Post-interview communications

[PosteriorEmbryotoxon]

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Hey all! Hope everyone had a happy holidays! I have a general question regarding post-interview communication with programs. I have heard many applicants sending an email to their #1 program conveying to them that they are #1 on their rank list. This seems very common. However, I am more curious about sending emails to your other top programs communicating to them that they are "among the top programs on your rank list" - being very clear that they are not #1 but still among the top of the list. Has anyone talked to ophthalmology program directors, members of the admission committees, residents, etc. if this is a good idea or not? Thanks so much for the help! 🙂

 

[DrZeke]

Hey all! Hope everyone had a happy holidays! I have a general question regarding post-interview communication with programs. I have heard many applicants sending an email to their #1 program conveying to them that they are #1 on their rank list. This seems very common. However, I am more curious about sending emails to your other top programs communicating to them that they are "among the top programs on your rank list" - being very clear that they are not #1 but still among the top of the list. Has anyone talked to ophthalmology program directors, members of the admission committees, residents, etc. if this is a good idea or not? Thanks so much for the help! 🙂

Not a good idea. It's a question of reading between the lines. While it might sound good to you, it actually sounds like this...

"Hi program XYZ, though you are not my number 1, I still like you."

 

[hopefulapplicant02]

Rank lists are most likely complete across the board, and such a letter would be unlikely to sway one way or another at this point.

 

[PosteriorEmbryotoxon]

Not a good idea. It's a question of reading between the lines. While it might sound good to you, it actually sounds like this...

"Hi program XYZ, though you are not my number 1, I still like you."

Thanks so much for your response DrZeke! I've heard this before. I was thinking though, wouldn't radio silence also be interpreted as "hey you're not my number 1." At least sending an email saying they are on the top of the list shows that you are very interested still.

 

[DrZeke]

Thanks so much for your response DrZeke! I've heard this before. I was thinking though, wouldn't radio silence also be interpreted as "hey you're not my number 1." At least sending an email saying they are on the top of the list shows that you are very interested still.

Based on the match rules your interest after the fact shouldn't sway their ranking. At this point in time you are already ranked. Therefore, your silence should not matter at all.

Unless someone wrote you a specific email and you completely ignored it and did not respond at all, I wouldn't concern myself with emails.

 

[100D]

Also adds more work for our administrative assistants, and some may misinterpret the memo as "I'm ranking you first," which can lead to badness when you match higher on your rank list. Only email your #1 program if you must, not the others.

 

[docta9]

Also adds more work for our administrative assistants, and some may misinterpret the memo as "I'm ranking you first," which can lead to badness when you match higher on your rank list. Only email your #1 program if you must, not the others.

Ophthalmology is a small field. People talk. Another chairman whom I've never met talked about me to another faculty member at a different program. I know that for a fact because a 3rd faculty member heard the conversation and told me. This 3rd person reported facts that he didn't know so I know it was an accurate report.

 

[Slide]

To add, many programs will rank shortly after all interviews are done, if not right after the interviews are done. Once programs make their rank list, it is incredibly difficult to change it due to how tough it is to gather everyone in one spot for the rank list.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Letter of "ranking you #1" optional, can help if some program wants predictability in the match process and ranks a bunch of #1's so they know whose gonna match. Don't see how it can hurt, though I don't know of any programs that do this. Letter of "ranking you highly" useless and possibly harmful as mentioned above.

 

[matchomatch]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Say candidate sent #1 email to two separate programs, Program A and Program B. Both programs ranked the candidate in their quota expecting that candidate will match for sure.

If the candidate matched at program A, what're the repercussions for candidate from both programs? Can program B come after candidate by contacting program A and say hey this candidate is a liar, fire him or something? More importantly, how will program B find out where candidate matched? The discussion on whether this is kosher or not aside, how likely is it to hurt candidate if he/she is never going to apply at program B for any fellowships or job..he has obviously burnt the bridges at program B and that's understood. Does he/she stand to lose the residency even after getting matched at program A for this reason alone?

Thank you for your comments.

 

[ophtho_applicant15]

Unlikely to lose spot but ophthalmology is a small field, program A and B not only communicate with each other but also the PD for program B probably knows the PD of program C, D, E etc. Program B gets a match summary of their rank list - meaning they are told where each person they ranked matched.

