Letter of Continued Interest for College: Examples

Letter of Continued Interest for College: What Colleges Say, With Examples

A letter of continued interest (LOCI) is a short message telling a college that deferred or waitlisted you that you still want to attend, and what has changed since you applied. Whether you should send one depends on the college, not on a general rule. On October 27, 2026 we read the deferral and waitlist pages of 22 colleges. They split three ways:

• Some invite a letter. Notre Dame says “Upload a letter of continued interest to your Notre Dame applicant status portal by April 15.”
• Some replace it with a form. At Tufts, the waitlist reply form “requires several short responses and serves as your statement of continued interest.”
• Some refuse it. Georgia Tech: “Letters of Continued Interest (LOCI) are not considered.”

So the first step is not drafting. It is reading what your college publishes, then writing only what it asks for. This page is for undergraduate first-year applicants. If you are a parent, our guide to what parents should do after an early deferral covers the binding ED commitment and a 15-college table of deferral instructions. Law school letters follow different rules, collected in our law school LOCI format guide, and MBA applicants should read MBA waitlist updates by school.

Deferred and Waitlisted Are Different Situations

A deferral and a waitlist place both mean “not yet”, but they arrive at different times, ask different things of you, and sometimes carry different rules at the same college.

Two colleges show why you must read the page for your exact status.

• Michigan. Deferred applicants get an Expression of Continued Interest form “to write up to 250 words to express continued interest, let us know about new achievements/awards, and/or share additional information about yourself with us.” Waitlisted applicants get the opposite instruction: “We will not accept any additional documents (e.g., grades, awards, letters of continued interest) from you unless specifically requested, as they will not impact your final admissions decision.”
• Johns Hopkins. For an ED I deferral, Hopkins lists “additional letters of recommendations” among the materials you may send. For the waitlist, its list of items not to send begins: “Do not send items such as: Additional letters of recommendation”.

On a waitlist, opting in is the step that counts. Berkeley: “Students invited to join the waitlist must opt-in via MAP@Berkeley …” by the deadline Berkeley sets that year. A letter cannot replace that form. The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) recommends three waitlist practices in its 2026 Guide to Ethical Practice. Colleges should “Not require a deposit or set a fee for remaining on a wait list”, should give students admitted after May 1 “at least 48 hours before requiring a verbal or written commitment to enroll”, and should “Notify all wait list candidates of the final decision no later than August 1.” Since 2020 NACAC has published these as recommendations, not membership rules, so a college may not follow them.

If you were deferred in early decision, check whether the binding commitment still applies before you send anything to another college. The parents' guide above quotes the colleges that state it. For dates of the next round, see our 2026–27 early decision and early action dates.

What 22 Colleges Say About Letters of Continued Interest

Every quote below was copied from the college's own admissions page on October 27, 2026. Many pages still show spring 2026 dates. Where they do, we mark the row and leave the date out, because this cycle's date may differ. Your portal or decision letter gives the current one.

Colleges that invite a letter or written statement

Colleges that take your statement through a form

Colleges that say a letter will not be used, or is not needed

Villanova's FAQ, the 22nd page, says nothing about letters. It gives deferred Early Action applicants a different option: switching to Early Decision II by January 31.

What the tables show. Nine colleges invite a letter, six take your statement through a form, and seven waitlist pages say a letter is not used or not needed. Only two colleges state a length: Johns Hopkins (one page) and Michigan's deferral form (250 words). Seven of the nine colleges that invite a letter also say where to send it, and the channels differ: a portal upload, a form, or an email to a named counselor. Use the one your college names. Notre Dame, for example, prefers updates “as a package rather than in multiple uploads.”

We could not read the current pages of Rice, Emory, the University of Virginia, Tulane or Northeastern (blocked, not found, or silent on letters), so they are not in the tables.

Before You Write: A Five-Question Check

1. What is my status, exactly? Deferred from ED, EA or REA, or waitlisted? The rules can differ at the same college, as Michigan and Hopkins show.
2. Did I complete the required step? For a waitlist, that is the opt-in or reply form. Nothing else counts until it is in.
3. Does this college invite a letter, use a form, or refuse extra material? Find the sentence on its page (the tables above are a starting point) and follow it.
4. What is the channel and the deadline? Portal upload, form box or email to a named counselor. Use only that channel and send it once, before the deadline.
5. Do I have anything new? If not, a form that asks only for your interest may be all you need. Stanford says “by accepting your place on our waitlist, you are signaling your strong interest in Stanford.” UC Santa Barbara: “To express interest in the waitlist, you must simply opt in to the waitlist by the deadline.”

