For anyone who interviews applicants: paper thank-yous or emails?

[BlondeDocteur]

Do interviewers prefer honest to God paper thank you notes? Or do they just clog your in-tray? Emailing is certainly the lazier option, but I wondered if is was preferable.

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[IMPD]

Do interviewers prefer honest to God paper thank you notes? Or do they just clog your in-tray? Emailing is certainly the lazier option, but I wondered if is was preferable.

You might be overthinking this.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Do interviewers prefer honest to God paper thank you notes? Or do they just clog your in-tray? Emailing is certainly the lazier option, but I wondered if is was preferable.

When I was a resident and we sat down with the PD to review applicants, he poured a basket of mail on the table and said that it was all the thank you cards/notes that had been sent. They were mostly all unopened as well. This was for a general surgery residency program. So basically, they didn't care and your file wasn't updated as to if you had sent a thank you note or not.

 

[mcl]

When I was a resident and we sat down with the PD to review applicants, he poured a basket of mail on the table and said that it was all the thank you cards/notes that had been sent. They were mostly all unopened as well. This was for a general surgery residency program. So basically, they didn't care and your file wasn't updated as to if you had sent a thank you note or not.

Many--maybe even most--don't care, but some do. If in doubt, check with the PC to see if the program has a preference.

 

[BlondeDocteur]

This is great, thanks. If it were me as interviewer, I wouldn't care either.

 

[foodle]

Electrons are easier to throw away and harm fewer trees.

The vast majority of PDs don't care, so pick the least resource/time consuming option.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Do interviewers prefer honest to God paper thank you notes? Or do they just clog your in-tray? Emailing is certainly the lazier option, but I wondered if is was preferable.

Unrelated - but do you mind me asking what made you decide to switch to pathology?

 

[rokshana]

for what its worth, my thank you notes from interview season where in my residency file...

personally i like a hand written note...but i'm southern and we were just raised that way...

 

[drcrispmd]

I sent hand written thank you notes to everyone I interviewed with. I think it shows more effort. To me it shows they are really interested in the program. Just make sure your handwriting is decent. Emails are better than no thank you at all. Calling the residency coordinator to thank them is not necessary. They get hundreds of phone calls and voicemail daily. Don't clog their voicemail.

 

[Superman DO]

I sent out thank you emails to my interviewers, and received a couple of responses back indicating I was a strong applicant and would be a great addition to the program. While I felt the program was pretty genuine on my interview, how much faith should I put into these kind of responses? Or, do programs just like to butter-up the applicants they interview?

 

[gutonc]

I sent out thank you emails to my interviewers, and received a couple of responses back indicating I was a strong applicant and would be a great addition to the program. While I felt the program was pretty genuine on my interview, how much faith should I put into these kind of responses? Or, do programs just like to butter-up the applicants they interview?

This should have absolutely no bearing on your ranking of the program. Zip...Zero...Nada.

 

[Stellar Clouds]

This should have absolutely no bearing on your ranking of the program. Zip...Zero...Nada.

+1...rank your programs on your interest, not by how much the program says it is "interested" in you

 

[BlondeDocteur]

@superman put as much faith in the sincerity of their reply as in your thank-you. I.e. it's boilerplate and they say it to nearly everyone. The program wants every applicant who interviewed with them to rank them lest they go unfilled.

@southernIM long, multivariate reasons- if you're truly interested, please feel free to PM

 

[bmr6819]

So far, I have had 6-8 interviewers at each program. That many thank you notes seems a bit daunting. Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not it is ok to just send one to the PD? Thx.

 

[b-real]

When I was interviewing a couple of years ago, during the intro remarks for the day, the PD came in with his mail in his hand. He opened a thank you note, read it and ripped it up in front of us, saying, "I hate these things." At another place, one of the resident interviewers told me that nothing annoys him more than getting them. Personally, I think they're a waste of time and energy, even if the only agenda is politeness. Also, applicants obsess about them way too much, which is an annoyance in and of itself.

