Tech Tips for the Couples Match
Written by Clarissa E. Jordan, M.D.
Having gone through the process almost three years ago, I’m really passionate about helping other couples in the match & wanted to share what I learned, in the hopes that it might be useful. First a couple of disclaimers: these are my personal opinions and experiences regarding the couples match and may not be representative of all couples, nor do they reflect the opinions of my employer. Additionally, I use heteronormative language in my examples because I’m talking about my own experiences, but wholeheartedly support all couples in the match regardless of sexual orientation & gender identity.
The residency interview season and match process is stressful and overwhelming at times, especially as a couple! I believe you can use technology to make things easier for yourselves by keeping things organized, efficient, and frictionless. Here’s a couple of tips I learned when my husband and I went through the process:
Setting Up
One of the great things about couples match is that you’ve got another person in your corner, who intimately understands the residency application process! This is probably more high-yield for in-person interviews, but my husband and I found it helpful to set up a shared calendar and email to help coordinate our interviews, respond to the other person’s interview invitations when they were busy, and keep track of programs in the running.
To do this, we created a new Google account (which comes with an email address, calendar, and Google Drive). Even though it’s technically one email, you can get two addresses out of it with Gmail’s + trick. This gives each applicant their own separate address, with options for separate inboxes, while maintaining one centralized account.
For example, my email could be match+Clarissa at Gmail dot com, while my husband’s could be match+Thomas at Gmail dot com. Each of us has a separate email address for applications, but all of our emails can be viewed in the match at Gmail dot com’s inbox (as well as in our separate inboxes).
You can also use your shared account to store useful documents, such as your list of programs applied to, your interview surveys, and your email templates.
Deciding Where to Apply
When considering which programs to apply to, we used the website medmap.io, which is a tool that plots residency (and fellowship) programs on a map. We used this tool to look for cities or areas that had programs for both of us in close proximity. As one might expect, we found that there was a lot of overlap for us in large cities where multiple residency programs exist, but medmap.io also highlighted programs that were outside of big cities that could work for us as well (including our current residency programs!). Given that we were applying in two different specialties, my husband and I found this tool particularly useful.
During Interview Season
I’ve already written about the importance of making interview surveys, to collect your thoughts and impressions of programs, but this is even more vital to couples (especially since you are likely not going to be interviewing at the same programs at the same time). Coming up with standard questions to ask all programs will help you more objectively compare programs together when the time comes.
For example, in my survey with my husband, we had three separate sections: a general section (e.g. Would residents choose this program again?), a pathology section (e.g. What is the grossing/sign-out schedule at this program?), and an emergency medicine section (e.g. Are shifts 8, 10, or 12 hours?). The answers automatically go into a spreadsheet you can review later with your partner to help you as you make your rank order list.
Best of luck to you both in the match!
Other Couples Match Blog Posts:
Navigating Interview Season as a Couple, Part 1
Navigating Interview Season as a Couple, Part 2
