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After your interview when you ask the admissions team there whether you have something to update them on.
Sending an update letter before an interview is like throwing a pebble into the ocean and expecting a wave to crash on your side of the beach.
More important meaningful updates focus on your application status: like you moved back home or to the state where the school resides due to a job change. Or you are completely withdrawing from the process.
idk, a friend of mine sent out update letters to a some IS schools and received an interview shortly after for two of them (last cycle) . would you say sending meaningful updates is basically useless? i was planning on sending some to my target schools by the end of the month. (pre II)
For the most part, they are useless, though in state programs don't mind the reminder. I caution you should not attribute causation to this. We are talking generic terms, and some schools clearly stated they don't want updates. You need to figure this out before applying or by going through the school specific threads.
Publication
Presentation of a regional/national/international conference
A semester of great grades
Significant scholarship award, as in Rhodes/Oxford etc
New activities are NOT worth updates, as are submission of an article, or presenting a poster at your college
Schools vary a lot in terms of their update policies. Some (Johns Hopkins for example) REALLY don't want them. So don't send any. Others will consider them only after the interview, and others are quite open to them at different times during the cycle.
While I certainly agree with Goro's list regarding publications, great grades, etc, I would say that a significant change in activities or job, especially if it aligns with the school's mission or shows that you have acquired meaningful community service or clinical exposure, which perhaps was on the low side, would be worth an update for many of the schools that encourage updates.
Basically anything that will improve your profile and show your bettering your qualifications is worthy of an update in my eyes, as long as the school wants them. If you have 300 hours of activity X and add another 100 hours of doing the same, it's not worth an update. If you receive a promotion and increased responsibility that perhaps highlights your teamwork and/or leadership skills and the school accepts updates, tell them.
