Love Notes From the PD

[cadoc]

Has anyone been receiving "love notes" from any programs. Something that says in so many words we love you, please rank us number one. I know that as programs make their rank lists, some try to influence those applicants at the top.

I've gotten:
Scripps Mercy
USC

I'm just trying to feel out where I might match and where I might not...even though I'm trying not to let it affect my rank list. Ah, I know that it is futile.

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[irlandesa]

Brown (in distant past, dare I hope??? everyone loves Brown so I'm not hopeful..)
Lahey Clinic
Dartmouth (a little more of a form letter me thinks)
Baystate (from both my interviewers, not the PD)

 

[GGale]

Got love from:
UCSF
Cambridge Hospital
BID
Mayo
Northwestern

 

[61187]

one from BU. It was signed by PD and dept. chair and has a handwritten note. The only thing that bugs me is that the handwriting of the note clearly doesn't match that of either signature.

 

[cadoc]

Got love from:
UCSF
Cambridge Hospital
BID
Mayo
Northwestern

GGale:
Re: UCSF. When did you hear from them? What did you receive? email? letter? from PD? or interviewer?
Thanks.

 

[Pili]

Received love letters from about 50% places I interviewed. Received two real, passionate love letters which surprised me from top programs. Received kick in the butt from Stanford. Was ignored by 50% as far as post-interview love. I sent love to all programs post-interview, but did not lie.

 

[Pili]

Received love letters from about 50% places I interviewed. Received two real, passionate love letters which surprised me from top programs. Received kick in the butt from Stanford. Was ignored by 50% as far as post-interview love. I sent love to all programs post-interview, but did not lie.

Forgot to mention, received big love letter promising eternal happiness at place that was going to rank me the highest. The kicker: I had not interviewed there.

 

[Jamezuva]

Forgot to mention, received big love letter promising eternal happiness at place that was going to rank me the highest. The kicker: I had not interviewed there.

omg.... i'm guessing that it was the "other cornell"

 

[jayjay1978]

NWU
UCSD
Baylor

has anyone received anything from the big 5? MGH, BWH, Hopkins, Duke, UCSF?

 

[bicycle]

NWU
UCSD
Baylor

has anyone received anything from the big 5? MGH, BWH, Hopkins, Duke, UCSF?

I got something from the UCSF PD (as posted on the thank you letter thread).

Should we kill this thread, since we already have a much more comprehensive one running?

 

[med1234]

I got something from the UCSF PD (as posted on the thank you letter thread).

Should we kill this thread, since we already have a much more comprehensive one running?

I got the exact same email on the same day. Clearly a mass email of some kind, but i'm not sure if it was to a only some people or to everyone.

 

[bicycle]

I got the exact same email on the same day. Clearly a mass email of some kind, but i'm not sure if it was to a only some people or to everyone.

Well, I'm not sure how you know you got the "exact same email" because I didn't say what was in mine. I will only say it was personalized, sent to my private account, and I know it wasn't sent to everyone. It certainly didn't say I was "ranked to match" like the MGH/BWH letters I have heard of, but encouraging nonetheless.

 

[med1234]

Well, I'm not sure how you know you got the "exact same email" because I didn't say what was in mine. I will only say it was personalized, sent to my private account, and I know it wasn't sent to everyone. It certainly didn't say I was "ranked to match" like the MGH/BWH letters I have heard of, but encouraging nonetheless.

sorry, my bad... you're right, you didn't say.
i remember getting an email from the pd that was personalized and to my individual account. i checked the other thread and noticed your post within a few hours so i thought they might be similar - but you're right, they could be different.

i also saw that you sent thank yous to stanford's pd/interviewer. did they ever write back?

 

[bicycle]

sorry, my bad... you're right, you didn't say.
i remember getting an email from the pd that was personalized and to my individual account. i checked the other thread and noticed your post within a few hours so i thought they might be similar - but you're right, they could be different.

i also saw that you sent thank yous to stanford's pd/interviewer. did they ever write back?

No sweat. All's quiet on the Stanford front for me. Looks like a few others on this site heard from their interviewer. I haven't heard of PD communicating though.

 

[irlandesa]

oh yeah, forgot to mention, form "thanks for interviewing" letters from Tufts-NEMC and University of Maryland. Not sure this is what you were looking for.

