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A strong medical school letter of intent includes five core elements:
Each element serves a distinct purpose, and leaving any of them out weakens the letter's impact.
To start, address the letter to the Dean of Admissions or the Director of Admissions by first and last name. Look up the correct individual on the school's website or call the admissions office directly to find this information. A letter addressed to "Dear Admissions Committee" signals that you did not take the time to identify the right person.
Your statement of commitment is the single most important sentence in the letter, and it belongs in the opening paragraph. State directly that this school is your first choice and that you will accept an offer of admission if one is extended.
Use definitive language. "I will attend" carries far more weight than "I would strongly consider attending" or "I am very interested in your program."
Open with a brief introduction that includes your full name, the date you interviewed, and your AAMC ID. Then transition into your commitment statement. Admissions officers should understand the purpose of your letter within the first three sentences. Every sentence after that should reinforce or build on that initial declaration.
A letter of intent that could apply to any medical school tells admissions committees you're not actually interested in theirs.
Name specific things that made you choose this school over every other option, including:
Nate Overholtzer, an expert admissions counselor at Inspira Advantage and a former member of the Keck/Caltech MD-PhD Program Evaluations and Selections Committee, provided valuable advice on what medical schools are looking for.
In Inspira Advantage’s How to Submit the Perfect Primary Application webinar, Nate says that the admissions committee learns much more about your empathy and teamwork skills through short, illustrative stories than through a list of bulleted responsibilities.
Admissions committees evaluate applicants based on how well their experiences, attributes, and goals align with a school's mission. Your letter of intent should connect the school's mission directly to your professional goals and show that you know what makes their program distinct.
Every school publishes a mission statement through the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)'s Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) database, which you can use as your research starting point.
To demonstrate mutual fit, frame your experiences in terms of the value they bring to the school. Admissions committees look for candidates who will strengthen the learning environment, contribute to the school's research mission, and support the patient populations the school prioritizes.
For example, if the medical school is known for community health programs, describe your clinical volunteer work in underserved settings and explain how you plan to continue that work through their specific community partnerships. If the school prioritizes research, connect your published research or ongoing projects to a faculty member's lab or a research center at the institution.
Think about which of your qualities (e.g., healthcare service orientation, cultural awareness, teamwork, ethical responsibility) will resonate most with a given school's stated values and mission, and then include them in your letter.
Include application updates that add substantive new evidence to your candidacy and were not part of your primary or secondary application. Strong updates include:
State each update briefly and connect it back to the school. A new research publication matters more to the committee when you explain how the work relates to a faculty member's research or a program the school offers. Avoid listing minor activities or padding the letter with updates that do not change the committee's understanding of who you are as a candidate.
Close your letter with a brief restatement of your commitment, a sentence of gratitude for the committee's consideration, and your contact information. Do not introduce new arguments or repeat points from the body of the letter. The closing should leave the reader with a clear, confident final impression.
Send the letter as a PDF attachment unless the school specifies a different method, such as uploading through a secondary application portal. Every detail of how you submit and format your letter reflects the professionalism admissions committees expect from future physicians.
Click here to get help writing the perfect letter of intent. With over 15 years of experience, our experts have helped thousands of students secure admission with a letter that gets them noticed.
Sending a letter of intent to multiple schools is the single fastest way to damage your candidacy. A letter of intent declares one school as your absolute first choice. You cannot have two first choices.
Chiamaka Okorie is an admissions consultant at Inspira Advantage and a former application reviewer at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. In a webinar on what to do post-interview, she advises applicants that sending a letter of intent to multiple schools is a breach of ethics that can impact their entry into the profession.
Admissions deans communicate with each other, and applicants who send identical commitment letters to multiple programs will have their acceptances rescinded. Send your letter of intent to only one school. Use letters of interest for every other program where you want to express enthusiasm without making an exclusive commitment.
Sending a letter of intent before you have interviewed at the school suggests you are willing to commit to a program you have not actually evaluated in person. Admissions officers may read that as impulsive rather than committed.
Wait at least one month after your interview before sending your letter. If you are placed on the waitlist, that is a natural trigger to send your letter of intent. You can also send it if you have not heard back after a month following the interview.
Some medical schools explicitly state they do not accept letters of intent or post-interview correspondence. Ignoring that instruction does not show persistence; it shows an inability to follow directions, which is a red flag for the admissions committee.
Check the school's admissions portal, their secondary application instructions, and their website for communication policies before you send anything. If the policy is unclear, call the admissions office and ask directly.
Your letter of intent is not a second personal statement. The admissions committee has already read your application, your secondary essays, and your interview notes. Repeating your GPA, your MCAT score, your reasons for pursuing medicine, or a summary of your extracurricular activities wastes the one page you have.
Okorie emphasizes that a letter must provide tangible value to the reader. She advises applicants to include meaningful updates, such as new grades, research progress, or clinical achievements, that have occurred since the primary application was submitted to ensure the letter isn't just full of "fluff."
