Letter of Intent - When and How?

[blondMD]

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Any advice on letters of intent? Should they be mailed post-interview/pre-decision, or after being waitlisted? What kind of things should be included in the letter? Is this thing good for all schools, or can it be viewed as tacky?

Drexel is my first choice, and I interviewed on Friday. I want in! HELP!

 

[tacrum43]

Any advice on letters of intent? Should they be mailed post-interview/pre-decision, or after being waitlisted? What kind of things should be included in the letter? Is this thing good for all schools, or can it be viewed as tacky?

Drexel is my first choice, and I interviewed on Friday. I want in! HELP!

If you are writing a letter of intent, you should only send it to one school because what you are saying is that if they accept you, you will go there. It's not "tacky" to send one if that school is really your first choice.

People send them both post-interview (which is probably when they're most effective, although some schools don't take them into consideration at all) and after being waitlisted.

The most important thing is just to say that you love the school for X, Y, Z reasons and that you will definitely matriculate there in the Fall if they accept you.

 

[blondMD]

If you are writing a letter of intent, you should only send it to one school because what you are saying is that if they accept you, you will go there. It's not "tacky" to send one if that school is really your first choice.

People send them both post-interview (which is probably when they're most effective, although some schools don't take them into consideration at all) and after being waitlisted.

The most important thing is just to say that you love the school for X, Y, Z reasons and that you will definitely matriculate there in the Fall if they accept you.

Tacrum,

Thanks for the info!! I think Drexel's the right place for me...off to start drafting my letter!

 

[yyd]

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[DrKitty]

This sounds fair, but what if you have several waitlists and no acceptances? At this point I am worried if I will get in at all, anywhere. Would it be so wrong to write a letter of intent to all schools which waitlisted you? Of course I have a first choice, but I'd be equally happy to attend other med schools where I interviewed (as opposed not getting in at all).[/QUOTE]

Personally, if I was in that situation, I would write letters of intent to all of the schools. You have to save your own ass sometimes 😳

 

[nimotsu]

I sent a haiku post-interview (j/k) and a real letter after being waitlisted at the school.

 

[loo]

What do you do if your first choice DOESN'T interview non-resident applicants (me) and they haven't made decisions yet?

 

[diosa428]

"If you are writing a letter of intent, you should only send it to one school because what you are saying is that if they accept you, you will go there. It's not "tacky" to send one if that school is really your first choice."

tacrum43,

This sounds fair, but what if you have several waitlists and no acceptances? At this point I am worried if I will get in at all, anywhere. Would it be so wrong to write a letter of intent to all schools which waitlisted you? Of course I have a first choice, but I'd be equally happy to attend other med schools where I interviewed (as opposed not getting in at all).

SCHOOLS CAN COMMUNICATE. If you get accepted into more than one school, and they find out that you wrote a LOI to more than one school, they can revoke your acceptances. If you get into one school, and immediately withdraw your applications from every other school, it may work. However, if you write an LOI to school x and school y and they both accept you, and you decide to withdraw from school y, they can call school x and say "hey, yyd wrote us a LOI" and then school y will say "no, yyd wrote US an LOI" and then they all withdraw their acceptances and you're even more screwed. Better off sticking to just one school.

 

[DrKitty]

SCHOOLS CAN COMMUNICATE. If you get accepted into more than one school, and they find out that you wrote a LOI to more than one school, they can revoke your acceptances. If you get into one school, and immediately withdraw your applications from every other school, it may work. However, if you write an LOI to school x and school y and they both accept you, and you decide to withdraw from school y, they can call school x and say "hey, yyd wrote us a LOI" and then school y will say "no, yyd wrote US an LOI" and then they all withdraw their acceptances and you're even more screwed. Better off sticking to just one school.

This is a crappy situation, but how likely is it to happen? Schools are very busy, and may not have time to investigate into each applicant who swore to matriculate but didn't.

