Letter of intent

[Veni vidi vicii]

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Hi -

Has anyone wrote a letter of intent to a school who you've been waiting to hear back for an interview and has it helped? Would you e-mail this letter or mail it? I feel as though mailing it require a lot of time and it potentially may get lost, so is e-mail common practice?

Thanks

 

[knewstance]

I have not found them to be beneficial whatsoever.

 

[Badgers2]

I have not found them to be beneficial whatsoever.

Based off of what? Just curious

 

[doc toothache]

Letter of Interest/Intent-The Dilemma

 

[WolfsBane]

It does not hurt. I have heard stories where people emailed the school and got an interview that day. So why not?

 

[knewstance]

Based off of what? Just curious

My own experience of sending tailored letters to 8 schools.

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

My own experience of sending tailored letters to 8 schools.

Sorry to hear that. Was this through email or postal service?

 

[doc toothache]

It does not hurt. I have heard stories where people emailed the school and got an interview that day. So why not?

Kind of like the crowing rooster who thinks he is making the sun rise.

 

[knewstance]

Sorry to hear that. Was this through email or postal service?

Email. Don't think sending a postcard will make any more impact than an email.

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

Email. Don't think sending a postcard will make any more impact than an email.

Was this sent to the admissions office e-mail or the dean? Sorry, I'm not sure what's common practice.

 

[knewstance]

Was this sent to the admissions office e-mail or the dean? Sorry, I'm not sure what's common practice.

Admissions office. The dean is not typically involved with admissions. The whole point of this thread is saying that these letters are ineffective.

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

Admissions office. The dean is not typically involved with admissions. The whole point of this thread is saying that these letters are ineffective.

Oh I understand, but it wouldn't hurt to try especially considering for some people it has worked. I checked @doc toothache post about it and fully agree and it's very logical to where I would think a letter of intent is futile because applying to a school already shows intent. However, if there is an effect and some other applicant gets the edge over me because they wrote a letter of intent then I wouldn't be wrong to regret the decision of not writing the letter. Again, it's all just speculative at this point, but if the time comes I'd rather be informed on how it works. Thanks for the help as well.

 

[Jlm50]

I just got an email from UNE saying people who don't get a decision are welcome to send a letter of intent. What does one put in a letter of intent?!

 

[doc toothache]

I just got an email from UNE saying people who don't get a decision are welcome to send a letter of intent. What does one put in a letter of intent?!

Perhaps someone at UNE needed to clock some hours to justify his/her position.

 

[blcopp]

The head of admissions at a school I was at literally told me to my face that he has a stack of papers in his office that are all letters of intent. Dental schools know that there are students out there that send these letters to every school that they want to go to, rendering them pretty useless.

 

[Jlm50]

In the email it had a list of common questions for Dec. 1
"Can I send a letter of intent if I am not accepted on Friday, December 1?
Yes, please send any letters of intent to [email protected] in PDF format ONLY. He will add them to your application file in AADSAS."

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I FedEx overnighted the most beautifully written letter of intent TWICE to my top choice without getting a single response back from them. It isn't worth the false confidence. You applying IS a letter of intent

 

[ProspectivePostPreDent]

Perhaps someone at UNE needed to clock some hours to justify his/her position.

I know that sarcasm is your first language, but the reality is that

a. every "less established" school that I interviewed at openly solicited letters of intent
b. none of the public state or "prestigious" schools that I interviewed at mentioned these letters
c. there is a rational explanation which ties together the above two phenomena

Ockham's razor would suggest that adcoms, who are not stupid and who have a general awareness of both their school's place on the food chain and the relative competitiveness of different applicants, may be willing to take LOIs into consideration (not as binding - they're not gullible - but as a probabilistic modifier) if they are likely to be turned down on the vast majority of the acceptances they send out.

Alternately, your snarky axiom may actually hold for all schools, but lying for personal amusement is simply a more popular activity for the people at LECOM and UNE than it is for Columbia, Penn, UConn, etc.

 

[blcopp]

In the email it had a list of common questions for Dec. 1
"Can I send a letter of intent if I am not accepted on Friday, December 1?
Yes, please send any letters of intent to [email protected] in PDF format ONLY. He will add them to your application file in AADSAS."

I am guessing since it is a commonly asked question they just put it in there to reduce future emails asking if they accept letters of intent.

 

[9predent9]

My own experience of sending tailored letters to 8 schools.

Did you get a response from any of them

 

[knewstance]

Did you get a response from any of them

Never

 

[Cheshireshrike]

These things are pretty useless unless the program requests them. The program has a million things on their agenda like balancing out GPA/DAT scores, EC's, and even the diversity of their matriculating class, the letter probably wouldn't even be read by faculty.

 

[Life of Pablo]

These things are pretty useless unless the program requests them. The program has a million things on their agenda like balancing out GPA/DAT scores, EC's, and even the diversity of their matriculating class, the letter probably wouldn't even be read by faculty.

Probably not. But in the unlikely case that an admissions officer does read it, it can only help you. I really don’t see the issue with showing schools you are committed to them. Now, I’m not saying to pester/bother them on a regular basis, but sending a letter of intent is definitely not doing that. Personally, if two applicants were similar, I’d choose the one that has expressed more interest in my program.