(Note: We encourage you to use this resource alongside our Medical School Update Letter Example Library, which includes 35 real-world examples of letters of interest and letters of intent to help you navigate situations where you’re awaiting a school’s response following secondaries, interviews, or being placed on a waitlist.
You can find countless articles online discussing how to write a great medical school personal statement, how to ace your interviews, and pretty much every other medical school admissions topic.
However, very few of these articles address one of the hardest parts of the med school application process: waiting.
As a medical school applicant, you’ve been a go-getter for the past few years, if not your whole life. You’ve put in tons of study hours to achieve a strong GPA and MCAT score, applied for the best physician shadowing and volunteering opportunities, took initiative and demonstrated leadership across your extracurricular activities, and worked your tail off to write great application essays. In other words, waiting for good things to happen is not the way you’re used to operating.
Unfortunately, waiting—patiently or impatiently—is an important part of the admissions process. You have to wait for interview invitations after submitting your secondary essays. Then, after your interviews, you have to wait to receive an admissions decision, possibly after being placed on various waitlists. This is far from unlikely given that some schools place up to 50 percent of interviewees on their waitlist!
What makes this process even more difficult is that admissions committees don’t typically provide a timeline of when to expect updates or notifications. And, although rare, an adcom may inform you of your acceptance or rejection pretty much right up to the start of the fall semester.
Naturally, there will come a time in your admissions process when you will wonder, “What should I do while I wait for [an interview offer/admissions decision]?” Sometimes, the answer is that you unfortunately must wait. Other times, the answer is that it’s time to reach back out to various admission committees by submitting a letter.
You may have heard of two types of related yet distinct letters that you can send to admission committees: a letter of intent or a letter of interest. These letters can help boost your odds of escaping admissions purgatory and getting into med school. However, different situations call for different types of communications, and approaching these letters the wrong way can actually hurt your chances of being accepted.
This guide will clear up any confusion you may have about when and how to send each type of letter so that you can scratch your itch to do something in a productive manner.
Many applicants mistakenly use the terms “letter of intent” and “letter of interest” interchangeably, perhaps because they share the LOI acronym. Yet, the two types of letter differ in various ways. We’ll discuss each in detail below so you can determine which one best fits your needs.
Additionally, we’re often asked how “update letters” fit into the picture. We do not view update letters as a distinct letter category because we encourage students to include updates whenever possible in their letter of intent or letter of interest. In other words, both of these types of letters should operate as update letters in addition to expressing your intent or strong interest in attending a given med school.
What it is: A letter of intent should express your clear desire to attend a particular medical school due to your perceived fit with its curriculum, academic environment, student body, culture, and so on. You must also communicate what you might contribute to the school if admitted.
Goals: To inform the medical school that it is unequivocally your top choice and that you will surely accept an offer of admission.
How many schools to send it to: One, since only a single school can be your top choice.
Why medical schools appreciate it: Schools want to maximize their “yield”—that is, the percentage of admitted students who choose to enroll—because it impacts their rank, exclusivity, and prestige. Therefore, when comparing two otherwise equal candidates, schools will be attracted to the one who has expressed a clear desire to attend their program if admitted.
When you could send it: One month after your interview, whether you’re placed on the waitlist or haven’t yet heard back. You may send a second letter of intent if over two months have passed since your initial one and you have meaningful updates to share.
What it should include:
Important things to note for your letter of intent:
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What it is: Like a letter of intent, a letter of interest should express your enthusiasm for a medical school’s academics, offerings, and culture. Moreover, you should highlight ways in which you will fit with and enrich the student body.
Goal: To inform medical schools that you are highly interested in attending if admitted.
How many schools to send it to: As many as you have continued interest in.
Why medical schools appreciate it: Medical schools want to be pursued by prospective students. If you submit your secondary application and a significant amount of time passes without the med school hearing from you, they may assume you’re less interested in their program than in others. Moreover, many of your competitors will be taking the extra step to reach out and express their excitement about various programs. Although schools won’t be as convinced that you’ll help maximize their yield as they would be by a letter of intent, it doesn’t hurt to keep yourself in adcoms’ minds.
When you could send it: Assuming you have a meaningful update to share, there are two situations that warrant a letter of interest:
You may send a second post-interview letter of interest if at least two months have passed since a previous letter and you have significant updates to share. In other words, don’t continue to write simply for the sake of writing; otherwise, you may run the risk of annoying adcoms.
What it should include:
Important things to note for your letter of interest:
The letter of intent and letter of interest should largely be written in the same way, save for the level of commitment you express near the conclusion—and perhaps in the introduction—of your letter. Reviewing examples of both can help you compare and contrast a letter of interest and a letter of intent.
Here’s an example to give you a sense of how to craft a professional, well-written letter of intent:
Dear Tufts University School of Medicine Admissions Committee:
Thank you for offering me a place on your waitlist. I am writing to inform you that Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSOM) is my clear first choice for medical school. After my interview day, I spoke at length with Tufts alumni near me—Drs. Julie Simmons and Ruth Goldberg—to learn more about the Tufts experience. Their enthusiasm for TUSOM increased mine as I came to more fully appreciate how graduates live and pass on to others the Tufts values of compassion, innovation, healing, service, and respect. And hearing about the complex brain conditions being treated at Tufts’ neurology clinics solidified my interest in branching out of my ongoing research and undertaking research specific to these diseases with Dr. Nikhar Mehta or Dr. John Lewandowski.
I would also like to update you on what has occurred since my interview in November 2020.
As indicated in my secondary application, I completed Booth Fundamentals in December 2020. Booth Fundamentals is a 6-month certificate program on the foundational business concepts from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I passed with High Honors—the highest possible grade, assigned to the top 5 percent of the cohort. Stepping into the role of a business leader and tackling case studies of diverse organizations has equipped me to engage in business discussions, and I would love to participate more fully in business as a Tufts student through the Medical Entrepreneurship program by collaborating with Boston companies on new healthcare ventures. I am also interested in representing TUSOM at the Progress in Medicine summit, which would prepare me to drive changes to improve the value of patient care as I progress through my training.
In December, I also took a contingent of Chicagoland volunteers to lobby alongside the American Heart Association at the Capitol. We enlisted the support of our state legislators on two bills that increase access to affordable healthcare and another to provide more healthy food choices to individuals living in the inner city. The scope of my advocacy has extended beyond pushing for legislation as a catalyst to fight heart disease. Over the past year, I worked with our local U.S. Senator to reform how child abuse cases are handled, culminating in the passage of Article 2451 in January 2021. This law puts enforceable protections in place for children by requiring Child Protective Services representatives in Illinois to respond to all cases of alleged abuse within 48 hours, not only those they believe are reportable. TUSOM’s curriculum provides a remarkable range of options to continue sharpening my policy skills, including the healthcare policy course headed by Dr. Samantha Chin.
Collectively, I see Tufts as the ideal medical school to become the physician leader I have long dreamed of becoming. If admitted, I will accept without hesitation. I am confident that I would simultaneously benefit from Tufts and contribute to making it an even better place.
Please contact me via email at enomura@uchicago.edu if I can answer any questions or provide additional information. Regardless of what you decide, I appreciate your consideration of my application.
Emika Nomura
AAMC ID: 12345678
