I imagine that this topic’s been discussed in depth before, but my search only netted a few brief comments.
Coming up on the end of my mid-application semester, I’ve got a few grades I’d like to share with schools. I believe that these are not done automatically in any way, so I’d have to let each school know about them.
This got me thinking about “update” letters. It turns out I have more questions about them than I first thought. Thanks for any feedback .
It is correct that I need to send schools my updated grades, yes?
I can just inform them - I don't need to send a transcript?
Does it matter if I use email or snail mail?
What schools should I update? Just those I haven't yet heard from? Would it make sense to send a "thank you and update" to a school I already interviewed at? I imagine it wouldn't be necessary to update schools with which I have an upcoming interview.
It’s worth updating every school…maybe except from those that have already accepted you ;).
You don’t need an official transcript at this point, but if this service is free in your school it wouldn’t hurt.
I only kept updating the three schools that I had interviewed at and was still waiting for their final decision. At that point in the application process I realized that I really didn’t want to go to other schools. But if you would potentially like to go to each of the schools you’ve applied to, update them all.
I sent e-mails, and at the same time dropped off the snail-mail (I figured that that way someone would read it for sure). Since the transcript service was free in my school, I requested official transcripts to be sent to each of the schools at that time.
To answer your last question, I would think that for the schools where you have an upcoming interview, you probably don’t have to send anything - you can take care of it in person…
Also, I think it’s OK to send the update with a ‘thank you’ note.
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