eLOR question

[Packers04]

On last year’s application I had a veterinary anatomy instructor at my university write me an eLOR. Since I didn't get in the last application cycle, it has now been over a year since I have talked him. First of all, would it even be reasonable to ask him for a LOR again even if I offered to tell him what I have been up to and how I have improved upon my experiences to make me a better vet? Or, simply has too much time elapsed to give a reasonable evaluation?

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[lostbunny]

On last year's application I had a veterinary anatomy instructor at my university write me an eLOR. Since I didn't get in the last application cycle, it has now been over a year since I have talked him. First of all, would it even be reasonable to ask him for a LOR again even if I offered to tell him what I have been up to and how I have improved upon my experiences to make me a better vet? Or, simply has too much time elapsed to give a reasonable evaluation?

I was in a similar situation and contacted a vet who was one of my original references. He said its been a while since we've talked/worked together, but he would be happy to be a reference again if I still had a copy of the old LOR he wrote. I didn't have a copy and so opted not to have him as a reference.

Even if you told your LOR what you've been up to, I don't think they can really write anything about that since they're really supposed to elaborate on things they did with you/while you were around.

That being said, I'd go ahead and ask him anyway, and then see what he says and base on that. He might say himself that he doesn't feel he could give you a strong one, or might say the complete opposite!

 

[LetItSnow]

On last year’s application I had a veterinary anatomy instructor at my university write me an eLOR. Since I didn't get in the last application cycle, it has now been over a year since I have talked him. First of all, would it even be reasonable to ask him for a LOR again even if I offered to tell him what I have been up to and how I have improved upon my experiences to make me a better vet? Or, simply has too much time elapsed to give a reasonable evaluation?

I re-used two of my references after my first year, one of whom I didn't see at all during the year in between applications. He had (wisely) kept a copy of the reference and simply resubmitted it.

I knew from meeting with the school after the first application that the references had been excellent and weren't what tanked my app. So long as you're sure his LOR was a good one, I thin kthere's nothing wrong with asking him to write another or re-submit the same one.

 

[heylodeb]

Most people in academia are understanding of the fact that vet school is difficult to get into. When I sent my 2nd round of requests (I did drop on academic advisor and added a 2nd veterinarian) I sent an e-mail thanking them so much for taking the time to write a letter last year and then a detailed paragraph on all the things that I had been doing in the last year to improve my application. I then ended my e-mail asking them if they would be willing to write another eLOR for me and if they were interested, I'd love to take them out to coffee/meet them in their office to catch up if they had the time.

 

[lareinesoleil]

The professor I used for my LOR was a professor from a couple years before. I figured one who knew me really, really well was better than a random "recent" one. I think it's fine to reuse him if he wrote you a good LOR in the first place. They don't specify that it has to be a "current" professor.