In the end, most of us have only spent any meaningful time at 5 to 7 programs at most (PI, StJohn Main Detroit, DMC, UPenn, West Penn for me... visited Oakwood/Beaumont Wayne). Most students didn't do all top program clerkships. Many did not match at their top choice... or even any of their clerkships, so there is often sour grapes there. People have different learning style, different confidence/autonomy, and different personality/social style. Regardless, nobody has clerked at 10+ or 20+ programs (and stayed up to date on them!).
It'll all be hearsay and opinion regarding residency programs, but we
do know a lot of DPM programs are totally inadequate. So, I think it's good to
respect the half or so that are adequate and definitely recognize the 25% or so that are good/great in terms of volume, attendings, etc.
After that, it's up to the student/clerk as to what they want. It's always best to seek the top training one can find and match to. It's a life-changing decision (skills, knowledge, ABFAS board pass, jobs, networking, etc) as to what residencies to visit, interview, and rank.
...that program is hyped up/called a good program when it simply is not and I feel students get duped into going there as a result. ...
...Pretty sure I overheard at ACFAS this year that ... ...I heard is not what it used to be... ... I never rotated there so I can’t say for sure but have heard...
... which imo is a big reason why...
...there are definitely worse programs to end up at but it’s not a program I’d put in my list of top northeast programs...
...UPMC used to be great but with the loss of Burns and their Ortho trauma rotation, I’m not sure how they’re gonna recover from that. West Penn is great for recon and bread and butter but just know they don’t do trauma.
... I’d rank that program in a top 5 if I had one. You get so much volume and so much interesting pathology all their residents are super smart and great with their hands. I was very impressed by this program...
...that’s a program I’ve been told to warn students to avoid.
... I hear JPS thrown around a lot as a great program though...
...but that’s just me.
I know several grads from medstar and several residents there right now. what i wrote is a combo of my extern experience as well as things they’ve told me about their program that they experience... ... Those things came out of the lips of a resident and now graduate from there and it’s not the first time i’ve heard that. maybe some residents have crappy luck and are having a different experience than those of you doing SMOs and TARs there.
... i’ve never heard a bad thing said about him in fact he’s probably the selling point for the program because of how supportive i’ve heard he is so there’s that.
This is what I am talking about bolded above... it's basically all hearsay or total rumors. I'm not sure that's concrete info. We are talking about places we've never been (much like bickering about pod schools when nobody has attended more than maybe two at most).
Not knocking anyone in particular or any residency program, but it's simply NOT possible to have
good current intel on many programs without hearsay and second/third/etc hand (supposed) info. I don't know that we can do much more than provide lists of generally good quality programs or poor quality ones, so why not just do that? It's impossible to review and describe a dozen or two dozen programs' pro/con without risking
much misinformation. I think we've all played that game "telephone" as kids?
...For example, West Penn gets elite elective recon (obviously... since they publish it), but they also have adequate trauma, contrary to above: "don't do trauma." They have virtually 100% alumni ABFAS BQ pass rate (which obviously includes trauma knowledge). I watched multiple West Penn attendings reduce and residents splint stuff in their main hospital ER. I saw numerous ORIF personally and on the schedule in my one month rotation. They also do cadaver lab and sawbone and rep workshops regularly. Are they on the level of some other top programs for trauma (KY, Det, JPS, etc)? No, not for trauma volume... but they cover it adequately and tend to have have more quality/diverse elective and academics than those peers. Residency PMSR thread will have much more current info and exp of clerks. Either way, they have top notch attendings, so sometimes you don't need to see it 100x over if you do good academics and have good teachers. It's is a solid program, worth visiting and far above average... even with Mendo moved on.