Couples Matching Surgical Subspecialties

[lbandnugget]

Hi everyone,

Me and my SO are very interested in ortho and ENT respectively. Is it possible to couple match into two competitive specialties like this?

Thanks for your time

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[Raryn]

Hi everyone,

Me and my SO are very interested in ortho and ENT respectively. Is it possible to couple match into two competitive specialties like this?

Thanks for your time

So it depends on what you're asking.

If you rank every single combination, your chances of couples matching are identical to your chances of matching individually. But some of those combinations will include the two of you very far apart. So if you're just asking whether you have a chance of matching in the same city - well, the answer is probably, but it depends far more on how competitive the two of you are for your individual fields.

 

[lbandnugget]

So it depends on what you're asking.

If you rank every single combination, your chances of couples matching are identical to your chances of matching individually. But some of those combinations will include the two of you very far apart. So if you're just asking whether you have a chance of matching in the same city - well, the answer is probably, but it depends far more on how competitive the two of you are for your individual fields.

Thanks for your response! I would say we are average applicants for each field Step1~250, top 25 med school, one AOA, one maybe AOA, two or three first author pubs for each of us.

 

[gutonc]

Hi everyone,

Me and my SO are very interested in ortho and ENT respectively. Is it possible to couple match into two competitive specialties like this?

Thanks for your time

It's absolutely possible.
It's definitely difficult.
It's going to be an expensive application season for you, you need to apply to a lot of programs.
Get your current department chairs on board with both of your apps.
Focus on larger cities (or regions) where there are multiple programs of each kind to give yourselves the best chance of matching in the same location.
Be brutally honest with yourselves and each other as the process goes along and at ROL time. You have to decide if matching apart or one of you not matching at all is the preferred situation if you fall that far down your list.

 

[lbandnugget]

Thanks for the response!

 

[differentiating]

I would also keep in mind that rank lists are capped at 300 ranks, so it’s not always possible to rank all permutations. The couples I know still did fine despite that, but none of them were applying in two such competitive fields.

 

[siliso]

A couple from my class few years back did to uro and ENT. If you’re both strong candidates there’s no reason for it to be impossible, if either of you are marginal then less so.

 

[Raryn]

I would also keep in mind that rank lists are capped at 300 ranks, so it’s not always possible to rank all permutations. The couples I know still did fine despite that, but none of them were applying in two such competitive fields.

300 ranks is still 16-17 unique for each of you ranking all permutations.

If each partner has 16 individual programs to rank plus the possibility of being unmatched, there are 288 possible combination:

A) Both partners matched (256 combinations)
(Note: These 256 include matches where you two are far apart. Or one of you is at a program you don't prefer. Or both of you are at programs you don't prefer. Or all of the above)
B) Partner 1 unmatched (16)
C) Partner 2 unmatched (16)

Eventually you may hit the limits though.

A couple from my class few years back did to uro and ENT. If you’re both strong candidates there’s no reason for it to be impossible, if either of you are marginal then less so.

Uro is a different beast because they use a different match entirely. Can't couples match.

 

[siliso]

True enough, she had her match settled before his was done. Might even have made it more challenging though as he then needed to match in exactly one location rather than having a potential range of places where they might both match. The point standing though that 2 top caliber applicants who can take their pick are in better position than if either is marginal to match or match where they want to.

 

[differentiating]

300 ranks is still 16-17 unique for each of you ranking all permutations.

If each partner has 16 individual programs to rank plus the possibility of being unmatched, there are 288 possible combination:

A) Both partners matched (256 combinations)
(Note: These 256 include matches where you two are far apart. Or one of you is at a program you don't prefer. Or both of you are at programs you don't prefer. Or all of the above)
B) Partner 1 unmatched (16)
C) Partner 2 unmatched (16)

Eventually you may hit the limits though.



Uro is a different beast because they use a different match entirely. Can't couples match.

I’m aware, but multiple couples I know went on enough interviews total that they maxed out their ranks before they hit one matched/one unmatched combinations all the same. It’s just a thing to consider.