Same rec. letters for reapplicants?

[karakhanyan]

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Hi!

A quick question: If I apply one time and get rejected, can I use the same recommendation letters to re-apply in the following year? Please advise.

 

[somethingpositi]

I don't see why not, unless those LOR were the reason you got rejected in the first place...

 

[xxbruinxx]

it depends...
I've called a number of school re: this. I applied in the 05-06 cycle, and the majority of the schools would like to see NEW letters. Just imagine them receiving a LOR from 2005. It looks like you haven't been doing anything new and haven't done anything to improve on your app.

In fact, one school told me that even just changing the date on your LOR would suffice. In this cycle, I will be using some previous LORs, but will certainly supplement my file with new ones.

 

[prznpremed]

My undergrad committee requires a new committee letter/interview etc. and I also supplemented my old letters with one new one. The rest of the letters are fairly recent (2006) so I think it's okay, and still relevant to use them.

 

[Tropicana100]

If you have many science/humanities letters to choose from, you could try different permutations of them in case a letter kept you from getting in last year. If you graduated a long time ago, there's no point in asking profs from undergrad for letters (they won't remember you).

Realize, also, that many schools just require 2 science and 1 humanities. Adding new letters may not be helpful at all.