 

[gutonc]

I forward all TYs I get as an interviewer to the PC. I know the emails get to her. Since I'm only at the mothership 1/2 day a week, and usually can't be bothered to go to her office (and certainly can't be bothered to use interoffice mail), the hand written ones generally sit in my office until interview season is over and then get recycled.

 

[Law2Doc]

Thank you notes have no bearing on ranking. None. In many Professional settings when you meet with people, it is often considered good manner to jot them off a note and thank them. Not required, but if this is how you were brought up, you will write one. I see nothing wrong with sending a thank you to the recruitment coordinator and asking him/her to extend your thanks to X, Y and Z who you met that day. If you think it's going to impact ranking you are looking at it all wrong. If it's the kind of person you are, then do what you were brought up to do. This notion that it makes a difference likely stems from paranoia on boards like SDN. If a place is meeting 100 people or more, the amount of attention paid to the various emails and snippets of paper that show up after the interview is pretty minimal. The interview was your place to sell yourself. As for email vs paper, if a place has indicated it is receptive to email, either by saying so or by giving out email for any further questions, you can use it. Otherwise paper is the traditional mode. But again, it won't change your ranking unless the grammar is horrid or you say something foolish.

 

[twright]

This should have absolutely no bearing on your ranking of the program. Zip...Zero...Nada.

+1

At our program, response to a note or email really depended on whether we wanted you (for the "ranked to match" list) or not. At the beginning of each weekly meeting the PD would show all of the correspondence she had received (including emails which were printed), highlight one or two ("most of you remember Mary... she sent me a nice note saying we are her #1 choice, for what it's worth"), give other people a chance to say something ("oh yeah I got an awkward thank you email from this guy too"), and ask the PC to file all of them.

To answer your question, I don't think it matters. If you developed a nice connection with one of your interviewers then an email will give you the opportunity to actually interact about a topic that may have been discussed.

 

[swamprat]

Would you guys say its poor form to copy and paste a generic thank you email to the 4 or 5 people that interviewed you at a specific program? I know they don't affect ranking or so people say and its a pain/impossible to personalize each one individually so I have been just writing a small blurb abou what I liked about the program and sending them out to everyone and thanking them for interviewing me.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Would you guys say its poor form to copy and paste a generic thank you email to the 4 or 5 people that interviewed you at a specific program? I know they don't affect ranking or so people say and its a pain/impossible to personalize each one individually so I have been just writing a small blurb abou what I liked about the program and sending them out to everyone and thanking them for interviewing me.

I generally am of the opinions that these things don't matter.

But me, one of my co-residents, and one of my attendings were together the other day, and all at the exact same time got a 100% identical, exceptionally generic thank you email from an applicant we had interviewed the prior week. It looked pretty bad.

Take just a couple minutes to find SOMETHING different to say in each one.

 

[swamprat]

I generally am of the opinions that these things don't matter.

But me, one of my co-residents, and one of my attendings were together the other day, and all at the exact same time got a 100% identical, exceptionally generic thank you email from an applicant we had interviewed the prior week. It looked pretty bad.

Take just a couple minutes to find SOMETHING different to say in each one.

Ok thanks for the info, I was thinking similarly but told myself I doubt these things are printed out and compared lol

 

[gutonc]

Ok thanks for the info, I was thinking similarly but told myself I doubt these things are printed out and compared lol

I don't know if they're printed out, but we're expected to forward all TY emails to our PC (the hand-written ones mostly get recycled...I can't be bothered to deal with that) so she would see if you sent the same email to every interviewer. And while you think you're being clever...it's pretty easy to pick out the generic ones.

All that said, TYs have little or no relevance to your position on a rank list so don't sweat it too much.

 

[Moosemilk86]

Send them a cake if you really want that spot

 

[focalmd]

Ill add a neurotic post to this topic, I've been on several interviews so far and have had generally excellent interactions with faculty so far and on occasion been told "they would be lucky to have me". faculty and pds at A number of these programs however have not responded to thank you emails I have sent out. Is no response common With the ACGME rules/being too busy or is this some negative sign I'm not picking up on during interview day?