How Long Should a College LOCI Be?

Only two of the 22 colleges publish a number:

• Michigan's deferral form: “up to 250 words”.
• Johns Hopkins's waitlist letter: “A one-page letter”.

Others use words such as “brief” (Dartmouth, Stanford) or “short” (Dartmouth: “You are welcome to submit a short update to your application”). None asks for an essay.

Our position: where a college gives no number, aim for 250 to 400 words. That keeps you under Hopkins's one page and leaves room for two concrete updates and one college-specific reason. This is a convention we chose, not a published rule. The countercase: if a form gives you a box, the box and its limit decide, and a 120-word answer that says something new is better than 400 words that restate your application.

What Counts as a Real Update

Colleges describe the bar in similar words:

• Johns Hopkins: updates should “contribute in a substantive way or provide new information.”
• Vanderbilt: “any additional materials should serve to enhance your application, not just to reiterate previously submitted information.”
• Wake Forest: “the Admissions Committee is particularly interested in receiving updates about your academic work.”
• Cornell suggests “relevant summer plans, Cornell programs of interest, and any substantial updates since you submitted your application.”

A practical test: could an admissions reader check it, and did it happen (or get confirmed) after you submitted?

If you have no new facts, say so briefly or rely on the form. Do not inflate a small change to fill space.

Should You Say “First Choice”?

Only if it is true, and only once. The colleges' own wording shows three positions:

• Notre Dame ties its deferral letter to first-choice status: “If Notre Dame is truly one of your first-choice schools”.
• Stanford treats accepting the waitlist place as the signal of strong interest.
• Johns Hopkins: “Choosing to remain on the waitlist is not a commitment to enroll at Hopkins if admitted.” Santa Clara adds: “You should accept only if you would genuinely choose Santa Clara University over your other options.”

If you write “I will enroll if admitted”, you are making a promise. Make it to one college at most, and only if you could keep it. If you are also waiting on financial aid, say that your interest is strong and leave the promise out.

What Not to Send

The colleges are unusually direct here:

• Extra recommendation letters. Notre Dame: “we do not encourage additional letters of recommendation.” Cornell: “Additional letters of recommendation are discouraged.” Georgia Tech: “Only letters of recommendation originally submitted with your application will be considered.” (Hopkins's ED deferral list is the exception noted above.)
• Advocacy by other people. Carnegie Mellon will not consider “Lobbying from the student or any interested party on the student's behalf”. Lehigh: “Additions to your file should be directly from you, the student.” A letter in a parent's voice, or a call from a family friend, works against you.
• Visits and meetings. Dartmouth: “Students on the wait list are not expected nor encouraged to visit campus.” Berkeley says visiting does not increase your chances.
• Objects and volume. MIT's list of things not to do includes “Send us ridiculous things (or “things” in general).” and “Bombard our office with way too much stuff.”
• Repeated messages. Notre Dame prefers one package. Michigan's form allows a single submission. Wake Forest suggests one follow-up email later in the spring, not a stream of them.

How to Structure the Letter

Where a college invites a letter, four short parts are enough:

1. Who you are and why you are writing. Your full name, your status (deferred or waitlisted), and any applicant ID the college uses. Hopkins asks you to “Include your full name, birth date, school name, and a note that the materials are to be used as a waitlist update on any materials you send.”
2. What is new. One to three updates from the table above, with names and dates.
3. Why this college, specifically. One reason tied to something the college offers and how you would use it. Cornell asks you to focus on the specific college or school you applied to.
4. Your level of interest, stated truthfully. One sentence. Then thank the reader and stop.

Constructed example 1: a deferral letter (about 170 words)

This is a constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's letter. The bracketed parts are the ones only you can fill. It is deliberately shorter than the 250 to 400 words we suggest above, because it has only three updates: as the countercase says, a short letter with something new beats a longer one that restates your application.

Dear Admissions Committee,

My name is Maya Okafor, and I applied Early Decision to [College] from Riverside High School in Sacramento (applicant ID [number]). I was deferred in December and want to share three updates since I applied in November.

