Pre-Interview Update Letters/Letters of Interest

[TheBossDoctor]

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So I'm still waiting to hear back from almost all of my top schools and the wait is making me frustrated.

My question is, would it be OK to send letters of interest to these top schools even though they haven't sent me an interview invite yet? And if I do send letters of interest to them, should I also include updates about my activities or should the updates be a separate letter (and sent only to schools that accept them)?

And lastly, if I were to send a letter of INTENT to my top choice, is it OK to do so before an interview invitation or should I wait until after I've been invited for an interview?

 

[CyberMaxx]

Take my advice with a grain of salt because I'm a current applicant, but this is my perspective:

Update Letters: almost all schools welcome these and add them to you file

Update Letter + Letter of Interest: A safe way to go if you want to show a school how interested you are and schools will accept them because they are technically update letters. Some schools care about interest letters while others, I am sure, don't care at all.

Letters of Interest: A well written letter may help you pre-interview, but I think that it is a safer bet that schools will actually read it if it is coupled with an update.

Letter of Intent: The general SDN wisdom is that this type of letter is only potentially helpful if on the waitlist. I would strongly not suggest sending a letter of intent before an interview offer.

tl;dr send a short update letter/letter of interest to your schools and be sure to say what you like about them and how you fit with their program

 

[TheBossDoctor]

For update letters, how many updates are necessary? The only new thing I have since applying is my abstract getting published (and getting accepted to present a poster at a major research conference). Would it be OK to mention that and then just say that along with that new achievement, I've just been continuing my activities from the summer?

 

[volcomx]

For update letters, how many updates are necessary? The only new thing I have since applying is my abstract getting published (and getting accepted to present a poster at a major research conference). Would it be OK to mention that and then just say that along with that new achievement, I've just been continuing my activities from the summer?

Those are significant and probably worth sending in an update to schools. I would leave out the "continuing activities." That's a given and boring. You could also write an interest component, but, given you already wrote and paid for secondaries, and are bothering to send in an update, they know you are interested.

For what it's worth, I sent in an update letter to schools about a publication being accepted to a top journal (I'm mid author), and an abstract/poster with awards. That was a few week ago and I haven't had a single invite come from it.

 

[TheBossDoctor]

bump. anyone else?

so just having a published abstract (not a whole paper) and poster presentation would be enough for an update + interest letter?

 

[Amygdarya]

so just having a published abstract (not a whole paper) and poster presentation would be enough for an update + interest letter?

Yes, absolutely.
The way I see it, anything tat can be a line on your resume constitutes a good update. Conference presentation? Yes. 20 more hours of shadowing? No.

 

[reese07]

Can this letter of interest/update be through email or is it best through paper?

 

[tantacles]

For update letters, how many updates are necessary? The only new thing I have since applying is my abstract getting published (and getting accepted to present a poster at a major research conference). Would it be OK to mention that and then just say that along with that new achievement, I've just been continuing my activities from the summer?

Zero updates are necessary. If something significant has happened, feel free to send an update. Many schools don't accept them, but if that is the case, it won't hurt your application.

bump. anyone else?

so just having a published abstract (not a whole paper) and poster presentation would be enough for an update + interest letter?

Yes.

Can this letter of interest/update be through email or is it best through paper?

E-mail. Always e-mail.

 

[TalinAagam]

ThanksThanksThanksThanks

 

[nemo123]

Hi guys, I was wondering how one starts off one of these letters? I tried send a school one of these letter of interests and just got a generic email telling me to refer back to one of the early emails sent by that school.

I was wondering if someone can provide a breakdown for what to include in these letters?

Wait do you mean you asked how you should write a letter of interest or did they reject your LOI saying it was not written in the write format? If you scavenge through MDApps, there are some people who have posted their update letters/letters of interests. One is alwaysangel and the other is BABSstudent.

 

[TalinAagam]

ThanksThanksThanksThanks

 

[nemo123]

Thanks, No I just sent a typical question and at the same time expressed my interest for the school through their email and in reply I got some information about how "they have tons of application and we have to wait along time to hear back" but they didn't express gratitude for me expressing my interest for their school. they didn't even mention it in their email back to me. I was a little saddened.

Thanks for those names btw, I'll check them out.

It's probably because they get lots of applications and have to go through hundreds of emails everyday from people inquiring about their status or having a general question about the school, so I wouldn't put much stock in the wording of those emails.

 

[TalinAagam]

ThanksThanksThanksThanks