Thank you letters

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RuffDay

RuffDay

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Is it okay to send it within 48 hours? I didn't send one within 24 hours because working full-time lol.
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RuffDay said:
Is it okay to send it within 48 hours? I didn't send one within 24 hours because working full-time lol.
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You will be fine. Some people don't even send them. I split the difference and make sure to thank everyone with every communication (both face to face and via phone and email) I make during the process, but never actually send an official thank you letter. 48 hours is not a long time.
 
48 Hours is ok but kind of late. If I were you I would send an actual letter, that way they will never know!!
 
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I just sent out thank you cards today for interviews that were two weeks ago. I think it should be fine.
I was gonna do it earlier, but I dont want them to think I'm just kissing up if I send it immediately.
 
karanja said:
I thought they're supposed to send ME thank you cards.

Am I not the one prepping to pay them ~$300,000+? 😱
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Pre-dents are the most generous, wonderful people, providing salaries for dental schools, henry schein, and DAT prep companies. I am so glad that I am one of them! 🙂
 
For some reason I find it odd that students send thank you cards, and even more odd that faculty are willing to accept them. Seems sort of like a suck up to me. If they accept me to their school, I will thank them in person when I see them again.
 
zammyd said:
For some reason I find it odd that students send thank you cards, and even more odd that faculty are willing to accept them. Seems sort of like a suck up to me. If they accept me to their school, I will thank them in person when I see them again.
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just a formal polite gesture, the thank you letter can be used to show final form of interest expression to make it clear to them you are truly interested in their program.
 
I sent a thank you letter to Lecom a month after my interview. I think you are fine.
 
zammyd said:
For some reason I find it odd that students send thank you cards, and even more odd that faculty are willing to accept them. Seems sort of like a suck up to me. If they accept me to their school, I will thank them in person when I see them again.
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You are the reason tons of interviers be thinking "da hell I did to them, that I didnt even get a thank you from them.."

Just saying
 
Carbohydrates said:
You are the reason tons of interviers be thinking "da hell I did to them, that I didnt even get a thank you from them.."

Just saying
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Since when are thank you letters expected by faculty after a good interview? They should have a clear idea about myself and my motivation to attend their school after their interview. I should not need to send a thank you letter to remind them how eager I am, and how much I am thankful to them. Yes, I am glad they take the time to show me around and interview, but at the end of the day it is their job to sell their school to me and my 400k I will be investing with them. If they need me to send them a silly thank you letter for doing their job, then i'll gladly take my investment elsewhere. With that being said, I make sure I thank the interviewers and faculty DURING the interview, and I believe that should suffice.
 
I didn't send thank you e-mails to my first two interviews, but I have sent them since my third one onwards.

I can't say as to whether these are expected or not, but I believe it is worth mentioning that during my tour at Pittsburgh, the dean of admissions explicitly informed us that any thank you letters we send will be included in our file.
 
I didn't even think to send thank you notes but one of the dentists I work with told me I should have. I had my interview a week ago. Is it too late to send one you guys think?
 
zammyd said:
Since when are thank you letters expected by faculty after a good interview? They should have a clear idea about myself and my motivation to attend their school after their interview. I should not need to send a thank you letter to remind them how eager I am, and how much I am thankful to them. Yes, I am glad they take the time to show me around and interview, but at the end of the day it is their job to sell their school to me and my 400k I will be investing with them. If they need me to send them a silly thank you letter for doing their job, then i'll gladly take my investment elsewhere. With that being said, I make sure I thank the interviewers and faculty DURING the interview, and I believe that should suffice.
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Nothing is expected, but it is pretty standard to send a thank you response (usually email) to the person that interviews you. This applies to all types of interviews. It's probably not going to make or break you, especially the latter, but its just a polite thing to do. If you feel like you don't want to then don't do it. But you should not be telling someone else not to send a thank you letter. OP go ahead and send it, some your competition obviously wants to misinform you.
 
