My gf and I (maybe) are applying to anesthesiology next year. We are both DOs. She got in the 240s on step 1 and I got in the 250s. Do we have a reasonable chance to match together? We do not need to match at the same program. Just in the same general area. We are not particular about the location. Thanks
Couples match
- Thread starter cliquesh
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If you couples match, you will match together or not match at all (unless you screw up the ordering making it impossible for you to match together).
If you do not link your matches through the couples match, it is probably a crap shoot.
Bigger programs in big cities will be your best bets.
Thanks for your reply. I guess I'm kind of anxious if we will receive enough interviews to match together. I'd imagine if we applied independently we would be fine, but together...I have no idea.
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You can also match independently if you fail to couples match, just put the individual list after the coupled list.
Ah, thanks. I didn't know you could do that.
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Yeah my friend in med school matched at her #1 choice independently; her partner in the couples match didn't match.
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This is absolutely not true. A couples match is simply a way for you to order your ranks based on where your SO matches I.E. if she matches in boston you want to match in boston rather than NYC and if she ends up in NYC you'd rather end up there than boston. Once you have exhausted programs where you can match together you can then rank your programs so that if you match boston she ends up in NYC but if she doesn't match NYC her next choice could be philly then baltimore and so on down the coast.
If you end up w/10 interviews and she ends up with 10 interviews, you will have the possibility of 100 different ranks based on all the combinations of your programs. How far you want to go down the list is up to you. It can get a bit more complicated with the addition of transitional years. Feel free to PM me for more info, my fiancee and I went through this as medical students.
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The conventional wisdom is to apply to big programs in big cities with multiple programs to increase the likelihood that you'll end up in the same city. It is also true, however, that urban programs are perhaps less likely to take a large number of DO applicants (If you believe that large, urban programs are generally "good," or prestigious, and prestigious programs rank DOs at a lower rate; obviously there are exceptions).
Remember, too, that some programs in the same city are REALLY far apart. LA and NYC come to mind, and the commute is terrible. UCSF and Stanford are an hour apart, and living half-way btwn puts you solidly in lame-o suburbs. In contrast, All the Chicago programs are pretty close; the same is true in Boston and Philly.
The same hour between UCSF and Stanford exists btwn other programs that you might not think are close enough together to bother ranking (but should be considered):
Mayo and U of Minn
MCW and U of WI
UCSF and (almost...) UC Davis (we have a pulm fellow whose husband is a fellow at UCD and they live in btwn and commute and somehow survive).
I'd bet UConn, Boston, and Providence are close enough together to commute, too.
So keep an open mind about what might be close enough to be tolerable, apply EVERYWHERE, and accept all interviews.
Remember, too, that some programs in the same city are REALLY far apart. LA and NYC come to mind, and the commute is terrible. UCSF and Stanford are an hour apart, and living half-way btwn puts you solidly in lame-o suburbs. In contrast, All the Chicago programs are pretty close; the same is true in Boston and Philly.
The same hour between UCSF and Stanford exists btwn other programs that you might not think are close enough together to bother ranking (but should be considered):
Mayo and U of Minn
MCW and U of WI
UCSF and (almost...) UC Davis (we have a pulm fellow whose husband is a fellow at UCD and they live in btwn and commute and somehow survive).
I'd bet UConn, Boston, and Providence are close enough together to commute, too.
So keep an open mind about what might be close enough to be tolerable, apply EVERYWHERE, and accept all interviews.
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To be fair, palo alto itself is a lame-o suburb
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Sorry for the confusion. My point was that there are a lot of combos that you can list when it comes to big cities with multiple programs. If you aren't careful and your rank lists get off by one at certain point, then it makes it impossible to match together. I have seen it happen to a couple who screwed up their list and it meant if they didn't match at one of their top two choices they could not match together.
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Touché.
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My wife and I didn't couples match. Although we were not married at the time, we made it clear that we were a couple.
In the end, we matched at different 4 year programs. She matched at her #1 and I matched at my #3. Both programs knew our situation. At the end of three months of my intern year, we were fortunate enough that paperwork was in place to facilitate my transfer to her program (our #1 pick 😀). The program directors knew each other and were happy to accommodate the transfer... which was huge.
For us, it was more important to match at a good residency separately, than to go to a residency that was not top notch due to the fact that we had couples matched... and even so, it did not guarantee anything.
In the end, it worked out pretty well and I think I would do it the same way.... but let me tell you, match day was a bitter-sweet experience for my wife and I. Apparently, my wife was the last person on the list that matched... I was next (I guess that means she's smarter than me 🙄).
Your step 1 scores are great 👍. We took it a step further and took Step 2 and made sure we did well. That way we demonstrated some sort of concistancy in our test taking.
I think the big thing is to make sure you let programs know that you are a couple. I'm not sure if my approach was correct... but we did end up at our #1 pick... together.
Match day is way more stressful for couples than singles when applying for an anesthesia position. The results may have big implications for you guys over the next 4 years.
Good luck. Hope it all works out for you two.
In the end, we matched at different 4 year programs. She matched at her #1 and I matched at my #3. Both programs knew our situation. At the end of three months of my intern year, we were fortunate enough that paperwork was in place to facilitate my transfer to her program (our #1 pick 😀). The program directors knew each other and were happy to accommodate the transfer... which was huge.
For us, it was more important to match at a good residency separately, than to go to a residency that was not top notch due to the fact that we had couples matched... and even so, it did not guarantee anything.
In the end, it worked out pretty well and I think I would do it the same way.... but let me tell you, match day was a bitter-sweet experience for my wife and I. Apparently, my wife was the last person on the list that matched... I was next (I guess that means she's smarter than me 🙄).
Your step 1 scores are great 👍. We took it a step further and took Step 2 and made sure we did well. That way we demonstrated some sort of concistancy in our test taking.
I think the big thing is to make sure you let programs know that you are a couple. I'm not sure if my approach was correct... but we did end up at our #1 pick... together.
Match day is way more stressful for couples than singles when applying for an anesthesia position. The results may have big implications for you guys over the next 4 years.
Good luck. Hope it all works out for you two.
