Post Interview Deciding Factors?

[Mike97]

I hear a lot about how the purpose of your primary application is to get you an interview invite. But, once you have that invite... are all interviewing applicants then on the same level? So post interview, are admission committees deciding based on interview performance, or is the primary application still playing a role as well? Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[NegativeMargin]

Idk, I think a lot of this is school specific. To be more accurate, not sending thank you notes can really hurt, but sending them will almost never help.

I was literally told 5 times at one of my interviews to send thank you notes. The school had an upload portal to document our thank you notes, and one of my interviewers jokingly said anyone forgetting to send a thank you note is an auto-reject.

See this is kind of what I'm talking about.

We have one person saying send them or don't, it can only hurt your chances if they don't want them. Conversely, another person saying you have to send them or else that will hurt your chances for specific schools. And we have people talking about sending emails instead of actual written letters, and more people saying your decision will be made before any hand-written letter actually gets there.

Because I see this happen often in these sorts of discussions, and because I appreciate those taking part in them, instead of this being where the discussions usually just break down, I wanted to shift away from the policies of schools and toward the opinions of the individuals in the position to receive these sorts of things. I felt that might be a purer source of truth.

Perhaps I should have just thought more before I said anything at all. It seems to me the answer is.. send them if it is explicitly expected of you. In all other cases, which is the vast majority of cases, it likely will not matter; but, if you have developed a real rapport with a singular individual or even an entire admissions team, which again is probably quite rare, then reach out.

 

[jhmmd]

@ALWAYSanANGEL said to send emailed thank you notes <12 hours of an interview, and f/u with thank you notes via snail mail. Remember to get business cards

 

[MyOdyssey]

Why not both

One thank you note is gracious. Two thank you notes is needy.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I'd love to hear feedback on whether people who actually have received thank you letters here think they are a good idea. And I know it's been discussed from an outside perspective, but this thread has a few people who have stated they have acted in some official capacity in the process and their overall thoughts seem to vary not only among themselves but also in comparison to what those outside perspective threads have focused on.


My research advisor and I talked at length about this, as both of us were raised in a very strict military/southern way so ma'am, sir, and thank you come out of our mouths orders of magnitude more than the average person around us. Despite this, he despises thank you letters in all their forms. Courtesies abound, but they are supposed to be genuine or else they have the opposite effect. And what is genuine about 1,000 thank you emails from virtual applicants no one in the committee has ever met and shook hands with?


And even beyond this, to your point, by the time someone might read any of these things their decision has already been made. Now, I'm basing that on the statement you and others have made here, as I certainly have no first-hand knowledge, but it all seems quite cut and dry. And yet, in those out-side perspective threads the prevailing opinion is to always send thank you letters and to send letters of intent every month after your interview. I see it preached here, reddit, twitch, and on pretty much every pre-med guide website and youtube channel.

Won’t help at any schools

Could hurt at some (very few)

 

[jhmmd]

One thank you note is gracious. Two thank you notes is needy.

to each his own

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Did you send actual thank you notes on fancy stationery via snail mail or just a well written email?

Never paper letters. Just a casual thanks for your time and I really enjoyed our conversation and I think XXX SOM will be an excellent place for me to start my medical career. Just be frank and not cringy about it. You are not begging for admission. It's just that you enjoyed the convo with that person. Treat them like your equal and it's gonna be fine. I don't like Thank you notes that are so cloying and fake.

 

[Goro]

Idk, I think a lot of this is school specific. To be more accurate, not sending thank you notes can really hurt, but sending them will almost never help.

I was literally told 5 times at one of my interviews to send thank you notes. The school had an upload portal to document our thank you notes, and one of my interviewers jokingly said anyone forgetting to send a thank you note is an auto-reject.

Example of a school that likes to see people grovel

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Example of a school that likes to see people grovel

Tbf, you are expected to send a thank you note to express your continued interest after any job interview. It's not about groveling. It just shows that after the encounter you are still or more interested. Too many times a thank you note backfires because it comes across as too much of flattery to be sincere.

