thank u notes

[JessMD]

hi,

i interviewed on the 13th and I meant to ask my interviewers for their email addressess to send a thank you...i forgot. i remember their names though. should I give them a thank you note or get their email somehow? did most of you send thank yous?

[alpine]

I don't think that's a good idea.

[A-Stark]

I agree - don't do this. Not only is it not done for the most part, but it would just look like brown-nosing. It's not expected, and it has no relevance to your application's outcome, so why bother?

[Jamer]

If I was an interviewer and some premed sent me a thank you note, I'd probably think he was the biggest brown nosing loser in the entire world.

[excited]

what's so wrong with sending a thank you note?

I think it's just being polite in thanking the interviewer for his/her time.

Nothing more than that as far as I can see.

[Guest begaster]

You know, it's funny. The responses I'm getting here are exactly what I would expect (DO NOT DO IT!), but if you ask the same question on SDN, they're all for thank you cards. Culture clash!

[A-Stark]

what's so wrong with sending a thank you note?

I think it's just being polite in thanking the interviewer for his/her time.

Nothing more than that as far as I can see.

 

Yes, and you should do that at the interview by graciously thanking them for their time when it's over. That's politeness. Tracking them down after the fact to offer a thank-you note from someone who they may barely member is brown-nosing, pure and simple.

[A-Stark]

Haha...yeah it is pretty funny. It's like adcoms think "We're Canadian and we're going to do everything differently from USA, especially everything that relates to health care. We will frown upon the thought of sending thank you notes after med school interviews"

 

I have no idea whether it's common practice in the States, but for my part it's a pretty obsequious and insecure to send a thank-you note. As I said above, the appropriate time to thank the interviewers is during the interview. That seems obvious. If you are concerned about how you did, sending notes will hardly improve a bad impression, and if you did well, it won't matter in the slightest.

 

I have a hard time believing that the motive for sending a note is genuine thankfulness - it's to make another "good impression" after the fact and somehow curry favour with the interviewers by showing that you go the extra mile in politeness. That's how I would interpret it, were I to receive such a note.

[epigal]

What about to your references? Did everyone send a thank you note? What about a small gift? This is after the fact, so it's not like you are bribing them to write you a nice letter? What does everyone think?

[A-Stark]

I've sent thank-you emails to my co-supervisors, each of whom wrote letters for me. I'm going to send ones to my other referees... perhaps tonight! It's entirely appropriate - and, yes, thoughtful - to thank them (since, after all, they went somewhat out of their way to help you). When I defened my thesis in September, I gave each of my co-supervisors a bottle of wine - if your referee had a similar role, a gift would be reasonable, but I think in this case it's the thought that counts.

[daryn]

When should we write thank you notes/ give thank you gifts then? After we find out about our results or before (now)?

 

What about the verifiers? An email update/thank you?

[Asclepius]

When should we write thank you notes/ give thank you gifts then? After we find out about our results or before (now)?

 

What about the verifiers? An email update/thank you?

 

I've always thought it is a good idea to give a gift/thank you after you find out the results. That way its sort of like you are thanking them for being a part of your success and it is more meaningful that way. Also, if you don't get in and need another letter, they won't feel any pressure since you gave them a gift. Of course, you should have thanked them already when they offered to write a letter in the first place as well.

[capitalcity]

When should we write thank you notes/ give thank you gifts then? After we find out about our results or before (now)?

 

What about the verifiers? An email update/thank you?

 

I'd send a thank you note ASAP. I think that ideally about 1 week after getting the letter would be good. Don't wait until your results since you're not thanking them for getting into medical school -- you're thanking them for taking the time to write you a kind letter. If you didn't get in and give your referee the finger, it would hardly help your case next year, would it?

[grinchsantlerdog]

I just bought my referees chocolates and I'm writing thank you notes. Since I got an interview at UT I know the letters must have been good and ideally I should have given them presents like 2 weeks after they sent the letters but I only got around to it now, but I sort of want to do it BEFORE I get the results because the thanks is really for them taking the time, not helping me get in.

[Asclepius]

I see what you are saying about thanking for them taking the time and not for them helping you get in, but why not thank them for helping you get in....they did after all, help you get in. People who have given me references in the past have told me it makes them very happy to have been a part of someone else's success. The time they took is fairly insignificant in the long run (esp at this point ...it would be better to thank them for their time when they wrote it). IMHO

 

Either way though, not a big deal if you do it now or later.