“Letter of continued interest” (spliced from Waitlist)

[historicaladvantage]

A reminder for all those on the waitlist--consider sending letters of continued interest to those in charge of admissions. It may not seem like much, but anything at this stage can help. Writing a succinct, professional, cogent letter to an administrator in charge of admissions coordination can alert individuals to your situation and potentially get you moved further up the list. No guarantees, but it's certainly worth a shot. Make sure it's a good letter. 

[Motherofdragons]

On 6/11/2021 at 7:52 PM, historicaladvantage said:

A reminder for all those on the waitlist--consider sending letters of continued interest to those in charge of admissions. It may not seem like much, but anything at this stage can help. Writing a succinct, professional, cogent letter to an administrator in charge of admissions coordination can alert individuals to your situation and potentially get you moved further up the list. No guarantees, but it's certainly worth a shot. Make sure it's a good letter. 

Hi there,

Do you know if this is something that has worked for people in the past when waitlisted at Canadian schools? If I was in their position and received an email like that I would be annoyed, as anything outside the application can’t be considered.

[historicaladvantage]

16 hours ago, Motherofdragons said:

Hi there,

Do you know if this is something that has worked for people in the past when waitlisted at Canadian schools? If I was in their position and received an email like that I would be annoyed, as anything outside the application can’t be considered.

I do not have first-hand evidence in an admissions context but in a job application context this was very effective for myself and others. It certainly would not be bothersome if worded professionally and cogently. This is the general consensus among law school admissions consultants. 

[CleanHands]

A "letter of continued interest" to admissions is a ridiculous concept. Says all one needs to know about the value of "admissions consultants."

Edited June 25, 2021 by CleanHands

[historicaladvantage]

Just now, CleanHands said:

A "letter of continued interest" to admissions is a ridiculous concept. Says all one needs to know about the value of "admissions consultants."

Have you used an admissions consultant yourself? If yes, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. If not, I don't think it's fair to paint with broad strokes in that matter, and furthermore, myself and others have gained tremendous value employing admissions consultants. I don't think I would have gotten into Osgoode without the help of one. 

[CleanHands]

Just now, historicaladvantage said:

Have you used an admissions consultant yourself? If yes, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. 

No, I applied and got accepted to multiple Canadian law schools without any issue on my own, like a normal person who doesn't pay for completely useless borderline scam services.

[Hegdis]

I spliced this topic so the Waitlist one doesn’t go off the rails. 

Reminder to be excellent to one another. 

[legallyblind]

I'm not saying that this is completely wrong but I have a hard time seeing how this could be true. If someone has not been accepted into any other school then it seems like this may just be a waste of time. Your time would likely be much better spent addressing the weaknesses of your application this cycle in preparation for next the next application cycle.

I definitely understand, accepting/assuming your rejection for this cycle might be a bitter pill to swallow but looking towards next cycle is the most productive option. In the meantime if you get in this cycle then great! But if not, at least you're not holding out until the last minute and devoting unnecessary mental energy that would be better served elsewhere.

[historicaladvantage]

12 minutes ago, legallyblind said:

I'm not saying that this is completely wrong but I have a hard time seeing how this could be true. If someone has not been accepted into any other school then it seems like this may just be a waste of time. Your time would likely be much better spent addressing the weaknesses of your application this cycle in preparation for next the next application cycle.

I definitely understand, accepting/assuming your rejection for this cycle might be a bitter pill to swallow but looking towards next cycle is the most productive option. In the meantime if you get in this cycle then great! But if not, at least you're not holding out until the last minute and devoting unnecessary mental energy that would be better served elsewhere.

It's a 100 word e-mail, it takes 10 minutes. If it even shows the committee you're proactive and you care about getting into the school, that's a good thing. You have to understand law school admissions committees receive thousands of applicants many of whom put no effort at all into their portfolios. Any advantage, however slight, is worth it, particularly if it only takes you a few minutes to complete. 

[CleanHands]

23 minutes ago, historicaladvantage said:

It's a 100 word e-mail, it takes 10 minutes. If it even shows the committee you're proactive and you care about getting into the school, that's a good thing. You have to understand law school admissions committees receive thousands of applicants many of whom put no effort at all into their portfolios. Any advantage, however slight, is worth it, particularly if it only takes you a few minutes to complete. 

"Oh, this person wrote a letter of continued interest--let's bump their file up" - said nobody in admissions ever. Again, it says a lot that you're mainly emphasizing that sending it is not onerous rather than presenting any credible reason it would be helpful. The admissions departments know that applicants are interested because they applied. There is no way that pestering them and reminding them that you're interested can be helpful or influence an admissions decision. It's also telling that you assert that admissions consultants supposedly recommend this, rather than people actually involved in admissions decisions.

It irks me that you are offering completely dubious advice like this while hawking your paid admissions consulting services on your profile. I believe that you are a charlatan and that what you are writing warrants pushback.

As for admissions consulting in general, I don't understand how anyone who is not competent to apply to law school independently (where steps involved are clearly outlined by school and not complicated) could possibly become a competent lawyer. At most I could see someone asking a friend to look over their personal statement and do some proofreading. But if they need anything more than that in order to write a short statement about themselves, what are they going to do when they need to write a notice of civil claim or Charter notice for the first time? If they don't understand the clearly delineated processes to apply to law schools, how are they going to navigate procedural matters as a lawyer?

And the fact that you yourself apparently needed help with something this simple, that nearly everyone manages on their own, makes it even more ridiculous that you are presenting yourself as an expert on it fresh out of law school and asking people to pay you for said "expertise."

@Hegdis I can appreciate that you don't want people flaming each other on your site, but surely it's also not cool for shilling like this to go about unchecked.

[BlockedQuebecois]

For the record, I’ll be a charlatan for half the price of whatever other people charge, seeing as I spend so much time here giving advice for free. 

