Most Effective Time To Send a Update letter/additional letter of intent

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tamman55699

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I've read somewhere on the threads, not sure written by whom, that sending a letter around April 12-15 ish was good, but I can't remember the reason why. Does anyone know? I may have misread the post if not.

I would think sending one a little after April 30th or right before May 15th would be better. What do you all think?

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Feel free to send letters whenever. Certainly cannot hurt. The general consensus on SDN is that letters are worthless.

Also, the multiple accept deadline is April 30th this year, not May 15th.
 
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Generally I've read that it's better to send them slightly on the later side as opposed to earlier. That gives the impression that you've thought hard about your decision to commit to that school. As for their effectiveness, I can only say this much: I'm a reapplicant, and last cycle I was still on three waitlists around this time if I recall correctly. I sent letters of intent to all of them and, well, I'm a reapplicant now. That being said, I am definitely sending at least one this cycle just in case.

But yeah, I'd agree mid-August seems pretty good timing.
 
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Generally I've read that it's better to send them slightly on the later side as opposed to earlier. That gives the impression that you've thought hard about your decision to commit to that school. As for their effectiveness, I can only say this much: I'm a reapplicant, and last cycle I was still on three waitlists around this time if I recall correctly. I sent letters of intent to all of them and, well, I'm a reapplicant now. That being said, I am definitely sending at least one this cycle just in case.

But yeah, I'd agree mid-August seems pretty good timing.
You can't send letters of intent to every school you're waitlisted at.....that's not ethical and certainly not what "intent" implies. Schools talk to each other. If they find out you weren't treating your letter of intent like a binding agreement, then they'll think of it as nothing but trash.

You can send letters of interest to every school you're waitlisted at, tho. Just not intent.

Most adcoms will tell you letters of intent are meaningless because of applicants who send them to all schools they've been waitlisted at...
 
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You can't send letters of intent to every school you're waitlisted at.....that's not ethical and certainly not what "intent" implies. Schools talk to each other. If they find out you weren't treating your letter of intent like a binding agreement, then they'll think of it as nothing but trash.

You can send letters of interest to every school you're waitlisted at, tho. Just not intent.

Most adcoms will tell you letters of intent are meaningless because of applicants who send them to all schools they've been waitlisted at...

You can actually do whatever you like. Intent isn't binding and there's no question of ethics here.
 
You can't send letters of intent to every school you're waitlisted at.....that's not ethical and certainly not what "intent" implies. Schools talk to each other. If they find out you weren't treating your letter of intent like a binding agreement, then they'll think of it as nothing but trash.

You can send letters of interest to every school you're waitlisted at, tho. Just not intent.

Most adcoms will tell you letters of intent are meaningless because of applicants who send them to all schools they've been waitlisted at...

"Schools talk to each other." Some people sure like to make crazy stuff up. Med schools are not going to call each other and ask whether certain students have sent letters of intent. Ironically, you make this claim and then proceed to mention that letters of Intent are meaningless.
 
I hear different things about letters of intent. Some say it can't hurt and you can only gain from it. Others say they're pointless. I don't know man. I just don't know.
 
"Schools talk to each other." Some people sure like to make crazy stuff up. Med schools are not going to call each other and ask whether certain students have sent letters of intent. Ironically, you make this claim and then proceed to mention that letters of Intent are meaningless.
The "schools talk to each other" part was told to me by my friend who tried to do that and was reprimanded by one of his schools for doing so. Just as you shouldn't lie on your application because schools talk, you shouldn't lie about intent either. The "they're meaningless because desperate applicants abuse them" part was explained by @gyngyn multiple times in this forum.
 
I plan on sending mine as soon as they finish their last interview in late April.

This is when I assume they will start their immediate consideration of wait list applicants. April 30th is when schools find out where you've been accepted too.
 
I plan on sending mine as soon as they finish their last interview in late April.

This is when I assume they will start their immediate consideration of wait list applicants. April 30th is when schools find out where you've been accepted too.
I thought it was April 1st that schools find out where you've been accepted? @gyngyn @Goro @LizzyM Can any of y'all confirm this?
 
You can't send letters of intent to every school you're waitlisted at.....that's not ethical and certainly not what "intent" implies. Schools talk to each other. If they find out you weren't treating your letter of intent like a binding agreement, then they'll think of it as nothing but trash.

You can send letters of interest to every school you're waitlisted at, tho. Just not intent.

Most adcoms will tell you letters of intent are meaningless because of applicants who send them to all schools they've been waitlisted at...

I can definitely see your point about it perhaps being unethical and that you should probably not send LOIs to multiple schools (unless you are vague and never say that school X is the #1 choice and you would come no matter what).

But is it any better at interviews? For example, if someone asks you, "are we your first choice?" what are you going to say?

"No, but you are my in my top 7 out of 25 schools I applied to!"

My point is that there is some degree of "deceiving" that you need to do through this process and for any similar process (e.g., finding a job).
 
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I can definitely see your point about it perhaps being unethical and that you should probably not send LOIs to multiple schools (unless you are vague and never say that school X is the #1 choice and you would come no matter what).

But is it any better at interviews? For example, if someone asks you, "are we your first choice?" what are you going to say?

"No, but you are my in my top 7 out of 25 schools I applied to!"

