Reapplying to a School that I was already accepted to? Forum

[IMBSDTX]

Let's say that I got into one of my reach schools off of the waitlist, but choose not to attend to pursue another activity. If I apply again a couple of years later, how different would the school expect my application to be? I would expect to have a slightly stronger profile overall, but my motivations and general candidacy would not have changed at all. Would I need to write a whole new personal statement and get new LORs etc. or would I be fine applying with the same materials as I had before? I'm concerned with T6 schools in particular.

[slayerhn]

I would rewrite your PS and reuse LoR. If anything, perhaps you can talk about your year off and how it changed you for the better. If it's a couple years later, you'll probably have people that can write more relevant LoRs though.

[midwest17]

If it's a couple years later, you'll probably have people that can write more relevant LoRs though.

This is almost certainly false. To the extent that schools (other than Northwestern) care about LoRs, they want academic ones.

[slayerhn]

If it's a couple years later, you'll probably have people that can write more relevant LoRs though.

This is almost certainly false. To the extent that schools (other than Northwestern) care about LoRs, they want academic ones.

This is from Cornell's website

If you’ve graduated and been out of school for several years (two years or more), you can ask an employer or other individual who knows your academic abilities to fill out the faculty recommendation forms.

And from Michigan

Applicants with significant work experience may also wish to submit letters from employers.

[jingosaur]

Yeah, my understanding is that with work experience, you should have 1 academic recommendation and 1 professional recommendation as long as it's actual professional experience.

[midwest17]

This is from Cornell's website

If you’ve graduated and been out of school for several years (two years or more), you can ask an employer or other individual who knows your academic abilities to fill out the faculty recommendation forms.

And from Michigan

Applicants with significant work experience may also wish to submit letters from employers.

Cornell is still pretty clearly looking for someone who can speak to your academic abilities, so a professor (even if the letter is a few years old) is going to be more relevant. Michigan, from reading more about what they say about this, is the same way.

For people who are several years out of school, it's often better to get the employer letter just because professors won't remember them. But if you're planning ahead, it's better to secure the academic letter. Admissions officers aren't going to see that a letter is three years old and conclude "oh, well, this student used to be academically talented, but who knows what's changed in the last three years."

[slayerhn]

This is from Cornell's website

If you’ve graduated and been out of school for several years (two years or more), you can ask an employer or other individual who knows your academic abilities to fill out the faculty recommendation forms.

And from Michigan

Applicants with significant work experience may also wish to submit letters from employers.

Cornell is still pretty clearly looking for someone who can speak to your academic abilities, so a professor (even if the letter is a few years old) is going to be more relevant. Michigan, from reading more about what they say about this, is the same way.

For people who are several years out of school, it's often better to get the employer letter just because professors won't remember them. But if you're planning ahead, it's better to secure the academic letter. Admissions officers aren't going to see that a letter is three years old and conclude "oh, well, this student used to be academically talented, but who knows what's changed in the last three years."

No they aren't. You should stop talking about things you don't know about. It's pretty clear from this, and from the question and answers thread with the Dean of Admissions from Texas Tech, that you should use both. I have no idea why you would think that law schools don't care about your work ethic from the last 2-3 years of your life.