In a previous entry, I recommended sending your letter of intent (LOI) both by snail mail and email – the latter if the institution has not explicitly banned electronic correspondence with them. If you are sending your letter by email, ensure that you send it in the body of the email – not as an attachment. Even one more step (opening the attachment) might impede your document’s being read.
Contact me for LOI editing help.
I’ve received some questions about the timing of letters of intent (LOI) for medical school and residency. I recommend the following:
Send the letter as soon as you complete your interview. That way you can knowledgeably discuss your impressions of the institution, while attempting to positively affect your candidacy before being evaluated by the committee. (As you usually don’t know when your application will be discussed, sending immediately after your interview is important.)
Although I recommend sending hard-copy LOIs, if the institution has not prohibited sending emails to the admissions committee/residency administration, there is no harm in emailing your LOI in addition to sending the hard copy.
Contact me for help editing your LOIs.
There are no stats that letters of intent (LOI) do or don’t work. (Programs do not tend to be transparent about how their ranking processes are handled.) However, because many programs do not want to go far down their rank list (mostly for reasons related to ego), they are eager to highly rank candidates who want to be at their programs. So I advise my clients to do whatever they can, including a LOI, to let a program know it is their first.
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A medical school letter of intent is a notice to an institution explicitly stating one’s continued interest in the school. An applicant might write a letter of intent after interviewing or in response to a waitlist notification. Why write a letter of intent? Medical school admissions have become increasingly competitive of late – especially in this weaker economy. Competitive applicants who would have considered business or law school are now recognizing the stability of a medical career. The bottom line: The number of medical school applications has again increased this year.
Here are some tips for writing a noteworthy letter of intent: Read more ›
A few applicants have emailed me asking me how to write a letter of intent (LOI), whose goal is to get the attention of a medical school and get off the wait list. Here are my recommendations:
1. Keep it short. More than one page will very likely be left unread.
2. Keep it formal.
3. Clarify your enthusiasm. If the school is your number choice say so.
4. Summarize your accomplishments (briefly) and what makes you a distinctive candidate.
5. Update your application.
I have helped numerous clients with LOIs and am, of course, always available for editing assistance: InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com .
Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more
