<p>Not to cause anyone to lose sleep, but when a student is attempting to match to a specialty that requires a transitional/preliminary year prior to the actual specialty, they may not match at the same program for both the specialty and the transitional year. So in additional to interview related matters at specialty programs, there will be interview related issues for the transitional program as well. As I understand it, it can be quite expensive and challenging to coordinate this.</p>
<p>I read some article with the title: the life of a doctorās wife. The following is a part of it. It sort of explains why MS4 could be a good time to get married for a steady couple.</p>
<p>(I think the authorās husband just starts PGY-2. Could not tell what his specialty may be. But she mentioned he needs to do fellowship. Could not understand why it will still take 5-6 years since he is already a PGY-2. What specialty would take 6 or 7 years after med school?)</p>
<p>"I wanted to get marriedā¦ Buy a houseā¦ Start saving for retirement. (I know ā I am so much fun.)</p>
<p>But a lot of those things have had to be put on hold. We couldnāt get married until Husbandās fourth year of medical school, because thatās the only time when he had a long-enough period of vacation days to do the kind of wedding we wanted.</p>
<p>We couldnāt start really saving until residency. Husband paid for med school with student loans, and in order to keep them as low as possible we didnāt really put much away. We lived on my salary as much as possible.</p>
<p>And we still havenāt felt like itās the right time to buy a house (or start a family ā although thatās a whole other story). Yes, some residents do itā¦ Some med students do it, for that matter. But weāve never felt like it was worth it to buy a house for three or four years and then have to sell when we move on to the next rung on the becoming-a-doctor ladder.</p>
<p>So here we areā¦ In an apartmentā¦ Just waiting. Waiting until after fellowship when we finally know where weāll end up livingā¦ When my husband is no longer in training and can join an actual medical practice.</p>
<p>If you want to count my graduate school, weāve been in this holding pattern ā waiting for our real life to begin ā for seven years now. And weāve still got five to six years to go."</p>
<p>mcat - is your son interested in an arranged marriage? :p</p>
<p>No. He completely rejected this idea when we once jokingly mentioned this idea. (He has not hit the ābrick wallā yet though. But considering his track record, I am naturally worried :))</p>
<p>The older brother of his college suitemate (both his suitemate and his suitemateās older brother are in med school/residency) accepted the arranged marriage (already married.) But his suitemate took this matter into his own hand. He is an Asian Indian born and raised in US; but I heard his gf is half-Italian/half-Jewish.</p>
<p>add me to the trenches of those who will be applying to residency programs 9/2014</p>
<p>how on earth is it already almost 2014? boy time flies. obviously i want to be a doctor and i know iām going to be one, but i am kind of kicking and screaming at the thought of applying to residency because applying to med school was such a pain. hopefully residency apps will be a better experience. (and to thinkā¦my med school app experience wasnāt bad by most standards)</p>
<p>āNot to cause anyone to lose sleep, but when a student is attempting to match to a specialty that requires a transitional/preliminary year prior to the actual specialty, they may not match at the same program for both the specialty and the transitional year.ā
-D. actually mentioned that there are only very handful of programs that include transitional year, maybe 3 -4 out of 110. She will feel lucky to match anywhere. She knows that most likely the Transistional year will be at different place/location than her specialty residency. We are not there yet to worry about this. We have another year.
House obviously will wait. We also waited until both of us were employed. No MDs here (D. hopefully will be the first one). But being in other fields outside of medicine, we were concerned with the job security. We did not feel secure enough to buy a house until both of us were employed. And we have paid the house as quickly as possible, again, thinking that one may loose the job (it has happened to me 9 times, yep, was unemployed 9 times, sometime I have left, somettime I was let go, overall a great experience that led me to my current job that I love).<br>
I believe that residency application will be much more painful (in Dās case) than Med. School application. For starters, she had a guaranteed spot when she applied to Med. Schools. So, applying to 7 additional schools was not such a big deal. Coming to an interview knowing that you are already in, is a totally different experience.<br>
Applying to residency knowing that you compete with the smartest crowd in the whole nation is tough and no any kind of security blanketā¦</p>
<p>Well, what a lively group you all are! I bow to the modās wisdom in moving this threadā¦</p>
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<p>Yeah, that is part of what is making our future son-in-lawās process of changing from surgery to anesthesia interesting. He will have, in essence, met the ātransitional yearā requirement when he completes this current intern year in general surgery. BUT, theoretically, all the PGY2 slots in the program to which he wishes to transfer were filled during last yearās match by people currently doing their transitional years. Apparently, though, itās not that unusual for one or more people to change their minds and not show up for that PGY2 slot. FSILās best case scenario would be that heās A) accepted into the program and, B) one of those PGY2 slots open up and he can slide right in. </p>
<p>Next best scenario is that heās accepted and has to do an ADDITIONAL transitional year, and he is absolutely fine with that. Worst case would be that he does not get in this year, and in that case he may take a year in his schoolās MPH program and re-apply next year. </p>
<p>Unlike most of you, we only just began really even thinking and learning about the ājourneyā of a med student/doctor-in-training last year when it became apparent that our daughter was going to marry one. 
