are update letter/letter of interest useful?

[shoopshoop]

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hi everybody, would love some input on the efficacy of update letters in general. i think of myself as a borderline top tier candidate, and am extremely happy that i have had 6 IIs so far in the application cycle.

it seems late enough that i will not get more, since i was complete at most places end of august/beginning of september. but i was wondering whether i should send update letters/letters of interest to some of my top choices that have been silent so far. i know that i have been put 'on hold' for two of them. will sending letters help me in anyway or just annoy admissions offices with making them deal with more paper?

 

[Ismet]

Do you have anything significant to put in an update letter? If not, then there's no point.

Letters of interest are more useful post-interview to bump you up a bit on the waitlist, but only at some schools that are more receptive to them.

 

[Goro]

LOI are worthless. How else do you interpret a non-binding contract from a desperate applicant?

As for updates, IF the school welcomes them, then send them, but make them meaningful, like a new semester full of great grades, or that you've now accrued 200 more hrs of volunteering, or had a paper accepted for publication. No Admissions dean is going to care a bout a submission, or that you just started shadowing a surgeon.

hi everybody, would love some input on the efficacy of update letters in general. i think of myself as a borderline top tier candidate, and am extremely happy that i have had 6 IIs so far in the application cycle.

it seems late enough that i will not get more, since i was complete at most places end of august/beginning of september. but i was wondering whether i should send update letters/letters of interest to some of my top choices that have been silent so far. i know that i have been put 'on hold' for two of them. will sending letters help me in anyway or just annoy admissions offices with making them deal with more paper?

 

[shoopshoop]

LOI are worthless. How else do you interpret a non-binding contract from a desperate applicant?

As for updates, IF the school welcomes them, then send them, but make them meaningful, like a new semester full of great grades, or that you've now accrued 200 more hrs of volunteering, or had a paper accepted for publication. No Admissions dean is going to care a bout a submission, or that you just started shadowing a surgeon.

thank you for responding! my paper just got sent back with a ton of revisions, so i am disappointed since i was planning on using that as an update!

 

[Bob IV]

I have a related question --
Would a letter of interest/intent+update carry more weight if the writer has already received an acceptance from another school?

 

[Goro]

Only if it's a much better school, and you're a catch yourself.

I have a related question --
Would a letter of interest/intent+update carry more weight if the writer has already received an acceptance from another school?