pod person OSRR Intern Posts: 8 (1/15/02 7:48:20 pm) Reply Phone calls There has been a lot of buzz about different programs calling folks. Any concrete info? Thanks. RubieMink OSRR Newbie Posts: 4 (1/15/02 8:36:59 pm) Reply Pitt Does anyone know how many people Freddie Fu calls? Spirit Mike OSRR Junior Posts: 34 (1/16/02 1:16:14 am) Reply Re: Phone calls I have no idea whom Dr. Fu calls. Did he say anything about where you stood, i.e. top 10, top 15, etc . . . ? Edited by: Spirit Mike at: 1/16/02 1:21:55 am bigjvk OSRR Intern Posts: 9 (1/16/02 12:39:56 pm) Reply Pitt phone calls A few of the residents told me that Fu calls a couple of the highest ranked applicants but not nearly the number of people who are within good matching range. i.e if you get a call- great, if you don't- don't be too worried. pod person OSRR Intern Posts: 10 (1/16/02 1:59:09 pm) Reply later calls by Dr. Fu Several people have recently told me they received a phone message from Dr. Fu thanking them for coming, etc. The residents told us that he calls the top 8 shortly after the interview weekend. So I'm wondering about the people he's calling now and whether or not to think that if I don't receive a call it's time to lose a bit of hope. Thanks again everyone. Spirit Mike OSRR Junior Posts: 35 (1/16/02 3:10:35 pm) Reply =) So if he calls the top 8 right after the interview weekend, what does it mean if he calls you later than that? IamNikolas OSRR Fellow Posts: 123 (1/16/02 3:40:00 pm) Reply Pitt Fu calls his top 8 and apparently wants a commitment from them that they will rank Pitt No. 1. If not, he will not rank you highly (if at all). Rumor has it that Pitt does not go further than 8 to fill its 8 spots because of this tactic. According to this reasoning, if you don't get a phone call, you ain't going to pitt. This I heard from a couple of people who know the program very well. I haven't received a phone call, and if I do, I'm not giving such a commitment because I'm not ranking it in my top 3 anyway. The fact that there is so much buzz and rumor about this program tells me it's no place I'd want to be at. A lot of inflated egos and unprofessional dealings going on there apparently. Submental OSRR Intern Posts: 7 (1/16/02 3:58:39 pm) Reply Received a call - not sure what it means... I received a call from Dr. Fu on Tuesday morning - he left a message on my answering machine saying something to the effect that I am "an individual that they are definitely considering [?for? or ?to be in?] our program". I don't know what this means - I'm planning to rank them first on my list but I'm not sure quite how to respond. Any ideas/suggestions? tbone OSRR Senior Posts: 56 (1/16/02 4:09:08 pm) Reply Call them back If they are your first choice and they called to say they're interested in you, call them back and tell them you'll rank them No. 1. It can't hurt. bigjvk OSRR Intern Posts: 10 (1/17/02 12:32:46 am) Reply other phone calls Besides Pitt and ?Mayo?, has anyone else received phone calls from any of the other "top 10" or "15" programs? Ortho2002 OSRR Fellow Posts: 141 (1/17/02 1:14:05 pm) Reply mayo? just wondering if anyone has gotten the call/letter from them. it won't really matter as to where i rank them, but i would like to know realistically where i stand!! thanks. mutorcs OSRR Newbie Posts: 1 (1/18/02 3:53:30 pm) Reply the i figure it's time to put this dog to rest, for what it's worth. the mutorcs OSRR Newbie Posts: 2 (1/18/02 3:54:48 pm) Reply the "good" mayo letter i figure it's time to put this dog to rest, for what it's worth. the "good" letter does exist. says a lot of stuff like "you were one of the outstanding applicants that we were lucky enough to interview" and "we'd really like you to join us here at Mayo" and such. after receiving the letter, i tried to find out to no avail exactly what this means, ie how many were sent out. nobody could tell me so i assume it means i've got a pretty good chance of matching there, if i rank it high enough. wouldn't worry too much if you didn't get a letter to your liking. if you are dead set on the place, let them know how you feel and that may bump you up into matchable territory. remember, they take ten residents a year. and the program is in rochester minnesota for God's sake. good luck to all. orthopaedicwannabe OSRR Newbie Posts: 5 (1/18/02 4:42:53 pm) Reply the 'good' mayo letter If I may ask, did you recently receive the 'good' letter, and did you also receive one of the bulk "oct 1999" letters? Just trying to figure out for those of us who got the 'bulk' letter if it's possible a 'better' one may be in the mail, or if indeed it means we failed to impress. thanks for any input you can offer mutorcs OSRR Newbie Posts: 3 (1/18/02 4:56:35 pm) Reply Re: the 'good' mayo letter got the good letter the same day you guys started posting about the other letter. dated dec 4. also got a copy of the other letter the next day, which was apparently mailed out to everyone who interviewed on that date. so i think that you could get a personal letter on top of the other letter. and to be honest, i didn't think that the "bad" "Kiss of death" letter was all that bad to begin with... again, don't lose hope. i have spoken with several stellar candidates who interviewed there and weren't impressed with the place at all (although i must admit that i was). hope this helps. orthopaedicwannabe OSRR Intern Posts: 6 (1/18/02 6:12:41 pm) Reply the 'good' mayo letter Thanks. I recall hearing Dr. Hansen tell a group that the people they 'liked' would get a positive letter, and the others would get a 'nice to know you' letter. He then said that he would call the people near the top of their list, and said it would either be top 10 or top 15. So, I imagine they send out the 'good' letter to 15 or so people each interview session(the nov and dec ones), and then after that they call the people at the top of the combined list. So, the people who got the 'good' letters are probably in the top 30 (15+15), and then some of them will get a phone call. That means those of us who didn't get a 'good' letter are not in the top 30, and in general Mayo doesn't