Updates and Letter of Interest

[CanDoIt66]

Dear all,

I am currently applying this cycle and I am writing some update letters and letters of interest to several schools. My sibling currently attends one of these institutions and I have had the chance to experience their institution through her by sitting in on classes and in labs.

I was wondering if I could mention that in my letter of interest, as I didnt really have chance to mention it in the secondary or the primary. Will it be frown upon or will it be okay?

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[gyngyn]

Dear all,

I am currently applying this cycle and I am writing some update letters and letters of interest to several schools. My sibling currently attends one of these institutions and I have had the chance to experience their institution through her by sitting in on classes and in labs.

I was wondering if I could mention that in my letter of interest, as I didnt really have chance to mention it in the secondary or the primary. Will it be frown upon or will it be okay?

Have your sibling talk to the admissions dean for advice.

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

Dear all,

I am currently applying this cycle and I am writing some update letters and letters of interest to several schools. My sibling currently attends one of these institutions and I have had the chance to experience their institution through her by sitting in on classes and in labs.

I was wondering if I could mention that in my letter of interest, as I didnt really have chance to mention it in the secondary or the primary. Will it be frown upon or will it be okay?

I certainly mentioned sitting in on lectures at a school I very much want to attend. I think that shows interest in their program if you took the time to come to something you weren't required to do, no matter who you went with.

That being said, I would be very careful about how many Letters of Interest you write...at some point or another, schools/adcoms will talk. And if you've fed them all the same lines, that may be a bad thing for you. I have been told by a couple med students to limit LOI's to 1-2 schools...isn't that sort of the point anyway? You have schools you are MORE interested in that others on your list.

Hope that helps. Best of luck with this app cycle

 

[samac]

Do you have anything substantial to update schools with, other than "hey I really like you and wanna go here?"

If not I don't see a benefit in an update letter.

 

[CanDoIt66]

Do you have anything substantial to update schools with, other than "hey I really like you and wanna go here?"

If not I don't see a benefit in an update letter.

Yes I have been a promotion at my job at a prestigious northeastern hospital (I'm in finance/management/research)

 

[CanDoIt66]

I certainly mentioned sitting in on lectures at a school I very much want to attend. I think that shows interest in their program if you took the time to come to something you weren't required to do, no matter who you went with.

That being said, I would be very careful about how many Letters of Interest you write...at some point or another, schools/adcoms will talk. And if you've fed them all the same lines, that may be a bad thing for you. I have been told by a couple med students to limit LOI's to 1-2 schools...isn't that sort of the point anyway? You have schools you are MORE interested in that others on your list.

Hope that helps. Best of luck with this app cycle

Honestly, that just sounds like a flat out lie. I don't know who gave you that information.

Why would multiple applicants apply to 10+ schools ? Adcoms aren't dumb and they know this is kinda like a lottery for many applicants---> many want to be a doctor first and be trained to be one. The other stuff is ancillary

 

[takeurmeds02]

LOL, I wrote a LOI and got waitlisted a few days later...but I also didn't have a sibling at that school >_>

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

Honestly, that just sounds like a flat out lie. I don't know who gave you that information.

Why would multiple applicants apply to 10+ schools ? Adcoms aren't dumb and they know this is kinda like a lottery for many applicants---> many want to be a doctor first and be trained to be one. The other stuff is ancillary

Thanks for that, mate. Look, I'm telling you what I was told from two reliable and successful medical students who both had 5+ acceptances to pick from. They don't seem like the type to "flat out lie".

I think you missed the point too. It's not so much that sending in multiple LOI's will get you caught or in trouble, but be more honest with yourself and these schools. If you are sending the LOI's to your whole list how genuine are you truly being to each school? Can you really be most interested in attending every single school on your list? That was my point. Choose a couple schools and pour your heart into these letters. A Letter of Interest is meant to showcase why you like a certain school ABOVE others. LOI's aren't supposed to be part of every application...that is why personal statements and secondaries are a thing.

Believe what you want, but just don't live in the illusion that medical school admissions offices don't talk to each other.

 

[CanDoIt66]

Im sure they speak to one another, but I think they understand that this largely empirical but subjective process is largely a numbers game for a vast majority of the applicants mainly want to be trained to become doctors first. everything else (fit, location, curriculum, etc) matters, but that can be addressed, worked through once you get your foot in the door.

foot in the door is the first step.