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Rambunctious said:
Nothing is expected, but it is pretty standard to send a thank you response (usually email) to the person that interviews you. This applies to all types of interviews. It's probably not going to make or break you, especially the latter, but its just a polite thing to do. If you feel like you don't want to then don't do it. But you should not be telling someone else not to send a thank you letter. OP go ahead and send it, some your competition obviously wants to misinform you.
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I never told OP to not send a letter. I just explained why I myself choose not to send a letter. Pretty funny though you think I'm trying to misinform him to reduce competition :laugh:...nice one!
 
zammyd said:
I never told OP to not send a letter. I just explained why I myself choose not to send a letter. Pretty funny though you think I'm trying to misinform him to reduce competition :laugh:...nice one!
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Thanks! I know I'm very funny.
 
Corny or not, sending a thank you letter is just the nice thing to do. And no, 48 hours is not late.
 
At first I thought this was going overboard, but now I guess I'll jump on the hype train. Guess I'm going to Hallmark tomorrow ._.
 
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Do we have to send an actual thank you card? I sent an email to my interviewers thanking them about my experience during the interview.
 
jaymaster7 said:
Do we have to send an actual thank you card? I sent an email to my interviewers thanking them about my experience during the interview.
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I read recently that for job interviews email is pretty standard, although actual thank you cards are fairly common as well, so your choice. I imagine the same applies to professional school.
 
zammyd said:
For some reason I find it odd that students send thank you cards, and even more odd that faculty are willing to accept them. Seems sort of like a suck up to me. If they accept me to their school, I will thank them in person when I see them again.
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Maybe they are genuinely thankful for the opportunity?
 
Bucks783 said:
Maybe they are genuinely thankful for the opportunity?
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You guys need to stop treating adcomms like they are doing you a favour, and give yourselves a little more credit. I worked my ass off for 4 years to get a good GPA, then did a 2 years masters degree, did so many extra curriculars, and I should be going out of my way to further thank them for giving me an opportunity to interview? Please, I deserve to be interviewed and I think any school that accepts me will find me to be a great addition to their student body. I don't mean to sound conceited or arrogant, but I know when I deserve something and when someone is doing me a favour. Plus, who's the one traveling from across the country and buying your plane tickets? yourself! lol
 
zammyd said:
You guys need to stop treating adcomms like they are doing you a favour, and give yourselves a little more credit. I worked my ass off for 4 years to get a good GPA, then did a 2 years masters degree, did so many extra curriculars, and I should be going out of my way to further thank them for giving me an opportunity to interview? Please, I deserve to be interviewed and I think any school that accepts me will find me to be a great addition to their student body. I don't mean to sound conceited or arrogant, but I know when I deserve something and when someone is doing me a favour. Plus, who's the one traveling from across the country and buying your plane tickets? yourself! lol
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Uh.... I kind of get what you're trying to say, but I hope you don't sound this self-entitled during your own interviews.
 
zammyd said:
You guys need to stop treating adcomms like they are doing you a favour, and give yourselves a little more credit. I worked my ass off for 4 years to get a good GPA, then did a 2 years masters degree, did so many extra curriculars, and I should be going out of my way to further thank them for giving me an opportunity to interview? Please, I deserve to be interviewed and I think any school that accepts me will find me to be a great addition to their student body. I don't mean to sound conceited or arrogant, but I know when I deserve something and when someone is doing me a favour. Plus, who's the one traveling from across the country and buying your plane tickets? yourself! lol
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No words...
 
zammyd said:
You guys need to stop treating adcomms like they are doing you a favour, and give yourselves a little more credit. I worked my ass off for 4 years to get a good GPA, then did a 2 years masters degree, did so many extra curriculars, and I should be going out of my way to further thank them for giving me an opportunity to interview? Please, I deserve to be interviewed and I think any school that accepts me will find me to be a great addition to their student body. I don't mean to sound conceited or arrogant, but I know when I deserve something and when someone is doing me a favour. Plus, who's the one traveling from across the country and buying your plane tickets? yourself! lol
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Whoever interviews you is taking time out of their day to do so. Many would argue that, in and of itself, warrants a thank you note. What you're saying is you don't feel the need to offer appreciation for receiving an interview (which I also disagree with, but whatever). Either way, that doesn't mean you shouldn't thank your interviewers for taking the time to sit down and try to get to know you better as an applicant.
 
tcf213 said:
Whoever interviews you is taking time out of their day to do so. Many would argue that, in and of itself, warrants a thank you note. What you're saying is you don't feel the need to offer appreciation for receiving an interview (which I also disagree with, but whatever). Either way, that doesn't mean you shouldn't thank your interviewers for taking the time to sit down and try to get to know you better as an applicant.
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Thanks for the reply!

