Reapplying to Med School: Can You Reuse Your Letters?
Reapplying to medical school? AACOMAS, CASPA, TMDSAS and AADSAS make you resend letters. When reuse is allowed, who to replace, and an update request.
Reapplying to Med School: Can You Reuse Your Letters?
Sometimes you may reuse a letter, but you always have to send it again. None of AACOMAS, CASPA, TMDSAS or ADEA AADSAS carries your letters into the new application, and TMDSAS says it does "not maintain these records from year-to-year." Where reuse is allowed, the pages that comment on it still recommend new letters: Wisconsin asks for at least two new letters, and TMDSAS recommends against sending last cycle's.
Most letter advice is written for first-time applicants. A reapplicant's question is different: which of last year's letters still help, and which writer can show the committee that something changed? This page answers that with the published rules, a decision table, and a constructed email asking a writer to update a letter. For the rest of what carries over, see reapplicant carry-over rules.
Every page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. AAMC's AMCAS letter pages refused our automated fetch that day, so this page states no AMCAS letter rules; the MD school pages below say what they require.
No service keeps your letters
| Service | What it says about letters for reapplicants |
|---|---|
| AACOMAS (DO) | Letters of Evaluation are on the list of data "that you cannot copy forward" |
| CASPA (PA) | Letters of Evaluation are on the same "cannot copy forward" list |
| TMDSAS (Texas) | "You will need to re-submit letters of evaluation and transcripts (when requested) to TMDSAS for each application cycle you apply. We do not maintain these records from year-to-year." |
| ADEA AADSAS (dental) | "Letters of Evaluation must be newly uploaded each cycle." |
| AMCAS (MD) | Not quoted: AAMC pages refused our fetch. Wisconsin: "all letters must be submitted via AMCAS" and "Letters from previous admissions cycles will not be accessible to us unless they are resubmitted." |
Sources: AACOMAS reapply page, CASPA reapply page, TMDSAS reapplicants, ADEA re-applicants, UW SMPH reapplying.
Sending a letter again means asking the writer, or whoever holds the letter, to submit it to the new application. Plan the request as you would a new one, with time for processing.
Where reuse is allowed, and where schools want new letters
TMDSAS is the clearest case, because it says both things on its own pages:
| TMDSAS page | What it says |
|---|---|
| Letters of Evaluation, "Reusing Letters" | "Reapplicants are welcome to resubmit letters or HPAC's from the previous cycle, given that they were written after May 1, 2025". |
| Same page, FAQ | "We do not recommend using the same letters that were submitted previously, as letters should contain up-to-date information." |
| Reapplicants | "It is recommended that you do not send the same letters from the last application cycle. Letters of evaluation should be updated or come from new evaluators." |
Read together: reuse is permitted for Entry Year 2027 if the letter is dated after May 1, 2025, and discouraged in the other two passages. The same letters page says admissions committees "will take the date of the letter into consideration during review, with a strong preference for letters written after May 1, 2025." Medical applicants send three individual letters or one committee packet, with an optional fourth.
MD school pages we loaded:
- Wisconsin: "We recommend submitting at least two new letters of recommendation (one academic and one non-academic). Other letters may be resubmitted and/or updated and resubmitted. If you wish, you may submit all new letters." It requests four letters in total for the Regular MD program.
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center: reapplicants "must update your pre-professional evaluation and letters of recommendation through AMCAS" (UTHSC).
If you are applying to a special master's program as part of the plan, Georgetown's SMP says "Letters written for application to medical school are acceptable", with at least two of three from science professors (Georgetown SMP admissions).
Our view: reuse is allowed in places and is still the wrong default. The letter that helps a second application is the one from someone who watched you fix the problem. The countercase: a strong science letter from a professor who knows you well, written last cycle, can stay, if the professor updates the date and adds what has happened since. Wisconsin's own rule leaves room for that: two new letters, and the rest "resubmitted and/or updated".
Which letters to replace
Start from your diagnosed weakness, then use this table.
| Your situation | What to do with letters |
|---|---|
| Clinical or service exposure was thin, and you have since worked in a clinical job | Add a letter from that supervisor |
| Grades were the problem, and you have taken more coursework | Add a letter from a new course or program; Duke notes a program's letter "will provide you with a stronger and more recent evaluation" |
| Last cycle's letters were from writers who knew you briefly | Replace them with writers who have seen your recent work |
| A letter was strong and the writer still knows your work | Ask the writer to update it with a new date and what has changed |
| A DO school asked for a physician letter | Check that school's current requirement; see the DO physician letter guide |
Duke's prehealth office puts the step in one line: "Review the list of individuals who wrote letters of recommendation for your application and consider any changes you may want to make" (Duke).
