Letter of Interest Before a Med School Interview
No interview invite yet? Which medical schools take a letter of interest before an interview, which take nothing, a November plan, a constructed letter.
Letter of Interest Before a Med School Interview
Send a letter of interest before an interview only to a school that takes one at that stage: Columbia and Loma Linda name letters of interest, and UC Riverside gives you one pre-interview letter. Stanford, Kaiser Permanente and Georgetown take nothing until they invite you. A letter does not replace an invitation.
Template advice says to send a letter of interest to get an interview. Our view: a pre-interview letter cannot fix the file that has not earned an invitation, and at several schools it never reaches the file at all. So send it only where it is accepted, keep it to one reason and one fact, and spend November on the schools that are still inviting. If what you have is a new achievement rather than a reason, you are writing an update, and our guide to update letters before an interview covers that letter.
Every school page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. Most of these FAQ answers carry no cycle year; where a page names one, the text says so. Our other post-interview and waiting-period guides are in the medical school essays hub.
Who takes a letter before an interview
| School | What its page says | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia | "How do I go about reiterating my interest in Columbia VP&S? Please upload your letter of interest through the Secondary Application portal (as PDFs)." | Secondary portal, PDF; no stage stated |
| Loma Linda | After the secondary, "Typical updates include activities, letters of interest, and unofficial transcripts." | medapp.llu.edu portal |
| UC Riverside | Asked about "update/interest letters": "one application update per cycle"; one more after an interview | Portal, PDF, one page |
| Yale | Updates "at any time throughout the application season (before or after an interview)" | Document Upload, .pdf |
| MUSC | "The Admissions Committee will only accept updates submitted before your interview date." | Update request form |
| Stanford | "Application updates are NOT accepted unless an applicant is invited to participate in our interview process." | Not before an invitation |
| Kaiser Permanente | "The school will accept application updates only from candidates who are invited to be interviewed." | Not before an invitation |
| Georgetown | "We will only accept post-submission updates from applicants selected to interview." | Not before an invitation |
| SUNY Downstate | "During the fall semester, you should only submit additional information if you are asked to do so by the Admissions Committee." | Only if asked |
Yale and MUSC speak of updates, not interest letters, so a letter sent there should carry a new fact. MUSC is the reverse of Stanford: its only window is before your interview date, so if you have a real update for MUSC, now is the time.
Several schools take nothing at all after the secondary, before or after an invitation: Colorado ("Application updates are NOT accepted"), Utah, Penn State and USC Keck. The full yes/no picture is in our 2026-27 table of medical schools that accept update letters.
UCSF's admissions FAQ returned HTTP 403 to our fetch on November 7, 2026, so its rule on interest letters is not quoted here.
November with no invites: where a letter fits
Whether November is late depends on each school's stated invitation window, which our guide to when medical schools send interview invites in 2026-27 lays out school by school. For the letter decision, the windows that matter are those of the schools that take a letter now. Columbia invites "Mid-August through January" and takes letters of interest; Loma Linda invites "primarily from September-March" and takes them as updates. Mayo says "Interview invitations are sent from August through November," and invites letters of intent and interest only after interview day, so a November letter there has no slot. Duke sets the hard stop: no invitation "typically by the end of January" means "you will no longer be considered." Emory states the reverse case: "No one who has completed a Supplemental Application is rejected during the interview season."
Run this for each school on your list:
- Is it still inviting? If its window runs past November, the letter has time to land before a decision. If the window has closed, skip the letter.
- Does it take a letter now? Check the table above. Stanford, Kaiser Permanente and Georgetown: no, until they invite you. Colorado, Utah, Penn State and USC: no letter before an interview.
- Do you have a reason only this school answers? If the reason would fit any school, do not send it; that letter adds nothing to the file.
- Send one letter. One reason, plus one new fact if you have one. One letter per school, not one per month.
- For DO schools, keep the file moving. AACOM says colleges of osteopathic medicine "make admissions decisions on a rolling basis," and "interview slots may be awarded and/or classes may be filled if you apply close to the deadlines." Report real changes, because "Applicants are responsible for reporting and updating any changes in the initially submitted application". (AACOM application process)
- Set a reapplication decision date from the schools' own dates, such as Duke's end of January. Our medical school reapplicant timeline for the 2028 cycle starts from there.
Our view: a November letter of interest is worth sending to two or three schools that take one and that you can name a real reason for. It is not worth sending to every school on your list. The countercase: if you have a genuinely new fact (an accepted paper, a new clinical role, a completed degree), send it as an update to every school that takes updates at your stage, because that letter adds to the file rather than restating it.
Constructed example: a pre-interview letter of interest
Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's letter. Context (invented): Rafael Cruz completed his secondary at Thornwick School of Medicine in August. Thornwick, like Columbia, takes letters of interest through its secondary portal as a PDF. He has not been invited.