As for the person who got the letter from BU, I would bet that the note is from your interviewer..

 

[GGale]

Personalized (mentioned specific interviewers, things that happened that day, etc) e-mail from PD.

GGale:
Re: UCSF. When did you hear from them? What did you receive? email? letter? from PD? or interviewer?
Thanks.

 

[carol ann]

-alrighty, I've posted my love letters from this week elsewhere (call from Wake, letter from MUSC, very flattering Alabama email) but I've actually gotten an email from one of my top two -- email from UNC PD today saying that "you are going to be ranked very highly." I was very surprised because we were told on interview day that they don't correspond after the interview day...It's hard though, because I am really vascillating between my#1 and #2 and the other school is showing me very little love...so who knows, maybe the #1 and 2 will flip-flop again!

 

[Jamezuva]

-alrighty, I've posted my love letters from this week elsewhere (call from Wake, letter from MUSC, very flattering Alabama email) but I've actually gotten an email from one of my top two -- email from UNC PD today saying that "you are going to be ranked very highly." I was very surprised because we were told on interview day that they don't correspond after the interview day...It's hard though, because I am really vascillating between my#1 and #2 and the other school is showing me very little love...so who knows, maybe the #1 and 2 will flip-flop again!

omg...unc...how utterly lame

btw, nice SAT word, though you should drop the "s"

 

[carol ann]

omg...unc...how utterly lame

btw, nice SAT word, though you should drop the "s"

-s = vacillating

(that's why I thank god for the multiple choice test and spell-check)

 

[Savard]

Got a phone call from some fancy pants doc at Columbia.

 

[cubby]

I haven't yet contributed to this post...so here are my contacts to date...

Recent email from Mayo
Recent email from BID
Email from Stanford PD in response to note I sent
Email/call from MGH
2 emails from UPenn
Email post-interview from Brown
Recent email from UNC

No word from Hopkins, UVa, Yale. The email from Stanford was nothing really, very unrevealing, and gave no indication as to whether or not I'm on the "A" list, or even "B" list for that matter. They seem to keep tight-lipped about things there, as past SDN posts have mentioned. All of this seems to be parallel contact to what everyone else has been receiving from the above programs. A few emails I have gotten this week, which made me think that the programs seem to be finishing up their lists and are ready to submit.

What I have realized...though I got real excited about the first couple of programs who told me they were definitely interested, all of this "post-interview love" is going to have really no bearing on my ROL in the end. The system is what it is, I'm just going to order my preferences, and let the chips fall...

 

[cadoc]

So, I sort of meant this thread to be for posting the names of programs that have sent you unsolicited coorespondence in the last 3 weeks or so.

ie. I recently got an email saying "We are ranking you to match."

Is this real or is it just part of the game?

Too bad that none of the love is coming from my top three programs.

 

[cubby]

So, I sort of meant this thread to be for posting the names of programs that have sent you unsolicited coorespondence in the last 3 weeks or so.

ie. I recently got an email saying "We are ranking you to match."

Is this real or is it just part of the game?

Too bad that none of the love is coming from my top three programs.

I'm with ya. To reiterate my point made in the above post, I think many people have received unsolicited correspondence within the last couple of weeks. I've received such unsolicitated contact from all of the places I mentioned above but one. As flattering as this has been however, I've decided that this just isn't going to affect the way I form my rank list at all. I think if we use the ROL to our advantage, I don't think it should affect any of us.

I have no idea where I stand with my #1 either, nor with my #3, but I have been told I'm "ranked to match" by my #'s 2,4,5 within the past 2 weeks. So should I change my list and rank those programs #'s 1-3, just because I've been told I'm "in"? Absolutely not. My #1 is my #1, and I for all I know I may be just as well-situated on their ROL as my #2, from whom I've been told that a spot is mine if I would like. I just don't know, and probably won't know. I'm a general trusting person, and so generally believe these programs when they tell me I'm "ranked to match." However, nothing is binding, and I think common sense tells me that they probably try and lure many more appliants that than they have spots...they don't want to go too deep into their list. So in the end, I believe it is just a "game." I'm sure that by telling candidates they're "ranked to match," programs get some people to change their ROL to rank them higher...naturally we all want to go to the place we rank #1, whether it is OUR true #1 or not, and so it is tempting to play it safe and go where you think you know you've got a spot. But the way the Match works, it is to our advantage to rank the programs in order of what WE want, regardless of who may be trying to bait us into ranking them #1.

