Hey,
I'm a 4th year med student at Rochester. The program here is nice, attendings are mostly really interesting and friendly and they take resident education seriously. The environment is pretty relaxed overall. As Kassie mentioned, there is a brand new "eye institute" (still waiting to see who will endow enough $ to get their name on it) which is part of the large university teaching hospital. Since getting a new chair several around 5 years ago, the department has more than doubled in size and continues to grow. Also Rochester is home of a famous optics institute, as well as Bausch and Lomb and Kodak - so visual and imaging science is really big here. The department has started to capitalize on this by forming partnerships which are aiding the departmental expansion. B&L uses the department's refractive surgery center as a testbed for their newest excimer designs and such (though you wont be involved in this as a resident, afaik). There is some pretty cool research going on with adaptive optics imaging for ultra high-res retinal images, kind of like scanning laser ophthalmoscopy on steroids. But again, not really too meaningful for the residents who stay pretty busy in clinic. It is a pretty academic environment overall I would say with lots of opportunity for clinical research but not very much dedicated ophthalmology basic science research (mostly neurology, optics, neuroprotection stuff).
As far as program details, 3 residents/yr, surgical numbers seem to be middle-of-the-road, supervision is good, the facilities are great, support staff is super. Faculty have strong ties with USC, Wilmer, Iowa. The University of Rochester is a reasonably well-known place with a good reputation nationally.
Negatives- the department is small to mid-sized and some of the subspecialties aren't represented by multiple faculty (though they are actively recruiting), there is no real VA surgical experience (only a VA outpatient clinic, though I was told they are considering forming a partnership with a VA hospital about an hour away), the weather obviously sucks, Rochester itself may be terribly boring or great depending on what you are used to (most locals seem to think it is a MUCH better place to live than Buffalo or Syracuse though in terms of diversity/stuff to do - and I was suprised by how livable it actually is).
As far as Syracuse, I don't know too much about the program. It is a very small program (2 residents/yr). Certainly much more of a 'college town' feel in Syracuse (than Rochester with its small private schools and more diverse population). However I have heard that the ophthalmology program is pretty good and there are supposedly some great teachers there. They have a really really famous ocular pathologist who is still active faculty after many years there.
