Contact from programs

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badgas

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I understand that programs will contact applicants via phone, email or snail mail. When do they usually start doing this? Thanks.
 
I got a post-interview "Thank you, contact us with questions" yesterday. Not really a hard recruitment, but I got a little warm-fuzzy for a few seconds.
 
badgas said:
I understand that programs will contact applicants via phone, email or snail mail. When do they usually start doing this? Thanks.
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I received a letter (snail mail) last week from a program telling me "how much they enjoyed having me, etc, etc...and they would enjoy seeing me in the incoming years." I just assume they send the letter to all interviewees. So I didn't take much stock in it.
 
Ok, I should add... what programs are people hearing from? And for current residents, when did programs contact you for the most part?
 
I got a letter from Buffalo last week saying:

"The faculty ...... ranked your application very high to hopefully have you train as one of our ...... "


Always nice to hear, unfortunately I'm not going to rank them.
 
i got a letter (snail mail) from BWH about a week after my interview saying "we intend to rank you"...almost too good to be true so i'm going to assume they send everyone something. i think it may have been in response to my overwhelming no. of thank you cards.

i also got an email from columbia about 2 hrs after the interview (?) saying "thanks and let us know if you have any questions."

not going to get my hopes up though...on the off chance that my basket of eggs shatter to the floor...
 
smgilles said:
I received a letter (snail mail) last week from a program telling me "how much they enjoyed having me, etc, etc...and they would enjoy seeing me in the incoming years." I just assume they send the letter to all interviewees. So I didn't take much stock in it.
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Mine was from Mayo (Rochester)
 
Did any of your letters indicate how they'll rank you? Or personally written note? I have received many 'generic' letters as well with them saying "thanks for coming" etc.

Wondering if there are different tiers of letters.
 
Letters that say "we intend to rank you highly" don't mean shiznat - I know this from personal experience😡. Personal emails or phone calls from program directors carry a bit more weight. An offer to fly you out for a second look would qualify as an almost lock.

Bottom line is to be skeptical, be very skeptical... Good luck in the match!
 
foshizzo said:
Letters that say "we intend to rank you highly" don't mean shiznat - I know this from personal experience😡. Personal emails or phone calls from program directors carry a bit more weight. An offer to fly you out for a second look would qualify as an almost lock.

Bottom line is to be skeptical, be very skeptical... Good luck in the match!
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What about a personal email that was sent through eras?
 
Anyone else hearing anything yet? I'm slightly bothered that I've been to 8 interviews and have only gotten a letter from one program! Anyone hear anything from UPitt, URoch, SLU, MCW, UIC or UChicago?
 
i got a personalized email from Stanford PD, form type letter from Dr. Miller at UCSF and phone call from UCSD...my 3 top choices so I'm extremely pleased. of course you can never be sure how much this stuff means (and then you reread multiple times trying to analyze phrasing) or how many people they are doing this for but it sure does make you feel special for a moment or five. These types of correspondences will only pick up in January too. Anyone else heard from these places or any prelims/TY years in California?
 
I think I'm a pretty darn competitive applicant and my interviews to date have gone very well (I think), but I haven't received any correspondence. Maybe it got lost in the mail? I'm not going to let it bother me though.

Oh well, on to Stanford in the new year! Maybe they'll say nice things to me.

Good luck to everybody on the trail.
 
badgas said:
Anyone else hearing anything yet? I'm slightly bothered that I've been to 8 interviews and have only gotten a letter from one program! Anyone hear anything from UPitt, URoch, SLU, MCW, UIC or UChicago?
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Of those, I interviewed at Pitt, URoch, SLU, and UIC. Havent heard a peep from any.
 
