Update letter comments

[umass rower]

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I'm planning to mail update letters to all of my schools on Friday. I just wanted to run the opening and closing I'm using past the forum to make sure it's something that would be appropriate to send to all of the schools that have yet to grant me interviews (as opposed to a letter of intent, saying that there is only one that I really want). Feel free to say whatever, I won't take offense.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I submitted a secondary application to XXXXX several months ago, and at the time of writing this letter I have not heard whether or not I have been invited for an interview. I am interested in visiting and possibly attending XXXXX, so I want to update my file with my accomplishments from the fall semester. Hopefully, these additions will help you make your decision of whether or not to grant me an interview.
Here is a paragraph about how much academic @$$ I kicked in the fall.
Here is a paragraph about how much extra-curricular @$$ I kicked in the fall.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter and consider it along with the rest of my application. I would be excited to attend XXXXX in the fall, so I hope that this letter will encourage you to grant me an interview.

Sincerely,
umass rower

 

[calcrew14]

Good idea. I bet that all ******s, trolls, habitual contrarions or perennial antagonists would agree with me.

 

[umass rower]

To quote Mr. Garrison, "OK, now let's hear from someone who isn't a complete ******."

For any non-trolls out there, is this something that applicants typically send to a school, or would adcoms just look at it and say, "WTF is this kid doing writing to us?"

 

[jlee9531]

hey umass...

nothing wrong with the letter man. you point out your reason for writing the letter and your interest in the school. you give them an update to help your current application situation out so its all good man.

 

[calcrew14]

Originally posted by umass rower
Feel free to say whatever, I won't take offense

Sincerely,
umass rower [/QUOTE

That was the offer I couldn't refuse!

 

[Super Rob]

I hear there are still some schools offering interviews so it probably wouldn't hurt if you sent the letters.

However, after hanging out on this forum I would imagine that admissions offices get flooded with mail and email around this time of year. It may help if your letter is impressive and concise!

I submitted a secondary application to XXXXX several months ago...

Instead, you should tell them the date your file was marked "complete."

and at the time of writing this letter I have not heard whether or not I have been invited for an interview.

On some distant planet this could come off as being a little presumptuous. Get to the good stuff...

I am interested in visiting and possibly attending XXXXX, so I want to update my file with my accomplishments from the fall semester. Hopefully, these additions will help you make your decision of whether or not to grant me an interview.

This is okay, but "visiting and possibly attending" sounds like you've heard somewhere from someone that they were an okay school and although the thought of you attending there has crossed your mind, they shouldn't get their hopes up just yet. Tell em that you picture yourself becoming a doctor there and that you really WANT a chance to meet with their committee in the flesh in order to TELL THEM how wonderful their school is and how well you represent their mission and would fit in with the rest of their students!

Here is a paragraph about how much academic @$$ I kicked in the fall.

Here is a paragraph about how much extra-curricular @$$ I kicked in the fall.

Here, be concise and hopefully your ECs won't come across as buzzer beaters. So many students at your school think of hours of community service completed as something to score along side mcat and gpa. At most interviews, they check that you're smart, they check that you know what you're getting into, they check that you're a nice person or at least personable, and then they focus on what makes you special. If I were an athlete, I'd sell myself on that! It's impressive! It sets you above other applicants. As far as clinical experience and numbers... you either had them when you sent the amcas or you didn't. The most impressive thing you could tell them would be if you aced your quantum mechanics class, your team won a competition, or your thesis got published.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter and consider it along with the rest of my application. I would be excited to attend XXXXX in the fall, so I hope that this letter will encourage you to grant me an interview.

Bold, but I kind of like it. But I'm not gonna be the one who reads it and makes the decision regarding your application status.


Umass, I don't know $h#@ about this process (sorry mods, but I had to stick with the theme). I'm a current applicant just like you. I am not qualified to give advice, so I consider this my gut reaction to your post. I have no idea of whether or not this will be helpful for you.

