Can professors send a very similar LOR for two students?

[K3nny]

A friend of mine from the same college applied for his masters last year. He took his letter of recommendation from the same professor that I am taking from now.

Since we worked on the same final year projects, our grades are the same and we attended the same class, my professor hinted she would use most of the same document from last year, but that she would add two extra accomplishments of mine. My concern is, that 90% of the document will be identical to my friend's. If any university does a plagiarism check on LOR's from a particular professor, I'm concerned that they might get the wrong impression about my profile, or about my professor's interest in my admission there.

Should I ask my professor to try and change the structure of the letter?

[ExponentialDecay]

Come on OP. They're not going to run LORs through Turnitin. This is a situation where you need to sit down and think whether your fear is rational or it's your anxiety talking.

Professors reuse letter structure, have letter templates they use for all their letters, and so on. Relax.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

@K3nny I honestly don't think they will remember the LOR from your friend. Remember that the admission committee has to read a lot of materials -- LORs, application materials, transcripts, essays, etc. -- for A LOT of students each year. So I don't think you have to worry, especially since your professor doesn't seem to be worried about it. I hope this helps ease your mind some.

[K3nny]

Got paranoid when some people were saying the university might run these through software to find out, but yeah, it doesn't make sense for them to check LOR's for it.

[ResilientDreams]

I'm pretty sure lots of professors use a template for recommendations. They're busy people. 

[Sigaba]

A generally accepted practice is not always the same as a best practice.

My concern would be that members of an admission committee who were familiar with a LOR writer's boilerplate were doing a double take and asking each other "Did we read this letter last year? Or the year before?...Next!"

IMO, it's not just about professors being "busy people," it's about some professors being stuck in NGAF mode.