Hello all,
I got deferred from Yale, and I haven’t sent in any updates yet. My counsellor is set to call the regional officer with a few updates from my side, but I’m wondering whether i should supplement that with a letter of continued interest?
Considering the time since the decision, and how lazy I am to write one, I’m wondering whether it would merit my application to send one. Any thoughts?
A letter of continued interest (LOCI) is really for schools that track a student’s interest. As Yale does not track an applicant’s interest, writing “Yale is my choice school” without any meaningful updates is a complete waste of an Admissions Director’s time.
If you’ve had any significant awards or honors since you first applied, then you should write an UPDATE LETTER – something along the lines of:
If you have NOT received any BIG awards or honors – awards that are beyond the scope of your high school (interstate, state or national) – you shouldn’t bother sending any updates. Many deferred applicant’s are admitted in the RD round without further updates.
IMHO, if your guidance counselor is going to make the call to Admissions and personally update them on your application, then I wouldn’t bother writing a letter, as the weight of an update coming from an adult in a supervisory capacity is going to trump a student’s update letter.
I’m unsure whether my updates are significant.
I retain my academic rigor, and have achieved exceptional grades in my exams last fall. I am also recipient of the highest academic honors for my academic achievement in the last fall and semester as a whole.
One of the activities i indicated on my common app finally happened, and it was a huge success.
I’m taking on roles in school community to promote the school to prospective applicants in collab with the dean.
i’m issuing a process of continuity for other clubs ive started to ensure lasting leadership.
Should i bother sending updates? @gibby
They are not (from the Yale perspective, but congrats from us, FWIW). @gibby is absolutely right; send updates on meaningful awards. Academy Award nomination, yes; school award, no. Yale, like many other schools in their tier, assumes that they are your first choice (a bit egotistical, but whatever). A LOCI just to send one is another piece of meaningless paper that may only succeed in getting you remembered, but not in a good way.