What inspired me to respond is that I was just rejected post secondary from a school that had me in knots since early November with their fancy, little status page... a couple of months ago, I sent them a whimpy email about some glitch on their webpage, hoping they'd respond with "Thanks, and by the way, which of the following dates is most convenient for you?" Instead, they responded with "Yeah, we know" and now "Sorry kid, I'm sure you'll make a great doctor." Since my stats were up-to-par with their requirements, but I live kind of far from them and nobody from our school interviews there, I certainly wish that I would have sent them some kind of personalized "Here's why I want to attend your school, besides that it's in the top such and such" letter. That's why I responded.

That and I want to see UMass better represented on the interview circuit.

 

[SoulRFlare]

Originally posted by umass rower
so I hope that this letter will encourage you to grant me an interview.

I wouldn't say this...sounds a bit pushy--like you're challenging them. maybe say something like "I look forward to hearing from you, and would be honored to accept any invitation you might extend..." (I dunno...maybe a bit corny, but it's early...)
good luck

 

[umass rower]

Calcrew14, I didn't take offense, but your comments were needlessly sarcastic and were clearly not designed to be helpful. When I want one of my threads to be dragged into the gutter I'll be sure to PM you.

To everyone else, thanks a lot for the comments. The letter was kind of a rough draft, and I'm still not sure what would be too strong or too weak with wording, but you've given me some points to work on. I know nobody really "knows" what works, I was just looking for honest opinions, and I appreciate getting them.

Super Rob (congrats on getting into UMass BTW), the paragraphs on ECs are pretty concise, I don't think I'll have to change those much (if at all). It was all kind of updates on things I had already started- publication of research, medals won in crew, etc. I had one sentence about classes and grades, but that was it, and it was short.

It seems like the consensus is that this is an OK thing to send in, but any suggestions for wording are still welcome.

 

[calcrew14]

Now here is the make up deal:Why don't you take just the first two words of my first reply and let me take the rest of "whatever" it may be back? Since I also agree that my posts did not help anyone or make anything better. I have revised all my posts. I hope that it doesn't mutate the correspondences too much.

 

[calcrew14]

Now I must BUMP to alert you all that I have tried my very best to edit every one of my posts here. Hope that it does not mutate the correspondences too much.

You bet that this re-exposure is on me.

 

[umass rower]

I appreciate it. I love sarcasm as much as the next person (and probably more), but I try to avoid it when somebody needs a serious question answered, and it's good to have that favor returned. No hard feelings, mostly because I'll have forgotten this by next week (when I hopefully get my first acceptance).

 

[calcrew14]

No acceptance yet? That's quite a surprise to me. 3.7+?/32 may be just a set of numbers. But your participation here has shown that, besides your athleticism and sportmanship, you are always capable of fulfilling good citizenship anywhere in real life. And I am sure that you have some meaningful ECs and other good stuffs too. Now I am really curious to see a proof that the current protocols that Adcoms follow are actually superior to just the numbers alone regardlessly. I am not too sure if some educated guess deserves the benefit of the doubt in such one of the greatest game of survival in 40,000 lives, annually. I am glad that I didn't retake the MCAT.

Or could it be those LORs that sabotage your application?

I think that you need to proceed with your idea rigth away. In case you are not sure, you might want to send your letters to 1/2 or 3/4 of the schools on your list. Good luck!

 

[JoeCoolMD]

I sent a letter to a med school and to the Admissions dean as well as the dean of the school noting my strong interest in the school in Dec. I did not hear from them in 6 weeks and e-mailed them and was told bluntly that I would not be offered an interview. I thanked the school in an email and promptly withdrew the application. I told them that I might be reapply or may not. I also addressed that most schools do not discuss applications but that the process is a numbers crunch and I also requested that a letter of rejection not be sent. I do not expect to receive anything from that school and I view it that it is a less work for the office.

 

[umass rower]

I would suspect my LOR's except that they all went to my recruiter for the Air Force HPSP scholarship, and she said they were excellent. I think my main problem was being slow with secondaries; depending on the school, they didn't get done till mid October to early November, mostly because I was doing too much stuff in the fall to get them done faster. Even so, I expected to at least hear from more schools by this point, which is why I'm getting a little annoyed by the silence and writing letters. Hopefully it can get them moving a little bit.