letters of intent, legally binding?

[ms2007plz]

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I've read on here posts where people say that LOIs are legally binding. I was wondering if anyone can show me a link/document that shows this to be the case.

I'm not planning on writing more than 1 LOI; however, I'm thinking that if I got accepted to my #1 choice and received a poor financial package and if I got lucky enough to be accepted to some school lower on my list with a good financial aid/scholarship package, I would want to go to the cheaper school.

Thanks!!

 

[Trail Boss]

I started a thread about this last year and did some research on my own, because Mayo pretty much implied that you need to write a LOI to get in....came to the conslusion that backing out of a LOI is very very bad juju, but I never found any proof of this, not even from admin people at med schools. There were idle threats, but I never saw any proof. I didn't never got up the nerve to do it, plus it is pretty early in the cycle isn't it? I would wait it out, there are also rumors that schools can see where you are accepted before may 15th in some cases???, so if you write a LOI and then take a position at another school, I am sure that they could find ways to punish you depending on their level of motivation.

I would call a schools admin that you did not apply to and demand an answer (w/o telling them that you didn't apply there), there is a great deal of urban legend about this question.

 

[GujuMD]

Don't send the LOI in just yet. It is a little early. wait to see what happens with the other schools and the financial aid package. however in the mean time, you could write a letter of interest, which by no means is legally binding.

 

[beenthere2]

I'm sorry....what is a letter of intent? Is it a letter you send AFTER you are accepted, or a letter you send after an interview? I can't imagine a letter sent before acceptance could be legally binding.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

I'm sorry....what is a letter of intent? Is it a letter you send AFTER you are accepted, or a letter you send after an interview? I can't imagine a letter sent before acceptance could be legally binding.

It's a letter where you say that your intent is to only matriculate at their school if they send you an acceptance letter (i.e. they are the top school on your list).

If you tell everyone that their school is your top choice, then you are simply lying. If the schools ever found out that you said you were their top choice, and then they send you an acceptance but you don't matriculate...then you are found out as a liar. Worst thing is that they could let other schools know that you lied.

A letter of interest, I don't believe this actually exists, would simply be a letter you send to a school where you say you are interested in attending their school if you are accepted, but you aren't promising that they are your top choice.

 

[mrs.smith]

Has anyone here written a LOI and gotten accepted soon afterward?

To which shool?

If so, was your letter short & sweet or very long & detailed?

 

[ms2007plz]

Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I'm still going to wait to send in the LOI for at least another month...Does anyone think that sending in a LOI would decrease your chance for financial aid/scholarships from that school? I'm just thinking from a business perspective...if you were selling a product, and somebody told you that they would buy it for sure 100%, then why the heck would you offer them a discount/coupon?

 

[TSK]

While the medical school may not take legal action against someone who does not attend after sending a LOI, it's simply a matter of integrity. If you don't have all of the necessary info to write a LOI, ie financial aid info, then don't write one, simple as that.
🙂

 

[braluk]

Someone on these boards over the summer sent me their LOIs in case I were to use them for a template. She was accepted into University of Washington, and had sent over 3-4 update letters (each of them LOI) and kept bugging them until she was admitted sometime when the waitlists started moving late, and she had already begun to reapply

 

[ahoyfatty]

It's a letter where you say that your intent is to only matriculate at their school if they send you an acceptance letter (i.e. they are the top school on your list).

On my letter, I simply put it that it was "my intention to matriculate" if accepted. Perhaps I worded it wrong, but that does not sound legally binding.

Doesn't matter anyway in my case, it would take a seriously crazy situation for me to not go there if I got in.

 

[crowman]

Contract is a promissory agreement enforceable in a court of law between two or more parties. It must contain the following items in order to be considered a valid contract:

Offer, Acceptance, Consideration and Capacity. If you send a letter of intent to a school and say they are the number one choice and that if they accept you, you will not go any where else, then this could certainly be perceived as an offer. The school sending an acceptance letter could be deemed an acceptance of your offer to attend their school. However, as with any binding legal contract with offer and acceptance, there are implications for breaking that contract. However, I HIGHLY doubt a school is going to seek legal action against you for not going to their institution, but they will certainly keep your deposit money...

On a side note, I think the schools love written statements like this because contract which by their own terms cannot be completed within a year are governed by the Uniform Commercial Code and thus MUST be in written form. So it is still possible that a school slams you if they have your intent letter and has sent you an acceptance (which you in turn have accepted). I would send a letter that gives you some breathing room... if you really have to send one in the first place.

 

[Law2Doc]

Contract is a promissory agreement enforceable in a court of law between two or more parties. It must contain the following items in order to be considered a valid contract:

Offer, Acceptance, Consideration and Capacity. If you send a letter of intent to a school and say they are the number one choice and that if they accept you, you will not go any where else, then this could certainly be perceived as an offer. The school sending an acceptance letter could be deemed an acceptance of your offer to attend their school. However, as with any binding legal contract with offer and acceptance, there are implications for breaking that contract. However, I HIGHLY doubt a school is going to seek legal action against you for not going to their institution, but they will certainly keep your deposit money...

On a side note, I think the schools love written statements like this because contract which by their own terms cannot be completed within a year are governed by the Uniform Commercial Code and thus MUST be in written form. So it is still possible that a school slams you if they have your intent letter and has sent you an acceptance (which you in turn have accepted). I would send a letter that gives you some breathing room... if you really have to send one in the first place.

I agree, a LOI does, in fact, meet all the necessaries of contract law, and so it would be an enforceable binding contract. However no school would ever spend money to enforce it, as they can easilly mitigate all their damages by just accepting the next person down on their list. You'd have to pi$$ them off pretty badly, and them want to make an example of you for them to ever take legal action. However you do have a moral and ethical obligation to not tell a school you would attend and then back out. The med school world is a very small one and this kind of bad word gets around. People entering a profession are supposed to have relatively pristine ethics. So do not phrase it as a letter of intent unless you intend to go there. You can always send an update letter or word it as a letter of "interest" and not commit yourself (ethically or otherwise) to anything.