Changing LOR after it's downloaded

I have a question about LOR. I had four letters of recommendation in my application, and assigned them all to programs. Most of the programs I applied to have downloaded all of them.

Today I learned that I have another letter at my school. I worked closely with the physician who wrote this letter. I would like to include his letter in my application since he knows me well.

I am wondering if I can delete one of the "old" letters and overwrite it with the "new" one. I read in ERAS that I can de-assign one of the old letters and then send the new one. It states that the old letter would be overwritten by the new one, and programs would only be able to view the new one. I am concerned that programs will have already printed the "old" letter, and if I send the "new" one, I will be submitting too many. Maybe program directors don't print LOR until they invite you for an interview.....

Does anyone have any experience with this or any ideas?

Thanks for any help. Good luck on the interview trail.

I think ask somebody who's been on the other side of things at your school (if you know anybody). Like a prog director in another dept or somebody in a similar position. They may suggest another way of being able to submit that letter, though you may be stuck if the schools have already downloaded everything. Or just ask your dean's office. In theory, that's what they're there for.

I am wondering if I can delete one of the "old" letters and overwrite it with the "new" one. I read in ERAS that I can de-assign one of the old letters and then send the new one. It states that the old letter would be overwritten by the new one, and programs would only be able to view the new one.

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That is entirely correct. You can de-assign the old letter, and assign a different letter in it's stead, at any time, even if the letter has already been downloaded. After that time, the program will not be able to access the old letter online anymore.

I am concerned that programs will have already printed the "old" letter, and if I send the "new" one, I will be submitting too many.

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Also correct - the program could save, print, or otherwise have permanent access to the old letter, even after you deassign it. You can't "erase" that. If they don't want an additional letter, they either won't download the new letter, or won't bother to read it.

I'm sure some programs print files closer to interviews than others, there's just no way for you to know whether they have a hard copy or not. Don't worry about it - just do what you can do, which right now is deassign/reassign.

How do you deassign a LOR on ERAS?

Thanks in advanced