Cardiology Couples Match - upcoming cycle

[heartstobe]

Hello,
Stressing about current situation and looking for guidance about the upcoming application cycle.

My partner is matching into a non-IM 3 year fellowship 2 months before me and I’m hoping more than anything to match into the same city/program.

I like to think I’m a relatively strong applicant (strong IM program, 2 1st authors in JACC and Circ sub-journals) however the prospect of not matching in the same city as them is a no go for me. Has anyone been in this situation before? What strategies did you use to communicate to cards programs about wanting/needing to match at their program? What did you have your home program do in terms of reaching out? Any and all help is appreciated.

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[deleted980918]

Hello,
Stressing about current situation and looking for guidance about the upcoming application cycle.

My partner is matching into a non-IM 3 year fellowship 2 months before me and I’m hoping more than anything to match into the same city/program.

I like to think I’m a relatively strong applicant (strong IM program, 2 1st authors in JACC and Circ sub-journals) however the prospect of not matching in the same city as them is a no go for me. Has anyone been in this situation before? What strategies did you use to communicate to cards programs about wanting/needing to match at their program? What did you have your home program do in terms of reaching out? Any and all help is appreciated.

Put your partner name on the 2 1st author in JACC and Circ sub journals

 

[Aurum]

Congrats on your accomplishments. Speaking from personal experience, most programs (other than your home program, to an extent) do not really care as much about your personal situation. Once you figure out where your partner matches, you can certainly express interest in programs and send them love letters. It also doesn’t hurt to have your home program try to reach out to any connections at programs your partner ends up matching at. Just know that the risk of a suboptimal outcome is high, even for strong candidates.

Ultimately, this ends up being a bigger conversation of pros/cons of targeting specific locations (e.g. bigger cities where the programs themselves may not be ideal but there are more options), one partner or the other deferring a year or two, or just sucking it up and tackling long distance. I don’t envy your position. Good luck.