Couples Matching Help!

[anonymousmedschooler]

I'm couples matching with my partner, but he's going into a super competitive specialty and only got a handful of interviews. I'm going into internal med and am a decent applicant (went on 17 interviews). We sat down and realized that the only way to maximize his chances of matching into his specialty are either a) NOT couples matching or b) couples matching, but I rank every program I interviewed regardless of distance along with each of his 5 programs.

Aka would look like something like this:

Partner: Me:

(1) Program A (west coast) Program 1 (west coast)

(2) Program A (west coast) Program 2 (west coast)

(3) Program A (west coast) Program 3 (midwest)

(4) Program A (west coast) Program 4 (east coast)

(5) Program A (west coast) etc etc etc (all the way through my 17 slots)

(6) Program A (west coast)

(7) Program A (west coast)

(8) Program A (west coast)

And then start over again for his program B, ranking all 17 of my programs.

My question is, if we rank in this fashion, the only way that I could possibly pull my partner out of his desired specialty would be if I didn't match at a single one of the 17 programs, correct?

Obviously couples matching decreases your chances of matching at your top place if you have less geographic variability, but we are kind of using the couples match as just a back-up to at least ATTEMPT to get in the same place together, realizing that we will have to sacrifice that in order for him to match in his specialty.

For anyone asking, why bother couples matching at all? He applied to a backup specialty as well, so in the event he doesn't match into the competitive specialty that he wants, then we at least want to be able to couples match (in the more traditional sense) for that (and I have no concerns he would pull me out of the match because he went on 15 interviews for his backup specialty).

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[NotAProgDirector]

First of all, I recommend reviewing this thread: Couple's Match Algorithm Help for ROL

Definitely read the whole thing, some of the early posts have some inaccuracies in them.

So, from your post it sounds like:
You went on 17 IM interviews, geographically scattered.
Your partner went on 5 interviews in his preferred specialty, and then 15 in a backup specialty.

Your goals are, in this order:
1. He gets his preferred specialty, you match in the same geo location
2. He gets his preferred specialty, you match somewhere else.
3. He gets his backup specialty, you match in the same geo location
4. He gets his backup specialty, you match in a different geo location.

In all cases (even if the details above are incorrect), you cannot do "worse" (i.e. not match somewhere) in the couple's match unless you don't list all combinations, which a couple might choose to do if being separated was worse than not matching (but that doesn't sound like your goal). Not using the couple's match would be, mostly, foolish in your situation -- the only reason not to is that it's easier to enter your rank lists without couples match -- you'd rank your 17, he'd rank his 5+15, and you're done.

In the couple's match, you're going to have (17+1) * (20+1) - 1 = 377 total ranks to set up. There won't be any extra fees for this -- you each get 20 unique programs to rank.

Here's how you'd do it:
1. First, you rank all the combinations where he is in his preferred specialty, and you match in the same geo location. You order these in whatever order the two of you feel is best. There may be some compromises.
2. After that, he should "order" his 5 programs in a list, and you do the same, based on your own interests. You then combine his 1st with your 1st, his 1st with your 2nd, his first with your 3rd, ... all the way to his 1st with your 17th. When you do this, some will be "same geo" and you'll "skip" them at this stage, because you already ranked those options in step 1.
3. Now you start with his 2nd - your 1st, 2 - 2, 2- 3, etc. Continue until you combine 5 - 1 all the way to 5-17.
4. Now, you do the same for his backup specialty. Pick out all the combinations where you're in the same geo location, and rank them.
5. Then, you do the same as step 2 and 3 with his second specialty. He orders his 15 programs, you order your 17, and you match 1 - 1, 1 - 2, 1 - 3, 1- 4, ..., 1 - 17, then 2 - 1, 2-2, 2-3, etc. Again, any time a combination matches one you ranked in Step 3, you skip it because you've already ranked it.

In steps 2-3 and 5, feel free to rearrange any way you want. Although you may order your 17 programs, it's possible that you might change that order based on where he has matched -- something closer rather than farther.

Note that you could do steps 2 and 5 with either of you going "first" and the other "second". It doesn't matter if you go down his list with all of your combinations, or go down your list with all of his combinations. In the end, you will match to exactly the same place. (See the above thread if this does not make sense).

At this point, you will have exactly 17 * 20 = 340 ranks. This includes every possible combination of you each matching somewhere. If you fall below this, then at least one of you is not matching, and would not have matched had you not couples matched and ranked individually.

