Wilmer/Sinai
I was a medical student in this program. Outstanding. But don't expect to be a general ophthalmologist from here. This program will come out and directly say that they are training academics and future department heads. Your surgical experience will be much less than others; but their rationale is that grads will go into fellowship to refine surgical skills. Call is Q4Days and you have to man the Wilmer Eye ER at night. This is a tough ordeal. Lots of trauma in Baltimore. I really liked Wilmer but my wife wanted to leave Baltimore. They accept 8 residents per year.
Mass E&E
Another impressive institution. I liked this program too. Similar to Wilmer in attitude and prestige. Surgical experience is not as great, but all their grads do fellowships. If I didn't have a family, I'd go here. Boston is very expensive to live. I think there are 6 residents per year. They love MD-PhD types.
UCSF
Don't know much about this program. It's smaller than most. I think there are 4 residents a year.
Stanford
Don't know much about this one either.
Michigan
Outstanding program. Several attendings in my program graduated from the from Michigan program.
UCLA
Outstanding program. The residents seem unhappy though because they have to travel a lot between different hospitals. In LA, that could mean a considerable commute. All residents receive laptops.
I think there are 6 residents a year.
You forgot about Iowa
Absolutely awesome. Strong in both research and clinical training. Many faculty here our authors of major text books in their specialities. Iowa is one of the oldest programs and consistently ranks 3rd for best residency programs.. followed by Miami and Wilmer. US NEWS ranks it 6th but I think it's because the research money is not as much as some of the other eye institutions. We have 5 residents a year. Iowa City is a nice college town.
