Mastering the Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI)
With Ivy Day and other late-March decision releases now behind us, many seniors have entered the final and most confusing phase of the admissions process: the waitlist.
If you’ve been waitlisted in the 2026 admissions cycle, you are part of an incredibly competitive second-chance pool. This year, deferred and waitlisted students are navigating one of the most crowded and unpredictable second-round pools in recent memory. A waitlist decision can make students feel as though everything is suddenly out of their hands. The instinct is understandable: write a passionate letter immediately, send an extra recommendation, and try to prove how much you care. The biggest mistake students make with letters of continued interest is assuming that every college wants the same thing. Some schools welcome a thoughtful LOCI. Some replace it with a portal form. Some will only review updates submitted through a specific response page. And some explicitly say they do not want additional materials at all.
The Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI), when done right, should act as a strategic character addendum: it should clarify, update, and sharpen the committee’s picture of you. So if you were waitlisted this year, the first step is not writing but rather reading your applicant portal instructions carefully. A strong LOCI starts with knowing what counts as a LOCI for that specific college.
First, Find Out What This College Actually Wants
At some schools, a traditional letter is still welcome. Notre Dame encourages deferred students to upload an “intentional and authentic” letter through the applicant portal, explain why the school is the right fit, and describe what they would contribute to the community. Cornell says that, for several of its colleges, applicants may submit a LOCI that focuses on fit for the specific college or major. Johns Hopkins suggests that waitlisted students who choose to send an update submit a one-page letter explaining why Hopkins remains the right school for them.
At other schools, the traditional emailed letter is the wrong move. The University of Virginia says its defer form takes the place of a LOCI and that declaring a commitment to attend will not influence review. Michigan uses an Expression of Continued Interest form, which allows only one submission, and says that materials outside the form, grade updates, or specifically requested information will not affect the final decision.
And then there are schools that narrow the process even further. Georgia Tech says the waitlist reply form is the only additional information it will review, and that LOCIs are not considered. NYU says students may communicate interest and new accomplishments through the waitlist response form, but should not submit new materials. Villanova allows a LOCI only inside its waiting list reply form, with a 250-word limit, and asks students not to email it separately.
So before you draft anything, determine which bucket your college falls into.
Writing a Good LOCI
If your college does allow a LOCI or update, the strongest ones do three things well.
1. Make the Case for Fit and Credible Interest
First, strong LOCIs communicate clear and credible interest.
Not vague enthusiasm. Not flattery. Real interest, grounded in specifics. In a high-volume cycle, some colleges are paying close attention to credible interest and enrollment predictability. Whether or not they use the term “yield rate,” how likely a student is to attend is something they are considering as they finalize their list of admitted students.
Notre Dame explicitly asks students to explain why they want to join the community and what they hope to bring to it, while Cornell advises students to focus on fit with the specific college and major. Colleges are increasingly risk-averse. In an era of stealth applicants and mass-applying, admissions offices are wary of offering a spot to a student who won’t take it. By being specific when discussing why this school remains your top choice, your LOCI can have the added function of serving as yield insurance for the admissions office.
When writing about the school in your letter, don’t just say you love the vibrant community. A better version connects your goals to something identifiable and relevant: a department, a research center, a curricular model, a program, or a major-specific path that makes sense for you. Cornell’s guidance is especially useful here: focus on your fit with the college or school, and your intended major, if applicable. Reference a specific event, research breakthrough, or club development that happened at the university this semester. Notre Dame asks students not only why they want to attend, but also what they hope to bring. That is a useful standard for any college that permits a LOCI. The best letters show how you will participate once you arrive.
2. Avoid Resume Regurgitation
Second, strong LOCIs provide new information that matters.
Johns Hopkins says updates should contribute in a substantive way or provide genuinely new information. Notre Dame points students toward first-semester grades, notable awards, leadership roles, and meaningful extracurricular developments. The strongest LOCIs are specific enough that an admissions reader can quickly see what changed since the original application.
While an important goal with this letter is to update the school, you need to ensure you do not repeat items that already appear on your application. You should focus on stories and anecdotes; for example, you might bring up a specific moment in your second-semester Physics lab or a conversation you had during a community service project.
This works best when you identify the missing piece of the initial impression they received when you first applied. If your original application was heavy on STEM but light on community, use your LOCI to highlight a recent leadership role in a volunteer organization. If you’ve continued growing your resume since you applied in the winter, tell them about it. Did you start a new project? Did you take an online certification to bolster a weakness? Did you lead your team through a loss? Show them the Version 2.0 of yourself that didn’t exist in November.
3. You Should Write Your Letter, Not AI
Successful LOCIs are written by human students.
Admissions officers are currently being flooded with LOCIs that sound suspiciously like ChatGPT. A generic, perfectly polished, yet hollow letter will therefore be ignored. To stand out, try to avoid outsourcing your thinking to AI tools when writing your letter. At no point should you copy and paste directly from ChatGPT or another generative AI tool to write this letter. If you want to ask AI to proofread or act as a thesaurus for specific lines, that’s fine, but take all suggestions with a grain of salt—only edit when you’ve made a grammatical mistake, and edit the sentence on your own.
Use a tone that is professional but still sounds like you, a 17 or 18-year-old. Use specific verbs and sensory details that an AI wouldn’t know about your personal experience.
A Note on Style
A strong LOCI should avoid performative emotion, exaggerated praise, and filler. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be personal, vivid, and even emotional when that emotion is real and shows the admissions committee something about the student’s thinking, values, or fit. Admissions officers want to understand the applicant as a person.
Bad emotional writing sounds like pleading, generic praise, or pressure: “Brown has always been my dream school,” “I would do anything to attend,” “Please give me another chance.” That kind of writing often adds little substance.
Good personal writing uses voice and feeling to reveal something meaningful: a new idea, a sharper sense of academic direction, a concrete update, or a more precise explanation of fit. A strong LOCI does not need to be emotionally flat. It can be warm, personal, and memorable—but the feeling should support real substance: new updates, clearer fit, and authentic voice.
Final Thoughts
A strong LOCI is not a last-minute plea. It is a focused, strategic update that helps a college see the most current and complete version of you. But before sending anything, make sure that the school actually wants a letter at all. Some colleges welcome a traditional LOCI; others only review a form, a short update, or nothing beyond required materials. If your school does allow one, make every sentence count: show real fit, offer meaningful new information, and write in a voice that still sounds like you.
A rushed, generic, overly polished LOCI will not help. A strong one is informed, specific, and honest. Read the instructions, respect the process, and then send a letter that actually adds something new. That is what gives a waitlisted student a real chance to move the needle.
