MD Did I shoot myself in the foot by sending a Holiday Card to PDs?

[IMApplicant18]

I am applying for Internal Medicine and have gotten a good number of invites. I read from a "How to be Successful in the Match" book the importance of conveying interest to programs post-interview. I thought it was a good idea during the holiday season to send a "Seasons Greetings" Card to the PD at 3 of my top choices where I took the opportunity to outline my enthusiasm and fit for their program.

I came across an earlier thread on SDN that says sending Holiday Cards to program directors is awkward and unprofessional - and may even jeopardize my standing there? I am surprised since I received a whole bunch of them when I was applying to medical school, and at least 2 of my friends received holiday cards from PDs.

Can anyone confirm or allay my fears? After all the hard work and money I spent on interviews, I hope sending a Holiday Card outlining my enthusiasm for their program will not undo all the hard work?

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[boogaaloo]

Depends on whether or not a nipple was involved.

 

[Doctor-S]

Hope the PDs aren't Grinches! 😎

 

[VincentAdultman]

Oof

 

[mimelim]

I don't think most programs will notice that you sent anything. Those that do notice will be a mixed bag of responses. But yes, some programs/people would take it negatively. Nothing you can do at this point, so at this point it is time to just move on.

 

[Dr. Scribe]

I don't think most programs will notice that you sent anything. Those that do notice will be a mixed bag of responses. But yes, some programs/people would take it negatively. Nothing you can do at this point, so at this point it is time to just move on.

Just curious, why would a program take it negatively? As in, what is there to take negatively about receiving a card?

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

Just curious, why would a program take it negatively? As in, what is there to take negatively about receiving a card?

I would just think it's ridiculous. Probably throw it in the trash and forget about it. Or maybe it would leave an odd taste in my mouth. Idk.

 

[mimelim]

Just curious, why would a program take it negatively? As in, what is there to take negatively about receiving a card?

Residencies are made up of people. People live on a continuous spectrum of various wants/desires/opinions. Almost nothing is universal in terms of opinions, especially on things like cultural and social norms. Think about how petty/silly your classmates can be. There are plenty of adcoms that have similar enough traits to judge people about the stupidest things. The same can be said about what people are wearing or how tall they are, etc.

 

[MediCane2006]

I’m more confused by the fact that some of OPs friends apparently got holiday cards from PDs....

 

[mimelim]

It’s weird man. It doesn’t matter if it’s petty. I would rather have someone match at my program who doesn’t have the personality disorder to sit down and make holiday cards to get favor for a job position

I don't think there is any correlation between making holiday cards and personality disorders. It may be weird to you, but it is pretty normal to many and is not a way of "getting favor" it is just a tradition that one does around the holidays. I think it is odd to send to people that you don't really know, but I have a fair few on my desk right now from hospital staff that I barely know.

 

[IMApplicant18]

One of the program I sent the cards also sent one back - so clearly this is acceptable.

Second - I wrote a long letter expressing interest in that program. So technically its a letter of interest that just happened to have some Holiday decoration since its the season.9

 

[hallowmann]

I am applying for Internal Medicine and have gotten a good number of invites. I read from a "How to be Successful in the Match" book the importance of conveying interest to programs post-interview. I thought it was a good idea during the holiday season to send a "Seasons Greetings" Card to the PD at 3 of my top choices where I took the opportunity to outline my enthusiasm and fit for their program.

I came across an earlier thread on SDN that says sending Holiday Cards to program directors is awkward and unprofessional - and may even jeopardize my standing there? I am surprised since I received a whole bunch of them when I was applying to medical school, and at least 2 of my friends received holiday cards from PDs.

Can anyone confirm or allay my fears? After all the hard work and money I spent on interviews, I hope sending a Holiday Card outlining my enthusiasm for their program will not undo all the hard work?

No one cares. Its always a mixed bag. Mostly people won't notice.

I don't think there is any correlation between making holiday cards and personality disorders. It may be weird to you, but it is pretty normal to many and is not a way of "getting favor" it is just a tradition that one does around the holidays. I think it is odd to send to people that you don't really know, but I have a fair few on my desk right now from hospital staff that I barely know.

*Scans the DSM-V* ... Can confirm that "making holiday cards" is not a criteria for any of the personality disorders.

 

[DBV]

How lame. Yeah your annoying piece off cheer will bump you way above those higher stat and applicants with better letters. You solved the problem!

 

[akuko2]

How lame. Yeah your annoying piece off cheer will bump you way above those higher stat and applicants with better letters. You solved the problem!

Watch The Grinch one to many times this year or have you been hanging out with @failedatlife too much?

 

[DBV]

Watch The Grinch one to many times this year or have you been hanging out with @failedatlife too much?

Nah bro Santa isn't real.

and he can't get past the bouncer at my step 1 club with that score.

 

[DBV]

Repeat post*

 

[Anti-PD1]

My policy is say nothing after interviews. Until rank lists are due.

 

[Hemorrage]

I've actually heard this commonly happens

 

[Lee]

Most PDs I suspect will be happy to get a card. But I don’t expect it will either improve or worsen your chances of matching.


