Program "love letters"?

[snowmaiden11]

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So I know this has been discussed ad nauseam on the main NRMP board and the other general residency boards, but I thought I'd ask the pedi people specifically.

Have you guys been getting "love letter" notes from PDs? I have friends in other specialities who have been getting tons of them and I'm starting to feel ... itchy. Granted, I've interviewed at a few programs that outright stated that they would not send out these kinds of messages, but I thought I'd see what the general pedi applicant population has noticed.

Two months from yesterday, guys....two months. 😱

 

[guacamoley]

I went to 9 interviews. All the programs that said they wouldn't call or write have not called or written.

Of the others: 1 program director called. 1 program director emailed me. 1 program director sent snail mail.

I'm not sure what that means, so I'm just going to rank the programs in the order I like them.

 

[lockjaw]

I've gone on 13 interviews, and have heard from 5: 2 snail mail letters from PDs, 1 email from a PD (in response to a thank you note), plus 1 email from a chief resident and 1 from a PGY-3.

 

[Eat Oatmeal]

I have gotten several personalized emails as well. Some look plug and chugish. Quite honestly, everytime I get one of those I think of the superficiality of this whole match process. PD's have no reason to show disinterest and, ironically, are incentivized to exaggerate or lie about their interest in an applicant. The same is true with applicants. I lol'd when I interviewed at the places where I did my rotations because of the "shimmy and glamour" the programs used. Besides looking at cities and hospital facilities my interviews were useless; just a simple hello and nice to meet you to all my interviewers and that was it. Does anyone else feel this way?

 

[legobikes]

eat oatmeal: pretty much.

some places even seem to gear up for their days when applicants are there w/r/t morning report etc. unless you get to see people rounding, I think the interview days are pretty useless as far as getting a feel for that specific program goes.

 

[DickyV]

I've had responses to e-mail thank-yous and questions I've asked.

Aside from that, the only correspondence I've received was a nice e-mail from my home school's PD and a boilerplate e-mail with a few characteristics about me from another PD. It's certainly flattering, but I'm not letting any of it influence my rankings. If they really like me, I have as good of a shot matching whether I rank them #1 or #12.