Pc q&a

[ProgCoordinator]

PC, do you know whether places don't send you a response at all? I find myself with still quite a few places that I applied to, most of which have sent out invites and rejections per our forum, but have yet to send me anything.

Yeah. I hear that some don't send regrets and that sucks.

If there's a program from which you haven't heard anything and you've seen here that they've already sent invites and regrets...I think it would be pretty safe to send a brief email to the PC reiterating your interest and requesting the status of your application. Be nice and, as I said, keep it brief. There's a chance they may be holding it as an alternate. Good luck.

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[ROBINHO]

I have a question about doing away electives for residents.

1. How soon one schedule a meeting with the program director.
2. From the administrator point of view...what do you look out for in rotators who come to your department

Thanks

 

[ProgCoordinator]

I have a question about doing away electives for residents.

1. How soon one schedule a meeting with the program director.
2. From the administrator point of view...what do you look out for in rotators who come to your department

Thanks

1. I can't say whether it matters when you meet with the PD. Given that the point of the meeting is to create an opportunity to introduce yourself, I doubt that timing matters.

2. Same expectations as when you're at your home institution: basically work hard and don't act like a jerk.

 

[letDdiceflyhigh]

Hi PC,

I have a 50% rate of getting a reply to my thank you emails. Does this mean anything?

Thanks for your help

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi PC,

I have a 50% rate of getting a reply to my thank you emails. Does this mean anything?

Thanks for your help

No, don't read too much into it. Some answer. Some may not. Some may answer after some time. It is what it is.

 

[gutonc]

Hi PC,

I have a 50% rate of getting a reply to my thank you emails. Does this mean anything?

Thanks for your help

I think that's actually pretty high. I don't respond to any of them.

 

[R8493375]

Hi PC and Gutonc, first of all thanks a million for keeping up with this thread year after year. You guys can't imagine how much your efforts impact positively on we applicants' future. I am in a dilemma right now. So far I have interviewed in couple places and there are 2 programs that I am most interested on irrespectively. I intend to send them love emails by the end of October and I can't find a way to tell them both that they are #1 without intrinsically lying. So, how does this sound as the core part ?
" I intend to rank it extremely high, in fact at the very top of my list."
Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi PC and Gutonc, first of all thanks a million for keeping up with this thread year after year. You guys can't imagine how much your efforts impact positively on we applicants' future. I am in a dilemma right now. So far I have interviewed in couple places and there are 2 programs that I am most interested on irrespectively. I intend to send them love emails by the end of October and I can't find a way to tell them both that they are #1 without intrinsically lying. So, how does this sound as the core part ?
" I intend to rank it extremely high, in fact at the very top of my list."
Thanks a lot in advance.

Just go with the "top of my list" option. You won't be lying.

 

[Lasso]

I think that's actually pretty high. I don't respond to any of them.

Wow i emailed the pd and pc after interview and got reply pretty much at the end of the day!! In my personal opinion and experience I think it just depends on invidual personality more than anything!!

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Wow i emailed the pd and pc after interview and got reply pretty much at the end of the day!! In my personal opinion and experience I think it just depends on invidual personality more than anything!!

Correct

 

[R8493375]

Thanks a lot PC, guess the whole prior phrase was kind of redundant, right?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Thanks a lot PC, guess the whole prior phrase was kind of redundant, right?

Nah. Nice clarification.

 

[intmedcardrenal]

Hi PC and gutonc,
If I have not waived the right to see my LoR (for fellowship), am I allowed to scan and upload it myself? The LoR author attempted and failed to upload it, and my IM residency PC/PD have stated they will not be able to upload it either. I have been interviewing around, but wanted to get this letter in as well into my application packet. Called ERAS and was told for fellowship has to come from the author, but there should be some way to get it uploaded right?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi PC and gutonc,
If I have not waived the right to see my LoR (for fellowship), am I allowed to scan and upload it myself? The LoR author attempted and failed to upload it, and my IM residency PC/PD have stated they will not be able to upload it either. I have been interviewing around, but wanted to get this letter in as well into my application packet. Called ERAS and was told for fellowship has to come from the author, but there should be some way to get it uploaded right?

Ask the LOR writer to email it to the programs. (PD's and cc PC's). They can briefly explain that they haven't been able to upload.

 

[R8493375]

Hi PC, sorry for bugging you again but I really treasure all your tips and advises..
In your opinion, how frequent can this be and how much can it represent a token of real interest if a program answers you after the Thank-you letters with "hope you rank us highly" and "hope we can match" or is this a usual reply to applicants whereby programs try to secure being ranked in top places by most applicants overall ?
I am new to this application process, and I happen to really love this program but I don't want to give myself false hopes should this be a usual behavior.
Thanks a million in advance.

