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Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI) Example

Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI) Example

How do you write a great Letter of Continued Interest (also called LOCI) after a waitlist or deferral? 

A great Letter of continued interest (LOCI) serves as another update to your dream school. Keep it professional, but also make sure to have your unique voice and personality show. 

Below, we have some LOCI best practices, and more importantly, and awesome Letter of Continued Interest Example. 

Table of Contents

Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI): Best Practices

Are you worried that your letter of continued interest or LOCI will be a bit… lame… because you have NOTHING to update colleges on?

No need to stress about the LOCI. I’m CERTAIN you have something to share. You probably don’t think it’s “good enough.”

First, revisit your submitted application. Ask yourself: What have you NOT shared with the college since you last applied?

It can be extracurriculars or personal stories that you share in your LOCI. The Letter of Continued Interest example below will give you ideas, but just know this: Top schools like UPenn or even NYU want to see the personal sides of you. In other words, you don’t always have to flex your extracurriculars.

Here are a few best practices: 

  • Thank the admissions for another opportunity to showcase yourself in this letter. 
  • Express your LOVE and EXCITEMENT for the school. In order to do that, TALK about something specific about the school that captivates you.
  • Showcase your GROWTH throughout the college admissions process and reflect on that in your letter.
  • Keep it to one page.

LOCI Best Practice: Showcase your growth

If you do the college application process effectively, you should have a better understanding of who you are, what makes you unique, and what you hope to gain from a college experience. 

In the Letter of Continued Interest or LOCI, reflect on the growth that you have had over the past few months. Here are some questions for you:

  • How do you think you have personally grown through writing about yourself 100+ times?
  • If you were 1.0 version of yourself BEFORE college apps, who are you now (You 2.0) from doing all this self reflection?

Write about your growth from the experience!

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Best practice for LOCI: Showcase your love for the school

Here’s another awesome hack: Showcase demonstrated interest in your LOCI. Basically, that means you’ve done a lot of research into the school and know EXACTLY why you want to go there and how you will contribute to the school community. 

The LOCI example touches on this very well. You’ll see that below. But for now, here are a few ideas:

  • Have you done an interview? If so, what did you learn about the school that made you want to go, even more?
  • Did you get a chance to go to another virtual information session or even on-campus visit? If so, what did you learn about the school that made you want to go?
  • Were you able to talk to a current student/alum of the school? Did they have an experience that you can write in your LOCI about why you’re even MORE excited about the school?

Example of Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI)

Below is the LOCI or Letter of Continued Interest example. Obviously, please do not plagiarize 😅

LOCI Example Below: 

Dear XXXX Admissions,

I hope this letter finds you well! I am grateful for the opportunity to be considered again for admission, and I’m very excited to tell you about what I’ve been up to since November!

While writing my college essays, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the last few years of high school so far. I started out at [Name of high school] feeling extremely overwhelmed; it seemed like everyone knew what they wanted to be when they “grew up.” To try to answer this question, I threw myself into everything, from backpacking in Yosemite for 5 days (I decided this wasn’t for me) to performing for a poetry slam. Therefore, since the first semester of senior year, I have been continuing to push myself to get out of my comfort zone, alongside maintaining all As in my classes. 

I have a poster on my wall that says, “Seek Discomfort”. Since November, I led my team for [nonprofit organization] to start our first ever race, where we donated over 40 pairs of shoes to students in [location], and helped them train by running 10-15 miles a week alongside the Pacific coast. We purposely woke up at 5:30am for these sunrise runs, and we purposely pushed each runner’s limits a little further each week. We even ran into the icy cold ocean at the end of one session simply to underline the fact that being uncomfortable is the first stage in personal growth. Currently we have 8-14 students that join us consistently each week on the beach runs. We aim to grow it and have another eager underclassmen from my track and field team to take over this community so it continues to flourish even after we graduate high school.

As the older sibling to my 10-year-old step sister, I have also been spending more time babysitting her since submitting my application, because my mom is working more than ever before. Recently, my sister began to express interest in coding. As an aspiring psychology major, I have little experience, but we have been taking online classes through [Program], and we are in the process of coding a motion sensor security camera for her room using a Raspberry Pi. This is outside of my comfort zone, but we are learning and teaching each other on the weekends. It has been extremely rewarding to spend quality time with her while learning a new skill. Creating our own personal project has made me more interested in exploring how computer science (CS) can be utilized to help diagnose mental health issues and ways to offer more personalized support for those suffering. At [college name], I hope to explore the myriad of ways that CS intersects with the humanities and social sciences to create solutions that help others.

I recently had the amazing opportunity to speak to [name of alum], a graduate of [school name], to learn more about the school. His experiences in [a personal anecdote] extremely excite me, as I aspire to do the same; I’d love to pursue [a particular program at the school] by contributing back to the city of [name]. Through our meeting, I realized that students at [school name] are go-getters; they want to grow as individuals, and they continuously seek discomfort to do so. This is exactly the type of environment that I would love to contribute to. I believe that people with a growth mindset continuously push each other in a community to achieve their best selves. I’ve witnessed this power of a true, growth-oriented community through my running career and mentoring underserved youth through [nonprofit x]. Should I be admitted, I will absolutely attend and I will push my peers to be the best versions of themselves that they can be to elevate themselves, the greater community, and [school name] spirit.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my letter.