go below 30 or 35 in the match. I point this out not because I'm neurotic, but because many of us are going to need to decide what program to rank No. 1, and which program to ask chairman/letter writers to call, so I think it's worthwhile considering that even if some of us loved Mayo, getting the bad letter indicates it may not be a good idea to put all your eggs(or phone calls) in one basket. best of luck to everyone. Thanks again for sharing the info -- I really do think it helps for those of us whom a program isn't considering highly to figure that out before we ask our chairman to call them for us. IamNikolas OSRR Fellow Posts: 126 (1/18/02 6:39:27 pm) Reply Chairman call? Where are you from? I don't think it's necessary for your chairman or letter writer to call anyone. A lot of programs decide their rank list after the interviews, and a call 2 weeks later won't make any difference. I know our chairman doesn't do that for us...here he holds something against you if you don't want to go to his program, which is very irritating. Consider yourself lucky to have someone who would do that for you. mutorcs OSRR Newbie Posts: 4 (1/18/02 8:25:33 pm) Reply Re: Chairman call? Where are you from? keep in mind also that i am sure that there are studs out there who will get calls from half of the programs that they interviewed at and then there will be others who get nothing at all. but have to disagree with the prolific iamnikolas on the value of the chairman phone call. definitely use it if you got it. even better if you have a great chairman who has a lot of clout or connections. mutorcs is scrotum spelled backwards. Bonebuster OSRR Intern Posts: 15 (1/19/02 1:27:32 am) Reply Re: Chairman call? Where are you from? Just wanted to remind all you guys not to let this tactic sway your decision into what program you will rank No. 1. It is definitely a great thing to get a phone call from any program. You should definitely pat yourself on the back cuz that means you did a kickass job on the interview and probably are a great, great candidate. However, the only reason these programs call is because they hope this phone call will sway you into ranking them higher than you might have. If you came away from the program thinking one thing, you shouldn't change that opinion because you got a phone call. I kept this in mind when I interviewed last year. Luckily, I did get great feedback from the program I ranked No. 1 and did end up there. But also remember, the phone call means jack!!! They can say one thing and do another. Chaney3 OSRR Senior Posts: 60 (1/19/02 3:19:52 pm) Reply Chairman call This whole thread is a good illustration of how whacky this process is. I get sick to my stomach when I read about programs calling applicants to try to sway them and applicants having their chairmen call programs to try to sway THEM. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned fairness in the whole process? Some of us don't have the connections that studly scrotum boy seems to have. My strategy has been to work hard in med school, be myself at the interview, and wait for march 21. All this talk about mayo, pitt, letters and phone calls is nauseating and has given me gas. Lighten up on the sphincter tone people Don't mean to offend anyone. Good luck all. orthopaedicwannabe OSRR Intern Posts: 7 (1/19/02 5:13:23 pm) Reply Chairman call Ummm. no need to call me scrotum boy. I have been told on multiple interviews by my interviewers that if I am going to rank the program No. 1, to let them know. That is their choice, not mine. I agree it's nuts and circumvents the entire spirt of the match. But the fact is that program directors call applicants, and most applicants now write/call program directors at the schools in which they are most interested. As a collective group we have created the situation. To up the ante, programs now like to hear from a letter writer/chairman, because they are now skeptical of communication from applicants (just as we are skeptical of phone calls from them.) For the record, I have NOT asked any chairman/letter-writer to make any calls for me, nor have I called anyone. I agree that it's against the spirt of the match. But the fact of the matter is that if everyone else is doing it, we either have to jump into the fray, or pride ourselves on our principles when we don't match. I find it difficult to believe that this is entirely new to you; at most of my interviews it was discussed as if common knowledge by both applicants, residents, and some interviewers. Anyhow, don't kill the messenger. I'm just trying to be helpful by sharing the the info/rumors that I've heard on the trail. Sorry if it upset you, but I suspect the entire reason you read these posts is to get information. Best of luck, and I hope your gas clears up. OrthoStud OSRR Fellow Posts: 89 (1/19/02 6:24:22 pm) Reply Amen chaney3 !! (This message was left blank) BoneWax OSRR Intern Posts: 10 (1/19/02 6:39:37 pm) Reply Uhmm Having someone you know call a program may help, but I think you've got to have "the goods" to start with. The call won't help you unless you're already being considered highly by that program...i.e. unless the caller has friends at the program. I'm not having anyone call either, simply because i don't know anyone who would ! The talk about pitt and mayo is a bit on the anal retentive side and is somewhat annoying. i interviewed at pitt (not mayo) but personally liked penn a lot more and will rank it higher. The apparent preoccupation with these programs is created by their pathetic tactics to lure applicants. redarlo OSRR Newbie Posts: 1 (1/21/02 5:48:53 pm) Reply Re: the 'good' mayo letter None of the "good" Mayo letters have been sent yet. All who interviewed at Mayo have been sent a standard letter. The letters to the 1st round interviewees did have a date typo in them but there is no significance in the difference between the two letters. The "good" letters from Mayo come in late January after the rank list has been decided and once those letters have been sent then they are followed up with phone calls from the program director. Good luck to all.