Hey guys,
Do you guys think these really have an impact on your chances of being admitted to a school?
Do you guys think these really have an impact on your chances of being admitted to a school?
Thank you emails/letters after interview
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Not sending a thank-you note is worse than not wearing a tie. Like, way worse.
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Send it if you feel thankful. Don't send it because (you think) it will improve your chance. Plus, I don't think it improves your chances.
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Def has no effect on your chances. I'm a reapp. First time round I sent cards to all my interviewers, received no accepts (cause my app was crappy lol). This time round, I didn't send any cards and got a couple accepts. Moral=thank u cards lower yor chances?
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I write my summaries of interviews before I go to bed that evening. So, unless you email immediately after leaving the interview, it is likely that I will have signed off on your "paperwork" before I get your letter. That said, it is a nice gesture and can have an effect with some interviewers who may be called upon later to speak on behalf of your application.
Do it if you wish but don't feel guilty if you don't and don't assume cause and effect regarding letters and offers.
Do it if you wish but don't feel guilty if you don't and don't assume cause and effect regarding letters and offers.
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Whether it does or not, it's good form to send one. My mother would kick my ass if she ever found out that I didn't send a thank you note to an interviewer.
I sent thank you letters to half my interviewers. If the interviewer provided their contact information (email, address, etc.) without me asking and I felt we had a good conversation, then I sent one. And usually, it was an email. If the interviewer did not make their contact known, I did not go out of my way to find the proper address. So far, there has been no correlation between Thank You letters and acceptances for me.
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Impact? Don't think so. Send one if you feel like it though.
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As an interviewer, I don't really enjoy receiving them. It's more clutter (e-mails) or junk (letters) that I don't need, though I do appreciate that an applicant put the time and effort into sending one. However, very, very few people send thank yous - at least of the applicants that I've interviewed (in contrast to what you might expect from reading SDN). Out of about 15 interviews I've received maybe two thank yous.
As far as the OP, no, it won't matter. Most interviewers will likely have completed your evaluation before they even receive your thank you. And even if they did receive it before they evaluated you, such a thing wouldn't matter anyway.
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I feel as if most only send thank you notes to faculty. For me, it really depends. If I'm able to get a student's e-mail (especially if they offer it), I'll write the e-mail. Otherwise, I won't bother. I'm 1 for 2 in terms of those.
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I doubt the content of the note is significant -- I mean, what else can it really say besides "thank you?" But still, I've always been drawn to something about the old-school glamour of receiving a thank you card in the mail. (Perhaps I feel this way because I haven't received any personal snail mail in years?) Emailed thank-you's just don't have the same charm...
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At one of the schools I recently interviewed at, we were explicitly told NOT to send any thank you notes.
which school if you don't mind?
depends on the school.
at some, the interviewer acts as your 'advocate' the the adcom-->a thank you would probably help in this situation.
If they are simply filling out a quick evaluation after the interview, it probably won't help, but it's still nice
at some, the interviewer acts as your 'advocate' the the adcom-->a thank you would probably help in this situation.
If they are simply filling out a quick evaluation after the interview, it probably won't help, but it's still nice
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Funny story- at the end of one of my best interviews the MD that basically told me he would ensure my acceptance told me to contact him if I needed anything at all but to refrain from sending any "useless" thank you mail or email and that if I did he would ensure that I would lose admission to the school (he said this in all seriousness). I laughed at the comedy in the situation to which he responded "seriously."
Applied to my two in-state schools this cycle.
Sent a thank you email to an interviewer at one school: accepted.
Sent no thank you to another school: rejected.
It probably makes no difference, but I doubt it hurts.
Sent a thank you email to an interviewer at one school: accepted.
Sent no thank you to another school: rejected.
It probably makes no difference, but I doubt it hurts.
I didn't send thank you notes.... two accepts.
Definitely not a required part of the process.
It is a nice gesture, though, and I kind of wish I had done it just for that reason. Seems like it would be important to make sure you do it in a low-key way though.... if you do it over-the-top pre-med style I think you run the risk of grossing out your interviewer. 😀 A simple, heartfelt expression of thanks for your interviewer's time would be the way to go. Couple of sentences. Don't beat it to death. Card or email, I don't think that part matters at all.
Definitely not a required part of the process.
It is a nice gesture, though, and I kind of wish I had done it just for that reason. Seems like it would be important to make sure you do it in a low-key way though.... if you do it over-the-top pre-med style I think you run the risk of grossing out your interviewer. 😀 A simple, heartfelt expression of thanks for your interviewer's time would be the way to go. Couple of sentences. Don't beat it to death. Card or email, I don't think that part matters at all.
My conscience tells me to so I have ended up writing letters to interviewers when I've gotten their contact info and a couple of schools have strongly encouraged us to write one so I have in those cases. But I don't think it makes a difference because at 1 school I never got the contact info of my interviewers and ended up not giving them thank you letters and I got in anyways. Plus I've had a couple of MMIs and there's no way I can figure out all the interviewers' contact info.
I think what has a greater effect is writing to Deans of Admissions at some schools. It seems to have a little bit of extra weight at times if you contact the right person in the chain of command.
I think what has a greater effect is writing to Deans of Admissions at some schools. It seems to have a little bit of extra weight at times if you contact the right person in the chain of command.
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I sent to some interviewers, not to others. Something I discovered later on was that some schools will add the thank-you note to your file before it goes to committee. I can think of a couple of schools off the top of my head that added "Thank You Note: Received" to my online status page. That said, I doubt it makes much of a difference.
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This. Some schools I did, others, I didn't, no trends of acceptance vs rejection emerged. It's polite. That's about it.
