LOI Example

ABC321 · Apr 15, 2006

Anyone have an example of their letter of intent. I am wondering how long these should be and exactly what I should be putting in here...some generic examples could be usefull.

DrHuang · Apr 15, 2006

heres my draft from last year.

March 15th, 2005

Jack Mehoff
1899 69th St, Apt #6
Hollywood, CA 90024

Dear College of Medicine Admissions Committee at the University of Awesome

Thank you for the opportunity to interview at the University of Awesome College of Medicine. It was a great pleasure touring the medical college and learning more about the rich history of the University of Awesome. I was very impressed with UA COMs integration of technology with the courses and the approach taken with the Awesome Integrated Organ Curriculum. I was equally impressed with the supportive student body that offered advice and encouragement during my interview.

Growing up in a similar small college town, I feel both the University of Awesome College of Medicine and the city of Super Awesome are a perfect fit for me. I enjoy the pace and sense of community that Super Awesome and the University of Awesome offered. In addition, I believe the smaller student body at UA COM builds closer bonds and relationships among fellow students, something I find very important in any aspect of education. Because of this and many other reasons, I am extremely excited at the prospect of attending UA COM in the fall.

I am positive that The University of Awesome will provide the best environment for me to develop both professionally and personally. The schools reputation as a top research/primary care school, the remarkable student body and the city of Super Awesome are only a few reasons why UA is my first selection if I am accepted by the admissions council. I would genuinely love to be part of the University of Awesomes College of Medicine family next year and eagerly await the admission councils decision.

Sincerely,

Jack Mehoff AMCAS ID: 123456789

George_Clooney · Apr 15, 2006

That seems more like a letter of interest to me.

ABC321 · Apr 17, 2006

Thank you...that seems really good...any others?

Why would that be a letter of interest...it seems like he is intending to go

nmnrraven · Apr 17, 2006

ABC321 said:
Thank you...that seems really good...any others?

Why would that be a letter of interest...it seems like he is intending to go

Here is mine:

Yo, Dean of _______ Doctor School,
I'm writin to letcha know that your school is straight-up stupid fresh and that if yall gimme the go, I'll let them other loser schools know about it. Yeah man, I'll give them as nasty of a diss as you want cause i'm down wif you guys like that. So give a brother some love and hook him up wif an expectance letta. Peace!

Depakote · Apr 17, 2006

EDIT: The OP doesn't take these seriously, so I'm taking mine out.

happydays · Apr 17, 2006

nmnrraven said:
Here is mine:

Yo, Dean of _______ Doctor School,
I'm writin to letcha know that your school is straight-up stupid fresh and that if yall gimme the go, I'll let them other loser schools know about it. Yeah man, I'll give them as nasty of a diss as you want cause i'm down wif you guys like that. So give a brother some love and hook him up wif an expectance letta. Peace!

This is the standard.

ND2005 · Apr 17, 2006

ABC321 said:
Thank you...that seems really good...any others?

Why would that be a letter of interest...it seems like he is intending to go

Not explicit enough, probably.

Med schools are aware of the fact that we applicants try to be "tricky" with our letters, writing letters that make it sound like we are strongly interested in programs without making a definite commital statement.

If you want to write a true letter of intent, you need to make your intent the focus of the letter. In the first example, the focus of the letter is on the applicants' interest (the 2 paragraphs of generic ass-kissing) and the intent part (the statement that the school is his first choice) is thrown in almost as an afterthought.

pallcare · Apr 17, 2006

cool. did it work?

DrHuang said:
heres my draft from last year.

March 15th, 2005

Jack Mehoff
1899 69th St, Apt #6
Hollywood, CA 90024

Dear College of Medicine Admissions Committee at the University of Awesome

Thank you for the opportunity to interview at the University of Awesome College of Medicine. It was a great pleasure touring the medical college and learning more about the rich history of the University of Awesome. I was very impressed with UA COMs integration of technology with the courses and the approach taken with the Awesome Integrated Organ Curriculum. I was equally impressed with the supportive student body that offered advice and encouragement during my interview.

Growing up in a similar small college town, I feel both the University of Awesome College of Medicine and the city of Super Awesome are a perfect fit for me. I enjoy the pace and sense of community that Super Awesome and the University of Awesome offered. In addition, I believe the smaller student body at UA COM builds closer bonds and relationships among fellow students, something I find very important in any aspect of education. Because of this and many other reasons, I am extremely excited at the prospect of attending UA COM in the fall.

I am positive that The University of Awesome will provide the best environment for me to develop both professionally and personally. The schools reputation as a top research/primary care school, the remarkable student body and the city of Super Awesome are only a few reasons why UA is my first selection if I am accepted by the admissions council. I would genuinely love to be part of the University of Awesomes College of Medicine family next year and eagerly await the admission councils decision.

