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I asked my professor to send a letter of recommendation for me because I worked for him and I did great in his course. He submitted his LOR and I receive the confirmation email from the graduate school.

However now I am afraid that he might not write a good letter or I could ask a more reliable person to do that.

Therefore, I am wondering is there any way to cancel your letter of recommendation once it is submitted?

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    Why are you suddenly afraid he might not have written you a good letter?
    – BrenBarn
    Nov 4 '14 at 5:33
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    Interesting question. I've never heard of anyone asking an admission committee to disregard a letter that was already sent. It seems kind of unlikely they would honor such a request (in fact I'd think it would make them even more curious what the letter said). Of course, even if it is possible, it's almost surely not the best way to address the OP's doubts.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Nov 4 '14 at 5:50
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    Nate Eldredge raises a good point, and exposing the fact that you're afraid of the letter might be worse than having the committee read the letter. Now you'll have them wondering what skeletons you have in your closet. If I take your question literally, in that you're only afraid he won't write a good letter (as opposed to being afraid he will write a bad letter), I think that asking that of the exam committee will do far, far more damage than a mediocre LOR.
    – Moriarty
    Nov 4 '14 at 7:11
  • The very requirement is built on the idea that they are looking for honest reviews about you. Even if it is not 100% the best opinion about you. What argument could you have at all for such a request? Do you imply your professor is not honest? If he honest, the comity has every right to know what he has to say about you, you like it or not.
    – Greg
    Nov 4 '14 at 8:08
  • If your professor did not feel he could write a good letter of recommendation for you, he probably wouldn't have agreed to write the letter in the first place. (Based on answers to other questions on this site, it seems that most professors in those circumstances won't write a bad or mediocre letter, they will instead suggest that you ask someone else.) So you probably don't need to worry about it.
    – mhwombat
    Nov 4 '14 at 17:21
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It probably is not possible. If it were possible, you should not do it because making such a request will imply the letter is negative.

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