Ortho - does med school rep matter?

[zer0el]

i know that this topic has been discussed before, but i haven't been able to get a definitive answer. i'm not even med school yet (will be matriculating this fall), but because ortho is something i'm considering, i thought that this would be a relevant question to ask. basically, all other factors being equal (e.g., good board scores, LOR's, etc.), would an applicant from CWRU, Georgetown, Northwestern, or UCI have the best chance of matching into a competitive orthopedic surgery residency? CWRU has new connections with Cleveland Clinic, Northwestern has the best rep out of the four (as far as I can tell), and UCI is located in CA (where i hope to do my residency). thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[ortho2003]

GT and NW seem to match more students in ortho than just about any school. All the schools you mentioned are top schools, but for pure numbers GT and NW probably match more guys just because they have more applicants. My advice is go where you think you will be happiest and make sure to kick ass.

 

[surfdevl02]

Ortho2003, do you know why Gtown matches so many students to ortho (a competitive residency) even though their rep and rankings might be falling recently?? Is the ortho staff at GT hospital really good?

 

[ortho2003]

From what I have heard GT's ortho guys do a good job of pumping the sutdents up about ortho in the preclinical years. Along the interview trail, I have heard many guys want to leave there, so I don't think it is the strength of the program. I think it is merely pure numbers. Jefferson in Phili is another program that seems to match 20 guys every year, however, it seems that it is the strength of their program that makes the difference.