Fiance and Residency??

[albertarenee]

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[Arcan57]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of whether or not interviewers take into account having a fiance or spouse near the residency's location?

Unlike a couple's match, where you may be able to leverage one person's achievements to help the weaker applicant, I don't think a program would care much about you having a non-resident SO in the area. A PD is not going to be moved by pity that you and your SO may be apart. Exception would be if your fiance is an absolutely stellar resident that the program has designs on keeping around as an attending.

 

[Law2Doc]

...

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of whether or not interviewers take into account having a fiance or spouse near the residency's location?

Sure they will "take [it] into account". But don't expect it to have sufficient impact to change a program's rank list. It may give an applicant some credibility if he says he wants to come to the program and you know he actually means it because his fiancee is in town (as opposed to other applicants who may be simply professing a love of a program/region for purposes of getting ranked higher). But honestly if the program likes a dozen or so people better, who one is engaged to isn't going to alter things for them in any meaningful way.

 

[jdh71]

Sure they will "take [it] into account". But don't expect it to have sufficient impact to change a program's rank list. It may give an applicant some credibility if he says he wants to come to the program and you know he actually means it because his fiancee is in town (as opposed to other applicants who may be simply professing a love of a program/region for purposes of getting ranked higher). But honestly if the program likes a dozen or so people better, who one is engaged to isn't going to alter things for them in any meaningful way.

Actually . . . at the programs found in the the OPs potential list, I think they would very likely consider applicants more highly with a fiancee connection, especially Fam and IM. It's not like we're talking about a UCSF or a Penn.

 

[Law2Doc]

Actually . . . at the programs found in the the OPs potential list, I think they would very likely consider applicants more highly with a fiancee connection, especially Fam and IM. It's not like we're talking about a UCSF or a Penn.

Not sure you can make that leap - Without better knowledge of the OP's credentials and how impressed a PD ultimately is as between OP vs other applicants, it's impossible to make your statement. Even the lower ranked or less competitive programs have applicants they like more than others, and have applicants they chose not to rank and take their chances in the scramble. Some folks simply aren't going to get ranked highly (or at all) even by the least desirable programs in the country; happens every year.

The question here is whether a fiancee connection would vault a less desirable applicant over one a program is higher on. (When the OP asks whether the fiancee connection matters, the implication is that without it the result might be different -- ie a low rank. The question is not simply whether someone has a good shot at less competitive residencies generally, but whether this factor can help.) The answer, IMHO, is that a fiancee connection will certainly be taken into consideration, but might not have a huge impact. If there are a bunch of people that a program -- even a noncompetitive FP program -- feels are a better fit, then it isn't going to sway them that Mr/Ms X has a local fiancee. However if a program likes folks equally, and aren't sure who would reciprocate a high rank, then a fiancee connection can probably have some impact. Lots of programs, even lower ranked ones in less competitive fields, don't even rank folks each year and prefer to take their chances in the scramble, because historically many less competitive places find that the discards of more competitive programs prove to be solid. So I certainly wouldn't expect to be able to apply to a small handful of places thanks to a fiancee connection. The more places you can apply to that will work, the better the odds.

 

[jdh71]

Not sure you can make that leap - Without better knowledge of the OP's credentials and how impressed a PD ultimately is as between OP vs other applicants, it's impossible to make your statement. Even the lower ranked or less competitive programs have applicants they like more than others, and have applicants they chose not to rank and take their chances in the scramble. Some folks simply aren't going to get ranked highly (or at all) even by the least desirable programs in the country; happens every year.

The question here is whether a fiancee connection would vault a less desirable applicant over one a program is higher on. (When the OP asks whether the fiancee connection matters, the implication is that without it the result might be different -- ie a low rank. The question is not simply whether someone has a good shot at less competitive residencies generally, but whether this factor can help.) The answer, IMHO, is that a fiancee connection will certainly be taken into consideration, but might not have a huge impact. If there are a bunch of people that a program -- even a noncompetitive FP program -- feels are a better fit, then it isn't going to sway them that Mr/Ms X has a local fiancee. However if a program likes folks equally, and aren't sure who would reciprocate a high rank, then a fiancee connection can probably have some impact. Lots of programs, even lower ranked ones in less competitive fields, don't even rank folks each year and prefer to take their chances in the scramble, because historically many less competitive places find that the discards of more competitive programs prove to be solid. So I certainly wouldn't expect to be able to apply to a small handful of places thanks to a fiancee connection. The more places you can apply to that will work, the better the odds.

Of course if someone's been arrested for selling meth or has the personality of sociopath on interview will not be ranked, but I can promise you most programs would prefer to rank than hope for diamonds in the rough in the scramble. I heard about a couple spot scramble for prelims a few years ago at my program, and they made it sound like a nightmare. aPD has mentioned this over and over again, PD's do NOT want to scramble

Based on your comments, I don't think you understand what the candidate selection process is like at most programs in this country. Your point stands much stronger for higher tiered programs, but for middle road, especially IM training, it will matter if you have a fiancee there because it will mean you are more likely to come there, and it won't matter "just a little". Hell a place like Tex Tech would simply be very happy to have an AMG that passed his steps and wants to go there, because when there are so many IM spots to fill and not enough AMGs, less desirable locations and less prestigiously regarded academic programs often have to fill with DOs and IMG/FMGs all of which come with their own problems, not to mention a crap-shoot scramble. You have someone who shows up without any red flags and says, "I want to come here because my fiancee is here," probably gets ranked to match. He would at my program, and we're better regarded than TT or UTMB (though not Baylor).

 

[Law2Doc]

... Hell a place like Tex Tech would simply be very happy to have an AMG that passed his steps and wants to go there, because when there are so many IM spots to fill and not enough AMGs, less desirable locations and less prestigiously regarded academic programs often have to fill with DOs and IMG/FMGs all of which come with their own problems, not to mention a crap-shoot scramble. You have someone who shows up without any red flags and says, "I want to come here because my fiancee is here," probably gets ranked to match. He would at my program, and we're better regarded than TT or UTMB (though not Baylor).

We aren't really interpreting the OPs post the same way, I think. The OP's post indicates that the fiancee is confident at getting into a "great residency program" close to where OP ends up. So we aren't talking about at a place which will take any AMG with a pulse and no meth lab. We are talking about a "great residency program". If the OP is inquiring about whether having a fiancee will help in getting into a "great residency program", then I think the amount of leverage is pretty minimal. And I think the implication of the OP's initial question is that without a fiancee there is some concern that the match might not happen, hence the question is whether having a fiancee matters, not whether there are any crummy, take anyone with a pulse programs in the region.

 

[gutonc]

We aren't really interpreting the OPs post the same way, I think. The OP's post indicates that the fiancee is confident at getting into a "great residency program" close to where OP ends up. So we aren't talking about at a place which will take any AMG with a pulse and no meth lab. We are talking about a "great residency program". If the OP is inquiring about whether having a fiancee will help in getting into a "great residency program", then I think the amount of leverage is pretty minimal. And I think the implication of the OP's initial question is that without a fiancee there is some concern that the match might not happen, hence the question is whether having a fiancee matters, not whether there are any crummy, take anyone with a pulse programs in the region.

The OP is a pre-med so her definition of a "great residency program" may differ dramatically from reality. And with the exception of UTSW (she states she has interviewed at "all TX schools except UTMB, Baylor and Lubbock") the places she's talking about have tolerable to good residency programs, not "great" ones.

But your point (and jdh's for that matter) is well taken.

 

[albertarenee]

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