Episode 16: Medical School Application Update Letters
In this episode, Katie and Rebecca discuss the types and potential purposes of update letters in the medical school application process.
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Transcript for Hidden Curricula Episode 16
Medical School Application Update Letters
Rebecca: Welcome to Hidden Curricula, a podcast exploring aspects of preparation for professional schools that may not be obvious or common knowledge. We will delve into topics of concern for undergraduates and discuss questions that relate to professional school applications. My name is Rebecca Curtin.
Katie: And I'm Katie Wang.
Rebecca: We are two of four pre professional advisors at Stanford University. Our group works with students who are interested in professional fields such as law, education, business, and medicine.
Katie: This podcast is not meant to be advice like we might give to our students, but rather to shed some light on how an advisor might approach various situations and level the playing field for all applicants. We indicated in our last episode that today's episode would be another academic FAQ. We've decided, given the timing of this episode's release, to switch gears and have today's episode be one for our medical school applicants. We are starting to get some questions related to application updates. For our next released episode, we'll return to an academic FAQ.
Rebecca: On today's episode of Hidden Curricula, we're going to return to an application cycle topic. So this is particularly for medical school applicants. And we are discussing mid cycle updates. What are they? When should they be sent?
Katie: And our discussion today will include considerations for application updates, both before and after interviews.
Rebecca: Let's just put it out here early that all communication that is sent to professional schools should adhere to some common criteria. So first, only provide additional communications to programs that are open to hearing from applicants. And policies on this vary widely. Some medical schools really like to hear from applicants, are open to updates throughout the cycle, and want to know the level of interest you have in their program as the cycle goes on. Other schools may feel that they have all the information they need from applicants, and will reach out to you if an interview is the next step. So pay close attention to what schools indicate, and make no assumptions about all programs based on what a single program may prefer.
Rebecca: Second, keep all interactions professional. These are professional programs and expect to matriculate a new cohort of professional school students. They are expecting business style letters and courteous communication. To be respectful of their time, keep all correspondence succinct. I recommend no more than one page for each update, and often even less than that is appropriate.
Katie: Now that we have those basics out of the way, let's start with pre interview updates. We're talking about a one page letter sent to medical schools where it's allowed or encouraged. So Rebecca, why don't you talk a little bit about what the content of this letter might be?
Rebecca: Yes, I am very happy to. I know this is a question that comes up for a lot of applicants.
The name says most of what you need to know. So what we're calling it, updates. These letters should include updates you want to share with the medical school before you've been invited to an interview. Or perhaps you've been invited, but the interview hasn't occurred yet. So updates before an interview. These are appropriate to send to programs you have applied to and are still interested in hearing from, but where you have heard very little to nothing since submitting your secondary application or programs that have invited you to an interview but want you to send any important updates ahead of the interview day. Now, this letter has a second purpose, or perhaps we should say opportunity, to reiterate the applicant's level of interest in the program, as well as the primary purpose of providing updates to application materials. These updates to application materials should be relatively significant. So new publications or conference presentations, or significant accomplishments, new jobs, new volunteer positions, etc. If there's a possible weakness that you've addressed by taking an additional course or getting more clinical hours, these types of updates would be good ones to include in a letter to schools that accept them. Now these letters should be school specific and clearly so. The applicant should make it apparent through their writing and the letter content that they did not send an identical letter to all programs. Remember, this is an opportunity to connect with the school and perhaps, just maybe, could prompt them to send you an interview invitation. So, take the opportunity to personalize it to each program.
Katie: Let's move on to a second type of letter. This type of letter we're calling the post interview letter. You've interviewed at a medical school and you want to reach out. So, what might these letters include? Please take us through this, Rebecca.
Rebecca: A post interview update letter can essentially combine a thank you letter for the interview experience with any relevant updates that you have to share. It also, like the pre interview update, allows for an opportunity to express continued interest in the program. These would usually be uploaded to a school specific applicant portal and be addressed to the Office of Admissions or an admissions committee. This would be in addition to thank you emails you might send to individuals who interviewed you, which is common practice after traditional one on one interviews. We might call these types of letters - both pre interview and post interview letters - letters of continued interest, because you are expressing your continued interest in a medical school. It's great how a lot of these titles actually tell you what the content of the letter is.
