A letter of continued interest is a short note you send to a college that deferred or waitlisted you. It says you still want to attend and tells the admissions office what has changed since you applied. Send one only where the college invites it: some ask for it by name, and some say plainly not to.
A letter of continued interest, often shortened to LOCI, is the one piece of writing a deferred or waitlisted student can add to a finished application. It is not a new essay. It is a one-page update: you are still interested, here is what is new, and, if it is true, you would enroll if admitted. Whether it helps depends entirely on the college, so this page starts with the policies colleges publish, then covers timing, what to put in, how long to make it, how to send it, and a sample you can adapt. If you have just been deferred, read what deferred means first.
What a Letter of Continued Interest Is
The letter does two jobs. It confirms that you want to stay in the running, and it carries information the college did not have when it first read your file: first semester senior grades, a new award, a higher test score, a finished project. Some colleges call it something else. Notre Dame invites deferred students who consider it a first choice to write a "letter of desire," and asks students on its waiting list to upload a letter of continued interest to its applicant status portal.
Many colleges replace the letter with a form. Purdue encourages deferred applicants to use its Letter of Continued Interest form, with a 500-word maximum. MIT asks for its February Updates & Notes Form, which has a 250-word limit. USC asked last cycle's deferred applicants for an Early Deferral Form. When a college gives you a form, the form is the letter.
When to Send It
There are two moments when a letter makes sense: after an early deferral and after a spring waitlist offer. In both cases, wait until you have read the college's instructions in your portal, then send it once, with your news in it.
- After a deferral (December to February). MIT and Notre Dame release early decisions in mid-December, and Penn in December. Your early decision results page has the dates. The strongest time to send is when your first semester grades are final, because that is the update every college wants. Notre Dame asks deferred applicants to submit additional materials no later than February 1.
- After a waitlist offer (spring). First accept your place on the list in the portal, then send the letter by the date the college names. Notre Dame's is April 15 for waiting list letters. Commit to another college by its deposit deadline at the same time; Notre Dame tells waitlisted students to do exactly that.
Do not send a letter the day the decision arrives with nothing new in it. A letter with no update is only a restatement of the application the committee has already read.
Colleges That Say Not to Send One
Before you write anything, check the college's deferral or waitlist page. These colleges say in their own words that a letter is unnecessary or will not be accepted.
| College |
What its page says |
What to send instead |
| USC |
Asked last cycle whether you can send a letter of continued interest, it answered no |
The Early Deferral Form in the portal, plus a mid-year transcript |
| MIT |
You do not have to email to say you are still interested; it assumes you are |
The February Updates & Notes Form (250 words) |
| NC State |
Its deferral FAQ, posted in January 2025 for an earlier cycle and still live, says applicants deferred for final review do not need to submit letters of continued interest |
Strong senior grades and its Final Review Consideration form |
USC's admission blog, in its deferred applicant FAQ from January 2026 (the last cycle), called the Early Deferral Form "the best and only way" to show you are still interested, and said it was not considering new essays, resumes or recommendation letters. Expect this cycle's instructions in your USC portal. MIT's deferred FAQ also lists bombarding the office with excessive emails or new materials among the things you do not have to do.
Other colleges sit in the middle. Emory's deferred applicant FAQ says a personal letter of continued interest "is not something all deferred applicants need to do or even should do," and accepts one as a supplemental upload in its portal for those who choose to write it. Penn's admissions glossary says it does not track demonstrated interest, which tells you an extra note of enthusiasm will not be counted as interest there. At the other end, Purdue encourages deferred applicants to send one through its own form, and Notre Dame invites one from deferred and waitlisted students. The Notre Dame page is a good model of how specific these instructions get.
What to Include and What to Leave Out
Think of the letter as a cover note for your news. Every paragraph should either say something the college does not know or tie you to something specific about the college.
Include:
- One opening line that names the decision and your interest. For example, that you were deferred in the early round and remain very interested.
- Your updates, most important first. First semester senior grades, a new award or leadership role, a finished project, a higher SAT or ACT score if you submit scores there.
