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Thoughts on sending them after residency interviews? I hate the thought of wasting paper if they're gonna end up in the trash can...
Fixed that for you. ;-)I give the thumbs up for thank you notes. A postcard or a folded note with 1-3 sentences max. The whole point is to communicate your appreciation without expecting a response-- once that is conveyed it goes into the recycling.
As a PD, I would say that it will have no real effect. If you really want to write, I would tell you to hold off until the end of the season and then email the program that you are really interested in. If you really spell out to a program why it is your number one choice, that might prompt them to look over your application to make sure that you should not be higher. I would of course only tell one program that it is #1.
Thanks for this tip.. But can you clarify please-
"To make sure you should NOT be higher"
If you spell out to your number one program that they are your top etc they will purposefully not rank you higher?
Thanks
After interview season when I am busy making my rank list there are a lot of people who look very similar to me. We interview a lot of people and there is no way I can easily differentiate #22 say from #25 (In contrast #10 will look a lot different than #30). If I receive an email from somebody where he/she nicely spells out why they really want to come to my program I will take a second look at their application and see if they deserve to be higher. If they do, I will bump them up. It likely will be only a couple of slots (e.g. 25 to 22). While going from 25 to 22 might not sound like a lot, realize what is important in determining whether you go to a specific program is whether you are above their bottom line or not. Thus, if I have 5 positions, the issue for you is where the #5 person ends up being on my rank list. If the #5 person is #23 and you are #25 you are not matching at my program, but if you are #22, then you will be my #5 and the person at #23 would be my #6 and would not match with me.Thanks for this tip.. But can you clarify please-
"To make sure you should NOT be higher"
If you spell out to your number one program that they are your top etc they will purposefully not rank you higher?
Thanks
I suspect there are more than one way that programs go about making up their rank list. In my program we do not work on the rank list until all applicants have been seen. Starting before that seems to be a waste of time to me.By the time you email the program in the late application season, the program's rank list is probably already made...
Tell a program they're your number one: Maybe you move up, maybe you stay where you are.
Don't tell a program they're your number one: You stay where you are.
So why not tell your number one that they're your number one? It's almost a Pascal's Wager type situation.