Med schools that require recent letters of rec?

[tealstar]

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping to apply to med school this summer (2014), but I've been out of school for 3-4 years. I got my professors to write letters of recommendations for me a year after I graduated and I've had them stored in my interfolio account. My letters will now be 2 years old from the date they were written. I'm just wondering if anyone who has applied/been accepted to MD and DO schools have any experience with specific schools requiring letters of rec to be recent (within 1 year)? I know Wayne State Univ School of Med requires letters to be within a year old, but I don't know of any others. Also, does anyone know of specific schools that will not count a letter from a bio stats prof as a science letter? I will have more recent letters from PIs from my research lab that I've been working in since I graduated. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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[DoctorKrieger]

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping to apply to med school this summer (2014), but I've been out of school for 3-4 years. I got my professors to write letters of recommendations for me a year after I graduated and I've had them stored in my interfolio account. My letters will now be 2 years old from the date they were written. I'm just wondering if anyone who has applied/been accepted to MD and DO schools have any experience with specific schools requiring letters of rec to be recent (within 1 year)? I know Wayne State Univ School of Med requires letters to be within a year old, but I don't know of any others. Also, does anyone know of specific schools that will not count a letter from a bio stats prof as a science letter? I will have more recent letters from PIs from my research lab that I've been working in since I graduated. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Every school will have their own requirements on recommendation letters. Some want science profs only, others are cool with any kind of prof, some are okay with letters from basically anyone who knows you regardless of profession. Go to the schools' websites and see what you can find, and if that doesn't answer your question, call/email the admissions office.

In any case, the letters should be recent. For those you already have that are a few years old, email those profs again (hopefully with the original draft they wrote) and ask if they would mind changing the dates, and possibly adding things that mention what you've been up to since then. If possible, go see your old professors in person and catch up a little when you ask them. That's what I did, you might be surprised how much they remember past students.

 

[Chillywilly]

I know MSU-COM strongly prefers recent letters. They told me my letters from 2010 was pushing it, but I couldn't ask my professors again because some were on sabbatical.