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi PC, sorry for bugging you again but I really treasure all your tips and advises..
In your opinion, how frequent can this be and how much can it represent a token of real interest if a program answers you after the Thank-you letters with "hope you rank us highly" and "hope we can match" or is this a usual reply to applicants whereby programs try to secure being ranked in top places by most applicants overall ?
I am new to this application process, and I happen to really love this program but I don't want to give myself false hopes should this be a usual behavior.
Thanks a million in advance.

You should rank the programs as your gut tells you. You'll drive yourself crazy by trying to do it any other way.

 

[R8493375]

Think u right. I ll do that. Thanks a million

 

[Card2]

Dear PC,

If one program didn't answer your 'thank you email' after interview, dose that mean a negative sign or it dose not matter?

 

[gutonc]

Dear PC,

If one program didn't answer your 'thank you email' after interview, dose that mean a negative sign or it dose not matter?

It means they didn't answer your email. Nothing more, nothing less. You can try to read something more into it if you want to make yourself crazy, but you're better off not.

 

[Card2]

Dear PC,

Repeat Question; when it will be the ideal time to let one of my faculty or mentor to contact the program to reiterate my interest for ranking purpose; Now, end of October or beginning of November?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Dear PC,

Repeat Question; when it will be the ideal time to let one of my faculty or mentor to contact the program to reiterate my interest for ranking purpose; Now, end of October or beginning of November?

After you've had all of your interviews. Probably no later than November 6th.

 

[ms1guru]

Hi PC, when do the love letters from programs go out if they do? Does your program send them out, and if so would you wait til the end of interviews or right after an interview.

I have a lot of good interviews and have no idea how i performed on them. How does the interview impact on making the rank once you have received the iv? There are tons of candidates that are excellent. Do programs have a hierarchy of applicants before they interview and then just adjust that after the iv's?

Thanks!!!

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi PC, when do the love letters from programs go out if they do? Does your program send them out, and if so would you wait til the end of interviews or right after an interview.

I have a lot of good interviews and have no idea how i performed on them. How does the interview impact on making the rank once you have received the iv? There are tons of candidates that are excellent. Do programs have a hierarchy of applicants before they interview and then just adjust that after the iv's?

Thanks!!!

We'll send love letters to our top candidates after having completed all interviews and committee ranking meeting(s).

Although we have a preliminary scoring system for applications which we utilize as part of our decision making for interview invitations, we do not begin our ranking until after interviews have been completed. Once an applicant has been invited to interview, s/he has a shot to match. As we all know, it's a competitive subspecialty, so those who are invited to interview are all strong candidates.

A candidate whose submission was highly scored may be an abhorrent guest during interviews and probably won't be ranked highly (if at all). While an applicant whose submission may have been scored to be average among the pool pre-interview, may prove to be a perfect fit during their interview day and be ranked highly.

 

[TruthMD]

I went to one interview where they had scores for the applicants along with their photos and small summary about them. This info was shared with all the faculty interviewing. I was not suppose to see it but I did and think the score should be blinded from interviewers. Just my opinion.

It would be interesting to see what the love letters from fellowship program say. Cause during residency application it was a lot of hot air.

 

[TruthMD]

Thanks PC for answering questions and providing us Info.

Even if different programs do things slightly different it definitely reduces the stress of the unknown.

 

[Mr Pancreas]

Hi PC, thanks for all your help. I have followed many of your advice during my interviews and I think they went well. I have a question. Many people that I worked with have offered to make phone calls to the programs in interested in the most, and I guess that's a good thing, however, do you think this would annoy the PDs if they receive few phone calls from different people about one applicant?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi PC, thanks for all your help. I have followed many of your advice during my interviews and I think they went well. I have a question. Many people that I worked with have offered to make phone calls to the programs in interested in the most, and I guess that's a good thing, however, do you think this would annoy the PDs if they receive few phone calls from different people about one applicant?

Perhaps it will be less annoying if some of them were to email the PDs rather than call. They can close the emails with the invitation for PDs to call them if they so choose. I'm thinking that your current IM PD need only be the one to phone. Unless, of course, someone on your end already has a relationship with any of the PDs.

 

[Mr Pancreas]

Perhaps it will be less annoying if some of them were to email the PDs rather than call. They can close the emails with the invitation for PDs to call them if they so choose. I'm thinking that your current IM PD need only be the one to phone. Unless, of course, someone on your end already has a relationship with any of the PDs.

Thanks

 

[Card2]

Dear PC,

How about if I am already IM graduate and have more close contact with Cardiology Faculties/Mentors in last year or so, do you still recommend IM PD to call or to let my Cardiology faculty/Mentor to call?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Dear PC,

How about if I am already IM graduate and have more close contact with Cardiology Faculties/Mentors in last year or so, do you still recommend IM PD to call or to let my Cardiology faculty/Mentor to call?

