Which Medical Schools Accept Update Letters? 2026-27

Which Medical Schools Accept Update Letters? 2026-27

Of the 50 MD schools whose admissions pages we re-read on November 7, 2026, 10 refuse update letters after you submit, 12 accept them only at a set stage or up to a set count, and 28 accept them through a stated route. The table below gives each school's rule, quoted or closely restated from its own page.

Template advice on update letters gives a calendar: one in October, one in January, one in April. A calendar is the wrong starting point. UCLA, Utah and Colorado will not read the letter at all. Drexel gives you one letter for the whole cycle. Georgetown deletes emailed updates. Your school's rule decides whether you write, what you write and where it goes. If it says yes and you have a real fact to report, the medical school update letter examples show what one should contain, and you can check an update letter draft against GradPilot's update-letter rubric.

Every page in the table was fetched on November 7, 2026. Where a page states no cycle year, its row is what the page said that day. Open your school's link before you send anything.

Contents

• The answer: four camps
• The table: 50 MD schools
• Schools that say no, and the one move each still allows
• Schools people search for by name
• Limits that change the letter you write
• When the page says nothing
• Questions about medical school update letters

The answer: four camps

We sorted each school by what its page says about updates after the primary or secondary application. The counts are from the table below.

Our view: read the camp before you draft. A refuse-camp school gives you nothing to write, a capped school gives you one shot, and only an open school rewards a second letter. The basis is the schools' own wording: Stanford says "Application updates are NOT accepted unless an applicant is invited to participate in our interview process," while Washington University says "There is no specific format or deadline for update letters or letters of intent."

The countercase: an open-camp school is not asking for monthly letters. WashU, on the same page, warns that "sending a large number of updates consecutively can potentially be counterproductive," and George Washington says "Quality is preferred over quantity". Open means the door is there. It does not mean you knock on it each month.

Three things the camp does not settle, and the table keeps separate:

• Intent and interest letters. UNLV takes updates by email but says it "does NOT take letters of intent as these are not read by our admissions committee." Cincinnati takes updates but says "Letters of intent, routine grade updates, and minor activities should not be submitted."
• Thank-you notes. Columbia says "We are very welcoming of any thank-you notes you would like to send." Utah asks that applicants "do not contact interviewers directly."
• The route. Hofstra says "Applicants should not email updates directly to the Office of Admission." Stony Brook asks you to email updates. Same document, opposite channels.

The table: 50 MD schools

Camp is our label. The other cells restate the linked page; quoted wording is in the sections below. "Not stated" means the pages we read for that school were silent on that point. Texas public schools run on TMDSAS rules and are covered in the Texas medical school update letter policies page, not here.

We also read pages at 21 more MD schools that state no rule on update letters: NYU Grossman, NYU Grossman Long Island, Pritzker (UChicago), Netter (Quinnipiac), Sidney Kimmel (Jefferson), Brown, Boston University, Hackensack Meridian, Case Western Reserve, Iowa, Wisconsin, Rush, Indiana, Saint Louis, Central Michigan, Kentucky, UAB, UC Irvine, Arizona (Phoenix), OHSU and the University of Washington. Several of these appear in the searched-schools section below, with what their pages do say.

Schools whose pages returned an error, a bot check or no readable text when we tried them on November 7, 2026 are left out rather than guessed: Creighton, UCSF, Michigan, Louisville, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Mount Sinai, Einstein, Pittsburgh, UMass Chan, Upstate, Albany, Rutgers RWJ, Geisinger, Minnesota, UNC, VCU and Michigan State CHM.

Schools that say no, and the one move each still allows

Ten pages refuse updates. Most of them still leave one door, and it is a narrow one.

