How would you apply to med. school w/ your significant other to optimize your chances of acceptance?

[Sweetfishy87]

Hello:

My wife and I are applying to medical school this year. How would you apply to medical school w/ your significant other to optimize your chances of being accepted together with him or her?

We obviously recognize the competitiveness of the admissions process and the downstream ramifications like obtaining similar internships and residencies as well as the potential of being separated. Please focus your comments on the application and admissions strategy.

Thank you for your insight!

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[mimelim]

#1 Maximize competitiveness of your application.
#2 Maximize competitiveness of your significant other's application.
#3 Apply broadly, with particular attention to distances between schools. Consider making a spreadsheet with the relative distances/time/cost between different schools. Focus school lists on cities that have more than one school in them.
#4 There are some nuances for once you both have acceptances in hand, but that is way down the road.

There is no magic to this system. You can only make yourselves individually stronger. I would say that when it comes to bargaining leverage, being married does make a difference, but I certainly wouldn't get married for that purpose.

At the end of the day, realize that there is the possibility of being separated. That is the reality of medical training.

 

[GrumpyGus]

Hello:

My wife and I are applying to medical school this year. How would you apply to medical school w/ your significant other to optimize your chances of being accepted together with him or her?

We obviously recognize the competitiveness of the admissions process and the downstream ramifications like obtaining similar internships and residencies as well as the potential of being separated. Please focus your comments on the application and admissions strategy.

Thank you for your insight!

What is yours and your SO's stats? I can easily help make a list of schools to apply to but it totally depends on where you're from, stats, relative applications, and if you have a certain region of the country or you're chill with anywhere.

Just a warning-- you are going to have to apply to significantly more schools than the average applicant so be prepared for the money involved.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for love <3. I applied with Tinder as my SO and it's worked out wonderfully. It's looking like we'll matriculate together in the fall

@mimelim why isn't there an option to couples apply to medical school? It seems odd that for residency there is, but not for med school

 

[Autotoxicus]

I think university of Michigan considers couples

 

[Goro]

I suspect that this will be school-specific. We once had a pair of sisters apply and the wily old Admission dean wanted both. So we interviewed both, accepted, and they matriculated. Oddly, one turned out to be a superstar, the other a bottom-dweller.

@mimelim why isn't there an option to couples apply to medical school? It seems odd that for residency there is, but not for med school

 

[LizzyM]

Agree with @mimelim. In particular, look at NYC, Philly and Chicago. Boston too, depending on stats.

 

[Pusheen]

Agree with @mimelim. In particular, look at NYC, Philly and Chicago. Boston too, depending on stats.

I think this is a good strategy. I have a similar situation (not both applying to medical school, but close enough) and we applied to all of the large metro areas. However, a lot of those schools are low yield and/or high stats due to the desirable location, so you'd have to take an honest look at your qualifications.

Could you post both of your LizzyM scores and residency state? Or is this still far in the future?

 

[mimelim]

@mimelim why isn't there an option to couples apply to medical school? It seems odd that for residency there is, but not for med school

I don't know why you find it odd. One is applying for school, the other is applying for employment via a computer algorithm. They are very different. For starters, while the process of medical school admissions appears to be centralized to applicants because they have made the workload a lot lower with a primary/secondary system, it is still a decentralized system. Schools operate mostly independently from one another. They have their own admissions policies, they have their own time tables, etc. Residency is regimented. I won't comment on better vs. worse (whole thread on its own), but it is very different. The NRMP is a monopoly. They can set rules and every program follows it or they face pretty drastic punishment.

Second, a minor point, but from a numbers perspective, pre-meds vs. MS4s is quite different. While certainly not prohibitive, trying to make a system like this work becomes much harder when program/school sizes get larger and when the applicant pool gets larger.

Third, ages. The number of MS4s graduating married for several years, married with kids, etc is much higher than pre-meds applying. The needs are higher and have much larger consequences.

Fourth, because there is a match system, the without some sort of 'couples' support, the system would be far more destructive than medical school applications.

 

[Sweetfishy87]

What is yours and your SO's stats? I can easily help make a list of schools to apply to but it totally depends on where you're from, stats, relative applications, and if you have a certain region of the country or you're chill with anywhere.

