couples match - how many ranks is enough?

[dermatotron]

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My boyfriend and i are couples matching, and he's applying to Rads. Luckily, he has at least one interview in every city in which I've received an interivew. In total we have (so far, and I'm guessing that's probably all I'll get) 11 programs each to rank in a total of 7 cities. He has some other programs (like over 10) he can rank in places where I didn't get an interview. We're also going to rank cities that are close by (i.e. in the same state), so that will increase our rank list a bit as well.

My question is, in anyone's past experience, personal or otherwise, does this give us a good chance? And I guess specifically, does this give me a good chance at matching. I know that if i was not couples matching and had 11 programs on my rank list (I think) I'd have a pretty good chance at matching. I just wonder if, if you're couples matching, like, say, twice as many interviews are needed to be considered fairly safe.

I know there are a lot of other factors that go into whether or not I can match like how well we interview and how competitive we are but just going off numbers of programs, if anyone can provide any feedback I'd really appreciate it.

I was thinking about placing this in the "What are my chances at matching" thread but I thought it was a little different especially since I'm already in the interview process and not trying to decide whether or not to apply.

Thanks everyone and good luck in the rest of the interview season-

 

[jmw38]

well, was hoping someone would have some insight too. i certainly hope that you will be okay because i am also couples matching with radiology and have less than that so i really don't know. i'm pretty sure we're going to put every possible combination on there even if they are across the country. so i guess logically if we did that it wouldn't decrease my chances of matching.

My boyfriend and i are couples matching, and he's applying to Rads. Luckily, he has at least one interview in every city in which I've received an interivew. In total we have (so far, and I'm guessing that's probably all I'll get) 11 programs each to rank in a total of 7 cities. He has some other programs (like over 10) he can rank in places where I didn't get an interview. We're also going to rank cities that are close by (i.e. in the same state), so that will increase our rank list a bit as well.

My question is, in anyone's past experience, personal or otherwise, does this give us a good chance? And I guess specifically, does this give me a good chance at matching. I know that if i was not couples matching and had 11 programs on my rank list (I think) I'd have a pretty good chance at matching. I just wonder if, if you're couples matching, like, say, twice as many interviews are needed to be considered fairly safe.

I know there are a lot of other factors that go into whether or not I can match like how well we interview and how competitive we are but just going off numbers of programs, if anyone can provide any feedback I'd really appreciate it.

I was thinking about placing this in the "What are my chances at matching" thread but I thought it was a little different especially since I'm already in the interview process and not trying to decide whether or not to apply.

Thanks everyone and good luck in the rest of the interview season-

 

[Derma11]

Gosh, I don't think there's a good answer to this question b/c there just aren't enough people who do it (successfully). I've heard of people not matching during couples match, not changing anything in the application, reapplying the next year, and matching second time around w/o the couples match. On the other hand, have also heard of ppl doing this successfully too.

 

[varsityblue]

My boyfriend and i are couples matching, and he's applying to Rads. Luckily, he has at least one interview in every city in which I've received an interivew. In total we have (so far, and I'm guessing that's probably all I'll get) 11 programs each to rank in a total of 7 cities. He has some other programs (like over 10) he can rank in places where I didn't get an interview. We're also going to rank cities that are close by (i.e. in the same state), so that will increase our rank list a bit as well.

My question is, in anyone's past experience, personal or otherwise, does this give us a good chance? And I guess specifically, does this give me a good chance at matching. I know that if i was not couples matching and had 11 programs on my rank list (I think) I'd have a pretty good chance at matching. I just wonder if, if you're couples matching, like, say, twice as many interviews are needed to be considered fairly safe.

I know there are a lot of other factors that go into whether or not I can match like how well we interview and how competitive we are but just going off numbers of programs, if anyone can provide any feedback I'd really appreciate it.

I was thinking about placing this in the "What are my chances at matching" thread but I thought it was a little different especially since I'm already in the interview process and not trying to decide whether or not to apply.

Thanks everyone and good luck in the rest of the interview season-

I'll preface this by saying that I'm a premed familiar with what older cousins, family members, and family friends have gone through. My thoughts are below:
1) If you both have comparatively equal grades/scores, you probably have nothing to worry about quality of program-wise or location-wise.
2) If either of you has higher grades/scores than the other, you should be a little bit concerned about the likelihood of the smart one out of the couple matching at his/her top choice. Usually when grades/scores are unequal, both partners are matched at a lower-ranking program. I don't know if either of you have plans to get married anytime soon but keep in mind that if you were the smarter one out of the couple and the two of you were to break up, you're probably going to regret not matching into a competitive program.
3) You should definitely interview at as many places as you can to ensure that you have options later on.

 

[handburgerler]

Wow, are you my ghost of interview season past? Just kidding. But seriously, my boyfriend and I couples matched dermatology and radiology last year, him applying to rads. We were successful, so don't get depressed when people say it can't be done. 11 programs is a good number, but second in importance to the number is how close you are to at least one of those programs. Im assuming that youre both equally competitive in your respective fields since you both have enough interviews. Did you both rotate in a certain program so that they know you? Is there a faculty member that can vouch for you and knows that you're involved in the couples match? This "subjective" data on you and your SO will certainly be helpful, if not even more helpful than having a bunch of interviews. If you don't have that, it is still okay because programs WANT you to match together. If a derm program is going to make the decision to rank you highly, then you bet they're gonna contact the rads program on the side and let them know that. So long story short, don't worry too much about the number of ranks you have because it usually comes down to those other factors... Of course more is going to give you a better chance overall, and your 11 is already great. Good luck and feel free to PM me with anything else.