This topic has probably been beaten to death, but hadn't seen anything recent so I thought I'd ask. I come from a fairly unknown community program in the NE and hope to match into an academic arthroplasty fellowship (current PGY-3). I have 30+ publications of which about 60% are first author and the vast majority are joints. How much stock is put into the credentials of letter writers and the reputation of my program? Am I unlikely to get interviews at the ivory tower places (CMC, Rothman, Mayo, HSS) due to the lack of connections? Thanks.
