I just wanted to clarify with all of you who are couples matching that there is NO distance requirement between the programs to which you pair on your ROL. I have heard all sorts of rumors that programs need to be in the same city, separated by only 60 miles, and other similar nonsense. This is NOT TRUE. THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO DISTANCE REQUIREMENTS. I called the NRMP this morning, 2-24-2009, to clarify this. The rank considers a NY-CA pair the same as a NY-NY or CA-CA pair.
While I have not gone through the couples match to actually verify this, I will this year, 2009, and will verify it following the match.
In other words, consider an "archnemesis" scenario where you couples match with a person you hate and select pairs that are on opposite sides of the country, thus ensuring that you never have to see each other. Totally acceptable.
Back to matching with someone you like: While matching in the same city may be optimal, it may not be practical and you may risk going unmatched if you only have a few programs that are in the same location. If one of you going unmatched is an acceptable alternative to completing residencies apart, feel free to quit reading here. Otherwise, continue reading:
For instance, if I interviewed at 10 programs and my SO interviewed at 10 programs, but only 1 pair was in the same city (exaggerating for illustrative purposes only), we could rank the pairs that were in the same city first,
1. NY-NY
and then systematically rank pairs that are not in the same city as would result from a 10x10 matrix
2. NY-CA
3. NY-OR
4. NY-OH
5. NY-VA
6. NY-OK
7. NY-WV
8. NY-AZ
9. NY-KY
10. NY-SC
Notice that if the first applicant doesn't match to NY, it would skip to #11 in this scenario (or applicant on the left's second choice, SD).
11. SD-NY
12. SD-CA
13. SD-OR
ETC
While you may be asking why this couple would decide to couples match if only one pair is in the same city, it would STILL be worthwhile if one or the other wanted to be at that program only if the other person was there (one applicant is making the sacrifice to be at a less than ideal program/location/etc in order for them to match together), and there are no other options for them to be together. You can see from above that the matrices get hairy quickly when more programs get thrown into the mix, as I have only shown about 10% of this total ROL.
While it would be more simple (for applicants) if the NRMP allowed an "uncoupled ROL" following a coupled list in case the same city coupled pairs do not match, the system still allows for making pairs that are in separate cities (essentially "uncoupled," just far more cumbersome to enter each possibility from the matrix). Such a "coupled, then uncoupled" system would make more sense.
Please view the following document as a guide. While it does not actually put ROLs for pairs in different cities, it is the closest I have found. I'm not sure how old this is, but everything it says is true:
www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/gme/prospective/radiation_oncology/applicant_information/documents/CouplesMatchGuide.doc
Fun fact #1: You do not pay extra for each rank. Rather, you pay for each program. So even if you rank NY 10 times in separate pairs, it only counts as 1 program.
(Not so) Fun fact #2: Also, keep in mind that you don't actually put the pairs in side-by-side as I have illustrated above (and would make sense to avoid mistakes). It is up to you to make sure the pairs correlate on the separate ROLs. I suggest creating Excel spreadsheets with the pairs and entering each into the ROL line by line so the appropriate pairs numerically correspond.
Fun fact #3: You can couples match with anyone (best friend, spouse, SO, archenemy) and NO ONE HAS TO KNOW IF YOU DON'T TELL ANYONE. I'm surprised more best friends don't couples match because it would ensure you are in a city with someone you know. This would actually be beneficial even if you only couple a few choices. It would also help if you have a tough time deciding between programs of equal caliber but your best friend knows exactly how to rank them. Additionally, you would not be any more at risk of not matching AS LONG AS YOU ENTER ALL POSSIBILITIES FROM THE MATRIX. This would need to include all possibilities of one applicant or the other going unmatched.
Fun fact #4: Couples matching skews match data. From the example above, if the partner on the left above does not match at NY and matches at SD and the partner on the right matches at NY, the matched pair rank would be #11 even though they each received their #2 and #1 choices, respectively. While this may be important to medical schools who report their match data to attract applicants by saying something like "90% of our graduates get one of their top 3 choices," it makes no difference to me. I suggest schools encourage the NRMP to switch to the "coupled, then uncoupled" system (as mentioned above) to better reflect actual rankings of programs.
