Do Letters of Rec Expire?

[Alex Dyer]

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Does it matter when your letters of rec are written? For example, if I were to hypothetically do research and get a letter from the prof during my freshman year, could I wait two years and then use that letter during med school admissions? Or would it be better to ask people for letters closer to the time that I apply to med school?

Thanks.

 

[The Buff OP]

That's a good question. I'm also interested on what people have to say about this.

 

[Matt20]

I doubt they would expire, but I imagine admissions committee members look more favorably on recent letters. If you really want a stellar letter from your research professor but you only see yourself doing research for one semester, then try your hardest to stick around and do other things over the next couple years after the research is over. It doesn't have to be a huge commitment either. You can volunteer in his lab once a week for an hour or two just doing upkeep stuff or whatever, or maybe you can TA for one of his classes if you have the free time. This way you can get a more up to date letter, and your professor will also have more things to talk about.

 

[Jennyfishy]

I was under the impression that most schools want recent letters written within 1-2 yrs. But I guess if that prof wrote it for you and it did not indicate that it was over 3 yrs old (date, comments like "will be a rising sophomore" etc. They would never really know...haha

If possible, you could have them write an initial letter, keep in touch with them, and have them write a newer one that includes more specific details om what you've accomplished since then to cover all your bases 😀

 

[Instatewaiter]

I was under the impression that most schools want recent letters written within 1-2 yrs. But I guess if that prof wrote it for you and it did not indicate that it was over 3 yrs old (date, comments like "will be a rising sophomore" etc. They would never really know...haha

If possible, you could have them write an initial letter, keep in touch with them, and have them write a newer one that includes more specific details om what you've accomplished since then to cover all your bases 😀

Schools want recent letters. A 3 year old letter is a red flag that you either were too lazy to get new letters or were not strong enough to get someone more recent to write a letter.

 

[Davida]

I knew I was going to be taking at least three years off before I went to med school. Since letters are usually required from your undergrad, I asked my letter writers for a reference before I left so they wouldn't have to try and remember me a long time later. I then collected references along my five-year post-grad path to medical school, so I have some as recent as March of this year and some as old as 2009. Hasn't affected me negatively, as far as I can tell. You need to have some recent letters for sure, but I don't think having a "historical" letter will hurt you. In some cases, it might help establish a consistent pattern of high performance over time. I can't imagine that this would be a negative.

With the caveat...I did this because I knew I wasn't applying right away and I knew I wasn't staying in the same area as my undergrad. If you'll be at the same school as this person for four years and you're applying right out of undergrad, take advantage of that and try to spend more time with that person so they can write you a letter when the time comes. Also, document what you did with that person - I usually had to give my letter writers an outline of the work I had done with them so they'd have a starting point. If you document now, it'll be much easier for both of you in the future. (Believe me.)