Mentioning school is top choice in thank you letter

[Jaigantic]

Just had a quick question for you all.

Last week, I interviewed at a phenomenal school and am now writing a thank you letter, both to my interviewer as well as the dean of admissions. This school is one of my top choices. I was wondering if I should mention this in either or both of my letters or if it would come off as pointless pandering as they may think I'm just saying that to have said it. Should I just keep it short and to the point? I'm only wondering because thank you notes were highly encouraged by the school so I just wanna make sure I maximize the utility of mine.

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[SpoiledMilk]

I was wondering if I should mention this in either or both of my letters or if it would come off as pointless pandering as they may think I'm just saying that to have said it. Should I just keep it short and to the point? I'm only wondering because thank you notes were highly encouraged by the school so I just wanna make sure I maximize the utility of mine.

Just my $0.02.

By all means if the school encourages the letters, then send them. However, unless you have compelling reasons (e.g. family lives in the city, grew up in the city, spouse/fiance(e) works there or has a job offer, or other deep connections to the city) beyond the general info that can be had by other applicants doing an on-line search, then you hit the nail on the head with your statement.

n=1 *I took a risk with my interviewer by telling them at the interview that it was my top choice (after getting good vibes from our conversation), backed it with very compelling reasons, and it worked out.

 

[Goro]

Just had a quick question for you all.

Last week, I interviewed at a phenomenal school and am now writing a thank you letter, both to my interviewer as well as the dean of admissions. This school is one of my top choices. I was wondering if I should mention this in either or both of my letters or if it would come off as pointless pandering as they may think I'm just saying that to have said it. Should I just keep it short and to the point? I'm only wondering because thank you notes were highly encouraged by the school so I just wanna make sure I maximize the utility of mine.

Normally I'll say : They know you're lying. It's like the hot chick who always hears "But I'll still respect you in the morning!"

But if this school encourages TY notes, they sound excessively needy, so treat them as such. Be sure to articulate well why you are such a good fit for the school.

 

[HomeSkool]

Keep in mind that admissions offices do communicate with one another. If you tell more than one that they're your top choice, they'll get wise to your game. Play that card with care.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using SDN mobile

 

[Jaigantic]

Keep in mind that admissions offices do communicate with one another. If you tell more than one that they're your top choice, they'll get wise to your game. Play that card with care.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using SDN mobile

Haha this one actually IS my top choice though. Although they are a top tier school so I feel like they're everyone's top choice so maybe they're tired of hearing it.

 

[aldol16]

It won't hurt to say that since you truly mean it but it also won't help you much. You can blame it on all the liars who have said that before. Think about it - it's a non-committal thing for you to say. You could theoretically say it for all schools you interview at. The school has no idea whether you're doing that or not. Since previous experiences have made them cynical, they have no incentive to take your statement at face value.

 

[workaholic181]

Interesting I'd never heard of thank yous being encouraged before.. anyway, I think it's a good idea if you enumerate a few specific reasons why you fit there (interests, research, relevancy to school mission) etc. Don't just say its your top choice, tell them why it is and why you should be a top choice of theirs! Good luck OP.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

I wrote a thank you letter to my interviewer from my top choice and didn't mention this.

I mentioned in the interview all of the reasons why I felt the school was my top choice, but I didn't word it that way. I gave a list of all of the reasons why I think I would be a good fit for the school, and I mentioned that my SO is going to school ~5 mins away. I think it's kind of useless, as others have mentioned, to directly go out and say "this school is my top choice". Give them reasons why you'd be a perfect fit for them, without directly using the words top choice.

I didn't feel the need to reiterate all of those reasons in my thank you note, but if you didn't do it at the original interview, I think it would be fine to do it in the thank you letter.

 

[Orthopedics101]

I am going to give my experience here that differs from what everyone is saying. Since it is n = 1, take this advice with a grain of salt. In my secondary I mentioned that a school was my top choice and it was brought up in the interviews I had at the school (I only did this for one school and it was and still is my top choice).
I think it was received pretty favorably because of the effort I put into the secondary (2 500 word essays 1 optional and 1 required and I used all 500 for both) and because of how much I knew about the school. My thank you notes which reiterated that the school was my number 1 was received favorably by both of my interviewers.
Who knows if this will translate into an acceptance (don’t find out until March), but if a school is your number 1 then it doesn’t hurt to mention it. That being said, don’t send this to multiple schools for the reasons outlined in other people’s posts.

