I interviewed at several west coast programs, and ended up matching at Oregon, which was my first choice. There are several reasons I chose OHSU- I felt that Oregon is an up and coming program with a great new chairman (Dr. Dirschl from UNC). The trauma experience is great, but you are not overwhelmed. The faculty is growing quickly and full of well trained orthopods. The program used to be weak a couple years ago but is rapidly becoming a excellent program. The call is q6 all 4 years and the residents are good people. Besides, Portland is a great city to live in- Good skiing, mountain biking, etc.
As for other programs, I also liked New Mexico and UArizona a lot. Both are good programs, although NM is probably better than AZ. AZ did just expand to 3 residents this year and Dr. Grana is a big Sports guy, so it is up and coming also.
Feel free to email me with more questions about west coast programs. :roll smile: