Applying as a Couple?

[Constant_Ease3914]

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So my SO and I are both applying this cycle. We will be applying to 30+ MD schools all over the country to maximize our chances of getting into the same school, or the same city at the least. There isn't much info out there on situations like ours and we were wondering if anyone has any advice on what else we could do outside of building a broad school list to improve our chances.

1. How would an adcom perceive mentioning an SO in the secondary/interview?
2. Does mentioning each other hurt/help both of our chances at some schools (Miami, Michigan, Penn seem to view it somewhat favorably)?
3. Does applying together destroy our chances of getting offered financial aid at a school that would take both of us?

For reference:
3.9/526 MCAT, URM, average EC, NM resident + 3.9/518 MCAT, ORM, above average EC, DE resident
Both attending TX undergrad, some research, no publications

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

So my SO and I are both applying this cycle. We will be applying to 30+ MD schools all over the country to maximize our chances of getting into the same school, or the same city at the least. There isn't much info out there on situations like ours and we were wondering if anyone has any advice on what else we could do outside of building a broad school list to improve our chances.

1. How would an adcom perceive mentioning an SO in the secondary/interview?
2. Does mentioning each other hurt/help both of our chances at some schools (Miami, Michigan, Penn seem to view it somewhat favorably)?
3. Does applying together destroy our chances of getting offered financial aid at a school that would take both of us?

For reference:
3.9/526 MCAT, URM, average EC, NM resident + 3.9/518 MCAT, ORM, above average EC, DE resident
Both attending TX undergrad, some research, no publications

Is there any way you could qualify for Texas residency? I think there's a good chance you can both match at the same school if you play your TMDSAS cards right. There's a possibility you could both get at least one pre-match offer that intersects.

 

[Lemonlime98]

The first partner is going to get almost everywhere... killer stats + URM status is gonna land top 5-10 schools. The second is going to have much harder cycle but most likely still a good one, just not at the same caliber at the first. So it will be difficult to stay in the same school unless one person makes a sacrifice and goes to the lower ranked school. Otherwise, trying to go to same city with multiple med schools could also work

 

[harmony14]

Is there any way you could qualify for Texas residency? I think there's a good chance you can both match at the same school if you play your TMDSAS cards right. There's a possibility you could both get at least one pre-match offer that intersects.

Utmb is the intersecting school LOL

 

[Vivid_Quail]

3.9/526 MCAT, URM

Uh...wow I am under-accomplished. anyways...

Are you all married/been dating for 3+ years? Honestly this is one of the few situations that the Early Decision Program (EDP) makes sense. 3.8/518 is extremely competitive for MD schools but 3.9/526 MCAT URM is not even something I would think up when I am trying to be funny about the ideal applicant that could get in to any school. It is beyond meme-level competitive. If you guys want to be together more than anything, even school prestige, I would consider talking to UNM COM dean of admissions, explain your situation, say you would love to go to their school more than anything else and you want to be with your SO as you go through medical school (support system etc etc). Then apply ED and be accepted into medical school by October 15th and spend the rest of the year chilling and planning your wedding lol.

The thing with early decision program is that you don't have to worry about being rejected because of yield protection...without ED, for the 518 MCAT ORM they might yield protect because you are out-of-state and could pick a cheaper school and for the 526 MCAT URM...I mean that person will be getting into a top 10 school as long as they don't cuss out their interviewer, so that is a no brainer yield protection. But with ED, you HAVE to go to their school so they will accept you even if you are "over-qualified."

If EDP blows up in your face and one of you aren't accepted to your EDP school, you will be behind in the cycle and submitting primaries in October; you might have to do two cycles. But if you get the blessing from the Dean of Admissions before applying and with your stats, it is highly unlikely it will blow up in your face.

If you don't want to do ED, then if you both get an II at a school, after listing 2-3 reasons why you want to go to their school, say that your SO is interviewing here as well, and obviously your top priority is to be with your life partner. I did that and it worked out. My SO and I are in the same medical school class BUT we also made sure we had the same state residency for exactly this reason. Makes picking a school to gun for a lot easier.

