Asking for rec letter my freshman year

[sasukeuchiha33]

Hi all! So, I am a freshman about to finish my first year of college. I know for medical school, it is standard that one have two rec letters from a science professor, and one from a non-science professor, as a minimum. I have developed a very close and personal relationship with my English professor, (got an A last semester and will likely get an A this semester as well) and want to ask her. The only issue is, she is leaving to go another school at the end of this year. I am afraid that if I contact her 2 years down the line, she will not remember me as well and thus will write me a weaker recommendation than if I ask her now. So, I guess I have two questions.

1) Is this a good idea? Will medical schools perceive it negatively if I have a rec letter from as early as my freshman year?
2) How would I go about doing this? Would I create my AMCAS application now and have her upload it there, or should I do something else?

Thank you!

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[mk04447]

Hi all! So, I am a freshman about to finish my first year of college. I know for medical school, it is standard that one have two rec letters from a science professor, and one from a non-science professor, as a minimum. I have developed a very close and personal relationship with my English professor, (got an A last semester and will likely get an A this semester as well) and want to ask her. The only issue is, she is leaving to go another school at the end of this year. I am afraid that if I contact her 2 years down the line, she will not remember me as well and thus will write me a weaker recommendation than if I ask her now. So, I guess I have two questions.

1) Is this a good idea? Will medical schools perceive it negatively if I have a rec letter from as early as my freshman year?
2) How would I go about doing this? Would I create my AMCAS application now and have her upload it there, or should I do something else?

Thank you!

A lot may change between now and medical school, but get the letter. Open an Interfolio account and store that sucker away for a rainy day, better too many than too few later on. Doesn't mean you have to use it in the end.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Keep in mind that you will likely meet and connect with more professors later in your college career, who will get to see a more experienced, educated, mature (hopefully) version of you. I had professors I was very close with freshman year, who wrote me letters of rec for summer programs/jobs/etc. early in my college career. But I didn't end up using these professors for med school recs unless I maintained the sort of relationship with them that allowed them to see my development over my college career. Freshman year me was not the same person as senior year me, and I wanted my letters to reflect that.

If you do choose to use this letter, you'll probably want to have it updated (dates, etc) before you submit it anyway, so you may not want to just store it on interfolio and forget it. At the very least you should talk to this professor about the possibility, and try to keep in touch with them over the next however many years until you apply.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

How many non science classes do you have planned in the future? Getting a letter this early isn’t great, but if you’re like me and only had taken 3 classes outside the sciences in person before applying, you might need this letter.