Also Program B may talk to Program A before the match and you could be dropped in ranking at both

 

[matchomatch]

I'm talking about Family Medicine or say Internal Medicine where I don't think it's considered a small or tight group.. It's news to me that a program gets match summary of all candidates on their rank list? I mean if a program ranked 10 candidates if 7 matched at the program, does the program somehow find out about the other 3 who didn't match?

Is it true that this kind of communication among PDs pre-match is commonplace? I would have thought that it's everybody mind their own business kinda deal and unless two PDs are like best buddies, they wouldn't share each others' ROLs..

 

[ophtho_applicant15]

Oh well I assumed you were talking Ophtho. I'm not sure if ERAS gives their programs a list of their candidates and where they matched but I know SF match does. And yes, much less close knit in IM and FM so you wouldn't have as many issues I would assume. I also don't know how much their programs talk pre match - I do know the Ophtho programs do talk about their rank list with other programs before they are due though

 

[SphereGlobe]

Reviving this thread - I was curious how often people hear from programs after the interview? In other specialties, it seems more common that people will get emails like "you've been ranked to match," "you're at the top of our list" etc. This makes it very confusing to know where you stand in ophthalmology. My husband, in another very competitive specialty with low match rate, got several emails from programs that he ended up not matching at. Have people here received such emails post-interview and what were the outcomes?

 

[DrTrish]

Reviving this thread - I was curious how often people hear from programs after the interview? In other specialties, it seems more common that people will get emails like "you've been ranked to match," "you're at the top of our list" etc. This makes it very confusing to know where you stand in ophthalmology. My husband, in another very competitive specialty with low match rate, got several emails from programs that he ended up not matching at. Have people here received such emails post-interview and what were the outcomes?

Speaking from just one of the many ophth programs.... We do not contact the candidates once they leave our building. I believe it may be against match rules for a program to do so - at least in the terms you're referencing. Of course if our committee is still unclear about something in a student's file (we have had a bit of confusion related to work eligibility/visa status on a couple of foreign grads in the past) we will contact them simply to ask for clarification. If we receive a thank you note or email which is simply a thank you, we do not generally reply. If there is a question in the note (could they have the email address for our Chief resident, or could we re-review the on-call requirements, etc.) then we can and will reply to their question, but the applicant has to contact us first. We DO, however, contact the LOR writers just to make sure there are no hidden skeletons in the closet, make sure all the praise is legit, etc. This has sometimes made a slight difference in ranking, but usually no more than a couple spots up or down.

 

[DrZeke]

Reviving this thread - I was curious how often people hear from programs after the interview? In other specialties, it seems more common that people will get emails like "you've been ranked to match," "you're at the top of our list" etc. This makes it very confusing to know where you stand in ophthalmology. My husband, in another very competitive specialty with low match rate, got several emails from programs that he ended up not matching at. Have people here received such emails post-interview and what were the outcomes?

Most programs do not reach out to most people. I know the top applicants get crazy emails and letters that are fairly specific.

However, for most people, sometimes in response to a thank you note, programs may write a "we like you" type vague stuff or more specific "we are ranking you to match". I was always told to ignore those emails and to just rank as you want because many times programs are trying to get people to rank them highly and are trying to not go down on their rank list. For example, Some programs go down 15 spots on their rank list to fill 5 spots while others go down 7 or 30 to fill 5 spots. So if last year program X went down 15... they may send the top 15 people a "we loved you, we hope you come here" or more specifically "we are ranking you to match". Then maybe this year they program X only goes down to 11 to match, then applicants 12-15 ranked them high and thought oh I'll definitely match at program X before I go lower on my list. But somehow they don't end up at program X...

Dunno if that's confusing, but forget communication. Don't read into it. Rank how you want.


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[iapplicant]

Reviving this thread - I was curious how often people hear from programs after the interview? In other specialties, it seems more common that people will get emails like "you've been ranked to match," "you're at the top of our list" etc. This makes it very confusing to know where you stand in ophthalmology. My husband, in another very competitive specialty with low match rate, got several emails from programs that he ended up not matching at. Have people here received such emails post-interview and what were the outcomes?

For what it's worth, I matched at my top choice. I didn't hear a thing from programs after interviews except for the occasional vague "you're welcome, we enjoyed meeting you" reply to my thank you emails, certainly nothing as forward as "you will be ranked to match." My friends going into ophtho didn't hear from programs either. I just don't think it happens much in ophtho, and I wouldn't read into not getting those emails.