Mention being engaged vs keeping engagement to myself in secondaries/interviews?

[Kirby Smart]

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So, I am currently engaged to be married just before hopefully matriculating in 2020. Obviously this is a huge part of my life, but are there any pros or cons to mentioning the fact that I am engaged or speaking about my fiancé at interviews or possibly in secondary apps? I knowww that no admission decision is going to be made based on this fact but I just wonder if it would send any sort of positive or negative message to a reviewer for any reason?

I know that 90% of the time this wouldn't be relevant to discuss in secondaries, but I'm just thinking about more lighthearted secondary questions like asking to list your hobbies or something where I had the urge to add "with my fiancé" because there are a lot of things we like to do specifically together. (Don't worry, I'm not thinking about writing a whole mushy essay answer about how my greatest accomplishment is finding my fiancé or some **** lol.)

The more likely scenario though that I could see is potentially mentioning this in an interview. Thoughts?

I know this is another annoying question but I couldn't find any previous SDN or Reddit threads to feed my neuroticism, so be nice plz.

 

[whitetopaz]

I've seen advice on past residency application threads to not mention anything that could be misconstrued as a distraction, and I imagine medical school applications probably work the same way. The decision is ultimately your own, but I feel that wasting precious word count on "with my fiance" doesn't positively contribute to your application in any way. Mentioning your fiancé in passing during interviews, however, sounds harmless.

ETA: I'm a lowly M0. Listen to the smarter folks on SDN.

 

[Moko]

If a school knows that both they and your fiance are stuck in the same city, it may suggest that you're more likely to matriculate to said school if accepted.

 

[Kirby Smart]

Ahh, I wish I had that kind of "leverage", but she'll be able to take her career wherever I go, luckily. But maybe if somewhat prompted in an interview I'll mention how she interested in that particular place if it's true lol.

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

I mentioned to my interviewer that I was engaged and that my fiancée was working in the same city in which the medical school is located. If phrased properly, I don’t think it will hurt you.

 

[Kirby Smart]

I mentioned to my interviewer that I was engaged and that my fiancée was working in the same city in which the medical school is located. If phrased properly, I don’t think it will hurt you.

Hmm thanks for sharing! Out of curiosity, was the interviewer interested in what you had to say about that? And did you get accepted to that school? lol

 

[Naruhodo]

I can't remember if I talked about my spouse in interviews (pretty sure I didn't in application/ secondaries). But I definitely did ask about having kids in medical school while interviewing at my top choice. My mom (an amazing career woman) couldn't believe I did this. But I was curious what the response would be and I was pretty happy with how the interviewer reacted (something along the lines of "nobody other than you/ your partner should have any say in your decision when you start a family"). I got in, so they must not have considered me too much of a liability 😛

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

Hmm thanks for sharing! Out of curiosity, was the interviewer interested in what you had to say about that? And did you get accepted to that school? lol

My first interviewer didn’t specifically ask if I was engaged, but asked if I had any ties to the city, hence why I mentioned it. It was something he seemed genuinely interested in after I mentioned it, and even went so far as saying, “Well we can’t separate you from her now can we?”

And yes, I was accepted and will be beginning school there next week!