Hi everyone,
So this cycle has definitely been a roller coaster, and I first want to make it clear that I'm very grateful to have received acceptances to some great schools. However, I was really hoping to have received an A to Weill Cornell and it is currently my first choice, but I was waitlisted a few days ago and wanted to gather some thoughts on how (and if I should at all) I should go about sending a letter of intent. For some background, I'm an in-state applicant, URM, LM ~78 (both GPA and MCAT are slightly above the past class medians). I have also received an A to UCSF, and it has been my understanding that a letter of intent typically will hold more value if I hold an acceptance to a more "prestigious" school (most people I've talked with seem to agree UCSF is objectively seen to carry more weight than Cornell). That said, I know that Cornell is already a t10 school, so I wanted to ask if you guys think I should try to "name-drop" UCSF in my LOI so that I don't appear as desperate (even though I kind of am lol), or if Cornell might almost take it as an offense when both schools are already fairly at the top. I also mentioned my stats because I wonder if perhaps I can just let them speak on their own (even though there are certainly applicants with better stats on the waitlist), or if I should mention my current A to UCSF.
Finally, I know that typically applicants will also try to mention some updates in their LOIs, however my gap year has been fairly casual and I've just been continuing my previous activities with some additional stuff that includes: new part-time teaching jobs, two published abstracts, and my previous lab just submitted a manuscript. Do you guys think there is any worth to mentioning these, or should I stick to why I think I'm a good fit and my own personal reasons as to why I want to go to Cornell.
Once again, thank you guys for any help and I hope I don't come off as ungrateful for my cycle, it's just that I have family that I'm very close to and toddler siblings that I really hope to stay close to in medical school, and everything I've heard and seen about Cornell is just great.
So this cycle has definitely been a roller coaster, and I first want to make it clear that I'm very grateful to have received acceptances to some great schools. However, I was really hoping to have received an A to Weill Cornell and it is currently my first choice, but I was waitlisted a few days ago and wanted to gather some thoughts on how (and if I should at all) I should go about sending a letter of intent. For some background, I'm an in-state applicant, URM, LM ~78 (both GPA and MCAT are slightly above the past class medians). I have also received an A to UCSF, and it has been my understanding that a letter of intent typically will hold more value if I hold an acceptance to a more "prestigious" school (most people I've talked with seem to agree UCSF is objectively seen to carry more weight than Cornell). That said, I know that Cornell is already a t10 school, so I wanted to ask if you guys think I should try to "name-drop" UCSF in my LOI so that I don't appear as desperate (even though I kind of am lol), or if Cornell might almost take it as an offense when both schools are already fairly at the top. I also mentioned my stats because I wonder if perhaps I can just let them speak on their own (even though there are certainly applicants with better stats on the waitlist), or if I should mention my current A to UCSF.
Finally, I know that typically applicants will also try to mention some updates in their LOIs, however my gap year has been fairly casual and I've just been continuing my previous activities with some additional stuff that includes: new part-time teaching jobs, two published abstracts, and my previous lab just submitted a manuscript. Do you guys think there is any worth to mentioning these, or should I stick to why I think I'm a good fit and my own personal reasons as to why I want to go to Cornell.
Once again, thank you guys for any help and I hope I don't come off as ungrateful for my cycle, it's just that I have family that I'm very close to and toddler siblings that I really hope to stay close to in medical school, and everything I've heard and seen about Cornell is just great.