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[Lnsean]

some people will take it negatively...it's obvious that it isn't genuine or it doesn't look genuine. They will think there's another motive. You're doing it because you want them to rank you. I'd think it's unprofessional because they're not your colleagues or friends.

 

[Dwan]

I am applying for Internal Medicine and have gotten a good number of invites. I read from a "How to be Successful in the Match" book the importance of conveying interest to programs post-interview. I thought it was a good idea during the holiday season to send a "Seasons Greetings" Card to the PD at 3 of my top choices where I took the opportunity to outline my enthusiasm and fit for their program.

I came across an earlier thread on SDN that says sending Holiday Cards to program directors is awkward and unprofessional - and may even jeopardize my standing there? I am surprised since I received a whole bunch of them when I was applying to medical school, and at least 2 of my friends received holiday cards from PDs.

Can anyone confirm or allay my fears? After all the hard work and money I spent on interviews, I hope sending a Holiday Card outlining my enthusiasm for their program will not undo all the hard work?

I would view that as unprofessional because they are evaluating you for admissions. Similar concept to providing gifts for attendings/residents during m3 before grades are in, which our students were explicitly told was not permitted. They'll probably be nice about it, but will likely know you're doing this to try to get in the program (vs. an actual kind gesture). As long as you have actual meaningful content in the cards, it may be ok though.

 

[hallowmann]

I would view that as unprofessional because they are evaluating you for admissions. Similar concept to providing gifts for attendings/residents during m3 before grades are in, which our students were explicitly told was not permitted. They'll probably be nice about it, but will likely know you're doing this to try to get in the program (vs. an actual kind gesture). As long as you have actual meaningful content in the cards, it may be ok though.

So my counterargument for this is, "yeah, and?". As a program director, faculty member, other resident, etc., it benefits you to know who actually wants to be at your program. Being a "kind" person may help overall, but its not like demonstrating you like the place and want to be there is a bad thing.

Try not to overthink this stuff. If you want to send a letter send a letter. If not, don't. Its likely it will have little to no effect on where you rank. At best it tells the program a little more about you (mostly the content of the letter). Whether that's good or bad depends on your fit with the program.

Again, its really not a big deal.

 

[Eithz H]

I am applying for Internal Medicine and have gotten a good number of invites. I read from a "How to be Successful in the Match" book the importance of conveying interest to programs post-interview. I thought it was a good idea during the holiday season to send a "Seasons Greetings" Card to the PD at 3 of my top choices where I took the opportunity to outline my enthusiasm and fit for their program.

I came across an earlier thread on SDN that says sending Holiday Cards to program directors is awkward and unprofessional - and may even jeopardize my standing there? I am surprised since I received a whole bunch of them when I was applying to medical school, and at least 2 of my friends received holiday cards from PDs.

Can anyone confirm or allay my fears? After all the hard work and money I spent on interviews, I hope sending a Holiday Card outlining my enthusiasm for their program will not undo all the hard work?

I'm currently applying to gen-surg right now so I understand the difficulty in figuring out what the exact protocol is when it comes to post-interview contacts. But I think I may be able to share some thoughts....people always talk about PD's like they are some homogenous mass of people with these intractably convoluted set of social rules and observances. But really, they are just normal people. And following this conclusion, if these three PD's got your holiday card and responded with anything less than holiday delight then they are probably not programs you want to attend. What I imagine is that you sent those cards because you understand how small acts of kindness go a long way when it comes to personal relationships. I hope you don't allow the doubts of others to prevent you from carrying out this gesture in the future.

Good luck with The Match!

 

[IMApplicant18]

Again, 2 of those PDs have now replied back with a similiar holiday card "hoping I consider joining their program".

Its clearly not unprofessional or awkward.

/endthread

 

[Xorthos]

I would just think it's ridiculous. Probably throw it in the trash and forget about it. Or maybe it would leave an odd taste in my mouth. Idk.

You must be fun at parties

 

[jw3600]

Again, 2 of those PDs have now replied back with a similiar holiday card "hoping I consider joining their program".

Its clearly not unprofessional or awkward.

/endthread

You’re right. It’s unprofessional AND awkward.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

You must be fun at parties

I am but I had to stop drinking so much because of snapchat.

 

[MSTPlease]

I’m more confused by the fact that some of OPs friends apparently got holiday cards from PDs....

I got an unsolicited holiday email from one of the programs I interviewed at.

 

[Perfect Hair Day]

I got an unsolicited holiday email from one of the programs I interviewed at.

I got an unsolicited holiday text from my ex.
I pretended that they had the wrong number and that the person they were trying to reach probably got a new number.
I also made it a point not to reciprocate the holiday tidings.

 

[MSTPlease]

I got an unsolicited holiday text from my ex.
I pretended that they had the wrong number and that the person they were trying to reach probably got a new number.
I also made it a point not to reciprocate the holiday tidings.

 

[Perfect Hair Day]

You must be fun at parties.

 

[Xorthos]

Look I’ll be honest. If a PD is offended by a holiday letter then you probably don’t wanna go there anyways. Residency is hard enough without having up tight PDs who are offended by humanity. The #1 factor in my residency decision was how personable the faculty was. And looking back, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.