My point is that there is some degree of "deceiving" that you need to do through this process and for any similar process (e.g., finding a job).
If you're not smart enough to give a vague, "I loved visiting your school today and would love to come here!" response to your interviewer if they ask you that, then I don't know what to tell you lololol. What you said is true, tho: If you say, "Your school is my #1 choice, and if accepted, I will come here no matter what," then you should only send that message to ONE school. How awkward would that be if you sent that to 3 waitlisted schools, got off all of them, and then have to tell 2 of them you're not going? I wouldn't want to run the risk of being blacklisted for the future (i.e. residency interviews).
 
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I thought it was April 1st that schools find out where you've been accepted? @gyngyn @Goro @LizzyM Can any of y'all confirm this?
Tomorrow we should be able to see where the candidates that we have waitlisted are holding acceptances.
We have been able to see where accepted students are holding for a month.
 
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Tomorrow we should be able to see where the candidates that we have waitlisted are holding acceptances.
We have been able to see where accepted students are holding for a month.

Do you have a more definitive answer to OP's question as the aforementioned responses are mere speculations?

I am accepted at a spot that's ranked lower than where I am waitlisted at. The school I'm waitlisted at has it's last interview Apr 27th. Planning on sending an update/interest letter after that last interview. Is that a good rule of thumb that update/interest letters be sent after a school is done interviewing?

Thanks!
 
If you're not smart enough to give a vague, "I loved visiting your school today and would love to come here!" response to your interviewer if they ask you that, then I don't know what to tell you lololol. What you said is true, tho: If you say, "Your school is my #1 choice, and if accepted, I will come here no matter what," then you should only send that message to ONE school. How awkward would that be if you sent that to 3 waitlisted schools, got off all of them, and then have to tell 2 of them you're not going? I wouldn't want to run the risk of being blacklisted for the future (i.e. residency interviews).

The degree of paranoia on SDN is pretty insane.

I admire this discussion of ethics on sending one LOI. But, it doesn't matter if you send more than one LOI. It also doesn't matter if you send no LOIs. Why? Because LOIs don't matter. They've never mattered. They never will matter. Still, year after year, premedical students will spend countless hours worrying, writing, and re-writing these "magical" letters that they've imbued with so much power, when in reality, it will be glanced at without much thought, or worse, left unopened. I get that it's hard to accept that the larger part of this crazy admissions process is completely out of your hands. But it is. It really is.
 
Do you have a more definitive answer to OP's question as the aforementioned responses are mere speculations?

I am accepted at a spot that's ranked lower than where I am waitlisted at. The school I'm waitlisted at has it's last interview Apr 27th. Planning on sending an update/interest letter after that last interview. Is that a good rule of thumb that update/interest letters be sent after a school is done interviewing?

Thanks!
If your preferred school is open to such things (and has an unranked waitlist), the best timing would be just as the admissions officer begins pulling from the waitlist.

Usually, an acceptance at a "lesser" school means that the "preferred" school already knows you'd like to be taken off the waitlist, though!
 
This is why they're not taken seriously. How does one evaluate a nonbinding contract from a desperate applicant???

You can't send letters of intent to every school you're waitlisted at.....that's not ethical and certainly not what "intent" implies. Schools talk to each other. If they find out you weren't treating your letter of intent like a binding agreement, then they'll think of it as nothing but trash.

You can send letters of interest to every school you're waitlisted at, tho. Just not intent.

Most adcoms will tell you letters of intent are meaningless because of applicants who send them to all schools they've been waitlisted at...
 
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Usually, an acceptance at a "lesser" school means that the "preferred" school already knows you'd like to be taken off the waitlist, though!

I've heard and read different interpretations of this. My question is this: If a preferred school knows that you've been accepted at lesser schools and acknowledges that you've done well enough at interviews, EC's, academics, etc., are you more or less likely to be accepted off the waitlists than an applicant with a similar profile but with acceptances at potentially more comparable/preferable schools? Of course this is for an unranked waitlist.
 
If your preferred school is open to such things (and has an unranked waitlist), the best timing would be just as the admissions officer begins pulling from the waitlist.

Usually, an acceptance at a "lesser" school means that the "preferred" school already knows you'd like to be taken off the waitlist, though!

Just curious, what if an applicant has only been waitlisted to all of the schools he/she has applied to? Would being in this situation be an advantage for the applicant when adcom members review their waitlist applicants, especially if said applicant is on a high priority waitlist?
 
Just curious, what if an applicant has only been waitlisted to all of the schools he/she has applied to? Would being in this situation be an advantage for the applicant when adcom members review their waitlist applicants, especially if said applicant is on a high priority waitlist?
Probably not. Your waitlisted schools can't see each other, only your acceptances. If you don't have any, a waitlist school could easily assume you don't have any other waitlists, even if you have a bunch.
 
Just curious, what if an applicant has only been waitlisted to all of the schools he/she has applied to? Would being in this situation be an advantage for the applicant when adcom members review their waitlist applicants, especially if said applicant is on a high priority waitlist?
Having no acceptances means we know you are happy to hear from us!
We cannot see that you are on any waitlist (except ours), high priority or not.
 
I've heard and read different interpretations of this. My question is this: If a preferred school knows that you've been accepted at lesser schools and acknowledges that you've done well enough at interviews, EC's, academics, etc., are you more or less likely to be accepted off the waitlists than an applicant with a similar profile but with acceptances at potentially more comparable/preferable schools? Of course this is for an unranked waitlist.
Your innate "desirablity" is not changed by where you have been accepted, only our perception of your likeliness to attend.
 
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