 

[jhmmd]

Tbf, you are expected to send a thank you note to express your continued interest after any job interview. It's not about groveling. It just shows that after the encounter you are still or more interested.

I don't think that anyone is disputing this fact

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

I don't think that anyone is disputing this fact

right, but it's like one of those things that you have to do otherwise it's not assumed to be true. In other words, if I don't hear back from you at all after an interview, I assume you are not interested. It's like dating. You have to send a signal across.

 

[jhmmd]

right, but it's like one of those things that you have to do it otherwise it's not assumed to be true.

I assume that you're using dry humor like I am
Sorry if that was lost on the interwebz

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Look, if a school says don't send one, then just don't do it. If it's left unsaid, it doesn't hurt to send a continued interest email if you hate the title "thank you note."

 

[deleted1025488]

Send the note by carrier pigeon. The surprise factor will cancel out the formality.

 

[deleted555445]

Send the note by carrier pigeon. The surprise factor will cancel out the formality.

If you really were interested in the school you'd send a singing telegram a la Clue

 

[Goro]

Tbf, you are expected to send a thank you note to express your continued interest after any job interview. It's not about groveling. It just shows that after the encounter you are still or more interested. Too many times a thank you note backfires because it comes across as too much of flattery to be sincere.

The med school interview process is not in any way related to a job interview. You're applying to get into a profession, not be a teller at Chase Manhattan Bank.

Med schools know you're interested because you applied and showed up for the interview. If you don't want to attend, there are plenty more candidates in the queue.

But some med school either are needy, or simply want to see you crawl on hands and knees

 

[MyOdyssey]

If you really were interested in the school you'd send a singing telegram a la Clue

The gold standard is Princess Leia's hologram plea to Obi Wan Kenobi:


Go hologram or go home!

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

The med school interview process is not in any way related to a job interview. You're applying to get into a profession, not be a teller at Chase Manhattan Bank.

Med schools know you're interested because you applied and showed up for the interview. If you don't want to attend, there are plenty more candidates in the queue.

But some med school either are needy, or simply want to see you crawl on hands and knees

It's not that you don't want to attend, it's how much you want to attend if you get accepted. I don't think anyone wants to see someone else crawl on hands and knees, especially in medical school admissions. What they want to see is if you are genuinely interested in their program and how likely you will attend if you are accepted there. Given two "identical" candidates, I would offer the person who showed more interest the A first. For instance, If someone with 520 and 4.0 applying to your school, would you offer that person an A or someone else who would fit your incoming class profile more closely? Then let's say that high stat person wrote a very genuine thank you note with a detailed reason why they want to attend your school, do you think their chance of receiving an A would rise?

 

[Goro]

It's not that you don't want to attend, it's how much you want to attend if you get accepted. I don't think anyone wants to see someone else crawl on hands and knees, especially in medical school admissions. What they want to see is if you are genuinely interested in their program and how likely you will attend if you are accepted there. Given two "identical" candidates, I would offer the person who showed more interest the A first. For instance, If someone with 520 and 4.0 applying to your school, would you offer that person an A or someone else who would fit your incoming class profile more closely? Then let's say that high stat person wrote a very genuine thank you note with a detailed reason why they want to attend your school, do you think their chance of receiving an A would rise?

That would really depend upon the N of people who have sent those very letters, who were then accepted, yet failed to matriculate. Only the wily old Admissions dean would have this knowledge at my school.

We do know that LOis are considered lies by most Admissions Deans...why should a nice TY letter carry more weight??

Wise @gyngyn, @Med Ed @Moko, @LunaOri, @Mr.Smile12 what say you?????

 

[DoctorFate]

See this is kind of what I'm talking about.

We have one person saying send them or don't, it can only hurt your chances if they don't want them. Conversely, another person saying you have to send them or else that will hurt your chances for specific schools. And we have people talking about sending emails instead of actual written letters, and more people saying your decision will be made before any hand-written letter actually gets there.

