If you're going to tell a school they are your first choice, just be prepared to back your statement up with reasons. If you are visiting a school for the first time, they might not believe you, so be prepared to explain yourself.
For my first interview (at BU), I told them they were my #1 because I really didn't think I would get more interviews, so it was true at the time. I went to undergrad in the area so I was able to back up my statement. After my interview, I mailed my interviewer a letter stating that it was my first choice.
At other interviews several months later, I just explained to my interviewers why I would like to go there, not really saying the school was my top choice.
At my UF interview, I was sure that school was my top choice, because it was my last and only hope of going to a med school in my state....so I repeated several times throughout the interview how much I loved UF and that it was my very first choice. I wrote a very strong letter of intent and my acceptance letter was dated the day the Dean received my LOI. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> In the letter, I promised to immediately withdraw my other acceptance and all other applications (including waitlists) if accepted to UF. I also wrote that this letter of intent was not provided to any other medical schools.
I did not write letters of intent to any other schools at that time--I wrote letters of interest. I don't think it's ethical to tell more than one school that you promise to matriculate there if accepted and that you would withdraw all other applications. Some schools could communicate with each other, and I wouldn't want to take that risk, because what goes around comes around. :wink:
dlc: I think the way that one school knew about the other was b/c the AMCAS system allows all schools to see where all applicants have been accepted after either May 15th or April 15th (this year was a little different).
