounded program (good for a guy who has no idea what he may eventually do), strong academic structure, impressive operative experience. Awesome place to do an away b/c you will get good lectures about ortho basics.

Jefferson-amazing attendings and residents, had a lot of fun rotating there. I have heard rumors about Jefferson like having to round every day at 3AM b/c of the insane amount of patients, but I did not experience this (I was on the spine service and got there at 4:45AM). Great in spine, joints, upper extrem; they send you away for trauma (although the experience is supposed to be good).

Beaumont-outstanding attendings, the best facilities I have ever seen, more volume than you can believe.

Penn-many of the residents grew mustaches for the interview...enough said. Seriously a great place with amazing training.

Brown-extensive training with strong didactics (required 6 years and A TON of lecture time), great facilities (esp the ER/trauma bays), their chairman Dr. Ehrlich seems awesome and seems very supportive of residents.

Case-it and Loyola were the most well-round programs I saw. Their chairman Dr. Marcus seems liek a great guy. Attendings are solid. Amazing academic/didactics. At your interview, you play football.

MCOW-very impressive, residents are all very happy and get great benefits.

UNC-top-notch program, has a mentorship type training (one-on-one with attending, Penn also has this for some of its residency) which I think is a great way to train.

Grand Rapids-quite possibility the best residents I encountered. Extremely friendly program. Grand Rapids is a great city with good hospitals. Can't say enough good things about this program.

Congrats to all that matched, and good luck to all future applicants.

'sconie - i'll see you at utah!!

Second D.O. posting....

Boston Univ undergrad....decent GPA...too much fun in beantown..
MCAT - 32

Good D.O. school, if you want to label it as that...
Teaching scholarship in Anatomy and Pathology at med school
1/3 honors in pre-clinical
2/3 honors in 3rd year rotations
4/4 honors in 4th year ortho rotations - did one DO and three MD rotations

COMLEX I - 96th percentile
USMLE I -237

Research - 3 ortho pubs, a handful of poster presentations at AAOS, one at AANA, a podium presentation at a local hand conference. 4 more publications and a couple of abstracts awaiting acceptance/submitted...

Pretty good LOR's, one from big name in NY, one from a big name from the southeast.


applied to both MD and DO programs
here's where it got tricky, as I think I had a good shot at getting into one of the MD programs I rotated at -Hamot, VCU, Al Einstein in Philly...
but...these were all just "good chances.

Had early interview at a great DO place in ohio...and decided to take it....really had a great feeling while there and when I left....can't really explain it...

Still wonder what would have happened if I had only applied to MD...but won't matter in a few years.....

tough choice for all you DO people out there, about whether to apply for both MD and DO programs. DO your homework, and really take a look at your application. If your USMLE step is not over 230...I wouldn't even both applying for MD programs. There are excellent DO programs out there....just mostly in PA, OHIO, and Michigan....not too much along either coasts.....

All three MD places I rotated at either had DO's on staff, or had taken DO's into their program in the past...that, I think, was a key factor in my decision...

consider this...although my application was pretty good comparitively speaking, I applied to 90 MD programs and got only.......

3....that's right...3 interviews (not including places I had rotated at)
goes to show you how hard it is for DO's applyign for MD places....so choose your battles wisely...and always stock up on your Killians' irish red...
just a little advice from you uncle Larry...(if anyone remembers that last line you should pat yourself on the back...)

I poured over this thread last year before/after deciding to go into ortho.

Top-30 (USNWR) school in the upper-midwest.
Pre-clinical grades: half and half, HP and Honors
Clinical grades: HP in Ob/gyn and Medicine, all others Honors. Honors in ortho rotations (3).
Not AOA
Step 1: 249/99
Step 2: just took it.
Research: zero publications, 1 non-ortho presentation. 2 ortho projects started in 3rd year. smattering of other smaller projects prior to med school.

Applied to about 50, maybe 25 offers. Went on 13.

Matched at my No. 1, Utah.

in random order, some comments on the programs I saw:

Utah - Amazing program! Residents, faculty, facilities, location, reputation--the whole package with no weaknesses. Rotated, and was impressed from day No. 1 with the atmosphere there. Peds experience is top notch. New ortho center. They seemed to interview about 25-30, and not every rotator gets an interview.

Wisconsin - Also had everything that I was looking for. Great residents and staff. Very impressed with Dr. Zdeblick in the interview. Madison is an awesome city, and they are currently building a new peds hospital and research center (after finishing a new medical school last year). Great program, tough not to rank it No. 1.

Dartmouth - very impressed with everything. Residents and staff were a very happy, tightly knit group. Dr. Koval is now there, and the trend is for more research. The facility is the best teaching hospital I've seen. 4 residents per year, 5 years ago was 2. They operate early and often, with an emphasis on joints. Those interested in research, seriously check out the CECS--I thought it was great. Location can be veiwed as an asset or a detractor. Must go away for peds and onc.

University of Washington - Really liked the program. Have increased the # of residents in the past few years, which seems to have lightened the Harborview exprience. Seattle is great. Very happy residents, and the staff I met were very nice, notably the PD and the chair. Panel interviews are interesting.

OHSU - the reputation for Portland had been one of recent instability, but I was convinced by Dr. Yoo that he's there to counter that, and to increase the academic output of the program. Really like the residents and staff that I met. Loved the city.

Iowa - do a search if you're curious about the quality. I'd add that the faculty that I interviewed with impressed me with their personality and genuineness. Ditto for the residents. Iowa City is underrated, but seriously the only detractor.

Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) - another good program. doesn't get the hype, but i thought it had everything you'd need. Milwaukee is livable.

Mayo - obvious reputation. Very good interview day that had a presentation that emphasised discounting the rumors you hear. (such as no trauma, fellows galore, etc) Top notch training. Rochester, MN.

Pittsburgh - again, great reputation. Lots of research going on. 8 residents (4 research) with a "super-chief" year. Wine and dine interview day at Dr. Fu's sports center.

UC - Irvine - I liked it. Great location. One interview room was notably not very fun. The chair and PD were great. No "rotations" as in no joint/trauma/hand team etc. Meet the day/week before and decide who does what in the OR.

Grand Rapids - Kind of surprised to really like it. Great people. Research if you want it. Nice city.

Syracuse - Staff really impressed me with thier personalities and demeanor. Some of the residents, however, didn't, to be honest. They have a nice new research facility and a great location close to the mtns, and wineries.

Allegheny - asked knowledge based ortho questions during the interview, in a nice way. Operate a TON. Over 2000 cases by graduation. Don't have a permanent chair. Resident said that it didn't make that much of a difference. Ok.

my 2 cents:

Rotations - Important in orthopedics. I recommend doing 2. (home, away, away) Pick 2 places you'd like to go, with differing "competitiveness" (look through this site to get an idea--but take it with a grain of salt). Look into it, as far as people/training connections between your school and the other (on the program websites). Note that I didn't do this. Also, I would imagine that some schools are better than others, as far as "yield" for rotators.

Applying - go big and go diverse, but make sure to include your school's region.
Grades - work hard.
Research - try to at least get involved with something, even if it's halfway through 3rd year, but the earlier the better. work hard.
Step 1 - work hard.

Other (most important) - believe in yourself. be nice. be honest. try to have fun. have interests outside of medicine. think about the big picture. work hard. smile. laugh. relax.

and congrats to everyone else who matched this year
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sorry, I forgot to add board scores, not that they are important or anything.


Step I: 230
Step II: 234