Because I see this happen often in these sorts of discussions, and because I appreciate those taking part in them, instead of this being where the discussions usually just break down, I wanted to shift away from the policies of schools and toward the opinions of the individuals in the position to receive these sorts of things. I felt that might be a purer source of truth.

Perhaps I should have just thought more before I said anything at all. It seems to me the answer is.. send them if it is explicitly expected of you. In all other cases, which is the vast majority of cases, it likely will not matter; but, if you have developed a real rapport with a singular individual or even an entire admissions team, which again is probably quite rare, then reach out.

So I've had a decent number of interviews this cycle, and I can say it becomes pretty clear whether a school wants you to send thank you notes or not. Of course, there are schools that straight up tell you "send them", but in cases where they don't, if a school gives you your interviewer's emails and encourages you to "feel free to reach out", then you should generally send a thank you. In some schools, you will never receive the email of the person you interviewed with. In those cases, thank you notes are unnecessary, and perhaps even impossible. Basically, if you have to go out of your way to figure out how to send a thank you note, then don't send a thank you note.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Admissions deans and directors know you have choices. Unless you have met with them or students before you apply, there is really no reason for anyone to put weight on them ... and even so, a committee makes a decision and a letter will never act as a tiebreaker. Let's see if you choose "commit to enroll" and pay for tuition deposit early on.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Admissions deans and directors know you have choices. Unless you have met with them or students before you apply, there is really no reason for anyone to put weight on them ... and even so, a committee makes a decision and a letter will never act as a tiebreaker. Let's see if you choose "commit to enroll" and pay for tuition deposit early on.

Would admissions deans and committee members meet with applicants before they’ve applied? How would they have the time?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

There are definitely certain letters that matter and can change a rejection to an acceptance. Thank you letters just aren’t those type of letters.

If Jim Simons or Robert Mercer (founders of company that Stony Brook Renaissance SOM is named after) wrote a letter for a student with a 2.5/500, you can bet that student would be interviewed and accepted automatically.

These are the letters that help, not thank you notes. TY notes are just a common courtesy

 

[MyOdyssey]

There are definitely certain letters that matter and can change a rejection to an acceptance. Thank you letters just aren’t those type of letters.

If Jim Simons or Robert Mercer (founders of company that Stony Brook Renaissance SOM is named after) wrote a letter for a student with a 2.5/500, you can bet that student would be interviewed and accepted automatically.

These are the letters that help, not thank you notes. TY notes are just a common courtesy

Would a letter from Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg carry the same weight?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Would a letter from Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg carry the same weight?

not unless they have a history of donating. Renaissance Technologies has reportedly donated 500million to this school. Simons 150million, personally. He also was a math professor at stony brook

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Would admissions deans and committee members meet with applicants before they’ve applied? How would they have the time?

We go to recruitment fairs and present to prehealth clubs and host open houses.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

There are definitely certain letters that matter and can change a rejection to an acceptance. Thank you letters just aren’t those type of letters.

If Jim Simons or Robert Mercer (founders of company that Stony Brook Renaissance SOM is named after) wrote a letter for a student with a 2.5/500, you can bet that student would be interviewed and accepted automatically.

These are the letters that help, not thank you notes. TY notes are just a common courtesy

No no no no... accreditation standards explicitly prohibit any sort of alumni or donor privileges in admissions processes or decisions, including interview invitations. Every invitation and offer should be decided upon with this information blinded to the admissions committee.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

No no no no... accreditation standards explicitly prohibit any sort of alumni or donor privileges in admissions processes or decisions, including interview invitations. Every invitation and offer should be decided upon with this information blinded to the admissions committee.

Why even ask about legacy/family members on secondary applications then?

 

[DoctorFate]

No no no no... accreditation standards explicitly prohibit any sort of alumni or donor privileges in admissions processes or decisions, including interview invitations. Every invitation and offer should be decided upon with this information blinded to the admissions committee.