First, my school counselor has sent my midyear report. I finished AP Chemistry and AP Calculus BC with A grades this semester.

Second, in January my team's water-quality study of the American River placed second in the regional science fair. I designed the sampling schedule and ran 40 of our 64 nitrate tests.

Third, I became the student coordinator of our school's peer tutoring program. I now match 25 tutors with ninth graders each week and track which pairings work.

The fair project sharpened why I applied to [College]. [Named program or lab] would let me keep doing field sampling as a first-year student, which is what I want to build on.

[College] remains my first choice, and I would enroll if admitted.

Thank you for your continued consideration.

Maya Okafor

Why it works: every update can be checked and post-dates the application, the college-specific reason is one sentence long, and the commitment is stated once.

Constructed example 2: a form box with a 250-word limit

Also a constructed example. Many waitlist forms give a single text box. Write it as an answer, not a letter:

Since applying, I completed a 60-hour internship at a county public defender's office, where I organized intake records for 30 cases, and I finished the fall semester with A grades in AP Statistics and AP US Government. I still want to study political science at [College] because [one concrete reason]. If I am offered a place, [College] is where I would choose to go.

The same rules apply: new facts, one reason, an honest statement of interest.

A weak sentence and a stronger one

Weak (constructed): “I have continued to grow as a leader and remain passionate about [College]'s vibrant community.”

Stronger (constructed): “In February I took over scheduling for our school's food drive and moved it from one weekend to four, which raised collections from 900 to 2,300 items.”

The first sentence could be pasted into any letter. The second can only be yours, and a reader can see what changed.

Get a Free Review of Your College Essays

Still finishing Regular Decision essays? Get a free Quick Review of your college essays on GradPilot. For how readers approach the writing, see how holistic readers read college essays. A deferral is not a likely letter in reverse, and for plans with restrictions on where else you can apply early, see the restrictive early action rules.

FAQ

Do colleges read letters of continued interest?

Some do and some do not. Notre Dame, Cornell, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins and Lehigh invite one. Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara and Michigan (for waitlisted applicants) say they will not use one. Read your college's page.

When should I send a letter of continued interest after a deferral?

Before the college's update deadline for the regular round, and after you have something new to report. Of the pages we checked, UGA's form closes January 31, Notre Dame asks for materials by February 1 and Michigan's form by March 1. Midyear grades come from your counselor, not from you.

When should I send one from the waitlist?

With or soon after the waitlist reply form, by the college's deadline. Notre Dame asks for the letter by April 15. Dartmouth says first-year candidates usually submit new material in late April or early May.

How long should a letter of continued interest be?

Follow the college's limit if it gives one: Michigan's deferral form allows 250 words and Johns Hopkins suggests one page. Where no limit is published, 250 to 400 words is our suggested range.

Can my parent or counselor send it?

The letter should come from you. Lehigh says additions “should be directly from you, the student”, and Carnegie Mellon will not consider lobbying by “any interested party”. Your counselor sends grade reports where the college asks for them. A teacher who wants to add a note should follow the rules in our Common App teacher recommendation letter guide.

Residency applicants: the ERAS version follows different rules. See the residency letter of interest guide.

Sources

All retrieved October 27, 2026. Pages that show past-cycle dates are noted in the tables.

• Notre Dame: Waiting list and deferred applicants
• Cornell: Waitlist information
• Dartmouth: Offered a place on the wait list, submitting additional information and visiting campus
• Johns Hopkins: Frequently asked questions
• Lehigh: Early Decision deferrals FAQ
• Vanderbilt: Waitlist information
• Wake Forest: Information about the waitlist (March 2026)
• Washington and Lee: About the waiting list
• Santa Clara: Wait list FAQ
• Michigan: Expression of Continued Interest form and waitlisted first-year applicants FAQ
• University of Georgia: Deferred first-year applicant FAQs
• Tufts: Wondering about the waitlist (Inside Admissions)
• UCLA: First-year waitlist
• Stanford: Waitlist FAQs
• Clemson: Waitlist FAQs
• Carnegie Mellon: Access and equity and waiting list FAQ
• Georgia Tech: First-year waitlist
• UC Berkeley: Decision guide
• UC Santa Barbara: Waitlist FAQ
• MIT: Wait list FAQ
• University of Miami: Waitlist FAQs
• Villanova: Frequently asked questions
• NACAC: Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission, 2026 edition (PDF)