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

I do see what you mean, yes. I suppose my view is that a letter of interest should be an honest statement of how passionate you are about a specific school, not simply being trained as a physician. I'm sure a letter written in either style would have its merits, but I think the general consensus is that LOIs are more of a personal appeal while ones personal statement is meant to cover topics like drive towards being a physician, etc.

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

And another thing you said is abundantly true as well...it is a numbers game. Schools are getting more applicants year after year as people see the number of lucrative career options falling off the face of the earth. Unfortunate as that may be, it causes a lot of trouble for med school applicants because truly only the best of the best stand a chance of getting early interviews, etc. I know that sounds like something that has always been true, and it is. But it's become ever more truthful in recent years. People are simply overlooked at every single school

 

[CanDoIt66]

Well more than people being overlooked, we have a growing population that keeps getting supplied with the same number of new trainees every year. Ultimately, the public and the greater public health is getting the raw end of the stick. which i something we should avoid.

if a kid with a 515/3.8 @ an IVy league school with great LOR/greatEC doesnt get in one year, and makes minimal improvements to their app gets in the next cycle, which is flawed? the process or the student?

Serving the greater public shouldnt be a numbers game...but as long as it is then making the improvements we need to make will get harder and harder with each passing day

 

[gyngyn]

Im sure they speak to one another, but I think they understand that this largely empirical but subjective process is largely a numbers game for a vast majority of the applicants mainly want to be trained to become doctors first. everything else (fit, location, curriculum, etc) matters, but that can be addressed, worked through once you get your foot in the door.

foot in the door is the first step.

Nobody believes these love letters.
Some of them accidentally leave the names of other schools in the text!
We know that they are sent in a mass mailing to every school standing.

 

[gyngyn]

Well more than people being overlooked, we have a growing population that keeps getting supplied with the same number of new trainees every year. Ultimately, the public and the greater public health is getting the raw end of the stick. which i something we should avoid.

if a kid with a 515/3.8 @ an IVy league school with great LOR/greatEC doesnt get in one year, and makes minimal improvements to their app gets in the next cycle, which is flawed? the process or the student?

Serving the greater public shouldnt be a numbers game...but as long as it is then making the improvements we need to make will get harder and harder with each passing day

You do realize that the number accepted of medical students is not the rate limiting step in the production of physicians.

 

[bananafish94]

Nobody believes these love letters.
Some of them accidentally leave the names of other schools in the text!
We know that they are sent in a mass mailing to every school standing.

Christ. Do people actually do that? I can't fathom the stupidity of some individuals sometimes.

 

[gyngyn]

Christ. Do people actually do that? I can't fathom the stupidity of some individuals sometimes.

All the time.

 

[Goro]

It's a seller's market, so tons of candidates can be ignored.

And the US has plenty of doctors; they just not distributed equally across the country.

If this person isn't getting in one year, it's the applicant, not the process that's flawed.

if a kid with a 515/3.8 @ an IVy league school with great LOR/greatEC doesnt get in one year

Well more than people being overlooked, we have a growing population that keeps getting supplied with the same number of new trainees every year. Ultimately, the public and the greater public health is getting the raw end of the stick. which i something we should avoid.

if a kid with a 515/3.8 @ an IVy league school with great LOR/greatEC doesnt get in one year, and makes minimal improvements to their app gets in the next cycle, which is flawed? the process or the student?

Serving the greater public shouldn't be a numbers game...but as long as it is then making the improvements we need to make will get harder and harder with each passing day

Hell, people do it with med school apps!

Seen in PS more than once:

"...and that's why I'd love to attend Chicago College of Medicine!"

Except I'm reading your app, and I'm not at CCOM.

Christ. Do people actually do that? I can't fathom the stupidity of some individuals sometimes.

 

[Officer Farva]

It's a seller's market, so tons of candidates can be ignored.

And the US has plenty of doctors; they just not distributed equally across the country.

If this person isn't getting in one year, it's the applicant, not the process that's flawed.

if a kid with a 515/3.8 @ an IVy league school with great LOR/greatEC doesnt get in one year




Hell, people do it with med school apps!

Seen in PS more than once:

"...and that's why I'd love to attend Chicago College of Medicine!"

Except I'm reading your app, and I'm not at CCOM.

People did that in the PS?.....Wow

 

[Goro]

Yup. Reject bait!

My clinical colleagues think "if you're this stupid or careless on something as important as a med school app, what are you going to do on a patient's chart???"

People did that in the PS?.....Wow

 

[CanDoIt66]

You do realize that the number accepted of medical students is not the rate limiting step in the production of physicians.