[StephenToast]

6 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

It irks me that you are offering completely dubious advice like this while hawking your paid admissions consulting services on your profile. I believe that you are a charlatan and that what you are writing warrants pushback.

I was just about to call you a dick for reacting so strongly to someone who's offering advice that while probably wouldn't help, wouldn't hurt either. But yea, in the context of someone offering "paid admissions consulting services," that's shady.

[StephenToast]

1 hour ago, historicaladvantage said:

[...] furthermore, myself and others have gained tremendous value employing admissions consultants. [...]

Wait, so are you a consultant or you hired a consultant? Or are you a consultee turned consultant?

[historicaladvantage]

Just now, StephenToast said:

Wait, so are you a consultant or you hired a consultant? Or are you a consultee turned consultant?

 

14 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

"Oh, this person wrote a letter of continued interest--let's bump their file up" - said nobody in admissions ever. Again, it says a lot that you're mainly emphasizing that sending it is not onerous rather than presenting any credible reason it would be helpful. The admissions departments know that applicants are interested because they applied. There is no way that pestering them and reminding them that you're interested can be helpful or influence an admissions decision. It's also telling that you assert that admissions consultants supposedly recommend this, rather than people actually involved in admissions decisions.

It irks me that you are offering completely dubious advice like this while hawking your paid admissions consulting services on your profile. I believe that you are a charlatan and that what you are writing warrants pushback.

As for admissions consulting in general, I don't understand how anyone who is not competent to apply to law school independently (where steps involved are clearly outlined by school and not complicated) could possibly become a competent lawyer. At most I could see someone asking a friend to look over their personal statement and do some proofreading. But if they need anything more than that in order to write a short statement about themselves, what are they going to do when they need to write a notice of civil claim or Charter notice for the first time? If they don't understand the clearly delineated processes to apply to law schools, how are they going to navigate procedural matters as a lawyer?

And the fact that you yourself apparently needed help with something this simple, that nearly everyone manages on their own, makes it even more ridiculous that you are presenting yourself as an expert on it fresh out of law school and asking people to pay you for said "expertise."

@Hegdis I can appreciate that you don't want people flaming each other on your site, but surely it's also not cool for shilling like this to go about unchecked.

Here is an article published by Harvard law school literally asking people who are waitlisted to send in continued letters of interest. 
 

https://hls.harvard.edu/content/uploads/2020/05/Letter-of-Continued-Interest-Guide.pdf

 

[CleanHands]

7 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

For the record, I’ll be a charlatan for half the price of whatever other people charge, seeing as I spend so much time here giving advice for free. 

Given what your billable hour rates must be I'd probably go nuts if I were you after doing the math in my head about what that time was worth.

[Disbarred]

Just now, historicaladvantage said:

 

Here is an article published by Harvard law school literally asking people who are waitlisted to send in continued letters of interest. 
 

https://hls.harvard.edu/content/uploads/2020/05/Letter-of-Continued-Interest-Guide.pdf

 

Harvard is in the US

[CleanHands]

Just now, Disbarred said:

Harvard is in the US

And they explicitly have this as part of their own specific process.

By that logic, medical schools require the MCAT so law students should try submitting an MCAT score to bolster their application package.

[SlytherinLLP]

I think "admissions consultants" are primarily an American phenomenon. 

I really don't think a continued letter of interest will do anything. You can google it and find boilerplate ones. Who would care?

[bigtruss]

For what it's worth McGill explicitly wrote in my waitlist notification letter for the 2019-2020 cycle that they strongly encourage waitlisted candidates to write a letter of continued interest and that a thoughtful one with relevant updates on what you had been doing between the time of your application and the time of your waitlist decision being rendered can help set your application apart from others'. 

[HY12345]

Also for what it's worth, I emailed admissions inquiring about more information (I am on the waitlist) and one of the first things they told me I could do was send in an LOCI. I'm refraining from making any value judgements here about the effectiveness of said LOCI as I am still on the waitlist, but I think at the very minimum it proves that 1) Osgoode is  open to receiving them 2) it is not a complete waste of time should you be reporting actual advancements in relation to your application. I suppose at this point only time will tell but I do think the waitlist this year is quite competitive so it certainly won't hurt. 

[Thelight]

^^i am also on the Oz waitlist and Vicky asked me if I want to submit a LOCI for the adcom. I mean if she is going out of her way to mention it, I don’t see how it couldn’t give you an edge, even if it’s slight. It’s really amazing how some of the people on this forum and the old forum purportedly know so much with so much confidence lol pipe down. Have some humility 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Thelight

[meandtheboys]

3 minutes ago, Thelight said:

It’s really amazing how some of the people on this forum and the old forum purportedly know so much with so confidence lol pipe down. Have some humility 

You mean those "consultants" or those recommending consultants?  Ya I agree

[luckycharm]

19 hours ago, Motherofdragons said:

Hi there,

Do you know if this is something that has worked for people in the past when waitlisted at Canadian schools? If I was in their position and received an email like that I would be annoyed, as anything outside the application can’t be considered.

I consider that as "Junk mail."

Edited June 25, 2021 by luckycharm

[Motherofdragons]

Thanks so much @HY12345 and @Thelight for your comments, this helps me out a lot as I am also waitlisted at Osgoode. I didn’t realize anything more could be done after the initial application.

@Thelight- Did Vicky reach out to you personally and recommend an LOCI, or did you first ask her about the waitpool?

[luckycharm]

I remember Ottawa sent me a letter asking me if I want to be place on the wait list twice (late June and late July).

It was a letter to everyone on the waitlist. There were over 300 people on that waitlist and I was ranked 267 in late June and moved up to 112 by late July)  

Edited June 25, 2021 by luckycharm