I'm thinking of applying for clerkships again. What are some of your experiences with this in re to getting new recommendations? Did you just reuse your previous recommendations? Or did you see fit to get new ones from different people? Did you ask your previous recommenders to update the actual date on the letter of recommendation (say, from 1/24/2013 to 1/24/2014), so it at least looks better?
I thought my previous recommendations were pretty good and I don't really think I need to change them, but what do you guys think? Would it look bad if I didn't even change the year/date on them? I don't want to bother my professors/recommenders again if I don't have to.
Would appreciate insight from people who applied to two different clerkships at different times (for example, you applied for a COA clerkship near the end of your district clerkship).
Reusing clerkship recommendations Forum
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A. Nony Mouse
- Posts: 29293
- Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:51 am
Re: Reusing clerkship recommendations
I reused two and swapped the third for a different prof I'd gotten to know better since my first application. I did ask the first two to update their letters (well, I said I was applying again and would they mind writing letters again). I have no idea whether they actually changed anything besides the date, though; I left that up to them.
It did feel weird to ask a second time (like I was asking for more gruel or something), but that was silly because they totally didn't care and were happy to write for me and all the good stuff. It's part of their job, after all.
It did feel weird to ask a second time (like I was asking for more gruel or something), but that was silly because they totally didn't care and were happy to write for me and all the good stuff. It's part of their job, after all.
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emciosn
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Re: Reusing clerkship recommendations
I am doing two clerkships--for the second round of apps I used the same three recommenders. None of my recommenders had any problem with updating their letters. Two did little more than change the dates and the third did some pretty extensive rewriting (for the better--I had some additional experience with the prof.).
Anyway I don't think there is any problem with using the same recs again, especially if you felt they were strong the first time around. Just make sure they at least go through and change the dates. I know a lot of professors put the term to which you are applying in the letter.
Anyway I don't think there is any problem with using the same recs again, especially if you felt they were strong the first time around. Just make sure they at least go through and change the dates. I know a lot of professors put the term to which you are applying in the letter.
