letters of intent?

[treetrunk]

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Hey All,

In some of the other threads, some people wrote about writing letters of intent to some schools. I have questions about this. First of all, what exactly is a letter of intent? Second, how many schools should this be sent to? Third, what should be typically written? Finally, who should it be sent to? THanks in advance for your awesome advice (esp the current/accepted med students). 🙂

-treetrunk

 

[Syranope2]

so i've never actually written a letter of intent, but i do know what one is, yay for me! there are letters of interest and letters of intent. a letter of interest is usually sent after your interview reaffirming your interest in the school, and saying how well you'd fit in, how much you liked it, etc. you can send letters of interest to as many schools as you want.

in a letter of intent, however, you write that, if accepted, you will attend that school. i don't think it's legally binding or whatever, but schools do talk to each other, and if you write a letter of intent to more than one school, or if you write a letter of intent to one school, get in, and then decide to go to another school, schools probably wouldn't look too favorably on that. letters of intent are also sent after interviews. in order to make sure that you're sending this letter to your top choice school, you might want to have finished your interviews at other schools as well. i'm assuming that you send them to the dean of admissions. you can usually call the admissions office of a school to ask to whom you should address the letter.

hope this helps, and anyone else should feel free to correct me if needed. 🙂

 

[mikedc813]

in a letter of intent, however, you write that, if accepted, you will attend that school. i don't think it's legally binding or whatever, but schools do talk to each other, and if you write a letter of intent to more than one school, or if you write a letter of intent to one school, get in, and then decide to go to another school, schools probably wouldn't look too favorably on that. letters of intent are also sent after interviews. in order to make sure that you're sending this letter to your top choice school, you might want to have finished your interviews at other schools as well. i'm assuming that you send them to the dean of admissions. you can usually call the admissions office of a school to ask to whom you should address the letter.

This is correct. Letters of intent are serious business and should only be written to one school that you DEFINITELY want to go to. You should certainly not send multiple letters, hoping that it will help you get into more schools because adcoms certainly will find out about this. This being said, the ideal time to send a LOI is following your interview at your #1 school, the school you really really want to attend. Sending it beforehand wouldn't seem quite right, seeing how they know you haven't met them yet and seen what they're all about, and also vice versa. I wrote a LOI and was accepted to that school, and will be going there (USF) in a month. I'm not 100% sure on how much this helps your application, but I would bet that it will give you a slight advantage if the adcom can't decide you and others with identical applications, if only to make their numbers look better since you will theoretically be accepting them for sure.

I hope this helps. Oh, and I wrote my LOI to the director of the admissions department and made sure it was put in my file.

 

[treetrunk]

thanks so much for your input. 😉 Does anyone else have experience or information about letters of interest/intent?

 

[beastmaster]

Question:

I am waitlisted at schools A, B, and C.

I write a letter of INTENT to school B.
School A or C accepts me from waitlist and I decide to attend.

A week later school B accepts me. Am I still obligated to now decline A/C and come back to B?

 

[beastmaster]

Also, does anyone know where I can find a Sample Letter of Intent? I don't want to submit a sloppy/inadequate letter. Thanks.

 

[adamj61]

Does everyone send letters of intent? Do you guys make a carbon copy and then put a little tidbit about each school? Mail to the admissions secretaries? Make your own stationary?

 

[MoosePilot]

Does everyone send letters of intent? Do you guys make a carbon copy and then put a little tidbit about each school? Mail to the admissions secretaries? Make your own stationary?

I may be misunderstanding you, but you only send a letter of intent to one school. That's the point, letting them know they're *the* school if they pick you.

 

[IndyZX]

god, 90% of most applicants to med school suck.

 

[MoosePilot]

god, 90% of most applicants to med school suck.

Psst.. extracurricular

 

[adamj61]

ah, I meant interest!!!!!!

 

[latestarter]

ah, I meant interest!!!!!!

HUH ?

 

[adamj61]

Does everyone send letters of intent? Do you guys make a carbon copy and then put a little tidbit about each school? Mail to the admissions secretaries? Make your own stationary?

Do you all send letters of INTEREST to all of the schools you interview at...while I am at it, is it really necesscary to send a letter/thank you note to your interviewer, don't they make up their mind right away, and are not usually on the adcom....

never quoted myself before haha

 

[Heal&Teach]

I sent a letter of interest to a school that I was waitlisted at, and then followed up with a call, and was accepted off the waitlist within a week (results not typical). I would typically suggest sending a letter of interest after finding out the status of your application at a particular school (accept or waitlist), unless the school has not responded to you or has had your application on hold pre-interview. The only thing you typically send to your interviewer is a thank you note post-interview (but not sending one won't make or break you).

As far as content/templates of letters of intent/interest, a basic letter should state the specific reasons why you want to attend a school. There is no formal way of doing it - it's all about how well you communicate your interest in attending a specific school.