Statement of Post Interview Communications Integrity

The undersigned programs have each agreed to the principles and rules outlined below that adhere to and go beyond the National Resident Match Program (NRMP) rules and Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM)/ Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM) statement on post interview communication. We encourage applicants to submit a rank list that reflects only their desire to enroll in programs and not be swayed by post interview communications that can be misleading. By signing on to this statement, we commit to the following:

Post Interview Communications are any outreach directed at one or a few applicants that is intended to signify special or competitive standing by the program, which – while flattering to some – is non-binding, against the spirit of a pressure-free match, and is generally intended to influence a candidate’s rank list. All outreach and messaging from programs to applicants should be available to every applicant or applicant group to decrease the ‘gaming’ or pressurizing of the system.

• The undersigned programs will not engage in individualized, program-initiated post-interview communication.
• The policy outlined below will apply to all of our medicine residencies, including combined (e.g., med-peds) residencies and specific tracks within the main residency.
• The undersigned programs are deeply committed to recruiting a diverse workforce, including under-represented in Medicine (URiM) physicians and those with specific and advanced career interests, such as physician scientists or primary care. While well-intentioned, independent recruitment efforts of specific subsets of applicants have the potential to undermine efforts to consistently apply the policy outlined below. Thus, the policy below also applies to any URiM, physician-scientist, or other special group recruitment.
• All individuals participating in the recruitment process (faculty, residents, coordinators etc.) will be responsible for adhering to these rules. While all of these participants are happy to answer any questions, they will not signify ranking preference or standing.

• We will respect the integrity, confidentiality, and autonomy of applicants in the interview and ranking process.
• We will be precise and honest in our communications with applicants. We will not use misleading language.
• We will not make any statements about an applicant’s likelihood to match in our programs. Specifically, we will not use terms such as "ranked to match" or the so-called "lock" position. We will not reach out to selected applicants with coded language implying their rank position or that their reply back to the program will be expected.
• Programs may send out update emails as long as the same content goes to all applicants or all applicants within a specific group (i.e., an email specific to URiM applicants can go to all applicants who identify as URiM).
• Post-interview communications from any program representative will be limited to applicant request-driven requests and responses. Factual information (e.g., program updates) can be sent to all applicants. Any program initiated informational outreach that is done by faculty or residents will be available to all applicants or all applicants with a specific group (i.e., all URiM applicants). Program representatives (or anyone perceived to represent the program) will not make unsolicited phone calls, send unsolicited e-mails, or engage in other forms of unsolicited individualized communication to applicants.
• Any post-interview events must be open to all applicants or all applicants within a specific group (i.e., a diversity event or physician scientist event). It should be clear that participation in such events is voluntary and that attendance will not be taken.

• Applicants are welcome to e-mail the program residents, faculty or leadership with any questions about the program (e.g. number of required months of ICU experience; availability of opportunities for community service, etc.) and can expect an individual response, but these responses cannot indicate or hint at an applicant’s likelihood to match in the program.
• Applicants are not obliged to reply to any communications from our programs, and a lack of response will not impact their status, as post-interview communication has no impact on rank decisions.
• We strongly discourage routine thank you notes or e-mails from interviewed applicants. Such communications will not routinely receive a reply.
• If an applicant feels that an undersigned program may have violated this policy, they are encouraged to bring this up with their Dean’s Office.

We congratulate you on your decision to pursue the wonderful and varied specialty of internal medicine, and assure you that our collective intention is to train you all to be exceptional, productive and satisfied physicians.

We congratulate you on your decision to pursue the wonderful and varied specialty of internal medicine, and assure you that our collective intention is to train you all to be exceptional, productive and satisfied physicians.