Post-interview contact

I received a voicemail a couple days ago from a chief resident at a program I interviewed at basically saying thanks for checking out their program and it was great to meet me and all that jazz and that they just wanted to answer any questions I have as I put my ROL together. I plan on calling back because I have some legit questions, but is this a common thing to happen?

On a somewhat related note I was watching the Superbowl with a friend that is applying to neurosurg and he says its common practice for PDs to sit down with the residents prior to sending in their ROLs and put all the applicants pics up on a screen and ask if anyone has heard from them - and if no one has heard from them it is assumed they're not as interested. I realize neurosurg is a smaller field than ortho but do any of you current residents do this kind of stuff at your program?

I received similar calls from 2 programs just to "check in" with me and see if i had any questions. Its hard to discern whether it meant anything at all. seemed generic tho

I'm assuming everyone got this mass Pitt email today?

Just heard Harvard sent out emails to their highly ranked; anyone able to validate this and/or know how many they send out??

Did anyone hear anything from any of the smaller PA programs, like Einstein or Geisinger? Have they ever made contact in prior years?

This whole thread was extremely quiet compared to previous years. Now that ROL's are in it would be nice if people who had contact earlier in the season would post now.