PDs not responding to thank you email

[Seces]

I sent a thank you email to a PD for interviewing me, but I haven't heard back for a few days. Should I read into this in any way? I know they're very busy.

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[evilbooyaa]

No.

 

[WinslowPringle]

Some places simply do not respond to interview thank you emails period; some places have a generic response. Some places will individually respond. Don't read anything into anything during the interview trail...

 

[Goro]

I sent a thank you email to a PD for interviewing me, but I haven't heard back for a few days. Should I read into this in any way? I know they're very busy.

Why should they respond to a mere TY email????

 

[Seces]

Why should they respond to a mere TY email????

Because they're not going to respond to TY letter lol.

 

[gyngyn]

Thanking you for a thank you note would be gratuitous!

 

[Brawndo2016]

Thanking you for a thank you note would be gratuitous!

Plus, where does it end? If they thank you for thanking them, shouldn’t you thank them for thanking you for thanking them........to infinity? In a polite society this go on forever!!!

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Why should they respond to a mere TY email????

Politeness is a thing amongst some humans. Even something genetic like "Glad you enjoyed your time while you were down here" can mean a lot. I definitely ranked programs that didn't lower than those that did

 

[thumbz]

Match Communication Code of Conduct - The Match, National Resident Matching Program

"Discouraging unnecessary post-interview communication Program directors shall not solicit or require post-interview communication from applicants, nor shall program directors engage in post-interview communication that is disingenuous for the purpose of influencing applicants’ ranking preferences."

We purposely do not respond to thank you emails, letters or other things as candidates can construe it as us trying to influence their decisions. "We very much enjoyed meeting you as well, it was a pleasure to have you here" is read as "We are excited to see you here next year, rank us highly!" by so many people. Don't read into it - some programs are sticklers about this rule and others are more lax about it.

 

[evilbooyaa]

Politeness is a thing amongst some humans. Even something genetic like "Glad you enjoyed your time while you were down here" can mean a lot. I definitely ranked programs that didn't lower than those that did

Serious? You would let a lack of a 'you're welcome' e-mail influence your rank list in anyway?

 

[Psai]

Politeness is a thing amongst some humans. Even something genetic like "Glad you enjoyed your time while you were down here" can mean a lot. I definitely ranked programs that didn't lower than those that did

l m f a o
I'm sure those program directors lost a ton of sleep over this

 

[jw3600]

Politeness is a thing amongst some humans. Even something genetic like "Glad you enjoyed your time while you were down here" can mean a lot. I definitely ranked programs that didn't lower than those that did

That's....bad critical thinking.

 

[mvenus929]

Unless you had something in your email that required a response (I.e. a question), don’t expect a response.

 

[DO2015CA]

I will rank those that send me thank you emails lower because I ain’t about fake friends. I hate thank you letters/emails. God I’m going to hate writing wedding gift thank you cards....

 

[Oso]

Politeness is a thing amongst some humans. Even something genetic like "Glad you enjoyed your time while you were down here" can mean a lot. I definitely ranked programs that didn't lower than those that did

dude NO

last year I saw so many people saying "this PD wrote me a nice email after our interview and i decided to change my rank list based on it and move them up and then i got ****ed bc they didn't actually want me and now i'm upset"

y is it so hard for people to just rank according to their own preference.

 

[UnoMas]

I would definitely email the coordinator to ask why the PD hasn't responded to your TY email yet.

On a more serious note, I wish the NRMP would just ban all post-IV communications.

 

[831929]

I think you should follow up on it with another email.

 

[HomeSkool]

Serious? You would let a lack of a 'you're welcome' e-mail influence your rank list in anyway?

Absolutely! The fact that they didn't have the decency to open the door for me to send a "thank you for thanking me for thanking you" follow-up e-mail shows that they just don't care. It probably means they're bad doctors and, in fact, worthless human beings. I followed up with a flaming bag of dog poo just to be safe.

 

[anbuitachi]

med students are so paranoid about these things.. PD do not care about your thank you emails. all it does is cluster their inboxes

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Dear Dr. "I'm Too Good To Call Or Write My Candidates"
This will be the last letter I will ever generate
It's been six months and still no word, I don't deserve it?
I know you got my last two letters, I wrote the addresses on 'em perfect
So this is my cassette I'm sending you, I hope you hear it
I'm in the car right now, I'm doing 90 on the freeway
Hey PD, I drank a fifth of vodka
You dare me to drive?
You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night"
About that guy who could've saved that other guy from drowning
But didn't, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?
That's kinda how this is, you could've rescued me from drowning
Now it's too late, I'm on a thousand downers now, I'm drowsy
And all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call
I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall
I love you PD, we could've been together, think about it
You ruined it now, I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it
And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you scream about it
I hope your conscience eats at you and you can't breathe without me
See PD, shut up bitch! I'm tryin' to talk!
Hey PD, that's my girlfriend screamin' in the trunk
But I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you
'Cause if she suffocates she'll suffer more, and then she'll die too
Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now
Oh ****, I forgot, how am I supposed to send this **** out?

