Question about etiquette and letter of intent and med school admissions

[bodakyellow]

I received admission to one school and am on the waitlist to another school. Is it proper to email the waitlist school and ask them to expedite my decision based on the other acceptance. Basically saying something like “I was accepted I need to know my decision to your school as soon as possible, this is my first choice school” etc. I have already sent them a letter of intent. Either way SO EXCITED TO BE GOING TO MED SCHOOL!

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[gyngyn]

This won't help. ...at all

 

[Osminog]

Sounds like a good way to get a lightning-fast rejection.

 

[bodakyellow]

Sounds like a good way to get a lightning-fast rejection.

That’s exactly what I thought.... I am thrilled with my acceptance, my parents are pushing me to send this email but I am very hesitant.

 

[bodakyellow]

This won't help. ...at all

That’s what I figured

 

[21Rush12]

That’s exactly what I thought.... I am thrilled with my acceptance, my parents are pushing me to send this email but I am very hesitant.

Cut the cord now, there’s not room for them at the anatomy table anyway

 

[bodakyellow]

Cut the cord now, there’s not room for them at the anatomy table anyway

Hahah alright I’m sold thanks guys!

 

[theKingLT]

Im curious, why the rush?

 

[Goro]

That’s exactly what I thought.... I am thrilled with my acceptance, my parents are pushing me to send this email but I am very hesitant.

Ahhhh, parents. Doing their best out of love and ignorance to destroy your medical career.

How would you interpret a nonbinding promise from a desperate applicant?

Refer them to the below (and tell them who Homeskool and Med Ed are):

Here’s one Adcom member’s thoughts on the matter:
“We only invite amazing students to interview. It is quite unlikely that further good deeds or achievements will have an effect since only the students who have already wowed us are interviewed.”


“One serious thought for a moment. You want to become a physician, a profession that highly values ethical behavior. Yet even before you start training for this profession, you want take the unethical act of making promises to two different schools that you will attend over any other school?” -gonnif

From the wise Med Ed: [What med schools…] accept and desire are two different things. My institution, for instance, will accept practically anything a given applicant wants to forward along, but only rarely do we consider it a worthwhile addition to the package.

And yes, some of us have gotten a little jaded about LOI's. I could fill a barrel with all the post-interview correspondence I have received that has not translated into a single matriculant. This has all gotten mighty complicated and burdensome for what is essentially a zero sum game.

It's generally not burdensome for an applicant to upload something to the portal, and once in a great while it does tip us off with some useful info. I can think of one individual who had a stellar application, like Harvard/Yale/Stanford-worthy, and a superb interview, who sent us several updates and a LOI. We were somewhat perplexed by this person's tenacious interest in our program. Turns out there were family/geographical reasons behind the whole thing, the applicant just never felt comfortable directly playing that card.

When it comes down to waitlist time I will scan through what folks have uploaded post-interview. The vast majority of times it has no impact. Occasionally I have seen it hurt people's chances. Come to think of it, in my experience this is probably more likely, than such correspondence having a positive impact.

See the following for classic examples of why most Admissions deans treat these as lies.

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/loi-and-interviews.1252832/#post-18849958

I told a school I'd go if accepted, now not so sure

And if you still don’t believe me, read these:

HomeSkool's Guide to Letters of Intent

Second letter of intent? Help!