While I have not gone through the couples match to actually verify this, I will this year, 2009, and will verify it following the match.
In other words, consider an "archnemesis" scenario where you couples match with a person you hate and select pairs that are on opposite sides of the country, thus ensuring that you never have to see each other. Totally acceptable.
Back to matching with someone you like: While matching in the same city may be optimal, it may not be practical and you may risk going unmatched if you only have a few programs that are in the same location. If one of you going unmatched is an acceptable alternative to completing residencies apart, feel free to quit reading here. Otherwise, continue reading:
For instance, if I interviewed at 10 programs and my SO interviewed at 10 programs, but only 1 pair was in the same city (exaggerating for illustrative purposes only), we could rank the pairs that were in the same city first,
1. NY-NY
and then systematically rank pairs that are not in the same city as would result from a 10x10 matrix
2. NY-CA
3. NY-OR
4. NY-OH
5. NY-VA
6. NY-OK
7. NY-WV
8. NY-AZ
9. NY-KY
10. NY-SC
Notice that if the first applicant doesn't match to NY, it would skip to #11 in this scenario (or applicant on the left's second choice, SD).
11. SD-NY
12. SD-CA
13. SD-OR
ETC
While you may be asking why this couple would decide to couples match if only one pair is in the same city, it would STILL be worthwhile if one or the other wanted to be at that program only if the other person was there (one applicant is making the sacrifice to be at a less than ideal program/location/etc in order for them to match together), and there are no other options for them to be together. You can see from above that the matrices get hairy quickly when more programs get thrown into the mix, as I have only shown about 10% of this total ROL.
While it would be more simple (for applicants) if the NRMP allowed an "uncoupled ROL" following a coupled list in case the same city coupled pairs do not match, the system still allows for making pairs that are in separate cities (essentially "uncoupled," just far more cumbersome to enter each possibility from the matrix). Such a "coupled, then uncoupled" system would make more sense.
Please view the following document as a guide. While it does not actually put ROLs for pairs in different cities, it is the closest I have found. I'm not sure how old this is, but everything it says is true:
www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/gme/prospective/radiation_oncology/applicant_information/documents/CouplesMatchGuide.doc
Fun fact #1: You do not pay extra for each rank. Rather, you pay for each program. So even if you rank NY 10 times in separate pairs, it only counts as 1 program.
(Not so) Fun fact #2: Also, keep in mind that you don't actually put the pairs in side-by-side as I have illustrated above (and would make sense to avoid mistakes). It is up to you to make sure the pairs correlate on the separate ROLs. I suggest creating Excel spreadsheets with the pairs and entering each into the ROL line by line so the appropriate pairs numerically correspond.
Fun fact #3: You can couples match with anyone (best friend, spouse, SO, archenemy) and NO ONE HAS TO KNOW IF YOU DON'T TELL ANYONE. I'm surprised more best friends don't couples match because it would ensure you are in a city with someone you know. This would actually be beneficial even if you only couple a few choices. It would also help if you have a tough time deciding between programs of equal caliber but your best friend knows exactly how to rank them. Additionally, you would not be any more at risk of not matching AS LONG AS YOU ENTER ALL POSSIBILITIES FROM THE MATRIX. This would need to include all possibilities of one applicant or the other going unmatched.
Fun fact #4: Couples matching skews match data. From the example above, if the partner on the left above does not match at NY and matches at SD and the partner on the right matches at NY, the matched pair rank would be #11 even though they each received their #2 and #1 choices, respectively. While this may be important to medical schools who report their match data to attract applicants by saying something like "90% of our graduates get one of their top 3 choices," it makes no difference to me. I suggest schools encourage the NRMP to switch to the "coupled, then uncoupled" system (as mentioned above) to better reflect actual rankings of programs.
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