Two years apart

[GrammCracker]

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Hey all, I'm hoping I can get some good advice and options. 🙂 I'm currently a 3rd year and my gf is going to be starting her 1st year in medical school. However, our med schools are 2,000 miles apart. I'm very excited and happy for her, but I'm sad that we're going to be apart. I'm worried that I'll hardly get to visit because of the unpredictability of my rotation schedule. It's nearly impossible to buy plane tickets in advance.

Also I'm concerned about residency. I haven't received my Step 1 score yet. I'm not shooting for a competitive specialty but my pre-clinical grades are very average. Obviously I'm hoping that I get accepted to the residency program where my girlfriend goes to school. But I'm worried that I won't. It would be nice to do couples match but I don't see anything I could do for 2 years until she graduates. Are there any options for that could delay my residency for 2 years? I can think of 1 year but it seems like 2 years might be too much.

Does anyone have any advice about all this? Has anyone else been in similar situations where they were in a long distance relationship with their significant other who was in a different year of medical school?

 

[Rendar5]

Sorry to hear. That's a really difficult situation. Well, the good news at least as airfare is concerned is that prices tend to drop to their lowest 2-4 weeks before a trip, so it's ok that you can't buy tickets far in advance. You will have somewhat predicatable schedule which you will learn at the beginning of each rotation and you'll be able to squeeze trips in there. It's just gonna be really expensive to do repeated trips. I dont' know the specific situation, but it should be easier for her to visit you this coming year, and you to visit her the year after because 1st and 4th years are the years with the most free time.

 

[PremedIowa]

You could think about doing some full-time research or pursuing another graduate degree closer to her for a few years after you graduate or before MS4. Or you could do a year of prelim/transitional and a year of research. You could always go into the match and only apply to places close to her in hopes that you get lucky. In addition, the outcome data shows that preclinical grades are not that important, so if you rock your clinicals and do well on Step 1 you could be a very strong candidate.

God, those options suck. I will also be going into a LD relationship starting next year for the next 5, and the stringency of medical training makes everything difficult.

 

[GreenShirt]

You should arrange some away rotations at your gf's school your third and fourth year. As for Match you'll have to hope you end up geographically close. Otherwise, you'll have to do research or a second degree to delay your Match since programs generally frown upon taking time of without a significant reason.

 

[smq123]

I'm worried that I'll hardly get to visit because of the unpredictability of my rotation schedule. It's nearly impossible to buy plane tickets in advance.

Agree with the other poster who said that your rotation schedule isn't going to be THAT unpredictable. You'll hear, from other students, what you can expect for upcoming rotations.

That being said, if your girlfriend attends a school without PBL and that records its lectures, it will be a heck of a lot easier for her to come visit you, particularly once anatomy is over. At my school, which had few required lectures, I could have stayed away from campus for a week or two at a time, and no one would have noticed. Any particular reason why she can't come out and see you?

You could think about doing some full-time research or pursuing another graduate degree closer to her for a few years after you graduate or before MS4.

It would probably have to be before MS4. Some residency programs don't like it when you take that much time off between MS4 and internship.

God, those options suck. I will also be going into a LD relationship starting next year for the next 5, and the stringency of medical training makes everything difficult.

Agreed. 🙁