In the end, you have to study the materials yourself, put the evening/weekend time in the cadaver lab and library yourself, find and read the journal articles, quiz yourself and study partners, study and pass the boards yourself…
Personally, I think the one thing you can't do on your own is volume of experiences (clinic pts as a student, surgery volume as a resident, etc)… so those are key. Clinic volume is probably numero uno in my eyes. Sure, faculty is helpful for motivation and keeping you engaged ("big picture" goals), but you need to get out of the prep and paperwork and on to the actual thinking and working on your feet eventually. Good professors (and upperclassmen / senior residents) can absolutely help with mentor ship, but you need to cultivate lot of that desire to review and prep for cases/surgery on your own at any school or hospital also. The journals, textbooks, etc are available anywhere, though. JMO