Post interview thank yous

[Weil-Felix]

Yet another mundane question about etiquette:

After interviews, I am sending thank yous to the attendings that interviewed me. Do you also send a thank you to a chief resident who interviewed you? What about to the residents that take you out to lunch?

I know it's a lame question, but I just had to ask. Thanks in advance.

WF

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[Ludy]

I didn't send a thank-you to the chief resident who interviewed me at the one place that happened... probably wouldn't have hurt, but she's busy and I doubt she would have given it a second glance.
At the programs I was interested in, I usually emailed the resident who took me to lunch with a follow-up question or two (I always forgot to ask something!), and started off the email with a little "thanks for your time" kind of thing.
I wouldn't put much stock in the value of thank-you notes, though. At three places, I saw interviewers either filling out or turning in their evaluation sheets on me before the day was over, so a thank-you note that comes a week later certainly isn't going to help. At first, I wrote them to everyone I interviewed with; now I'm just writing to the PD and chair, if I met the chair.

 

[yaah]

Originally posted by Ludy

I wouldn't put much stock in the value of thank-you notes, though. At three places, I saw interviewers either filling out or turning in their evaluation sheets on me before the day was over, so a thank-you note that comes a week later certainly isn't going to help. At first, I wrote them to everyone I interviewed with; now I'm just writing to the PD and chair, if I met the chair.

I agree! If you have specific questions you should definitely write to the residents (or, if you found one of the residents really hot, like I did). But otherwise, you are certainly not going to be ranked higher for doing so. Some places also give you a list of those individuals who are on the admissions committee, and sometimes these do include chief residents or others. Don't forget, they interview a lot of people, so getting a thank you note, while a nice touch, is not going to be a huge factor in their decisions.

You can always send emails, especially to residents.

 

[Doctor B.]

At three places, I saw interviewers either filling out or turning in their evaluation sheets on me before the day was over, so a thank-you note that comes a week later certainly isn't going to help.

Keep in mind, though, that the selection committe won't meet until interviewing is finished. That's when they choose their rank list. Thank you notes that reach the faculty before then will still be effective.

I wrote thank you notes to all the faculty I interviewed with at the places that I was going to rank. I didn't write them to the chief or the residents. An email is probably sufficient there. I think thank you notes are good because it puts your name in front of the faculty again a few weeks after you interviewed. And though it may not be a huge thing, you might as well have as many small things working in your favor as possible.

 

[Weil-Felix]

Thanks for the input!

 

[GreatPumpkin]

I do alot of interviews as a resident and have only once received a thank you card. So most people don't send them to residents. I did think it was nice. An email would be nice as well.

And, I always encourage people to email if they have any more questions. If you didn't feel comfortable enough with them when you met them to send an email, yikes how will they be to work with.