Next comes his 20 programs, linked with you not matching. Then him not matching with your 17 ranks. Again, order doesn't matter here -- you could go first or second. As long as all possible combinations were taken care of above, reaching this part of the list means that one of you is not matching. You can't mathematically both have a solution where one of you matches and the other doesn't -- in that case that option would have been in the 340 above and you both would have matched. So this is another 37 ranks. 340 + 37 = 377. Bazinga, you're done.

This is confusing. Read the other thread for examples. If it doesn't make sense, post back here.

 

[anonymousmedschooler]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write out such a thorough and thoughtful response. That Couples Match thread helps a lot, too. Once we determined that our #1 priority is him matching into one of the 5 slots he interviewed for in specialty A, we needed validation that we couldn't somehow mess this up for him by couples matching (assuming I rank all 17 programs where I interviewed). This quote is exactly what we needed to hear to put us at ease, so thank you!

If you fall below this, then at least one of you is not matching, and would not have matched had you not couples matched and ranked individually.

 

[anonymousmedschooler]

To clarify, in order to maximize his chances of these 5 programs in his preferred specialty we are going to rank with his top 5, with each of my programs, INCLUDING one where I don't match. In a scenario where he matches at his number 1 program and I've listed all 17 of my programs, it would not be possible for me to NOT MATCH unless I wasn't going to match individually anyway, correct?

Our list looks like this:

1) Competitive specialty A + My 1-17 programs in geographic preference, #18 Me not matching
2) Competitive specialty B + My 1-17 programs in geographic preference, #18 Me not matching

(We may change around geography + his programs, but the same principle is there that we would not put me down as not matching until we hit every possible permutation of him at program A with my 17 programs).

It doesn't hurt me to put the unmatched options prior to listing his back-up specialty, correct? We would essentially have his top 5 programs all go first, with each permutation of my 17 programs + me not matching, and then we'd move on to his back-up specialty and do it more traditionally by geographic location first.

 

[Mirenita]

If you put him at competitive specialty A + you not matching before him at Competitive Specialty B and you at Program 1, there's a chance you WONT match if he gets competitive specialty A. That's why you are advised to put any combinations with one of you not matching at the bottom of your list. Someone else, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Melanogaster]

Always rate what you want. The match works in the student's favor.

 

[MSTP18]

If you put him at competitive specialty A + you not matching before him at Competitive Specialty B and you at Program 1, there's a chance you WONT match if he gets competitive specialty A. That's why you are advised to put any combinations with one of you not matching at the bottom of your list. Someone else, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think if the top portion of the rank list is iterations of
1.Competitive Specialty A-IM program 1
.
.
.
17. Competitive Specialty A-IM program 17
18. Competitive Specialty A-Unmatched
19. Competitive Specialy B-IM program 1
.
.
.


then the *only* way OP ends up unmatched and he winds up in a competitive specialty program is if OP fails to match into any of the 17 programs on their own. I think that in order to avoid any potential errors, it is safest to put all the "unmatched" scenarios at the bottom anyway, but I think the only way OP gets shoehorned into not matching is if unmatched-unmatched is somehow entered into the list above some other scenario, or if they screw up the list and put Partner matching at program X-OP unmatched before one of OP's 17 programs, e.g.
1.Competitive Specialty A-IM program 1
.
.
.
17. Competitive Specialty A-Unmatched
18. Competitive Specialty A-IM program 17
19. Competitive Specialy B-IM program 1
.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I believe MSTP is correct (and therefore mirenita is incorrect). But your clarification is still (somewhat) incorrect.

Let's say your partner only had a single interview for his competitive specialty. You would then rank Specialty A with each of your 17 options, in whatever order you would want. You could then rank Specialty A - no match as option 18. If you matched that, then you are not matching to any of your programs. If you could have matched to one of your programs (using a separate match), then you would have couple's matched somewhere in those top 17 ranks. So, yes, as long as you've put in all the possible combinations, you could do this.

The problem with your situation is you can't put in all the combinations. Since your ROL is limited to 300, you will run out of slots. Because of this, wasting ranks on he gets his specialty and you get nothing is silly -- you are applying to IM and have 17 interviews. You are going to match. Don't be silly. So don't waste rank slots on options where you don't match.

Even with removing all of the options where you don't match (of which there are 20), you still don't have enough slots to rank all the possibilities. Therefore, no matter how you do it, you do lose some chance of matching using the couple's match. Even if you remove all the "unmatched" options (of which there are 37), you're still short slots to rank. You can't rank all the combinations.