In your case it would make sense to have your current mentor(s) contact.

 

[Card2]

In your case it would make sense to have your current mentor(s) contact.

Thanks PC,

Do you think when the mentor or faculty call the program director to reiterate my interest in their program, her will feel or sense my sat at their Rank list? or usually that will not be the case.

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Thanks PC,

Do you think when the mentor or faculty call the program director to reiterate my interest in their program, her will feel or sense my sat at their Rank list? or usually that will not be the case.

No telling. All PD's are different. :-/

 

[nope80]

Hi pc,
I'm trying to figure out what I need to be doing at this point in the interview season as everything comes to an end. Should my pd be calling my top two choices? Should I be sending letters of interest to my top two choices? I have a good idea of what these will be at this point but am not sure how the timeline is now. Interview season is nearing an end quickly so any help would be appreciated.

Also for a top reach school, I'm trying to get an idea of what my chances are. I'm assuming that not hearing back from the pd if my pd tries to contact them is a pretty bad sign-correct?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi pc,
I'm trying to figure out what I need to be doing at this point in the interview season as everything comes to an end. Should my pd be calling my top two choices? Should I be sending letters of interest to my top two choices? I have a good idea of what these will be at this point but am not sure how the timeline is now. Interview season is nearing an end quickly so any help would be appreciated.

Also for a top reach school, I'm trying to get an idea of what my chances are. I'm assuming that not hearing back from the pd if my pd tries to contact them is a pretty bad sign-correct?

Once you've completed all of your interviews ask your PD to contact your top 2 programs. Either by phone or email.

Once you've completed all of your interviews send a follow-up email to your top 2-3 programs. Thank them again for the opportunity and let them know that you plan to rank them highly. You're free to disclose to your top choice that they are your top choice.

Regarding the reach PD: It's not necessarily a bad sign unless your PD called and left a message saying nothing more than, "Please give me a call back to discuss Dr. Nope." If your PD left a message stating your interest, merit, and potential and then closed it with, "Please feel free to call back if you should have any questions" then you can see that it's not a big deal that s/he hasn't heard back (yet?).

 

[nope80]

If a program is going to rank someone to match, do they typically try to reach out to the candidate and communicate this somehow?
Also when do most programs solidify their rank list?

 

[intmedcardrenal]

Hi PC, and gutonc,
Was trying to get information on thank you letters. So from what I understand, we should send generic thank you letters right away and then follow up thank you letters at the end of the interview trail to the top 2-3 programs?
How would a program view someone for not sending a thank you right after the interview? For various reasons (not lugging around my laptop, flights getting delayed and the phone's battery being dead at the end of each interview day), I was not able to send TYs to half the programs I have interviewed at, and subsequently have been procastinating how to word them, etc . If a program doesn't get TYs right away, does that mean the applicant doesn't rank there? Would it make sense to write them now, in some cases 2-3 weeks after the interview?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

If a program is going to rank someone to match, do they typically try to reach out to the candidate and communicate this somehow?
Also when do most programs solidify their rank list?

It's sort of case-by-case with us. If you email us some love and you're ranked to match, our PD may reply telling you that you're ranked highly. If we're very interested in a candidate, but not absolutely certain whether it's mutual then we will reach out to the candidate.

The only thing for sure is that the rank list will be final on November 13th. Safe to assume it will be close to solid by November 11th...probably being polished November 4-8.

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Hi PC, and gutonc,
Was trying to get information on thank you letters. So from what I understand, we should send generic thank you letters right away and then follow up thank you letters at the end of the interview trail to the top 2-3 programs?
How would a program view someone for not sending a thank you right after the interview? For various reasons (not lugging around my laptop, flights getting delayed and the phone's battery being dead at the end of each interview day), I was not able to send TYs to half the programs I have interviewed at, and subsequently have been procastinating how to word them, etc . If a program doesn't get TYs right away, does that mean the applicant doesn't rank there? Would it make sense to write them now, in some cases 2-3 weeks after the interview?

Customary to send email/letter right after each interview. Then send follow-up to top programs after you've completed all of your interviews.

No thank you right after interview AND nothing before ranking = candidate is not interested. No thank you right after interview, but contact made by candidate end of the season = interest in program.

It's absolutely fine to email them now or once you've completed all of your interviews. Just open with something like, "Now that I've completed all of my interviews..." Not a big deal at all.

