How early can I start submitting LORS?

[collegegrrl06]

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I'm in organic 1 and I want to ask my teacher for a letter of recommendation but I don't plan on applying to pharmacy school until probably next school year...could I go ahead and start submitting LORs or what?

 

[Farmercyst]

I'm in organic 1 and I want to ask my teacher for a letter of recommendation but I don't plan on applying to pharmacy school until probably next school year...could I go ahead and start submitting LORs or what?

Unlikely, but it really depends on which schools you have in mind. PharmCAS resets after each application cycle. If you were to start an application this year and have the teacher submit an LOR, it would be deleted when they put up the application for next cycle. Therefore doing it now would do you no good. If you are applying to a non-pharmcas school, I'd contact the school to see what the requirements are. If they require a special form, mandate that the LOR come directly from the recommender, etc. Then submitting them now would be difficult at best. I'd suggest maintaining contact with her throughout the rest of the academic year so your face is still familiar when you ask her next May/June. You can either do that by seeking academic advice, acting as a lab tech, research assitant, or just stopping by and chatting about a mutual interest on occasion (like OChem if that's what floats your boat). Either way, chances are asking for an LOR from her now will be impractical for you.

 

[CaliCPhT]

Why don't you go to your teacher during office hours and discuss your goals, then ask if s/he'd be willing to write the letter of recommendation next year when application time comes? Just a thought.

 

[omnione]

Why don't you go to your teacher during office hours and discuss your goals, then ask if s/he'd be willing to write the letter of recommendation next year when application time comes? Just a thought.

Yeah, I would work on having a rapport with the professor so that asking said professor next year will be painless. To the OP, you don't want to risk that LOR getting dumped because some schools don't really keep apps that long.