Committee letters as a reapplicant
If your school writes a committee letter, the reapplicant process runs through the committee, and it can run on an earlier clock than the application. Two published examples:
- Columbia's postbac premedical program (toolkit written for the 2025 admission cycle): "All reapplicants must submit the supplemental internal application by June 30", and the committee "will not support the reapplication of a candidate who was admitted to medical school in a prior application cycle" (Columbia GS toolkit).
- Duke: reapplicants "are eligible for an RMA appointment focused on the needs of a reapplicant", and the institutional letter packet's requirements and deadlines are on the page for each cycle.
TMDSAS lets reapplicants resubmit an HPAC packet under the same May 1, 2025 rule as individual letters. For how committee letters work in general, see the medical school committee letter, explained. Check your own office's reapplicant page in winter, not in May.
The update-request email (constructed)
Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. Context (invented): Ayumi Amadi was not admitted in the 2026-2027 cycle. Dr. S. Menon wrote her science letter last year. Since then, Ayumi has worked as a medical assistant.
Subject: Request to update your letter for my 2028 medical school application
Dear Dr. Menon,
Thank you again for writing my letter last year. I was not admitted this cycle, and I am reapplying for 2028 entry.
Would you be willing to update your letter? Since you wrote it, I have worked 30 hours a week as a medical assistant at a family practice and completed two upper-level biology courses. I have attached a one-page summary.
The application opens in the spring, and I would be grateful for the letter by June 15. I will send the submission link as soon as I have it.
With thanks, Ayumi Amadi
The email is 109 words, subject line included. It names what changed, attaches the facts, gives a date and promises the link. The attached summary, also constructed:
What changed since your letter (one page):
- Medical assistant, family practice, March 2027 to now, 30 hours a week
- Two upper-level biology courses, spring 2027
- New school list built with my advisor
- My application number and the submission link, when available
If a writer asks you to draft the letter yourself, say no to drafting and send the summary instead. GradPilot's letter reviews aren't for a letter you drafted for a recommender to submit as their own. The recommendation letter strategy guide covers what to give writers.
Questions about letters when reapplying
Can I reuse letters of recommendation when reapplying to medical school?
Where a school or service allows it, yes, but you must send them again. TMDSAS allows reuse for Entry Year 2027 only for letters "written after May 1, 2025", and still recommends new ones.
Do I need new letters of recommendation?
Wisconsin recommends at least two new letters. UTHSC says you "must update" letters through AMCAS. Other MD schools publish their own rules on their admissions pages.
Do letters carry over in AACOMAS or AADSAS?
No. AACOMAS lists letters as data you cannot copy forward, and ADEA says letters "must be newly uploaded each cycle."
Should my gap-year supervisor write a letter?
If the gap year is where you fixed the weakness, yes. That supervisor has seen the change the rest of your file claims. Before you ask for an updated letter, send the thank-you email to your recommenders that tells them how this cycle ended.
Choosing a new writer this cycle? Check who can write a medical school letter against each school's required slots.
If you worked during the gap year, a letter from your current employer can show what changed.
If your school's committee rewrites its letter for a reapplicant, the premed committee letter guide covers corrections after upload.
For how letter dates and alumni packets work once you have graduated, see letter dates after graduating.
Get a free review of the letter
If your writer wants a check before uploading, they can get a free Quick Review of the letter against GradPilot's medical school letter of evaluation rubric. It checks whether each quality the letter claims is backed by a described incident and whether the endorsement is explicit. For your own side of the reapplication, the reapplicant essay rubric checks whether you name the gap, show what you did and prove the result, and the AMCAS personal statement rubric reads the new statement.
More reapplicant guides:
- Medical school rejection feedback email: which schools publish a feedback policy.
- Dental school letters of recommendation and PA school letters for those services.
- The medical school essays hub.
Sources
Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.
- TMDSAS, Letters of Evaluation (Entry Year 2027): reuse rule, FAQ, May 1, 2025 date preference, letter options.
- TMDSAS, Reapplicants (no year stated): resubmission, records, recommendation against same letters.
- AACOMAS, Use an Existing Account to Re-Apply (updated October 21, 2026): letters not copied.
- CASPA, Use an Existing CASPA Account to Re-Apply (updated October 7, 2026): letters not copied.
- ADEA, Re-Applicants: letters uploaded each cycle.
- University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Reapplying to the MD Program (no year stated; captured November 7, 2026, and HTTP 403 to a second automated fetch the same day): two new letters, four in total.
- UTHSC College of Medicine, Reapplication (no year stated): letters must be updated.
- Georgetown University, Special Master's Program admissions (no year stated): letters written for medical school accepted.
- Duke Prehealth Advising, Being a Reapplicant (no year stated): letter review, program letters, reapplicant advising.
- Columbia School of General Studies, Postbac Premed Reapplicant Toolkit (2025 admission cycle): June 30 internal application; committee support rule.
- Not retrieved: AAMC AMCAS letters chapter (HTTP 403 to our fetch on November 7, 2026). Not quoted.
Review the Letter Before It Is Submitted
See how the letter reads against the rubric for its destination.