community program interest

[wiggle]

hello~
i did a search over the past 1+ years of threads here (and some on orthogate.com as well) and couldn't come up with much info regarding community programs. i'm interested in hearing about any community programs or programs more open to checking out the the middle-of-the-road ortho applicant. my interest is really in general orthopaedics, and a community program seems the best fit for me, my interests, and my potential application - any suggestions as to programs to look into? i'm right now thinking of scheduling my away rotations for my 4th year of school and want to try and tailor where i do my aways with places i'd be more likely to match and/or where i'd like to match. i'm trying to maintain my realism.

any suggestions? or feedback about more of the community-based programs you've encountered? thanks a lot in advance.

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[asdf123]

wiggle...what part of the country are you looking at? It makes it very difficult to give you any ideas without knowing the region you're interested in.

Caution: just because a program is a "community" program does not make it easier to match into. There are some very highly desirable community programs that are much more competitive than your average so-called "academic" or university-based program. Examples are Carolinas medical center, William Beaumont and Lennox Hill. These are tougher to match into than most academic places.

In addition to above programs which are top-notch, there are several solid community programs out there: Ohio has a couple in Akron and Summa. Mount Carmel is another community program in Ohio. Look into Orlando regional...great program in a great location. Allegheny (in Pittsburgh) is solid as is Geisinger in (somewhere in PA)...Geisinger gives you excellent training but problem is you're in the middle of nowhere for 5 years. If you hava a family it's great. If you're single you may go insane. Also, definitely look into Union Memorial in maryland. There are several others in Michigan: McLaren, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids...I don't know anything about them.

Another thing to consider: Just because a program is "university-based" does not mean it is "academic" regardless of how that program tries to portray itself. The staff at many of these places do very little research and neither do the residents. And often these less well-known programs are less competitive than the above programs I mentioned. Just something to keep in mind. Don't judge a book by its cover.

hope this helps.

 

[wiggle]

wiggle...what part of the country are you looking at? It makes it very difficult to give you any ideas without knowing the region you're interested in.

Caution: just because a program is a "community" program does not make it easier to match into. There are some very highly desirable community programs that are much more competitive than your average so-called "academic" or university-based program. Examples are Carolinas medical center, William Beaumont and Lennox Hill. These are tougher to match into than most academic places.

In addition to above programs which are top-notch, there are several solid community programs out there: Ohio has a couple in Akron and Summa. Mount Carmel is another community program in Ohio. Look into Orlando regional...great program in a great location. Allegheny (in Pittsburgh) is solid as is Geisinger in (somewhere in PA)...Geisinger gives you excellent training but problem is you're in the middle of nowhere for 5 years. If you hava a family it's great. If you're single you may go insane. Also, definitely look into Union Memorial in maryland. There are several others in Michigan: McLaren, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids...I don't know anything about them.

Another thing to consider: Just because a program is "university-based" does not mean it is "academic" regardless of how that program tries to portray itself. The staff at many of these places do very little research and neither do the residents. And often these less well-known programs are less competitive than the above programs I mentioned. Just something to keep in mind. Don't judge a book by its cover.

hope this helps.

thanks much - yes, i'm aware some community programs are difficult to get into as well ... hence, i'm looking for things that are more of a fit for my entire "situation," as well. i'm looking mostly in the midwest (michigan, ohio) t and east/southeast (nc, sc, va, pa, specifically) but am open to pretty much anything except the great plains and new york city (sorry, just really really don't want to live there.) middle-of-nowhere isn't too appealing either, but i can't be too picky w/my numbers.

also, i'm not going for somewhere research-heavy, and that's something i'm taking into consideration when thinking about programs. so the points you brought up are great, and i'm trying to take them into consideration - it's just good to hear some reinforcement of those ideas.

thanks for giving me a couple of program names worth looking into for m4 rotations. allegheny general, msu/kalamazoo, msu/grand rapids, summa and mcv/vcu are up there on my list right now. thanks for your input! much appreciated.

 

[Bull's eye]

wiggle...what part of the country are you looking at? It makes it very difficult to give you any ideas without knowing the region you're interested in.

Caution: just because a program is a "community" program does not make it easier to match into. There are some very highly desirable community programs that are much more competitive than your average so-called "academic" or university-based program. Examples are Carolinas medical center, William Beaumont and Lennox Hill. These are tougher to match into than most academic places.

In addition to above programs which are top-notch, there are several solid community programs out there: Ohio has a couple in Akron and Summa. Mount Carmel is another community program in Ohio. Look into Orlando regional...great program in a great location. Allegheny (in Pittsburgh) is solid as is Geisinger in (somewhere in PA)...Geisinger gives you excellent training but problem is you're in the middle of nowhere for 5 years. If you hava a family it's great. If you're single you may go insane. Also, definitely look into Union Memorial in maryland. There are several others in Michigan: McLaren, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids...I don't know anything about them.

Another thing to consider: Just because a program is "university-based" does not mean it is "academic" regardless of how that program tries to portray itself. The staff at many of these places do very little research and neither do the residents. And often these less well-known programs are less competitive than the above programs I mentioned. Just something to keep in mind. Don't judge a book by its cover.

hope this helps.

I'm glad someone agrees with me here. There is a very common misconception that "University based" is better than "Community based", and the truth of the matter is, it depends on what you want to get out of your residency. Some people want to see more pathology/ Trauma/ ect. Some want to do just enough of that and do 50 gazzillion knees/hips/ scopes. The former program director at the Univerity of Washington gave a lecture about how to get into an ortho program, and his advice was simple. He said that in ortho you see the same things over and over, so volume is the key. If you are going to be doing the very few zebras you should be fellowship trained.

 

[GoodMonkey]

thanks for bringing up this topic, wiggle ... i'm considering similar things and input is always of interest to me. i've heard good things about the programs at kzoo and grand rapids in michigan, but i'm just an m3 (4 months to go until 4th year!) as well, so i'm sorry to say, i don't have much in the way of advice.

 

[monique]

I interviewed at Carolinas and it was awesome. The residents were extremely nice and it's easy to see why: they are treated very well there. I didn't rotate there but I got the sense that you operate early and the perks just went on and on. If you're looking for a community program definitely apply there. Feel free to PM me if you want more details.