 

[Vivid_Quail]

The second is going to have much harder cycle but most likely still a good one

I would not say the second one is going to have a hard cycle by any means. They just aren't a turbo-meme of the best possible candidate like their SO. They are still a top 5-6% of applicant and top 12% accepted MD student stat wise. I don't think you can say that is "hard"...maybe "not as ridiculously easy" is a better way to say it compared to their partner who is going to have a "walk into Harvard and get your own parking spot" level of easy cycle.

 

[MEtoMD]

If being at the same school is a truly a priority then I think there should be many mid-tier schools and maybe just a few lower tier included in your list. With 526/3.9 that person will have their pick almost any medical school. The person with 518/3.9 will have multiple acceptances I’m sure too but will probably have trouble getting into the top of top schools. For the person with 526/3.9 I think it would be advantageous to mention SO when interviewing/applying at mid-tier schools because they’ll be wondering why the heck you applied to them when you’re way above their average stats.

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

Just an applicant here.....but, Philly might be good city to target with Penn, Drexel, Jefferson, and Temple. Same with NYC considering Mt. Sinai, Einstein, Columbia, and Hofstra. Baltimore with Hopkins and U. Maryland. And Boston with Harvard, BU, Tufts. Each have top 10 schools and then top 30-80 schools cross town. St. Louis has Wash U and SLU. Chicago with Pritzker, Northwestern, Rush, Loyola, etc.

I think the odds of getting into the same school that you are both happy with may be a long shot, but same city might be quite reasonable.

 

[Tenk]

If you aren’t engaged or married this will hold very little if any weight. If you are married, definitely mention it. Engaged may be hit or miss.

 

[Arsartium]

So my SO and I are both applying this cycle. We will be applying to 30+ MD schools all over the country to maximize our chances of getting into the same school, or the same city at the least. There isn't much info out there on situations like ours and we were wondering if anyone has any advice on what else we could do outside of building a broad school list to improve our chances.

1. How would an adcom perceive mentioning an SO in the secondary/interview?
2. Does mentioning each other hurt/help both of our chances at some schools (Miami, Michigan, Penn seem to view it somewhat favorably)?
3. Does applying together destroy our chances of getting offered financial aid at a school that would take both of us?

For reference:
3.9/526 MCAT, URM, average EC, NM resident + 3.9/518 MCAT, ORM, above average EC, DE resident
Both attending TX undergrad, some research, no publications

1. Not an adcom yet, but it's part of your story. Your story is what draws the interviewer in. Interviewed at over a dozen places during my cycle. Didn't mention my SO in maybe 1 or 2.
2. No harm at all. You might get each other interview invites. Mention in interview and remind them again in your thank you letter/email.
3. What makes you think that? You're negotiating as a unit now. The candidate a school wants more can bargain a scholarship for the other.

Don't be afraid to actively work on your partner's behalf. Consider sending emails when one of your gets an interview invite to a school you both applied to. It's can be nice to interview together (especially if travel resumes).

You both have the stats. You're probably both highly qualified for medical school. Sometimes one partner gets noticed before the other one. All you need to do is get an adcom to take a second look. When you have 50 excellent candidates for each spot, decisions become a little arbitrary. Use that to your advantage.

Godspeed.

 

[Constant_Ease3914]

If you aren’t engaged or married this will hold very little if any weight. If you are married, definitely mention it. Engaged may be hit or miss.

We are engaged, at the higher-end schools (T10,T20) I assume it probably holds very little if any weight compared to the mid-tiers?

1. Not an adcom yet, but it's part of your story. Your story is what draws the interviewer in. Interviewed at over a dozen places during my cycle. Didn't mention my SO in maybe 1 or 2.
2. No harm at all. You might get each other interview invites. Mention in interview and remind them again in your thank you letter/email.
3. What makes you think that? You're negotiating as a unit now. The candidate a school wants more can bargain a scholarship for the other.

Don't be afraid to actively work on your partner's behalf. Consider sending emails when one of your gets an interview invite to a school you both applied to. It's can be nice to interview together (especially if travel resumes).

