Thank-you notes to admissions?

[Salaam]

If we decide to write a letter to the admissions committee to thank them for the day, is it best to do it as handwritten, typed? Any advice on this topic would be appreciated!

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[xroc]

Either or neither is fine. Although it's a nice gesture and it might be genuine, imagine that getting hundreds of these "thank you's" might get a bit annoying ...

 

[minwoo123]

I would definitely hand write the thank you cards. It's just more personal. Also, in your thank-you note, include something, perhaps one of your strengths, that you discussed in your interviews.

 

[TheMightySmiter]

Don't write the adcom. Write your actual interviewers if you really liked them, and have something specific to say.

 

[dgsilvervid]

Everywhere I have interviewed I have sent handwritten thank you notes addressed to

Interviewer
Admissions
School

Then admissions office gets them to the individual interviewers. I was actually at an interview recently and the admissions office was like yeahhh dont look up your interviewers information.. thats creepy. If they give you their email/address use it but if not send it to admissions office addressed to the interviewer.

Actually one of the schools had mentioned they actually prefer you send it to the admissions office because they open it and scan it into your file for the adcom to review. #interesting

 

[ShenanigansMD]

I went with thank you emails. Hopefully it's not the death of my app season.

I also got an immediate response from one interviewer, which probably doesn't mean as much as I would hope.

 

[TheMightySmiter]

I was actually at an interview recently and the admissions office was like yeahhh dont look up your interviewers information.. thats creepy. If they give you their email/address use it but if not send it to admissions office addressed to the interviewer.

Actually one of the schools had mentioned they actually prefer you send it to the admissions office because they open it and scan it into your file for the adcom to review. #interesting

Well if you're responding to me, I meant "don't say thank you to the adcom".

 

[cheechootrain]

If you have bad handwriting, then type the thank you letter. The worst thing you can do to a train is to have a rail that isn't properly aligned. It can cause the train to fall off and it's going to be a bad time for everyone on board.

 

[LizzyM]

The season is still young but the vast majority of applicants are sending email thank yous to me this year. It is fast, free, and there is no issue with handwriting. They don't help or hurt your application (95% of the time, I will have already submitted my commentary before the thank you arrives) but it is the gesture of someone who was "well raised" to use a favorite phrase of a dean I know.

 

[Catalystik]

The season is still young but the vast majority of applicants are sending email thank yous to me this year.

This has been true for me as well, making me wonder if the dean or office staff suggested this approach. Personally, I preferred a handwritten note, but I can't argue with the pluses of convenient, free, and easier to read. And there will be less glitter fallout in the drawer where I save them.

 

[Narmerguy]

In light of this, would you recommend pre-writing thank-you letters? Like writing something generic and mailing it the day before you interview, so it arrives in a timely manner.

😕 No. The point is that the letters won't help you or hurt you and thus there's no reason to try to rush to get the letter to them before you've even had the interview. Not to mention if they notice the postmark date it will seem really creepy, and that you couldn't possibly include anything of substance in the thank you letter if it's being sent before the interview even took place.

Basically don't use thank you letters to earn brownie points for your application because it won't change anyone's evaluation. Send it if that's what you feel compelled to do, or don't.

Personally, I only send thank you letters when I am being given something (i.e. a gift) or I feel particularly thankful for something that took place (perhaps a particularly helpful/encouraging interviewer) but we don't have the relationship where I could email/call/write them a letter. I guess I'm not really one for just sending a thank you letter to everyone on principle, but I guess I'm just a heathen.

 

[mimelim]

One faculty adcom at Wash U told me that 'Thank You' notes could only HURT you. No way they could it help as most people have submitted their thoughts on applicants and there isn't something that you could say to make yourself look better. On the other hand, you can misspell things, use poor grammar or come across as brown nosing (biggest risk) which can potentially turn people off. Unlikely to make a big difference because again, things are already submitted, but he assured me that twice it had negatively impacted his opinion of the person, once for spelling/grammar and once because they came across as completely insincere and fake.

Now, this guy is probably one of the biggest cynics the world has known, but just food for thought.

When I applied for residency I had ~80 interviews at 18 different programs and wrote 4 'Thank You' letters. One was to tell a program that I wouldn't be ranking them, but to thank them for their consideration. The other 3 were to let programs know that they were near the top of my list.

That having been said, I always bring a bottle of wine with a brief 'Thank You' note to letter writers and deliver in person. But then again, all of my letter writers in undergrad and medical school have been mentors or people I have had a long standing relationship with that I have a lot more than a LOR to thank them for.

 

[LizzyM]

In light of this, would you recommend pre-writing thank-you letters? Like writing something generic and mailing it the day before you interview, so it arrives in a timely manner.

Absolutely not! 😱

First, the best thank you notes are specific in their thanks: thank you for recommending the book on...., I am grateful for your suggestions about where to find..., I enjoyed our conversation about...., I appreciated the time you took to explain what your school has to offer to...

Second, a letter that through the post mark, or otherwise gives an indication that it was mailed before the interview would be just creepy.

 

[Tots]

I had one school tell me they knew we were all thankful and to please not send any thank you notes. They said if we could not silence our urge to write a thank you note than we should write one to our mother. Haha!

At another school a 4th year student who was on the adcom told us that thank you notes were expected and pretty much a requirement. This school provided a way to send the thank you note through their status website.

I have not sent thank you notes to everyone. The tone of the interview really determined whether I sent a thank you note(via email). If the interview was conversational and they provided some valuable information(things to see the city, opportunities I didn't know about, etc) then I sent a thank you note basically as a follow up because I didn't want to send a thank you note just to send a thank you note. Whether or not I sent the thank you note had little to do with whether I liked the school/interviewer and more to do with whether I connected with the interviewer/tone of the interview.

 

[uva11]

I had one school tell me they knew we were all thankful and to please not send any thank you notes. They said if we could not silence our urge to write a thank you note than we should write one to our mother. Haha!

i interviewed at this school as well and this statement made me love them that much more!

 

[lovesfall]

If a school uses MMI, does that change the expectation (if there is such a thing) for writing thank yous? Presumably, in that case you'd probably only send them to individuals who you had a chance to talk to in some depth? Or do folks generally not thank after MMI?

 

[blueshockey]

I would imagine if the school does MMI then it would be considered more permissible to address the admissions committee in you thank you letter. My student host mentioned doing that when I was interviewing in Phoenix