Sincerely,

Jack Mehoff AMCAS ID: 123456789

Saluki · Apr 17, 2006

I talked about how much I liked the school for A, B, C, and D reasons; how it had been my first choice since the beginning of the admissions process; and why I thought that the school was a perfect fit for me... Then, I told them that I would withdraw my applications from all other schools if I was accepted there. Altogether it was about 3/4 of a page...

They still didn't accept me, so I now think LOIs are a complete waste of time... But send one in anyways; what can it hurt?

ABC321 · Apr 17, 2006

Even with a letter of intent you are not legally bound to attend that school.

NapeSpikes · Apr 17, 2006

Depakote said:
EDIT: The OP doesn't take these seriously, so I'm taking mine out.

Based on the OP's last post, good call.

ND2005 · Apr 17, 2006

ABC321 said:
Even with a letter of intent you are not legally bound to attend that school.

No, you're not legally bound.

But are you going to sell out your own word just to write a silly letter that no one even knows if it's really effective?

nmnrraven · Apr 17, 2006

ND2005 said:
No, you're not legally bound.

But are you going to sell out your own word just to write a silly letter that no one even knows if it's really effective?

It IS actually effective if the school is considering accepting you but wants to know whether or not you are committed to them. Someone applying from California is unlikely to go to UAMS so if they write UAMS a letter of intent, they are letting the school know it isn't just a "backup."

As for being legally bound or not, I agree that you aren't. Still, if you tell a school you intend to go there and then end up not going there for no good reason (a good reason would be a huge financial aid offer somewhere else) you're losing your own credibility. Not a good start.

pallcare · Apr 17, 2006

also, a school that is about to accept you off the waitlist will usually tell the school you are currently holding that they are about to accept you, as a matter of courtesy. So that means that if you back out of an LOI you'll probably be blacklisted at the school you are attending as well. No one appreciates a person who is not true to his/her word, and its not hard to imagine an unofficial system of checks and balances to make sure people who abuse an LOI don't benefit from it.

nmnrraven said:
It IS actually effective if the school is considering accepting you but wants to know whether or not you are committed to them. Someone applying from California is unlikely to go to UAMS so if they write UAMS a letter of intent, they are letting the school know it isn't just a "backup."

As for being legally bound or not, I agree that you aren't. Still, if you tell a school you intend to go there and then end up not going there for no good reason (a good reason would be a huge financial aid offer somewhere else) you're losing your own credibility. Not a good start.

ND2005 · Apr 17, 2006

nmnrraven said:
It IS actually effective if the school is considering accepting you but wants to know whether or not you are committed to them. Someone applying from California is unlikely to go to UAMS so if they write UAMS a letter of intent, they are letting the school know it isn't just a "backup."

As for being legally bound or not, I agree that you aren't. Still, if you tell a school you intend to go there and then end up not going there for no good reason (a good reason would be a huge financial aid offer somewhere else) you're losing your own credibility. Not a good start.

That's my basic point -- there is obviously no legal obligation on your part, but it's not worth selling out your own credibility.

I understand that they can be effective in certain circumstances (one dean told me "if you're holding an acceptance to Harvard, I'm not going to bother calling you off the waitlist unless I have reason to believe you'll actually come here), but they seem to have an inflated importance on SDN sometimes.

To me, it's not worth my credibility. Especially when I personally told the dean I referenced above that if he got an LOI from me I would mean it. I'm not in the habit of lying to people's faces.

lookslikerain · Apr 17, 2006

pallcare said:
also, a school that is about to accept you off the waitlist will usually tell the school you are currently holding that they are about to accept you, as a matter of courtesy.

Really? That's interesting, I didn't know that.

On a different note, can you defer if you get accepted off the waitlist at a school you sent an LOI to? I'm thinking not, since the point of the waitlist is to fill the class, but just wondering if anyone knows otherwise..

Saluki · Apr 17, 2006

lookslikerain said:
Really? That's interesting, I didn't know that.

On a different note, can you defer if you get accepted off the waitlist at a school you sent an LOI to? I'm thinking not, since the point of the waitlist is to fill the class, but just wondering if anyone knows otherwise..

Most schools won't let you defer if you're let in off the waitlist... I wrote an LOI to a school before being waitlisted and I'm staying on it even though they won't let me defer, but it's going to be a hard decision if they let me in...

LOI Example

ABC321

Senior Member

DrHuang

SDN Donor

George_Clooney

Member

ABC321

Senior Member

nmnrraven

Senior Member

Depakote

Pediatric Anesthesiologist

happydays

Full Member

ND2005

1K Member

pallcare

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Saluki

1K Member

ABC321

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NapeSpikes

Believe, hon.

ND2005

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nmnrraven

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pallcare

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ND2005

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lookslikerain

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Saluki

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