Comment Follow Up - Thinking of Thanking

Last week, I emphasized the importance of thanking interviewers, and I received a Comment today that I feel merits further discussion.  Don't loose sleep over this issue, but here are my thoughts:

Writing thank you notes will not get you into medical school, and choosing not to write them will not keep you out.  Writing thank yous isn't about good karma, or paying it forward, or hoping for more points on your interviewers' evaluations.  It's simply the right thing to do. 

For one thing, you will be a student at one of the schools at which you're interviewing in less than a year (!!).  While you may never see your interviewers from the other schools again, your interviewers from the school you will attend are likely to be lecturers, attendings, and even mentors in your very near future.  Thanking them is the courteous and professional thing to do.  Some of these interviewers may one day be your colleagues.

Additionally, writing thank you notes is also about creating allies who can help you with your decision making process.  Come spring, you may be making some difficult decisions, and it's nice to have established rapport with some of the very people who can help clarify questions for you. 

Finally, it's just nice.  People like nice people, and it's nice to be a nice person.  This season, I have received multiple thank you notes, and on every occasion except one, I had already completed my evaluation of the applicant by the time the thank you arrived.  But, the fact that they wrote notes to thank me for my time was very meaningful and makes me think highly of applicants I had already decided I really liked.

Certainly, if you have been told not to thank your interviewers (maybe Stanford does this?), it would be inappropriate to do so.  (As an aside, learning to properly follow instructions, even silly ones, is an important part of the medical school process.  Earlier this year, I had a Residency Program Director tell me that applicants who did not follow the instructions to list prior education in reverse chronological order were not invited for interview regardless of how qualified they were!)  However, it's hard for me to imagine a school specifically instructing you not to thank someone.  Do you really want to go to that school?  And, if your thank you note borders on coercion, I suggest you tone down the language. 

I love reader Comments.  Keep commenting.

Action

Institutional Action, that is.

I recently reviewed the application of a young man who answered "Yes" to the question regarding "Institutional Action" on his AMCAS application.  Although he could not have known at the time, his application and letters of recommendation actually include no mention of his infraction.  However, I feel he did the right thing by being forthcoming because the consequences would have been significant if a letter or institutional endorsement had mentioned his infraction and he had not.  Moreover, I was impressed by his response because he 1) explained the scenario (he had an unopened alcoholic beverage in hand and falsely reported his name and age), 2) took full responsibility for his actions, and 3) demonstrated personal growth as a result (not only did he perform required community service, but he continued to volunteer at the same place for the remainder of undergrad).

Impressive.

Danke Schoen

I really cannot emphasize enough how much Thank You notes after interviews matter. Previously, I've mentioned Thank Yous here and here. I have actually been quite surprised how few Thank You notes I have received this season. Perhaps this is in part due to the fact that I'm a student conducting interviews, but given that I have equal weight on the committee as my more senior colleagues, I think this is a mistake.

Although I'm editing to ensure anonymity (both for me and the applicant), I received a Thank You note via email this evening very similar to the one below, and it blew me away. I found the applicant to be appropriately gracious while continuing to sell herself as an applicant and also mentioning specific details of things we discussed during the interview. Kudos to this applicant! I thought she was terrific when I interviewed her, and this just confirms what I already knew.

Dear ______,

Thank you so much for the opportunity to interview at *** Medical School on Tuesday. I was really impressed by ***'s top-notch facilities; I was especially amazed that ***. I was also impressed with the innovative PBL curriculum, which seems to be an excellent match with my experience working in small groups as an undergraduate and in my current job. I loved the location and would love to be in *** near my family during medical school.

Thank you again for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me. *** is on the top of my list of medical schools. I really appreciate your consideration for entrance into the Class of 2016. Good luck with your residency interviews!

Sincerely,
_____

I Prefer Multiple Mini Snickers

I had every intention of blogging soon after my first interview, but between the hectic nature of traveling (always! right?), packing for a brief trip home, attending my high school's Homecoming, and studying for the USMLE Step II CS (tomorrow!), it's been a bit of a crazy week.  The interview went really well and reminded me of the medical school interview process, although the lunch was much better. 

Interestingly, my first interview day had two primary components: a traditional interview and multiple mini interviews (MMI).  You may have read about MMI's here (or some naysayers critiques here).  In general, the format uses ethical conundrums, patient vignettes, or real-life challenges to assess how the applicant will respond after taking a brief time to ponder the scenario.  I enjoyed the contrast between the two formats and felt as though the MMI enabled me to paint a more complete composite picture of myself as an applicant.

Has anyone experienced the MMI format yet during interviews?  Please comment and tell me what you thought, your advice for other people, the strengths and weakness of the experience, etc.

What Goes Around Comes Around

After two weeks of conducting medical school admissions interviews, I will be sitting on the other side of the desk tomorrow.  It's my first residency interview!  From the applicants I have interviewed thus far, I have learned a tremendous amount about body language, humility, and poise, and I'm looking forward (albeit a little bit anxiously) to tomorrow's opportunity to practice what I preach.  I hope this experience will make me an empathetic interviewer and also give me the opportunity to self-assess my own strengths and weaknesses as an interviewee so that I can regroup for my next interviews in October.  Updates to come.

Theme and Variations

My school's Admissions Committee convened for the first time this week, and what an interesting experience!  I am pleased to say that my gut feeling about the applicants I interviewed was nearly identical to that of the other committee members who interviewed the same applicants.  That's not to say the process is perfect (it's not!), but it's reassuring to know that my advice to you is on target.

Below are some of the themes that consistently emerged when interviewers discussed interviewees who did not receive the highest marks.

The applicant:

• spoke at a volume that was too loud or soft to comfortably hear.
• was disorganized in the way he or she spoke about experiences well known to him or her.
• was unable to recapitulate concepts that had been eloquently described in the written application.
• passed blame to someone else for low grades in courses, missed opportunities, etc.

In the end, my first Admissions Committee meeting was far more contentious than I expected.  But, the above themes consistently led to applicants receiving less favorable reviews that they likely would have preferred.  Take home points:

• Speak at a comfortable volume.  Ask the interviewer if you're unsure.
• Be organized in your discussions, and in particular, be able to fluently discuss your application.  (An applicant I interviewed had incredible leadership experiences listed in her application, but when I asked her to describe a time when she had demonstrated leadership, she could not think of an example.)
• Don't ever lay blame in an interview, even if it's true.  Past circumstances are a superb way to demonstrate personal growth.

Sunday Funny

This is Why We Knock

Once in medical school, you will learn all sorts of reasons why doctors knock on patients' doors before entering their rooms in the hospital, although certainly common courtesy seems the most compelling to me.

Last week, I knocked my a patient's door (a mid-40's female) before entering her room, and when I did not hear a response, I wondered, "Could something be wrong?" I knocked again, paused to listen for a response, and then entered. And there she was, lying in her hospital bed with her hospital-issued gown wide open in the front, no sign of undergarments anywhere, and her boyfriend lying in the bed right next to her!

That is why we knock. Loudly.