What is a letter of intent??

[Amy B]

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Hello to all,

I have started lurking here again. Glad a lot of you have made it into med school since I left SDN awhile back. Two more weeks and I am done with undergraduate work. Thank GOODNESS.

Anyway here is my question.... For some reason I have no idea what a letter of intent is used for? Who do you write it to and for what purpose?

 

[dukeblue01]

Amybeth,
A letter of intent is basically a letter that says I really want to go to your school for the following reasons, and I will definitely attend if accepted. It is a strong motivator for med schools, because they are always more likely to accept a person off of the waitlist if they know that they will go there. But you can only do this for one school, if you are ethical. You can write letters of "great interest" to schools, but most know the difference. The idea is, that only the people that really want to go will get off the waitlist. Some schools have implicitly stated this to me in their waitlist letters.

 

[Ripley]

Does this mean you're back?? Please tell me you deferred instead of withdrawing!

I think a letter of intent states that if the school were to accept you, you would withdraw from everywhere else, and attend said school.

C'mon, tell us where you've been and what's going on! Glad you're back!!