Medical Should I send grade update if places on pre-II waitlist?

[TheBoneDoctah]

Hi everyone,
I've applied to medical schools this cycle, and so far I've had one II and I've been placed on about 4 pre-II waitlists. My cGPA is 3.1, but I'm currently in a one year post-bacc program to help raise my GPA. I was wondering if maybe I'm being put on the pre-II waitlists to see if I improve my GPA this fall? Regardless, I do plan to send my updated grades once my semester finishes in December, but I don't know if I should also write an update letter to each of the 4 schools. The only updates I really have are my grades and the fact that I recently picked up a scribing job. And if it is recommended that I write a letter, how should I formulate it? Thank you in advance!

Was your GPA 3.1 before the post bac or that’s what it is with the new grades?

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[GoSpursGo]

Hard to tell if you were put on WL because they wanted to see improvement specifically, but I think it's safe to say that's part of your app that's holding you back. @Goro recently said that a semester of good grades would be worth an update, so if indeed you do well this semester it's probably worthy of an update letter.

Keep it short and sweet. At the end of the day the only part they likely care about is the grades, so make that front and center and keep the fluff at a minimum. Something like:

Dear AdCom,

As I remain highly interested in your program, I wanted to give you an update on my academic performance. I am happy to report that my fall semester was quite successful--please see attached transcript. With these courses, my overall cGPA is 3.x and my sGPA is 3.x.

I hope you are doing well.

Sincerely,

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

This was before the post bacc

So what do you anticipate your GPA to be?

 

[Goro]

Well, I anticipate a 4.0 this semester. It probably won't add more than 0.05-0.08 to my cGPA though.

It's no longer about the cGPA, but the new you vs the old you. I surmise that the schools are waiting for your full year's performance in the post-bac. A single good semester might not suffice for them

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Awesome! Keep it up!

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you! I was wondering if you had any thoughts / advice on being placed on pre-II waitlists and the update letter that I asked about. I would appreciate anything!

Would absolutely send update letter if you had a great semester with stellar grades.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Quick follow up to this thread: I did some public health research last year with my local county health department and it was featured in their annual report. I found out about it this week - is this worth mentioning in my update letter?

Unless there's a publication or presentation associated with it (and it doesn't seem like it was, if you didn't know about it in advance), I'm not sure what to even say about it.

Like I said, short and sweet. It's assumed that "things are happening" between when you apply and when your app is reviewed, but unless it's a really big deal it's not worth mentioning.

 

[Goro]

Nope

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Not worth it. If you get an actual publication then yes. Poster...maybe.