Update LORs, even if just to change the date?

[TheGoldenBowl]

I've talked to friends and they have mixed opinions about this. If you haven't had any interaction with your recommenders this past year, is it still important to ask them to re-submit a rec with a recent date? Do med schools look more favorably on more recent LORs? Thanks.

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[thewendster]

I have another question relating to this... I volunteered at a hospital this past spring in a hospital. A Dr. there wrote a letter of rec for me for med school. I have since moved away for my post bac. I had her send the letter to interfolio. by the time I apply to medical school this letter will be about 10 months old. Is the date an issue? I thought it would be too difficult to track her down and so I had her write this letter ahead of time.

Thanks

 

[sehnsucht]

I've talked to friends and they have mixed opinions about this. If you haven't had any interaction with your recommenders this past year, is it still important to ask them to re-submit a rec with a recent date? Do med schools look more favorably on more recent LORs? Thanks.

I read somewhere on here that you should only have a resumbission of LORs if anything changed in your work with a particular letter writer (more progress in research, more volunteer work etc.) If something hasn't changed, I can't see the value of bothering the professor again only to change the date. The thread might be quite old but this was addressed in the past.

 

[Surf Rx]

It is not necessary if it's only a year or two old. But, it doesn't hurt to get the date updated if you can. If you kept in contact with the letter writer, then an updated LOR might not be a bad idea at all.

 

[Surf Rx]

I have another question relating to this... I volunteered at a hospital this past spring in a hospital. A Dr. there wrote a letter of rec for me for med school. I have since moved away for my post bac. I had her send the letter to interfolio. by the time I apply to medical school this letter will be about 10 months old. Is the date an issue? I thought it would be too difficult to track her down and so I had her write this letter ahead of time.

Thanks

The date will not be an issue at all. 10 months is still fairly recent as far as LORs go.

 

[xxbruinxx]

as a reapplicant and having called a number of schools re: this very issue....IT'S A STRONG YES!!!

I applied in the 2005 cycle, so all my letters were dated late '05. I'm reapplying this year, and as far as schools are concerned, all they see is a 2-year old letter. Now of course some of those letters were strong, and still say a lot about me, so i def. plan to use them. But i will definitely be supplementing them with LORs from this year (new professors, new activies, etc.). For one letter in particular, I asked the author to resubmit, possibly update, but at the very least, change the date. She did, and now it shows 2007 on there...I feel it holds more credibility b/c it shows that 1. that person has known me for a longer period of time and 2. that i've kept in touch and that this person probably knows me better as a result.

you don't HAVE to, but i think it's highly recommended. Although for letters from prof. you had during undergrad, i think it's understandable if they're "old".