Second letter of intent? Help!

[Ijustwannabeadoctor]

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So I got an interview to a school back in January and was waitlisted in February. I loved the school and sent a letter of intent because of all the schools I had interviewed at, it was definitely my first choice.

BUT, then I received an II from my absolute favorite school that was a reach and I thought I would never have a shot at. I got waitlisted here too. I would love to send a letter of intent to this school to help my odds, but I know you’re not supposed to send more than one. I really wrote the first one with good intentions, but I never could have predicted this. Help?

 

[Lawpy]

Thanks to @HomeSkool

 

[Lawpy]

I would love to send a letter of intent to this school to help my odds, but I know you’re not supposed to send more than one. I really wrote the first one with good intentions, but I never could have predicted this.

This is also another reason why adcoms don't take letters of intent seriously... or as @Goro puts it, why adcoms view these letters as lies.

 

[Goro]

So I got an interview to a school back in January and was waitlisted in February. I loved the school and sent a letter of intent because of all the schools I had interviewed at, it was definitely my first choice.

BUT, then I received an II from my absolute favorite school that was a reach and I thought I would never have a shot at. I got waitlisted here too. I would love to send a letter of intent to this school to help my odds, but I know you’re not supposed to send more than one. I really wrote the first one with good intentions, but I never could have predicted this. Help?

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

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

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

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

 

[HomeSkool]

If you send a letter of intent to the second school, the only ethical thing to do is to send another letter to the first saying you'll still go there but only if the second school blows you off. Let me know how that works out for you.

Also, do schools that accepted you get to send other applicants letters that say "If you come to our school, we'll rescind @Ijustwannabeadoctor's acceptance to make room for you"?

@Lawper, I'm updating my Guide to LOIs with a Spring Supplement:

 

[MedicalDoge]

If you send a letter of intent to the second school, the only ethical thing to do is to send another letter to the first saying you'll still go there but only if the second school blows you off. Let me know how that works out for you.

Also, do schools that accepted you get to send other applicants letters that say "If you come to our school, we'll rescind @Ijustwannabeadoctor's acceptance to make room for you"?

@Lawper, I'm updating my Guide to LOIs with a Spring Supplement:
View attachment 232183

Gold.

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

If you send a letter of intent to the second school, the only ethical thing to do is to send another letter to the first saying you'll still go there but only if the second school blows you off. Let me know how that works out for you.

Also, do schools that accepted you get to send other applicants letters that say "If you come to our school, we'll rescind @Ijustwannabeadoctor's acceptance to make room for you"?

@Lawper, I'm updating my Guide to LOIs with a Spring Supplement:
View attachment 232183

I would pay to see the reaction by the adcom member if they opened a letter and saw this 🤣

 

[Jdp00921]

I think the obvious thing to do here is simply send LOIs with all primaries in the future...................................