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Serious? You would let a lack of a 'you're welcome' e-mail influence your rank list in anyway?

I did let it. I take into consideration everything about how a program treats me before I commit to it. I have no regrets

 

[sella.turcica]

Dear Dr. "I'm Too Good To Call Or Write My Candidates"
This will be the last letter I will ever generate
It's been six months and still no word, I don't deserve it?
I know you got my last two letters, I wrote the addresses on 'em perfect
So this is my cassette I'm sending you, I hope you hear it
I'm in the car right now, I'm doing 90 on the freeway
Hey PD, I drank a fifth of vodka
You dare me to drive?
You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night"
About that guy who could've saved that other guy from drowning
But didn't, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?
That's kinda how this is, you could've rescued me from drowning
Now it's too late, I'm on a thousand downers now, I'm drowsy
And all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call
I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall
I love you PD, we could've been together, think about it
You ruined it now, I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it
And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you scream about it
I hope your conscience eats at you and you can't breathe without me
See PD, shut up bitch! I'm tryin' to talk!
Hey PD, that's my girlfriend screamin' in the trunk
But I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you
'Cause if she suffocates she'll suffer more, and then she'll die too
Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now
Oh ****, I forgot, how am I supposed to send this **** out?

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing, Em.

 

[Tenk]

They are ghosting you for sure.

 

[NickNaylor]

Understand that PDs often have lots of interactions with applicants. Responding to thank-you e-mails, even briefly, could easily take up a lot of time if they were to respond to every one.

Doesn't mean a thing.

 

[getdown]

I did let it. I take into consideration everything about how a program treats me before I commit to it. I have no regrets

lol I'm sure these programs are crying themselves to sleep for not having you there.

 

[mrbreakfast]

On a more serious note, I wish the NRMP would just ban all post-IV communications.

Several programs on the trail are doing this. I've heard "you may send thank-you notes if you really want, but it will not affect your ranking in any way, and we'd prefer if you didn't," and "do not send us thank you notes or emails."


I sent thank you emails to interviewers I actually enjoyed talking to just in case I met them again in the future, as well as most PDs. While whether or not they responded is meaningless to me, the few that sent me long, personalized responses, sometimes a week or more later, definitely impressed me.

 

[Neopolymath]

When will these stupid thank you emails end? Just stop that ****. It's ridiculous.

 

[EastOfSalinas]

i wouldn't expect a reply in IM, where people are seeing 400-500 candidates overall, but idk what the applicant load is for smaller fields.

getting a warm PD reply at your #1 is nice though

 

[mymembernames]

Got a personalized letter from a PD after the interview and I am not even sure how to respond to it...

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

lol I'm sure these programs are crying themselves to sleep for not having you there.

Never said they would. My goal was to match a program with my values that I wanted to be at. The programs were doing the exact same thing to me and may have used things that you would deem as petty as what I did to rank me.

 

[DO2015CA]

Never said they would. My goal was to match a program with my values that I wanted to be at. The programs were doing the exact same thing to me and may have used things that you would deem as petty as what I did to rank me.

Off topic,
What specialty did you end up matching in? Just curious where you ended up.

 

[mvenus929]

Got a personalized letter from a PD after the interview and I am not even sure how to respond to it...

Don't worry about it. I got hand-written personalized responses from multiple programs following my interview. One of them I ranked #3 on my rank list, and I matched at #4.

 

[getdown]

Never said they would. My goal was to match a program with my values that I wanted to be at. The programs were doing the exact same thing to me and may have used things that you would deem as petty as what I did to rank me.

Well my point was that as much as we talk about fit/personality/culture a lot of these programs just want warm bodies to fill the spots. Residents are by far cheaper than hiring full attendings or nurses/etc to do the work. So, while you should find a program that fits you, the program really just wants to fill. Of course they want good workers, good personality but if push came to shove, they just need people.

 

[atomi]

I agree that It’s poor form to not simply write back a “we appreciate you taking the time to come out and we enjoyed meeting you” in response to a thank you email given the fact that the candidates spend thousands of their own money to visit.

But nobody ever sends those. It means nothing to not get a response. The entire process is cruel and discourteous.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Well my point was that as much as we talk about fit/personality/culture a lot of these programs just want warm bodies to fill the spots. Residents are by far cheaper than hiring full attendings or nurses/etc to do the work. So, while you should find a program that fits you, the program really just wants to fill. Of course they want good workers, good personality but if push came to shove, they just need people.

And at the end of the day all that a student wants is to match. Again, this is a two way street. Both program and student want the best they can out of the match. Otherwise, there wouldn't even be ranks. We'd just have a "submit your name into this hat" and then a program will randomly pick a name. No program likes to get filled by graduates of a 3rd rate Caribbean school or get malignant people that patients will despise.

 

[Psai]

I agree that It’s poor form to not simply write back a “we appreciate you taking the time to come out and we enjoyed meeting you” in response to a thank you email given the fact that the candidates spend thousands of their own money to visit.

