Re-Applying after a few years - OLSAS

[InVeritateTriumpho]

Hi all, I applied to law school in 2021 for Sept 2022 entry and was rejected. I took some time away to focus on things in my life that needed to be prioritized. I'm now starting to explore re-applying to law school (different schools) in 2024 for Sept. 2025 entry. However, I've hit a wall: I thought OLSAS kept your docs on file for 5 years (I guess this has changed and everything is deleted after a year).

This is causing me a lot of stress because my 3 LORs that were submitted my first time around were really carefully selected.  My 2 academic LORs were from profs I really admired and who took time out of their demanding schedules to support me. I feel really poorly about asking them to do this again, 3 years later. To make matters worse, when I was rejected, I didn't notify them (although, I had thanked them profusely when their LORs were received via OLSAS). I feel like I don't have the right to approach them again lol. 

If anyone has been in this position before, how did you navigate this? I'd appreciate anyone sharing their experience or thoughts/suggestions. TIA!

[lilolemenotmuch2see]

Hi,

 

I was in a similar position. I applied back in 2019 and was rejected at all schools. I did not reach out to my professors who wrote me LOR’s to tell them.

When I reapplied this year, I went a different route. You only need 2 references for the schools I applied to and only 1 had to be academic. So in the 3 years I took off I built professional references and used my current boss as 1 reference. 

And for an academic reference, I reached out to a professor who wrote me one of my previous references and told them that I would like to use them again and that my application is stronger now than before. I sent an updated resume, my school transcripts to remind them, and my updated lsat score. And offered to schedule a zoom or phone call to chat about it. After all, they happily agreed to be a reference again.

At the end, I was accepted to Queens, Western, Windsor and waitlisted at TMU and Ottawa! So it all worked out for the best.

 

Best of luck 🙂 

[luckycharm]

12 hours ago, InVeritateTriumpho said:

Hi all, I applied to law school in 2021 for Sept 2022 entry and was rejected. I took some time away to focus on things in my life that needed to be prioritized. I'm now starting to explore re-applying to law school (different schools) in 2024 for Sept. 2025 entry. However, I've hit a wall: I thought OLSAS kept your docs on file for 5 years (I guess this has changed and everything is deleted after a year).

This is causing me a lot of stress because my 3 LORs that were submitted my first time around were really carefully selected.  My 2 academic LORs were from profs I really admired and who took time out of their demanding schedules to support me. I feel really poorly about asking them to do this again, 3 years later. To make matters worse, when I was rejected, I didn't notify them (although, I had thanked them profusely when their LORs were received via OLSAS). I feel like I don't have the right to approach them again lol. 

If anyone has been in this position before, how did you navigate this? I'd appreciate anyone sharing their experience or thoughts/suggestions. TIA!

"I feel like I don't have the right to approach them again lol. "

You can definitely approach them again.