Telling PDs that you are ranking them high How wise?

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google_singh

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Well I have been reading on various forums about various candidates emailing PDs that they are ranking their program very high/high?

I am not sure if I am right or wrong but if I tell the PD of say X program that I am ranking his program very high, is there a chance that he will rank me lower than he wud probably rank me simply because he is prolly now more convinced that since I am very much interested in their program, I will match nevertheless into their program and they can now rank other candidates ahead of me whom they liked more than me without running the risk of going into scramble. Or am I being paranoid?I know the PDs are very astute.

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Why would they rank candidates in any other order than their actual preference?

The only rational effect it could have is to make them less worried about who they rank below you. Or possibly it would be incentive to rank you higher, if they care about matching high on their list.
 
Depends on the specialty and institution
 
You are being paranoid and reading too much into this.

1) most programs have already finalized their ROL so whatever you tell them now is unlikely to change things (provided you don't send them something rude in which case they could still change their ROL)

2) programs don't sit around and go, "hmmm...he likes us, so that makes him less valuable to our program, so we will rank him lower".

They rank you as they see you fitting into their program.
 
OP, I think your logic is faulty.
You are overthinking this.
I can't think of a situation where the applicant telling the program he is ranking it highly would cause the applicant to get ranked LOWER.
If anything, it would help you, or it would be neutral. Sometimes programs will rank you higher if they think you are very interested, but sometimes they will not change your ranking.
 
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