Wedding: after med school but before residency?

[AmyJo]

Hello - My fiance is a 2nd year med student who will graduate in Spring 2011. I work full time and am getting a Master's degree at night, and I will also graduate in Spring 2011. Although it's a long way off, it seems easiest to wait until we are both done with our degrees to get married. I'm hoping that he can get into residency on the west coast near my family, and that we could incorporate moving and me leaving my current job into the same time frame as the wedding.

What i'm wondering is, how long is there between Med School graduation and the beginning of most residency programs? A month? Less? Are we crazy to try to squeeze this all in?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Impromptu]

Why are you waiting to start your family? Are you holding out for something better to come along? The month between graduation and the beginning of residency is very stressful. Contracts, moving, ACLS, and a wedding? You're out of your mind. Get married now. There will always be a million reasons why starting your family should be put off. If you put if off now, you're likely to put it off then, too.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I agree...why wait?

Some students have over a month off, others just a couple of weeks. It highly depends on when med school graduation is and when he has to show up for residency orientation. You don't want to rush getting married, going on a honeymoon, moving, taking courses for his orientation, etc.

 

[DrJosephKim]

Graduation is in May. Residency begins July 1 (although some programs may start 1 week before July 1). Good luck and best wishes!

 

[Winged Scapula]

Graduation is in May. Residency begins July 1 (although some programs may start 1 week before July 1). Good luck and best wishes!

It is true that residency traditionally starts July 1, but many programs have you show up much earlier than that - I had to start two weeks early for orientation, ACLS, ATLS, etc. Others have posted here on SDN that they actually started working before July 1 and I've seen posts here where orientation started as early as June 5, so I don't think the OP can count on orientation being 1 week in length or that her fiance graduates in early May.

 

[Thorazine]

i am getting married the first week in june. its 3 weeks after graduation. i get back from the honeymoon on june 13 and my first day of residency orientation is june 17. it can be done. i did schedule my vacation month as my last 4th year rotation so i can be around to go to appointments and such. we are not relocating for residency, however.

 

[dragonfly99]

Yes, you probably could get married between the end of 4th year and beginning of residency, but I would recommend another time, like perhaps some other time during 4th year. Your fiance could probably schedule at least 2 weeks of vacation time at once, and then put a really easy elective before that. 4th year of med school, after the first 3-4 months, is generally really easy. You could get married in the fall, or in the spring but before graduation. Of course, you probably have your own exams, etc. to take, but could schedule around those. I think trying ti squish moving far away and then getting married both into the 1 month or so between graduating and starting residency might be a lot...kind of depends on his school's schedule also. Will he graduate early in May? If so, then it might be easier...if graduates in June or later in May, harder to fit everything in.

 

[VMSmith]

Another thing to think about regarding the timing is that if you get married right before his residency, your new husband will enter probably the most stressful and time-intensive period of his training immediately following the wedding. I'm not married, but I tend to think that's not really a good thing.

Right after your fiance takes Step I (at the end of second year) is one of the most popular times for medical students to get married. It'll be one of the last blocks of time most students have off until 4th year, and 3rd year, while stressful at times, is manageable.

But if you want to do it during 4th year, I would also recommend trying to get married during your fiance's vacation time. The best times would probably be either around October or November (before the interview season but after he's submitted his application) or anytime between February and April or so. Immediately after Match Day (mid-March) would probably be okay, because it takes some time for programs to send out the paperwork.

 

[AmyJo]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. My reason to wait, as I said, is that I am in school also. I will graduate around the last week of April, 2011. He graduates around the last week of May. Do you think it would make more sense to try to do a wedding/honeymoon in early May, then come back in time for him to graduate, and then we'd move in June? I would like to have at least 2 weeks for the wedding and trip, preferably 3.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. My reason to wait, as I said, is that I am in school also. I will graduate around the last week of April, 2011. He graduates around the last week of May. Do you think it would make more sense to try to do a wedding/honeymoon in early May, then come back in time for him to graduate, and then we'd move in June? I would like to have at least 2 weeks for the wedding and trip, preferably 3.

I think that makes sense if he can get the time off before graduation. When do his rotations officially end or is his able to save all vacation time for May?

 

[Impromptu]

Something else to consider is whether you are traditional (not moving in together, waiting till marriage for marital relations ) or already living as a psuedo-married couple. From my experience, those going the traditional route tend to not want to put marriage off as long.

 

[guitarguy09]

I'm getting married on May 30th after graduating on May 15th, leaving a couple weeks to take care of some last minute things. Our honeymoon is planned for the first 10 days or so of June and then I have another couple weeks until my first day of orientation on June 24th (before we "officially" start on July 1st). The contract is already done and I'd imagine most people have to have them fairly soon after the match, so that shouldn't be something you have to worry about. All in all... it's very doable and I'm really liking the fact that I can really ENJOY my honeymoon with nothing hanging over my head since I'll be in "limbo" at that time.

 

[guitarguy09]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. My reason to wait, as I said, is that I am in school also. I will graduate around the last week of April, 2011. He graduates around the last week of May. Do you think it would make more sense to try to do a wedding/honeymoon in early May, then come back in time for him to graduate, and then we'd move in June? I would like to have at least 2 weeks for the wedding and trip, preferably 3.

You could have him take May off and that should be alright (since your contracts will be done by then, as opposed to April). That may actually work out pretty well. Best of luck in figuring things out and with your marriage!

 

[relema]

I am getting married the weekend before graduation which is in the last week of may. Then the day after graduation we are going on a 2 week honeymoon. Then we have about a week and half to move before residency starts. I am more relaxed doing it this month then if i had tried to do it earlier in fourth year with interviews and match ect... I think it is doable and you should get married when you want. I have been with my fiance for 6 and half years ( engaged for 10 months). I wanted to wait until i was done with school before we got married so don't feel the need to hurry because everyone says why wait.

 

[rayofdiana]

My new husband and I got married last weekend. We both graduate from medical school this Sunday and start our residencies June 17th. We'll take a ten day honeymoon starting May 21st. It was a little crazy, but we were able to take our vacation time at the end and utilize some awesome family and friends to pull everything off. I was very happy with how it worked out. Good luck!

 

[LadyGrey]

I'm graduating next week, and a lot of my colleagues are getting married this month. (We have about 2 weeks between the end of class and graduation). So it can definitely be done, especially if you're starting to plan now. Some programs do have a lot of orientation stuff in June, though. Mine starts mid-June, but I've heard of some that start the first week.