Matching without hearing from the program

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turkleton

turkleton

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  1. Medical Student
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Is it a very bad sign if you get no love from the program after the interview day? Are your odds of matching there significantly lower? I sent a letter to my top choices and havn't heard anything even after this. Paranoia? Damn right.
 
Is not uncommon not to heard from PD's after interviews., remember they have a very busy schedule.
 
I heard on another forum where I was wondering about this that the policy of many places was not to contact applicants at all after interviews. They consider silence in accordance with the "spirit of the law" not to pledge spots to students.
 
chafemeister said:
I heard on another forum where I was wondering about this that the policy of many places was not to contact applicants at all after interviews. They consider silence in accordance with the "spirit of the law" not to pledge spots to students.
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It seems to me if you take the effort to write them and tell them they are your #1, or at the top of the list, they at least say thanks or goodluck. I got no love from my #1 and it really bothers me. I even wrote them to confirm they got the message, and the secretary wrote, got it, thanks, but the PD didn't ackowledge it;: I think it's poor form. I traveled accross the country to see them for gosh sakes. 🙁
 
Don't worry Turk. I just finished a medicine sub-I and my intern was saying how her program is the only program she DIDN'T contact with a thankyou and what-not after the interview. So no communication either way doesn't necessaily mean they don't like you. Keep your head up.
 
turkleton said:
Is it a very bad sign if you get no love from the program after the interview day? Are your odds of matching there significantly lower? I sent a letter to my top choices and havn't heard anything even after this. Paranoia? Damn right.
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Never heard a word from my program after interviewing with them. I thought they just weren't impressed by me.

Matched there anyway. 😎
 
jennyboo said:
Never heard a word from my program after interviewing with them. I thought they just weren't impressed by me.

Matched there anyway. 😎
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I LOVE reading comments like this! They decrease my anxiety and restore my faith in the Match!
 
It is comforting, but I still feel like crap about this whole thing. 🙁
 
yep, its good to read comments like this!!
 
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Was stressed so much, got relaxed little bit. But, as the match day is coming, I will be getting more and more nervous though.
 
The program I matched with sent one email to all candidates they are going to rank in the list. From the email addresses you can know how many will be in the list. The email said they enjoy interviewing us and hope to match all of us if possible and so on. I did not send any thank you notes or showed any interest despite I ranked them very very highly. I did not expect for a second that I will match with that program
 
OP- Would it have been better if you had received a formulaic letter that wasn't addressed to you personally? Or maybe a letter stating "we will rank you very highly", just to find out everyone they interviewed received the same letter?

I kind of enjoy knowing my #1 and #2 haven't sent me crap. They showed the love by interviewing me. Now let's just play that little game where you pretend you don't like me...😎
 
I got a handwritten letter from one of the residents that interviewed me - but it was very generic and sort of had my name wrong. They used my first and middle name, not my last. It was handwritten but just sort of said, "hope you had your questions answered and things go well". I have to admit I get jealous reading others who got letters from PD's saying : we re going to rank you highly. I am really nervous I won't match or scramble place at all, let alone in my first or second place choices.
 
Bertelman said:
OP- Would it have been better if you had received a formulaic letter that wasn't addressed to you personally? Or maybe a letter stating "we will rank you very highly", just to find out everyone they interviewed received the same letter?

I kind of enjoy knowing my #1 and #2 haven't sent me crap. They showed the love by interviewing me. Now let's just play that little game where you pretend you don't like me...😎
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Like I said, paranoia. I think we're all intelligent enough to take anything written to us- short of handing us the keys to the call room- with a grain of salt, knowing that it is probably the standard print out. But we're all human enough to want that anyway. I'll take peace of mind in small five minute fragments these days, and many of the comments here certainly gave me that. Thanks a lot comrades!
 
i'm at a 'top 20' program (per usnews- whatever the hell that means), and recently spoke w/ the int med PD about my anxiety re: not getting love letters- he said that his program and many others do not send letters. some pd's feel that it contributes to the BS game of how far down the rank list they have to go, and apparently there are many solid programs out there that sincerely don't care about this.
 
