anybody get the wink & nod from Mayo yet?

I haven't either. I think I remember them saying they would call some of their top canidates after they had finalized their rank list. :smokin:

Mayo does contact it's applicants. It's not by phone however. They send out letters some time in February. And basically the letters say "You have an excellent chance of matching," or "You have a good chance of matching," or "You don't have a good chance to match." I couldn't wait till the letters came last year so I emailed Natalie Hanson (sp.) the ortho secretary about mid-february and asked. She returned my email. But then I also got the letter about a week or so later. So in short, Mayo does give the wink, and the nod by way of US mail.

BoneJock, so did Mayo give you the "You have an excellent chance of matching email." Is that how you knew you could've gotten in there? Also, I'm a third year, so I don't know much about how this works. When do you have to submit your rank list. Is it before or after these letters come out.

I meant mail not email. Anyway, I heard Mayo was one of those programs that interviews their strong applicants early and the less strong thereafter. Any truth to that?

I did get the "excellent" letter. As for interviewing the better applicants first, I don't know the answer to that. I rotated at Mayo in september/2001, and they interview all of their rotators during the month that they rotate, so I wouldn't know about the timeing of interview offers for the official mayo interview season.

As for submitting rank lists, (if I remember correctly) the applicant's rank list is due one month before the match. The programs are required to submit their rank lists at that time also (some one can correct me if I'm wrong). But most programs put together their rank lists and submit them earlier. some programs do that so that they can contact you before you put in your rank list.

When I interviewed at Mayo on the early date they specifically told me that we were the top 40 applicants (barring students that rotated). As far as getting a letter, I think only the "you have an excellent chance of matching here" gets a letter. When I inquired on the phone, I believe they told me I had a "very good" chance of matching there although I got no letter. Hope that helps. P.S. Notice that the high on Wednesday in Rochester will be 0 degrees!!!

Bone_Jock, although you certainly have excellent insight into the process of applying to Mayo, your statement that Mayo does not call its applicants is false.

Last year January I received a call from Hannsen at home, and he asked me if I had any questions and told me that he felt Mayo would be a great place for me, etc. I knew I wasn't ranking Mayo 1st so I was polite and appreciative, but noncommittal. I ended up matching at a program I had ranked higher than Mayo, so I don't know what would have happened had I dropped to them, obviously.

The bottom line is this: don't believe anything anyone tells you until after match day...because none of it is binding until then.

Good luck to everyone this year!