How Do You Write a Letter of Continued Interest?
It’s disappointing, to be sure, to find out that you’ve been waitlisted or deferred by the school of your dreams.
However, you don’t have to abandon your hopes and settle for a different school just yet. Getting waitlisted or deferred means that the school has said, “Maybe,” to your application, and that’s a lot better than a flat-out refusal.
A letter of continued interest (often called a LOCI) can help you press your case with the school and gain you a newly opened spot in the student rolls once applications are reevaluated.
What’s a LOCI?
A letter of continued interest is an email that you can send to a school’s admissions office to express your ongoing desire to attend that particular school if a slot does open up. It’s also used as a chance to update your application with any new achievements you’ve made.
Both can revive interest in your application and show that you’re a competitive candidate for admission – and keeping your name in the admission officer’s mind and your application fresh can be important. When it comes time for the school to look again at the applications that were deferred or waitlisted, that can give you an edge.
Before you commit to a LOCI, however, make sure that the school you’re interested in attending accepts them. Some schools have a strict policy against them, so a LOCI will actually hurt your chances. Others welcome them – and a few even have specific forms they’d like you to use.
What Do You Include in a LOCI?
Assuming that the school you want to attend welcomes LOCIs without restriction, here’s what you should include:
- A bluntly honest expression of your desire to attend that school, including a statement that makes it clear that you absolutely will attend if admitted
- A (brief) statement about why that school is specifically your top choice, and what you think you will contribute to the campus as a whole
- Updates to your ACT and SAT test scores, if those were part of the requirements for admission or something that needed to be improved
- Updates to your extracurricular activities, including any award or recognition that you’ve received for your labor, exceptional progress that’s been made or publications
- Updated information on your grade point average, particularly if your grades have bumped up your GPA since you applied
- A closing statement that thanks the admissions office for reevaluating your application and reiteration of your willingness to provide any additional information that might be needed
You want to keep the entire letter of continued interest fairly short (a single page). Make sure that you don’t repeat anything that was part of your initial application, including what was in your supplemental essay. Focus on enhancing the picture you’ve already created for the admissions office, not repainting it.
It can be very frustrating to be deferred or waitlisted by your top-choice school, and hard to know what to do next. Guidance from a college admissions expert can help you find more ways to improve your odds of achieving your academic goals.
