holiday card

[Jesmine]

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Do you send holiday card to programs (PDs) you have visited? I just received one from a program I like, wondering if I should do the same thing......

 

[gbwillner]

Do you send holiday card to programs (PDs) you have visited? I just received one from a program I like, wondering if I should do the same thing......

I did not. Then again, I didn't send thank-you letters either (I made sure to thank them in person during the interview). If a program is going to rank me based on my thank-you-note wrinting skills, I would have to question their judgement.

I did send follow-up emails with specific questions that came up as time went on to the PDs. That way I still kept and touch without feeling like I was committing to hollow jestures. But to each his own- I know most people do write letters and it never hurts.

 

[SLUsagar]

Do you send holiday card to programs (PDs) you have visited? I just received one from a program I like, wondering if I should do the same thing......

post-interview letter, mainly if you are actually interested in the program, is MORE than enough. Holiday cards are WAY over the top, and not only don't help, could hurt in my opinion.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

post-interview letter, mainly if you are actually interested in the program, is MORE than enough. Holiday cards are WAY over the top, and not only don't help, could hurt in my opinion.

Agreed...letter focusing on PD and chair is good.

Thank you cards are a waste of ATP molecules and a waste of money/postage.

I have even gotten thank you cards in the past...which is nice of people but I know it's part of the game. Somebody decided to perpetuate some myth a while back saying that thank you cards to all the interviewers were good. Then some sadistic punk decided to step it up further and insinuate that not sending thank you cards would hurt you because everyone else is doing it.

Please please please let's not start with the holiday cards Don't be that guy!

 

[Jesmine]

post-interview letter, mainly if you are actually interested in the program, is MORE than enough. Holiday cards are WAY over the top, and not only don't help, could hurt in my opinion.

That's what I thought. Glad I asked.

 

[yaah]

Yeah I think people get caught up in this whole system of "Does X get me ranked higher?" when X refers to USMLE score, doing research, volunteering for the red cross, having a personality, etc. And they will stretch this out to the most minor detail like responding to a holiday card. And then usually it comes up as "All things being equal, would it make the difference between me and someone else?"

In this case, the answer is no. Theoretically, a minor point can make a difference IF all things are equal. But in all cases, phrasing dilemmas in this fashion is ludicrous, because candidates are never equal in all things except one. So I encourage people not to fall into this trap that so often happens on these forums (more common in med school applicant threads than residency threads, and surprisingly more common in fellowship application threads than residency threads).

All things are never equal. Your application is the sum of its parts but all parts are not weighted equally (if at all) for all candidates. Some candidates have about 3 pages of volunteer activity, but it probably takes up about 30 seconds of the PDs time to glance at and have it recede to the back of their memory forever.

I sent thank you letters to the PD and chair at almost all of the programs I interviewed at. I also sent occasional emails to people I had what I thought were good interviews with to follow up on things. I don't know if they were necessary or not or if they had an impact.

 

[Purpura]

Agreed...letter focusing on PD and chair is good.

Thank you cards are a waste of ATP molecules and a waste of money/postage.

I have even gotten thank you cards in the past...which is nice of people but I know it's part of the game. Somebody decided to perpetuate some myth a while back saying that thank you cards to all the interviewers were good. Then some sadistic punk decided to step it up further and insinuate that not sending thank you cards would hurt you because everyone else is doing it.

Please please please let's not start with the holiday cards Don't be that guy!

I agree a holiday card is too much. I start sending thank you letters in the beggining of the season and now I'm thinking the best is to send e-mails. It's nice because they usually reply.

 

[mlw03]

I agree a holiday card is too much. I start sending thank you letters in the beggining of the season and now I'm thinking the best is to send e-mails. It's nice because they usually reply.

did any of the replies contain useful information, or have they mostly been something to the effect of, "thanks for visiting and good luck with the Match"?