Sending emails expressing interest

[aayz345]

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One of my friends that's a DS told me that it helps if you send schools an email, updating them with what you've been doing since you've submitted your primary and expressing interest in the school. Is this true? Don't want to seem pushy to some schools and feel that right now might be early

 

[Engrailed]

You have 5 types of overlapping letters to that can be sent to a medical admission committee

Updates: new info you want to make the committee aware of. The information should be worthwhile and significant. Some schools encourage these buy many schools discourage or list policies not accepting updates.
Thank you: after interview
Letter of Interest: Typically, a post-interview but pre-decision letter that can reiterate and reinforce the school would be a good fit, usually with information you learned from your interview. This usually does not include a promise to attend if selected.
Letter of Intent: Typically written by applicants who have been accepted by one school but are on WL at another preferred school, outlining the reasons why you prefer it. There is little to scant evidence that these are particularly effective. It should be noted these are thought to have even less impact for those who are just on WL.

I will add one other type that is rarely used any more, the Reconsideration Letter: This is an applicant rejected pre-interview who has a large anomaly in their academic background that can be viewed through mitigating circumstances and asks to be reconsidered. With the non-screened/minimally pre-screened secondaries, there are plenty of opportunities for an applicant to express these circumstances.

To answer your specific question, unless, you have something substantial to say to the committee that was not originally mentioned in your application or a worthy update, an Letter of Interest, particularly before an interview is mostly useless. Indeed, many applicants write them sound more desperate than interested and that will work against you.

@gonnif Is this also why the optional essay is usually better left blank? (See bolded text)

 

[aayz345]

@gonnif Is this also why the optional essay is usually better left blank? (See bolded text)

Hmm, I thought the optional essay could be used to explain what you’re doing in your gap year and provide a few reasons why you’re interested in the school? Given that the prompts don’t ask for this info

 

[calipremed5768]

The optional essay is usually better left blank because you’re more likely to say something that could hurt your chances than say something that will dramatically improve your chances

 

[gyngyn]

Umm don’t think so. It’s a good place to express why this school if needed sometimes

Sadly, an open prompt is more likely to encourage a misstep.
I've seen a few turn it to advantage, but it's a tiny percentage.
It's usually at the end of the application, which doesn't help. In the most common scenario, the reader is feeling pretty good about the applicant...and then they launch into an overwrought explanation of that C- in organic. It just makes you like them a little less. Even worse, they can't resist re-cycling their favorite response to someone else's secondary.

 

[Goro]

One of my friends that's a DS told me that it helps if you send schools an email, updating them with what you've been doing since you've submitted your primary and expressing interest in the school. Is this true? Don't want to seem pushy to some schools and feel that right now might be early

They know you're interested because you sent them an app.

 

[Developer]

You have 5 types of overlapping letters to that can be sent to a medical admission committee

Updates: new info you want to make the committee aware of. The information should be worthwhile and significant. Some schools encourage these buy many schools discourage or list policies not accepting updates.
Thank you: after interview
Letter of Interest: Typically, a post-interview but pre-decision letter that can reiterate and reinforce the school would be a good fit, usually with information you learned from your interview. This usually does not include a promise to attend if selected.
Letter of Intent: Typically written by applicants who have been accepted by one school but are on WL at another preferred school, outlining the reasons why you prefer it. There is little to scant evidence that these are particularly effective. It should be noted these are thought to have even less impact for those who are just on WL.

I will add one other type that is rarely used any more, the Reconsideration Letter: This is an applicant rejected pre-interview who has a large anomaly in their academic background that can be viewed through mitigating circumstances and asks to be reconsidered. With the non-screened/minimally pre-screened secondaries, there are plenty of opportunities for an applicant to express these circumstances.

To answer your specific question, unless, you have something substantial to say to the committee that was not originally mentioned in your application or a worthy update, an Letter of Interest, particularly before an interview is mostly useless. Indeed, many applicants write them sound more desperate than interested and that will work against you.

How can one go about writing an update letter to a school to add information about ties to the state/local community? In my situation, it's an OOS public school that has historically accepted some OOS, but not much. I have strong family ties to the area in which this school is located and have been there multiple times. The secondary prompts did not offer the opportunity for me to include this information as I did not want to answer a question different from what they were asking.