Author Comment EAC23 Registered User Posts: 1 (4/10/01 8:47:28 pm) Reply North Carolina I am currently a third year student very much interested in pursuing an ortho residency. For various reasons I am focusing on North Carolina. I am interested in hearing peoples opinions of the NC programs (Duke, UNC etc..) in terms of quality of education, workload, resident morale, competitiveness or any other pertinent comments people have to offer. Thanks in advance for all replies. Techno Registered User Posts: 11 (4/11/01 10:20:24 am) Reply North Carolina Duke does a great job of selling its program during interviews, but I didn't buy it. It's still a malignant program despite what the residents try to tell you, and you also get to wear white pants as an intern. They rank you high if you tell them "you're my No. 1 program" following interviews. Lots of gamesmanship there. BUT, Duke still has a stellar academic reputation. UNC is an under-rated program that's strong on research. The current chair at UNC used to be Duke faculty. Solid overall program, tough schedule, good training... but a bit of an inferiority complex being so close to Duke and all. There's really no need for the complex since the program is excellent. Following interviews, the residency director will send letters to its top applicants letting them know that they are going to be ranked highly. Don't forget the Carolinas Medical Center. Almost impossible to get into (they have several former professional sports players for residents), but great call schedule, great training, and INCREDIBLE PERKS. This is a community training program that's as high-powered as any academic program. These guys treat their residents right. Do a sub-internship to be considered strongly here, but make sure you are star quality; otherwise, the sub-I won't really matter. EAC23 Registered User Posts: 2 (4/11/01 1:22:49 pm) Reply Re: North Carolina Any insights into the Wake Forest program? Techno Registered User Posts: 12 (4/11/01 3:15:57 pm) Reply North Carolina Don't know much about Wake Forest. Didn't apply, didn't interview. I believe that Wake Forest has had to fill its 1 (or is it 2?) spot in the scramble for the past two years. I could be wrong about this, but too lazy to check. crazy joe davola Registered User Posts: 25 (4/11/01 11:17:22 pm) Reply Wake and its unfilled spot Wake Forest has filled its 7-year research spot in the scramble for at least the last two years. I will tell you that they seemed very disorganized and somewhat unprofessional when I tried to schedule a rotation there (in February). There are no official waiting lists for rotation spots. If they have no room for you, any spots that open up are apparently first come, first served. Once there, however, I think most guys had good things to say and ranked it highly. TR1 Registered User Posts: 14 (4/12/01 5:54:32 am) Reply Duke I did a month at Duke, and can't say enough good things about the program. See my post within the last month regarding southeast programs. They do try to "sell" the program during the interview, much like the other top programs do. Contrary to popular opinion, the program is not nearly as malignant as some would like to think. They enforce a maximum 80 hour/week schedule (which amounts to going home before noon post call) and have the most vacation time out of any program I looked at (5 weeks). And, also contrary to many opinions, the graduates there are technically sound in the OR. The only potential "catch" is that you spend virtually all of your 4th year far away from Duke (Asheville NC, Fort Bragg NC, Greeneville SC). But these are apparently great operative opportunities. hurricane26 Registered User Posts: 10 (4/12/01 11:57:05 am) Reply DUKE TR1, where did you wind up matching? TR1 Registered User Posts: 15 (4/14/01 4:03:31 pm) Reply Match Duke.