 

[tacrum43]

tacrum43,

This sounds fair, but what if you have several waitlists and no acceptances? At this point I am worried if I will get in at all, anywhere. Would it be so wrong to write a letter of intent to all schools which waitlisted you? Of course I have a first choice, but I'd be equally happy to attend other med schools where I interviewed (as opposed not getting in at all).

Well, obviously you're lying to one (or more) of the schools if you send a letter of intent to more than one school. They can't all be your top choice. Of course, once they reject you (or you withdraw) you could send a letter of intent to a different school. Basically, it's a pretty underhanded thing to do, and if you get caught all of your "top choices" will give you the boot.

It seems better to write one a letter of intent, and strong letters of interest to the others.

 

[diosa428]

This is a crappy situation, but how likely is it to happen? Schools are very busy, and may not have time to investigate into each applicant who swore to matriculate but didn't.

I honestly don't know the answer to this. I agree that it does seem unlikely, but I still wouldn't risk an acceptance at my top choice. If it were the other way around and a medical school accepted you, and then wrote you a letter saying "just kidding, the other applicants that we liked better are coming, so you can't enroll" I bet you'd follow up. Maybe REL or LizzyM will notice this thread and give a more informed answer.

 

[wildcat05]

I wouldn't risk it either. Instead, maybe send a letter to each school telling them that they are one of your top choices and why you are so interested in going there, instead of saying they are your top choice and you would definitely go there if accepted.

 

[yyd]

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[diosa428]

So there is a difference between a letter of intent and a letter of interest. From your posts I initially understood that if a school is not my first choice, I should not write anything at all. Now, I guess it is allright to express an interest in the school by writing them a letter, as long as I don't make any far-reaching commitments to their program (like promising to attend if accepted).
In this case, how would you phrase your letter of interest? Would you adress it to admissions committee of the Dean?

You would write a letter of interest the same way as you would write the letter of intent - as you said, just don't promise to attend if accepted. Write the things about the school that you liked, and why you think you'd be a successful student there. I don't know if it matters who you address it to - either the admissions committee or the Dean is probably fine?

 

[USArmyDoc]

While I understand what everyone is saying, there are certain instances where you may send out more than one Letter of Intent. For example, I have 1 interview and I am drafting up a letter of intent right now. I can't be sure to get one in the future. Sorry, it may be a little sly but I am going to do what has to be done to get me in. I doubt a school would communicate like a previous poster. Besides, if that applicant doesn't want to go there someone else will. I really don't think its that big of a deal.

 

[JohnH]

I sent a letter of intent post-interview to my top choice and got waitlisted. Its pretty well known that they take very few students from their waitlist. I was thinking about writting a letter of intent to my second choice. Would that be a bad idea?

 

[veenut]

I sent a letter of intent post-interview to my top choice and got waitlisted. Its pretty well known that they take very few students from their waitlist. I was thinking about writting a letter of intent to my second choice. Would that be a bad idea?

go for it. i say that if you wrote an LOI to your real #1 choice and they didn't accept you, all bets are off and your LOI doesn't mean anything anymore

 

[pnasty]

If I were you guys I would just write a very strongly worded letter saying that after interviewing at the school you were very impressed and really enjoyed your visit for so and so reason. I'm not sure if that is different from the LOI but there are ways around this whole one or none problem, you just cant mention dropping other acceptances.

 

[tacrum43]

So there is a difference between a letter of intent and a letter of interest. From your posts I initially understood that if a school is not my first choice, I should not write anything at all. Now, I guess it is allright to express an interest in the school by writing them a letter, as long as I don't make any far-reaching commitments to their program (like promising to attend if accepted).
In this case, how would you phrase your letter of interest? Would you adress it to admissions committee of the Dean?

Yes, big difference. Sorry if I wasn't clear. You can write as many letters of interest as you want. Many people (well, at least those who don't have super-stats) write several to their top choices.

You can send the letter to either the committee on admissions or the Dean, but I think usually the letter is a little more personal if you're writing directly to the Dean.

A letter of interest (as I understand it) should basically do two things: show a sincere interest in the school (like that you would happy to go there if accepted), and show specifically why you and the school are a good match for each other.