Katie: They speak for themselves. Can we touch briefly on something you mentioned here?
Rebecca: Oh, yeah, of course.
Katie: You mentioned uploading an update to an applicant portal and addressing the letters. Is this what an applicant should do for both pre and post interview updates?
Rebecca: Yeah, good point. So applicants, when checking whether a school accepts updates, should also investigate the method by which updates should be submitted. Sometimes it's a portal upload. Sometimes it's an email to an admissions office.
Katie: All right. Thank you. I think that'll be super helpful information to our listeners. So here's a big question. What is a letter of intent? We often have applicants asking us about whether they might send one of these kinds of letters.
Rebecca: Yeah, this is a big term that gets kind of thrown around in medical school admissions by applicants, by folks on the internet, so it's a great thing to clarify. Simply put, in most cases, an applicant will never send a letter of intent. A letter of intent is essentially a letter that tells the school that if you are accepted to their program, you will attend no matter what. No matter any financial package offered to you at another school, or whether or not you get into a preferred program from a waitlist. For those holding an acceptance to a program, these letters are usually not needed. Letters of intent tend to be most helpful when an applicant finds themselves on the waitlist at a top choice school. So, this is usually toward the end of the application cycle, an April or May timeframe. If a school is at the point where they are trying to fill seats in their class, it can be helpful to know of an applicant's intentions to matriculate if they are accepted. And I should not really have to say this, but I will, so that it's super clear. Each applicant should only send one program a letter of intent. And they should matriculate if accepted. No matter what, keep your word. That is incredibly important. So this is an aspect of the application that you should be incredibly careful with. Applicants who cannot keep this promise should not make it in the first place. So if any new information might change your mind about wanting to matriculate at a particular school – another acceptance, a better financial package, a partner's plans, et cetera, – then you should not send a letter of intent. Just to be extra clear, you do not have to send a letter of intent to get accepted to a school.
Katie: We've talked about letters of continued interest and letters of intent. Let's touch on timing and how many updates are reasonable. Before we wrap up this episode.
Rebecca: Letters of continued interest can be sent throughout the cycle to schools that accept them. But I wouldn't usually suggest sending one until about October. October/November timeframe tends to be a good window where there has been time to accumulate some experiences or significant updates since the time you submitted your secondary, and schools are likely still actively reviewing applications and deciding to whom they want to send interview invitations. Sometimes a second update might be warranted, especially for schools that welcome them in midwinter and are still interviewing at that time. As far as how many letters, some schools have application portals where applicants can upload documents. Often there is a limit to how many documents may be uploaded during the cycle. So, it's a good idea to carefully consider what you may want to upload and when, and resist the urge to over communicate.
Katie: I almost always recommend that applicants save one upload for an early to mid cycle update letter. So that would be either a letter of continued interest or a post interview thank you letter, and to also save another space to upload a future document in the case that they end up on a wait list and wish to send a letter of intent to the school.
Rebecca: Yeah, I do as well.
Katie: Some schools request that letters or application updates be sent to a specific place other than the applicant portal to a specific email address, for example, so again, this is a school specific kind of correspondence and the applicant needs to make sure they understand what is needed or wanted for the individual programs. So again, read directions carefully and try your very best to adhere to them.
Rebecca: Always an important thing to do. Okay, let's do some myth busting today if you're up for it, Katie.
Katie: Yes, of course. Always up for myth busting.
Rebecca: Okay, give me a myth.
Katie: Here's today's myth: An applicant should reach out frequently to medical schools to receive interview invitations and acceptances. That's our myth, and in most cases, it's not true. It can be an effective strategy to reach out to schools when you have important updates, and in some cases, this could generate an interview invitation, but it's a risk to communicate too frequently with schools. Use your discretion and seek advice from others and don't make promises you can't keep in the interest of thinking that that's what you need to do to get an acceptance. And, remember, most of the interview invites and acceptances will still be sent with or without communication on the part of an applicant.
Rebecca: Thanks for that, Katie. And thanks for tuning in to today's episode of Hidden Curricula. We hope we've helped add clarity to the application process, at least to this part of it, and what communications are appropriate to send to medical schools. Hang in there, applicants. This can be a period of waiting, and we are over here cheering you on.