How to write a LOI?

Do you mean Letter of Interest or Letter of Intent? They are two different things.

Assuming you are just now applying for 2009 matriculation, most write the Letter of Interest after the interview. Often it is combined with what you'd put in an update letter, but mainly you would write what you like about the school, and why it is a perfect fit for you. Perhaps you'd add that you look forward to receiving a letter of acceptance from them. This type of letter can be sent to multiple schools.

A Letter of Intent would only be sent to your top choice, essentially promising that if you are accepted, you will drop out of consideration by all other schools and promise to attend that institution. It is a written contract, so don't send it unless you are seriously sure you will carry through on your promise. Would it be enforced if you change your mind? Probably not. It is an honor thing and would effect the way you (and others) think about yourself if you break your word.

LOIntent or LOInterest? The former is pretty much the same as a later, but includes the statement that if you are accepted, you will matriculate there (i.e. they are your first choice, hands down).

LOI has a few different components, you mostly want to convey what you love about the school, why you think you'd be a good fit there, and what you can contribute to the school. Some people include updates in their LOI as well. The general purpose is to convey how very interested you are in that particular school, and why specifically the two of you would fit well together

I wrote an LOIntent after I was wait listed, some people have written LOIs pre-interview, post-interview, and various stages. However, you should check with the school in mind because some schools ask you not to send in letters like this unless you've been interviewed, and some ask you not to send any at all.

In the event you do get waitlisted, LOintents might play a larger role since a school will be looking to fill in gaps in the class, and so knowing you will DEFINITELY go there if accepted might weigh more heavily at that juncture (especially as the summer progresses), and might result in bumping you up a few spots on the WL. At least this is what I hear. And I'm pretty sure my own LOI was noticed and made a difference.

Hope that helped

I wrote a Letter of Intent to my first choice school after being waitlisted there in May - I did mostly what others have said and essentially wrote about all of the reasons why I loved the school and why I thought it was a perfect fit for me (and why I was a perfect fit for it).

Personally, I started out by thanking the admissions staff for all of their kindness and consideration during the process. Then I included paragraphs on why I thought I would thrive under their curriculum, in their research environment, and in the environment of the city. I closed the letter by promising to attend the school if accepted.

Obviously, there are different formats, but I think that this one worked well for me. However, f you are applying for the 2009 cycle, I suggest that you hold off on writing a LOI until you have at least interviewed at the school - most people change how much they like specific schools after the interview, and a school you love now may pale in comparison to another school later. Just my advice, good luck!

If this is a LOInterest:

Dear school,

Thank you for interviewing me. I f***ing love it there, and here is why: blahblahblahblahblah.

Since my interview, I have saved thousands of African children during my two month mission trip. I have also given two Nobel Prize Lectures and bought a puppy.

Thank you again,

Bcat85.

If this is a LOIntent

Dear school,

Thank you for interviewing me. I f***ing love it there, and here is why: blahblahblahblahblah. If you accept me, Ima comin' 'round the medical school mountain to yo school mista admissions officer. (this is the only change).

Since my interview, I have saved thousands of African children during my two month mission trip. I have also given two Nobel Prize Lectures and bought a puppy.

Thank you again,

Bcat85.

Yeah basically everyone covered it. Send it when you seem stuck in the application process - on hold for interview, waitlisted, etc.

Argue why you would thrive there and why they would benefit from your presence.

There is an example in my mdapps if you'd like to read one.

alwaysaangel said:

There is an example in my mdapps if you'd like to read one.

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Wow, congrats to you and MANY thanks for the example!

I was wondering if it would be beneficial to write a letter of interest post-secondary to schools that did not have an essay on their secondary?

My dilemma is that I have very strong connections to the state of New York (I went to high school there and my dad works about five minutes from NYMC) and all of the NY schools I am applying to do not have an essay question to address this connection, nor did my AMCAS application. My scores are average so having such a strong state connection may help my chances of getting an interview invite.

What do you guys think?

alwaysaangel said:

Yeah basically everyone covered it. Send it when you seem stuck in the application process - on hold for interview, waitlisted, etc.

Argue why you would thrive there and why they would benefit from your presence.

There is an example in my mdapps if you'd like to read one.

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, why does everyone say only to send a letter of intent only when stuck in the application process? I can see not sending a letter if the school specifically asks you not to, however, I personally would love to toss out all of the boloney interviews and secondaries and just get right down to business with my #1 choice ("reasonable" choice). If the school knows you're dead set on that school BEFORE then give interviews then I'd wager that the probability of acceptance increases.

tncekm said:

Just out of curiosity, why does everyone say only to send a letter of intent only when stuck in the application process? I can see not sending a letter if the school specifically asks you not to, however, I personally would love to toss out all of the boloney interviews and secondaries and just get right down to business with my #1 choice ("reasonable" choice). If the school knows you're dead set on that school BEFORE then give interviews then I'd wager that the probability of acceptance increases.

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The issue of sending it before they give interview is then what do you do if you get stuck in the cycle? Sending when you're stuck forces many schools to relook at your application, and the more times they look at your application the more likely it is that someone will see something they like about you.

