Letters of Interest/Intent and Scholarships

[Groggs]

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[efle]

At most places I think it's one committee that votes on admission, and a different committee that goes through the admits to decide who is a highest priority recruitment/merit-$ target. So sending admissions a letter will likely not have any impact.

Besides, if you're a high priority recruitment target, you're def not going to need a LoI to get an interview or admit there.

 

[gyngyn]

Can sending a letter of intent or interest prevent one from getting a scholarship by making the school believe they would attend without a scholarship. Also, would it be unprofessional to tactfully say in the letter that school X is my top choice and I would attend as long as it was financially feasible. Essentially, my top school is one I couldn't go to without a scholarship.

An "LoI" with a stipulation is hardly an inducement.

 

[calivianya]

(...) As for letter of intent, if you come off as iffy for any reason, such as needing a scholarship, that may negatively impact an adcom

That just seems so wrong. I understand that that's the way these things are done, but really.

If I am lucky enough to get multiple interviews/acceptances, I am absolutely going to make my final decision about where to go based on financial aid. I hate that we all have to pretend like we're not talking about taking out six figure sums when some of us might end up in primary care and struggle for decades to pay our loans back. Nothing about our futures is guaranteed. I'd choose to matriculate at the absolute bottom school on my list in the worst possible area of the country for me if they offered me a full ride before I'd take my #1 top choice school if they offered me no help.

...Would I tell any school that in a letter? Absolutely not, but still. We're all just supposed to be dreamers with our heads in the clouds, with no understanding that $200k of student loans is a lot of money and is a significant hardship to pay back? Seems counterintuitive... I'd think med schools would want matriculants with some common sense and not a burning desire to take out huge amounts of debt just because they can.

 

[DPTinthemaking15]

Even with high priority recruitment targets, schools can not offer or make promises of a scholarship prior to admissions. What they tend to do is emphasize the existence of the scholarship and have you apply for it at the same time. If you are being recruited like this, it will be quite obvious they are going to throw money at you.

BTW, there are numerous outside scholarships for medical school, UCI has a list
Outside Scholarships for Medical Students: Medical Students

This is a question I have been meaning to ask. I'm assuming each school gives a few merit based scholarships, but how many are financial need based? I've been blessed during undergrad with a scholarship to every school. They were "merit based," but deep down, I know financial need played a large part in receiving them. I wasn't sure if medical school uses similar guidelines.

 

[calivianya]

And now the bad news. There is no requirement that medical schools provide any financial aid information prior to the April 30th Single Acceptance Deadline. Indeed, many medical schools will not begin financial aid analysis until after you have taken final acceptance. So you may have to make a decision without any financial aid information

That is even more terrible than I realized. The whole system needs some serious rebooting.

 

[Groggs]

Thank you all for the comprehensive answer to my question. This clears things up a lot