Thank you notes from programs after interviewing?

[futrEDdoc]

Now that the interview trail has begun...I was wondering if people would feel comfortable letting everyone know if they received after-interview communications from programs and what they were.

Thanks

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[jpgreer13]

I got an e-mail the day after I interviewed at West Virginia from their program director stating she felt I interviewed well and would fit in well. Haven't interviewed anywhere else yet.

 

[edinOH]

I received a letter from the program director at one of the places I interviewed at in Ohio. He mentioned some of the things we discussed in the interview and twice mentioned that he hopes I "highly consider their program."

I couldn't really get a feel if this was truly a personal letter or just a form letter that is sent out. For all I know, he may discuss the same issues in every interview! I have to admit that I am a little skeptical because it would be polite to call me an "average" applicant. My board scores were about as low as you can get and still pass and I am at the top of the fourth quartile in my class! I have been literally shut out of many programs because I am not passing the first "triage" due to my scores I would think. On the other hand I have been told that my letters are "excellent" so who knows?

I have only done four interviews thus far so I don't yet have a feel for how routine it is to receive some sort of follow up communication.

 

[futrEDdoc]

I have received 1 e-mail from a program director...

"pleasure to meet you...hope you enjoyed your interview...good luck with the rest of the interview season..."

very generic...hard to tell if they liked me, if it was their routine to send it out and it means nothing, or if it was a clue that "good luck" means you need to go elsewhere...

I have done 5 interviews so far.

 

[ResidentEvil]

I received one letter from a mid-west residency:

"The residents, Dr. X, Dr. Y, and I have since had the opportunity to discuss our applicant group/rank list to date. I am pleased to inform you that your application is extremely competitive and is being very seriously considered. In short, we would be very happy to have you with us as an Emergency Medicine resident next year."

I have had 4 interviews so far (with the majority this month), and that residency was the 2nd interview.

 

[Hornet871]

"...from a Midwest residency..."

"...e-mail from a program director..."

Which one? No more of these games. Tell us WHICH residency sent you a communication, etc.

A certain PD in a certain place told me that to get into his highly competitive EM residency, all you had to do was do jumping jacks during the interview. So I recommend to all of you who might be interviewing with this certain PD at this certainly competitive EM program, commence jumping jacks approximately five minutes after the interview has begun, and you're guaranteed to be ranked highly by this oh-so-sought-after residency program!

 

[docB]

Don?t worry if you haven?t heard from programs yet. It?s still early in the season. Once the programs have seen what this year?s applicant pool is like and once the resident selection committees have a chance to meet the PDs will start to get in touch with their A list candidates. The real crush time is the week before the program and applicant rank lists are due. It?s not uncommon to get email or even phone calls in the last few days.
docB

 

[futrEDdoc]

I can think of a few reasons that people might not be comfortable posting the institutional source of the email communication with program directors because...

1. They don't want other people to feel bad if they interviewed at XYZ school and didn't get an email.

2. If for some paranoid twist of fate a Program Director actually read our stuff here and figured out who someone was and then took their comments here on the discussion list into account when making decisions about which students to rank where.

It is SOOOOO early in the interview season that that connection would be easily made - especially if the school only has interviewed 8 people etc...

Maybe I am being paranoid myself, but I prefer to wait until a bit later in the season before I answer the question posed as to "who sent the message"

Call me crazy - but just don't call me late for dinner

 

[ResidentEvil]

FutureEDdoc is right on the money, those are the reasons I do not want to be more specific at this time. As we get closer to the ROL time, I will spill the beans on any information that I have... but I am very paranoid about who reads these forums. I do know of some programs that do review this website...

I know of course that the PD isn't going to ask the SDN hosts for the IP address of whatever poster... but... well, I'm still paranoid.

If you haven't noticed, many many many more people VIEW the threads than post. I would say the guesstimate is more like 50 to 1 post. Dont' believe me? go to the main EM thread page and look.

2 posts, 94 views
7 posts, 504 views (THIS thread)
12 posts, 792 views

 

[spyderdoc]

Actually, the National Security Agency monitors these threads, and even your telephone/cell phone conversations for all references to the programs and the directors. Once they identify you, the NSA sends each respective PD all of your comments prior to their final rank list meeting! Isn't that too cool? So you better watch everything you do or say...They're watching!!!!!!

 

[spyderdoc]

Oh yeah, more important than wondering about generic letters from the PD's, make sure to send each person that you interviewed with a thank you letter! So on your interview trail, save all the iteneraries for each interview day. These have the names printed out on them of the people you interview, and after the interview, write a comment about each person, like a subject you spoke about, and refer to it in the letter...
Good luck!