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Is it wise to ask One person to write multiple recommendations, each 1 for a different school?

cmdrdantecrazy - 2008-12-09 20:05:09 - Higher Education (University +)

For schools I mean graduate School. I'm applying to a few schools, some for international relations, others for counseling psychology. I have an (unfortunately) short list of people whom I can ask for recommendations, some of these people whom I have asked for recommendations already for other things (internships, jobs, schools etc.) I was wondering if it was wise to ask of them to write recommendations for different schools at the same time. Thanks.

Best Answer:

I guess you can but it's not necessary and I've never heard of it being done. Have them write one great letter addressed "To Whom It May Concern" and make copies. You are putting this person out, minimize the work on their end. Plus, how different are these individual letters going to be anyway? Unless the person has some unique and special qualifications in the field or connection to the school, it'll be the same. Good luck!

Answers:

yea

theyll just copy what theyve already written... so its not that bad.

NO!

yeah- they can just write one letter and alter it to be specific for that school.

yes but no more than 3

As long as they gave you a good one to begin with, go ahead and use them again.

I guess you can but it's not necessary and I've never heard of it being done. Have them write one great letter addressed "To Whom It May Concern" and make copies. You are putting this person out, minimize the work on their end. Plus, how different are these individual letters going to be anyway? Unless the person has some unique and special qualifications in the field or connection to the school, it'll be the same. Good luck!

Nope that is perfectly ok. Since most recommendations are the almost the same, usually a professor can do several letters with out a ton of work. Sometimes they will just have a few things. By getting only a few people to write several recs will make it easier for you too. That way you won't be running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to track down a ton of people. Just make sure you ask the person it they have time to write more than one

Yes. They will generally use the same letter for all the schools. When I applied to PhD programs, I asked my professors to write letters for nine schools. They all wrote one letter sent it to the different schools.