Striking a Match: SOIMA President Emily Ranta on the Couples’ Match

As osteopathic medical students everywhere gear up for Match Week, a few of them are in unique situations. One of those is couples’ match, which Emily Ranta (OMS IV, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine – Carolinas), President of the Student Osteopathic Internal Medicine Association (SOIMA), is participating in with her husband, Josh Ranta (OMS IV, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine – Carolinas).

Both matching in internal medicine, Emily shared the different ways of processing information as a pair. “When we were interviewing it was very much, ‘We are an applicant.’ Individual stats, scores, accomplishments – those are great. But it’s a shift in perspective to think about, okay, we want to go here and be able to support one another.”

“I’ve enjoyed how that allows us to work as a team toward ultimately getting our goal, which is to do residency together and get our education together just like we have in medical school.”

What qualities are they seeking in a residency program? “For us, we’re looking for places that are going to make us independent providers. That's something we both talked about – being able to come out of residency confident that our training allowed us to be able to take care of people. We just want to be in an environment we can be confident doctors after residency.”

They’re also looking forward to the moment when they can celebrate having made it this far. “I've dreamed about [being a doctor] since I was five years old,” said Emily, "so it’s pretty surreal. There have been so many times where it hits me that I'm going to be a doctor in a month or two – it feels like the time went by so quickly even though it was a long three and half years. The dean always says, the days are long, but the years are short, and I definitely feel like that’s true.

“As far as celebration, [our friends will] all match on the same day and time, so we’ll get together, figure out where everyone is going. It’s kind of a second-to-last goodbye before graduation, so it'll be nice to see all these friends I've had a lot of time with over the last few years, and to get excited for one another. Especially because rotation has made it hard to see one another so we’ll have a good celebration – it's the end of a long process.”

For students going through the same process next year and in the future, Emily shared a few words of wisdom.

“I would say, get quality mentors. We thankfully had several mentors at our school who could guide and counsel us on strategies for matching as a couple. Having those quality mentors who could guide us along the way was important, and we were really lucky that we had that. VCOM gave us a lot of advice.”

“I would also say to enjoy the process. Fourth year is a unique position where you have the freedom to be a student and learn, but also the excitement of the upcoming residency. A lot of other people have gone through this – you are never alone. Enjoy the process, look forward to the future, but don’t look too far forward or worry. Look to the people who can help you when you’re stressed out. It'll all work out, it really will.”