Updates/ Letters of Interest/LOR Dilemma!

[thenykway]

Hey all! Hope the application cycle is going well for everyone. I just received some good news recently when I got into Stanford Med. I was ecstatic but because of personal/family reasons, it would be my preference to go to a school on the East Coast.

There's two schools (School A and B) in particular that I am targeting, both of which are significantly "less competitive" (but let's be real, every med school is competitive lol). I submitted my secondaries by late July (so it's been a while). While much more competitive schools have already given me interview (and some acceptances), School A has been completely silent. The reason why I prefer School A so much is that it is 5 minutes away from my hometown and is cheap. One of my fellow applicants/friends suggested that perhaps they lost my application or perhaps I'm overqualified (my LizzyM is 8 points above their average). However, there's no real way to guess what's happening because as we all know, it's such a complicated process. It could be as simple as them not liking my application.

I have a few questions:

1) I want this school to know that I'm highly interested and not just applying for the sake of it being a "safety" (do those even exist in med apps LOL). Would it be smart to send a letter of interest BEFORE any sort interview invite? Also, how does one go about giving a letter of interest?

2) I have an interview with School B next week. I actually recently did work for a professor who works in the school and he wrote me a LOR. Is it too late to send this LOR to this school (as well as other schools I applied to?)? If it's still fine, should I send it pre-interview or post-interview?

3) I have a bit of on update to send to schools but not sure if it is really significant enough. Is it worth it?


Thank you for all your help! If anyone has any questions to ask me about MCATs, interviews and applications, please don't hesitate to private message me!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Goro]

I'd love to hear what my learned colleagues @LizzyM and @gyngyn have to say about this. Essentially, your letter will be: "Dear School, I am declining an acceptance to Stanford because I would like to attend your school for reasons X/Y/Z."

What I'm worried about is some Dean thinking "This kid turned down Stanford to come here???? WTF?"
Frankly, to me, an application is a LOI.

1) I want this school to know that I'm highly interested and not just applying for the sake of it being a "safety" (do those even exist in med apps LOL). Would it be smart to send a letter of interest BEFORE any sort interview invite? Also, how does one go about giving a letter of interest?

Not likely to get the Dean of Admissions excited. Does this school even welcome updates? Not all schools do.
2) I have an interview with School B next week. I actually recently did work for a professor who works in the school and he wrote me a LOR. Is it too late to send this LOR to this school (as well as other schools I applied to?)? If it's still fine, should I send it pre-interview or post-interview?

If "I just finished the Fall semester and look at all the As I received" or "my paper submitted to Cell has been accepted and is now "in press", then those are worth an update. The news that you started a new job is not.

3) I have a bit of on update to send to schools but not sure if it is really significant enough. Is it worth it?


Thank you for all your help! If anyone has any questions to ask me about MCATs, interviews and applications, please don't hesitate to private message me![/QUOTE]

 

[LizzyM]

Is this less expensive, close to home school a public school? I do consider an application & secondary to be a "letter of interest". The schools may be afraid you are "out of their league" and will choose Stanford over them and so they are focusing their efforts on applicants they feel they have a better chance of landing. In these circumstances, it might not hurt to send an email with an update and a sincere interest in the school because it is close to home and because it offers xyz.... Don't make it all about location and money but find something about the school's academics or research or mission that would make it a good fit for you.

 

[thenykway]

I'd love to hear what my learned colleagues @LizzyM and @gyngyn have to say about this. Essentially, your letter will be: "Dear School, I am declining an acceptance to Stanford because I would like to attend your school for reasons X/Y/Z."

What I'm worried about is some Dean thinking "This kid turned down Stanford to come here???? WTF?"
Frankly, to me, an application is a LOI.

1) I want this school to know that I'm highly interested and not just applying for the sake of it being a "safety" (do those even exist in med apps LOL). Would it be smart to send a letter of interest BEFORE any sort interview invite? Also, how does one go about giving a letter of interest?

Not likely to get the Dean of Admissions excited. Does this school even welcome updates? Not all schools do.
2) I have an interview with School B next week. I actually recently did work for a professor who works in the school and he wrote me a LOR. Is it too late to send this LOR to this school (as well as other schools I applied to?)? If it's still fine, should I send it pre-interview or post-interview?

If "I just finished the Fall semester and look at all the As I received" or "my paper submitted to Cell has been accepted and is now "in press", then those are worth an update. The news that you started a new job is not.

3) I have a bit of on update to send to schools but not sure if it is really significant enough. Is it worth it?


Thank you for all your help! If anyone has any questions to ask me about MCATs, interviews and applications, please don't hesitate to private message me!

[/QUOTE]

Hey Goro! I really appreciate you taking out your time to help me!

So you're saying don't bother with sending a Letter of Interest. But if I have any significant updates, then maybe I can create a bit of combo of both?

Also I should probably call the school to find out if they will accept my LOR right? Even though youre probably right that I won't get a Dean too excited, can it really hurt?

 

[thenykway]

Is this less expensive, close to home school a public school? I do consider an application & secondary to be a "letter of interest". The schools may be afraid you are "out of their league" and will choose Stanford over them and so they are focusing their efforts on applicants they feel they have a better chance of landing. In these circumstances, it might not hurt to send an email with an update and a sincere interest in the school because it is close to home and because it offers xyz.... Don't make it all about location and money but find something about the school's academics or research or mission that would make it a good fit for you.

Thanks for your response LizzyM, so happy to have an expert reply to this!

Yes, its a public school and I am in-state. I was definitely considering writing them a combination letter of updates/interest, stating not only the money and location factor, but also other aspects of the school that I genuinely like.

I just have three followup questions:

1) Should I mention my other acceptances and state I prefer their school instead? Or is that a bit too much?

2) Is it too early to send a letter like this? I submitted in late July so i'm ASSUMING my application has been passed over but should I just wait for the remote chance of a late II or should I just go ahead and submit this letter now? Would it HURT me in any way to send it?

3) Technical question: Do I send the letter as an attachment in the email or as the body of the email?

Once again, I really appreciate all your help!

 

[LizzyM]

I don't believe it is too early. Some schools have earmarked applicants for almost all their interview slots at this point so you should get on this soon.

You could say "although I've received an offer at another school; Local School of Medicine is still my first choice and I am hoping that I will be honored with an interview invitation as Local School of Medicine is my first choice. I am most attracted to Local School of Medicine because of its outstanding.... Of course, it would also be a homecoming of sorts as my parents live in Nearbytown.

My school will upload the email and the attachment will be attached. It is more streamlined to have the message in the email than to click the email only to have to open a separate document with the actual message.

 

[Goro]

What the Divine LizzyM said. Just make sure the school takes updates. Some don't and will weed out those who can't follow simple instructions.