Letters of good standing?

[Rigenate]

Hi Guys! I have submitted most of my applications. However, one school just e-mailed me. They require me to submit a letter of good standing. They need the letter to prove that I was

in good standing in my previous graduate school. (I left the school because the direction my previous group is taking does not fit my research interests, so I was in good standing.)

Is it common for graduate schools to require applicants who want to re-apply to submit such letters? I am quite surprised to receive such demand. I am not sure whether I should

send letters of good standing to all the school I have applied before they ask me to do it....

Does anyone have similar experience?  Thank you very much, guys! Merry Christmas!

PHD LETTER FORM.pdf

[fuzzylogician]

They have a right to worry if you've already had an experience of attending but leaving another graduate program. Admitting a student means investing in them a lot of resources of various kinds, including time and money, that could go to someone else instead. A department will want to admit students who have a high likelihood of being successful, otherwise those resources will go to waste. So it seems perfectly reasonable for them to want to verify that you left for fit issues but are generally a capable student, instead of someone who had academic or other problems. I would hope that you also have at least one LOR from this school from someone who would also say that you were a good student but your research was going in a direction that that school could not support. And yes, I'd submit that form as requested. As for submitting it to the other schools, you might, but I'd check first for their policy on unsolicited documents. And again, if you have a LOR discussing this issue, it's probably unnecessary. If, on the other hand, all the adcom has on this is your word that it was just a fit issue, some additional support would be nice. 

[Rigenate]

4 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

They have a right to worry if you've already had an experience of attending but leaving another graduate program. Admitting a student means investing in them a lot of resources of various kinds, including time and money, that could go to someone else instead. A department will want to admit students who have a high likelihood of being successful, otherwise those resources will go to waste. So it seems perfectly reasonable for them to want to verify that you left for fit issues but are generally a capable student, instead of someone who had academic or other problems. I would hope that you also have at least one LOR from this school from someone who would also say that you were a good student but your research was going in a direction that that school could not support. And yes, I'd submit that form as requested. As for submitting it to the other schools, you might, but I'd check first for their policy on unsolicited documents. And again, if you have a LOR discussing this issue, it's probably unnecessary. If, on the other hand, all the adcom has on this is your word that it was just a fit issue, some additional support would be nice. 

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Really thank you for your reply and suggestions, fuzzylogician! Be honest, I am quite worried that leaving the program at my previous school might be the kiss of death of my application this year. So, I made a lot of efforts to propose a positive explanation in my SOP. As for LORS, one of the letters is written by my former TA supervisor in my previous school.  Because he was not familiar with the class he taught last year, I helped him a lot with my expertise helping students and reviewing their project reports. So, he said he would write a very good LOR for me. Another LOR is written by my master's thesis advisor. He mentions that I am an excellent graduate student. The reason why I left my previous school is solely the fit issues.

I really hope these are adequate enough to support my application. Hope for the best! Thank you again! Merry Christmas!