Letter of Intent Question

[craig90]

I have my top choice interview in March, and was told I would receive a decision a couple of weeks later since it is a non-rolling school. Considering this short timeframe, I was wondering if it would be best to send a letter of intent right after the interview to be included in the final decision? I currently hold other acceptances and was wondering if I should mention this in the letter. I read posts about it having a greater impact if it was a peer or higher ranked school, but I can't tell if this would make a real difference and feel uncomfortable name-dropping.

In this letter, I would write about how I would accept without hesitance, but I'm also wondering how this would affect my chances of leveraging financial aid from other acceptances to get more aid from this school in the future since I would withdraw from the other schools and this one would know about it and not have any reason to offer me more scholarships/aid. I appreciate any advice/insight on this as this has been my dream school for years so I'm really excited and nervous about the outcome. Thanks in advance!

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[KnightDoc]

I have my top choice interview in March, and was told I would receive a decision a couple of weeks later since it is a non-rolling school. Considering this short timeframe, I was wondering if it would be best to send a letter of intent right after the interview to be included in the final decision? I currently hold other acceptances and was wondering if I should mention this in the letter. I read posts about it having a greater impact if it was a peer or higher ranked school, but I can't tell if this would make a real difference and feel uncomfortable name-dropping.

In this letter, I would write about how I would accept without hesitance, but I'm also wondering how this would affect my chances of leveraging financial aid from other acceptances to get more aid from this school in the future since I would withdraw from the other schools and this one would know about it and not have any reason to offer me more scholarships/aid. I appreciate any advice/insight on this as this has been my dream school for years so I'm really excited and nervous about the outcome. Thanks in advance!

I suggest you carefully consider what's more important -- obtaining an A at all costs, or being in a position to leverage financial aid offers. The two are inherently incompatible. If you say you WILL attend if accepted, all your leverage goes out the window, and you will only piss them off if they act on your letter only to have you come back later with financial conditions.

Also, you lost me by saying it's a non-rolling school. March is late in the interview season, and all MD schools release at least as many As as they have seats by 3/15 under AAMC protocols. After that, anything goes, and all schools are rolling from that point forward.

You already have the II, so it's kind of pointless to send a LOI before the interview, as you seem to recognize. You should mention anything in your letter that you think might induce them to accept you. I happen to think name dropping lends credibility, but YMMV. If you do this, you should mentally prepare yourself to be satisfied with whatever they offer you in terms of financial aid, because you are literally committing to attend regardless.

If you want to put a financial condition on your LOI, I wouldn't even bother sending it, since that is the position we are all in (i.e., telling a school you will attend as long as they give you everything you want isn't really an offer any school that wouldn't otherwise take you can't refuse, so it won't get you anywhere you wouldn't be anyway without a LOI).

Bottom line -- letters of intent are NOT for people who want or need to negotiate financial aid. They are for people willing to do anything necessary to get an A they think they might not get organically, which means being able and willing to finance the full COA without any help from the school (savings, parents, loans).

 

[craig90]

You already have the II, so it's kind of pointless to send a LOI before the interview, as you seem to recognize.

I would send the letter after the interview before decisions come out, not before.

Would saying something along the lines of "I will immediately withdraw from my other acceptances if offered a seat for XSOM" be sufficient? Or, since I'm not name dropping which as you said lends credibility, should I just not mention the other acceptances at all and focus instead on the school fit and other factors that make me want to attend (I will be including this anyway in the letter)?

 

[KnightDoc]

I would send the letter after the interview before decisions come out, not before.

Would saying something along the lines of "I will immediately withdraw from my other acceptances if offered a seat for XSOM" be sufficient? Or, since I'm not name dropping which as you said lends credibility, should I just not mention the other acceptances at all and focus instead on the school fit and other factors that make me want to attend (I will be including this anyway in the letter)?

I was kind of trying to steer you away from doing it at all, in order to keep your options open with respect to financial aid.

