Why one should not write multiple LOI

[a_student]

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other than the obvious moral obligations, not only do schools communicate with each other but after june1st they basically have to give a reason to the schools that have already accepted you why they want you, for sure if you've written a letter of intent to a school, the given school would tell the other school that this is the reason why we want to accept you

the following is a direct quote from amcas:

"Subsequent to June 1, a school of medicine seeking to admit an applicant already known to be accepted by another school for that entering class should advise that school of its intent. Because of the administrative problems involved in filling a place vacated just prior to the commencement of the academic year, schools should communicate fully with each other with respect to anticipated late roster changes in order to keep misunderstandings at a minimum. "

check this section of aamc's website out it describes in detail acceptance procedures:

http://www.aamc.org/students/applying/policies/recommendations.htm

 

[jlee9531]

and also why one should not write one so early when minds can change and situations can occur unexpectedly.

 

[merkon]

well heres an interesting question that may just be a matter of semantics. do you see a problem with the following situation:

say you tell one school taht if you are accepted, you will definitely accept and withdraw from all other schools. this is obviously a letter of intent. now say that while that decision is pending, you tell another school that you are extremely interested and that you will definitely accept if offered an acceptance. to me, this is reasonable for the following reason. if the first school accepts you, then you can withdraw from the other one immediately, as described. if the 2nd school accepts before the first one, you can still accept that school and wait on the other school. or do you think you are responsible for withdrawing from the other school. perhaps i should have used A and B for school names, but i think you ge tthe idea. thoughts?

 

[a_student]

sorry link was broken, fixed it

 

[skiz knot]

well heres an interesting question that may just be a matter of semantics. ?

Are you anti-semantic?

 

[jlee9531]

well heres an interesting question that may just be a matter of semantics. do you see a problem with the following situation:

say you tell one school taht if you are accepted, you will definitely accept and withdraw from all other schools. this is obviously a letter of intent. now say that while that decision is pending, you tell another school that you are extremely interested and that you will definitely accept if offered an acceptance. to me, this is reasonable for the following reason. if the first school accepts you, then you can withdraw from the other one immediately, as described. if the 2nd school accepts before the first one, you can still accept that school and wait on the other school. or do you think you are responsible for withdrawing from the other school. perhaps i should have used A and B for school names, but i think you ge tthe idea. thoughts?

why would you say that you would definitely accept their offer if its just a letter of interest. you can say that you are still very interested in their school and hope for the best. you can explain how it would be a good fit for you and all the advantages of going to that school, but don't go telling them you would definitely accept. your wording would make the school think it was an intent letter.

 

[W222]

Well, I think the posted quote from AMCAS means that if you are already accepted at school X and school Y accepts you after June 1st then they will notify school X that they have done so and you then have to choose between both schools. I wrote two versions of an LOI to seperate schools. Both basically expressed my strong interest in the schools and then I just followed up with phone calls. I got an acceptance from one and I am still waiting for the other. Nothing said anything about withdrawing from other schools or any of that. Both are top choices but I have personal reasons for wanting to accept an offer from the one I am still waiting for. I still sleep at night.

 

[jlee9531]

Well, I think the posted quote from AMCAS means that if you are already accepted at school X and school Y accepts you after June 1st then they will notify school X that they have done so and you then have to choose between both schools. I wrote two versions of an LOI to seperate schools. Both basically expressed my strong interest in the schools and then I just followed up with phone calls. I got an acceptance from one and I am still waiting for the other. Nothing said anything about withdrawing from other schools or any of that. Both are top choices but I have personal reasons for wanting to accept an offer from the one I am still waiting for. I still sleep at night.

a true letter of intent does say that you will withdraw from the other schools once you get an acceptance. your LOIs sound like letter of interests to me.

 

[patzan]

Skiz,
I think your avatar is a chocolate chip cookie.

 

[xanthines]

There is no problem because in your letter to the second school, you don't say that you will withdraw from others if accepted. However, even if you sent the same letter to every school, your only problem would be if you received acceptances simultaneously. Otherwise you just immediately withdraw from all other schools.

-X

if the 2nd school accepts before the first one, you can still accept that school and wait on the other school. or do you think you are responsible for withdrawing from the other school. perhaps i should have used A and B for school names, but i think you ge tthe idea. thoughts?

 

[Chirurgien]

I have a hunch that LOIs are actually meaningless. My theory is that schools will pick people off their waitlists based on some pre-set formula and/or ranking regardless whether or not individuals wrote LOIs. If people don't accept their offer from the list, they just go to the next person. It's as simple as that. To me, writing letters about how much you want to go, etc. is bologna and the letters probably get thrown in the bottom of your file if not in the garbage. What I do think LOIs are good for is to give the writer some sense of encouragement/faith/hope that maybe (just maybe) this letter will help them get in. But the truth of the matter is that your grades, MCAT, ECs etc. are all that's needed.

 

[jlee9531]

I have a hunch that LOIs are actually meaningless. My theory is that schools will pick people off their waitlists based on some pre-set formula and/or ranking regardless whether or not individuals wrote LOIs. If people don't accept their offer from the list, they just go to the next person. It's as simple as that. To me, writing letters about how much you want to go, etc. is bologna and the letters probably get thrown in the bottom of your file if not in the garbage. What I do think LOIs are good for is to give the writer some sense of encouragement/faith/hope that maybe (just maybe) this letter will help them get in. But the truth of the matter is that your grades, MCAT, ECs etc. are all that's needed.

there are a number of schools who take letter of intents into strong consideration.
one example that is widely known is UPenn.