Love letters

[Guest]

Has anyone tried writing love letters to programs for interviews? Or for ranking? Any success?

[Guest]

No stop doing it it's annoying.

[Guest]

I agree that love letters for interviews is pointless (everyone wants interviews) -- but I've heard there is definitely a place for love letters as far as ranking is concerned. Particularly for programs that you loved when you interviewed but did not do a subi rotation at - I've heard it's a good idea to contact these programs in January and let them know if you intend to rank them very highly. 

Any advice on this? What's the unofficial protocol? Obviously you should only tell 1 program that they're you're #1. But otherwise, should you just inform your #2/3 that you will rank them extremely highly? Literally any input on this would be great! Thanks in advance.

[Guest]

(12-13-2017, 01:02 PM)Guest Wrote: 8I agree that love letters for interviews is pointless (everyone wants interviews) -- but I've heard there is definitely a place for love letters as far as ranking is concerned. Particularly for programs that you loved when you interviewed but did not do a subi rotation at - I've heard it's a good idea to contact these programs in January and let them know if you intend to rank them very highly. 

Any advice on this? What's the unofficial protocol? Obviously you should only tell 1 program that they're you're #1. But otherwise, should you just inform your #2/3 that you will rank them extremely highly? Literally any input on this would be great! Thanks in advance.

"I'll rank you highly"="I'm not ranking you #1"

[Don]

I told my #1 that they are ranked as #1.
Told the following 3 (#2, #3, #4) that they are "one of my top choices".
Told the rest that I really liked that I would be happy to match there and join their team. Did not mention ranking.

Ended up matching in "one of my top choices"
Hope this helps.

P.S. Received an even stronger love letter from #1, making me feel that I am their resident the coming year. I'd say take these return letters/emails with a grain of salt. Programs usually know we are sincere when we mention ranks (at least most of us), but the responses are not always sincere.
Worth mentioning: The program where I matched, gave me a very generic and brief response and did not get into details. Brief responses don't always mean they are not interested. They may just be playing by the rules.

[Guest]

(12-13-2017, 08:50 PM)Don Wrote: I told my #1 that they are ranked as #1.
Told the following 3 (#2, #3, #4) that they are "one of my top choices".
Told the rest that I really liked that I would be happy to match there and join their team. Did not mention ranking.

Ended up matching in "one of my top choices"
Hope this helps.

P.S. Received an even stronger love letter from #1, making me feel that I am their resident the coming year. I'd say take these return letters/emails with a grain of salt. Programs usually know we are sincere when we mention ranks (at least most of us), but the responses are not always sincere.
Worth mentioning: The program where I matched, gave me a very generic and brief response and did not get into details. Brief responses don't always mean they are not interested. They may just be playing by the rules.

Great reply, thanks!