Send “thank you” cards!

Call me old –fashioned (I may or may not be watching Golden Girls as I write this) but believe me when I say that hand-written thank you cards will never go out of style. And they certainly aren’t gone out of style already. So I want you to consider writing some! It takes almost nothing for you to write a thank you card. It’s really inexpensive; you can get 8 cards for less than $2.00 at Wal-Mart, Michaels, Dollar General, etc and you can literally “borrow” a pen from anywhere. Let’s be real, there’s only a small space in a thank you card, you don’t have to write a novel… All it takes is a bit of time and caring enough to make the thoughtful gesture.

As a pre-med student, there are several times when a hand-written thank you card should be strongly considered:

After shadowing experiences

You should certainly show your appreciation to the staff and provider by saying thank you at the end of each visit. When your shadowing experiences is done altogether, though, consider sending a thank you card, you can send one to the staff and one to the provider you shadowed. You should certainly not buy them gifts, not even food, you’re a student after all and they have jobs, that’s not your responsibility, but I do think it’s a good idea to send a thank you card. It’s a nice gesture that would certainly be appreciated and may even be a plus if you needed to ask to shadow there again.

After service experiences

Shadowing experiences should be long-term, not something you only do once. Remember, the goal is sustained, meaningful service. When your experience is done, I hope you’re able to express what you gained from the experience in the form of a thank you note to the coordinator.

After you received letters of recommendation

It takes time and some serious thought to write a strong letter of recommendation. Hopefully, you’ve asked people that you have some level of respect for and so it’s really common courtesy for you to write them a thank you card! Be sure to write and send it as soon as you know their letter is submitted. 

Interview day

This one you’ve gotta do- even if you don’t for the examples above. When (not if) you get medical school interviews, you really should write and send thank you cards. These should certainly go to the people who you interviewed with, but also consider sending one to the staff person who organized the day and to the director of admissions if you met with them on interview day. Logistically, you can send all of the thank you cards in one bundle to the admissions office; if you’re not sure of this address or the names of the people you need to send them to, be sure to ask before your interview day is over. I promise you, this is really common, so don’t feel bad about asking. They may even provide this information to the interviewees or in your packet (again, it’s common). 

Now I love a hand-written card, but I do realize that sometimes it just isn’t possible. A nicely written email is a decent second option if you absolutely can’t send a card. 

Do you write thank you cards? Or do you think it’s a lost art that is no longer necessary. I’d love to see your thoughts. Feel free to share a comment below or send me a private message if you have questions about this or anything else on your pre-med journey.