Letters of Recommendation

[Prose]

I'm thinking ahead to when I reapply for PhD programs this fall. I'll have two recycled letters from professors who wrote for me this cycle (both of whom I took 2+ classes with) and one letter from whoever my term paper adviser will be at Oxford. Question: should I be concerned about recycling? I don't have other professors who I've taken more than one class with. I'm just worried that recycling two undergraduate letters (since I'll be doing a 1-year MSt) might put me at a disadvantage compared to people who are getting letters from their 2-year MA professors. Thoughts? Thanks.

[kurumetarou]

From what I've heard, recommendation letters should preferably reflect the most recent status of your academic life. It probably will look better if you can get good letters from professors at Oxford. But if you find getting recommendation letters from the professors who wrote letters for you this year more preferable, it might be better if you keep in touch with them, keep them updated about how you're doing in the MSt, and ask them to write new letters instead of recycling existing ones. I think they will be happy to do so, since they already agreed to write for you this cycle.

Edited March 6, 2018 by kurumetarou