I don't think this could be true, given what adcoms have said on here. Multiple times, they mentioned courtesy interviews given to relatives of faculty and large donors.

 

[gyngyn]

If Jim Simons or Robert Mercer (founders of company that Stony Brook Renaissance SOM is named after) wrote a letter for a student with a 2.5/500, you can bet that student would be interviewed and accepted automatically.

First, the "donor" would be discouraged from making the donation in a time frame that would give the appearance of impropriety.
Second, no one on the committee would ever know that such a discussion had taken place.
Third, I've never heard of Simons or Mercer and I can't say what effect it would have at Stony Brook.
Even if a "courtesy" interview were extended, if the application were truly awful, it might never go to committee.

 

[gyngyn]

Why even ask about legacy/family members on secondary applications then?

Managing blow-back.

 

[gyngyn]

Would a letter from Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg carry the same weight?

We get letters from the rich and powerful all the time.
They usually don't even know the applicant. It's just an exchange of political capital.

 

[MyOdyssey]

not unless they have a history of donating. Renaissance Technologies has reportedly donated 500million to this school

Why did they choose that school to be the beneficiary of their largesse?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Why did they choose that school to be the beneficiary of their largesse?

the headquarters is right near stony brook. It’s founder was a math professor there until he started Renaissance Technologies when he was 44.

 

[DigNewton]

Tbf, you are expected to send a thank you note to express your continued interest after any job interview.

This is far less true than it used to be. In fact, I've worked for more companies that would ignore or even frown upon post-interview thank you notes than companies that would appreciate them, let alone expect them. This is especially true at companies where 10s, 100s, or 1000s of applicants are competing for a single position, as is the case in medical school admissions.

OP, I think the best approach (and use of your time) is to only write thank you letters for schools that make it pretty obvious during interviews that they want them. Please don't send them to schools that say they don't want letters/updates...that's a lot more likely to hurt than help, if it goes noticed at all.

 

[DoctorFate]

This is far less true than it used to be. In fact, I've worked for more companies that would ignore or even frown upon post-interview thank you notes than companies that would appreciate them, let alone expect them. This is especially true at companies where 10s, 100s, or 1000s of applicants are competing for a single position, as is the case in medical school admissions.

OP, I think the best approach (and use of your time) is to only write thank you letters for schools that make it pretty obvious during interviews that they want them. Please don't send them to schools that say they don't want letters/updates...that's a lot more likely to hurt than help, if it goes noticed at all.

Yup. I honestly don't know why this topic sees a lot of traction every year- if a school provides you with interviewer emails and encourages you to reach out, send a thank you note. Otherwise, don't.

I saw a question on r/premed from someone saying he managed to track down every one of his mmi interviewers and get their emails, and was asking how to word his thank you notes. Everyone said bro, plz dont. This man didn't even get their names. He literally found their faces online and got their emails.

 

[Dogruffle01]

It's not that you don't want to attend, it's how much you want to attend if you get accepted. I don't think anyone wants to see someone else crawl on hands and knees, especially in medical school admissions. What they want to see is if you are genuinely interested in their program and how likely you will attend if you are accepted there. Given two "identical" candidates, I would offer the person who showed more interest the A first. For instance, If someone with 520 and 4.0 applying to your school, would you offer that person an A or someone else who would fit your incoming class profile more closely? Then let's say that high stat person wrote a very genuine thank you note with a detailed reason why they want to attend your school, do you think their chance of receiving an A would rise?

I’m not the camp of “ formalities for the sake of formailities”. For n=1, I didn’t send thank you notes to the two schools I got into and I sri got the A.

Seems VERY petty to me for an applicant who has spent the better part of 4 year serving, getting good grades, working in hospitals, having a personal conversation, paying your school $50-$100, to get denied over a thank you note.

I jumped through all these hoops to get denied because you wanted me to formally thank you, when we all know I thanked you 100 times in the interview itself.

