Guidance on Thank You Letter

[Dakota]

Hello, I recently interviewed with a school. I intended to send thank you letters to both my interviewers to thank them for their time, but right before I was able to write down my second interviewer's name, the session closed. Would it be advised to email admissions and ask them for my interviewer's name? Is it better to write a general thank you letter to both of them and leave out the names? I don't want to send a generic letter if possible. I want to give a genuine thank you letter for their time.

Speaking of time, thanks for your input in advance.

Also, this school does accept thank you letters.

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[Lillyrose94]

I did this but I remembered their speciality so I google the school and their speciality and looked through photos till I could find them

 

[Dakota]

I did this but I remembered their speciality so I google the school and their speciality and looked through photos till I could find them

Unfortunately the school's system is completely down, haha. I looked through the hospitals already but couldn't find a match in their specialty.

 

[pedneuro6894]

Emailing admissions is fine. But before you do, sometimes they will have your interviewers' names somewhere, whether in an email, on the application portal, or wherever you got the interview link. If not there, then email.

 

[sarcasmrules]

Thank you letters have no weight on your application, according to @Goro. As Goro said, do it if your mama taught you manners.

 

[Isoval]

I want to preface this by saying your thank you letter has little bearing on your interview decision as your interviewers likely completed and submitted their review forms regarding the interview in almost real-time if it is anything like interviews I have done in the past. It may slightly influence decisions if those people are present in the committee room when final admissions decisions are made.

Usually, I like to recall a specific piece of the interview with the person I am emailing. For example, if I brought up that I like hiking, I may send a couple brief notes to complete thoughts I may have had during the interview such as giving specific names for places that I may not have been able to produce on the spot. This could be for any subject you discussed that you enjoyed discussing.

The emails do not need to be long. Just a few brief sentences because, frankly, that's probably all they will read anyways.

 

[GoSpursGo]

An easy way to ask this less awkwardly would be to ask for the contact information of all of your interviewers.

Agree with above, a thank you letter should be 3-4 sentences long. Just enough to serve the purpose, which is to be a token of your appreciation of their time, but it should not be a rehashing of your entire conversation.

 

[Dakota]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Fortunately, I was able to send my letter. Also, I appreciate the tips on what to include in the letter, helped a ton!

 

[Stellar Mudd]

Just pointing out a not very often thought of thing. Thank you letters will not likely affect acceptance, and yes, as a general act of manners it is good.

The real pay off, my friend sent thank you letters, was later accepted, and while in med school one of their interviewers was an instructor who not only remembered them, but the thank you note as well. I believe this same instructor later wrote them a letter of recommendation for residency.

They also had some people they saw interview day end up being in their med school class, and same thing happened during residency. They also run into docs this way as attendings.

As you enter this field, remember if you are accepted to medical school that anyone, really anyone you encounter, you might encounter again. It’s a small world. Really it’s an argument for extra politeness no matter what you end up doing.