Should LOI include the name of the schools you have been accepted to?

[gracesalt]

Or just say "I was accepted to other medical schools but if accepted here I will go to yours because..."

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[OchemOficionado]

If you’re trying to leverage an equal or better acceptance I think you’ll have to say the name.

Let’s see what @gonnif thinks.

 

[gracesalt]

Its the difference between saying you I can date you but I have this other very hot other date but I am not gonna tell you who

Or I would like to date you even though though very pretty Sally has already promised to go out with me

What if the other date is less hot and not very pretty? (The other schools are lower in ranking)

 

[965978]

Its the difference between saying you I can date you but I have this other very hot other date but I am not gonna tell you who

Or I would like to date you even though though very pretty Sally has already promised to go out with me

What if Sally has herpes?

 

[Harambe]

What if Sally has herpes?

Sally’s that for profit MD school in California?

 

[Osteosaur]

Does this leveraging happen very often?

I mean it seems to me 99.5% of the time there's probably a handful of 'just as good' students on the wait list for every accepted student.

Unless you're like a first-generation native american immigrant who helps the at risk inner-city LGBTQ youth of under served rural america while publishing first-author papers in Nature... with a 525 or something.

 

[HomeSkool]

It very much depends, and I'll refer you to HomeSkool's Guide to Letters of Intent for a comprehensive treatment of the issue. But here's the general gist:

1. Most LOIs aren't worth the time it takes to write them. Adcoms generally assume they're insincere and many (most?) schools won't even take a second look at them.
2. An LOI will only be worth something if you've been accepted to a school that's more prestigious than the one you're sending the LOI to. An acceptance to Saint Louis University won't impress OHSU, and an OHSU acceptance probably won't sway Harvard.

So think hard before sending an LOI and make sure it's something that will actually help you. And remember that an LOI almost never has any weight unless you tell them which school(s) have already accepted you.

 

[965978]

It very much depends, and I'll refer you to HomeSkool's Guide to Letters of Intent for a comprehensive treatment of the issue. But here's the general gist:

1. Most LOIs aren't worth the time it takes to write them. Adcoms generally assume they're insincere and many (most?) schools won't even take a second look at them.
2. An LOI will only be worth something if you've been accepted to a school that's more prestigious than the one you're sending the LOI to. An acceptance to Saint Louis University won't impress OHSU, and an OHSU acceptance probably won't sway Harvard.

So think hard before sending an LOI and make sure it's something that will actually help you. And remember that an LOI almost never has any weight unless you tell them which school(s) have already accepted you.

Well to be fair..... nothing will probably sway Harvard