Can I reuse a letter of recommendation?

[Applicantsocio]

Hi all,

 

I got rejected from a school last year. I am going to reapply to the school in this admission cycle, but I just got a notice that one of my letter writers would not be able to write any letters this year. In this case, can I use his letter? He allowed me to use his old letter. Should I ask the department to see if I can reuse his letter? Is this request usually accepted?

Edited December 4, 2017 by Applicantsocio

[TakeruK]

It depends a lot on the field and the department. Usually schools do not want applicants to upload the letter on behalf of the letter writer since schools don't expect students to have access to their letters.

In my field, the best thing to do is for the letter writer to just change the date on the letter (if there was one) and re-upload it again like last year. Then it won't raise any questions about whether the letter is compromised by the fact that you've seen it. Strangely, even though the culture of letters in my field is that they must always be positive, there is still weird expectations of secrecy that doesn't really serve a purpose.

[meteora]

I agree with TakeruK

Edited December 4, 2017 by meteora

[Applicantsocio]

Oh I forgot saying that I do not have the letter. I should ask the department to resue the old letter which was uploaded last year. 

Edited December 4, 2017 by Applicantsocio

[fuzzylogician]

(a) you'll need to contact the department about this. They may agree. But it'd still be better if the prof could upload the letter, even if it's exactly the same as last year. 

(b) That said, there's going to be a question of what changed from last year. If nothing did, the admissions decision likely won't either. If some things have, hopefully at least the other two letters (and your SOP!) should reflect that. Maybe there's an advantage to replacing this letter with a different one, if you can. 

[Applicantsocio]

Thanks for the suggestions. 

Since I cannot meet him, I think it is impossible to persuade him. (I reside in a different country)

 

I have better gre scores now (both sections are above 90th percentiles). And I also changed my sop and writing sample.

Edited December 4, 2017 by Applicantsocio