But nobody ever sends those. It means nothing to not get a response. The entire process is cruel and discourteous.

Nobody forced them to spend thousands of dollars. A lot of programs do dinners, drinks and take their attendings out of cash generating clinical activities to talk to a bunch of snot nose medical students who want a thank you for their thank you email.

 

[atomi]

What if we didn’t enjoy meeting them?

Freaking millennials expecting to get “you’re welcome” letters. I swear to god. Maybe if you send me a nice hand written card. But the email that you spent 15 seconds writing is going to be repaid with me spending 15 seconds reading it. Sheesh.

This is ridiculous. And really jumping the shark on the whole millennial bashing thing.

 

[atomi]

I’m so sorry you have to waste your precious clinical time to interview people who have no other choice but to complete a residency in order to practice and will come and write all your notes for you and do all your scut work for basically free. If only there were a way to be a doctor where you didn’t have to waste time interviewing and training idiot millennials...

 

[Dwan]

Many PDs won't write back not because they're too lazy to or don't care, but due to the confusion it created in the past. One PD said his "We were very glad to have you here" was often interpreted as "We're going to rank you highly", and caused a lot of disappointment among applicants on match day. Many are trying to adhere strictly to policy now to be fair to applicants and lessen confusion.

 

[Vain Brother]

dude NO

last year I saw so many people saying "this PD wrote me a nice email after our interview and i decided to change my rank list based on it and move them up and then i got ****ed bc they didn't actually want me and now i'm upset"

y is it so hard for people to just rank according to their own preference.

well, you can't actually be harmed by ranking a certain program higher you didn't match into. I guess it's annoying psychologically though
I've deliberately avoided communicating with any program after I've interviewed, even the ones who've sent me letters. no use imo

 

[MSTP18]

What if we didn’t enjoy meeting them?

Freaking millennials expecting to get “you’re welcome” letters. I swear to god. Maybe if you send me a nice hand written card. But the email that you spent 15 seconds writing is going to be repaid with me spending 15 seconds reading it. Sheesh.

Can't tell if serious or not, cuz obviously the whole thank you e-mail is derived from the thank you note of older generations which is equally stupid. Why is a verbal thank you at the end of the interview - which with body language and such is more informative than a thank you note - not sufficient? I can justify the existence of thank you notes for gifts as sort of a confirmation that the gift actually arrived (although it should now be replaced by the thank you text) but since we were both at the interview, you don't need a thank you note to confirm I was there.

 

[NickNaylor]

No no, I’m totally with you. That was my point. The whole thing is stupid. I don’t care about thank you emails and they don’t influence me. And thinking I should reply to one is just silly. What you’re saying is exactly right. You thanked me at the interview for inviting you, I thanked you for coming. Done. No need to start exchanging awkward emails.

But demonstrating interest

 

[GuzzyRon]

I sent a thank you email to a PD for interviewing me, but I haven't heard back for a few days. Should I read into this in any way? I know they're very busy.

No. But send the letters anyway. When I was in residency a few years ago, one of the things we routinely do was to forward such "thank you" letters or such "letters of interest" to the program coordinator to place in the applicants' files. As busy residents, we respond to the applicants only if/when time permits. However, during rank meetings, when we review applicants' profiles, our decision to rank one comparable candidate higher than another sometimes come down to these letters. It's often assumed that the letter-writer is more interested in coming (and will most likely rank our program), and is more likely to follow through on a task etc. etc.

 

[atomi]

It’s stupid but I’ve talked to a chair who says he is personally offended if he doesn’t get thanks emails and keeps a spreadsheet of who sent them.

You can think what you want is normal behavior and reasonable.

Chairs are not normal people.

 

[Psai]

It’s stupid but I’ve talked to a chair who says he is personally offended if he doesn’t get thanks emails and keeps a spreadsheet of who sent them.

You can think what you want is normal behavior and reasonable.

Chairs are not normal people.

LOL that's actually a great reason to not send a thank you letter. To avoid these kind of weirdo malignant programs

 

[NickNaylor]

No. But send the letters anyway. When I was in residency a few years ago, one of the things we routinely do was to forward such "thank you" letters or such "letters of interest" to the program coordinator to place in the applicants' files. As busy residents, we respond to the applicants only if/when time permits. However, during rank meetings, when we review applicants' profiles, our decision to rank one comparable candidate higher than another sometimes come down to these letters. It's often assumed that the letter-writer is more interested in coming (and will most likely rank our program), and is more likely to follow through on a task etc. etc.

Just to counter this perspective, these sorts of things have zero role in our program's ranking process, as mentioned above. But this will likely be very institution-dependent, and it's not hard for me to believe that it carries some weight at some programs.

 

[mymembernames]

PD said it’s polite, but doesn’t impact how one gets ranked.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[evilbooyaa]

If I'm a competitive candidate I would purposefully NOT send thank you e-mails (especially if discouraged at the interview) just to avoid ending up at a program with a super weird chair as described above.