Warm Regards,

Name

High School Resume Example and Step-by-Step Guide

High School Resume Example and Step-by-Step Guide

So, it’s time to write your first high school resume for college applications. Maybe you’re inclined to Googling high school resume examples and step-by-step guides to create your own. But templates are generic–you’re not!

Remember that ultimately, a resume tells a story–the story of you. Like all well-told stories, it must be formatted thoughtfully and clearly or the narrative is lost. 

So, let’s dive straight in. 

Table of Contents

Do Colleges Require A Resume?

Short answer: Nope!

Longer answer: Might be a good idea, depending on your situation. 

Keep in mind that some schools don’t even allow you to upload a resume, while others do. For instance, my alma mater, University of Pennsylvania allows you to upload a resume. Many Ivy League and top tier schools also have this option, from Cornell or Johns Hopkins.

Our general rule of thumb is this: 

  • If you have a ton of activities and extracurriculars that can’t be succinctly summarized in the activity list 

AND/OR

  • If you have competitive schools in your college list — at least one of them will give you the option to upload a resume.

…then it’s not a bad idea to have a college application resume to upload, just in case. Plus, it’ll be useful to secure summer internships and receive scholarships this way. 

Ivy League College Resume Example + Resume Template

Now, take a look at this resume example for an Ivy League-bound student. We’ll be using his example throughout this post.

Also, here’s a Google Doc that links to this student’s exact resume template that you can use for your own resume! 

By the way, these templates are modified versions of UC Berkeley’s resume templates, so, obviously, they’re quite good 😉

How To Create A Compelling High School Resume For College Applications

Resume guide

1. Clean Contact Information Section On Your College Resume

Refer to our high school resume example: Sam’s name is in bold, centered at the top of the page; his e-mail address is directly underneath. That’s it!

Your name and e-mail address are the only contact information needed. If you have a website, particularly one that showcases your personality, include that too. 

Again, the ideal high school resume is clean and simple. There is no need for a brick and mortar address or phone number. 

2. Don’t Include Coursework In The Education Section

High School student Resume sample

As you can see in our high school resume example, there are only six items in the education section and none are coursework. In this instance, coursework is clutter. 

The only items needed in the education section are the following: 

  • school name and location
  • GPA 
  • class rank 
  • class year 
  • SAT scores 

Bear in mind: you’re the narrator of your own story, so be smart about the information you include. Remember the goal of a resume is to market yourself, so paint yourself favorably. 

…in other words, if your SAT scores are lower than you’d like, leave them off! The ideal high school resume is carefully curated.

3. Relevant Experience Means Relevant To Major

Perhaps you’re a dedicated and gifted cellist. Let’s be frank, unless you’re looking to major in music theory, that does not belong in the “relevant experience” category. 

So, what do we mean by “relevant”? We mean this: relevance to major. Are you pursuing computer science and did you intern at a start-up? That’s relevant experience!

Take a look at our sample high school resume. Sam lists three internships (two political, one research.) We can surmise that his major is related to political and environmental sciences. 

Notice that dates are listed as well. In addition to being relevant, experience should be timely. That means you should only include experience attained during high school. 

Don’t go all the way back to middle school. Start with the summer before high school and proceed from there.

4. Use Active Verbs In Your High School Resume

Once you’ve compiled your list of relevant experience, create bullet points detailing your responsibilities using active verbs. Let’s check out Sam’s sample high school resume again. 

Sam’s relevant experience section includes the following active verbs that are quite strong: 

  • coordinate 
  • write 
  • assist
  • volunteer 
  • conduct 
  • learned 
  • attended 
  • leveraged 
  • enhanced

Active verbs show what you DID and showcase your contributions. They tell a vivid story of your ability to take action and illustrate what you bring to the table as a student at your dream college.

If you need inspiration for action verbs, check out this awesome action verb list from UC Berkeley Haas!

5. Activities Unrelated To Your Major Are Extracurriculars 

Once again, reference our sample resume. Sam was a swim coach, a varsity swimmer and co-Captain of the School Science Olympiad Team.

Swimming might not qualify as relevant experience, but it’s still important because well-rounded candidates are strong candidates. 

Basically, any activities unrelated to your major or field of study go in the “Extracurricular Activities/ Volunteering” section.

6. Skills Are Optional And Technical

High School Resume Example

The skills section is optional, and only to be included if appropriate.

So what are skills? Perhaps you can juggle, for example. While it’s a good party trick, don’t list that here. 

This section is for technical skills, especially if you’re interested in computer science or engineering. For example, proficiency with C++, Java, and R belong here. 

Once again, though, the skills section isn’t applicable to everyone. Remember, there is no need to pad your resume. The ideal high school resume is straightforward and honest!

So, now it’s your turn to write your high school resume. Hint: This is a great exercise to do for your activities list for your UC application and Common Application. Let us know how your resume turned out in the comments section below!