Couples Matched into Anesthesiology - AMA

[NVO]

I remember lurking on the forums back when I was in undergrad applying to med schools. Then in my OMS3 year, SDN and Reddit became my pseudo-advisors when my school assigned me an FM attending as my residency advisor. I figure now that I'm quarantined with all travel plans canceled, all online modules finished, and 2+ months of free time, I'd contribute back to this forum and answer some questions if anyone's interested.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have about anesthesia, couples matching, or anything else. I'm happy to help!

I am an average applicant and my SO is an above average applicant who applied into a primary care specialty.

Scores:
Steps: 230's/240's
COMLEX: 590's/720's
PE: Pass 1st attempt

Matched at our top choice, had >250 different rank combinations

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[Neopolymath]

I remember lurking on the forums back when I was in undergrad applying to med schools. Then in my OMS3 year, SDN and Reddit became my pseudo-advisors when my school assigned me an FM attending as my residency advisor. I figure now that I'm quarantined with all travel plans canceled, all online modules finished, and 2+ months of free time, I'd contribute back to this forum and answer some questions if anyone's interested.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have about anesthesia, couples matching, or anything else. I'm happy to help!

I am an average applicant and my SO is an above average applicant who applied into a primary care specialty.

Scores:
Steps: 230's/240's
COMLEX: 590's/720's
PE: Pass 1st attempt

Congrats. How many aways did you do? What letters did you have for your app?

 

[Dr.Bruh]

How many interviews did you get? What was the distribution of university vs community? See any DO bias along the way?

Also, lets keep these Matched AMAs coming. Super useful since this is the first merged match. SO thanks for doing this.

 

[Kingman123]

Did you have any research/ publications? What region did u match into?

 

[Prehealth1011]

Were you two able to land more interviews by telling the PD about each other?
Were the programs more or less receptive about couples matching? Any pushback at the interview?

 

[Schwifty]

I remember lurking on the forums back when I was in undergrad applying to med schools. Then in my OMS3 year, SDN and Reddit became my pseudo-advisors when my school assigned me an FM attending as my residency advisor. I figure now that I'm quarantined with all travel plans canceled, all online modules finished, and 2+ months of free time, I'd contribute back to this forum and answer some questions if anyone's interested.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have about anesthesia, couples matching, or anything else. I'm happy to help!

I am an average applicant and my SO is an above average applicant who applied into a primary care specialty.

Scores:
Steps: 230's/240's
COMLEX: 590's/720's
PE: Pass 1st attempt

Did you match at the same hospital, if not how far apart?
Would you say couples matching helped or hurt your application in anyway?

 

[NVO]

Congrats. How many aways did you do? What letters did you have for your app?

We actually spoke on Reddit lol (I have a different user name there). I did 3 aways and had 3 letters: 1 PD from my first away, 1 anesthesia attending from a community hospital, and 1 OB letter.

How many interviews did you get? What was the distribution of university vs community? See any DO bias along the way?

Also, lets keep these Matched AMAs coming. Super useful since this is the first merged match. SO thanks for doing this.

I received 19 interviews and went on 15. I applied to 50 programs total, all university programs (there actually aren't many community anesthesia programs, except maybe the HCA ones). The majority of my interviews was in the midwest/southwest region which seems to be more familiar with DOs so I didn't really see any biases. I would imagine that you would find that more in the west coast, or maybe at the very top programs. The most "top" interview (according to Doximity) I went to was Cleveland Clinic and 2 of their chiefs are DOs.

 

[NVO]

Did you have any research/ publications? What region did u match into?

In regards to actual research/pubs, I only had some from undergrad. I jumped in on a QI project during my psych rotation and that was actually brought up in several of my interviews. I also listed my formal presentations that I did in front of faculty and residents (grand rounds type stuff) but those were never brought up.
I matched in the south central region!

 

[NVO]

Were you two able to land more interviews by telling the PD about each other?
Were the programs more or less receptive about couples matching? Any pushback at the interview?

100% YES! The second either of us got an invite, we both sent emails to our respective coordinators.

Mine would say something like "Thank you for the invite, I'm looking forward to the dinner and interview. I wanted to let you know that I am participating in the couples match and my partner has not received an interview at your program yet. We would love to coordinate interviews if possible" or something along those lines.
Or "I am participating in the couples match and my partner recently received an invitation. I would greatly appreciate if you could consider my application".

I got ghosted on ~50% of those emails, however there were several times when one of us "coincidentally" got an invite the next day, while other applicants did not get the invite (meaning it wasn't part of a "wave" of invites). Most programs were very receptive about couples matching, but the ones in big cities cared less about it.

