On hold at Goucher--- send a "I am still very interested" letter?

[Lefty Doodle]

My friends and family who have experience being waitlisted at like medical and law schools think I should send a follow up letter to Goucher to tell them I am still interested (was put on hold March 15--got the letter Friday March 20). From reading here, the turnaround for hold students seems to be pretty quick, and I didn't want to send a letter and have it get there after they'd made the decision.

What do you think? Should I write to them? Maybe an email?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Friulan]

I'm guessing your letter will be seen by a secretary and then thrown in a recycling bin. What they are doing is going down the list of candidates to ranked above you to see who wants in You'll be offered a spot depending on your place on the list, and not because of a special letter you sent.

 

[Lefty Doodle]

Yeah I figured as much too. As I told my parents, sending a letter or not is not going to change how they feel about how well I'd do in their program ;-). That, unfortunately, is based on things that happened years ago mostly.

 

[deleted248403]

id only send a letter if i had something to tell them - i.e. new semester grades, new MCAT score, got published, did something awesome.

Otherwise its not like ur updating them on anything and they wont really care whether you super want to go there vs really wanting to go there

 

[darkjedi]

If something has changed in your resume, it doesn't hurt to send the letter. They can't possibly move you down the list, but if they notice something new it may affect their decision. You have only to gain, it just depends on how much effort you are willing to draft up a interest letter.

 

[drizzt3117]

I think sending a letter of interest can only help you and can't hurt you. In my work with postbac admissions we definitely wanted to admit the people who
were likely to attend if accepted.

 

[EJS1979]

I would send a letter, even if it is just to express interest. Knowing the office, I doubt it would just be thrown in a bin. I know the class is starting to fill up, so you don't want to wait until it's too late, and it definitely can't hurt you.

 

[southwind]

I cannot think of any reason not to. Especially if you can find an updated tidbit of information.

The worst that can happen is you waste a half hour or so.

 

[betterlate]

I would send a letter, even if it is just to express interest. Knowing the office, I doubt it would just be thrown in a bin. I know the class is starting to fill up, so you don't want to wait until it's too late, and it definitely can't hurt you.

I completely agree. You definitely won't hurt your application and you may help it.

 

[Geographer]

I completely agree. You definitely won't hurt your application and you may help it.

As others have said, DO IT! What are you waiting for?!

The Goucher program is not some enormous bureaucracy-- I can assure you that your letter would not be thrown away or completely disregarded. It will be read and considered. Will it help? Maybe not, but if Goucher is where you want to be, why not hedge your bets? (Plus, you can think of it as good practice for med school in case this happens again.)

As EJS pointed out though, you have to act quickly. I'd guess that you can count the number of spots remaining in next year's class on one hand... maybe a polydactyl hand at best (Genetics joke).

 

[JHPepper]

While a letter doesn't officially have any bearing on your application, it's always good to show enthusiasm. Because there are so few postbacs in each class, a fair amount of consideration is given to whether applicants are excited about coming to Goucher or whether they would just as soon accept another offer. It's a unique program that has a lot of benefits, but it is certainly not what everyone is looking for, so it's always nice for us to know that you are really interested in what Goucher has to offer. I will warn you that any correspondence will absolutely be read (and read carefully) by the administrators, so write only if you have something substantial to say-- a letter full of empty pablum is not going to just check off an empty box on your application. In sum, a letter obviously won't guarantee you a spot in the class, but I'll echo the others by saying that it can't hurt, either .