I think we are all understandably anxious right now. It's a weird place to be in right now - we are almost done with our rank lists, and then this strange limbo of waiting. I think in general it's best not to obsess over what programs are saying / not saying to us. The above posts have been reasonable. Programs do things in different ways -- the only day we'll know for sure is on match day. Until then we might as well enjoy the light year that is 4th year.
 
I agree with what's been said so far. All I do is obsess over whether or not I worded my thank you e-mails ok. I didn't specifically tell any program they were my number #1. I thought this was illegal? Silly me. If I would have known. Now I'm worried that I didn't show enough interest in my e-mail by saying "I am strongly considering" instead of "I am going to rank you very highly". I don't even think I mentioned ranking or anything to my number one. Only that I really enjoyed working at their hospital and that I know it very well, and thanks for the interview. Ugh. I'm so lame. I need to find something else to do until March 15th. Did anyone hear back from BIDMC or Columbia?
 
I didn't tell anyone, "You're my number one", either. It just seemed to be tactless. I told a couple "I will be ranking you highly". My number one got "I can think of no better place to complete my training".

I would be surprised if a PD actually gave more credit to "You are my #1" vs. "I will be ranking you very highly". Both demonstrate a certain amount of interest, which I thought was what they wanted to hear. I don't think they actually stratify candidates based on the amount of interest expressed. They just like to hear what you enjoy about the program.
 
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Bertelman said:
I didn't tell anyone, "You're my number one", either. It just seemed to be tactless. I told a couple "I will be ranking you highly". My number one got "I can think of no better place to complete my training".
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Personally, I think the only way that would be tactless is if you sent that "You're my number one" to multiple programs. I sent my number one a letter that stated they were my top choice and then my number 2 and 3 got "You are very highly ranked." I feel that I was honest and I didn't lead any programs on. They can choose to believe me or not, but at least I know I was honest.
 
I know plenty of people do it, and i'm not saying it's wrong, I just think it didn't sound good coming from me. I think you can establish the feelings of warmth without using the exact words. Just my feeling, nothing more.
 
At my first choice program, I interviewed with a faculty member who seemed to love me! I thought we hit it off, she gave me her card, underlined her e-mail address, and wrote a personal message on the back, and encouraged me to e-mail her. I've e-mailed her 3 times since that day (as well as the PD plus a mailed thank you card). She has never written back! 😕 So who knows what to think when these people contact you/dont contact you. I mean, the woman TOLD me to write her, I do, and she doesn't even respond! So I have to hope it will all work out.
 
DreamLover said:
Personally, I think the only way that would be tactless is if you sent that "You're my number one" to multiple programs.
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I'll apologize in advance for being a stickler, but this would actually exemplify deceit. Much worse than lacking tact.
 
cali-ob said:
At my first choice program, I interviewed with a faculty member who seemed to love me! I thought we hit it off, she gave me her card, underlined her e-mail address, and wrote a personal message on the back, and encouraged me to e-mail her. I've e-mailed her 3 times since that day (as well as the PD plus a mailed thank you card). She has never written back! 😕 So who knows what to think when these people contact you/dont contact you. I mean, the woman TOLD me to write her, I do, and she doesn't even respond! So I have to hope it will all work out.
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the same happened to me. My interviewer told me to email him with any question, weeks later I really had a question for him and email him like he told me, never got back to me.

They are too busy.
 
Bertelman said:
I'll apologize in advance for being a stickler, but this would actually exemplify deceit. Much worse than lacking tact.
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I think most people would agree...but you know as well as I do that there are people out there sending the "you're my number one" to everyone in hopes of boosting their chances...certainly doesn't make it right or okay...most of us know this
 
DreamLover said:
I think most people would agree...but you know as well as I do that there are people out there sending the "you're my number one" to everyone in hopes of boosting their chances...certainly doesn't make it right or okay...most of us know this
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I know. 😡
 
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