I interviewed at Yale this year and came away impressed with the program. The strongest asset of the program is its residents - they are a great bunch of guys / gals who get along together very well. They have a mix of academic and private practice clinical exposure, with most of the guys in private practice having trained at Yale or who used to be faculty there. New Haven is New Haven - most residents lived in the surrounding communities; lots of waterfront properties not too far away. I thought the elective time was a unique thing among residencies - you get a few months in your third year to do whatever clinical rotation you want - great to get more exposure to any perceived weakness or to decide what to do for fellowship. Big names include Friedlander (Tumor), Baumgartner (Trauma), and Renshaw (Peds). Biggest perceived weakness is probably the lack of depth of academic faculty due to salary issues a few years back - residents claim that the private practice exposure makes up for it. Sports / arthroscopy also seemed kind of lacking - their exposure was through a combined sports / foot / ankle rotation at one of the private hospitals. Joints experience is high volume and very good, from what I've heard. For me personally, I would have ranked them at the top of my list except there was nothing drawing me to that area location-wise and I thought there were still a few questions regarding the depth of exposure in certain areas, but it was in my Top 5 - a very solid program.
