Q. What’s an LOCI?
A. Letter of Continued Interest.
Q. Do I need to write one?
A. If you’ve been deferred from the ED round to the RD round AND you still want that school to highly consider you, why not write a note letting that school know that absence — or deferral — has made your heart grow fonder?
So flows the conversation I’ve had with roughly a quarter of my students this cycle post-ED round. If a student has been deferred from their top choice school, whether it be from ED to RD or from RD to the Waitlist, I urge my students to craft a succinct email employing the mot juste to express their continued interest (Read: LOVE) for that institution.
Here are some tips:
Follow Directions
Read and re-read what the school has instructed you to do vis a vis their policy on LOCIs. Some don’t want any. Others welcome them. A few provide forms which means they don’t want you to get creative. Adhere to the rules of the institution you’re soliciting an admissions acceptance from. If no mention of LOCIs is provided, write a short, sincere, meaningful note.
Keep It Short
200 words max. Maybe 250 if you’re a big talker. Make sure to let schools know WHY THEM (still) and WHY YOU (still) and WHY THE TWO OF YOU are still a match. Do this with brevity while maintaining that charismatic point-of-view and tone of voice you perfected in your personal statement and supplemental essays.
Renew Your Vows
Admissions teams are tasked with creating a well-suited class: well-suited to the institution and one another. They don’t want students to transfer; they don’t want students to be unhappy on campus. They want students to thrive in their classrooms, clubs, and cafeterias. And in your residential life. And on your study abroad semesters and internships. Take another virtual tour and spin around the website to ensure you’re still as in love with the school as you once were. That’s what the colleges are doing by deferring or waitlisting you.
Inform, Inform, Inform
News. Updates. Brag-sheet moment. Did you get named MVP for the basketball season? Let them know. Did your article get published in the school paper? Let them know. Did your research project get chosen as an example of Excellence? Let them know. Did you play piano at Carnegie Hall via Zoom? Let them know. Succinctly and enthusiastically.
Happy New Year!
JAN