Should I name the school to which I've been accepted in a letter of intent?

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I've been accepted at School B, and have been waitlisted at School A which is my first choice medical school. I am currently writing a letter of intent to School A, and I am planning on mentioning that I have been accepted to another MD program, however after scrolling through tons of content and opinions both on SDN and elsewhere, I can't find consensus as to whether to explicitly name School B in the letter of intent or not. I've found several people who are of the opinion that it is in poor taste to name School B in the letter, but I know for instance, that @Goro always says "Yale wants to know if I've been accepted at Harvard." Unfortunately I'm not dealing with any Harvards or Yales, but School A & B are ranked very similarly. I also don't know if the implementation of the Choose Your Medical School tool affects the majority opinion on this matter, as a lot of opinions I've read are from pre-2019.

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[Phloston]

I've been accepted at School B, and have been waitlisted at School A which is my first choice medical school. I am currently writing a letter of intent to School A, and I am planning on mentioning that I have been accepted to another MD program, however after scrolling through tons of content and opinions both on SDN and elsewhere, I can't find consensus as to whether to explicitly name School B in the letter of intent or not. I've found several people who are of the opinion that it is in poor taste to name School B in the letter, but I know for instance, that @Goro always says "Yale wants to know if I've been accepted at Harvard." Unfortunately I'm not dealing with any Harvards or Yales, but School A & B are ranked very similarly. I also don't know if the implementation of the Choose Your Medical School tool affects the majority opinion on this matter, as a lot of opinions I've read are from pre-2019.

Couldn't imagine that would matter even 0.1% in terms of affecting outcome. And even if it did affect outcome adversely, that's not a place you'd want or need to attend then.

 

[Goro]

I've been accepted at School B, and have been waitlisted at School A which is my first choice medical school. I am currently writing a letter of intent to School A, and I am planning on mentioning that I have been accepted to another MD program, however after scrolling through tons of content and opinions both on SDN and elsewhere, I can't find consensus as to whether to explicitly name School B in the letter of intent or not. I've found several people who are of the opinion that it is in poor taste to name School B in the letter, but I know for instance, that @Goro always says "Yale wants to know if I've been accepted at Harvard." Unfortunately I'm not dealing with any Harvards or Yales, but School A & B are ranked very similarly. I also don't know if the implementation of the Choose Your Medical School tool affects the majority opinion on this matter, as a lot of opinions I've read are from pre-2019.

In this situation, it's not going to matter whether you will name the school or not. A is not going to care that you have an acceptance at B.

 

[Med Ed]

I've been accepted at School B, and have been waitlisted at School A which is my first choice medical school. I am currently writing a letter of intent to School A, and I am planning on mentioning that I have been accepted to another MD program, however after scrolling through tons of content and opinions both on SDN and elsewhere, I can't find consensus as to whether to explicitly name School B in the letter of intent or not. I've found several people who are of the opinion that it is in poor taste to name School B in the letter, but I know for instance, that @Goro always says "Yale wants to know if I've been accepted at Harvard." Unfortunately I'm not dealing with any Harvards or Yales, but School A & B are ranked very similarly. I also don't know if the implementation of the Choose Your Medical School tool affects the majority opinion on this matter, as a lot of opinions I've read are from pre-2019.

Why is School A your first choice?

 

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Why is School A your first choice?

Location - large circle of friends/mentors/support in this city, prominent emphasis on public health within the curriculum - smack dab in the middle of a rich ecosystem of varying populations and social determinants of health, absolutely love the med school facilities + hospital apparatus

In this situation, it's not going to matter whether you will name the school or not. A is not going to care that you have an acceptance at B.

Thank you! And just to be clear, School B is an in-state option for me. School A won't care that I am willing to yield a very comparable in-state option for them?

 

[Goro]

Location - large circle of friends/mentors/support in this city, prominent emphasis on public health within the curriculum - smack dab in the middle of a rich ecosystem of varying populations and social determinants of health, absolutely love the med school facilities + hospital apparatus

Thank you! And just to be clear, School B is an in-state option for me. School A won't care that I am willing to yield a very comparable in-state option for them?

Unless you're a superstar, then no.

 

[ruledaworlds]

I went through a similar scenario last year. I explicitly told mid-tier school B that I was accepted to mid-tier school A in a letter of intent and I was accepted to school B 2-3 weeks later. YMMV.

 

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Unless you're a superstar, then no.

I went through a similar scenario last year. I explicitly told mid-tier school B that I was accepted to mid-tier school A in a letter of intent and I was accepted to school B 2-3 weeks later. YMMV.

Noted. Thanks!

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Moving to pre-allo.

 

[Med Ed]

Location - large circle of friends/mentors/support in this city, prominent emphasis on public health within the curriculum - smack dab in the middle of a rich ecosystem of varying populations and social determinants of health, absolutely love the med school facilities + hospital apparatus

Thank you! And just to be clear, School B is an in-state option for me. School A won't care that I am willing to yield a very comparable in-state option for them?

The large circle of friends/mentors/support in the city is the most compelling aspect. Many schools tout their curricula, but the functional differences between them are usually rather small.

I would not bother to name School B. Just say that you were fortunate to receive an acceptance to another medical school, but because of [reasons cited above] you would go to A.