Thank You Letters for Interviewers?

[Dante]

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Yo party people...

For those of you who have been actively interviewing - are you sending thank you letters to your interviewers?

Thanky letters seem to be the de facto standard with the straight-up MD route, but my PI suggested that such letters are inappropriate in the PhD environment.

Your input is appreciated.

 

[Mitro]

I thought about this for awhile. Here's my take for why not to send thank you notes to everyone: it's a pain. Lets face it, at several schools you'll interview with more than ten people. Writing ten thank you cards by hand takes a long time, and it'll make your hand hurt. Now imagine repeating this for everyone school you interview with. That's not to say it wouldn't be a good curtosy, but I decided that it wasn't worth my time. This being said, I would still thank the director of the program and thank the staff and student host(s), if you had one. Other people do other things, like send thank you notes to everyone - or no one. My guess is that it wont factor into the admissions decision, but you never know. Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[Neuronix]

I almost always sent my student hosts gifts for hosting me, but I very rarely sent thank you notes. I can definately say now that interviewing takes up much less of a student's time than a good host. The only reason for most to write a thank you note then is to suck up, and as such, it shouldn't be done IMO.

 

[Habari]

i often sent an email to one or two people at a school with whom i had a good rapport. no need to kowtow or send a lengthy letter, rather, simply send one when you feel it is appropriate. the nice thing about email was that faculty usually responded, though i woudn't read too much into their words.

 

[tedrik]

I haven't been sending any thank you cards for my interveiwers or student hosts. After reading Neuronix's post, I can't believe that I didn't do anything for my student hosts...that was pretty rude of me. As far as sending cards to your interviewers, I don't think it's necessary. I don't feel like they would really care on way or the other, and they might not even remember exactly who I was. I definitely don't think something like that would or should have any influence on your chances of getting in to the school. I hope that no one dissagrees with that

 

[microTAS]

I've been sending out 2-3 liner emails as thank you's. It is definitely nice having some responses. I thought I did below par on a certain interview, but the interviewer actually responded *very* favorably.

I usually brought a gift (food) to give to hosts.

 

[Dante]

Thanks for the responses. And thanks for the reminder about the generosity of student hosts.

Out of curiosity, did you send them the gift after staying with them? Or did you just present it as you met them? I somehow always end up maximizing the awkwardness of any situation...

 

[leverp2000]

I brought the gift with me and gave it to them during the stay.

Thanks for the responses. And thanks for the reminder about the generosity of student hosts.

Out of curiosity, did you send them the gift after staying with them? Or did you just present it as you met them? I somehow always end up maximizing the awkwardness of any situation...

 

[PostalWookie]

I send thank-you cards to interviewers who were really awesome and really took the time to show me around and tell me about the program. Since I don't want to come off as someone trying to get an edge on the competition, I simply mail out my cards after the committee meeting, after the interviewers have given their report. Plus I've stayed in touch with a few of my interviewers by e-mail because I would really like to work in their labs.