Thank You Email to Recommenders: Med School Results

Thank You Email to Recommenders: Med School Results

Email every letter writer once your outcome is settled: when you accept a seat, or when your last school says no. Keep it under 150 words, tell them the result in the first line, and thank them for one specific thing they wrote or did.

The email you send after a cycle with no acceptance matters more than the acceptance email, because it sets up the updated letter you will need next year. The University of Wisconsin recommends that reapplicants submit "at least two new letters of recommendation", and TMDSAS recommends against sending last cycle's letters. Both rules are quoted below.

The Wisconsin and TMDSAS pages quoted below were checked on November 7, 2026. Letter rules change between cycles, so recheck before you reapply.

When to send each email

Our view: send one email per writer, written to that writer. A group email with everyone in the "To" line reads as a form letter, because it is one.

The countercase: if you are leaving medicine after this cycle, still send the thank-you, but skip the plan and the ask. A writer who gave you a letter is owed the outcome either way.

Why the not-accepted email matters most

Letters do not carry forward on their own. Wisconsin's reapplying page says: "When reapplying, all letters must be submitted via AMCAS. We recommend submitting at least two new letters of recommendation (one academic and one non-academic)." It adds: "Letters from previous admissions cycles will not be accessible to us unless they are resubmitted." (UW SMPH reapplying)

TMDSAS's reapplicant page says: "It is recommended that you do not send the same letters from the last application cycle. Letters of evaluation should be updated or come from new evaluators." (TMDSAS reapplicants). Its letters page also says reapplicants "are welcome to resubmit letters or HPAC's from the previous cycle, given that they were written after May 1, 2025." (TMDSAS letters of evaluation). The reapplicant letters guide sets those two TMDSAS pages side by side and covers the other application services.

So the writer you thank in May may be the writer you ask for an updated letter in the spring. Tell them the result now, while the cycle is fresh, and tell them what you are doing about it. Then the update request later is a follow-up, not a surprise.

Four constructed emails

Each email below is a constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. Names, schools and details are invented.

Constructed email 1: to a professor, after an acceptance

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (88 words, including the subject line.)

Subject: I'm going to medical school: thank you

Dear Dr. Sepulveda,

I'm writing with good news: I accepted a seat at Kingsmere School of Medicine and start in July.

Thank you for your letter. Two interviewers asked about the protein-folding project in your lab, and I was glad to have that work to talk about.

I'll be in town until June and would like to stop by your office hours to say thank you in person.

Thank you again for your time and your support.

Best, Asel Bakshi

What it does: the result in line one, one specific detail tied to their letter, and no request.

Constructed email 2: to a supervisor, after a cycle with no acceptance

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (124 words, including the subject line.)

Subject: My medical school results, and next year

Dear Ms. Jaramillo,

I wanted you to hear this from me: I wasn't admitted to medical school this cycle.

Thank you for your letter. It meant a lot that you wrote about the night I stayed to translate for the family in Bed 6.

I'm reapplying in the next cycle. My plan is another year at the clinic, full time, and a retake of the MCAT in April.

Would you be willing to write an updated letter next spring, covering this extra year? I'll send you my new activities list and a short summary of what changed before I ask formally.

If the timing doesn't work for you, I understand completely.

Thank you again, Darius Landry

What it does: the result first, a thank-you with a detail, the plan in two sentences, and an ask with a date. The plan matters: an updated letter is useful only if there is something new to write about. Do not attach your essays or your rejection emails.

Constructed email 3: to your prehealth advisor or committee

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (81 words, including the subject line.)

Subject: Medical school outcome: Asel Bakshi (Class of 2025)

Dear Dr. Engstrom,

Thank you and the committee for my letter this cycle. I wanted you to know that I accepted a seat at Kingsmere School of Medicine.

Your mock interview in September helped most. I used your advice on the ethics question at two interviews.

If it would help future applicants, I'm happy to talk with students about the process.

Please share my thanks with the committee members.

Best, Asel Bakshi

What it does: the advisor led a group letter, so thank the group through them. Put your name and class year in the subject line so the office can match the email to your file. The committee letter explainer covers how these letters are put together.

Constructed email 4: to a shadowing preceptor

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (70 words, including the subject line.)

Subject: Thank you, and some news

Dear Kiran,

I shadowed you in the urgent care clinic two summers ago, and I wanted to tell you I accepted a seat at Kingsmere School of Medicine.

Watching you explain a fracture to a scared eight-year-old is still the moment I describe when people ask why medicine.

Thank you for your letter and for letting me follow you around.

Best wishes, Asel Bakshi

What it does: preceptors meet many students, so remind them when and where you shadowed in the first sentence. This works the same for a physician or a PA you shadowed.

Asking for an updated letter

If you will reapply, the email 2 pattern sets up the request. When you ask formally:

1. Ask early. Give the writer the date your application opens, not the date you need the letter.
2. Send what changed. One page: new activities, new responsibilities, new grades or scores. The writer cannot update a letter without new facts.
3. Say which service the letter goes through. Wisconsin's page, for example, says letters must be submitted via AMCAS.
4. Let the writer decide between updating the old letter and writing a new one.

The medical school letters of recommendation strategy guide covers choosing writers, and how many letters of recommendation medical schools ask for covers counts by school. For the reapplicant data, see reapplicant acceptance rate data.

What to leave out

• School-by-school detail. The writer needs the result, not your full list of interviews and waitlists.
• Blame. "The committee didn't see my potential" puts the writer in an awkward spot.
• Their letter's contents. If you waived your right to read it, you do not know what it says, so thank them for writing it, not for what you assume it said.
• A second ask in the same email. One request per email: an updated letter, or a coffee, not both.

Questions about thanking medical school recommenders

Should I tell recommenders I didn't get into medical school?

Yes. If you will reapply, it is the first step toward an updated letter. If you will not, the writer is still owed the outcome.

When should I email recommenders after an acceptance?

When you have chosen your school. If you are still choosing between offers, wait, unless the writer asks you how it is going.

Should I send a handwritten card instead?

Send the email first, so the writer hears the result in time. A card can follow if you know the writer well.

Do I need to thank every writer, or only the ones whose letters I used?

Every writer who submitted a letter for you, including committee letter authors and preceptors.

Review the writing you send next

If this cycle ended without an acceptance, your next document is a reapplicant essay. Get a free Quick Review of your reapplicant essay against GradPilot's medical school reapplicant growth rubric, which checks that the essay names what needed to change and shows what you did about it. If the cycle ended on a waitlist instead, the medical school letter of intent rubric checks that your letter gives a specific reason for that one school.

More guides from the medical school essays hub:

• Reapplicant letters of recommendation: when to reuse a letter and when to ask for a new one.
• Medical school reapplicant timeline for the 2028 cycle: what to do month by month.
• Thank-you letters to writers after the Match: the residency version of this email. Writing a thank-you letter to a scholarship donor instead? The reader and the rules differ.

Before thanking recommenders, reply to the school itself: the portal form and deposit have deadlines.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Reapplying to the MD program (no year stated): at least two new letters recommended; previous-cycle letters not accessible unless resubmitted.
• TMDSAS, Reapplicants (no year stated): recommendation against sending the same letters.
• TMDSAS, Letters of evaluation (no cycle label on the page): reapplicants may resubmit letters written after May 1, 2025.