General Residency FAQs

[jammin_g]

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Does anyone know if a student from an allopathic school can couples match with a student from an osteopathic school?

 

[jay dub]

Yes, a D.O. student and an M.D. student can couples match, as long as you are going through the allopathic match. DO students can go through either allo or osteo matches, but an allo student MUST go through the allo match (hence the need to do the allo match in order to couples match). The allo match provides WAY more opportunities to a couple who are trying to find two good programs in the same area than the osteo match, anyway. My husband and I (both DO's) are couples matching this year in the allo match. Feel free to ask any more questions!

Good luck! 😛

 

[H0mersimps0n]

I read an article somewhere (can't remember where) that said that couples matching is somewhere in the 93%!? Is that true?

That's really good and really bad news for me. I'm a DO student MS-I this year but my girlfriend is going to be an MS-I NEXT year at University of Maryland. I figured there was no way on earth we could couples match being MD-DO and one year separation.

<sigh> life just throws curveball after curveball 🙁

 

[jay dub]

Originally posted by H0mersimps0n
I figured there was no way on earth we could couples match being MD-DO and one year separation.

<sigh> life just throws curveball after curveball 🙁

Well, if at the end of med school you guys still like each other and think you want to do residency in the same place... 😉 ...I think you could make it work. If you are willing to do a transitional year/rotating internship (which 5 states - WV, MI, FL, OK, PA - require for licensing anyway), you could then participate in the couples match with your girlfriend when she is ready to match. The other option requires a little more certainty on your girlfriend's part in that if she already knows what she wants to go into when you are applying for residency, you can look into programs together even tho she may not be applying until the following year. I know other people who have had similar circumstances.

Hang in there. You've still got to get to fourth year before you start stressing about all this... 🙂 Take care, and good luck!!

 

[edmadison]

You can also take a year off. There are probably 5 couples at my school where one partner is taking a year off so they can couples match.

Ed

 

[H0mersimps0n]

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions. She is not a girl I'm going to let go of without the fight of my life. We're bracing for the storm but after hearing so many other sucess stories and planning and talking a lot about our expectation and plans for the future I think we are as prepared as prepared can be.

She comes from a divorsed family so she asked me if we could wait, in good conscious, until she is done with her first year is over (that'd be next year- she starts in the fall) because 1.) she would never want either of us to go through what her parents did and 2.) we've been together 3.5 years now (btw longer than most of my married friends have even known each other), life is so grand right now- what's the rush 🙂
BTW that wasn't a failed proposal, she said if I asked she would say yes but we talk A LOT and I decided that waiting would help her get through her first year (you have enough to worry about without having to be someone's wife for the first time from 400 miles away). So that's our background... moving on:

I'm not familiar with the details of a couples match, but when we do get married after her first year (end of my 2nd/beginning 3rd), is it worth going through hoops to do that match or is there very little guarentee that things would even work out?

What do most people in similar situations do to assure they get as close as humanly possible to their significant other's?

From what I understand my choices are:

1.) assume she will stay at Maryland and just try to get my residency there

2.) Take a year off (probable not feasible)

3.) Apply for a residency in PA, close to Baltimore so I can do that annoying extra year of intern or fellowship or whatever the heck it's called then enter the match my 5th year with her (is that how those extra year's work in those states?) -

Thanks again!

 

[jay dub]

Originally posted by H0mersimps0n
I'm not familiar with the details of a couples match, but when we do get married after her first year (end of my 2nd/beginning 3rd), is it worth going through hoops to do that match or is there very little guarentee that things would even work out?

What do most people in similar situations do to assure they get as close as humanly possible to their significant other's?

From what I understand my choices are:

1.) assume she will stay at Maryland and just try to get my residency there

2.) Take a year off (probable not feasible)

3.) Apply for a residency in PA, close to Baltimore so I can do that annoying extra year of intern or fellowship or whatever the heck it's called then enter the match my 5th year with her (is that how those extra year's work in those states?) -

Thanks again!

Obviously YOUR choices will be dictated by what you and your love decide. It sounds like you have pretty good communication which is the most important thing in going through this process with someone else (so count that as a great blessing as you start on this path!! ). If the two of you like the Maryland area and think you would be happy in residency training there, then by all means go ahead and look there for residency. Then when your honey is looking for residency she will just look there, too, and you'll still be together and everything will be grand. Just make sure that you keep the lines of communication open over the next couple of years and revisit the issue periodically to make sure you're on the same page. It depends, too, on what specialties you both end up pursuing. If you are both going after less competitive specialties you will have more flexibility and options. That sort of goes without saying, but it will factor into where you guys are able to do your post-grad training.