 

[begoood95]

I am going to give my experience here that differs from what everyone is saying. Since it is n = 1, take this advice with a grain of salt. In my secondary I mentioned that a school was my top choice and it was brought up in the interviews I had at the school (I only did this for one school and it was and still is my top choice).
I think it was received pretty favorably because of the effort I put into the secondary (2 500 word essays 1 optional and 1 required and I used all 500 for both) and because of how much I knew about the school. My thank you notes which reiterated that the school was my number 1 was received favorably by both of my interviewers.
Who knows if this will translate into an acceptance (don’t find out until March), but if a school is your number 1 then it doesn’t hurt to mention it. That being said, don’t send this to multiple schools for the reasons outlined in other people’s posts.

Let's make that n=2. I did the same thing for a school that has the "why" question and one "diversity" question (500 words each), both of which I included allusions to it being my top—#1—choice. It is genuinely my top choice, and it was brought up by my interviewers, and received favorably. This is however a school that actually takes to heart applicants' LoI(or intent) because of their small class size, but still, I'd imagine if you can pull it off in a genuine manner, it couldn't hurt you.

 

[Jaigantic]

Let's make that n=2. I did the same thing for a school that has the "why" question and one "diversity" question (500 words each), both of which I included allusions to it being my top—#1—choice. It is genuinely my top choice, and it was brought up by my interviewers, and received favorably. This is however a school that actually takes to heart applicants' LoI(or intent) because of their small class size, but still, I'd imagine if you can pull it off in a genuine manner, it couldn't hurt you.

I am going to give my experience here that differs from what everyone is saying. Since it is n = 1, take this advice with a grain of salt. In my secondary I mentioned that a school was my top choice and it was brought up in the interviews I had at the school (I only did this for one school and it was and still is my top choice).
I think it was received pretty favorably because of the effort I put into the secondary (2 500 word essays 1 optional and 1 required and I used all 500 for both) and because of how much I knew about the school. My thank you notes which reiterated that the school was my number 1 was received favorably by both of my interviewers.
Who knows if this will translate into an acceptance (don’t find out until March), but if a school is your number 1 then it doesn’t hurt to mention it. That being said, don’t send this to multiple schools for the reasons outlined in other people’s posts.

OP here, I ended up not outright saying it in my thank you letter. Although to build on what you guys are saying, I too took advantage of an optional essay and started it off with "Since X is one of my top choice schools, I'd like to elaborate on why I like the program" so hopefully they take that to heart. I think, though, that since this school is nonrolling, I might send a letter of intent in january with an update of my grades and other app boosters and also outright tell them that they're my top choice then and elaborate on why they're a great fit for me.

Do you all think this is a good idea?

 

[begoood95]

OP here, I ended up not outright saying it in my thank you letter. Although to build on what you guys are saying, I too took advantage of an optional essay and started it off with "Since X is one of my top choice schools, I'd like to elaborate on why I like the program" so hopefully they take that to heart. I think, though, that since this school is nonrolling, I might send a letter of intent in january with an update of my grades and other app boosters and also outright tell them that they're my top choice then and elaborate on why they're a great fit for me.

Do you all think this is a good idea?

There have been a couple of threads floating around about letters of intent and interest that you might find helpful! Currently busy so I can't elaborate much, but, for what it's worth, I'll be doing something similar to you for the school I mentioned earlier (update + letter of intent [which obviously includes fit and so-on]). In other words, I think it's a good idea; others may disagree...but idc🙂

 

[Jaigantic]

There have been a couple of threads floating around about letters of intent and interest that you might find helpful! Currently busy so I can't elaborate much, but, for what it's worth, I'll be doing something similar to you for the school I mentioned earlier (update + letter of intent [which obviously includes fit and so-on]). In other words, I think it's a good idea; others may disagree...but idc🙂

Haha ok great, I'll check those out. Best of luck to you (and me 🙂)!

 

[Tenk]

Nobody cares about that unless you have some sort of tie in and the interviewer knows about it. Even then it probably won’t matter and you should have mentioned it during the interview. Thank you notes are not some clever means to explain why you are a perfect match for the school. That’s what the interview is for. Thank you notes are just to say thanks. Don’t be wordy.