 

[IMPD]

Ill add a neurotic post to this topic, I've been on several interviews so far and have had generally excellent interactions with faculty so far and on occasion been told "they would be lucky to have me". faculty and pds at A number of these programs however have not responded to thank you emails I have sent out. Is no response common With the ACGME rules/being too busy or is this some negative sign I'm not picking up on during interview day?

Neurotic is correct.

I understand the stress of interviewing, it is stressful for PDs as well.

I get, on average, a gazillion emails a day during interview season from A) rejected applicants trying to persuade me B) People I didn't even reject who are sending random emails to all PDs in the country C) People (current residents, faculty, alumni, random people at the University) who are trying to "put a good word in for my niece/cousin/ex-wife/my niece's cousin's ex-wife" D) Applicants I interviewed 2 weeks ago, who I have genuinely forgotten at this point since I've now done 30 more interviews E) Applicants who are trying to switch interview days because of x/y/z but don't want me to think less of their interest in our program F) Applicants I remembered who are asking 25 followup questions including the dreaded "second look" crap G)....

Long way of saying, send a nice thank-you and move on. Go for a long walk. Cook some dinner. The anxiety and neurosis will only get worse from here until February. There is no way to know why a particular PD did not respond to an email, but chances are much higher that it's general fatigue than anything about you.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Neurotic is correct.

I understand the stress of interviewing, it is stressful for PDs as well.

I get, on average, a gazillion emails a day during interview season from A) rejected applicants trying to persuade me B) People I didn't even reject who are sending random emails to all PDs in the country C) People (current residents, faculty, alumni, random people at the University) who are trying to "put a good word in for my niece/cousin/ex-wife/my niece's cousin's ex-wife" D) Applicants I interviewed 2 weeks ago, who I have genuinely forgotten at this point since I've now done 30 more interviews E) Applicants who are trying to switch interview days because of x/y/z but don't want me to think less of their interest in our program F) Applicants I remembered who are asking 25 followup questions including the dreaded "second look" crap G)....

Long way of saying, send a nice thank-you and move on. Go for a long walk. Cook some dinner. The anxiety and neurosis will only get worse from here until February. There is no way to know why a particular PD did not respond to an email, but chances are much higher that it's general fatigue than anything about you.

Agreed. I was in a meeting with my PD to talk about a research project we are doing together...his email was BLOWING UP the entire time. He said it's like that every day from July through February.

We also had an applicant call our PC's office asking why they hadn't gotten an interview invitation; only to be told they never applied to our program! Whoops.

Most of the faculty I know just immediately delete them. It's not anything personal or a statement of the candidates competitiveness.

I tell every applicant I interview that they do NOT need to email me or write me a thank you. I give them my email and tell them they are welcome to get in touch with me if they have questions or need any help, but not to feel an obligation. I'd say it works on about 30% of them.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I get, on average, a gazillion emails a day during interview season from A) rejected applicants trying to persuade me B) People I didn't even reject who are sending random emails to all PDs in the country C) People (current residents, faculty, alumni, random people at the University) who are trying to "put a good word in for my niece/cousin/ex-wife/my niece's cousin's ex-wife" D) Applicants I interviewed 2 weeks ago, who I have genuinely forgotten at this point since I've now done 30 more interviews E) Applicants who are trying to switch interview days because of x/y/z but don't want me to think less of their interest in our program F) Applicants I remembered who are asking 25 followup questions including the dreaded "second look" crap G)....

I'm not brave enough to write this, but two thumbs up.

We also had an applicant call our PC's office asking why they hadn't gotten an interview invitation; only to be told they never applied to our program! Whoops.

Not "whoops". This is a common tactic. They didn't apply, and now don't have enough interviews. They know that simply applying will not get them anywhere now. So, they try this trick, hoping that we'll fall for it. Maybe less seasoned PD's will. Not me. Not IMPD either, I suspect!

 

[focalmd]

Thanks I appreciate you taking the time to respond to a forum post. It's difficult to know what to expect when some faculty from programs who do respond while others do not in the mix of rumors and hear say about post interview communications spread by applicants. I definitely do appreciate programs who have explained to us during interview day their program does not send out emails nor do they expect them.

Thanks again