Update Letter

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hopefulscientist

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Hey all,

I'm at the point in my application process where I am waiting until March for decisions. This coming week, I'm planning to send an update letter with information on my grades from last semester (worth sharing), some awards/designations, and the current state of a paper I will soon submit for publication (I talked of this in my interviews). Recently, I have decided to volunteer-teach English abroad over the summer to try something different and get a bit of traveling in before medical school (I've already been accepted to one program thus far so I am very fortunate to know where I'm going next year). After I decided I wanted to get involved, I recognized that this is something that could provide another picture of who I am as an applicant for the schools I'm waiting on (that I want to get into more than the school I've already been accepted to, which would be a great place, though I felt a greater connection at the other places). Do you all think this is worth including in the update letter? I understand it is beyond the application process timeline. I'll be sending an email to one of my interviewers these coming days to thank him for a book recommendation he gave me, I could also include my plans there (it is in line with what we talked about and the focus of the book).

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I think that you could put your new stuff in an update letter, but I would hold off on writing it for a while. Sending an update in January won't really add that much, especially if you have interviewed at the schools relatively recently. If you wait until April, the wait lists won't have moved much at all and you'll have several more month's worth of activities to tell them. Also side note, in your letter, don't just list your activities, but tell admissions how they've allowed you to grow as a person and how they will affect you as a physician.

As for telling your interviewer about the trip, I don't think that will affect much. The update letter to admissions later will already inform them of your plans.
 
I would disagree. If your decisions are coming out in March, you may very well still be accepted in March. At many of these schools, the Admissions Committees will likely not have finalized the class roster yet and thus your January/early February update letter may be the difference between getting waitlisted and getting accepted. If you end up on a waitlist you can send another letter in late April for that school.
 
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I would disagree. If your decisions are coming out in March, you may very well still be accepted in March. At many of these schools, the Admissions Committees will likely not have finalized the class roster yet and thus your January/early February update letter may be the difference between getting waitlisted and getting accepted. If you end up on a waitlist you can send another letter in late April for that school.

I've served on the admission committee at a top 10 school..and...

Err I'll disagree with both posts and say this update letter will have no effect either way. Nothing ur describing sounds like something that will sway an admission committee ( grades won't matter...they've already interview u and determined ur academically qualified....a submitted paper is not an accepted paper....signing up for a volunteer abroad program isn't exactly unique). I'd imagine most likely it will go unread.

If u really want to write something, I'd consider writing a letter to ur top choices explaining why they are ur top choice (location, opportunities, etc.) and including these small updates too. But, honestly that letter might be best for a wait list once u get to that point. I will say that post interview updates rarely have an effect on admissions decisions unless there is something truly extraordinary that happened after the interview, though I don't see anything in there that you mentioned that sounds extraordinary.
 
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I've served on the admission committee at a top 10 school..and...

Err I'll disagree with both posts and say this update letter will have no effect either way. Nothing ur describing sounds like something that will sway an admission committee ( grades won't matter...they've already interview u and determined ur academically qualified....a submitted paper is not an accepted paper....signing up for a volunteer abroad program isn't exactly unique). I'd imagine most likely it will go unread.

If u really want to write something, I'd consider writing a letter to ur top choices explaining why they are ur top choice (location, opportunities, etc.) and including these small updates too. But, honestly that letter might be best for a wait list once u get to that point. I will say that post interview updates rarely have an effect on admissions decisions unless there is something truly extraordinary that happened after the interview, though I don't see anything in there that you mentioned that sounds extraordinary.
Yeah...I'm going to retract my advice. This seems better.
 
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