Hi everyone,

With some reservations whether or not I shall apply to R3 this April or to R1 this September, I just have some questions regarding my recommendation letters.

Can I still use the recommendation letters I requested from my recommenders? My recommenders already submitted their responses for R3. In case I decide to postpone my application to R1, I would still love to have the same recommendation letters be sent at a later round. Assuming I did not push for R3, will the recommendation letters be gone after evaluation for R3? Or can I still use the recommendation letters I requested to apply for the upcoming R1 this September?

Thank you!!!

From what I know, you can't push the recommendation letters across rounds, for e.g. from Round 3 to Round 1 next year. The way forward would be to ask your recommenders to submit the same recommendation again in Round 1 next year.

But there's a catch here. Some schools ask that you get at least 1 different recommender when you reapply. In Stanford's case, here's what they say: "Consider different recommenders, who may provide a more insightful and thorough perspective." It doesn't seem to be a mandated thing. So you can ask your recommender to submit the same recommendation. Especially because the time delta between Round 3 and Round 1 next year isn't much. So schools also know that not a lot would have changed.

Hope this helps!

What about essays? Do they expect everything to be "fresh"? Not soooo much change in less than a year...

Again, it's grey. Since the delta in the given example isn't much, you can use the same essays.

This is what they say: "Approach your application with a fresh outlook. We will!" Maybe just try and rework the narrative in a way that strengthens the content. If you feel the Round 3 essay is perfect as is, then I'd not worry much.

To be honest, Stanford's essay are not something that can change overnight! I'm sure Adcoms know that as well!

I have first-hand experience on this, I applied in R3 then reapplied (& got accepted) in R1

I use the same recommender from R3 to R1, though I made sure they applied much revision to their recommendations

In term of the technicality, you need to ask for the recommender to submit their recommendation again (restart the whole process in R1)

I heard that it will be more difficult for you to get in if you got dinged without interview previously. I redid almost all part of my application, and I also gained a significant experience that boost my profile in R1. So I would highly suggest you to apply in R3 only if you’re 100% sure you have put together a very compelling application. If not, might be better to tell your recommender that you decided to apply in R1 instead and for them to resubmit their recommendation

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