In addition, keeping in mind that I'm not an adcom, my understanding is that they are really only effective once you are on a WL, when schools have some urgency to choose people who will definitely attend. Post-II decisions are driven much more by how your file is scored than by how desperate you are for an A, other than at schools like Mayo that openly solicit LOIs.

You'll have ample opportunity to express your enthusiasm, commitment, fit, desire, etc. during the interview. I'd stick to that for now. If you get the A without having to beg and make a commitment, that will preserve your ability to negotiate for aid.

If they are going to reject you or bury you deep on the WL, no amount of begging is going to change that. OTOH, if they are going to give you a priority position on the WL, or just place you in an unranked position, THAT will be the time to beg and make a commitment. By then, you should have better visibility on what your other options are, what kind of financial packages you have, and will be in a better position to know whether you should give up all your leverage, or even whether they will be receptive.

I am going through the exact same thing right now, and am just as anxious and impatient as you are. That said, the only move at this stage is to let it play out. I really don't think expressing intent pre-decision, beyond enthusiasm and desire on the interview, changes outcomes where such expressions are not solicited by the school. All it does is cause you to lose whatever leverage you might have, and put you in a position to maybe renege on a commitment if something better comes along.

 

[LizzyM]

Would you attend your dream school if it gave you little or no scholarship money and ended up being more expensive than the net tuition after scholarships at other schools? (I made a choice like that and regretted it every month for many years but ended up grateful for the doors it opened.) That is the question. If yes, send a LOI. If not, send a "thank you for the opportunity to have interviewed. I was impressed by x,y,z..." but don't commit to attending if made an offer.

 

[craig90]

Would you attend your dream school if it gave you little or no scholarship money and ended up being more expensive than the net tuition after scholarships at other schools? (I made a choice like that and regretted it every month for many years but ended up grateful for the doors it opened.) That is the question. If yes, send a LOI. If not, send a "thank you for the opportunity to have interviewed. I was impressed by x,y,z..." but don't commit to attending if made an offer.

After thinking about it, I definitely would so I'm leaning more towards sending the LOI. Do you think it would be stronger mentioning which other schools I was accepted to specifically or would I probably be fine without that part?

 

[LizzyM]

After thinking about it, I definitely would so I'm leaning more towards sending the LOI. Do you think it would be stronger mentioning which other schools I was accepted to specifically or would I probably be fine without that part?

It you've been admitted to Stanford, Harvard and Hopkins, then yes. If it isn't those three, maybe not.

 

[KnightDoc]

It you've been admitted to Stanford, Harvard and Hopkins, then yes. If it isn't those three, maybe not.

Really? I have been led to believe that, as long as it's a peer school or above, it lends credibility, even if it isn't T10. The risk is that, by being vague, the school might infer that you really don't have anything at all.

Because, let's face it, there aren't too many people with Harvard As begging mid-tiers to pull them from the WL. But, for one reason or another, there are plenty of people who would love to swap one mid-tier for another. And that could be a win for the target mid-tier, just like Stanford would consider pulling someone from Harvard a win.

I hate to disagree with you, since you have been one of my gurus since I first stumbled on SDN, but I honestly don't think it's pointless to name names if the names aren't T10 names. 🙂

 

[LizzyM]

Really? I have been led to believe that, as long as it's a peer school or above, it lends credibility, even if it isn't T10. The risk is that, by being vague, the school might infer that you really don't have anything at all.

Because, let's face it, there aren't too many people with Harvard As begging mid-tiers to pull them from the WL. But, for one reason or another, there are plenty of people who would love to swap one mid-tier for another. And that could be a win for the target mid-tier, just like Stanford would consider pulling someone from Harvard a win.

I hate to disagree with you, since you have been one of my gurus since I first stumbled on SDN, but I honestly don't think it's pointless to name names if the names aren't T10 names. 🙂

*maybe*. If you want to say, "I have an offer from Toledo but prefer Cincinnati, go for it. Most of the time, Deans treat these letters like the bu11sh1t they often are, YMMV.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

As always when it comes to mentioning schools you got acceptances to... it is context dependent. We already know which schools we are competing against, and the likelihood we lose candidates to those schools. The CYMS portal will let us know if you are holding more than one A (not where or which other schools), and we know from past behavior how to respond.