I started this thread last year because the whole Residency Match process is fascinating and intimidating and interesting all at the same time. And itās great to have folks to talk to about it!</p>
<p>Son also an MS3 but he plans on next year for his MBA, depends on the $$. He said he should know soon enough, maybe mid december? So if b-school then residency apps 9/2015, if not 9/2014.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>How are the interviews going?</p>
<p>I know they will be going thru hurdles, huge challenges. But I was in school until my 40s while working professionally since 19. I never had the academic challenges of med. schools or residency, just simpleton engineer turning into IT (hated engineering, not academics, but the job). So, this is the story that I have been telling my MS3. I went to school while working full time and having family, then she can also go thru that especially that she is much smarter and much more rounded person. I hope that this is putting things into prospective for her. Another point, I never had a job security, I am on my job #9 and had to learn from the ground up at every single place. I have never heard about unemployed MD. Docs work extremely hard for the certainty of having a jobl while the rest of us work hard for a certainly of being unemployed at some point of our lives (I do not know single engineer / IT who was not, including ALL of my friends). As far as house is concern, we did not buy one until both of us were workiing. In engineering / IT family, having one spouse working is a great fianancial risk.
So, maybe this will put all of the great efforts into the right prospecitve. MD will have a job, period. The rest of us cannot be so certain about it.</p>
<p>Our future son-in-lawās interview is TODAY, so all prayers and positive thoughts are welcomed. ALL the eggs are in that basket, folks. Goodness.</p>
<p>Good vibes being sent. My kidās journey is getting more complicated by a SO, also. Ugggh. Gotta have faith itāll all work out. Somehow.</p>
<p>Two words for mudgette: trailing spouse. (Makes life so much easier.)</p>
<p>curm,
What is SO?</p>
<p>D. just mentioned that some kids are applying to the top programs and they are getting way too intense to be around. She said she really does not care, whoever will take her, she will be happy. She also mentioned that top programs are important if one is going into research / academics. No intentions here, although she is a pretty good instructor, does not mind teaching a all, but her goal is to be a clinician and no research, please. We hope that if many will apply to tops, then D. will not compete with themā¦but competition is severe at every place, no matter how you look at it.</p>
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<p>SO = significant other</p>
<p>(Used to refer to oneās partner in a serious, long-term relationship)</p>
<p>āMy kidās journey is getting more complicated by a SOā</p>
<p>Is that a promotion from not-so random boy?</p>
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</p>
<p>Yeah. At this point, my D would love to be able to be one of those. Unfortunately she has a year and a half to go on her PhD. So the fianc</p>
<p>Bumping this thread to ask how everyone is doing? How are interviews going? How is the stress level? </p>
<p>Here we are ramping up on wedding planning AND trying not to stress over the impending match day. Our future son-in-lawās interview went very well and all signs point to his getting the spot he wants (to refresh memory, he is āsuicide matchingā to change specialties and to move back in with his soon-to-be-wife). If I think about what would happen if this does not work out (we find out, literally, the week of their wedding), I get a little sick. :(</p>
<p>Interview season is almost over, only two more for my DD :D</p>
<p>Please, share as much as you are willing.
D. is applying in September (if I remember correctly). She has a list of 45 but debating to add more or not, confused about the number. In addition, she will be applying to Transitional and/or Preliminary. So far could not find the list of Preliminaries at all. Transitional is definitely going to be outside of her current place, unless she is accepted into program that has Transitional as part of the program. Looks so complicated in additional to everything that has to be completed.<br>
Applying to Med. Schools feels like great fun and entertainment in comparison.</p>