The other larger issue of sending before interview is that A LOT of students learn most of what they know about the school at the interview. There is huge changing in what people want and where they want to go after interviews. So if you're telling a school "I love you and will go there no matter what" before you've ever been to interview it sounds like a lot of smoke blowing and the school knows from experience that lots of people change their minds after seeing the school and really learning about it.

tncekm said:

Just out of curiosity, why does everyone say only to send a letter of intent only when stuck in the application process? I can see not sending a letter if the school specifically asks you not to, however, I personally would love to toss out all of the boloney interviews and secondaries and just get right down to business with my #1 choice ("reasonable" choice). If the school knows you're dead set on that school BEFORE then give interviews then I'd wager that the probability of acceptance increases.

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And what you're talking about is basically early decision. Unfortunately sending an LOI is by far no guarantee and doesn't get rid of the boloney of interviews and secondaries. If you really want to get rid of that you would have to do EDP.

tncekm said:

Just out of curiosity, why does everyone say only to send a letter of intent only when stuck in the application process? I can see not sending a letter if the school specifically asks you not to, however, I personally would love to toss out all of the boloney interviews and secondaries and just get right down to business with my #1 choice ("reasonable" choice). If the school knows you're dead set on that school BEFORE then give interviews then I'd wager that the probability of acceptance increases.

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In addition to what other people have said, what about the money aspect? If a school knows you're going to go there, no matter what, then I'm guessing you'll be less likely to get lots of financial aid.

Thank you to everyone for your replies! Now, forgive me for continuing to play devils advocate

alwaysaangel said:

The issue of sending it before they give interview is then what do you do if you get stuck in the cycle? Sending when you're stuck forces many schools to relook at your application, and the more times they look at your application the more likely it is that someone will see something they like about you.

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But, didn't you send more than one LOI? If you're going to send more than one, why not start early?

The other larger issue of sending before interview is that A LOT of students learn most of what they know about the school at the interview. There is huge changing in what people want and where they want to go after interviews. So if you're telling a school "I love you and will go there no matter what" before you've ever been to interview it sounds like a lot of smoke blowing and the school knows from experience that lots of people change their minds after seeing the school and really learning about it.

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Well, I hear repeatedly "medical school is medical school" for the most part, so although I'm not going to say that to any admissions committee, that's not a deciding factor to me. My primary concerns are having my wife close to friends and family while I'm busy with school, staying in state, etc.

alwaysaangel said:

And what you're talking about is basically early decision. Unfortunately sending an LOI is by far no guarantee and doesn't get rid of the boloney of interviews and secondaries. If you really want to get rid of that you would have to do EDP.

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Well, with EDP you only get to apply to one school, and if you get denied then you have to wait until October to get into the regular applicant pool... that sucks unless you have insane stats.

If I had an acceptance in the early winter then I could avoid the costs of interviews, etc, etc, etc. You're right about the secondaries though. I'm pretty much stuck filling those out.

ColeOnTheRoll said:

In addition to what other people have said, what about the money aspect? If a school knows you're going to go there, no matter what, then I'm guessing you'll be less likely to get lots of financial aid.

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Staying in state = huge financial incentive. Probably better than most finaid packages My wife's income suffers when we leave the state and the cost of school will double.

tncekm said:

But, didn't you send more than one LOI? If you're going to send more than one, why not start early?

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In the end I sent three but the last one was pretty pathetic. There is only so much you can say and if you run out you're screwed. So if you start too early you will quickly run out of things to say and then you could get waitlisted with no updates and nothing else to say - and you don't have that letter that could be the kick to get you off the list.

Well, I hear repeatedly "medical school is medical school" for the most part, so although I'm not going to say that to any admissions committee, that's not a deciding factor to me. My primary concerns are having my wife close to friends and family while I'm busy with school, staying in state, etc.

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I'd disagree strongly that med school is med school - sure they have a ton of things consistent across the board - thats how they get accredited. But the methods of teaching, prep for the boards, grading, classmates, etc can vary considerably. I think you'll see that more when you get to interviews - its sort of hard to understand that until you start going to schools.

And while you can tell a school how important location is for you (that was one of my points) you'll need more than that. Especially if you're somewhere that has a lot of medical schools - what makes that one med school better than all the others in the area. You need to convince them you're a good fit for their school and they'll get something out of having you. So you'll find you have a lot more to say after you've already been to an interview.

Can you go ahead and just send something with your secondary - sure as long as the school is open to it. Everyone does LOIs their own way. My stance is simply that there is a limited amount of what you can possible say, maybe 2-3 letters max if you're doing a lot during the year of application (I wasn't in school and had plenty of new activities to update them on), and you want to send those letters when its most advantageous for you to, which is when it will likely result in another review of your application. Thats the logic behind it. But everyone does it their own way.

Thanks for the info, you've been lots of help

I'll keep everything you said in mind while I dig for cirriculum / program info on what, IMHO, is a good "numbers" match, and a good match for me personally.

Begaster said:

According to the dean of admissions at Pritzker, Letters of Intent are basically scrap paper.

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It really depends on the school. For example, UC Davis supposedly trashes anything that is not required application material. Doesn't even look at it. While UCSD and UCI both responded positively to my LOIs and responded to me regarding them and rereviewed my file.

You kind of have to feel out the school to figure out whether its useful or not. But people have to remember that what the dean of admissions at one med school says doesn't necessarily translate to all other schools.

i had a quick question. did you guys send the letters to the schools through snail mail or did you guys email the letters?

thanks