I will say that the "game" makes things a little more interesting than just waiting around, but I think we should all just rank our places in the order we determine based on our own desires, not their correspondence.

 

[BVP]

Did you get the mail from the Associate PD at Brown? 'Coz I am waiting for a reply from him for a ver very long time?

Email post-interview from Brown
l...

 

[April04]

although the reality is that these post-interview notes/emails/phone calls from the PD are all part of the recruitment process, don't you think that emails that say specific things about where you fall on their rank list must be the truth. If a program lies about that, they are really flirting with getting in trouble with the NRMP (or whoever runs this whole mess). All it takes is one disgruntled applicant who got a very specific and promising email from the PD at their #1 choice, but then DID NOT match there and all hell will break loose.

Am I wrong in trusting the PD's just a little? are they really that devious?

thanks

 

[carol ann]

although the reality is that these post-interview notes/emails/phone calls from the PD are all part of the recruitment process, don't you think that emails that say specific things about where you fall on their rank list must be the truth. If a program lies about that, they are really flirting with getting in trouble with the NRMP (or whoever runs this whole mess). All it takes is one disgruntled applicant who got a very specific and promising email from the PD at their #1 choice, but then DID NOT match there and all hell will break loose.

Am I wrong in trusting the PD's just a little? are they really that devious?

thanks

all i know is the horror stories that I have heard -- PDs using vague enough language to be interpreted as "you will match here" and then the person not matching there and realizing the message was intentionally vague. I think the love notes are a nice way of keeping the drama going, but I don't think that anyone should put too much stock in any of it as there are always people who get screwed/deceived

 

[med1234]

all i know is the horror stories that I have heard -- PDs using vague enough language to be interpreted as "you will match here" and then the person not matching there and realizing the message was intentionally vague. I think the love notes are a nice way of keeping the drama going, but I don't think that anyone should put too much stock in any of it as there are always people who get screwed/deceived

i would say that if a letter specifically states that you'll be ranked to match or ranked in the top group or if you want to come here, just rank us first, it's probably legit - but you never know. Almost everything else is just to be nice (and to screw with you a little). Things like "you'd fit in here really well" don't mean anything when you might as well tag on... "and so would 200 other people." Some programs definitely do contact their top recruits, and what they say may vary depending how interested they are. The tough thing is finding out a) did you get something when others didn't, and b) does yours sound any different from what other people got - and the difference may be in the way they phrase a line or two.

As far as violating the match, what's the worst that could happen? If all the top programs were kicked out of the match for a few years and had to use their own app. system, wouldn't everyone still apply there? I'm not sure what penalties exist.

 

[yomanjr]

remember, it is not a violation of the match for a program to express their interset in you or where they plan to rank you. it's illegal for them to try to get you to solicit where they stand on your list. technicalities.....

 

[med1234]

remember, it is not a violation of the match for a program to express their interset in you or where they plan to rank you. it's illegal for them to try to get you to solicit where they stand on your list. technicalities.....

yea, well... some of my interviewers violated that rule too.

 

[irlandesa]

Did you get the mail from the Associate PD at Brown? 'Coz I am waiting for a reply from him for a ver very long time?

I thought there were 2 Associate PD's at Brown. I interviewed with 1 of them back in December and did get an unsolicited post-interview note from him which was very nice. I think it depends who you interviewed with though; some interviewers do not send any post-interview correspondence, and others make a special effort to. I can only wish it meant something at Brown, as I would LOVE to match there..

BTW, if anyone received specific "ranked to match" e-mails at any of the following places, please consider PM-ing me.. your secret is safe with me. It will not affect my rank list, and I don't think any of these programs even send them, but just very curious:

BU
Brown
UMass
Yale-New Haven Primary Care
U Maryland
Maine Medical
Dartmouth
Lahey
Baystate
thanks.

 

[cubby]

Did you get the mail from the Associate PD at Brown? 'Coz I am waiting for a reply from him for a ver very long time?

I rec'd email from the woman assoc. PD at Brown, was very encouraging, was right after the interview as did irelandesa, but nothing since.