Penalized for too many LOR's?

[Hamz]

Hello- I am currently applying to four programs. One of the programs requested four LORs, while the other three need only three LORs. When I asked people for letters, I told all of them the four programs, but now I am concerned that I might be penalized by the three programs who do not require four LORs. Should I do anything?

[fuzzylogician]

Check the programs' websites. Some will explicitly tell you to send exactly what they ask for, and then it might not be a good idea to send the extra letter. Others might not say anything, and in that case you can either choose to ask if it's OK, or just go ahead and send the letter. You should only send 4 letters if you're sure they're all strong though. Don't send a "did well in class" letter if you can avoid it.

You probably won't be penalized in the sense that it won't get your app thrown out. The only "penalty" I think is likely is that the adcom will randomly choose 3 of your 4 letters and disregard the last one. You have to decide if your letters are equally strong and you can risk any one of them being thrown out, or if there is one/two letters you absolutely want the adcom to read.

[RoseThrn82]

I agree with fuzzylogician, they will likely just choose 3 to look at only anyway. I would email the admissions dept and get their take on it as well.

[tarski]

You can ask to be safe. But for what it's worth, every single department I asked was fine with it.

[modernity]

I sent more than required to several of mine, because different programs required a different number, and I didn't want to have to explain that to my LORs. Additionally, they were all strong and had different points attached to them. The programs either didn't say or said it was fine to submit additional letters. If they decide to choose at random, I'm fine with that. My LORs are what I believe to be one of my strong points, so I thought if they were questioning, or on the fence - having an extra letter to crack open, and an extra voice to say something positive couldn't hurt me.