Thank-you letters/emails to interviewers?

[EthylMethylMan]

I've been to two interviews, both of which ended in rejections. Because of this, I decided to go to the website of another school I applied to and look at their list of things that would cause them to deem an interview "poor". (Yeah, I should've done this earlier.) One of the things on the list was not sending a thank-you letter to the interviewer(s). Is this a common practice? Because I haven't been doing it, and I'm going to be kicking myself until my hip bones break if it may have been the kiss of death for my applications.

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[Pacna]

If they explicitly say that on their website, I think that's important to listen to. Otherwise, nobody gives 2 s***s about thank yous.

 

[Jennyfishy]

For the two schools I interviewed at, they "welcomed" letters but they were not required. I was accepted by one and did not write a thank you letter (until afterwards). So if your school said they expect them, that sounds pretty important to them (even if that's kinda weird)

 

[dcamkl1]

It seems that schools vary on this. On interview day, my advice would be to use the time during the tour with med students to ask them (in a non-gunner way) if thank you notes are "required." Most medical student tour guides have no say in the admissions process, may know the inside scoop, and are generally helpful. At one of my interviews, someone in my tour group asked the student guide, who said thank you notes don't matter. So, I never wrote one and was accepted.

 

[Catalystik]

I've been to two interviews, both of which ended in rejections. Because of this, I decided to go to the website of another school I applied to and look at their list of things that would cause them to deem an interview "poor". (Yeah, I should've done this earlier.) One of the things on the list was not sending a thank-you letter to the interviewer(s). Is this a common practice? Because I haven't been doing it, and I'm going to be kicking myself until my hip bones break if it may have been the kiss of death for my applications.

Thank you notes sent to an interviewer are a polite but unnecessary activity for the vast majority of med schools. By the time it is received, the evaluation for your interview is long since submitted. It is not uncommon to receive one (maybe 40% for me) and they are more enjoyable if they expand on or comment on some aspect of the interview.

Unless otherwise instructed, rather than sending individual Thank You notes alone (if you decide to do so), I should think there might be more potential mileage gained if a note is also used to comment on general appreciation of the process and why the school is a good fit for you, and sent to the Admissions office, where it has a better chance of ending up in your file and being reviewed prior to decision time at an adcomm meeting.

 

[gumdrops]

I've been to two interviews, both of which ended in rejections. Because of this, I decided to go to the website of another school I applied to and look at their list of things that would cause them to deem an interview "poor". (Yeah, I should've done this earlier.) One of the things on the list was not sending a thank-you letter to the interviewer(s). Is this a common practice? Because I haven't been doing it, and I'm going to be kicking myself until my hip bones break if it may have been the kiss of death for my applications.

I find it hard to believe that it was just the lack of thank you notes to the interviewers that decided your fate at these two schools. Sounds like it's important to them though.

 

[group_theory]

Usually the evaluation forms (completed by the interviewer) is completed that day or that week after your interview (think how many interviews that interviewer must interview). So while it is the "polite" thing to do after an interview, I doubt it was the reason for your rejections

It could be a number of things - your GPA or MCAT may have been a concern - good enough to grant an interview, but perhaps some members of the admission committee didn't like them when it came for a final vote. Perhaps the school is looking for diversity (not just race - but socio-economic, regional, etc) or they have already accepted a lot from your undergrad (and want to admit more from other places). Perhaps there was something in the LORs that concerned them, or something non-academic related. Maybe it was the lack of EC. Or they might have felt that given the opportunities and resources available, you didn't take full advantage of them. As you can see, there is a plethora of reasons why they might reject you - but I doubt not writing a thank-you letter was one of them.

If the med school admission office offers this (probably after they stop interviewing for next year's class), try to see if they can review your file and tell you why you were rejected. That way, you know instead of just speculating, and can work on those deficiencies.

 

[ace12345]

Unless it is explicitly stated not to, you should ALWAYS send thank you letters in EVERY professional interview you attend. It can only help and will never hurt. Though I agree with those above that it probably did not cause your rejection, it is the polite thing to do and should always be done.