So if you mention another mid-tier or a peer, that's great news for you. But every school will react differently... they do want to see you make a commitment though on CYMS.

 

[KnightDoc]

As always when it comes to mentioning schools you got acceptances to... it is context dependent. We already know which schools we are competing against, and the likelihood we lose candidates to those schools. The CYMS portal will let us know if you are holding more than one A ,(now where though), and we know from past behavior how to respond.

So if you mention another mid-tier or a peer, that's great news for you. But every school will react differently... they do want to see you make a commitment though on CYMS.

????? The CYMS portal doesn't show anyone anything prior to 4/30. Period. If I select another another school as my PTE, any other school where I am an applicant will only see that information in the aggregate, with no ability to trace back to me. To me, using it before that date is kind of pointless, although i suppose schools could use it to get an early sense of what their yield might look like.

After 4/30, schools where I hold an A or a WL will be able to see whether I am PTE or CTE somewhere else, which they will presumably use to rescind my A if I haven't PTEd at their school. They won't be able to see how many other schools, and won't know which schools, but this isn't the time frame I was talking about. I'd assume sometime in May is a little late to first be sending a LOI. Before then, schools cannot use CYMS to know anything at all about whether or not I am holding As anywhere else.

 

[KnightDoc]

*maybe*. If you want to say, "I have an offer from Toledo but prefer Cincinnati, go for it. Most of the time, Deans treat these letters like the bu11sh1t they often are, YMMV.

If deans actually value such things (if not, why am I being encouraged by several schools to send them?), has anyone ever considered building functionality into CYMS to accommodate them, similar to how AMCAS manages the ED process now (i.e., allowing WL applicants to make one or several designations, allowing schools to choose whether to participate or not, and informing all schools that an application is withdrawn if a school responds positively to a LOI?) @gyngyn @gonnif @REL @CWRU.Sman @Moko ??????

I expect royalties if something like this is ever adopted in the future, because it would go a long way to systematizing something schools actively solicit that a certain subgroup of applicants would eagerly embrace. 😎 It would 100% eliminate the bu11sh1t associated with such letters today.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

????? The CYMS portal doesn't show anyone anything prior to 4/30. Period. If I select another another school as my PTE, any other school where I am an applicant will only see that information in the aggregate, with no ability to trace back to me. To me, using it before that date is kind of pointless, although i suppose schools could use it to get an early sense of what their yield might look like.

After 4/30, schools where I hold an A or a WL will be able to see whether I am PTE or CTE somewhere else, which they will presumably use to rescind my A if I haven't PTEd at their school. They won't be able to see how many other schools, and won't know which schools, but this isn't the time frame I was talking about. I'd assume sometime in May is a little early to first be sending a LOI. Before then, schools cannot use CYMS to know anything at all about whether or not I am holding As anywhere else.

Right... I don't think CYMS is open at all until April, but that doesn't mean that anything can or will be done with an LOI or mentioning other acceptances (the original post question).

CYMS has been around enough times that everyone uses the information as it wants to. I will agree it gives us an idea of yield and what steps could be considered for WL management.

 

[KnightDoc]

Right... I don't think CYMS is open at all until April, but that doesn't mean that anything can or will be done with an LOI or mentioning other acceptances (the original post question).

CYMS has been around enough times that everyone uses the information as it wants to. I will agree it gives us an idea of yield and what steps could be considered for WL management.

It opens in mid-February, but candidates cannot commit until 4/30, and schools cannot run reports identifying anyone until that time.

My response was simply that schools couldn't use it prior to 4/30 to know anything, and, even after 4/30, they could only use it to see whether or not we are PTE elsewhere. Not where, and, after 4/30, we can't be holding more than a single A anyway, so not how many.

They also can't use it to see whether, where, or how many other WLs we are on. So, basically, CYMS has no value in managing WL movement, or in probing the veracity of a LOI. Pre-4/30, it gives an early peek into how many applicants have PTEd at all, and the breakdown between your school and other schools.