Yes I do, but I know tons of residency spots go unfilled EVERY year.

How can you have a shortage of PCPs if the residency training programs are the rate limiting step. I know you cant force people into something they dont want to do, but its not exactly all on ERAS.

 

[gyngyn]

Yes I do, but I know tons of residency spots go unfilled EVERY year.

How can you have a shortage of PCPs if the residency training programs are the rate limiting step. I know you cant force people into something they dont want to do, but its not exactly all on ERAS.

The ones that are worth filling do fill.
Until respect and re-imbursement reflect national need, primary care will continue to be under-enrolled.
The number of new medical schools and the increase in class size has far outstripped our capacity for quality post-graduate education. Adding more medical school seats before addressing this only increases the number of unmatched US Seniors (already at an all time high).

 

[CanDoIt66]

Respect from the public, medicine as a whole, or both?

Is it the quality lessen because some fields are overly concentrated, thus there being a larger junior doc:attending ratio? g If so, I think decreasing the concentration, and making PCP more attractive would lessen the blow...but alot of this is also affected by national supply and demand. If plastics is lucrative, and everyone wants to look like a celeb, why should a doc that can go into plastics and live a cush life with a great salary pick that over the grunt work and PCP life? I feel like some of this is a by product of free enterprise.

Well its outstripped our capacity for quality medical edcuation because there were less med schools in the future and less doctors, and a smaller population. So how do you adjust to this?

Sounds like Medical schools are not working in conjuction with training institutions as they expand but training sites stay the same. It screws the public and the students ultimately--- perhaps we should avoid further public health crisis now by addressing it instrad of waiting for the tax payer (our kids) to foot the bill in 20 years because of peoples unwillingness and refusal to address it now.

 

[gyngyn]

Sounds like Medical schools are not working in conjuction with training institutions as they expand but training sites stay the same. It screws the public and the students ultimately--- perhaps we should avoid further public health crisis now by addressing it instrad of waiting for the tax payer (our kids) to foot the bill in 20 years because of peoples unwillingness and refusal to address it now.

This is entirely correct. And at the moment, there is no motivation or methodology in place to do so.
The reasons for opening and expanding medical schools is entirely dissociated from the next step in the process. Primary care training sites may actually decrease soon.

 

[CanDoIt66]

Well then this must sadly be a reflection of the larger shift in academia to academia-for profit.

Worry about the front end, and we'll let you handle the back end on your own. the last thing this profession needs is some of the nations brightest seeing the "writing on the wall" when they do their cost analysis of a profession, and then run off the engineering...i guess the oil industry isnt doing so well itself...so finance

 

[gyngyn]

Well then this must sadly be a reflection of the larger shift in academia to academia-for profit.

Worry about the front end, and we'll let you handle the back end on your own. the last thing this profession needs is some of the nations brightest seeing the "writing on the wall" when they do their cost analysis of a profession, and then run off the engineering...i guess the oil industry isnt doing so well itself...so finance

So far this has not been the problem. If anything the pool has only gotten bigger (and brighter).
This is no reason to ignore the issue, but our free-market approach has wrought a super-abundance of sub-specialists and and oversupply in desirable areas, leaving much of the country and many communities bereft .

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

All the time.

That's just kind of sad. I know that certainly isn't what I did. Those couple med students who recommended the idea to me even said, "this isn't an every school type of thing. Just pick your top 1 or 2 and be honest with them." I have heard of those goofs where people leave the incorrect school in the text. That sort of sucks for people to aren't trying to scam the system.

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

Well more than people being overlooked, we have a growing population that keeps getting supplied with the same number of new trainees every year. Ultimately, the public and the greater public health is getting the raw end of the stick. which i something we should avoid.

if a kid with a 515/3.8 @ an IVy league school with great LOR/greatEC doesnt get in one year, and makes minimal improvements to their app gets in the next cycle, which is flawed? the process or the student?

Serving the greater public shouldnt be a numbers game...but as long as it is then making the improvements we need to make will get harder and harder with each passing day

I could not agree more. For a while I've struggled with succumbing to the defeating feeling of the admissions process vs. being so unfathomably confident that I don't let it get to me. It is very tough to get into med school these days and I'm not always so sure it's the most fair process at every school. That being said, I KNOW admissions personnel work their fingers to the bone trying to give the most people they can a chance.

It's become more of a game of "what can I do to make them notice/remember me?" instead of "I want to contribute to helping people, and I feel called to be a physician." The latter stuff still matters, but it's not what gets you in the door, sadly.