 

[Catalystik]

Unless it is explicitly stated not to, you should ALWAYS send thank you letters in EVERY professional interview you attend. It can only help and will never hurt. Though I agree with those above that it probably did not cause your rejection, it is the polite thing to do and should always be done.

I believe that Lizzy M once said, "It shows you were raised right." 🙂

 

[funniful]

On this topic, did most people send hand-written thank you cards or an email after their interviews? Also how late is too late to send a thank you note or is it a it's never too late sort of deal?

Some schools have been requesting that all correspondence should go through them and not to contact interviewers directly at which point it makes sense to send thank you cards to the admissions office to be distributed accordingly.

 

[PHellmuth]

I'd write a generic one (loved the program, could clearly see myself there, etc) for all of them but I doubt that is what led to the rejections.

 

[nyc1990]

I mean, it honestly takes 30 seconds to write a thank-you letter; why wouldn't you just always write one?

 

[medmedman]

I've been to two interviews, both of which ended in rejections. Because of this, I decided to go to the website of another school I applied to and look at their list of things that would cause them to deem an interview "poor". (Yeah, I should've done this earlier.) One of the things on the list was not sending a thank-you letter to the interviewer(s). Is this a common practice? Because I haven't been doing it, and I'm going to be kicking myself until my hip bones break if it may have been the kiss of death for my applications.

You should always send a thank you letter after any interview. I can see this making a very slight difference in the outcome for a job interview, but never for a medical school interview. You should do it - its more professional. But I would be blown away if you got rejected because of that. Rest assured that is not the reason why

 

[Pacna]

Can I just say that it's kind of odd that a school would say that they require thank yous? It's like all the ADCOM members are my grandma.

How can you demand that someone thank you? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

 

[DokterMom]

Can I just say that it's kind of odd that a school would say that they require thank yous? It's like all the ADCOM members are my grandma.

How can you demand that someone thank you? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

Good point -- But back to "being raised right"... I can see a medical school wanting its graduates to instinctively know the kinds of "being raised right" graces that writing a prompt Thank You note demonstrates. No school wants to graduate a bunch of graceless, manner-less future doctors.

 

[gumdrops]

Can I just say that it's kind of odd that a school would say that they require thank yous? It's like all the ADCOM members are my grandma.

How can you demand that someone thank you? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

I agree in general that if you're asking if you should send a thank you note, you probably should. If the thank you note is a requirement for further consideration for admission, it should be explicitly stated to interviewees at the onset just the way you're told you're out of the running if you're late, do not confirm appointments, etc. A lot of people could skip sending the thank you note because they thought the interviewer was doing the interview as their job and not as a courtesy. That's an honest mistake and not one people should be penalized for.

Maybe the safest way to go is to assume that if the interviewer has provided you contact information without prompting at the end of the interview, it is best to send them a thank you note.

 

[darkjedi]

Can I just say that it's kind of odd that a school would say that they require thank yous? It's like all the ADCOM members are my grandma.

How can you demand that someone thank you? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

It's not like they 'require' it in that they won't even make a decision on your application until you write one. Not writing one shows poor etiquette, which potentially reflects on the personality of the applicant as well as their interest in the school. Whether or not it's serious enough to be factored into admissions is a different story.

 

[Narmerguy]

Good point -- But back to "being raised right"... I can see a medical school wanting its graduates to instinctively know the kinds of "being raised right" graces that writing a prompt Thank You note demonstrates. No school wants to graduate a bunch of graceless, manner-less future doctors.

It's not like they 'require' it in that they won't even make a decision on your application until you write one. Not writing one shows poor etiquette, which potentially reflects on the personality of the applicant as well as their interest in the school. Whether or not it's serious enough to be factored into admissions is a different story.

I don't know that I consider myself graceless, but I never sent thank you letters to any of my interviewers. It's not that I wouldn't on principle, but I would only do it if I felt something transpired during the course of the interview that allowed me to connect with the interviewer. If it felt like merely a professional exchange (i.e. they doing their job and I doing mine), it feels disingenuous to contrive a bunch of things to say. Instead, being polite and respectful, saying thank you at the end of the interview, and approaching the interview seriously and prepared so as not to waste their time are also ways that I feel express etiquette and appreciation.

