Thank professors after interview weekend

[nicoley]

I interviewed with several professors at an interview weekend. I was thinking about sending a thank you email, but am not sure if that is appropriate as admissions decisions are still being made. I am leaning toward not sending anything, but I would be interested to hear what others have done.

[Strangefox]

I interviewed with several professors at an interview weekend. I was thinking about sending a thank you email, but am not sure if that is appropriate as admissions decisions are still being made. I am leaning toward not sending anything, but I would be interested to hear what others have done.

Definetely send something. Your gratitude does not have anythingto do with their decisions, right? You are thankful because they spent their time talking to you, answering your questions about the program, etc.

[neuropsych76]

I interviewed with several professors at an interview weekend. I was thinking about sending a thank you email, but am not sure if that is appropriate as admissions decisions are still being made. I am leaning toward not sending anything, but I would be interested to hear what others have done.

I sent a brief thank you note saying I had a good visit and enjoyed meeting them ect. I think a brief thank you note is fine and even courteous.

[LJK]

I sent thank you emails after the visiting weekend. My methodology was to thank them for taking the time to talk to me, then follow up with something I found interesting from our conversation or a research idea that was inspired by the things we talked about. They talked to a bunch of people this weekend, why should they remember you more positively than the others? Use the thank you email as one more way to differentiate yourself and be on their minds as they make those admissions decisions.

[skeedy]

Definetely send something. Your gratitude does not have anythingto do with their decisions, right? You are thankful because they spent their time talking to you, answering your questions about the program, etc.

Absolutely. Treat it like a job interview. You want to thank them because:

1) you genuinely mean it - they are busy, their time is valuable, and their presence I'm sure was INvaluable

2) if they remember you a little more, no harm - right? Either way, good manners = good karma, plain and simple.

3) if these ARE professors that you will be (hopefully) working with in the near future, might as well start your respectful relationships NOW

The ONLY way this would be "inappropriate" would be if you said anything along the lines of "thanks so much, and I hope you consider me a strong candidate for your school." Don't lead them astray by mixing up gratitude with concern about your chance at acceptance - this is just you being courteous, plain and simple

[Eigen]

I sent thank-yous everywhere I visited, both to the faculty, admin's and grad students I met.

More of a "Thanks for taking the time to meet with me, I really enjoyed talking to you about your research, I found XXX part particularly interesting", etc. More of a way to thank/start a dialogue with them at the same time.

Thanks to the grad students for time with you (if they spent it) and the admins for setting things up are also nice.

[nicoley]

Thanks for the responses! I sent my thank you notes