Dear Members of the Admissions Committee,
I completed my Thornwick secondary in August, and I am writing to tell you why Thornwick remains one of the schools I most want to attend.
Your Spanish-language clinical skills course is the reason. For two years I have worked as a patient navigator at a federally qualified health center where most of my patients speak Spanish first, and I have watched how much of a visit is lost when the physician cannot ask the follow-up question herself. A course that trains students to take a history in Spanish, rather than through an interpreter, is the training I want.
Since I applied, the health center has made me responsible for its new-patient orientation calls, about 25 a week.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely, Rafael Cruz AAMC ID 10000021
That letter is 135 words, salutation to ID.
What it does: the first paragraph names the stage (secondary complete) so staff file it correctly. The second gives one reason, tied to one course, tied to one thing the applicant has done. The third adds one new fact in one sentence.
What it leaves out: any request for an interview, any question about status, and any "top choice" or intent language. "One of the schools I most want to attend" is the truth for an applicant who has not seen the school yet, and it is the right strength for a letter of interest. Loma Linda's page states the boundary on status questions: "Do not contact our office for application status checks."
Letter of intent before a DO interview?
No. A letter of intent promises to enroll, and before an interview you have not seen the school, met its students or heard its offer terms. A promise made without that information is one you may have to break.
The DO rules make the cost concrete. The AACOMAS traffic guidelines say "COMs may begin extending offers of admission at any time after the interview," and that "prior to May 1, applicants need to withdraw from any college(s) which they do not plan to attend and only hold a position at one COM." An intent letter written before the interview commits you to that one seat before you know whether you want it. Send a letter of interest instead, where the college takes one; our DO school letter policies list which do. For the letter you send after an interview, see our medical school letter of intent samples.
Questions about pre-interview letters
Can a letter of interest get me a medical school interview?
No school page we read says it does. Columbia and Loma Linda accept the letter into your file; Stanford, Kaiser Permanente and Georgetown do not take anything until they invite you.
Is it too late in November to hear from medical schools?
Not at schools whose stated windows run later: Columbia invites into January and Loma Linda into March. Mayo's window ends in November. Our interview invite timing guide has more schools.
Should I send the same letter to every school?
No. A letter of interest is only as good as its school-specific reason, and a reason that fits every school is not one. Send fewer letters, each with a reason you could defend on interview day.
What is the difference between a letter of interest and an update before an interview?
A letter of interest explains why you want this school. An update reports something new. Our intent vs interest vs update comparison covers all three.
Get a free review of your letter of interest
Get a free Quick Review of your letter of interest against GradPilot's medical school letter of intent and interest rubric. It reads whether the letter connects something specific about the school to your reason for attending and states your interest at its true strength. If the letter is mainly a new fact, use the update-letter rubric.
More guides for the waiting period:
- Medical school update letters before an interview: what counts as new before an invitation.
- When medical schools send interview invites, 2026-27: school-by-school invitation windows.
- Rejected from all medical schools: what now: the next step if the cycle ends without an interview.
Sources
Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted. Most pages state no cycle year for these answers.
- Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Admissions FAQs (2026-2027 interviews virtual): letters of interest via the secondary portal as PDFs; invitations mid-August through January.
- Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Admission requirements and process: letters of interest as updates after the secondary; invitations September to March; no status checks.
- UC Riverside School of Medicine, Admissions FAQ: one update or interest letter per cycle; one more after an interview.
- Yale School of Medicine, How to apply: updates before or after an interview.
- MUSC College of Medicine, Application update request: updates only before the interview date.
- Stanford Medicine, MD admissions FAQ: no updates before an interview invitation.
- Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, FAQs (2026-2027 cycle): updates only from interview invitees.
- Georgetown University School of Medicine, MD FAQ: updates only from applicants selected to interview.
- SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Admissions FAQ: fall submissions only if asked.
- University of Colorado, Utah, Penn State (2026-2027 cycle) and USC Keck admissions FAQs, linked in the text: no updates after the secondary.
- Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, How to apply: invitations August through November.
- Duke University School of Medicine, Admissions FAQ: no invitation by end of January means no further consideration.
- Emory School of Medicine, MD admissions FAQ: no rejections during the interview season after a completed supplemental.
- AACOM, The application process: rolling DO decisions; applicants report changes.
- AACOM, AACOMAS traffic guidelines: offers any time after the interview; one COM seat before May 1.
- Not used: UCSF's MD program FAQ and the University of Michigan admissions timeline returned HTTP 403 on November 7, 2026, and are not quoted.
Review your medical-school letter
Check your school-specific reason and whether your wording matches your actual interest or commitment.