'26-27 ERAS Advice: Looking for ortho programs open to prelim surgery applicants

Context: Entering PGY-1 in July 2026 as a preliminary surgery intern, but still interested in applying to orthopedic residencies.

Question for the Group: Before taking the approach of "cold-calling" outreach to programs to discern whether or not they are open to considering preliminary applicants, I wanted to poll this forum. Does your program (or any that you know of) have a strong stance on prelim applicants (either does or does not consider applicants coming off a prelim surgery year)? I would love to gather some data on this to streamline application strategy. 

• Note: In the age of signaling, it would seem this is a really critical threshold to maximize potential to Match given the ability to filter out applicants, so information from most recent years with signalling is preferred but any data is helpful! 

Follow up Question: As an additional question for those who know of programs that have matched people from prelim years or are open to considering prelim applicants, any insights on ways to best make myself known to these programs and application features to adjust ahead of the 2026-2027 ERAS application submissions would be appreciated.

Really useful thread, planning to start reaching out to programs soon and this kind of intel is exactly what I needed first. Away rotations seem like the obvious move but good to hear it confirmed by people who have been through the process. Anyone have specific insight on community programs in the Midwest or Southeast being more open to prelim applicants in recent cycles?