When to send letter of intent?

[AlmostADoctor1996]

Hello everyone,

I have a quick question when I should send letters of intent/interest. I would like to send one to each of my top choices: Pitt, Columbia, Duke, Harvard, and Yale. I have interviewed at all of them and will not hear my admissions decisions for a few more months since they are non-rolling. Are letters of intent only supposed to be sent after you get wait listed? Also are updates appropriate to send at any time? Any advice is welcomed! Thank you!

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[cloudcomputingunicorn]

Hello!

If you choose to write a letter of intent, send it to ONLY one school. If you are caught sending multiple letters of intent, you may be blacklisted everywhere. It signifies a promise to matriculate if accepted. Letters are not common nor necessary for admission and can be sent anytime.

As for updates, some schools accept them and others don't. They usually tell you on interview day. In general, admissions committees are only interested in significant accomplishments like a new semester of grades that markedly improved your GPA, new first author publications or being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.

 

[HomeSkool]

A letter of interest is one in which you say, "After interviewing with you, I think we're a good match because of XYZ." They're pretty useless, because the fact that you submitted an application, showed up for an interview, and didn't subsequently withdraw your application indicates you're interested.

A letter of intent is one in which you say, "If you accept me, I'll turn down all other offers of acceptance to attend your school." Sending out more than one is like proposing marriage to multiple people -- it's disingenuous, makes you a liar, and could bite you in the butt. Letters of intent are pretty useless, anyway, as adcoms generally assume they're untrue. That was beautifully explained in this thread: LOI and Interviews?

So, to answer the question posed in this thread's subject line: kinda never.

I second @cloudcomputingunicorn's comments about updates.

 

[Goro]

Hello everyone,

I have a quick question when I should send letters of intent/interest. I would like to send one to each of my top choices: Pitt, Columbia, Duke, Harvard, and Yale. I have interviewed at all of them and will not hear my admissions decisions for a few more months since they are non-rolling. Are letters of intent only supposed to be sent after you get wait listed? Also are updates appropriate to send at any time? Any advice is welcomed! Thank you!

This post is exactly why Admissions deans treat LOI as lies.

Exactly how would you interpret a nonbinding contract from a desperate candidate?


From the wise Med Ed: [What med schools…] accept and desire are two different things. My institution, for instance, will accept practically anything a given applicant wants to forward along, but only rarely do we consider it a worthwhile addition to the package.

And yes, some of us have gotten a little jaded about LOI's. I could fill a barrel with all the post-interview correspondence I have received that has not translated into a single matriculant. This has all gotten mighty complicated and burdensome for what is essentially a zero sum game.

It's generally not burdensome for an applicant to upload something to the portal, and once in a great while it does tip us off with some useful info. I can think of one individual who had a stellar application, like Harvard/Yale/Stanford-worthy, and a superb interview, who sent us several updates and a LOI. We were somewhat perplexed by this person's tenacious interest in our program. Turns out there were family/geographical reasons behind the whole thing, the applicant just never felt comfortable directly playing that card.

When it comes down to waitlist time I will scan through what folks have uploaded post-interview. The vast majority of times it has no impact. Occasionally I have seen it hurt people's chances. Come to think of it, in my experience this is probably more likely, than such correspondence having a positive impact.

 

[Robin-jay]

You have 5 types of overlapping letters to that can be sent to a medical admission committee

Updates: new info you want to make the committee aware of. The information should be worthwhile and significant. Some schools encourage these buy many schools discourage or list policies not accepting updates.
Thank you: after interview
Letter of Interest: Typically, a post-interview but pre-decision letter that can reiterate and reinforce the school would be a good fit, usually with information you learned from your interview. This usually does not include a promise to attend if selected.
Letter of Intent: Typically written by applicants who have been accepted by one school but are on WL at another preferred school, outlining the reasons why you prefer it. There is little to scant evidence that these are particularly effective. It should be noted these are thought to have even less impact for those who are just on WL.

I will add one other type that is rarely used any more, the Reconsideration Letter: This is an applicant rejected pre-interview who has a large anomaly in their academic background that can be viewed through mitigating circumstances and asks to be reconsidered. With the non-screened/minimally pre-screened secondaries, there are plenty of opportunities for an applicant to express these circumstances.

To answer your specific question, unless, you have something substantial to say to the committee that was not originally mentioned in your application or a worthy update, an Letter of Interest, particularly before an interview is mostly useless. Indeed, many applicants write them sound more desperate than interested and that will work against you.

1.) Should you send a "thank you" letter after an interview, and what would you say?

2.) Do you recommend any of these "letters" being sent (and specifically "letter of interest" as you defined, since you said it was mostly useless?

 

[AlmostADoctor1996]

I guess I didn't really know what a letter of intent was. Thank you for educating me on it. I appreciate all of the responses!

 

[Longshot6]

So I have read Mayo heavily considers letter of intent. I think it varies from school to school.

 

[Robin-jay]

So I have read Mayo heavily considers letter of intent. I think it varies from school to school.

That's what the rumors are.

 

[HomeSkool]

So I have read Mayo heavily considers letter of intent. I think it varies from school to school.

Where did you read that, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[Longshot6]

on the Mayo Clinic School Specific thread on sdn.
@HomeSkool

 

[PamplemoussePCR]

Where did you read that, if you don't mind my asking?

They told me that at my interview as well! Mayo has issues with people passing it up for schools in better locations, so it makes sense.

At my interviews at schools not necessarily popular due to location, my interviewers have really tried to probe my interest into their school in particular. If I had to guess, LOIs would be more valuable at these schools. I'm betting Harvard just tosses LOIs out the window 🙄

 

[HomeSkool]

1.) Should you send a "thank you" letter after an interview, and what would you say?

"Thank you for inviting me to interview for a place in your Class of 20XX! With your school considering so many outstanding applicants, I'm humbled to have been selected to interview. I sincerely appreciate all the work that went into making the day exciting and informative. I'm also grateful for the time and energy my interviewers dedicated to preparing for and administering my interviews.

Thank you once more for considering my candidacy. I would be honored to be counted among your students and eagerly await your decision."

 

[HomeSkool]

on the Mayo Clinic School Specific thread on sdn.
@HomeSkool

They told me that at my interview as well! Mayo has issues with people passing it up for schools in better locations, so it makes sense.

Thanks for enlightening me!

 

[Robin-jay]

"Thank you for inviting me to interview for a place in your Class of 20XX! With your school considering so many outstanding applicants, I'm humbled to have been selected to interview. I sincerely appreciate all the work that went into making the day exciting and informative. I'm also grateful for the time and energy my interviewers dedicated to preparing for and administering my interviews.

Thank you once more for considering my candidacy. I would be honored to be counted among your students and eagerly await your decision."

What percentage of students send this? Do ADCOMs consider a "thank you" letter as increased chance of acceptance?

 

[Goro]

So I have read Mayo heavily considers letter of intent. I think it varies from school to school.

Some schools are excessively needy, or like seeing applicants grovel.

 

[Goro]

What percentage of students send this? Do ADCOMs consider a "thank you" letter as increased chance of acceptance?

Personally, I throw TY letters away. By the time they arrive, your fate has already been determined by the interviewer and maybe even the Adcom.

Perversely, I will respond politely to a TY email. But frankly, I see no need for them unless your mama taught you to be polite.

 

[HomeSkool]

Some schools are excessively needy, or like seeing applicants grovel.

@Goro FTW.