• UCLA: "No, we do not consider letters of intent." Updates count only with the secondary, and "Any follow-up letters or messages to admissions will not be considered." There is no post-interview letter to write.
• Colorado: "Application updates are NOT accepted. If you are invited for an interview, interview day would be the best time to update the Admission Committee regarding changes to your application." Your update is a sentence you say on interview day.
• USC Keck: "We do not accept updates or revisions to application materials once the supplemental application is submitted." If you are still on the waitlist on April 30, the page says you may email the Admissions Office "to state their desire to remain on the waitlist". That email is one or two sentences.
• Penn State: no updates, "including additional letters of recommendation or update letters from applicants, post-submission." Applicants in the "Hold for Continued Review" category "are permitted to submit a statement of intent after April 30". One document, after one date.
• UC San Diego: "We do not accept updates. If you are an applicant on the waitlist, we will request updates or letters of intent in the spring." You wait for the request.
• USF Morsani: no updates "Unless requested by the office of MD Admissions or your interviewer." A waitlisted applicant may send a letter of intent if certain they would enroll, and the page adds that it "will not increase the likelihood of being accepted nor influence an acceptance decision."
• Ohio State: "Letters of Intent are not considered as part of the admissions decision-making process." Alternates may still upload one, and the page says "it will not influence the final admission decision."
• Utah: "Any application updates submitted via letter of intent, update letter, email, phone, or other form of contact will not be considered." Its policies page adds: "Application updates for waitlisted applicants will not be accepted." Thank-you notes can go to the admissions office to be forwarded.
• UC Davis: "No application updates are accepted after submission," with an exception for major changes such as citizenship status or a nationally recognized award.
• Arizona (Tucson): "does not accept letters of intent or updates".

Our view: a letter sent to one of these schools anyway adds nothing to your file, because the school has said in writing that it will not consider it.

Schools people search for by name

Cincinnati

Cincinnati's FAQ contradicts itself. One answer says the school "accepts unlimited updates and you may upload these updates at any time during the application cycle after the submission of your secondary application (i.e., July through June)." The Application Updates section of the same page says "Updates should only be submitted for truly exceptional circumstances" and "Letters of intent, routine grade updates, and minor activities should not be submitted." Our recommendation: follow the stricter section. Upload only a major publication, a significant award or a substantial new experience, as a PDF through MedOneStop.

Sidney Kimmel (Jefferson)

The FAQ answers "How do I maintain contact and demonstrate interest in my application to SKMC?" with an email address: "All communications concerning your application, including the interview, should be emailed to: SKMC.Admissions@jefferson.edu." It asks you to put "Attention: Committee on Admissions" in the subject line. The page states no rule on update letters, so this is a route, not an invitation.

Netter (Quinnipiac)

The pages we read state no update-letter rule. On letters of recommendation, Netter "will only accept letters of recommendation that have been received and processed through AMCAS." Use the procedure in When the page says nothing.

Tufts

Tufts sends interviewed applicants an offer, a rejection or a "Notification of a Deferred Decision". Deferred applicants can move to a wait list that "becomes active in the spring," and "We do not rank our wait list." For wait-list applicants the page says "Letting us know that you remain interested and available is most helpful, especially after July 1," by email to med-admissions@tufts.edu. It welcomes new material too, then adds that "at this point in the process such material is unlikely to change the outcome of your application." At Tufts the useful letter is short and late.

Stanford

Updates only after an interview invitation: "At that time, the interviewed candidate will receive instructions about how to provide this one-time update." One update, sent the way Stanford's email tells you. The FAQ also says "Please do not call us for updates on the status of your application."

Mayo Clinic Alix

The open end of the table. After interview day, "Applicants are encouraged to submit update letters, letters of interest, or letters of intent through the admissions portal." Updates go in "as a PDF document," and "Updates to transcripts or grades are not required and will not be reviewed". A grade report is the one update Mayo tells you not to send.

Kaiser Permanente Tyson

"The school will accept application updates only from candidates who are invited to be interviewed." Before an invitation, send nothing.

NYU Grossman and Pritzker

Neither page we read states an update rule. NYU's requirements page says "Do not send any letters directly to NYU Grossman School of Medicine," in its section on letters of recommendation. Pritzker's admissions page says "We strongly encourage you to submit your inquiries by email." At both, ask before you send.

Creighton, UCSF and Harvard

We could not load these pages on November 7, 2026 (Creighton returned HTTP 406, UCSF HTTP 403, Harvard's FAQ address redirected to a page with no FAQ text). Read the update or post-interview section of each school's MD admissions FAQ and your applicant portal before writing.

Limits that change the letter you write

Four schools in the table cap what you send: Drexel (three items in total, one of them an update letter, none replaceable), UC Riverside (one update per cycle, one page, plus one letter after an interview), Wayne State (up to five updates) and Emory (1,000 words across all updates, text only). The update letter length and format guide quotes each limit and covers file types, subject lines and word counts.

