tell schools youve been accepted?

[tonyjerry]

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Hey, I was wondering if it's common practice to inform schools youve already sent a LOI to that youve been accepted to other schools or is that kind of in bad taste? Thanks for any help

 

[Alexander99]

When you say LOI, are you talking about a letter of intent? Isn't that a letter you write to a school basically saying why they are your number one choice? What is the point of saying you were accepted elsewhere? If anything, that will make them less eager to accept you since they know that if they reject you, you'll still be able to go to med school somewhere.

 

[DannGee]

i don't think that's relevant to your decision to make that school your #1 choice. med schools, i think, are generally indifferent to the decisions of other schools.

 

[ironey]

All of the schools to which you've applied will know your acceptance status as of March. It isn't exactly a secret.

However, I wouldn't point it out. LOIs simply state that you will attend a specific school if accepted there. Don't go telling them that you have other acceptances before it's necessary. Some schools rank wait lists or even reject applicants who are holding acceptances at other schools. Some of these schools are more willing to give acceptances to people who are likely to attend their school.

 

[Bones2008]

Originally posted by DannGee
med schools, i think, are generally indifferent to the decisions of other schools.

I would have to say otherwise. At one of my interviews, the interviewer told me I should let him know if I got acceptances from other schools. He told me that he wanted that for two reasons: 1) So that they know their competition if I'm accepted, 2) So they go back over my application to see if they missed something if I'm not initially accepted.
Recently I got in to one of my top choice schools. However, having heard nothing from another top choice in terms of interviews, I asked my advisor what to do. As luck would have it, a member of the admissions committee from the latter school was visiting my campus soon thereafter. She recommended I tell him that I got into this other school, but that I was still interested in his school whereas I've withdrawn from almost everywhere else. He became <i>very</i> interested in my situation after I explained it to him. So, my point is that holding other acceptances can and does give one leverage on other schools insomuch as they start to think "what are we not seeing about this guy?" However, I would agree that an LOI might not be the best venue to express these sentiments. Then again, maybe it is. I guess it depends a lot on the applicant and the school. Good luck!

 

[Sweet Tea]

I agree with Bones. If you've sent School A a LOI, but have already been accepted by School B, you need to tell School A. Schools aren't interested in making sure *you* get into med school, rather, they want to make sure they have the best students. They're likely to look at your app again to see why School B accepted you. Plus, schools want students who want to be there, so if you tell them that even though School B has already accepted you but you'd still rather attend School A and would drop School B if you were accepted, then it could possibly help you.

 

[SonGoku]

How about in a letter of interest...should you mention that you've been accepted by other schools, but you're still more interested in their school? I wasn't sure if I should mention the names of the schools either.