thank-you letters

a ton of interviews and not a single thank you letter the year i went through it. nobody really notices and the rank list is usually made at programs as you are sitting at the airport bar waiting for your flight home.

When I interviewed last year I only sent out thank you letters to programs that I knew I would rank highly or to people/programs who really seemed to make an extra effort in making the interview process painless (furnishing a hotel, taking extra time out of their schedule, etc.). This probably only amounted in a handful of letters and thank you notes. Some of these thank you letters more closely resembled letters of interest which indicated some of the reasons of why I felt the program was a great fit for me. If you handle the letters in a professional manner, I can not possibly see a way in which they could harm you. Boneblaster is probably right that it doesnt make a difference and your thank you note will most likely end up in the bottom of a trash bin faster than you can blink. However,ortho is so competitive and everyone looks so similar that even the slim chance of moving up just one spot on one rank list might be enough to make it worth your while as long as you dont waste too much time with it. Plus, a thank you note is simply a polite thing to do and in some circumstances (like the rare instance when someone goes the extra mile for you) is probably worth doing for its own sake.

i sent thank you letters to all programs (except those that specifically said no thank you letters). i figure it won't hurt, and maybe could help. i would send to all that interviewed me if only 2-3 interviewed me (which was rare) or i would send to just the PD and/or chairman for most interviews were 5+ people interviewed me. for those programs that i really liked, i strongly expressed my interest in the program and why.

whether it helps, who knows. probably not for most places, but maybe for a handfull. although, one program that said thank you letters make no difference, i sent a letter to and then got a "ranked you very highly" letter a few weeks letter which also mentioned something like "enjoyed your note and hearing your interest in the program."

i used a form letter and just modified it for each program. really would only take a few minutes for each interview so i figure it is worth the time considering how much time is spent on doing ERAS, traveling to interviews, etc.

How soon after interviewing should you send a thank you letter? Can you wait too long?

Breakabone

We suggest peoplel send one thank you letter, if they want to send one at all. That letter can be directed towards the chairman/PD. In our program you do not need to send each interviewer a letter since all they do is forward them to me. To those who say they never get looked at, maybe true at some programs and used to be true for us. But as of last year the chairman asked me to alphabetize them and keep them on hand. When we did the final rank list for those who were in between/couldn't really remember so much specifics, etc, I would check in the batch to see if they'd sent a thank you and what it said. Something more personal expressed greater insterest to us. Keep in mind that programs SHOULD NOT (we do not) base our rank list on interest since the match doesn't allow that to really matter, but for the fuzzy middle of the list, it might move you up a knotch or two that could make a difference.