Did you match at the same hospital, if not how far apart?
Would you say couples matching helped or hurt your application in anyway?

We matched at the same hospital. Couples matching definitely helped my application (see above). In addition, it helped psychologically/emotionally. My SO and I were able to coordinate ~12-13 of our interviews so we traveled together for those, making exploring cities a lot less lonely and also saving us a lot of money. There were also a few instances where my program wouldn't cover hotel but hers did and visa versa. However I understand that it is not the norm and I've met many applicants who couldn't match up any of their interviews with their SOs.

You will meet so many interviewers that simply ask "Any questions for me?" that you'll force yourself not to roll your eyes. I always asked them their thoughts on applicants couples matching to see what they say

 

[Lardy Boy]

Incoming oms1 in fall. I have some interests in anesthesia, but of course won’t know till later. What made you really solidify your choice? Is there anything you would have done different in your first years? Congrats and Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN

 

[NVO]

Incoming oms1 in fall. I have some interests in anesthesia, but of course won’t know till later. What made you really solidify your choice? Is there anything you would have done different in your first years? Congrats and Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN

If I had to do anything differently during my first year, it would be to really assess my study style and try to figure out what works for me. The way I studied in undergrad did NOT cut it for medical school. I started out re-writing all of my class notes by hand (thinking about the age old tip that writing something down will use muscle memory and help you remember better) but it quickly got overwhelming to do that. After about 3-4 classes of averaging in the C+/B- range, I decided to change my study style and make Anki cards on my class material. It helped me reinforce the topics by forcing me to only focus on important topics since I didnt want to end up with hundreds of cards. I would supplement it with sketchy videos and pathoma. I stopped going to class, I'd wake up around 10am and watch lectures at x2 speed at home. I became more efficient with my time. After I did that, my class scores went up to the A- range. Don't be stuck using a study style that doesnt work for you, and try to find what works best. Its normal to struggle in the first few classes but I've seen many students struggle the whole way through, which unsurprisingly doesn't translate well for studying for boards, and consequently doesn't bode well for the match either.

There wasn't really one thing that solidified my choice, but moreso a culmination of a lot of things. My personality fits very well with anesthesiology as I'm a very laid back person by nature but I can also think quickly on my feet. Anesthesia is like 90% chill and 10% shiz hitting the fan lol. I enjoyed everything about it, from sitting on a stool and chillin for hours, to the intense liver transplant rooms and trauma rooms, talking to the patient during an awake crani, walking around the whole hospital giving blocks to patients, all the cool tech (ET tubes w/ nerve monitoring, fiberoptic intubations, etc)... not to mention no rounding, and no SOAP notes

I was one of the few that entered med school wanting to do anesthesia. Something like >50% of students switch specialties during med school, but you set your sights on an awesome field and I hope to see you join it in a few years!

 

[governmenthooker]

If I had to do anything differently during my first year, it would be to really assess my study style and try to figure out what works for me. The way I studied in undergrad did NOT cut it for medical school. I started out re-writing all of my class notes by hand (thinking about the age old tip that writing something down will use muscle memory and help you remember better) but it quickly got overwhelming to do that. After about 3-4 classes of averaging in the C+/B- range, I decided to change my study style and make Anki cards on my class material. It helped me reinforce the topics by forcing me to only focus on important topics since I didnt want to end up with hundreds of cards. I would supplement it with sketchy videos and pathoma. I stopped going to class, I'd wake up around 10am and watch lectures at x2 speed at home. I became more efficient with my time. After I did that, my class scores went up to the A- range. Don't be stuck using a study style that doesnt work for you, and try to find what works best. Its normal to struggle in the first few classes but I've seen many students struggle the whole way through, which unsurprisingly doesn't translate well for studying for boards, and consequently doesn't bode well for the match either.

There wasn't really one thing that solidified my choice, but moreso a culmination of a lot of things. My personality fits very well with anesthesiology as I'm a very laid back person by nature but I can also think quickly on my feet. Anesthesia is like 90% chill and 10% shiz hitting the fan lol. I enjoyed everything about it, from sitting on a stool and chillin for hours, to the intense liver transplant rooms and trauma rooms, talking to the patient during an awake crani, walking around the whole hospital giving blocks to patients, all the cool tech (ET tubes w/ nerve monitoring, fiberoptic intubations, etc)... not to mention no rounding, and no SOAP notes

I was one of the few that entered med school wanting to do anesthesia. Something like >50% of students switch specialties during med school, but you set your sights on an awesome field and I hope to see you join it in a few years!

wow that was so incredibly helpful and now i'm interested in anesthesiology

 

[Prehealth1011]

@NVO Did you apply and rank both Categorical and Advanced? Is Advanced less competitive? Being in a couples match, is it more advisable to rank Advanced programs higher i.e. 1- program A advanced, 2- program A categorical.