But if you read my earlier post, my argument is that I find sending a thank you cards overboard and a bit of a suck-up. As I earlier mentioned, I definitely say thank you many times during the interview, but I believe that should suffice in terms of showing my appreciation. Secondly, it is their job to sit down with me and they are getting paid for it. It is not some huge favour they are doing for me. I don't see the need to go out of my way with a card/note to thank them for that...

Just my opinion though, if you like send all the thank you cards you want haha
 
On an unrelated note, my SDN experience got a lot better a few weeks ago when I realized I could selectively ignore certain users and no longer see their posts
 
zammyd said:
Thanks for the reply!

But if you read my earlier post, my argument is that I find sending a thank you cards overboard and a bit of a suck-up. As I earlier mentioned, I definitely say thank you many times during the interview, but I believe that should suffice in terms of showing my appreciation. Secondly, it is their job to sit down with me and they are getting paid for it. It is not some huge favour they are doing for me. I don't see the need to go out of my way with a card/note to thank them for that...

Just my opinion though, if you like send all the thank you cards you want haha
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Agree to disagree. I appreciate you being open to discussion and at least explaining your position, though.
 
tcf213 said:
Agree to disagree. I appreciate you being open to discussion and at least explaining your position, though.
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The other reason I'm against them, is that I believe it can create an unfair bias in accepting applicants. For example, say you have two really strong interviewees who both would LOVE to attend your school. Say applicant#1 sends you a really nice thank you letter after the interview, and applicant#2 does not because they are afraid it might come off as a "suck-up" and will work against them. Then if you had to choose between applicant 1 or 2, you would probably pick applicant#1 because of the letter they sent. Unfortunately, even though applicant#2 was equally as strong as applicant#1, they lost out because they were unsure of how the thank you card will come off as. This is also why I believe thank you cards/notes/letters should be disallowed in applications by schools themselves , especially in the pre-selection process. If you ask me its pretty unprofessional to be accepting them before an applicant has been accepted into a program.
 
zammyd said:
The other reason I'm against them, is that I believe it can create an unfair bias in accepting applicants. For example, say you have two really strong interviewees who both would LOVE to attend your school. Say applicant#1 sends you a really nice thank you letter after the interview, and applicant#2 does not because they are afraid it might come off as a "suck-up" and will work against them. Then if you had to choose between applicant 1 or 2, you would probably pick applicant#1 because of the letter they sent. Unfortunately, even though applicant#2 was equally as strong as applicant#1, they lost out because they were unsure of how the thank you card will come off as. This is also why I believe thank you cards/notes/letters should be disallowed in applications by schools themselves , especially in the pre-selection process. If you ask me its pretty unprofessional to be accepting them before an applicant has been accepted into a program.
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A thank you note will not separate a candidate. One of the dumbest things I have ever read on SDN. Thanking someone/a school for interviewing you is respectable. Thanking someone is actually a professional thing to do.
 
Bucks783 said:
A thank you note will not separate a candidate. One of the dumbest things I have ever read on SDN. Thanking someone/a school for interviewing you is respectable. Thanking someone is actually a professional thing to do.
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You'd be surprised. I'm sure every school is different, but I'm sure you can't say it hasn't happened before.
 
zammyd said:
You guys need to stop treating adcomms like they are doing you a favour, and give yourselves a little more credit. I worked my ass off for 4 years to get a good GPA, then did a 2 years masters degree, did so many extra curriculars, and I should be going out of my way to further thank them for giving me an opportunity to interview? Please, I deserve to be interviewed and I think any school that accepts me will find me to be a great addition to their student body. I don't mean to sound conceited or arrogant, but I know when I deserve something and when someone is doing me a favour. Plus, who's the one traveling from across the country and buying your plane tickets? yourself! lol
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You sound like a very entitled individual. If (a big if) you get in to dental school, you will definitely get humbled. None of us, no matter what we have done, should think we deserve something. As great as you think you are, someone is always better. Trust me you're not impressing anyone on here. Good luck this cycle...and subsequent ones with your attitude.
 
