applying with your honey

[nashtrash]

hey--I was just wondering if any of you guys are trying to go to the same medical school with your boyfriend/girlfriend/fiance or if anybody has had experience trying to do this? It's kind of discouraging when you think about it--it's tough as it is getting into a med school and then getting into the same med school! it seems almost impossible. Is anybody planning on submitting their applications together with some kind of cover letter stating that the two of you intend to go to med school together if at all possible? Is this not recommended? Or are you just going to play the odds and see how it turns out?

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[premedmijo]

How can you submit the apps together if it is online?

 

[C U in MD school]

my friend did that few years ago. i think that they both put it into there secon. applications.
good luck and let me know what you guys will do.
GOOD LUCK

 

[sandflea]

unfortunately there is no way to do this in the med school application process. you can apply as a couple ('couples match') when you interview for residencies and hospitals will attempt to keep the both of you in the same geographical area, if not the same hospital, but we're on our own for med schools.

i went through this two years ago. my long-time significant other and i both applied to the same schools and crossed our fingers that we would wind up close to each other. we primarily stuck to the few schools that were in the area we live in (we live in a big city). well, he was accepted pretty much everywhere we applied while i got in nowhere! it wound up working out, for the time being, because he ultimately chose a school that is just down the road from our apartment and i started grad school at a university that is nearby too, so we didn't have to move.

i'm reapplying now and i may ultimately wind up having to make a tough decision. i'm applying to way more schools this time around than the first time simply because i have to maximize my chances, most of which are far away, and it may very well turn out that i will go to school far from him if i happen to get into one of my reach schools and simply can't turn the opportunity down or i simply don't get in anywhere close to home--and since he's in med school right now, he's stuck in the same spot for the next few years and can't move away.

anyway, i don't mean to take the topic away from you, but just to let you know, you're not the only one in this boat. i really, really wouldn't send a letter in with your applications stating that you want to go to school together. i've never heard of this working out. it's hard enough to get into med school and not to sound harsh, but i don't think schools will be concerned enough about your relationship to have to go the extra mile to purposely admit you both. just apply to the same schools and cross your fingers--that's my best advice. i would say that you stand the best chance of going to school together at the state schools in your own state, since you both have state residency working in your favor (i'm assuming that you both are from the same state). at schools with no residency requirements or little preference for state residents, all bets are off.

good luck to you.

 

[lilycat]

There were a couple of posters who were dealing with this same issue last year. I think they handled it in a really good way --they applied to pretty much all the same schools, and then if they were both selected to interview at the same school, mentioned it at the interview. If you get to the interview stage, you're pretty competitive already, and the schools are clearly interested in you, so they might take your commitment more seriously. You could also try mentioning it on some of your secondaries (usually there is a "Tell us anything else that is important" type of question), but I'm not sure how importantly schools would really weigh it.

 

[nashtrash]

sorry for not clarifying--I was talking about sending secondary applications together

thanks for the advice, sandflea--I hope things work out for you in the application process this year. A friend of mine submitted a letter with her boyfriend two years ago, and they got in almost everywhere together. They were both super outstanding candidates for medical school though so it's hard to tell if their acceptances were the result of their efforts. Unfortunately, my boyfriend and I don't share state residency so that options isn't likely. thanks for posting!

 

[nashtrash]

hey that's a good suggestion lilycat--less pushy than submitting your secondaries together but still making schools that are interested in you aware of your situation--thanks!

 

[EMDrMoe]

My husband and I are applying together right now. We went to a "pre-admission" interview at 2 schools (one private, one state) and the private one said that being a couple was "neutral to a slight plus" and the other said he couldn't be sure, but it wouldn't be a negative. We're older applicants, also. I have heard of people mentioning it, and it ended up working nicely into both of our personal statements. As for keeping it "hidden" from admissions committees, I could not do that. My marriage is very important to me and I wanted the adcoms to know that. Our numbers aren't alike in some respects (my science gpa stinks, but MCAT is high, and his science gpa is competetive, but MCAT is low), so it will be interesting. We ended up applying to state schools only right now due to his low MCAT score. If the August one is good enough, we'll submit to private schools. I don't know what to tell you about not being from the same state. I'd apply to the same schools. If the relationship is a priority you will make it work. Cross the bridges as you come to them, I suppose. It's been difficult for me (usually a worrier) to be more patient and accepting. Good luck!

 

[AJM]

I agree with lilycat -- definitely mention your situation during the interviews. Keep in mind, though, that an interviewer is not guaranteed to make a note of that to the admissions committee.

Another option that you might want to try is to send a letter separate from the secondaries to the admissions committee about this. They typically put letters in your file and read them with the rest of your application. Possibly waiting a while until you find out about interviews would also be a less pushy way of going about this.

 

[sandflea]

i think i would agree with the idea that you could mention it in interviews, since the interview is supposed to be a more 'personalized' chance to get to know you and i would imagine that an interviewer would be more receptive to this type of statement. but as someone mentioned, you have no guarantee that your particular interviewer will be sympathetic and will even take note of it. if one of you happens to be accepted to a particular school and the other one is reasonably competitive there, the accepted one could lobby the school to strongly consider you--i've known someone who did this successfully. i was just told before my boyfriend and i applied the first time to not make a real point of mentioning each other early in the application process because schools might see you as limiting your options before any options are even offered to you. but once you get to the interview stage you can be assured that the school finds you to be competitive. we did mention in our secondaries that we had a significant other who was also applying and that we hoped to stay nearby each other (without actually naming our significant other), but my boyfriend said that no one brought it up in the interview, even though at the majority of his interviews, the interviewer had read his essays.

unfortunately, it will be really tough for you to both get into the same schools if you don't share the same state residency, since at out-of-state schools it can be such a crapshoot, even if the two of you have the same GPA/MCAT stats. but of course this doesn't mean you shouldn't push for it. i hope it works out and i'll cross my fingers for you!