Sorry, I don't know anything about MCW.
Ohio State provides excellent training in comprehensive ophthalmology - it is not very well-known outside the midwest, due in part to the fact that many of the older faculty trained at OSU. All of the subspecialties are represented including neuro-ophth and uveitis. The residents get a lot of hands-on experience from day 1 due to busy residents clinics at two VAs, the Children's Hospital, an inmate clinic, and a busy hospital and ED consult service. The department just moved into a new building with an ASC in 2009, there are a lot of young faculty (who trained outside OSU) who have joined the program in the past 4 years, and the program director is excellent. Surgery numbers remain very good even though the class size increased to 6 recently. (>170 cataracts, no problems fulfilling the other ACGME requirements, residents start operating, performing plastics office procedures, lasers, and intravitreal injections in the first year.) The program pays for all books including the academy series, Kanski, Ryan's Retina, and a lot more. You also get an indirect and lenses. The faculty are not even remotely malignant, and the residents work well together. (if you haven't figured it out by now, I am an OSU resident!)
If you are interested in academic medicine and research, you may be a little disappointed, although the newest retina faculty member (Bascom Palmer residency and fellowship trained) is just getting her lab started. However, it is crucial to get a good foundation in ophthalmology during residency; you can always do a fellowship at a research/academically-oriented program afterward...but, you do not need to do a fellowship in order to get more experience if you are going into comprehensive ophthalmology. Approximately half of each residency class has done fellowships in the past 4-5 years. (glaucoma, retina, peds, cornea.)
Columbus is a typical midwest city, very car-oriented. A lot of residents have families and buy houses or condos because the cost of living is low compared to the coasts. Ohio has been hit hard by the recession, but Columbus is one of the only cities in the state that is still growing.