Our recommendation: at a capped school, hold your one letter until you have the strongest fact of the cycle. At Drexel that means not spending the update letter in September on a small activity when an accepted manuscript may arrive in January.

When the page says nothing

For the 21 silent schools above, and for any school not in this table, run these steps in order. Stop at the first one that answers.

If you have a reason rather than a new fact, see which schools take a pre-interview letter of interest.

1. Portal. Log in. If there is an upload field labeled for updates or documents, the school takes them at your stage. Use that field and nothing else.
2. Interview instructions. Read your invitation and interview-day emails. Several schools give update instructions only there; Stanford and Weill Cornell both point to their emails.
3. One procedural email. Ask the admissions office whether it accepts an update letter at your stage, and through which route. Do not attach the letter.
4. No answer. Send nothing. Silence on a page is not permission.

Never send an update to your interviewer. George Washington says "Do not write directly to individuals within the office of admissions, other offices, or other units at GW". Loma Linda says "Do not contact our office for application status checks." The office address is the only address.

For a full comparison of when to send an update, an interest letter or a letter of intent, read intent vs interest vs update letters. The update letters before an interview guide covers pre-interview timing, and the waitlist update letter examples cover the spring.

Questions about medical school update letters

Do medical schools read update letters?

At 40 of the 50 MD schools in our table, the page accepts updates at some stage. At 10 it refuses them after submission. Within the 40, some still exclude content: Mayo will not review grade updates, and Cincinnati says routine grade updates and minor activities should not be submitted.

Which medical schools do not accept update letters?

From our table: UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Colorado, Utah, Arizona (Tucson), USC Keck, Penn State, USF Morsani and Ohio State. Stanford, Kaiser Permanente and Georgetown refuse them before an interview invitation.

Which schools say no post-interview contact?

UCLA and Utah come closest. UCLA says follow-up letters or messages to admissions "will not be considered." Utah considers no updates or letters of intent by any route, though thank-you notes can go to its admissions office to be forwarded.

How many update letters can I send?

In our table, only Drexel (three items in total), UC Riverside (one, plus one after an interview), Wayne State (five) and Stanford (one, after an invitation) state a count. Emory caps the words, not the number. Elsewhere, send one per real new fact.

Should I send a thank-you note through the update channel?

Only where the school says so. Columbia and Georgetown want thank-you notes uploaded through the portal. Utah, Downstate and UT Health Science Center name an email address. The interview thank-you email guide covers what to write.

Are DO schools different?

Yes. Several DO schools take only AACOMAS academic updates. The DO school update letter and letter of intent table covers them. If you have not submitted every secondary yet, read the rules on updating a secondary after you submit it before you send a rushed draft.

How the list is built changes what an update can do: see ranked vs unranked waitlists.

Schools' rules on additional letters of recommendation after the interview differ from their update-letter rules.

Get a free review of your update letter

Get a free Quick Review of your update letter against GradPilot's medical school update-letter rubric. It reads whether your letter names what changed since you applied and whether that change gives the reader a clear account of your work, responsibility or circumstances. Writing to a school that takes letters of intent instead? Use the letter of intent and interest rubric.

More post-interview guides:

• Medical school hold status meaning: what each school's "hold", "deferred" and "alternate" labels mean, and what to send.
• How long after a med school interview to hear back: school-stated decision windows.
• Medical school essays hub: every GradPilot guide for MD and DO applicants.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026. Each school row links its own admissions page; all 50 loaded with HTTP 200 that day.

• Each MD school's admissions FAQ, application-process, interview or waitlist page, linked in the table: update, intent, route and limit rules for the 2026-27 cycle as posted.
• Stanford, MD Admissions FAQ: one-time update after interview invitation; no status calls.
• Washington University, MD admissions FAQ: no format or deadline; consecutive updates "counterproductive".
• George Washington, alternate status: "Quality is preferred over quantity"; do not write to individuals.
• Georgetown, MD application guide: emailed updates disregarded.
• Utah, MD admissions policies: no waitlist updates.
• USF Morsani, waitlist page: letter of intent rule.
• Ohio State, deadlines page: letter of intent rule.
• UC San Diego, MD FAQ: waitlist requests in spring.
• Sidney Kimmel, admissions FAQ; Netter, apply for admission; NYU Grossman, admissions requirements; Pritzker, admissions: routes and the absence of an update rule.