If a school denies based on these ground I wouldn’t want to go anyway. If they are willing to deny someone based on a thank you note, whose to say they won’t do something equally as arbitrary with my grades or education later on.

“ Oh, you wore a blue tie instead of a red ties ,
2/5 grade for unprofessionlism”

Now I will send one if genuinely connected with my interviewer on a topic, but if it’s a run of the mill interview, you already got my $100 and we had a cordial conversation. It’s not that I’m anti-thank you note, its just most interviewers aren’t gonna even read them, and I’m not gonna fake an extremely detailed note, because as a future doctor I want every interaction I have to be the genuine me.

 

[DoctorFate]

I’m not the camp of “ formalities for the sake of formailities”. For n=1, I didn’t send thank you notes to the two schools I got into and I sri got the A.

Seems VERY petty to me for an applicant who has spent the better part of 4 year serving, getting good grades, working in hospitals, having a personal conversation, paying your school $50-$100, to get denied over a thank you note.

I jumped through all these hoops to get denied because you wanted me to formally thank you, when we all know I thanked you 100 times in the interview itself.

If a school denies based on these ground I wouldn’t want to go anyway. If they are willing to deny someone based on a thank you note, whose to say they won’t do something equally as arbitrary with my grades or education later on.

“ Oh, you wore a blue tie instead of a red ties ,
2/5 grade for unprofessionlism”

Now I will send one if genuinely connected with my interviewer on a topic, but if it’s a run of the mill interview, you already got my $100 and we had a cordial conversation. It’s not that I’m anti-thank you note, its just most interviewers aren’t gonna even read them, and I’m not gonna fake an extremely detailed note, because as a future doctor I want every interaction I have to be the genuine me.

That's fine for most schools, but if a school explicitly tells you to send thank you notes, or makes the process clear, then you should definitely send them. There are at least 3 schools in the T10 that I know of that esspecially require Thank You notes, and you are penalized for not sending them. Which is fair, imo, because they literally tell you over and over to send them, so it's definitely on you if you don't lol.

 

[MyOdyssey]

That's fine for most schools, but if a school explicitly tells you to send thank you notes, or makes the process clear, then you should definitely send them. There are at least 3 schools in the T10 that I know of that esspecially require Thank You notes, and you are penalized for not sending them. Which is fair, imo, because they literally tell you over and over to send them, so it's definitely on you if you don't lol.

Names?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I don't think this could be true, given what adcoms have said on here. Multiple times, they mentioned courtesy interviews given to relatives of faculty and large donors.

I will say that it's true at some schools or programs if it is clearly articulated by committee policy how one who is qualified gets an interview. But many schools I know won't do this.

 

[Dogruffle01]

Names?

The only one who I know by name who made it abundantly clear was Mayo.

I attended interviews at 5/10 of the T10s and only NYU said anything explicit about TY notes. I forgot to send out my Columbia TY note and I really liked my interviewer. But we’ll see how true the “ No TY note , no A” rhetoric the above poster is referencing is come March.

 

[DoctorFate]

Names?

The only one who I know by name who made it abundantly clear was Mayo.

I attended interviews at 5/10 of the T10s and only NYU said anything explicit about TY notes. I forgot to send out my Columbia TY note and I really liked my interviewer. But we’ll see how true the “ No TY note , no A” rhetoric the above poster is referencing is come March.

The 3 T10s I know that request thank you notes are Mayo, Penn, and NYU because either I or a friend had an interview there. To extend it a little further to T15, Pitt strongly implied we should send thank you notes, but didn't outright request it.

Also, you're completely misquoting me. I said at one T10 interview I attended, an interviewer said that to me. I also said I personally believe that when a school explicitly tells you "send a thank you note" (in my case, this school literally had a portal window dedicated to thank you note upload) and then you don't send a thank you note, then you will not be accepted. If Columbia never mentioned any of the above for you, then sending a thank you note likely won't have an impact on acceptance (which i also mentioned, albeit not in those words).