 

[intmedcardrenal]

Thank you PC! Does it reflect badly on an applicant if a TY is not sent right away, ie do the programs think its lazy or thing wierdly about the applicant's personality if they don't get a TY, no matter how many times in the interview an applicant expresses his interest? Or are they just looking for some indication that the applicant is highly interested?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

Thank you PC! Does it reflect badly on an applicant if a TY is not sent right away, ie do the programs think its lazy or thing wierdly about the applicant's personality if they don't get a TY, no matter how many times in the interview an applicant expresses his interest? Or are they just looking for some indication that the applicant is highly interested?

If an applicant never sends a correspondence expressing their continued interest after their interview day, we can only assume that s/he isn't terribly interested. Granted, we'll probably still rank that person, but there's an excellent chance that s/he won't be in the top 10-15% of the rank list unless they're among the most competitive of the year's candidate pool.

 

[Enteroid]

If an applicant never sends a correspondence expressing their continued interest after their interview day, we can only assume that s/he isn't terribly interested. Granted, we'll probably still rank that person, but there's an excellent chance that s/he won't be in the top 10-15% of the rank list unless they're among the most competitive of the year's candidate pool.

it almost seems as though most programs have a pre-interview rank list and very little changes in the 10-15% top group. What factors put someone in the most competitive of the year's candidate pool?

 

[Spoilme2025]

So if you send a lengthy thank you and receive a thank you back that was CC'd to the PC from your interviewer is that a good sign? verdict?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

it almost seems as though most programs have a pre-interview rank list and very little changes in the 10-15% top group. What factors put someone in the most competitive of the year's candidate pool?

Strong Med School
Strong Residency Program
Research and Pubs
AOA and/or CMR
Bonus pts for additional degree

Most candidates who hit at least four of those will typically be among the strongest in the pool from start to finish.

It's my experience that at least 50% of our candidates' standings change +/- a few spots after interviews. Those who prove to be jerks get knocked down a lot more.

 

[ProgCoordinator]

So if you send a lengthy thank you and receive a thank you back that was CC'd to the PC from your interviewer is that a good sign? verdict?

The thing you can most count on is that the PD has manners. It doesn't necessarily translate to your being ranked to definitely match unless the PD comes out and says that.

 

[gutonc]

Strong Med School
Strong Residency Program
Research and Pubs
AOA and/or CMR
Bonus pts for additional degree

Most candidates who hit at least four of those will typically be among the strongest in the pool from start to finish.

It's my experience that at least 50% of our candidates' standings change +/- a few spots after interviews. Those who prove to be jerks get knocked down a lot more.

In my experience, applicants fall into tiers (tertiles, quartiles, quintiles, whatever-tiles) prior to interviewing based strictly on their paper record. The interview tends to stratify folks within those tiers with the occasional applicant moving up a tier (although in my experience, more often down) based on a strong (or disastrous) interview experience.

 

[Enteroid]

In my experience, applicants fall into tiers (tertiles, quartiles, quintiles, whatever-tiles) prior to interviewing based strictly on their paper record. The interview tends to stratify folks within those tiers with the occasional applicant moving up a tier (although in my experience, more often down) based on a strong (or disastrous) interview experience.

This is exactly what I sense from interviewing although
The top ten applicants rarely get bumped.

 

[Militarydoc1]

Strong Med School
Strong Residency Program
Research and Pubs
AOA and/or CMR
Bonus pts for additional degree

Most candidates who hit at least four of those will typically be among the strongest in the pool from start to finish.

It's my experience that at least 50% of our candidates' standings change +/- a few spots after interviews. Those who prove to be jerks get knocked down a lot more.

how much impact do the thank you letters have on your post interview standings? would you rank an applicant who plans to rank your program number one higher than an applicant who expresses mediocre interest but with better "on paper" credentials?

 

[ProgCoordinator]

how much impact do the thank you letters have on your post interview standings? would you rank an applicant who plans to rank your program number one higher than an applicant who expresses mediocre interest but with better "on paper" credentials?

Completely variable. Case-by-case. A thank you signals interest (or none = disinterest) any impression based on correspondence is just one of many factors considered for ranking. You just rank how you like 'em and we'll do the same.

 

[ProgCoordinator]

This is exactly what I sense from interviewing although
The top ten applicants rarely get bumped.

Gutonc's post is right on target. I'll add that every year I see ~2 candidates who were top 10 pre-interview slip below that threshold for ranking. Top reasons? We don't click or our pursuits don't jibe.

 

[Card2]

Completely variable. Case-by-case. A thank you signals interest (or none = disinterest) any impression based on correspondence is just one of many factors considered for ranking. You just rank how you like 'em and we'll do the same.

Dear Pc,

Do I really even need to Rank a program in your opinion who I sent them a "Thank you" letter and I just got reply back from their chief fellow.