You both have the stats. You're probably both highly qualified for medical school. Sometimes one partner gets noticed before the other one. All you need to do is get an adcom to take a second look. When you have 50 excellent candidates for each spot, decisions become a little arbitrary. Use that to your advantage.

Godspeed.

If you wouldn't mind, was there a specific reason that you didn't mention your SO in those 1/2 interviews?

1) You damn well better mention it in secondaries no matter how you have to work it in else no one with no you are a couple. In fact I would suggest you write a separate letter to each school expressing your desire to be considered as a couple. Actually I would even go further by writing letters NOW to all the schools explaining your situation and ask how you can best proceed to be considered as a couple
2) Is you goal to get into medical school or to get into medical school as a couple? If the latter then worrying how a school will perceive it is immaterial and counter productive.
3) Financial Aid would seem less of the issue.

You have two have make the decision here of which is more important: each getting into medical school or getting into medical school as a couple

Our #1 priority is being with each other (or at least the same city as @Putkernerinthehall suggested), and obviously any kind of financial aid would be icing on the cake. I guess what we were wondering is how should we best play our cards given that we would've been competitive applicants on our own? Based on this thread, we will mention each other in every secondary. Lower-mid tier schools so 526 URM doesn't get yield-protected. At some of the higher-end schools (since applying as a couple probably matters a lot less there) would it make any sense for us to apply separately (as in not mention each other)?

 

[KnightDoc]

Our #1 priority is being with each other (or at least the same city as @Putkernerinthehall suggested), and obviously any kind of financial aid would be icing on the cake. I guess what we were wondering is how should we best play our cards given that we would've been competitive applicants on our own? Based on this thread, we will mention each other in every secondary. Lower-mid tier schools so 526 URM doesn't get yield-protected. At some of the higher-end schools (since applying as a couple probably matters a lot less there) would it make any sense for us to apply separately (as in not mention each other)?

I'm not an adcom, so please feel free to ignore me, but I definitely think it makes sense to mention it. A 526 URM is a purple unicorn all schools covet, so I just don't see how mentioning this will hurt. The benefit would be that it might get the 518 ORM a look you otherwise wouldn't get at a tippy top school.

 

[deleted1020966]

My SO and I were in a similar situation this past cycle, and the only school that seemed to be receptive to this info was UMichigan. They have a question on their secondary asking if you're applying with someone else and this was also brought up during our interviews. We didn't mention each other to any other schools (because we weren't sure how effective it would be), but will probably do so if one of us gets on a waitlist to a school where the other is accepted. I wish you the best of luck with your cycle!

 

[WildWing]

This article details the experience of one married couple applying in the same year, with a similar situation of variety in stats:

Medical School Admissions as a Couple | SDN

Access free resources, expert advice, and tools to advance your medical career.

www.studentdoctor.net

Note that you may need to be prepared to apply to more schools to get an overlap.

 

[Arsartium]

We are engaged, at the higher-end schools (T10,T20) I assume it probably holds very little if any weight compared to the mid-tiers?


If you wouldn't mind, was there a specific reason that you didn't mention your SO in those 1/2 interviews?


Our #1 priority is being with each other (or at least the same city as @Putkernerinthehall suggested), and obviously any kind of financial aid would be icing on the cake. I guess what we were wondering is how should we best play our cards given that we would've been competitive applicants on our own? Based on this thread, we will mention each other in every secondary. Lower-mid tier schools so 526 URM doesn't get yield-protected. At some of the higher-end schools (since applying as a couple probably matters a lot less there) would it make any sense for us to apply separately (as in not mention each other)?

No particular reason for not mentioning my partner. It’s been a few years now but sometimes it didn’t come up (e.g. MMI) or it was school we didn’t both apply to.

No reason to apply “separately” for top schools. Don’t do the work for them. Let them tell you “no.” Seen a few couples end up at a T10 with generous financial aid — we were one such couple.

 

[proudofmykids]

I’d say to actually get legally married for it to carry more weight at more programs.