I got what looked to be a typed form letter from our resident host at UPitt. Letter from PD at West Penn. A form looking letter from UVA.
 
i got 3 emails (???) from stanford, 2 from interviewers, 1 from dr. pearl. nothing from ucsf (just there last week). an email from BID PD thanking me for a card. that's about it.

oh, and nothing from uchicago.
 
ketafol said:
Of those, I interviewed at Pitt, URoch, SLU, and UIC. Havent heard a peep from any.
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That makes me feel a little better! Hopefully they just aren't doing that (yet).
 
badgas said:
That makes me feel a little better! Hopefully they just aren't doing that (yet).
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Got a "personalized" email from one of the interviewers at UPITT.

I still believe these letters/emails/cards mean very little!
 
smgilles said:
Got a "personalized" email from one of the interviewers at UPITT.

I still believe these letters/emails/cards mean very little!
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How long after the interview did you get that email?
Just curious how fast people respond.

I personally got only one email and it was a "thank you" for a thank you letter 😀 .

I sent thank you letters to every single interviewer so far so I lost count how many it is by now...
 
got my form letter from dr. miller (UCSF) today. i love that place 😍
 
Venus21pam said:
How long after the interview did you get that email?
Just curious how fast people respond.

I personally got only one email and it was a "thank you" for a thank you letter 😀 .

I sent thank you letters to every single interviewer so far so I lost count how many it is by now...
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I got it within a week of my interview.
 
Got a phone call from Miami the other day.
 
got a phone call from MGH over the weekend.
 
I got a call from Pitt.
 
Do these programs typically contact only those that are in a guaranteed matchable position (ie. ranked within the number of available spots) or do they typically contact everyone they intend on ranking?
 
Induc(junc)tion said:
Do these programs typically contact only those that are in a guaranteed matchable position (ie. ranked within the number of available spots) or do they typically contact everyone they intend on ranking?
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I don't actually know if anyone can answer that..I certainly have no clue to their reasoning

I do know though that I was hoping for maybe a little more post interview feedback...not that I needed a parade or a singing telegram or anything (but who doesn't love a party???:hardy: :clap: :hardy::clap: :hardy: )...but when nothing is said, it only leads my thoughts toward the dark side of they were less than impressed or it didn't go as well as I thought it did etc...but I'm sure (hopefully) that that's all in my head since it seems that several people have yet to hear back from several programs
 
I have received a typed letter through e-mail saying "ranking you very high and hope to have you train here," 3 handwritten cards for the holidays through the mail, and 2 other notes handwritten through the mail with the "if you have anymore questions," and 2 e-mails thanking me for my thank you cards. I do not hold much stock in any of these since programs are trying to recruit us just as much as we're hoping that they like us. I know two people from last year whom also received hand written letters from the chair that expressed interest in having them train at their program (two different programs). One of these people ranked one of the programs that sent her a personalized letter first on her list and went unmatched. Even at top programs that most of us would kill to get an interview from, you have to remember that they are all trying to get the same people (who are getting multiple top program interviews) so all programs out there are competing for applicants. Granted its still nice to get a note or letter, just as long as it does not go to your head. 🙂 Good luck to everyone out there.
 
I've been on a few interviews where the PD has specifically said they do not contact applicants after the interview. That's kind of nice to hear so one is not wondering where they stand with the program. Of course, the paranoid bit of all of us wonders if that is said so that we all think they aren't contacting anyone, but really they are contacting the applicants they REALLY liked. 😱 At any rate, it's nice to hear that from the PDs as I am not holding my breath and checking my mail incessantly waiting to hear from those programs at least.
 
Anyone hear anything from NW, Rush or UChicago? How about Drexel, Jefferson, Temple or Penn? Thanks.. I know these contacts don't mean much, but I wouldn't have minded a nice holiday greeting! 😛
 
i'm over half way through interviews and i have yet to receive any messages from programs. am i not going to match?
 
pakoda said:
Anyone hear anything from NW, Rush or UChicago? How about Drexel, Jefferson, Temple or Penn? Thanks.. I know these contacts don't mean much, but I wouldn't have minded a nice holiday greeting! 😛
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got an email from penn right after the interview. it was really generic though.
 
