Weird response from school about calling PD?

[thefafo]

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I am trying to give a friend some advice, but I'm not sure how to how to approach this problem. She sent an e-mail to a chair at our school about calling the PD of her #1 choice, and got the following response from the Chair's secretary.

"Dr. X responded with - she/he didn't think this would help, and it could possibly hurt. It would be odd to receive a call from a chair about how a student plans to rank. If our residency training director or she/he received such a call, they would think this was weird and would wonder what was going on. Now it may be that students in some other fields do this kind of thing, but, we have not in the field of Psychiatry; we write letters, but assume the students can accurately represent themselves. Again, if a student had some chair call us, we would wonder if the student wasn't "strong enough" to speak for herself, or we might think there was some problem that a chair had to "intervene" in this manner. Now the above could possibly change in the future, as residency positions become more competitive, but this has not been the case up to this point."

I think she shouldn't have anybody call that doesn't usually make calls to PDs, but is this the norm for psychiatry or any other medical specialties? or is this just another example the subtle nuances between different programs and what they prefer? Should she respond?

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I am trying to give a friend some advice, but I'm not sure how to how to approach this problem. She sent an e-mail to a chair at our school about calling the PD of her #1 choice, and got the following response from the Chair's secretary.

"Dr. X responded with - she/he didn't think this would help, and it could possibly hurt. It would be odd to receive a call from a chair about how a student plans to rank. If our residency training director or she/he received such a call, they would think this was weird and would wonder what was going on. Now it may be that students in some other fields do this kind of thing, but, we have not in the field of Psychiatry; we write letters, but assume the students can accurately represent themselves. Again, if a student had some chair call us, we would wonder if the student wasn't "strong enough" to speak for herself, or we might think there was some problem that a chair had to "intervene" in this manner. Now the above could possibly change in the future, as residency positions become more competitive, but this has not been the case up to this point."

I think she shouldn't have anybody call that doesn't usually make calls to PDs, but is this the norm for psychiatry or any other medical specialties? or is this just another example the subtle nuances between different programs and what they prefer? Should she respond?

1) Too late now - but I would not have just emailed the chair out of the blue and asked for that unless I had a good relationship with that person or knew that they commonly make calls for students

2) I would respond politely to the email, apologizing if the request was too forward.

 

[Frugal Traveler]

It greatly depends on the specialty. I do not think that it is the norm for chairs to call in the majority of the matches (certainly, it is common place in certain fields).

Bottom line: Send a letter to the top program declaring #1.

Always go up the chain of command. Start with your adviser to see if further intervention (like a chairman calling) needs to be done. Then ask the program director. You don't just jump to the chair with such a request unless you have a relationship in the first place. It varies by institution, but obviously this chair does not call programs or did not want to do so in this student's case.

The other thing is that psychiatrist can be fairly weird... who knows.

 

[tarlovcyst]

I am trying to give a friend some advice, but I'm not sure how to how to approach this problem. She sent an e-mail to a chair at our school about calling the PD of her #1 choice, and got the following response from the Chair's secretary.

"Dr. X responded with - she/he didn't think this would help, and it could possibly hurt. It would be odd to receive a call from a chair about how a student plans to rank. If our residency training director or she/he received such a call, they would think this was weird and would wonder what was going on. Now it may be that students in some other fields do this kind of thing, but, we have not in the field of Psychiatry; we write letters, but assume the students can accurately represent themselves. Again, if a student had some chair call us, we would wonder if the student wasn't "strong enough" to speak for herself, or we might think there was some problem that a chair had to "intervene" in this manner. Now the above could possibly change in the future, as residency positions become more competitive, but this has not been the case up to this point."

I think she shouldn't have anybody call that doesn't usually make calls to PDs, but is this the norm for psychiatry or any other medical specialties? or is this just another example the subtle nuances between different programs and what they prefer? Should she respond?

Your situation is not uncommon. Though I am not in the psychiatry field, the following will be to all specialties. Psych is no exception. --

First, I would have met with the chairman or chairwoman in person, rather than emailed. Especially when you're asking someone to call on your behalf. It's like asking someone to write you a LOR by email. Had you met the chairperson up front, it would give you the luxury of explaining the contrary. It seems the chairperson may have misunderstood your intentions, or simply, the importance of his/her phone call to your program of choice.

Second, I just want to clarify that phone calls from well-known people, most of the time, add weight to an applicant's competitiveness. If a chairperson thought you were a weak applicant, believe me, he or she would not call for you. He or she puts their reputation on their line to call for you. Applicants tell programs all the time that they are #1. In fact, some applicants tell more than one program that they are #1. So this is why a good number of programs don't care what the applicant tells them, whether up front, by email, or even by a long love letter. This is where the extra phone call comes in. A chairman, chairwoman, or PD will put their reputation on the line to call one program (your #1) for you. 90% of the time, this heavily adds more weight to your file.

Third, this phone call is usually offered by those select people at your school. It is completely school-dependent... as in varies per school. Some med schools have so many well known docs that offer to call for the applicants. Even lesser known docs that wrote the applicant a LOR offer to call. Either way, the ones that end up calling often choose or offer to call, rather than are asked to by students. So there are medical schools that don't have a single soul to call for students. Again, completely school dependent.

Fourth, to answer your post, she should not reply back to insist on calling. First mistake was doing it by email. Best she can do now is reply to the chairman and thank them for their insight. No need to explain that her intentions were misunderstood.

Best bet now is to just write a CONCISE letter telling them that they are #1. Make it nice and short. State exactly what the reasons are. Make sure you include your AAMC number and medical school in it.

Thanks for the thread.

 

[thefafo]

She has been out of town for the past month for a family emergency, and her initial e-mail had been to set up a telephone meeting with the chair due to the unusual circumstances. She does know the chair, and did receive a letter of recommendation from them. She already sent the concise "you're my #1" letter.

I just wanted a bit of outside perspective in the bleak, confusing, anxiety-filled month of February before match. I will forward this advice along. Thanks for the great replies!