I'm curious why taking a year off isn't feasible... Do you have a specific reason or is it just contrary to what you've heard from other people?

I know you are looking for some specifics about how the couples match works. I think the NRMP does a pretty good job explaining how it works. Here's the direct web address:
http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/special_part/ind_app/couples.html
If you still have questions after reading this, don't hesitate to e-mail/PM me or post more ?s here. FYI, my husband and I are couples matching in med-peds and psych, respectively.

As far as the rotating intern year is concerned, it will generally be counted towards your training in some manner. Several osteo programs have tracking internships so you don't end up actually doing any extra training time (i.e. no more than if you'd done a straight allo residency in the same specialty), but this of course varies from specialty to specialty. Lots of people end up doing the transitional year because either they want to keep up their AOA certification and/or practice in one of the 5 states AND/OR they aren't sure what they want to specialize in by their fourth year of school and they want the extra year to figure it out (and that is true for both osteo and allo students - the option of doing a transitional year is also there for MD students). Some residency programs (like radiology, for instance) require a preliminary intern year anyway.

This is all a lot of detail, and you don't want to get too bogged down in it yet since you've still got lots of time. Hopefully some of this info helps though. My biggest advice for now would be to enjoy your summer!!! 😀

 

[H0mersimps0n]

Thank you for the info, it was a great help. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and your husband!

You're right lots of time to go but I always try and think/plan ahead. Wish us luck!

 

[margaritaboy]

Originally posted by H0mersimps0n
I read an article somewhere (can't remember where) that said that couples matching is somewhere in the 93%!? Is that true?

Per my correspondence with the NRMP, couples last year matched at a 93.9% rate. Pretty good. What the NRMP hasn't been willing to release is information that tells me WHERE on the applicants' Rank Order Lists they are matching.

 

[margaritaboy]

By the way, can applicants couple match through the osteopathic match? I mean, truly couple with linked ROLs and everything? Just curious.

 

[Yogi Bear]

why don't you take your third or 4th year off to do research or some other "scholarly project"? then join your gf for your 4th year and also apply to residency then w/ her. it'll boost your record a lot w/ a year of research.

 

[H0mersimps0n]

I don't understand the logistics of taking a year off between 3rd and 4th year (cause I'm certainly not going through these first two years of hell and not giving myself a taste of the clinical life ASAP- i.e. NOT between my 2nd and 3rd year)...

How exactly would I request the year?
Where should I go to do the research?
What happens with loans for that year?
Who has done this before?
What do I do about living money?
Does this look good or bad on the resume?
Reasearch is good even though I'm on a solid clincal path (i.e. don't want to do research in the future)

This whole idea is enticing, I'll admit.

 

[Yogi Bear]

Originally posted by H0mersimps0n
I don't understand the logistics of taking a year off between 3rd and 4th year (cause I'm certainly not going through these first two years of hell and not giving myself a taste of the clinical life ASAP- i.e. NOT between my 2nd and 3rd year)...

How exactly would I request the year?
Where should I go to do the research?
What happens with loans for that year?
Who has done this before?
What do I do about living money?
Does this look good or bad on the resume?
Reasearch is good even though I'm on a solid clincal path (i.e. don't want to do research in the future)

This whole idea is enticing, I'll admit.

i don't really know of the details but i've heard of people doing it. in the particular case i'm thinking off, the bf took a year off and did research at his own school relating to the specialty he was interested in. in that year, i think the lab paid him--similar like u'd get paid as an entry-level research associate...around 30k. then after the year of research, he joined his gf (they got married during the summer) and they couples matched during her 4th year/his *5th year. i think it just depends on your school. and many of the ones i interviewed at, u can take a year off for research and they'll give u a stipend like 25k+.

 

[jay dub]

Originally posted by margaritaboy
By the way, can applicants couple match through the osteopathic match? I mean, truly couple with linked ROLs and everything? Just curious.

I know that when my husband and I were getting ready to apply for residencies I was told that it is possible to truly couples match through the AOA match. Since our fields were not compatible with many (i.e. ANY...) choices in the AOA we decided just to go straight allopathic. I found this under the Students & Resident's section on the do-online.org website...

"COUPLES: Two applicants who are participating in the Match at the same time and who wish to coordinate their matches (e.g. obtain positions in the same location) may participate in the Match as a ?Couple?. The matching of couples to positions in proximity to each other involves special procedures which allow the members of a couple to submit ?pairs? of program rankings. Instructions regarding the submission of Rank Order Lists by couples will be included in the information provided to students in November."

Sorry I don't have any firsthand knowledge, but in their efforts to mimic the allo match, I think NMS probably does allow for TRUE couples matching.