Does the date when a LOR is written matter?

[axon11]

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I'm in my second year of uni and one of my profs that taught me last year is going to retire after this fall semester (~jan). I know this person really well and I was hoping that she'd be around when it was time to apply to med school so I can ask her for a LOR. And since I won't be apply for another 2-3 years, would it be okay if I get her to write me a LOR and upload it to interfolio maybe and I can then use it down the road when its time to apply to med schools. Would this be a problem for adcoms?

 

[mmmcdowe]

I'm in my second year of uni and one of my profs that taught me last year is going to retire after this fall semester (~jan). I know this person really well and I was hoping that she'd be around when it was time to apply to med school so I can ask her for a LOR. And since I won't be apply for another 2-3 years, would it be okay if I get her to write me a LOR and upload it to interfolio maybe and I can then use it down the road when its time to apply to med schools. Would this be a problem for adcoms?

I would also like to know. I'm a third year planning on taking a year off before the interview cycle. Is it a problem if I pick up a couple letters now even though I won't be applying for another 1.5 years?

 

[Jolie South]

From what I understand, letters must be dated the year that you plan to apply.

 

[StIGMA]

The OP is asking about applying to med school, not residency.

As long as the LOR's aren't absurdly old (older than 5 years would be a cutoff for me as long as most of the letters were recent), then they are OK.

For residency- I've got no idea, although I'd assume that a clinical eval during 3rd year would be appropriate for an application even in a year-off situation. Is this not the case?

 

[Rollo]

From what I understand, letters must be dated the year that you plan to apply.

Really? So does this mean that you can't use any letters you might obtain from 3rd year?

 

[Valadi]

You can definitely use letters you accumulate during 3rd year.

 

[Jolie South]

Well since this is a pre-med issue, moving to pre-allo.

 

[Jolie South]

You can definitely use letters you accumulate during 3rd year.

Yea, but when they are actually submitted to the Dean's office they need to say the application year.

This what my Dean's office told me.

 

[gettheleadout]

Before realizing this was originally posted in Allo, this thread made no sense.

I believe from previous discussions on this that LOR's can be at least a year or so old, but I'm not sure. Try searching?

 

[chiapet874]

More recent letters are generally better from my understanding of past threads

 

[FattySlug]

What about people who are out of school for a few years? Mine are all dated in 2010. Should I have asked professors to update the date despite having nothing to really add to it?

 

[gettheleadout]

What about people who are out of school for a few years? Mine are all dated in 2010. Should I have asked professors to update the date despite having nothing to really add to it?

I wouldn't think that would be necessary.

 

[rosenk]

I remember some schools require 2 years, but most schools don't

 

[FLaughaLot]

I took a year to do research between 3rd year and 4th so when I was in 3rd year, I asked one or two of my professors for a letter in the future. If the person is willing, they can write a draft of a letter and save it on their computer so they'll have a fresh idea of your clinical skills but still be able to update it with any other things that occurred afterwards. I don't think it matters though if its an older letter. Its more important that when considering your letters altogether that they show how you were over time as well (as in I had a letter from 3rd year but made sure I got some from 4th year after returning to clinical years because I thought I should have a more recent example of my clinical abilities).

 

[crystal87]

I had a similar question when I realized that I'll not be applying this year, so at the time of application, all my LORs would be 2 years old - I had a committee letter written for me my senior year. I emailed a lot of med schools about how recent the LORs need to be, and the majority of them said it didn't matter, and some suggested that it would be good to get an additional letter covering what I've been doing recently, i.e. recently dated.

If your school has a system for writing committee letters, it doesn't really matter if your letter is like 2-3 years old since they're compiling it with letters that are probably more recent, and the committee letter itself will be recent.

 

[capn jazz]

My letters are 1 recent, most 2-3 years old, and one maybe like 6 years old.

I also have them compiled for a committee letter though.

But I have IIs so it must be legal!

 

[lemonade123]

I'm kind of in the same boat too. I want to ask my professor for a LOR right now, whom I know well, but I'm not applying to med school until a year and a half. I don't know if asking now would be too early, but if I ask come application time, I'm afraid he won't remember me as much! But let's say that I do ask him to write me a letter now; would I run into a problem in the future when submitting it to AMCAS? For example, would I need to contact this specific professor again to attach an ID number to the letter? I'm so confused!

 

[mauberley]

But let's say that I do ask him to write me a letter now; would I run into a problem in the future when submitting it to AMCAS? For example, would I need to contact this specific professor again to attach an ID number to the letter? I'm so confused!

They don't need to include ID numbers in their letters.