I wrote thank you letters for the first three interviews and then none after that. If you look at the JBJS article on how important thank you letters are, you will notice that they are about at the bottom of the list when making a rank list. I did, however, send letters of interest to my top three programs toward the end of the game. Maybe I am just rude, but I was definitely not alone in the no thank you note camp last year!

I sent thank you letters to every program that I went to. This was a pain in the behind. The letters basically pointed out some good points about the program, and I usually ended the letter with an ambiguous statement like, "I plan to rank your program highly." But again, truthfully, this letter probably means absolutely nothing.

A program director I know well said this doesnt mean a hill of beans....there are so many candidates and so many thank you's, that none of them are actually read very closely.

I know many people who matched without thank you's......

I wont be writing them, too many other things to do!

I wrote thank you notes to the chairman and or residency director at every program that I interviewed at, with the exception of two...one at the bottom of my list, and one near the middle that was deciding their rank list on the evening of the interviews. I tried to bring up something we talked about during the interview, to help jog their memory of who I was (they interviews so damn many). I think sincere thank you cards can do nothing but help. I also wrote letters of intent to my top two programs. I got my first choice, so who knows. Just don't send the same letter to more than one person in the department as they usually all get shoved into your file and look stupid when you put them together.

In the JBJS article that has been mentioned in prior posts on residency selection criteria - post-interview thank you notes are probably the least value of anything that an applicant does.

if your fourth year is sooo boring that you have nothing else better to do go for it. Others have such high sphincter tone that they do personalized letters to each person they interviewed with. Namy programs i went to flat out said, "dont send thank you notes, we wont read them". Then the REALLY paranoid applicants would be chattering later in the interview day "is he just testing us with the dont send a letter thing?". Bottom line, if you feel like you have to to soooth your own nagging compulsions, go ahead and send them to whoever you wish. Like the people here are saying, it has been documented that it really makes no difference (recent JBJS) I dont mean to come across as rude, if i did i am sorry, but it got SOOOO old by the end of the interview trail listening to people worry about things like this that i wanted to scream

I am not sending any notes out. I plan on contacting my top 3-5 programs late in Jan. to let them know that I will rank them high and why I like their program.

I'm with ortho2003, there is way too much football to watch and beers to drink then spend time writing token letters (token at least in my mind)