- One or two specific reasons the college fits you. A program, a course sequence, a research group, a campus organization. Specific beats general.
- A commitment, only if it is true. If this college is your first choice and you would enroll if admitted, say so in one sentence. Do not write it to more than one college.
- A short thank-you and your identifying details. Full name, date of birth or applicant ID if the portal shows one, and high school.
Leave out: a rewritten personal statement, complaints about the decision, requests to know why you were deferred, comparisons with classmates, and anything already in your file. Skip extra recommendation letters unless the college asks: Notre Dame says it does not encourage them, and MIT says you cannot replace the ones you sent. Do not send links to shared documents either. Notre Dame says it cannot open Google Docs links and asks for files uploaded directly to the portal.
If your update is a new test score, send the official or self-reported score the way the college's testing page asks, and mention it in the letter. If you applied without scores, read should I submit my SAT scores before adding one now.
How Long It Should Be and How to Send It
Keep it under one page. Where the college sets a limit, that limit wins: 500 words on Purdue's form, 250 on MIT's. With no stated limit, we suggest about 250 to 400 words. That is our guideline, not a rule any college publishes, and it is long enough for three updates and a reason to attend.
Send it the way the college names. For most colleges that is an upload in the applicant portal. Notre Dame asks for portal uploads and, for waiting list updates, prefers one package to several separate uploads. Emory takes a supplemental upload in its portal. If a college names an email address for your regional counselor, use that. Send it once. Do not also mail a printed copy, and do not follow up to ask whether it arrived unless the portal fails to show it.
While you wait, keep your other applications moving. The regular decision deadline list covers 35 colleges, most of them due in early January.
Example Letter of Continued Interest
This is a template we wrote. Every part in brackets is a placeholder: replace it with your own facts, and cut any line you cannot back up.
Template only.
Dear Admissions Committee,
I am writing to confirm that [College] remains my first choice after my [Early Action or Early Decision] application was deferred. I would like to share three updates from this fall.
First, my first semester senior grades are final: [grade] in [course], [grade] in [course] and [grade] in [course]. My counselor is sending the midyear report [when]. Second, [a team, club or project you lead] [a specific result and the month it happened], and I [the part you were responsible for]. Third, I retook the [SAT or ACT] in [month] and my score is now [new score]; I have reported it [the way the college's testing page asks].
Since applying, I have spent more time with [College]'s [program or major], and [a specific course, lab or requirement] is the reason I want to study there. I would like to join [a specific student organization] because [one reason].
[Only if it is true: If I am admitted, I will enroll.] Thank you for continuing to consider my application.
Sincerely,
[Your full name]
[Applicant ID], [High school], [City, State]
The template runs about 180 words, so even filled in it stays well inside one page. It names the decision, gives three updates the reader can check, ties you to one program, and makes one commitment only where it is true. If your update is a December retake, our December SAT study plan covers the weeks before the test.
Frequently Asked Questions About Letters of Continued Interest
Does a letter of continued interest help?
Only where the college asks for one or accepts one, and mostly because of the updates inside it. USC said last cycle it would not take a letter, MIT says you do not need to say you are still interested, and Penn does not track demonstrated interest. Purdue and Notre Dame invite one.
When should I send a letter of continued interest?
After a deferral, when your first semester grades are final and before the college's update deadline, such as Notre Dame's February 1. After a waitlist offer, once you have accepted your place and before the date the college names, such as Notre Dame's April 15.
How long should a letter of continued interest be?
Under one page. Follow the college's limit if it has one, such as 500 words at Purdue or 250 on MIT's form. Otherwise about 250 to 400 words is our suggestion.
Should I send it by email or through the portal?
Through the portal unless the college names another method. Notre Dame and Emory take letters as uploads in their applicant portals, and Purdue takes them through its own Letter of Continued Interest form.
Can I send a letter of continued interest to more than one college?
Yes, but say a college is your first choice, or that you will enroll if admitted, only to one college, and only if it is true.
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