ortho2003,
Rule No. 1 on the interview trail: Don't believe it until you see it. Many people unintentionally disseminate info that is blatantly wrong about programs. Most of this is just hear-say that is passed on year after year. So if you hear something, make a mental note of it and then try to find out from a reputable source (i.e. an ortho faculty person, not another applicant). With that said, there is no source that I know of that officially gives you that kind of info about programs. On the other hand, be wary if you do hear rumors about a program. Usually rumors don't get started out of the blue. There might be some truth to them.
Secondly, "probation" is a pretty broad term. You need to find out why a program is on vacation, and what they're doing to remedy the situation. A program can be on probation for some pretty miniscule things to something that is a ligitimate warning flag. The Yale G-surg program is an example. They just got they're accreditation snatched because of resident work hours, not something tragic like poor academic instruction, resident mortality
, or something bad like that.
