What to write in thank you notes

[Ari1584]

I have some questions about thank you notes for the interviewers

1. How soon after the interview do we send thank you notes?
2. What exactly do we mention in the note?

I think thats it for now...thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DocHomer]

I have some questions about thank you notes for the interviewers

1. How soon after the interview do we send thank you notes?
2. What exactly do we mention in the note?

I think thats it for now...thanks!

Thank you for taking the time to interview me. I enjoyed our conversation. I look forward to the possibility of attending School XYZ.

Sincerely,
Me

...or something to that effect. Add another line to personalize it and make it sound less generic, but that's all. Remember, it really doesn't have any effect on their decision-making. It's just more of a courtesy thing, so don't stress out over it.

 

[lawyerdoc2b]

Send them right away.

I bought a box of thank you cards at the Hallmark store. I pre-wrote them out except for the interviewer's name. After exiting the medical school on the day of the interview, I wrote in the name of the person to whom the caed was addressed on the envelope and on the card itself. I then mailed them on campus. This ensures arrival the next day or the day after. and pre-addressed the envelope and affixed postage. The goal is to get the card to the recipient while your interview is fresh in their mind and before the Admissions Committee meets.

What to say? Sincerely thank the person for spending time with you. Tell them that they made the experience pleasant and that you want to go to XYZ school.

Beyond that, thank you cards are just simply the socially graceful and correct action to take.

 

[matrica]

I feel (a little bit) differently about the "thank you" cards as the above posters.

I do not pre-write them, because I write a different letter to the admission staff and a different to the clinical rotation or financial aid or the person who interviewed me or the dean.
I just write something like I would like to express my gratitude ..... etc
I wrote a Thank you note to every single person I met and helped me to know more about the school, etc...
I also send it the same day, so they get them when they still remember me.

HOWEVER, I do not write anything about "I would like to attend the school, or be honored to attend school, etc.
I feel the Thank you cards should be Thank you cards, not another way to "sell myself". They already know I want to get accepted, otherwise I would not go to the interview.
That's just me, but I feel it is inappropriate for me to write about attending the university, because I do not want them to think I wrote that letter to get acceptance, I want them to know I thank them for the opportunity to go and see the school, interview there, meet them, etc...
I know the thank you cards do not play a role to get acceptance, but I feel when you write about "i want to attend" it's losing the original purpose of the Thank you card. They already know you want to go to that school. "I want to attend" letters are the letter of interest/intent letters. You can write LOI if you want.

I do not think, there is a good or bad way to write letter, they all good.
I do not want to start an argument about this, that's how I feel about it and just wrote this post, so you can consider another viewpoint. That's it!
So, to answer your questions:
1. Same day or next day.
2. You can thank them for their time to interview you, read over your file, the info they provided, for the tour,etc.
Whatever your experienced was in the particular school you went.

 

[lastcall]

I tried to e-mail my individual "Thank you" letters to my interviewers the afternoon after my interview ended or next day at the latest. Don't think it really had any bearing on the adcom's decisions at all the schools I interviewed at but ultimately, it demonstrates courtesy and social grace as someone else mentioned.

 

[salazaar]

I tried to e-mail my individual "Thank you" letters to my interviewers the afternoon after my interview ended or next day at the latest. Don't think it really had any bearing on the adcom's decisions at all the schools I interviewed at but ultimately, it demonstrates courtesy and social grace as someone else mentioned.

This is exactly what I did. I didn't pre write any letters and made sure to be as specific as I could about each person. I would usually revive common interests or mention something that we discussed in the interview. I always thank the people for their time and for making the overall interview experience a pleasant one.

I did buy cards from the store but ended up sending off all my thank yous via email instead. Email thank yous ended up being a great choice because I was able to carry out conversations post interview. Sometimes interviewers will even tell you how you did without you prompting them – which is a huge stress relief post-interview.

it is important to send it ASAP so that the interviewers remember who you are.

 

[danimjo]

Do not pre-write them especially if you're sending several to people at the same school or in the same department... IE if you're sending one to the director of admissions and one to the person who does financial aide, at a small school they may have the same work-study or assistant who opens and sorts their mail, and if they do it will look super lazy that you did not individual your notes.

I also second that a thank you note should not be another way to sell yourself or say you want to go to the school. There is a post on the University of Houston medical school radiology residency page about how the attending finds thank you's like that to be redundant and annoying.

I sent a thank you to everyone who spoke to us, and I personalized. At one school they really took time and reviewed my application so I thanked them for taking time out of their busy schedules not only to interview me but to read through my entire application beforehand. At another school the student interviewer was taking block exams that week and still took time to be part of the interview day. And at another interview the person who was supposed to interview me had to fill in on a lecture for a sick professor, so another Dr. filled in for him for the interview so I thanked my interviewer for his flexibility and teamwork in making the day smooth for me.

Etiquite says you should send a thank you within one week of the event. I think emailing is okay, however, I prefer to handwrite my thank you's. Where I work I get 100's of emails daily, but very little actual mail, so whenever I'm part of interviewing a new hire, I always appreciate that they took the time to mail the letter... that is however, just me.