<p>Thanks! Streeeeching, yes, to more programs…</p>
<p>Don’t you guys miss me? Hehe 
</p>
<p>Glad to hear your kiddos are doing well. I’m also humming right along–4th year is a-mazing, as great as advertised, etc etc. I love doing rotations I choose in the order I want in the specialty I’m interested in. What an awesome difference from last year. </p>
<p>Did you guys hear that ERAS crashed on 9/15? So it didn’t actually go out until 9/16, but whatever. I’m couples matching with my silly boyfriend (internal medicine) so between us applied quite broadly but are so happy with the results thus far–a nice collection of interview invites, so far with dates that have worked with each other, and even an interview invite to my current top choice. It’s going to be a busy fall and winter…but what a great problem to have. </p>
<p>Pleasantly surprised at how many programs are paying for hotels–at least that makes traveling a little easier. My interview suit is almost ready to go–and the shoes and bag are of course the best part!</p>
<p>:waves" Good to hear from you, kristin!</p>
<p>Oh yes, I heard all about ERAS crashing. (And I have the texts to prove it…)</p>
<p>D1 received her first II over the weekend and is still waiting to hear from more programs. (Supposedly most programs in her field wait until MSPEs get uploaded on Oct. 1 to tender IIs.)</p>
<p>D1 has a kick-ass interview suit. She vacationed in NYC on her way to an away/audition rotation on the East Coast and did a little retail therapy in Manhattan. (3 piece designer suit, 2 silk blouses, shoes.) I have to say the kid cleans up real nice!</p>
<p>Because of D1’s aways, her schedule isn’t quite what she was hoping (and she didn’t get to go to Nepal…).</p>
<p>Kristen, I wish there was a way to add an exclamation point to my “Like”. I am very glad to hear that things are going so well. :-)</p>
<p>What area will you be applying to @Kristin (both of you in IM)? </p>
<p>Hopefully silly BF is not holding you back from greatness we expect from you!</p>
<p>Nice to hear things are going well and wow, hotels paid for, I don’t think DD saw that happen, though she had some fun couch surfing with old old friends.</p>
<p>And the word from the PGY1 resident currently on an IM rotation, “I’m so tired” </p>
<p>Congrats, Kristin and others!</p>
<p>Congrats to anyone here who has reached another “milestone”.</p>
<p>DS is having a fifth/research year. So it will be the next year for him. (I never understand this part: why is the 4th calendar year called the 5th year and the fifth calendar year called the 4th year?)</p>
<p>I heard he had completed one of the two required sub-i’s. and he has taken Step-2 CK and will take Step-2 CS in two months. (I do not know why he needs to take it so soon. If I remember it correctly, norcalguy had not taken it before he applied to residency programs - likely because it is not required to submit Step-2 results before applying to residency programs.)</p>
<p>I can’t believe you are a 4th year Kristin. It seems like just yesterday that you were going through the Med School application process. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Thank you all! It has been a wonderful ride :)</p>
<p>@texaspg, all over the midwest, kinda trending south/southeast, with a few random ones here and there (and Houston x2 and Dallas too!). I finally saw the light and decided on pediatrics. Silly BF is doing IM. Can’t imagine either of us holding the other back–I think we’re pretty similar applicants and conveniently our goals are very congruent, which surely makes this (relatively) easier!</p>
<p>I knocked one outta the park with my step 2 score, 20+ point improvement over step 1, which definitely makes me happy. We have a few interviews that overlap, including one in Florida around Christmas, so of course we are going to Disney for the following weekend :)</p>
<p>Overall, we’ve gotten interview offers from 20 out of 35 programs already, so hopefully that will set us up for success and pleasantly difficult decisions in the not-too-distant future!</p>
<p>@kristin5792, Wish you well on your “couple match”.</p>
<p>I really do not know the interview invites could come so early. (Or you are more successful than others?!)</p>
<p>3-4 years ago, DS had an opportunity to go to Houston or Dallas for his med school too, I think he would be totally happy if he went there. Wonder whether he would have the same opportunity for the next cycle. If he does end up going back to where he grew up, we would love to go back too when we retire.</p>
<p>Just curious, do many med schools “produce” many couples among their classmates? Will their classmates and even the faculty usually be very happy if this happens? If everything goes well in the next few months (or half a year? How long are two people together before they think they are really a couple for the young generation?), DS may end up in the same situation as you, kristin? (Knock! Knock!!)</p>
<p>While I’ve been in med school, I’d say there are maybe 5-6 classmate couples per class. There are 4 couples in my class, but 2 of those couples were an item before med school began. Of the 4, 1 is married, 1 is engaged, and 2 are dating. For the 2 of us, there have only been nice/positive things said about our relationship as far as I know. We were never discouraged from dating classmates and we don’t have any rules or policies about it (do other schools?) </p>
<p>I think the decision to couples match is a personal one and totally depends on the couple. We had been dating for about 10mos when we decided to couples match. I think specialty choices play a role too–I think it’s an “easier” decision (professionally speaking) when both parties are interested in relatively non-competitive specialties. (And his decision to pursue IM helped me decide to do peds–I want our work lives to be separate and I think potentially being in the same department would have been not ideal.) I think it would have been a much more difficult professional decision had one of us been interested in something very competitive. Technically speaking, you don’t have to fully declare yourself a couple until you actually create and submit your rank order list in February of the year you match, but there is a place to declare it on ERAS if you want to. Personally, I think we are probably stronger as a couple than as individuals as far as applications go (aww), at least according to our advisors and deans, and we had no reason not to mention that we’re couples matching, so we chose to include it on ERAS–which also might make interview scheduling easier (ie, programs/departments are willing insofar as they are able to coordinate schedules for couples matching folks). Exciting for him though! Hope it works out 
Let me know if I can help!</p>
<p>Just want to mention you don’t need to be a traditional “couple” to enter the couples match. At D1’s hospital, there is a pair of identical twin sisters who couples matched. They’re both doing pediatrics residencies. </p>
<p>mcat2 - Is your son dating a medical school student now? Last one was not in medical school right?</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. Potentially 5-6 classmate couples per class? It is more than I expected because the class size is usually not that large.</p>
<p>texaspg, The dating with the last one, who is not a med school student, was short-lived. Yes, the current one is a med school student. I think the time for them to be together for the current one is already longer than the previous - so we have a high hope for this one. This also means that DS has even less time for us but we understand. (We are actually surprized by how they could manage to have started this as busy MS3s then.) As long as they are happy with each other, we are totally fine with the “less time for parents” part. It is normal that a bird should fly out of the nest of the parents when it is no longer a baby bird.</p>
<p>mcat2 - hopefully DS has not been replaced by the cats. :)</p>
<p>Hullloooooo. Have fought my way on here. Not. Making. It. Easy. I want my Tapatalk back. Saw Kristin’s post and finally got logged back in. My kid is doing grand. Wedding plans march on. II’s to 4 of her top 6 so far. She is IM and her list looks like the top 25 minus NYC schools and Mayo. Top choices are in the south or Midwest. Yeah! Which probably means she’ll end up in Boston. lol. Just saying hi. Nice to see y’all. </p>
<p>^ what does she have against warm climates or does south include Texas?</p>
<p>Yup. Two Texas schools on the list. One very high on the list. Oh, be still my beating heart. lol </p>
<p>
I would interpret this statement as: the best time for a med school student to get married is between MS4 and PGY1 - before the really hard work starts.</p>
<p>Congratulations (for both the IIs and the upcoming wedding.)</p>