letters from program directors?

[skigirl]

Hi! Has anyone received any letters from program directors of Neuro programs yet? If so, where from?


And for any residents or program directors reading, how important are these? How many are sent by a typical program?

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[undecided3yr]

I didnt receive any letters and interviewed at ~10 programs. I did get a couple of emails from one PD and one Chair.

That said, I ended up matching at a top 15 program who didnt communicate with me at all. So I wouldnt think they are not interested in you if you dont hear anything. I guess the other side is thay may have gone further down their rank list than they anticipated to match me

 

[Sir Elroy]

Letters from program directors are a nice little ego-boost, and probably do give you an idea (for the most part) if a program is interested in you. I suppose it's possible that a program could send letters of you're-so-awesome to everyone they interview, but I haven't heard of that actually happening anywhere. Just rumors. So assume the letters are a good sign.

What I have heard of (and, heh...been the recipient of) is people failing to match to programs that sent them a "we like you" letter. So don't think that just because you got a letter, you'll for sure match to the program. Remember, a program that matches 5 applicants might send out letters to their favorite 10 (or however many - I don't know how many is typical per program; some don't send any). It's the same with applicants...plenty of applicants write letters to their favorite three programs, but will only match to one.

So even if you get glowing letters from your top three picks, RANK EVERYWHERE YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO GO.

*ahem*

(Sorry about the all-caps. But every year, applicants are told the same thing, and still some people don't listen, botch their rank list, and have to scramble. Yes, it could be you. No joke.)

 

[topbird]

Hello,
I am very interested in one advanced neuro program. I had 10 ivs totally and 3 iv in prelim. The problems now is that one of the prelim program told me that I will probably not be on their ROL, the other two did not reply to my emails. So my chance of getting into prelim is very low.
Should I take my chance go for the advanced program I like the most, and take the risk to scramble for PGY1, or rank categorical programs on the top?
I am IMG.
To all the seniors, do your programs help residents find their PGY1 after match?