Every sentence in your letter should contain information or a perspective that the admission committee has not seen before, such as a new connection to the school's mission based on your interview experience, a recent accomplishment, or a specific faculty member's work that solidified your decision.
Mentioning a faculty member's research to explain your academic fit is effective. Writing a dean's name or referencing a personal connection to imply you deserve special consideration is not.
Admissions committees recognize the difference immediately. If a faculty member or administrator plans to advocate for you, they will do so independently. Writing "Dr. Smith personally encouraged me to apply" in your letter shifts the tone from professional to presumptuous and puts that faculty member in an uncomfortable position if the committee follows up.
A letter of intent exists to remove doubt. Phrases like these introduce the exact uncertainty the letter is supposed to eliminate:
Instead, use definitive language, like "I will attend if accepted." If you cannot write that sentence and mean it, you are not ready to send a letter of intent to that school.
A letter of intent that runs longer than one page suggests you cannot communicate concisely, a core skill in medicine.
Keep your letter to 300-500 words, single-spaced across three to five focused paragraphs. Use a standard, readable font like Times New Roman at 12 points. Send the letter as a PDF unless the school specifies otherwise.
Misspelling the dean's name, addressing the letter to the wrong school, or sending it to a generic admissions email instead of the correct contact person are errors that signal carelessness. Proofread your letter, have a mentor review it, and verify every detail before you send it.
The following three sample letters of intent demonstrate how to apply the principles covered in this guide across the most common scenarios you will face during the admissions cycle.
A post-interview letter of intent is appropriate when at least one month has passed since your interview, and you have not yet received a decision.
Dear Dr. Michael Huang,
My name is Jane Doe (AAMC ID: 16XXXXXX), and I interviewed at Rush Medical College on January 9. I am writing to express that Rush Medical College is my top choice for medical school. If accepted, I will attend without hesitation.
I have completed interviews at several programs this cycle, and Rush Medical College stands out for integrating health equity into every layer of the curriculum rather than treating it as a standalone elective. During my interview, I spoke with two current M2 students who described how the Social Determinants of Health thread in their preclinical coursework directly shaped their approach to patient encounters during early clinical experiences.
That kind of curricular design reflects what I have been working toward over the last three years as a community health educator at Enlace Chicago, where I led diabetes prevention workshops in underserved neighborhoods across Chicago's West Side.
I see Rush Medical College as the place where my field experience and your curricular framework come together. I would bring a perspective grounded in direct community work to classroom discussions, small group sessions, and the student-run free clinic your program operates in partnership with CommunityHealth.
Thank you for the time and consideration your admissions committee has given my application. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to Rush Medical College's mission.
Sincerely,
Jane Doe jdoe@email.com | (555) 987-6543 AAMC ID: 16XXXXXX
A letter of intent that includes application updates functions as a hybrid document. You declare your commitment and simultaneously give the committee new evidence to strengthen your file.
Dear Dr. Linda Patel,
My name is John Doe (AAMC ID: 14XXXXXX), and I interviewed at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine on December 3. I want to reiterate that the University of New Mexico School of Medicine is my first-choice medical school. If offered a place in your incoming class, I will accept immediately.
Since my interview, I have continued building the research and clinical foundation that drew me to your program. I would like to share three updates that are not reflected in my current application file:
My co-authored paper, "Disparities in Prenatal Care Access Among Rural Latina Women," was accepted for publication in the Journal of Community Health in January. The findings from this study directly connect to the maternal health disparities research Dr. Anita Voss is leading at UNM's Center for Women's Health, and I would welcome the opportunity to contribute to her team's work.
I completed an additional 120 hours of clinical volunteering at First Choice Community Healthcare, a federally qualified health center serving primarily Spanish-speaking patients. Working as a bilingual patient navigator reinforced my commitment to the community-oriented primary care model that UNM emphasizes throughout its clinical training.
I was selected as the student representative to the University of New Mexico’s Bioethics Advisory Committee, where I have reviewed research protocols and facilitated discussions on ethical considerations in community-based participatory research.
Each of these experiences has strengthened my conviction that UNM is where I belong. Your program's emphasis on community health research, bilingual patient care, and ethical training aligns with the physician I am working to become. I would be grateful for the opportunity to bring these experiences to your student body and contribute to UNM's mission.
Thank you for your time and your continued consideration of my application.
Sincerely,
John Doe jdoe@email.com | (555) 456-7890 AAMC ID: 14XXXXXX
A waitlist letter of intent carries the most urgency. The committee has already evaluated you and placed you in a holding position, so your letter needs to remove any doubt about whether you will accept a seat if one opens up.