Rambunctious said:
You sound like a very entitled individual. If (a big if) you get in to dental school, you will definitely get humbled. None of us, no matter what we have done, should think we deserve something. As great as you think you are, someone is always better. Trust me you're not impressing anyone on here. Good luck this cycle...and subsequent ones with your attitude.
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My point with that post was to tell you guys you should have more faith in yourselves and what you've worked for. I know what I'm worth and what I've accomplished, and if an adcomm can't see that then that's fine as well. I'm not saying I'm better than any of you, I'm just proud of what I have done and where I am, you guys should be too.
 
Did you guys mail your letters to the office of admissions, or specifically to the person/people that interview you?
 
GoldenDomer11 said:
Did you guys mail your letters to the office of admissions, or specifically to the person/people that interview you?
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I did all of mine by-ear. If they gave me a business card with an address on it I sent them there, if they had their own practice I sent them there, but otherwise I just sent them to admissions. At Columbia the office lady literally told us we could mail/email them to her and she would put them in our folders so that made it easy to send them all to one person and know with certainty that they would get delivered to their respective recipients.
 
zammyd said:
I worked my ass off for 4 years to get a good GPA, then did a 2 years masters degree, did so many extra curricularsl
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Lol you don't think anyone else did that/is doing that?
 
catoshiro said:
Lol you don't think anyone else did that/is doing that?
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For sure, which is why I said we should all give ourselves more credit if we get invited for an interview/accepted...I was using myself as an example.
 
zammyd said:
For sure, which is why I said we should all give ourselves more credit if we get invited for an interview/accepted...I was using myself as an example.
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I see. I think that sentiment was lost between the arguments. Gotta love SDN
 
catoshiro said:
I see. I think that sentiment was lost between the arguments. Gotta love SDN
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Lol writing things in plain text doesn't always come across as you intend it to be, which I understand got a lot of people riled up here. Anyways, Goku is out of this thread, gotta meeting with Majin Buu :horns: Good luck to y'all, whether you decide to send a thank you card or not.
 
i had multiple acceptances, never sent one TY card.....with as many applicants/interviewees as there are, and as busy as dental school faculty are i dont think it makes a difference. plus im pretty sure they decide "yes or no" on you at the time of the interview. just my opinion.
 
hellofuturedentists said:
Thank you note probably won't sway an acceptance, but if you can't understand why it's polite to send one, you may have bigger issues to work on.

Side note: one school I interviewed at actually told us to send thank you notes. So...
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By that notion, people should also be sending thank you cards every time they get a job interview. Because you know, the interviewer took time out of their day to interview you and thus needs to be additionally thanked with a thank you card....and if I don't send one, I'm considered impolite?
 
zammyd said:
By that notion, people should also be sending thank you cards every time they get a job interview. Because you know, the interviewer took time out of their day to interview you and thus needs to be additionally thanked with a thank you card....and if I don't send one, I'm considered impolite?
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Obviously no one sends a thank you card after a job interview, and if you think about it, there's not much separating a job interview vs. professional school interview. For the schools that say you should send one, I would still send one because they said to, but it wouldn't be under my own volition which is pretty counter-intuitive.
 
You guys are still arguing? Lol...

They probably won't help you and they probably won't hurt you. Of course there are exceptions where people will think highly of them and on the opposite side there are people who will just throw them in the trash. If it's something you like to personally do, then write one. If not, then don't write one. How's that?
 
Iwanttopulloutteeth said:
You guys are still arguing? Lol...

They probably won't help you and they probably won't hurt you. Of course there are exceptions where people will think highly of them and on the opposite side there are people who will just throw them in the trash. If it's something you like to personally do, then write one. If not, then don't write one. How's that?
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Exactly, if you want to send them, then send them. But I don't think it means there anything wrong with me, or makes me impolite, if I choose not to send a thank you card.
 
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