Couples Match in California

[jubilee1]

Californian born and raised. I moved to the midwest for med school where I met my partner, a born and raised Midwesterner. One of my parents passed away suddenly a week after I finished my Step 1 exam. My surviving parent and my siblings would like for me to move back home, and I know this is a rash decision since it hasn't been a month since I lost my parent, but I'd like to move home if possible to be closer to them. My stats are below. I'd like to match into a med-peds, IM, or peds residency. My partner is looking to match into FM. We're both 2nd year DO students at a really good DO school.
Me (Med-Peds/IM/PEDs):
Step 1: 24x
Comlex: 53x (had a fluke thing happen, I can explain the low comlex score at interview. basically didn't understand the timer instructions guessed through 75 questions because of this)

Partner (FM):
Step 1: 20x
Comlex: still waiting on score

Basically, what I would like is some advice. Do we stand a chance to couples matching in California? If not Cal, do we stand a chance at Chicago/Illinois or Kansas City areas? I'm ok with doing rural / inland empire in california because my partner is interested in rural FM and I'm from the IE. My parent passed away and moving back won't bring them back. I really love my partner and would rather sacrifice going back to socal to be with him. He's willing to make sacrifices so I can go home, but I don't want him to feel like he's holding me back. Basically, I want to know if I should be hopeful for California or if I should invest time looking for sites near Chicago / elsewhere in the midwest where we would both be happy.

PS - I worked at Loma Linda University Medical Center, during my undergrad and I plan on applying for aways there. My friend just interviewed in EM there and the physician interviewing her remembered me from my time there. Not sure if that would be helpful since I'm not really interested in EM.

Any residency site suggestions are very much so appreciated!

Thank you in advance for any help / advice / moral support.

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[Spectreman]

As long as your partner clears 500 on COMLEX I don’t think you’ll have trouble couples matching at Loma Linda, especially with a decent connection (even an email from your EM friend would be really helpful). Only speaking from the fact that a gal I know just matched FM there with a 500 and no step, she has a great attitude and interviews well - most importantly the numbers were sufficient to get her an interview and she had no prior connection.

 

[jubilee1]

Thank you so much! I tried looking at info on Freida, but I know the average Step 1 scores aren't the most accurate so it's been hard for me to tell if we stand a chance. Couples match adds an extra layer of confusion.