Dear Dr. Rebecca Torres,
My name is John Smith (AAMC ID: 15XXXXXX), and I interviewed at the Emory University School of Medicine on November 14. I am writing to confirm that Emory University School of Medicine is my first-choice medical school, and I will accept an offer of admission immediately if one is extended.
My interview day solidified a decision I had already been leaning toward. My conversation with Dr. James Okoro about his translational immunology research at the Emory University School of Medicine Autoimmunity Center of Excellence (ACE) aligned directly with the clinical research career I have been building since my undergraduate thesis on T-cell regulation. I left that conversation knowing exactly which lab I would want to join during my first summer.
Beyond research fit, the longitudinal clinical mentorship program stood out to me in a way no other school's curriculum has. The structure of pairing each student with a primary care physician from the first semester through clerkships mirrors how I learned most effectively during my two years as a clinical research coordinator at [Hospital Name], through sustained relationships with patients and mentors rather than rotating exposures.
I am confident that I would contribute meaningfully to Emory University School of Medicine's commitment to training physician-scientists. I would welcome the opportunity to join your incoming class and will make myself available at any time should the committee wish to discuss my candidacy further.
Thank you for your continued consideration.
Sincerely,
John Smith jsmith@email.com | (555) 123-4567 AAMC ID: 15XXXXXX
The purpose of a medical school letter of intent is to give a medical school admissions committee a clear, unambiguous reason to choose you when a seat opens up. You are not just expressing interest. You are making a direct statement that you will accept their offer and matriculate, thereby eliminating the risk that offering you a spot will leave an empty seat.
The AAMC's Application and Acceptance Protocols outline specific deadlines that create intense pressure on schools to fill every seat. Every offer the admissions committee extends to a candidate who declines costs them time and momentum in filling the class. A letter of intent reduces that risk by signaling that you are a guaranteed conversion.
When two candidates with similar qualifications are both sitting on the waitlist, the one who has committed in writing holds a clear advantage.
A letter of intent strengthens your waitlist position by giving the admissions committee a concrete reason to revisit your file when a seat opens up. Waitlisted applicants rarely hear anything unless the committee has new information or a clear signal of commitment. Your letter provides both.
Your letter puts your name back in front of decision-makers at the exact moment they need to fill a seat. Pair that with meaningful updates to your application, such as a new publication, a completed research project, or additional clinical hours, and you give the committee both the motivation and the justification to move you off the waitlist.
Waitlisted applicants must familiarize themselves with each medical school's specific policies regarding the communications they accept and follow those policies exactly.
A letter of intent signals professional integrity by showing the admissions committee that you can make a decisive commitment and stand behind your word. A well-crafted letter of intent leaves no room for interpretation. You are telling the committee you have evaluated every option and chosen them.
The AAMC explicitly states that an applicant's actions during the admissions process should reflect the professionalism and ethics expected of a future physician, and a well-crafted letter of intent is one of the strongest ways to demonstrate both.
Send your letter of intent after you have completed your interview at your first-choice school and finished the majority of your interviews at other programs. Waiting until late in the interview season ensures you have enough information to confirm your top choice with confidence.
If you've landed on a waitlist, send your letter of intent as soon as possible after receiving that notification. A well-crafted letter tells the admissions committee you'll accept their offer immediately, and that kind of certainty matters when they're deciding who to pull from the list.
No. Wait until after your interview to send a letter of intent. Your interview experience will confirm whether the program is still your first choice, and committing before you have visited the school in person signals to the committee that you are willing to make a major decision without complete information.
Yes, and you need to go further than calling the school your top choice. A letter of intent requires a definitive statement that you will enroll if accepted. Write something like "I will accept an offer of admission if one is extended" to remove all ambiguity.
Most medical schools consider letters of intent as part of their waitlist review process, but policies vary by school. Some schools actively encourage waitlisted applicants to submit letters of intent, while others explicitly state they do not accept post-interview correspondence.
The AAMC's MSAR waitlist procedures report provides school-specific details on waitlist structures and communication policies. Always check a school's admissions portal and secondary application instructions to confirm whether they accept letters of intent before sending one.
Personalize your letter of intent by connecting your experiences and career goals directly to programs, research centers, clinical partnerships, or curriculum features that are unique to that school. Start by reading the school's mission statement through the AAMC's MSAR resource. Then go deeper with the school's own website, faculty research pages, and your notes from interview day.
Reference interview conversations by naming the person you spoke with and describing a specific topic or insight from the discussion that influenced your decision. For example, describe how a faculty member's perspective on a research question connected to your own academic interests or how a current student's description of a clinical rotation confirmed the school was the right fit for your goals.
Do not mention competing offers or name other schools in your letter of intent. The letter should focus entirely on your commitment to one program. You can acknowledge that you hold other acceptances without identifying specific schools. Never frame your letter as leverage or use other offers to pressure the committee into a faster decision.
Reviewed by:
Orthopaedic Surgery Resident Physician, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
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