You survived the secondaries tsunami and, while you float on the remains of a raft, you wonder now what? Interview requests for med school can be expected starting in mid-August to mid-March. So, does this mean that it is finally time to kick back and wait for med school interview invites? Hallelujah! Not so fast…While this is a good time to take that short vacation you planned so that you can be refreshed for interviews, you don’t want med schools to think that you are just sitting around on the couch eating bon bons and binge-watching television shows. So, how should you use this time?
Continue with all of the activities that you wrote about in your med school application, both the primaries and secondaries. Now is not the time to blow them off.
Write down interesting stories and experiences that have happened since submitting your secondaries. You can use them either in an update letter or a med school interview.
Keep your hobbies and/or develop new ones. These will be essential lifelines while in med school and again is something that you can talk about in an interview.
Read the newspaper or magazines to stay on top of current events. You may be asked about things in the news during a med school interview.
What is an update letter?
While you wait to hear from med schools, periodically send them update letters to express your continued interest in their program. The purpose of these letters is to stay on the school’s radar while they issue med school interview invites.
When do I send an update letter?
Update letters should be sent around mid to late October, which gives you time to have more experiences that you can write about! Remember to check because not all schools accept update letters. You can plan to send a second update letter after the New Year.
What goes in the update letter?
An effective update letter should add value to your application as a whole. In other words, don’t just repeat the same things you wrote about in your med school primaries and secondaries. Tone here is crucial: you want the reader to sense your enthusiasm for what you are doing. Ideally, this will naturally lead you into a closing paragraph that reiterates why you want to attend their med school.
Are there other letters I should write?
There are three types of letters that you may end up writing at some point in this process: an update letter, a letter of interest, and a letter of intent.
Update letter: Informs the school what you have been doing since submitting your secondaries and underscores your interest in their program.
Letter of interest: Reiterates your enthusiasm for the program. This letter is not binding.
Letter of intent: A binding statement that explicitly says, “If accepted, I will attend.” There is no wiggle room here. You should only submit this to your true top choice.
To hear more about how Rosette Pathways can help you with your application, book a FREE discovery meeting or connect with our advisor at stephanie.ripley@rosettepathways.com
Let’s get you into med school!