 

[scoopdaboop]

Any interest in fellowships? I mean with the CRNA crazies who pretend they're like actual anesthesiologists (which is funny, because with all these new DO programs, and Carribean schools, becoming a physician is becoming easier every year TBH, yet they don't want do medical school and they always have the same excuses). You think doing a fellowship is important, just to mainly solidify your place in the job market. For example, a cardio trained anesthesiologist may have better job security because I imagine CRNAs don't want to be doing that stuff.

Also, I am interested in anesthesia to pain maybe, probably radiology as well. Anesthesia and rads seem to have similar benefits; little patient contact, big ol vacation times, and decent salaries. Did you ever think about radiology?

 

[NVO]

@NVO Did you apply and rank both Categorical and Advanced? Is Advanced less competitive? Being in a couples match, is it more advisable to rank Advanced programs higher i.e. 1- program A advanced, 2- program A categorical.

I applied to categorical only since I was couples matching. Luckily for anesthesia probably 85%+ are categorical so it didn't exclude many programs. I just knew ranking and going to a bunch of prelim interviews would be a huge headache. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!

 

[NVO]

Any interest in fellowships? I mean with the CRNA crazies who pretend they're like actual anesthesiologists (which is funny, because with all these new DO programs, and Carribean schools, becoming a physician is becoming easier every year TBH). You think doing a fellowship is important, just to mainly solidify your place in the job market. For example, a cardio trained anesthesiologist may have better job security because I imagine CRNAs don't want to be doing that stuff.

Also, I am interested in anesthesia to pain maybe, probably radiology as well. Anesthesia and rads seem to have similar benefits; little patient contact, big ol vacation times, and decent salaries. Did you ever think about radiology?

If you take some time to check out the anesthesia forum on sdn, pretty much unanimously you should only do a fellowship in anesthesia if you're truly interested in it, and not just for "job security". Compare this to radiology where almost everyone has to do 1-2 fellowships (on top of a longer residency).

I like the idea of general anesthesia and working for a practice. I dont think CRNAs are gonna stop the current lifestyle of most anesthesia docs. You might not sit solo on all your cases but that wouldn't differ from academia where you staff either 2 residents or 4 CRNAs and get paid half the salary as a private practice doc. Anesthesia to pain pretty much means you won't be doing "classic" anesthesia anymore. No more sedating people or being in the ORs (unless youre doing the pain surgeries). You'd need business savvy, and would be more of an outpatient clinic type of guy. You'd be talking to lots of patients for long periods of time and writing lots of notes, which is the opposite of why a lot of people go to anesthesia. The procedures you do are cool though and the $$$ is there

I never thought about radiology cause I like patient contact and procedures. I didn't like the idea of being by myself all the time, with a pile of hundreds of reads to do everyday. And the reads would never stop coming. I like the idea of doing a case, being done for good. There's a sense of completeness to the day and you don't bring your work home with you. This would make anesthesia more comparable to EM than rads.

 

[FutureInternist]

I remember lurking on the forums back when I was in undergrad applying to med schools. Then in my OMS3 year, SDN and Reddit became my pseudo-advisors when my school assigned me an FM attending as my residency advisor. I figure now that I'm quarantined with all travel plans canceled, all online modules finished, and 2+ months of free time, I'd contribute back to this forum and answer some questions if anyone's interested.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have about anesthesia, couples matching, or anything else. I'm happy to help!

I am an average applicant and my SO is an above average applicant who applied into a primary care specialty.

Scores:
Steps: 230's/240's
COMLEX: 590's/720's
PE: Pass 1st attempt

Matched at our top choice, had >250 different rank combinations

I’ll ask the most important question -
Who said to whom “You take my breath away” first.

 

[Barely_MakingIt]

If I had to do anything differently during my first year, it would be to really assess my study style and try to figure out what works for me. The way I studied in undergrad did NOT cut it for medical school. I started out re-writing all of my class notes by hand (thinking about the age old tip that writing something down will use muscle memory and help you remember better) but it quickly got overwhelming to do that. After about 3-4 classes of averaging in the C+/B- range, I decided to change my study style and make Anki cards on my class material. It helped me reinforce the topics by forcing me to only focus on important topics since I didnt want to end up with hundreds of cards. I would supplement it with sketchy videos and pathoma. I stopped going to class, I'd wake up around 10am and watch lectures at x2 speed at home. I became more efficient with my time. After I did that, my class scores went up to the A- range. Don't be stuck using a study style that doesnt work for you, and try to find what works best. Its normal to struggle in the first few classes but I've seen many students struggle the whole way through, which unsurprisingly doesn't translate well for studying for boards, and consequently doesn't bode well for the match either.

