Update letter question, advice needed

[snitchseeker88]

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So, this is more directed to one particular school, however, I have received a screened secondary from one of the UCs, which is my undergrad university. I submitted the secondary and am currently under review, and have not yet been invited for an interview. The issue here is, there was one particular clinical volunteer experience that has involved a lot of medical/clinical exposure that I was just beginning during the time I submitted my primary. So at the time, I included my current volunteer experience at that hospital and then mentioned in a sentence or two that I would be moving to this particular department and gave a very brief explanation of the new position. I wanted to update the university about this position, but I'm wondering about the timing. Is it way too early to send an update letter to my undergrad before they have sent me an interview invite? Should I wait? Or in the case that they may have decided to reject me and I may not get another chance to update them, should I do it now, and if I do, could it potentially hurt my chances? I'm mainly asking because this school is one of my very top choices. I will be starting another shadowing position soon, but I figured in that case it might be more beneficial to wait and see if I get an interview so I could include that in a future update letter, but I'm confused about what to do now. Any advice?

 

[GoSpursGo]

It's too early right now; if you're going to get out-right rejected pre-interview, one EC isn't likely to change that. Update letters can be useful to push you over the top when you get put on pre-interview hold or on a waitlist. Feel free to send it if you get on hold, post-interview, or a month or two from now (the last one being just because it'll be getting a little late in the game and you might as well go ahead and just send it). It also gives you some more time so that when you talk about your new EC, it'll be more substantial in terms of time.

 

[snitchseeker88]

It's too early right now; if you're going to get out-right rejected pre-interview, one EC isn't likely to change that. Update letters can be useful to push you over the top when you get put on pre-interview hold or on a waitlist. Feel free to send it if you get on hold, post-interview, or a month or two from now (the last one being just because it'll be getting a little late in the game and you might as well go ahead and just send it). It also gives you some more time so that when you talk about your new EC, it'll be more substantial in terms of time.

That was really helpful advice. Thanks! I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.