Calling programs post-interview

[booswim542]

I was just wondering if you all were having mentors call programs for you. After meeting with one of my mentors today, he said that he would be happy to call but did not know what was appropriate anymore with all the changes in rules re: contact after interviews.

What do you all plan to do?

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[Moravian]

After meeting with one of my mentors today, he said that he would be happy to call but did not know what was appropriate anymore with all the changes in rules re: contact after interviews.

The interviewees cannot have contact with the program chair/chief, program director, and/or the program faculty after the interview. However, I strongly encourage your mentors to make phone calls on your behalf. It won't move you from number 10 on the list to number 1, but it definitely means something when we hear from other faculty about their students.

From all the people we interviewed, we already called the program directors and those who wrote letters of recommendation for our top 10. I'm sure other programs are doing the same.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[HitGirl]

The interviewees cannot have contact with the program chair/chief, program director, and/or the program faculty after the interview. However, I strongly encourage your mentors to make phone calls on your behalf. It won't move you from number 10 on the list to number 1, but it definitely means something when we hear from other faculty about their students.

From all the people we interviewed, we already called the program directors and those who wrote letters of recommendation for our top 10. I'm sure other programs are doing the same.

Good luck to everyone.

Interesting, what further information do programs hope to gain from calling program directors and letter writers? Is it just to ask more questions? Clarifications?

 

[Moravian]

Interesting, what further information do programs hope to gain from calling program directors and letter writers? Is it just to ask more questions? Clarifications?

Interesting, what further information do programs hope to gain from calling program directors and letter writers? Is it just to ask more questions? Clarifications?

We get a lot more information from phone calls than we get from the LORs.

Our original number one pick (in contrast to what I previously posted) got bumped off the top 10 after we talked to people in their program. When we hear "this one is a hard worker but not a superstar," it's a deathnell, especially given the nature of candidates we interview. When we hear things like, "This is only one of two medical students whose name I remembered in 30 years," or "The best hands and best student we had this year," it can really make a difference in the ranking.

Then we consider who wrote the letter. If we interview two people from the same program who got pretty much the same LOR, we ask the LOR writer to help us differentiate. When I see an outstanding LOR from a particular person who shall remain unnamed, I immediately get suspicious because he only writes that kind of letter if the person can kiss up really well.

So yes, the phone calls do make a difference.

--M

 

[HitGirl]

We get a lot more information from phone calls than we get from the LORs.

Our original number one pick (in contrast to what I previously posted) got bumped off the top 10 after we talked to people in their program. When we hear "this one is a hard worker but not a superstar," it's a deathnell, especially given the nature of candidates we interview. When we hear things like, "This is only one of two medical students whose name I remembered in 30 years," or "The best hands and best student we had this year," it can really make a difference in the ranking.

Then we consider who wrote the letter. If we interview two people from the same program who got pretty much the same LOR, we ask the LOR writer to help us differentiate. When I see an outstanding LOR from a particular person who shall remain unnamed, I immediately get suspicious because he only writes that kind of letter if the person can kiss up really well.

So yes, the phone calls do make a difference.

--M

Thanks for shedding some light on the process!