There wasn't really one thing that solidified my choice, but moreso a culmination of a lot of things. My personality fits very well with anesthesiology as I'm a very laid back person by nature but I can also think quickly on my feet. Anesthesia is like 90% chill and 10% shiz hitting the fan lol. I enjoyed everything about it, from sitting on a stool and chillin for hours, to the intense liver transplant rooms and trauma rooms, talking to the patient during an awake crani, walking around the whole hospital giving blocks to patients, all the cool tech (ET tubes w/ nerve monitoring, fiberoptic intubations, etc)... not to mention no rounding, and no SOAP notes

I was one of the few that entered med school wanting to do anesthesia. Something like >50% of students switch specialties during med school, but you set your sights on an awesome field and I hope to see you join it in a few years!

would you say that there is a goof family/work balance with anesthesiology? like could you start having ids during that residency and continue to have a good balance between spending time with your kids even after residency? what is the usual length of anesthesiology residency? (I just got accepted to my top DO med school and will matriculate in the fall and I wanna be like you when I grow up!)

 

[NVO]

would you say that there is a goof family/work balance with anesthesiology? like could you start having ids during that residency and continue to have a good balance between spending time with your kids even after residency? what is the usual length of anesthesiology residency? (I just got accepted to my top DO med school and will matriculate in the fall and I wanna be like you when I grow up!)

For sure. Honestly people have kids at all points in this process. There's always the Mormon guys with like 2-3 kids in med school, expanding their families during residency too haha. 25% of the residents in my class have children. My wife and I are planning on trying while I'm still in residency too. I think what matters more is where you live and if you have family/support nearby.

Anesthesia specifically is fairly good in the family/work balance front. It's essentially shift work (like EM), and you dont bring work home with you. There's a reason why a huge chunk of these physician financial bloggers are anesthesiologists haha

Anesthesia is 4 years long (1 intern year + 3 years anesthesia). The majority of programs are "categorical" meaning intern year is included, though some are advanced and only provide the anesthesia years, meaning you have to apply to prelims and TYs. I applied categorical-only as it simplified the couples match process (no going to prelim interviews, risking matching intern year at a different place, more headaches with ranking programs, etc).

 

[NVO]

How can OMS1 students prepare now for a good match into anesthesiology? It's looking more competitive over the years..

Honestly just study hard and do well in school. See if you enjoy pharm and phys. Pursue things that interest you. No need to do research just to do it. Try your best to get anesthesia experience early on in your clinicals. Lots of schools dont provide an anesthesia rotation at all for 3rd year, so you might have to try to sneak it in during your surgery rotations.

Sub-I's during 4th year will be clutch and give you a foot in to programs. This is something that the majority of MDs dont have to do, but DO's have to do. It's a way in which DOs can get an academic LOR from a PD that they otherwise wouldn't have

 

[Barely_MakingIt]

For sure. Honestly people have kids at all points in this process. There's always the Mormon guys with like 2-3 kids in med school, expanding their families during residency too haha. 25% of the residents in my class have children. My wife and I are planning on trying while I'm still in residency too. I think what matters more is where you live and if you have family/support nearby.

Anesthesia specifically is fairly good in the family/work balance front. It's essentially shift work (like EM), and you dont bring work home with you. There's a reason why a huge chunk of these physician financial bloggers are anesthesiologists haha

Anesthesia is 4 years long (1 intern year + 3 years anesthesia). The majority of programs are "categorical" meaning intern year is included, though some are advanced and only provide the anesthesia years, meaning you have to apply to prelims and TYs. I applied categorical-only as it simplified the couples match process (no going to prelim interviews, risking matching intern year at a different place, more headaches with ranking programs, etc).

Thanks so much for this I really appreciate the insight!

 

[blizzardwizard]

This thread still active? If so mind if I PM you?

 

[NVO]

This thread still active? If so mind if I PM you?

Go for it!

 

[drducky.]

Do you feel that anesthesia will be more competitive now that EM job market is collapsing? Many of my friends are switching from EM to anesthesia.

 

[MDMechEngr]

it will make this year's gas match look good.

 

[NVO]

Do you feel that anesthesia will be more competitive now that EM job market is collapsing? Many of my friends are switching from EM to anesthesia.

I feel like anesthesia has always stayed right in the middle for competitiveness. Be at least average, and show interest. Do sub-I's and get a LOR from a PD. We get people switching to anesthesia all the time, i.e gen surg, OB, etcetc