Thanks for the info, chips. Congrats for all your correspondences w/ these places. Do these emails come from the PD? Secretaries? Anything from the Chicago places? Thanks in advance.😎
 
pakoda said:
Thanks for the info, chips. Congrats for all your correspondences w/ these places. Do these emails come from the PD? Secretaries? Anything from the Chicago places? Thanks in advance.😎
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no prob. the emails usually come from the ppl i interviewed with. the letters usually come from the chair. the one phone call was from an interviewer as well. other than stanford they've all been on the more generic side; even the phone call message sounded parched - like the interviewer'd been calling people all day...

still nothing from chicago.
 
Call from UCLA PD. I'm with Chips, though the contact makes you feel good for sure, mostly pretty generic and hard to know what to take from it. Certainly they don't hate you if they do it but not going to count too much on it either.
 
Got a personalized handwritten letter. Last lines say "Our department felt that you were a very strong applicant and that we will be thinking of you when formulating our final match list. Best of luck in the match."

How would you guys interpret this? The first line seems great, but I heard "best of luck in the match" basically is the kiss of death. I know everyone says these shouldnt mean anything, but I cant help but want to know what they mean.
 
Induc(junc)tion said:
Got a personalized handwritten letter. Last lines say "Our department felt that you were a very strong applicant and that we will be thinking of you when formulating our final match list. Best of luck in the match."

How would you guys interpret this? The first line seems great, but I heard "best of luck in the match" basically is the kiss of death. I know everyone says these shouldnt mean anything, but I cant help but want to know what they mean.
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I want to preface this by saying I'm in the same boat as everyone else, anxious about hearing from programs and what might happen come March. With that said, I don't think you can read anything into it, and trying to do so probably only fuels further anxiety and other neurotic behavior. Think about all of the thank you notes you have (hopefully) written. Don't you say something similar in closing all of them? Heck, I say something like, "Best wishes for the upcoming match" in all of mine. (Note: All of you PDs reading this, that DOES NOT have any hidden meaning from me, I truly wish you the best in the match! It does not mean I'm not ranking you or I thought your program was horrible.) And even if your #1 told you that meant they weren't ranking you in their normal match position, would you really change how you rank programs? I wouldn't, because I plan on ranking them the same no matter what they tell me. Maybe they drop further than they normally do. Maybe they don't, but I'm not willing to take that risk just so I can say I matched at my #1.

All of this contact from programs is part of politeness....or the whole match game I'm sure. Just be glad you heard something at all and aren't one of the others on here worrying because they haven't heard anything from anyone....which I still say doesn't mean anything either.

Two months of madness left.
 
Duckie24 said:
I want to preface this by saying I'm in the same boat as everyone else, anxious about hearing from programs and what might happen come March. With that said, I don't think you can read anything into it, and trying to do so probably only fuels further anxiety and other neurotic behavior. Think about all of the thank you notes you have (hopefully) written. Don't you say something similar in closing all of them? Heck, I say something like, "Best wishes for the upcoming match" in all of mine. (Note: All of you PDs reading this, that DOES NOT have any hidden meaning from me, I truly wish you the best in the match! It does not mean I'm not ranking you or I thought your program was horrible.) And even if your #1 told you that meant they weren't ranking you in their normal match position, would you really change how you rank programs? I wouldn't, because I plan on ranking them the same no matter what they tell me. Maybe they drop further than they normally do. Maybe they don't, but I'm not willing to take that risk just so I can say I matched at my #1.

All of this contact from programs is part of politeness....or the whole match game I'm sure. Just be glad you heard something at all and aren't one of the others on here worrying because they haven't heard anything from anyone....which I still say doesn't mean anything either.

Two months of madness left.
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Sage advice.

