This is a very argueable (sp?) question and I don't want to start any wars on this forum but academic programs generally believed to be at the top include (in no particular order):

Cornell/HSS
NYU/HJD
Duke
Mayo Clinic
Cleveland Clinic
Case Western Reserve University
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Iowa
U. Pitt

search in prior posts too...this was discussed by last year's class too. I'm sure there are a few more of these dream schools ... but beware ... as I'm learning from an AI right now at one of these institutions, you have to see a program first hand and decide if you will fit in before you just decide you like it based on the name...hope that helps & best of luck.

Pay NO attention to the U.S. News and World reports rankings. They mean absolutely nothing.

Bonejock,

i wonder why you say that...could it be that Case is absent from the top 10?

Just kidding.

But you have to admit their top 3 (Mayo, HSS, Harvard) are pretty darn good programs.

Micky,

Dude that hurt. What did I ever do to you ?

No seriously, that has something to do with it. And I agree that some of the programs that they have ranked high deserve it (mayo, harvard, iowa, ccf, etc.). Others, like a certain program in detroit that shall remain nameless, don't deserve to be on the list. And I think that some (like myself) when applying don't know the difference between a great ortho program and a great ortho residency training program. The US NRP seems to be geared more towards ranking good programs. With that said, I did use the US NRP as a starting point to figure out which programs I was going to apply to.

US NRP??? United States National Ranking Program??? What exactly does it stand for and how does one look it up? I am to the point where "you get a great training at most programs except a handful" and will be relying on the residents at the programs for the rest but would appreciate an unbiased or trustworthy source to help find the great residency training programs. Anybody else find that they are looking at where they can use their toys in their free time (golf clubs, kayak, mountain bike, surf board)? I don't really have a good way to tell if the program is truly for me so am sadly, or not so sadly, using location as a key factor.

I think it's better to be choosy with which interviews to attend than being choosy with which programs to apply.

Definitely top 10, some would argue top 5
University of Pennsylvania
University of Washington Seattle

Another big hitter and popular program in the midwest
Northwestern

Solid programs in Cali
UCSD
UCLA
UCSF
Stanford

I would also venture that Mass General is quite decent and as far as any community programs go Akron is top-shelf. Just one man's $.10 and my $.02 is free. That song is pretty stinking catchy. :roll smile:

I think the top academic programs are Iowa, HSS, harvard, Mayo and Cleveland Clinic. There are bunch of other programs that are awesome, but the above I think are top of the line.

About U Penn, I don't know clinically, however, in the past few years they were in the 20s when it came to NIH grants; they are now #3 and they have a few PhDs soley devoted to ortho research