 

[MyOdyssey]

The 3 T10s I know that request thank you notes are Mayo, Penn, and NYU because either I or a friend had an interview there. To extend it a little further to T15, Pitt strongly implied we should send thank you notes, but didn't outright request it.

NYU surprises me.

I would have guessed Wash U and Mayo.

Penn is also located in a neighborhood that can be risky/undesirable.

Hopkins?

 

[DoctorFate]

NYU surprises me.

I would have guessed Wash U and Mayo.

Penn is also located in a neighborhood that can be risky/undesirable.

Hopkins?

Uh, I dont think thats true about Penn. People frequently say its located in the good/rich side of Philly and my friends there definitely echo those thoughts. Temple is the Philly university known to be in a bad area.

Columbia on the other hand is located in the worst part of NYC.

Hopkins never mentioned thank yous, and my WashU interview is next week, so I'll update u after. Rn though, no thank yous.

 

[nicesecrets]

NYU surprises me.

I would have guessed Wash U and Mayo.

Penn is also located in a neighborhood that can be risky/undesirable.

Hopkins?

No requirement from WashU. But I found my interviewers and admissions staff to be amongst the nicest I have interacted with (including jobs, grad school etc) and everyone I interacted with openly shared emails.. so I sent one anyways

 

[nicesecrets]

No requirement from WashU. But I found my interviewers and admissions staff to be amongst the nicest I have interacted with (including jobs, grad school etc) and everyone I interacted with openly shared emails.. so I sent one anyways

Although, I also remember reading in an earlier year's thread that letters of interest went a very long way at WashU...

 

[gyngyn]

Expecting gratitude from applicants is not gracious.

 

[DoctorFate]

Although, I also remember reading in an earlier year's thread that letters of interest went a very long way at WashU...

Oh yea, I remember reading that as well.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

I’m not the camp of “ formalities for the sake of formailities”. For n=1, I didn’t send thank you notes to the two schools I got into and I sri got the A.

Seems VERY petty to me for an applicant who has spent the better part of 4 year serving, getting good grades, working in hospitals, having a personal conversation, paying your school $50-$100, to get denied over a thank you note.

I jumped through all these hoops to get denied because you wanted me to formally thank you, when we all know I thanked you 100 times in the interview itself.

If a school denies based on these ground I wouldn’t want to go anyway. If they are willing to deny someone based on a thank you note, whose to say they won’t do something equally as arbitrary with my grades or education later on.

“ Oh, you wore a blue tie instead of a red ties ,
2/5 grade for unprofessionlism”

Now I will send one if genuinely connected with my interviewer on a topic, but if it’s a run of the mill interview, you already got my $100 and we had a cordial conversation. It’s not that I’m anti-thank you note, its just most interviewers aren’t gonna even read them, and I’m not gonna fake an extremely detailed note, because as a future doctor I want every interaction I have to be the genuine me.

Most applicants are not as lucky as you who may have choices. Most of them will have to fight tooth and nail and cover all the ground to increase their odds, especially at those super competitive schools. You can have the nonchalance all you want. But what if i told you that one of your dream schools would more likely admit you if you sent a thank you note. Would you still not bother doing it, given that you have already jumped through much harder hoops? Like you would genuinely forego the chance of attending a dream school over something so small such as a TY note? Don't kid yourself. You are entering a profession in which pettiness and favoritism run rampant, let alone randomness.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Oh yea, I remember reading that as well.

I mentioned that in a different thread earlier. Dr. Ratts (dean of admissions) really wants to see a letter from you if you want to get accepted befor the crowd.

 

[DoctorFate]

I mentioned that in a different thread earlier. Dr. Ratts (dean of admissions) really wants to see a letter from you if you want to get accepted befor the crowd.

Yup, I almost tagged you as I wrote that haha, as I remembered. How do you know this information btw? If you can share.