What is everyone's opinion on letting programs know where you rank them? I understand the importance of letting your number one program know, but what about the rest? Some people say let programs 1-3 know your interest, while others expand it to 1-5. What do the emails for 2-5 look like considering your probably are not going to name their position in the email?
It feels like everyone has a different opinion. I've heard some people who are encouraging of sending "love letters". Can it hurt to send these letters? My guess is not. Will it help? My guess is that a program is not going to move you from the 10th rank spot to the 3rd based on a letter that says you like their program and that you'll be "ranking them highly". If you send a letter and don't explicitly say you're ranking them #1, they will know they are not your first choice. It's probably program dependent though so blanket statements aren't too helpful.