Are letters of interest necessary or valuable?

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[anfleisch]

Debatable. Just write it well.

 

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[OhioDoc]

I'm in the post-interview pre-descison stage and I'm wondering if a letter of interest would be necessary or even if it would matter to the schools at all? The schools I'm talking about are "safety schools" which probably don't think I'm very interested in them...

Most likely it can't hurt, but I'm afraid my letter won't be written well enough, which would make it hurt my chances...

is it like a guaranteed wait-list/rejection if I don't? Will it help much if I do?

Thanks for responses!

As the above poster noted - there's no strong evidence as to whether they make a difference or not. That being said, in the past, certain schools (for example Wake Forest) have been reported to be more receptive to LOIs than others. There's a thread on here somewhere with some tips about writting LOI's (I think it's called the official letter of interest thread or something like that). Most of all, make sure it's well thought-out and well articulated.

Not having a letter of interest will definitely not automatically lead to waitlist/rejection.

 

[Hifey]

I would say it depends on the school for sure. Do some research or call them to find out if its something they would be open for getting.

Just do it well 🙂

 

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[OhioDoc]

is my generality correct, in the most part, that the "lower" tier schools are more receptive to letters of interest, or does it just one of those random things?

I would disagree with this generalization. I know, for example, letters of interest have proved valuable at Case, which I wouldn't consider to be a lower-tier school.

 

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