thank you notes

glasshouse said:

So far, I haven't been sending thank you notes after my interviews. This was after one program specifically said "please, don't send thank you notes"

So now I'm wondering, are they necessary? If I don't send notes am I shooting myself in the foot? Realistically, I think interviewers probably think they're either annoying or don't really care. However- I don't want to be the only person not sending a note.

Thoughts?

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"Necessary" for what? This has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum, but once more: thank you notes, whether it be presence or absence of them, to whom they are sent, email or card, etc. are not likely to have an effect on your rank list position, so in that sense sending them isn't "necessary". It is merely an issue of etiquette, according to which thank you notes ARE necessary. The point being: your poor etiquette will not likely keep you from matching. So relax

I was wondering... is it Ok to send Thank you notes 1 week after an interview??

Do you think that is still considered good etiquette??

borrelia said:

I was wondering... is it Ok to send Thank you notes 1 week after an interview??

Do you think that is still considered good etiquette??

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I am a current applicant, so the opinion be taken in that sense. But I think it is okay to do it a week after, as compared to none at all.

I am personally of the opinion to wait for a few days before sending the note, to let the "halo" effect of the program wear off on me, and write a more realistic thank you note. But that's just me.

A thank you note even a week after the interview would be better than none at all.

WhoisJohnGalt said:

"Necessary" for what? This has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum, but once more: thank you notes, whether it be presence or absence of them, to whom they are sent, email or card, etc. are not likely to have an effect on your rank list position, so in that sense sending them isn't "necessary". It is merely an issue of etiquette, according to which thank you notes ARE necessary. The point being: your poor etiquette will not likely keep you from matching. So relax

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Good to know.

Although I send thank you notes myself, I don't believe they have any impact on a program's rank list. Most programs sound like they have a meeting of all their interviewers immediately after interviews are completed for a particular batch of candidates. The candidates are then given a rank/score which will be used in generating the final ROL.

Think about it - how could thank you letters be incorporated into a ranking system in a meaningful way? Are they going to give one point for email, two points for handwritten, subtract a point for grammatical errors, give an extra bonus for notes that arrive within 3 business days? Really it seems it would be difficult to adjust candidate scores equitably based on thank you note correspondence.