Originally Posted by premedicine555

Hello everyone!

I'm a fourth year and want to ask my professor from whose class I took the end of my sophomore year (Physics) for a letter of rec. I went to every office hour and she knew my name by the end of the semester. I worked very hard in the class (since physics is my weak point) and got an A-.

HOWEVER, I haven't talked to her a while, but I know if she sees me she'll recognize me. I'm going to email her if she can write a "great" letter of rec for me, but should I even ask her since I haven't talked to her a long time (we're talking almost 2 yr - she's not a full time professor anyway)? It will be awkward but I'll send my resume/cv to let her know what I have been up too and hopefully meet with her . I'm just scared she can't write a strong one.

( 'm a non science major, so obviously the majority of my bcmp courses were my first 2 years..)

Originally Posted by jesse120

OK well since there wasn't an actual question in your post, I'll just share my thoughts on your situation. I was in a somewhat similar situation as you (I needed one more basic science letter and most of my premed classes were 200+ students), and yeah, it was a little awkward to email the prof over a year after taking his class, but he was really cool about it. In the email, I suggested to meet with him just to talk a bit. He was really supportive about the whole thing, I met with him, we talked for like 15-20 minutes, and he wrote his LOR based on that. During my premed committee, I was told that two of my letters were very strong -- his wasn't one of these that were mentioned. I suspect that his LOR was mediocre, i.e. he didn't say bad things, but it wasn't anything special either. Everyone's situation will be a little different, but you probably shouldn't expect her letter to be a strong letter. Strong letters come from people who really know you, like you, and want to do whatever they can to help you succeed. If you have other choices for letter writers, then by all means ask her if she would be able to write you a strong LOR to convince medical school admissions why you'd be a strong candidate for their program. She should know what you mean by this, and if she says no, move on to the next one. A mediocre letter shouldn't hold you back. A bad one will. Good luck!

Hopefully others share their thoughts on this matter since I admit I know very little about med school admissions lol.


Edit: A mediocre letter shouldn't hold you back -- assuming your other letters are strong!

Originally Posted by folktale

I am also in a similar situation, but on this case, I am a biochem major and am planning on asking a non-science professor for an LOR. But I haven't taken a non-science class for well over a year, and I have two professors (one English and one psychology) that I'm planning to ask. My problem is that I have not seen/talked to them for more than a year now. I also feel awkward, but I've done stellar in their classes. I am just hoping that they still remember me. I am also worried they might write me a mediocre non-science LOR.

Btw, is a psychology LOR considered non-science LOR or science LOR?

Originally Posted by AnthroMD

I completely agree with jesse120 as I did the same thing for one of my letters. IMO, the most diplomatic way to get this letter (or any letter, for that matter) is to refrain from asking for a letter of recommendation through email. If you are unable to meet with them, that's a different story. Once you sit down and talk it up with her about applying to medical school and your cv/resume, go ahead and ask. Since you went to her office hours she knows you by name and probably already has a decent idea of what type of student you are. After talking with her she should have a better idea of what you are about and go with that for writing your letter. Don't forget to send a thank you note/email after she uploads it to whatever letter service you are using.

Best of luck to you!