Some programs were/are notorious for telling almost everyone that interviews with them that they will be ranked highly. Why do that? If a program with 12 spots tells 180 candidates that they will all "be ranked highly" and those candidates in turn rank that program # 1, 2, or 3, when the match algorithm is put into play, it is the program's TRUE rank list that will be followed by the matching algorithm (i.e., the program will likely get all of their spots filled with 12 members of their top 20 ranked candidates).

Therefore, don't use those letters or notes or whatever that the programs send/e-mail to you as any kind of factor in your rank list. If you do, you are only serving their interests, not your own.
 
I agree with the advice above. We have to remember that the match works in favor of the student, not the program. Just rank your list the way you ideally want to rank each program. It doesn't matter if every program you interviewed with wrote you a letter and sent it with flowers and then actually proceeded to rank you number one. You can only match one place and in that situation, if you ranked your list correctly, you will end up where you want to be. If 7 of your 10 programs are reach programs...so what...worst case scenario is that you macth all the way down at your 8th spot that you "knew" would take you and you are no worse for wear than if you had ranked that 8th program number 1. I can't stress enough how important it is to not listen to anything these program say or don't say...and just rank them they way you want! Good Luck!
 
Dear applicants,

please take a look at this link that illustrates how the match algorithm works. I'm very saddened when I hear that programs continue to mislead applicants so that they might change their rank lists. Please rank your programs in the order that you will want to go there. If you don't want to go to a program, do not put it on your list. that's all you have to know.


http://www.scutwork.com/cgi-bin/links/page.cgi?page=Algorithm&d=1
 
Wait a minute...am I reading this all wrong, I didn't see anyone saying they were ranking their previously last place choice first just because they sent them a nice note. I think we are not giving our colleagues enough credit to think that we are all swayed so easily. I guess I would be swayed by correspondence if it said "we hate you and don't want you here" but other than that I think we are all smart enough to rank according to personal preference.
 
Hey everyone,

Just wanted to see how many people received replies from the (subjectively) big programs. I'm sure that I don't list all of them below, but let me clarify again the subjective part.

Examples: BWH, Columbia, UPenn, UMich, Stanford, UCSF, BID, WashU, UofC?, UWash?, NWH?, MCW?

Also, did you send snail mail or e-mail?
 
gogiants said:
Wait a minute...am I reading this all wrong, I didn't see anyone saying they were ranking their previously last place choice first just because they sent them a nice note. I think we are not giving our colleagues enough credit to think that we are all swayed so easily. I guess I would be swayed by correspondence if it said "we hate you and don't want you here" but other than that I think we are all smart enough to rank according to personal preference.
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Really? Then why the extreme interest in who has been contacted from what program? If it has no bearing on anything whatsoever then who cares about all these letters, phone calls, emails? I mean if we all don't put any bearing on this at all, then why does it make a difference if I received a contact from a program while someone else didn't?
 
i am interested b/c i haven't heard shyte from ANY programs!:scared: :scared: :scared: i really hope that i won't have to scramble.
 
Duckie24 said:
Really? Then why the extreme interest in who has been contacted from what program? If it has no bearing on anything whatsoever then who cares about all these letters, phone calls, emails? I mean if we all don't put any bearing on this at all, then why does it make a difference if I received a contact from a program while someone else didn't?
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Apparently I need to clarify...what I was referring to was the fact that some people were saying something to the effect that people should not be foolish enough to, for instance, rank a certain program number 1 solely because that program sent them a warm fuzzy letter. I just thought people deserved a little more credit than that and that they are smart enough to rank according to their own personal preferences. Now in terms of what contact from programs mean, I do think that if you received a promising letter from a program's PD (not solely an interviewer) and I got nothing that indicates that you might have a better chance at being ranked than me. I do not think that that guarantees you a spot, however, as these programs are all hedging their bets also and without doubt sending out more of these letters/phone calls than the minimum needed to fill their program. Does that clear it up for you?

I'd like to add that given that not everyone who receives letters/emails/1st born children from programs are going to rank them that not getting correspondence when others do does not mean you will not get into a given program.
 
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