Just a warning-- you are going to have to apply to significantly more schools than the average applicant so be prepared for the money involved.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for love <3. I applied with Tinder as my SO and it's worked out wonderfully. It's looking like we'll matriculate together in the fall

@mimelim why isn't there an option to couples apply to medical school? It seems odd that for residency there is, but not for med school

I'm 31, GPA 3.65, MCAT pending, have 6 years of clinical experience as a physical therapist in over 5 settings, hold a BS and a doctorate of PT, published one paper and 3 are pending, started a small business, and other notable strengths

She is 26, GPA 3.6, MCAT pending, over 200 hours of physician shadowing, has a BS in piano performance, volunteer experience, teaching experience, and other notable strengths

Willing to go anywhere (except DO schools).

 

[Sweetfishy87]

I'm 31, GPA 3.65, MCAT pending, have 6 years of clinical experience as a physical therapist in over 5 settings, hold a BS and a doctorate of PT, published one paper and 3 are pending, started a small business, and other notable strengths

She is 26, GPA 3.6, MCAT pending, over 200 hours of physician shadowing, has a BS in piano performance, volunteer experience, teaching experience, and other notable strengths

Willing to go anywhere (except DO schools).

#1 Maximize competitiveness of your application.
#2 Maximize competitiveness of your significant other's application.
#3 Apply broadly, with particular attention to distances between schools. Consider making a spreadsheet with the relative distances/time/cost between different schools. Focus school lists on cities that have more than one school in them.
#4 There are some nuances for once you both have acceptances in hand, but that is way down the road.

There is no magic to this system. You can only make yourselves individually stronger. I would say that when it comes to bargaining leverage, being married does make a difference, but I certainly wouldn't get married for that purpose.

At the end of the day, realize that there is the possibility of being separated. That is the reality of medical training.

Would you mention that you are applying with your significant other in your personal statement or wait until the interview?

 

[mimelim]

Would you mention that you are applying with your significant other in your personal statement or wait until the interview?

Your personal statement is a place to discuss your personal history and what lead you to medicine. If that includes discussion of your family, most would say that it is appropriate to include. However, straying away from the central purpose of the personal statement can obviously be a significant negative if you start sounding like a sob story. It is unlikely that people will notice that you are applying with a significant other at this point for it to make any positive difference for either of you.

The interview stage is a little harder to gauge, but a more appropriate time for it to come into play, but again, the dangers still exist on it coming off negatively. Most of the time, this comes into play after people have acceptances in hand and are negotiating between several schools, or if one or both students are 'must haves' in the applicant pool.

 

[sammiesings]

I'm 31, GPA 3.65, MCAT pending, have 6 years of clinical experience as a physical therapist in over 5 settings, hold a BS and a doctorate of PT, published one paper and 3 are pending, started a small business, and other notable strengths

She is 26, GPA 3.6, MCAT pending, over 200 hours of physician shadowing, has a BS in piano performance, volunteer experience, teaching experience, and other notable strengths

Willing to go anywhere (except DO schools).

You have very good ECs, hers are very cookie-cutter from what you've stated. 3.6 GPA is average, so your MCAT scores will really make or break your applications for MD schools.

Right now, your application seems much stronger than hers. To get in at the same school/same city, ya'll might not be able to be so picky about not applying to DO schools. Maybe she can apply to DO schools in cities you apply to MD schools in?

Again, your apps are really up in the air without those MCAT scores

 

[Sweetfishy87]

You have very good ECs, hers are very cookie-cutter from what you've stated. 3.6 GPA is average, so your MCAT scores will really make or break your applications for MD schools.

Right now, your application seems much stronger than hers. To get in at the same school/same city, ya'll might not be able to be so picky about not applying to DO schools. Maybe she can apply to DO schools in cities you apply to MD schools in?

Again, your apps are really up in the air without those MCAT scores

Thank you for your response.

We will know our MCAT score by late May of 2017. We are attempting to build a list of target schools and need help on identifying best-fit schools without an actual MCAT score. We certainly hope that our MCAT scores will be well above average.

How would you build a list of target medical schools if you were applying w/ your significant other?

 

[787593]

.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for love <3. I applied with Tinder as my SO and it's worked out wonderfully. It's looking like we'll matriculate together in the fall

@mimelim why isn't there an option to couples apply to medical school? It seems odd that for residency there is, but not for med school

HAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

[ScottTenorman54]

How would you build a list of target medical schools if you were applying w/ your significant other?

How about independently making lists based on your respective stats and personal preferences using MSAR. Then you compare to see which ones you have in common.

 

[hungrybox]

Oddly, one turned out to be a superstar, the other a bottom-dweller.

But they still ended up both being DO's, anyway

 

[Goro]

True!!

But they still ended up both being DO's, anyway