I received a note in the mail from a PD of a program I interviewed at recently, saying that they felt I would be a great addition to their program. Is this standard for some programs, or does it mean anything?
Post-interview note from PD mean anything?
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From last years thread it was pretty standard and did not translate to a match for some. If they are your number one at the end it may not hurt to send them an email or have your chair/PD reply to that letter
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Is it common for them to say that they will rank you highly? I feel like that's very misleading if it's not sincere.
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"rank highly" means something different than "you'd be a great addition to our program" - they wouldn't have interviewed you if they thought you'd suck as a resident.
But you also need to be careful with "rank highly" - what does that mean exactly? I think you can assume the PD plans to put you in the top 1/2 or 1/3 of candidates, but PD's often don't have carte blanche (technically they do) as there is most often a committee who decides the rank or general rank of candidates. I'm sure most PD's will slip one or two of their personal favorities in higher if they want (at least I think I would) and I'm sure if the Chairman has a favorite or two politics dictates the PD make sure they rank to match, otherwise, it's probably by committee.