 

[Pacna]

It's not like they 'require' it in that they won't even make a decision on your application until you write one. Not writing one shows poor etiquette, which potentially reflects on the personality of the applicant as well as their interest in the school. Whether or not it's serious enough to be factored into admissions is a different story.

Factor it in for sure! I'm not against that. I wrote thank you letters for my interviewers if I was honestly grateful (some I skipped). I'm just saying that putting on the website that applicants should write thank yous is like me giving someone advice and then ending that conversation with "You should thank me for this advice or I'll think less of you." I can think that, but saying it aloud both makes the inevitable "thank you" meaningless and is a big douche move.

 

[gumdrops]

I could see people not writing a thank you note to their interviewer for the same reason that they don't write thank you notes to every good professor at the end of a semester or a physician for curing their illness. People assume it's their job. It doesn't necessarily show a lack of breeding so much as it does a lack of information. I didn't learn until later that these are students and faculty who volunteer to interview students because of their investment in the school and in trying to find the best applicants possible. When you find that out, then it seems remiss to not send a thank you note.

 

[darkjedi]

I don't know that I consider myself graceless, but I never sent thank you letters to any of my interviewers. It's not that I wouldn't on principle, but I would only do it if I felt something transpired during the course of the interview that allowed me to connect with the interviewer. If it felt like merely a professional exchange (i.e. they doing their job and I doing mine), it feels disingenuous to contrive a bunch of things to say. Instead, being polite and respectful, saying thank you at the end of the interview, and approaching the interview seriously and prepared so as not to waste their time are also ways that I feel express etiquette and appreciation.

I personally don't care if I don't receive a thank you letter since I'm definitely not important enough to even warrant one. I'd say only around half of my interviewees ever sent me a thank you letter. That said in a professional environment, its usually standard operating procedure to send thank yous after an interview. What's unfortunate is that many people straight from undergrad don't necessarily know that it is custom. I do think some slack should be cut for that, but once you're in industry it should definitely be done. It takes 15 seconds, and doesn't bother anyone since if they were busy they'd just delete it or ignore it anyway.

 

[lalalapartay012]

I think the general consensus is that send it if you want to out of the kindness of your heart or if the school explicitly says to. Don't send it because you're trying to get brownie points (pointless because evals are probably already submitted) or if schools explicitly say not to do it.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I say always write one. It not only looks good, but it gives you the chance to mention things that you didn't in the interview, albeit doing it smart. For example, I forgot to mention I was president of pre-soma, so when I sent my letter I mentioned meeting soma students during the student-ran campus tour and how I wanted to join because being pre-soma president was a positive experience during pre-med.

 

[QuantumJ]

It is not common practice to explicitly state not sending a thank you letter is frowned upon. Some students send them and some don't. If you feel like you can express a genuine thank you and perhaps bring up a specific topic you talked about then go ahead and send them.

 

[Narmerguy]

I personally don't care if I don't receive a thank you letter since I'm definitely not important enough to even warrant one. I'd say only around half of my interviewees ever sent me a thank you letter. That said in a professional environment, its usually standard operating procedure to send thank yous after an interview. What's unfortunate is that many people straight from undergrad don't necessarily know that it is custom. I do think some slack should be cut for that, but once you're in industry it should definitely be done. It takes 15 seconds, and doesn't bother anyone since if they were busy they'd just delete it or ignore it anyway.

Well I've been out of undergrad for a couple years and haven't really picked that up. If it's standard industry practice I suppose we all learn it at some point. Too late for me now but I'll remember for later =\

 

[DChef]

Maybe I'm just a Southern girl who went to cotillion, but handwritten thank you notes should ALWAYS be sent to anyone who gives their free time and effort to help you get ahead, unless the school specifically requests online thank you notes only (Perelman School at Penn is one of them). Interviewers aren't paid to be on the interview committees, and sending a thank you note with specifics on why you enjoyed your conversation and how you've realized the school is a wonderful fit for you educationally and emotionally is a must. BUILD BRIDGES PEOPLE, it literally takes out 10 minutes and a stamp.